Unfortunately, not all made the cut: the producers kept Tom Hanks but lost Edward Norton and even Kelsey Grammer as Sideshow Bob. The Simpsons Movie opened in theaters with cameos by a host of movie stars. It read: “Mike Flynn’s much-publicized attempt to break every record in the Guinness Book of Records got off to a rocky start this week when his recording of White Christmas sold only five copies.” 2007 In Mike Sacks’ book about comedy writers, Poking a Dead Frog, the head of David Letterman’s writing staff in 1983 claimed to have discovered him when Swartzwelder sent a single, perfect one-liner on a postcard. Swartzwelder holds the record for most episodes written – 59 – and maintains a mystique worthy of its own television show. The final episode written by John Swartzwelder, The Regina Monologues, aired. The Oxford English Dictionary capitulated: editions from 2001 forward define the word “D’oh” as “Expressing frustration at the realization that things have turned out badly or not as planned, or that one has just said or done something foolish.” 2003 In response, writer David Mirkin packed the show’s 1995 Halloween special episode, Treehouse of Horror V, with as much violence as possible, including a short in which the teachers at Springfield Elementary murder and eat the students. The show had heard the cries of parent groups and opportunistic politicians denouncing the excessive violence in the series, especially in its show-within-a-show, Itchy and Scratchy, a parody of classic smart mouse v hapless cat cartoons. Neither man got much out of the showdown: The Critic was canceled, though not without a cult following, and the episode – A Star Is Burns, set during a Springfield film festival – far from a monument to compromise, remains one of the series’ most beloved. The Critic was in need of a marketing push after its failure on ABC and subsequent hasty move to Fox. Months later, Groening would publicly air his displeasure with Brooks, who developed and produces The Simpsons. Producers approved a crossover episode with Brooks’ other series, The Critic. The Simpsons landed its first renewal and began its second season, outdoing The Cosby Show with the season two premiere, Bart Gets an F. Episode 1 of season 1, Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire, airs 17 December. 1989Īnimation problems pushed the series all the way to the end of the year from its original debut date in the fall of 1989. Here are the show’s key cultural milestones. It’s also an incredible patchwork of secondary and tertiary characters, many of them voiced by the omnipresent cast of Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Hank Azaria, and Harry Shearer – with the rare exception of Yeardley Smith, who voices only Lisa. He grew up in Portland, Oregon, where the town next door was Springfield, though the mystery of which state hosts the Simpson family’s home town is a running gag on the show.īut the Simpsons is far more than a sentimental look back on family life, though it is more often that than either its fans or its detractors believe. Groening had a dad named Homer Groening, a mom named Margaret Groening, neé Wiggum, sisters named Lisa and Maggie, and an aunt named Selma. Depending on who you believe, Groening either came up with the Simpsons family the night before he was due to give the “What else you got?” pitch to producer James L Brooks or in the lobby of Brooks’ office. Originally, Groening was invited to pitch an animated version of his popular alt-weekly newspaper strip Life in Hell but balked when he realized he would have to sign over the rights to the whole thing to 20th Century Fox.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |