The Simpsons making fun of Fox

<YASQ>

• The episode with the alien and X Files characters:
  Bart: "But what if we don't see the alien, dad?"
  Homer: "We'll fake it, and sell it to the Fox network!"
  *laughter*
  Bart: "They'll buy anything..."
  Homer: "Now, Bart, they do a lot of quality programming too."
  long pause
  *more laughter*
• The Rupert Murdoch character, who made four appearances:
  1. In jail with Sideshow Bob
     "Hey, I own that network!"
     
     (thanks to Chihuahua Grub for reminding me)
  2. The Super Bowl episode with his skybox.
  3. The Behind The Laughter episode:
     Rupert signed a contract in crayon very slowly, sounding out each letter, just after Homer did the same.
  4. A breif scene where Fox has a PBS-style telethon:
     Host: "While Fox gets a lot of advertising revenue already, we still find we don't have enough funding to--"
     Rupert, angrily, at the phones: "NOT NEARLY ENOUGH!"
• When Buildings Fall Down:
  Since the dawn of time, man has loved his buildings... But what happens when the buildings say no more...?
• The episode with the fortune teller and the future:
  You know, Fox became a hardcore sex network so gradually, I hardly noticed...
• The Movementarianism episode:
  "It's so nice to think for ourselves again..."
  television: You are watching Fox!
  family (in monotone): We are watching fox...
  
  (thanks to mcc for reminding me)
• New noder Gremdel points out the online stock trading thing:
  "I just invested in a company called NewsCorp"
  "Dad, that's Fox."
  "Ahh! Undo, undo!"
• The episode with the SUV where they pitched NBC and Stone Philips, then during the credits, Homer apologized at gunpoint ... then started pitching CBS.
  (thanks again, mcc)

While the FOX Network has always taken itself less than seriously, it is easy to see why The Simpsons is allowed such liberty in regards to its clever barbs against its own network.

The Simpsons is the show that made the FOX Network a success. Although FOX has continued to provide some excellent shows since, when The Simpsons premiered FOX was little known and always at the bottom of the ratings heap. The "Big Three" at the time (NBC, CBS and ABC) had constantly battled with one another in the ratings game, but had almost worked out a schedule where each network had a night to call its own, FOX changed all that. Since the debut of The Simpsons FOX has brought on such fan favorites as The X-Files and King of The Hill.

I would suppose that Matt Groening probably has a considerable amount of pull at FOX since Futurama stayed on the air despite an initial ratings disaster (however even The Simpsons took a while to take off).