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| Author John Ortved is shown in a handout photo. Matt Groening has long been considered the creative genius behind cartoon phenomenon "The Simpsons" and the wacky denizens of Springfield. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Mimi Cabell |
TORONTO - In the world of "The Simpsons," politicians are sleazy crooks, teachers are dispassionate drones and police officers are comically incompetent.
During the ongoing run of more than 20 years on the air, the creators of the Simpson clan have created an empire out of collectively mocking authority and poking a finger in the eye of the establishment.
But when Toronto native John Ortved began investigating the behind-the-scenes history of the show for his book, "The Simpsons: An Uncensored, Unauthorized History," the longtime fan came to realize that "The Simpsons" has become a tightly guarded establishment of its own.
"(’Simpsons’ producer) James L. Brooks drafted a letter to everybody who had worked on ’The Simpsons’ ever - everyone who was working on the show and everyone who had worked on the show - asking them not to speak to me," Ortved told The Canadian Press in an interview at his parents’ home in Toronto.
"They did make it quite hard for me."
Yet over the objections of Brooks and series creator Matt Groening, Ortved was able to gather more than 80 interviews for an expansive history of the longest-running sitcom of all time.
"The Simpsons" debuted in 1987 as a series of shorts, drawn by L.A.-based artist Groening, on Fox’s sketch comedy program "The Tracy Ullman Show." In 1989, with the help of seasoned TV veteran Brooks, the show was expanded into a half-hour sitcom with its own prime-time slot on Fox.
Pretty soon, "The Simpsons" were everywhere: on T-shirts touting 10-year-old Bart’s sassy slogans, on magazine and newspaper covers across North America, and on enough licensed merchandise to make Krusty the Clown blush.
Ortved reports the show hauled in an estimated US$750 million in merchandising revenues in its first year, as fans happily bought "Simpsons" bubble gum, snow boots and even pasta.
Ortved was nine-years-old and, like many children, he was completely transfixed.
"I wasn’t allowed to watch TV a lot as a kid, or at all," recalled Ortved, who’s now 29. "But I remember going over to friends’ houses and it was the biggest treat in the world to get to watch ’The Simpsons."’
Ortved began his research into the show’s backstory for a Vanity Fair feature he wrote in 2006. Even then, he didn’t have the co-operation of Groening or Brooks.
Upon reading the book, it’s not necessarily difficult to understand why.
Groening has long been considered the creative genius behind "The Simpsons," its ubiquitous titular family, the wacky denizens of Springfield who orbit them, and the pointed, rapid-fire social satire that is the show’s stock in trade.
But one of the central revelations of Ortved’s book is just how erroneous that assumption is.
"If there’s a controversial element to the book, it’s that ... these writers and producers told me that Matt Groening has either taken or received too much credit over the past 20 years," Ortved said.
In fact, Ortved argues, the show’s tremendous success happened because of a conglomerate of talented creators.
There was Brooks, who lent the show its emotional heft and without whom it never would have made it to the air. There was Gyorgyi Peluce, the colour designer who decided to make the Simpsons yellow and Marge’s hair blue.
And then there was Sam Simon, a grizzled, cigar-chomping TV vet who created many of the show’s colourful characters, assembled the initial group of Harvard-reared writers, and poured over every script, tweaking each line for maximum impact.
Simon and Groening never got along, with the former believing he didn’t get enough credit for the show’s success. Simon left "The Simpsons" in 1993.
Ortved says Brooks and Groening refused to be involved in the book primarily because he had spoken to Simon.
Still, Ortved managed to finagle interviews with some of the show’s most prominent writers, producers, voice actors and guest stars, including Conan O’Brien, Hank Azaria and Ricky Gervais. He even nabbed an interview with Fox boss Rupert Murdoch, who laughed off the protests of his producers ("Those creative types," Ortved remembers Murdoch saying, "they’re always looking to pick a fight.")
For hardcore "Simpsons" devotees, some of the information unearthed in Ortved’s book might be as intoxicating as a few cans of Duff or as sweet as an all-syrup Squishee.
People close to the show share entertaining details of the hijinx in the "dilapidated" writer’s room and how backstage feuds actually influenced the on-air product.
For instance, Mr. Burns’s sycophantic assistant Waylon Smithers was apparently based on Richard Sakai, a producer on the show and Brooks’s "henchman." And Simon created Dr. Hibbert, the Simpsons’ chortling, sweater-wearing doctor, as a reaction to "The Simpsons" going up against "The Cosby Show" on Thursday nights.
Ortved also reports breezy anecdotes about a few of the famous guest stars "The Simpsons" attracted over the years.
U2 singer Bono apparently had only one request when he came in to record his guest spot: a giant glass of vodka.
Michael Jackson, who appeared uncredited in the third season, co-wrote Bart Simpson’s 1990 single "Do the Bartman." And Elizabeth Taylor blasted Groening with a four-letter expletive and walked out of the studio after he forced her to do 24 takes during her guest appearance.
Ortved clearly treasures these nuggets, as any fan of the show would, but he believes the show lost its way around the eighth or ninth season (the show is currently in its 21st).
"I think the show got dumber ... and it tried to be poppier and failed," he said.
"I think ’The Simpsons’ raised the bar so high it was hard to compete with itself. That being said, I think the writing as we got into the teens got truly bad and less interesting, and less innovative and kind of hack-y."
He suggests the show could use a shakeup in the writer’s room and pointed to the fact that some people he interviewed are not happy with current show-runner Al Jean. Ortved added that Jean also called his book "shoddy." "I think there’s very little chance it’ll ever return to its former greatness," Ortved says, "but I think there is a chance that it could be funny again."
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