As a cartoon animator, Mike Gerard always wanted to produce the best drawings he could.
But when he started work on [the first season of “The Simpsons”], he was astonished to be told that the creators did not want good animation.
…
“Matt Groening (creator of “The Simpsons”) was adamant that the show should be about humor, the characters, and that the animation should not look good. That was really difficult for me and I would get frustrated when he would tell me something was too good. So one day I picked up a scene I had thrown in the trash and he loved it.”
[KVOA]