Season 1

The first season originally aired from December 17, 1989 with "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", to May 13, 1990 with "Some Enchanted Evening". Matt Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon were the show runners of the season.

The Simpsons and the season was intended to debut in fall of 1989 with "Some Enchanted Evening", which also includes much of the main characters' debut. But, after the workprint of the episode was met unfavourably and being deemed as unusable, 70% of its animation had to be redone, thus delaying "Some Enchanted Evening" until having finally being aired as the season finale on May 13, 1990. It was originally thought that subsequent episodes such as "Bart the Genius" would turn out just as bad as "Some Enchanted Evening" but there were only minor problems in production that were fortunately easy to fix and were suitable for airing. As "Some Enchanted Evening" was being overhauled, the producers decided to replace it with the season's Christmas special, "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", on December 17, 1989 as the season premiere. The timing was very fortunate, as the episode would have had to be aired in the Christmas holidays of 1989 regardless of any other issues. "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" would also become The Simpsons ' first ever episode broadcast.

The season won an Emmy award and had four other nominations. "Life on the Fast Lane" won "Outstanding Animated Program," for which "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" was also a nominee. "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" was nominated for "Outstanding Editing in a Miniseries or Special"; "The Call of the Simpsons" was nominated for "Outstanding Individual Achievement in Sound Mixing for a Comedy Series or a Special"; and "The Simpsons Theme," composed by Danny Elfman, was nominated for "Outstanding Achievement in Main Title Theme Music".

All 13 episodes of Season 1, including extras such as the "Some Enchanted Evening" workprint, were released on DVD on September 25, 2001 in Region 1 and September 24, 2001 in Regions 2 and 4. It is the first of the Complete Seasons of The Simpsons released in boxsets for home media.

History
"Some Enchanted Evening" was originally intended to be broadcast in the fall of 1989, which would have made it the first episode of the season and of the series. However, the workprint was of such poor quality that the series premiere was delayed, as the episode had to be redone. 70 percent of "Some Enchanted Evening" had to be redone, so the episode remained in production until being broadcast at last on May 13, 1990, which made it the season's final episode. The FOX producers persuaded the Simpsons creative team to open the series "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" airing it just before Christmas the same year on December 17, 1989 as it had to be for it was a making it the season premiere and The Simpsons first episode. As the episode was a Christmas special, the producers were already locked into airing it on or near that date. The producers considered aborting The Simpsons completely if the second episode in production, "Bart the Genius", turned out as bad as "Some Enchanted Evening". Fortunately, only minor errors were present, which were easily fixed.

During this season, Judd Apatow submitted a script which saw Homer being hypnotized into thinking he was 10. The script has been produced into an episode entitled "Bart's New Friend" that aired in season 26 on January 11, 2015.

Episodes

 * Key
 * In the # column;
 * The first number refers to the order it aired during the entire series.
 * The second number refers to the episode number within its season.
 * The production code refers to the code assigned to the episode by the production team. The first two characters refer to the season the episode was made for: 7F for season two, 8F for season three. The second number is the order the episode was produced, not the airing order.

DVD Release
Season 1 was released on DVD by 20th Century Fox in Region 2 and 4 on September 24, 2001, and on September 25, 2001 in Region 1. While primarily consisting of the original 13 episodes, the DVD release features bonus material including deleted scenes, Animatics, and commentaries for every episode. The set sold 1.9 million units, becoming the highest-selling television program on DVD—a record which it held until October 2004 when it was passed by the first season of .

Awards
The season won an Emmy award and had four other nominations. "Life on the Fast Lane" won "Outstanding Animated Program," for which "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" was also a nominee. "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" was nominated for "Outstanding Editing in a Miniseries or Special"; "The Call of the Simpsons" was nominated for "Outstanding Individual Achievement in Sound Mixing for a Comedy Series or a Special"; and "The Simpsons Theme," composed by Danny Elfman, was nominated for "Outstanding Achievement in Main Title Theme Music."