The Simpsons: An Uncensored, Unauthorized History is a new book out this week from Faber and Faber, an expansion of author John Ortved’s 2007 article for Vanity Fair. In a blog post for The Daily Beast, Ortved outlines the difficulties he had writing the story, largely because James L. Brooks and Matt Groening put the clamps down when they heard that Ortved was asking about deposed producer/writer Sam Simon, who left the show after the fourth season. A snippet (emphasis mine):
Groening was not considered a great asset by many in The Simpsons writers room; he was not a sitcom writer and didn’t really didn’t know how to tell those kinds of stories, and Sam Simon let him know it. Once while discussing a script where Marge finally lets her hair down, Matt really wanted to reveal that underneath her beehive, Marge had Rabbit ears—Sam, of course, said no. One witness to the early days was particularly annoyed that Groening took so much credit for the show’s success, when “the fat fuck just sat up in his office all day, figuring out ways to make more money [with merchandising]” while Sam Simon and the writers churned out brilliant script after brilliant script.
Even more delightful is Ortved’s description of the corrupted circle jerk that is the Hollywood publicity machine:
I know that all the “Simpsons” fans out there don’t really care about the show any more, but I’m still a fan of the annual “Treehouse of Horror” episode. And the 20th installment of the Halloween special in the animated series’ upcoming 21st season sounds promising:
[Creator Matt] Groening cued a very cool black and white sequence that felt like the new “Treehouse”’s opening titles, which paid homage to Psycho and all things Hitchcock with Lisa chasing Bart through the Bates’ residence and encountering Mrs. Skinner as Norman’s mother.
The next clip was a short, but spot-on parody of Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead, depicting the Simpsons dodging a zombie horde of Springfield residents while trying to get into Apu’s zombie bulldozer/Humvee hyrbrid. Apu runs over Moleman and literally leaves nothing but Moleman’s brains and eyes behind as the car peels off. [IGN]
So, okay, not the most exciting news, but I’m allowed to have the occasional nostalgia post. After all, Treehouse of Horror V is my favorite “Simpsons” episode of all time. It’s got The Shinning, Time and Punishment, and Nightmare Cafeteria, plus the lyrics to “One” from A Chorus Line changed to describe a fog turning people inside out. Hell, I named this blog after a line from that episode. So, yeah. Treehouse of Horror: Respeck.
In a striking resurrection, Comedy Central has ordered 26 new episodes of Matt Groening’s “Futurama.” The animated series about a present-day pizza delivery boy reanimated 1000 years in the future was originally canceled in 2003, but lived on in syndication and in four straight-to-DVD films that strengthened its cult appeal.
A spokesperson for 20th Century Fox Television confirms that the cable net has ordered 26 new episodes of Matt Groening and David X. Cohen’s late, great animated series to air beginning in 2010. The studio cites Futurama’s “blockbuster” performance on DVD and in reruns on Comedy Central as the reason for its rebirth. [...]
“When we brought back Family Guy several years ago, everyone said that it was a once in a lifetime thing — that canceled series stay canceled and cannot be revived,” 20th Century Fox TV Chairmen Gary Newman and Dana Walden said in a joint statement. “But Futurama was another series that fans simply demanded we bring back, and we couldn’t have been happier when Matt and David agreed that there were many more stories yet to tell.” [Ausiello]
Very cool news. I wasn’t a big fan of the show when it originally aired, but the DVDs have all been funny, so I’ll look forward to new episodes. What can I say, I love the concept of angry alcoholic robots.
Also, on a side note, I did an image search for “Futurama” without SafeSearch, and… wow. There is a lot of Futurama porn out there. I mean A LOT. No, more than that. However much you expect to see, triple it. Then multiply that number by ten. Nerds are horny.
