300 Reasons To Love “The Simpsons”
Woo-hoo! Ay Carumba! Excellent! No matter how The Simpsons characters phrase it, hitting 300 episodes (Feb. 16, 8 p.m. ET/PT) is quite a TV milestone.
The work is paying off: Buzz and viewership are up this year, the latter by 12%. (this past Sunday’s two episodes both hit the week’s top 20.) The show is destined to become TV’s longest-running sitcom, with at least two more seasons ahead.
It is on the Fox lot in Hollywood that most of the 300 reasons to love The Simpsons have been hatched. On this particular day, executive producer Al Jean is supposed to work on six of them: five new episodes plus a Season 3 DVD.
Sure beats a desk job at a nuclear plant.
On Jean’s to-do list this day:
* Recording a trans-Atlantic guest voiceover with Ian McKellen for an episode in which the Simpsons go to London (God save the Queen).
* Cutting 23 seconds from an episode in which Krusty the Clown runs for Congress.
* Rewriting a first draft of the Skinner-Krabappel nuptials.
* Reworking an episode featuring Lisa as a grade-school Evita, which has gone through initial animation.
* Arranging for Nancy Cartwright to read a new Bart line for the 300th episode on Feb. 16.
* Joining Simpsons creator Matt Groening to watch and comment on episodes for the Season 3 DVD.
The most mysterious part of creating an episode takes place in the writing rooms, where two groups work on separate scripts. The Simpsons staff is unusual for TV. Even on hit shows, many writers move on after two or three years, but many Simpsons writers have been with the show six years or more.
In one room, the wedding script is undergoing revision. (Generally, less than half of a first draft makes the final episode.) One writer waxes Bart-esque about her work: “It’s like playing with the funnest toy in the world.”
After checking on the status of the rewrite, Jean heads to the other writing room, where he and five others work on a line for the Evita episode: Superintendent Chalmers fears Lisa’s positive influence on students.
“It’s the biggest threat since the baby bust of ’89,” Jean says.
“The biggest threat since standardized tests,” co-executive producer Kevin Curran quips back.
“Biggest threat since accountability standards for teachers,” Jean counters.
Writer John Frink takes the strand: “We’ve lost so many …”
“… loyal morons,” finishes writer Tim Long.
Later, Jean’s day takes a detour. He has to leave for a Simpsonian emergency: His house has flooded. D’Oh!
And who knows what other adventures The Simpsons will get into before they are deemed unprofitable.
Categories