WEBVTT - Episode 999: The Simpsons Spectacular Part I 0:00:01.120 --> 0:00:04.600 Welcome to stuff you should know from how Stuff Works 0:00:04.600 --> 0:00:32.239 dot com. M Hey, and welcome to The Simpsons, I 0:00:32.240 --> 0:00:37.000 mean the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, There's Charles w. Chuck Bryant, 0:00:37.040 --> 0:00:44.120 there's Jerry over there, and this is Chuck episode. Yeah. Well, 0:00:44.280 --> 0:00:46.760 you know how I think of this. I think of 0:00:46.840 --> 0:00:51.040 it as one thousand, just a big fat one thousand 0:00:51.040 --> 0:00:54.960 that had to leak on to two days. It actually 0:00:55.040 --> 0:00:58.160 leaked back in time. How amazing is that? Yeah, because 0:00:58.200 --> 0:01:01.360 we have to do a two parter because upon looking 0:01:01.600 --> 0:01:05.640 at this research and this topic, very special topic for 0:01:05.720 --> 0:01:07.840 us for the show, we realized it had to be 0:01:07.880 --> 0:01:11.080 a two parter and rather than do one thousand and 0:01:11.120 --> 0:01:13.080 one thousand one, what kind of person would do that? 0:01:13.440 --> 0:01:18.399 An unwholesome person. Yeah, yeah, okay, so this is episode 0:01:18.440 --> 0:01:20.680 in your view, it's it's really just part of episode 0:01:20.720 --> 0:01:23.160 one thousand. I'm with you on that. Yes, can you 0:01:23.200 --> 0:01:27.640 believe that? I, you know what Chuck up until today? 0:01:27.760 --> 0:01:31.839 I could totally believe it. But the fact that we're 0:01:31.880 --> 0:01:35.160 doing The Simpsons for our thousandth episode, it just it 0:01:35.280 --> 0:01:38.880 drove everything home, Like all the gear teeth fell right 0:01:38.920 --> 0:01:42.120 into place, and now the gears are spinning in sync 0:01:42.240 --> 0:01:45.120 and I can feel it and I'm amazed. Yeah. So, uh, 0:01:45.280 --> 0:01:47.760 we just wanted to acknowledge the one thousand here up front, 0:01:48.320 --> 0:01:51.480 and I think frankly, we're doing that because we're both 0:01:51.640 --> 0:01:56.360 so excited about doing this. I think I should tell 0:01:56.360 --> 0:01:59.639 people what you emailed earlier. We were furiously sending links 0:01:59.680 --> 0:02:03.720 back fourth this week and you said, Uh, I don't 0:02:03.760 --> 0:02:06.560 even want to record, I just want to keep researching 0:02:06.720 --> 0:02:11.959 the Simpsons forever. It's true. Man. Last night, Chuck, I 0:02:12.000 --> 0:02:16.720 was sitting there watching Simpsons episodes and I thought, well, 0:02:16.760 --> 0:02:19.640 this is the pinnacle of my career. I am literally 0:02:19.680 --> 0:02:25.000 being paid to watch the Simpsons. Yeah, and we just 0:02:25.040 --> 0:02:27.200 had to stop, Like Eveen, we could have done this 0:02:27.240 --> 0:02:31.840 for weeks and researched, and this could be uh an 0:02:31.960 --> 0:02:36.520 entire podcast and into itself with a thousand episodes. Well 0:02:36.520 --> 0:02:41.320 maybe not a thousand, close to it, but at some 0:02:41.360 --> 0:02:44.080 point we had to stop. So just know, if we 0:02:44.120 --> 0:02:47.280 didn't cover your favorite thing from the show that's been 0:02:47.280 --> 0:02:50.960 on for thirty years, or or if we're not referring 0:02:51.080 --> 0:02:56.840 to episodes under their specific naming convention, yeah, calm down, Yeah, 0:02:56.880 --> 0:02:59.399 it's just impossible. So we're gonna do our best here 0:03:00.000 --> 0:03:01.840 to talk about some of our favorite stuff and a 0:03:01.840 --> 0:03:07.200 little bit about how the show works. But here we go, right, Oh, man, 0:03:07.400 --> 0:03:12.560 let's do it. This is like an actual intro. Yes, 0:03:14.880 --> 0:03:19.840 that was an actual response, So Chuck, yes, have you 0:03:20.040 --> 0:03:26.320 ever seen the Simpsons? I have, sir, you caught it 0:03:26.360 --> 0:03:29.480 back from the beginning, like that was right in our wheelhouse, 0:03:29.480 --> 0:03:33.279 maybe even yours a little more than mine. Yeah, And uh, 0:03:33.440 --> 0:03:35.240 I mean, let's we should go ahead and just talk 0:03:35.240 --> 0:03:38.240 for a moment about episode one because I have a 0:03:38.360 --> 0:03:41.720 very distinct memory, which is I'm in high school. It's 0:03:41.720 --> 0:03:46.680 my senior year. Chris Bouten, my friend and future roommate 0:03:46.680 --> 0:03:51.160 in college, calls me Boots Bouten, and he says, dude, 0:03:51.960 --> 0:03:54.080 have you and I have to admit I did not 0:03:54.120 --> 0:03:56.960 see the Tracy Almond shorts, So let's get that out 0:03:57.000 --> 0:03:59.400 of the way right now. They were bizarre. Yeah, and 0:03:59.480 --> 0:04:01.480 this is that's where the show began. As most people know, 0:04:01.640 --> 0:04:04.400 is a little short animated bits in the Tracy Ellman Show. 0:04:05.680 --> 0:04:08.360 But Chris Bootin calls me episodes Man, I'm coming over. 0:04:08.960 --> 0:04:11.080 I'm meeting you in the basement, opened the back door. 0:04:11.520 --> 0:04:14.040 I have a VHS of this show called The Simpsons 0:04:14.480 --> 0:04:17.320 you gotta see it, and he met me over there. 0:04:17.760 --> 0:04:23.360 It was winter, it was December. Well it aired on 0:04:22.440 --> 0:04:26.000 the seventeenth, but I have a feeling this was the 0:04:26.080 --> 0:04:30.239 next day probably, and Booting came over and we watched 0:04:30.400 --> 0:04:34.279 the very first episode, which was Santa's Little Helper, and 0:04:34.680 --> 0:04:39.120 we cried tears of joy and laughter, and my life 0:04:39.400 --> 0:04:43.800 went on a different course. Yeah, I Boots did not 0:04:43.960 --> 0:04:46.640 visit my house personally with the video. We didn't call 0:04:46.720 --> 0:04:48.720 him Boots by the video because well I'm calling him 0:04:48.760 --> 0:04:53.640 Boots nickname Boots. That's classic Boots by the way to 0:04:53.680 --> 0:04:57.400 show up in the basement. Um. But he, uh, he 0:04:57.480 --> 0:04:59.279 did not come to my house. But I did see 0:04:59.320 --> 0:05:00.800 that one, and I think Guy saw it when it 0:05:00.880 --> 0:05:04.839 aired actually, and I remember watching the Tracy Ullman shorts 0:05:04.880 --> 0:05:07.240 too and just being like, what the hell is this. 0:05:08.200 --> 0:05:10.839 But then by the time I think the Tracy Ullman 0:05:10.920 --> 0:05:12.520 Show and we'll get a little more into it, that 0:05:12.560 --> 0:05:16.480 one started in seven, um and the actual show started 0:05:16.480 --> 0:05:19.920 in eighty nine. So between those two points they really 0:05:19.960 --> 0:05:22.359 like it really started to come together to where that 0:05:22.400 --> 0:05:25.560 first episode where Homer finds out he's not getting a 0:05:25.640 --> 0:05:29.680 Christmas bonus, so he gets a job secretly as a 0:05:29.680 --> 0:05:32.320 mall Santa and ends up taking his check to the 0:05:32.360 --> 0:05:34.680 dog track and betting it all and losing it all 0:05:34.800 --> 0:05:36.960 on Santa's a Little Helper, which was the dog right, 0:05:37.000 --> 0:05:39.239 But then he ends up with Santa a Little Helper, 0:05:39.360 --> 0:05:41.960 so he gets what he was after all along, which 0:05:42.000 --> 0:05:45.120 is a great Christmas present for his family. What a 0:05:45.160 --> 0:05:49.479 beautiful episode, right, Yeah, And interestingly that first episode was 0:05:49.600 --> 0:05:53.360 really the eighth one to be made, but they ran 0:05:53.440 --> 0:05:56.120 that one first, so uh, there were there were some 0:05:56.160 --> 0:05:59.800 weird differences like the show. Actually, originally I think Matt 0:05:59.800 --> 0:06:03.359 Gray thought it would be redrawn a little more slickly, 0:06:04.279 --> 0:06:06.599 but they just traced over his original drawing. So the 0:06:06.600 --> 0:06:11.360 animation was fairly crude in this episode. And then you'll 0:06:11.360 --> 0:06:14.920 notice an episode two it actually looks a little bit better. Um, 0:06:14.960 --> 0:06:17.120 and you know, the Simpson still looks like the Simpsons, 0:06:17.160 --> 0:06:20.160 but that early episode and kind of the whole first 0:06:20.200 --> 0:06:24.440 season was a little more crude in drawing and voice. Uh. 0:06:24.440 --> 0:06:27.680 And the pilot was the only episode missing that very 0:06:27.680 --> 0:06:30.239 famous opening sequence, which we'll talk about a little bit later. 0:06:30.480 --> 0:06:32.400 Oh yeah, it wasn't it like a cold opening or 0:06:32.440 --> 0:06:34.720 something like that. I can't remember exactly how, but it 0:06:34.760 --> 0:06:38.120 didn't feature the iconic opening that we all know and 0:06:38.160 --> 0:06:42.840 love today. Um So, where shall we start, Chuck? I mean, 0:06:42.880 --> 0:06:45.320 I guess we kind of just did start. Yeah, and 0:06:45.360 --> 0:06:48.800 I think I already made a mistake about what well 0:06:48.880 --> 0:06:50.599 Sante's Little Hope would In the name of the episode, 0:06:50.600 --> 0:06:53.200 it was Simpsons roasting on an open fire. Yeah, so 0:06:53.360 --> 0:06:55.160 I mean, come on, that's the one that you were 0:06:55.640 --> 0:06:57.800 you were talking about, you know, yeah, but I'm just 0:06:57.880 --> 0:07:01.320 I know that like probably thousand people just slam their 0:07:01.360 --> 0:07:04.640 laptot shut. But that's what I'm saying, Everybody, chill out. 0:07:05.080 --> 0:07:07.839 That's not what this episode is about. We're not trying 0:07:07.880 --> 0:07:12.840 to show you how little you know. That's right. Ed 0:07:13.000 --> 0:07:16.520 the Grabster Grabanowski wrote this article. Actually this one was 0:07:16.520 --> 0:07:19.920 written by Unedd Grabanowski. If you ask me, why did 0:07:19.920 --> 0:07:22.280 you say that? Because it was it wasn't like five 0:07:22.320 --> 0:07:24.200 times as long as it should have been. No, I 0:07:24.240 --> 0:07:28.320 can't remember who who calls himself that for every Treehouse 0:07:28.320 --> 0:07:32.200 of Horror, but there's a D and they call themselves uned, 0:07:32.920 --> 0:07:35.600 so I thought that was probably I'm really surprised he 0:07:35.600 --> 0:07:37.800 didn't actually get that as his byline for this it's 0:07:37.800 --> 0:07:40.560 a nice estery there, my friend. Yeah. Uh, and then 0:07:40.600 --> 0:07:44.040 we did just I mean, so much supplementary information. It's 0:07:44.120 --> 0:07:46.560 sort of ridiculous. Yeah, but this is like a special 0:07:46.600 --> 0:07:49.640 request from us, wasn't it. Oh yeah, we said, go forth, 0:07:49.800 --> 0:07:55.960 grabster and write the well right the oh okay, right there, 0:07:56.040 --> 0:08:00.000 Well there were two ease in that the yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:08:00.200 --> 0:08:02.320 I should have noticed by the flourish of your hand 0:08:02.360 --> 0:08:04.840 what you were saying. All right, So let's go back 0:08:04.880 --> 0:08:08.520 to uh Simpsons creator one Mr Matt Greening, and we 0:08:08.560 --> 0:08:10.720 have actually met him, and we will talk about that 0:08:10.840 --> 0:08:14.880 in a little bit. Life highlight for sure. But he 0:08:14.920 --> 0:08:17.520 had a comic strip called Life and Hell, and I 0:08:17.560 --> 0:08:21.239 think the original conceit to pitch to producer James L. Brooks. 0:08:22.400 --> 0:08:25.960 Seven was a cartoon version of that. Ed writes in 0:08:26.000 --> 0:08:28.080 here he thought it would be a failure, but I 0:08:28.120 --> 0:08:32.200 read that he wasn't too keen on signing away sort 0:08:32.240 --> 0:08:34.559 of the thing he had worked on all his life. 0:08:35.000 --> 0:08:37.800 So he changed his mind at the last minute and thought, 0:08:37.800 --> 0:08:40.640 of the Simpsons. That's awesome. That sounds the second one 0:08:40.640 --> 0:08:43.200 sounds much more like Matt Graining for sure. Yeah, And 0:08:43.200 --> 0:08:44.920 he had he had no idea that would make him 0:08:44.920 --> 0:08:48.199 a super rich gazillion are either. But if you if 0:08:48.240 --> 0:08:51.080 you um know that story. The fact that the Simpsons 0:08:51.080 --> 0:08:54.880 started out on Tracy Ullman makes sense because James Brooks, 0:08:55.200 --> 0:08:58.600 who himself is a pretty like bona fide cool guy 0:08:58.760 --> 0:09:04.120 right here the married Tyler Moore shown directed terms of endearment. Um, 0:09:04.200 --> 0:09:07.440 he produced Bottle Rocket. Um. Yeah, you could say he 0:09:07.440 --> 0:09:10.400 has an eye for amazing things for sure. So he 0:09:10.440 --> 0:09:13.360 had come across this life and How strip and and 0:09:13.400 --> 0:09:16.040 wanted to basically turn it into animated shorts for the 0:09:16.080 --> 0:09:18.760 Tracy Woman Show, but then Graining swapped it out at 0:09:18.800 --> 0:09:21.440 the at the pitch meeting and said let's do this instead. 0:09:21.960 --> 0:09:24.240 But I think either way, he came up with the 0:09:24.320 --> 0:09:27.559 characters and the idea fairly on the fly, right Yeah, 0:09:27.600 --> 0:09:30.000 I mean obviously wasn't like while he was waiting outside 0:09:30.240 --> 0:09:33.199 of the pitch meeting, but h what he came up with. 0:09:33.400 --> 0:09:35.720 And if you haven't seen the Simpsons, maybe you should 0:09:35.760 --> 0:09:38.000 go watch an episode or two. Crawl up from under 0:09:38.040 --> 0:09:42.640 the rock that you're and go watch one. But obviously 0:09:43.120 --> 0:09:44.560 we should at least say what it is. And it 0:09:44.679 --> 0:09:49.440 is a sort of a traditional sitcom about um, and 0:09:49.840 --> 0:09:53.319 follows the sitcom conventions in many ways of a family, uh, 0:09:53.400 --> 0:09:58.679 living together under a roof who encounter fun hijinks along 0:09:58.720 --> 0:10:02.240 the way. Yeah, and um, that's kind of the subtext 0:10:02.360 --> 0:10:04.760 for the whole or the pretext I should say, for 0:10:04.800 --> 0:10:07.240 the whole series. Right, it's like it's a sitcom, it's 0:10:07.240 --> 0:10:10.839 a family sitcom. But there's a couple of big differences 0:10:10.920 --> 0:10:15.480 with it right there. Um, it's animated, which is huge 0:10:15.920 --> 0:10:17.760 because it's a it was a price. It became in 0:10:17.880 --> 0:10:21.880 nine a primetime animated series, and it was the first 0:10:21.960 --> 0:10:25.679 one since I think nineteen seventy two where Wait Till 0:10:25.720 --> 0:10:28.800 You're nineteen seventy four where Wait Till Your Father Gets 0:10:28.840 --> 0:10:31.439 Home went off the air. Did you ever see that show? 0:10:31.679 --> 0:10:35.360 It was like a proto family Guy basically, um, from 0:10:35.400 --> 0:10:38.480 the early seventies, and it was actually super entertaining. And 0:10:38.480 --> 0:10:40.439 then before that, of course, there was The flint Stones, 0:10:40.520 --> 0:10:44.200 but those were like the two big primetime animated series 0:10:44.440 --> 0:10:47.800 before the Simpsons. But there's a good, you know, twentysomething 0:10:48.800 --> 0:10:52.719 thirties something year lull in between those and the Simpsons. 0:10:52.760 --> 0:10:55.840 So that was a big difference in and of itself. Well, 0:10:56.360 --> 0:10:58.720 it's easy to take for granted. Now with the advent 0:10:58.800 --> 0:11:02.080 of like Cartoon Network in Adult Swim and Family Guy 0:11:02.080 --> 0:11:05.000 in Futurama, which also from graining. Yeah, I mean, there's 0:11:05.040 --> 0:11:09.840 just an explosion of animation. Right. You've got you know, 0:11:09.960 --> 0:11:12.440 starting back with Beavis and butt Head that was a 0:11:12.480 --> 0:11:15.400 descendant of The Simpsons, and then of course you've got 0:11:15.520 --> 0:11:21.000 King of the Hill, uh South Park. Um, today you've 0:11:21.040 --> 0:11:23.240 got Rick and Morty. Have you seen Rick and Morty? 0:11:23.520 --> 0:11:28.040 I haven't yet. Everyone I'm remiss. Everyone said it's the greatest. 0:11:28.240 --> 0:11:30.400 It is, it's the greatest, and man, it's one of 0:11:30.440 --> 0:11:32.680 those it's under the same thing that The Simpsons was 0:11:32.720 --> 0:11:35.199 initially taken for where you know, there's a lot of belching, 0:11:35.320 --> 0:11:37.400 so people are like, this is low brown. It's like, no, 0:11:37.559 --> 0:11:41.240 look past it to what they're actually doing. It's insanely 0:11:41.720 --> 0:11:45.920 smart and and really entertaining too. Like it's, um, it's 0:11:46.000 --> 0:11:47.840 laugh out loud funny in a lot of parts. I 0:11:47.880 --> 0:11:50.199 think we've kind of proven that we can be smart 0:11:50.240 --> 0:11:53.320 and still make part jokes. Sure, and and Rick and 0:11:53.320 --> 0:11:55.760 Morty is doing the same thing. And by the way, um, 0:11:55.800 --> 0:11:58.400 you know they listened to us, right Rick and Morty, Yeah, 0:11:58.400 --> 0:12:00.840 I remember they sent us that aunt's book and it 0:12:00.880 --> 0:12:05.160 had that was the Rick and Morty people. Yeah, so 0:12:05.280 --> 0:12:08.760 thanks again for that, guys. That's a treasured possession. Well 0:12:08.800 --> 0:12:13.559 I'm definitely watching now. Yeah, all the adult quote unquote 0:12:13.800 --> 0:12:17.600 uh cartoons that we see. But it was revolutionary at 0:12:17.600 --> 0:12:20.160 the time. I mean Flint Stone's aside, Like you said, 0:12:20.200 --> 0:12:23.000 it had been a long time and it was quite 0:12:23.040 --> 0:12:27.120 literally leveled the TV industry because it was such a 0:12:27.120 --> 0:12:29.360 smash hit right out of the gate. That's right, Yeah, 0:12:29.360 --> 0:12:32.160 I know, it was huge, right, um, and a lot 0:12:32.200 --> 0:12:36.040 of things came together for it. Um the fact that 0:12:36.040 --> 0:12:38.480 that James L. Brooks got in touch with the man Craning. 0:12:38.640 --> 0:12:40.000 That was a bit of a fluke because he got 0:12:40.040 --> 0:12:42.040 in touch with them for a different reason, but also 0:12:42.080 --> 0:12:44.760 because it was a show on Fox and Fox was 0:12:44.960 --> 0:12:48.600 just starting out as a network and they were looking 0:12:48.640 --> 0:12:52.720 to make waves. So at the time you had basically here, 0:12:52.840 --> 0:12:56.760 So here's what the Simpsons were up against in family 0:12:56.760 --> 0:13:00.760 sitcom wise. You ready for this? Um My two Dads, 0:13:01.400 --> 0:13:07.080 Major Dad, Mr Belvedere, who's the Boss, Hogan, Family Family Matters, 0:13:07.520 --> 0:13:13.760 Growing Pains, The Cosby Show, Full House, and like that 0:13:13.880 --> 0:13:17.960 was what family sitcoms or TV sitcoms in general were 0:13:18.240 --> 0:13:20.720 at the time, and you had Roseanne. Roseanne had been 0:13:20.720 --> 0:13:22.240 on for a couple of years already, and it had 0:13:22.280 --> 0:13:26.640 shaken things up some for sure, but for the most part, 0:13:26.760 --> 0:13:30.160 like this was America was this um, clean and tidy, 0:13:30.240 --> 0:13:36.360 wholesome place where everything was just peachy keen and all 0:13:36.440 --> 0:13:39.840 the problems that a family encounter were about as superficial 0:13:39.960 --> 0:13:42.920 as you could possibly come across. And this was the 0:13:42.920 --> 0:13:45.520 other big thing about The Simpsons, and it actually went 0:13:45.679 --> 0:13:50.080 really well, at least superficially with married with Children, which 0:13:50.200 --> 0:13:56.320 was that family wholesome sitcom spawn onto its very gritty, 0:13:56.360 --> 0:14:01.520 dirty underbelly. Right. Uh. The Pons was initially compared to 0:14:01.600 --> 0:14:03.480 that same kind of thing because they were both on 0:14:03.559 --> 0:14:05.640 Fox and they both like kind of took the family 0:14:05.640 --> 0:14:08.640 sitcom and turned it on its head. But it took 0:14:08.640 --> 0:14:11.040 a minute but not too long for people to start noticing, 0:14:11.040 --> 0:14:15.720 oh wait, actually this is really subversive satire. And that 0:14:15.880 --> 0:14:21.720 was the big thing that I think initially gave the Simpsons. 0:14:21.720 --> 0:14:26.320 It's it's it's base for to keep going for thirty seasons. Yeah, 0:14:26.360 --> 0:14:28.760 I mean, I remember when Fox first came out and 0:14:28.800 --> 0:14:31.960 it was like that, what, there's a fourth TV channel. 0:14:32.120 --> 0:14:33.880 I know it was a big deal. It was a 0:14:33.920 --> 0:14:35.920 big deal. And their thing from the beginning was, you know, 0:14:35.920 --> 0:14:38.440 we're gonna be edgy, We're gonna be different. This is 0:14:38.320 --> 0:14:41.600 this is not your mom and Dad's TV. And like 0:14:41.640 --> 0:14:44.040 you said, Mary with Children and the Simpsons firmly put 0:14:44.080 --> 0:14:47.040 them on a different track. Uh. And it was funny 0:14:47.080 --> 0:14:49.720 when you were just going through all the shows like 0:14:49.800 --> 0:14:55.280 they they were no more edgy than since TV's inception, 0:14:55.360 --> 0:14:57.120 and it might it might as well have been, well 0:14:57.160 --> 0:14:59.680 maybe a little more edgy than like be Re Cleaver 0:14:59.760 --> 0:15:02.920 and Sean Harriet, but not too far off. For the 0:15:02.960 --> 0:15:06.360 most part. TV was kind of the same for decades 0:15:06.960 --> 0:15:10.040 when it came to family sitcoms. Yeah, so the Simpsons 0:15:10.080 --> 0:15:13.640 was just this is not overstating it. It was a 0:15:13.680 --> 0:15:17.720 cultural revolution in every way. It definitely was. And it 0:15:17.720 --> 0:15:20.560 it took up like this already kind of nascent revolution 0:15:20.640 --> 0:15:24.320 and from Roseanne and from Mary with Children, but it 0:15:24.360 --> 0:15:26.640 was different, man, it was like it was it was 0:15:26.720 --> 0:15:29.960 its own thing and still is today. And again, like 0:15:30.000 --> 0:15:32.640 you were saying, it's easy to look back and be like, well, yeah, 0:15:32.680 --> 0:15:39.480 i mean animated, really smart, subversive satirical shows like they're 0:15:39.640 --> 0:15:42.480 they're a diamond dozen is a weird way to put it, 0:15:42.520 --> 0:15:44.440 but it's true, like they're all over the place. Now, 0:15:45.040 --> 0:15:48.600 that's because the Simpsons came along. It's as simple as that. Yeah. 0:15:48.600 --> 0:15:51.720 So the early episodes um in the In the first 0:15:51.760 --> 0:15:55.360 couple of seasons, Bart Simpson, uh was sort of the 0:15:55.360 --> 0:15:58.120 star of the show as far as pop culture goes. 0:15:58.160 --> 0:16:00.720 I mean, he was front and enter, he was on 0:16:00.760 --> 0:16:04.040 every T shirt. Every kid was saying eat my shorts, 0:16:04.760 --> 0:16:08.160 every kid was talking back to their teachers more, and 0:16:08.200 --> 0:16:11.440 it created quite a ruckuss in schools. I know that 0:16:11.480 --> 0:16:15.240 some of the T shirts were banned in certain school districts. Yeah. 0:16:15.280 --> 0:16:18.320 The Underachiever and proud of It man, Yeah, that one 0:16:18.560 --> 0:16:21.480 was banned and I think I'm Bart Simpson, who the 0:16:21.480 --> 0:16:26.040 hell are you? Yeah, But it wasn't long before it 0:16:26.080 --> 0:16:30.760 became pretty clear that it was an ensemble show for 0:16:30.840 --> 0:16:36.120 one and sort of Homer's show, let's be honest. Yeah, 0:16:36.840 --> 0:16:39.920 ultimately ended up that way in large part. He he 0:16:39.960 --> 0:16:43.400 became the central character, didn't he. Yeah, I would say easily. 0:16:43.840 --> 0:16:45.320 But then, I mean, we'll go through a lot of 0:16:45.360 --> 0:16:47.960 these characters, if not all of them, because we don't 0:16:47.960 --> 0:16:51.400 have time to read like five people's names, right, but 0:16:51.840 --> 0:16:54.240 it ended up being like a memorial or something. I know. 0:16:54.320 --> 0:16:56.760 But the Simpsons side characters and the guest characters have 0:16:56.840 --> 0:17:00.520 become just as beloved as uh as the fane of 0:17:00.520 --> 0:17:04.520 of course, Homer and Marge and Lisa and Bart and 0:17:04.760 --> 0:17:10.040 little Maggie. Absolutely. Do you want to take our first break? Yeah? Yeah, 0:17:10.080 --> 0:17:11.840 let's we're so excited. Let's go ahead and take a 0:17:11.840 --> 0:17:33.879 break real quick and calm down. All right, we're back. 0:17:34.119 --> 0:17:38.280 So the earliest clips of the Simpsons were animated by 0:17:38.440 --> 0:17:40.520 a different studio than they used now and have used 0:17:40.520 --> 0:17:44.800 for many years. It's called class Key Suppo or Cupo 0:17:45.240 --> 0:17:48.080 zupo c s u p oh. I'm not sure how 0:17:48.119 --> 0:17:50.520 they pronounced it, but they were all, of course based 0:17:50.520 --> 0:17:55.360 on Matt Greening's original sketches that had these yellow skinned characters, 0:17:55.480 --> 0:17:58.879 very bright primary color palette. Uh. And it became a 0:17:58.880 --> 0:18:00.840 little more refined over the year, SUPs, we said, but 0:18:01.400 --> 0:18:06.120 it's um it never approached like a slick looking animation 0:18:06.119 --> 0:18:09.119 by any means. No, No, the earliest stuff definitely not. 0:18:09.200 --> 0:18:12.320 And they were with I think it's class Key Zupo, 0:18:12.640 --> 0:18:14.840 I'm not sure, but they were with them for two 0:18:14.960 --> 0:18:18.800 years and and despite this stuff being really rough and 0:18:18.880 --> 0:18:21.240 like kind of hard to watch even if you if 0:18:21.240 --> 0:18:24.520 you look at it now. Um, they gave the Simpsons 0:18:24.520 --> 0:18:28.360 like their yellow skin, Marge's blue hair, and supposedly Matt 0:18:28.400 --> 0:18:32.800 graening Um when he saw the yellow skin tone palette 0:18:32.800 --> 0:18:37.280 for the Simpsons skin colors, he was like, that is perfect. 0:18:37.359 --> 0:18:39.920 Like when somebody's like clicking through the channels real quick, 0:18:40.200 --> 0:18:42.480 their eyes going to is gonna catch that and they're 0:18:42.520 --> 0:18:45.200 gonna stop because the Simpsons are on and they're gonna 0:18:45.240 --> 0:18:48.480 watch it. So apparently that's where the yellow came from. 0:18:48.560 --> 0:18:50.719 It was kind of a fluke, but they went with 0:18:50.760 --> 0:18:53.480 it just because it was so catchy. That's great idea. 0:18:53.720 --> 0:18:56.000 But then after I think two years, they moved over 0:18:56.040 --> 0:18:59.400 to something called film Roman or film Roman. I've never 0:18:59.440 --> 0:19:02.600 heard it actually really set out loud, but they they 0:19:02.640 --> 0:19:05.000 were the ones who, starting in and think season two 0:19:05.080 --> 0:19:09.600 or three, really gave the Simpsons it's defined look that 0:19:09.720 --> 0:19:12.200 stayed for years and years and years. Yeah. I remember 0:19:12.240 --> 0:19:15.480 Homer's voice early on sounded a little bit different too. Yeah, 0:19:15.680 --> 0:19:18.440 you know, I mean the same guy. It was Dan Castlenetta, 0:19:18.520 --> 0:19:21.879 but just uh was not the same Homer's voice that 0:19:21.880 --> 0:19:24.240 we know and love today. No, it was much gruffer. 0:19:24.320 --> 0:19:27.000 Plus his dialogue two was way more I mean it 0:19:27.040 --> 0:19:30.159 really was much more about Bart and Homer was way 0:19:30.280 --> 0:19:33.800 angrier and like he strangled barred it like the drop 0:19:33.840 --> 0:19:36.760 of a hat. That was like a go to gag. 0:19:36.880 --> 0:19:40.479 So this the show is still really smart compared to 0:19:40.880 --> 0:19:45.360 Who's the Boss, But compared to you know, later seasons 0:19:45.359 --> 0:19:48.760 of The Simpsons, it was really just it's rough by comparison, 0:19:48.800 --> 0:19:51.480 for sure. Don't not go boss too much though, I 0:19:51.480 --> 0:19:53.880 mean it's fine, too fine show. But man, it wasn't 0:19:53.880 --> 0:19:55.840 smart satire. You put it, you put it Who's the 0:19:55.840 --> 0:19:59.480 Boss episode up against like a season seven episode of 0:19:59.480 --> 0:20:02.040 The Simpsons. Mr. The Boss is not going to win 0:20:02.160 --> 0:20:04.239 that one. Yeah, they're not the Boss. I mean, like 0:20:04.320 --> 0:20:09.040 even Tony Danes. It will tell you that. So let's 0:20:09.080 --> 0:20:12.760 talk a little bit about the main cast and the crew. Uh. 0:20:12.920 --> 0:20:16.000 In those early years, Um, of course, Matt Graining was 0:20:16.040 --> 0:20:19.760 around from the beginning, and James L. Brooks of course. 0:20:20.080 --> 0:20:23.040 Then there was a man, uh, the dearly departed Sam Simon, 0:20:23.280 --> 0:20:26.280 who was an EP on the show from the early days. Uh, 0:20:26.359 --> 0:20:29.000 and the great Al Jean has been the show runner 0:20:29.040 --> 0:20:32.800 since the thirteenth season. Um, but I'm pretty sure he 0:20:32.800 --> 0:20:34.840 was around before that, right, I didn't exactly look at 0:20:34.880 --> 0:20:37.240 when he joined up. I believe he was an early 0:20:37.320 --> 0:20:41.119 producer as well, Okay, but eventually rose to showrunner. Bill Oakley. 0:20:41.200 --> 0:20:44.639 Josh Weinstein and Mike Scully ran the show previous to 0:20:44.720 --> 0:20:48.600 that during the first twelve seasons. We cannot list all 0:20:48.640 --> 0:20:51.680 the writers. It would be impossible, No, but some some 0:20:51.800 --> 0:20:56.600 made some pretty huge contributions. Yeah, like George Meyer and 0:20:56.720 --> 0:21:02.240 John Schwartzwelder are generally given credit to kind of defining 0:21:03.359 --> 0:21:06.280 who these characters were from the early days. Yeah, the worldview, 0:21:06.359 --> 0:21:08.960 the jokes they would make, the fact that and this 0:21:09.040 --> 0:21:11.359 is another huge thing that we take for granted today 0:21:11.359 --> 0:21:16.520 that The Simpsons really established was referential humor, like making 0:21:16.840 --> 0:21:21.840 making fun of, um, you know, film literature, trends, whatever, 0:21:22.200 --> 0:21:24.639 not necessarily part of the plot, but just part of 0:21:24.680 --> 0:21:26.920 a joke maybe or something like that, or in addition, 0:21:26.920 --> 0:21:29.240 a little layer just to make the whole, the whole 0:21:29.280 --> 0:21:31.919 idea that was being put across that much more palatable. 0:21:32.200 --> 0:21:34.600 They really kind of blew that out, and that was 0:21:34.640 --> 0:21:37.440 thanks to that early brain trust you just mentioned of 0:21:37.520 --> 0:21:40.400 people who established the show for for what it's what 0:21:40.440 --> 0:21:42.880 it was, Yeah, I mean it was a blueprint and 0:21:43.280 --> 0:21:46.960 everyone that that came along afterward sort of had their 0:21:47.000 --> 0:21:51.560 show Bible thanks to these people. Yes, you know which 0:21:51.840 --> 0:21:54.320 if you look up show Bible, there's this there's one 0:21:54.359 --> 0:21:57.160 episode that just screws up any Google search for that. 0:21:57.560 --> 0:22:00.720 There was the Simpsons Bible Stories episode, which was a 0:22:00.760 --> 0:22:03.760 stinker anyway, but it sucks because now you can't find 0:22:03.800 --> 0:22:07.440 any examples of this show Bible must exist somewhere. I 0:22:07.480 --> 0:22:09.479 don't know if you could find that online. You can 0:22:09.520 --> 0:22:13.520 find the style Guide examples online though, Yeah, for sure. Uh. 0:22:13.560 --> 0:22:15.320 And of course we got to mention Conan O'Brien because 0:22:15.320 --> 0:22:17.000 he very famously worked for a couple of years on 0:22:17.040 --> 0:22:21.520 The Simpsons. I think it's credited with four or five episodes, uh, 0:22:21.560 --> 0:22:25.160 including one of the all time classics, Marge versus the Monorail, 0:22:26.240 --> 0:22:28.560 which Conan has still talks about that being one of 0:22:28.600 --> 0:22:31.440 his great career achievements is writing that episode. I can imagine, 0:22:31.440 --> 0:22:33.560 because not only was a great episode, but you got 0:22:33.560 --> 0:22:36.320 to write and then Phil Hartman brought your stuff to 0:22:36.400 --> 0:22:39.680 life man like that was a big one. All right. Well, 0:22:39.800 --> 0:22:42.960 speaking of Phil Hartman, let's start talking about the cast, 0:22:43.520 --> 0:22:46.160 because this is gonna this is gonna take a little while. 0:22:46.760 --> 0:22:51.959 Are you ready. So, so, there's hundreds of characters in 0:22:52.160 --> 0:22:55.840 the Simpsons universe, but really a lot of them, a 0:22:56.040 --> 0:22:58.879 lot of them boil down to the voices of just 0:22:58.960 --> 0:23:04.080 six people. Yeah, so, um, two of them focus almost 0:23:04.080 --> 0:23:08.720 exclusively on just one character each. Julie Kavner does Marge, 0:23:08.760 --> 0:23:11.600 but then she also obviously does Marge's sisters Patty and 0:23:11.600 --> 0:23:15.480 Selma and her mom Jacqueline in one episode, Yeah, the 0:23:15.480 --> 0:23:19.119 Bouvier's yea. And then you'rd Lee Smith does just Lisa 0:23:19.400 --> 0:23:21.840 for the for the show. Yeah, and she's the only 0:23:21.880 --> 0:23:25.240