The simpsons debuted as a Christmas special on December 17, 1989,

The Tracy Ullman Show, a variety show on the Fox Broadcasting Company, first aired a cartoon short featuring The Simpsons in 1987. It debuted as a Christmas special on December 17, 1989, and after being lengthened to a half-hour, it started running regularly in January 1990.
Related On This Day

Kim Jong-il, North Korea's supreme leader from 1994 to 2011, died of a suspected heart attack in 2011 at the age of 70.

On December 17, 1933, Lala Amarnath made history by scoring India's first-ever Test century against England.

Billie Eilish, an American singer-songwriter, was born in Los Angeles, California in 2001.

Céline Dion marries her manager Rene Angelil in Notre Dame Basilica in Montreal, Canada in 1994.

Joseph Stalin, the Soviet Union's Dictator and General Secretary, was born in Gori, Tiflis Governorate, Russian Empire, in 1878.

Milla Jovovich, a Russian-born American actress, was born in Kiev, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union, in 1975.

Pope Francis, Catholic Pope (2013-), was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1936, the first Jesuit pope, the first from the Americas, and the first non-European pope since Syrian Gregory III in 741.