Matt Groening

Matt Groening is an American cartoonist who created the original characters and design of The Simpsons, a Fox TV animated series, the animated show Futurama, and the comic book Life in Hell, for which he was discovered. He continues his role on the show as an executive producer. He has tied in his own upbringing into the show as he has candidly admitted that the character of Bart is a representation of himself and the other members of the Simpson family are exaggerated versions of his own family. Additionally, the town of Springfield in the Simpson's is a thinly veiled reference to Portland, Or. Groening's hometown. Groening also continues to write "Life in Hell" and it is published in many newspapers.

Futurama
Groening also helped create the animated series Futurama once again for Fox Networks. Despite being cancelled in 2003 after four seasons, the show has recently experienced immense popularity on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim program and subsequent DVD releases.

As a result of the show's resurgence in popularity it has been revived in the form of four upcoming direct-to-video animated features. Comedy Central has recently acuired the show's back catalogue of episodes and plans to turn each of the direct-to-video features into four part episodes for broadcast starting in February 2008.