Offbeat cartoonist Matt Groening created this animated half-hour program television series that gained widespread popularity in the late 1980s and early 1990s as the premier offering of the then upstart FOX television network. While loathed by some parents for its portrayal of a family headed by a boorish, unintelligent father named Homer and plagued by an irreverent, rambunctious boy named Bart, the show was enormously popular with young people (not surprisingly) and critics (more surprisingly). Just below the surface the show offered a social critique built on a myriad of references to politics and popular culture. In its first two seasons, the show sparked a merchandising craze, largely through the sale of T-shirts portraying Bart uttering one of several catchphrases.