'Simpsons' producer James L Brooks tells Steven Carrollthat, even after 450 episodes, plotting the adventures of Homer and family remains a pleasure
'WAS THE SIMPSONSin black and white when it started," a young member of the audience asked following a screening of an episode of the sitcom in Dublin earlier this week.
“No, I believe it started on the radio,” programme producer James L Brooks smiled, as a chorus of laughter filled the Light House Cinema in Dublin’s Smithfield.
With the series now in its 20th season, it is easy to see why the young fan might have been a little confused.
The adventures of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie have been chronicled in 450 episodes over the last 20 years, making it the longest-running prime-time animated comedy series in television history and one of the most influential programmes of all time.
However, Brooks, whose earlier resumé includes the television series Taxiand the films Bigand Terms of Endearment,says The Simpsons might never have been conceived if creator Matt Groening had not been reluctant to part with another creation called Life in Hellwhen called to the Fox network to discuss a slot on The Tracey Ullman Showwith him in 1989.
"We were doing this half-hour variety show that no one really watched and we had these bumpers before you went to the commercials to fill, little snippets that were really only 20 seconds long," Brooks recalls. "Somebody gave me a gift of a Matt Groening cartoon about the 12 ways to die in Los Angeles, and I loved it. He had a very popular cartoon going, called Life in Hell,at the time, but he was so afraid to give it to television that he drew what basically became The Simpsonsin this crude style on his way to the meeting."
Groening's dysfunctional cartoon family, which was based on his own, continued in snippet form on The Tracey Ullman Showfor almost two years before it was decided that it should face US audiences independently.
"I met the animator, David Silverman, at an end-of-season party for The Tracey Ullman Show," Brooks says. "He got drunk, as you do at parties, and was talking from the bottom of his heart about what it'd mean to him to have a prime-time animated series. The passion was so great, we were both wet-eyed at the end of his speech, so we decided to try to do it."
Brooks, Silverman and Groening devised a plan to turn the 20-second snippets into 22-minute programmes and approached Fox, a teetering young network at the time, about realising their idea.
“It was a hard sell,” Brooks says. “It took a while to get a commitment from Fox to take that kind of gamble and go with us.”
Fox's risk has been richly rewarded and The Simpsonshas exceeded all expectations by growing into a billion-dollar industry with a dedicated following around the world.
“The truth is that it is still unreal,” Brooks says. “I think it’s that way for all of us. We’re normal people, and for some reason we have created something iconic.”
Brooks says there have been some creative hitches along the way, but that writing storylines for The Simpsonsand their fellow Springfield residents remains a pleasure.
“You just tug at something you want them to do in comedy and they’ll follow,” he says. “They follow you into the world of romantic comedy, farce comedy; they’ll follow you into physical comedy.”
After 20 years on top, it is fair to say that The Simpsonshas had a noticeable impact on the animated comedy series that have followed. So much so that an episode of South Park was named The Simpsons Already Did It when its writers realised Brooks and co had beaten them to an idea.
"Peer approval is important," Brooks smiles. "That was a great episode. South Parkto me is just genius work."
In spite of claims that The Simpsons should step aside and let the new pretenders have their chance, with critics saying it has lost much of its initial wit and edge, Fox has signed up for at least two more seasons.
Brooks believes that there is plenty of life in the show yet and says the writing staff are fully aware that letting it go stale could spoil a rich comedic legacy that has seen The Simpsonsselected as the 20th century's best television series by Timemagazine.
“If you do a bad show, it’s a bad Simpsons show, and that is something you have to live with,” he says. “We hope we pack it in when we don’t feel it’s fresh any more. We feel we have just done two or three of our best seasons in a row and I think that when we did the movie it jazzed us all up.
“We treasure the opportunity we have. We have creative freedom and a time period that has been the same forever. That’s not going to come our way again.”
