Let's imagine for a moment, an alternate timeline in which Matt Groening turned Life in Hell (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_in_Hell) into the shorts that would be used for The Tracey Ullman Show. The story goes that he came up with the basic concept (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Groening#Creation) of The Simpsons on the spot out of fear of losing ownership rights to Life in Hell, his life's work.