The Real Ghostbusters have turned the tables on the series and spoofed the cartoon family—kind of. Debuting in 1989, The Simpsons soon became a huge hit for Fox and has since gone on to become one of television’s most recognizable institutions.
A warm, silly, anarchic family sitcom The Simpsons was a massive success from early on, amassing a huge fanbase and gaining critical acclaim from its first season onwards. The series never shied away from controversy, earning the ire of then-President George H. W. Bush before the show even reached its third season (although The Simpsons did avoid airing a Scientology-spoofing episode for fear of litigation).
Although the show has parodied pretty much every major movie and television series imaginable over its thirty-three seasons, something The Simpsons has never had to worry about is the series being spoofed itself. As a comedy series (and a uniquely silly, surreal one at that), The Simpsons are not prime material for parody—or so one might think. However, the Married With Children fame.
The Simpsons’ “Stark Raving Dad,” much of the humor that fans recognize as unique to the series had not yet been established in the show.
Since the series was still in its early days, there is not much instantly recognizable Simpsons-centric detail for The Real Ghostbusters to mock in the outing. Instead, a lot of the episode’s humor centers on jokes based around the Bundy family, with the ghosts being named after Al (who in the show becomes "Foul"), Peg (Pig), Bud (Bug), and Kelly (Smelly). It's a shame, as seeing ghost versions of the animated family does have potential, even if a Simpsons parody was always going to struggle to be as funny as the actual source material. Nonetheless, despite The Real Ghostbusters’ lack of focus on their target of parody, The Simpsons was still kind enough to return the favor years later—and their reference to the horror-comedy franchise wasn’t even limited to one of the show's annual "Treehouse of Horror" Halloween specials. In season 13’s “Tales From the Public Domain,” The Simpsons family patriarch Homer claims Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a great play that went on to become a great movie... in the form of Ghostbusters.