Animation aside, though, “South Park” shares almost nothing with “The Simpsons,” which I think is not only the funniest but also the most literate show on TV-a program that, in the words of the poet Robert Pinsky, a longtime fan, “penetrates to the nature of television itself.” Pinsky’s observation points to the main source of the show’s strength: to a degree that is almost unheard-of on television, “The Simpsons” belongs to its writers.īecause animation is an enormously labor-intensive and time-consuming process, preparing the visual images for each “Simpsons” episode requires most of a year. They assume that the show is tasteless, sophomoric, and profane-like, say, “South Park,” a crude cartoon whose principal claim to fame is that its characters use bad words. People who disparage “The Simpsons” (or who forbid their children to watch it) often do so reflexively, without ever having seen it. Time recently named it the best television program of the twentieth century. College students still regularly rate it the best show on TV. The program from the start has had a large and loyal following among Hispanics (whose ardor explains a semi-cryptic message superimposed on the screen at the beginning of every episode: “SAP Transmitido en Español”). My wife and I watch “The Simpsons” as avidly as our children do, and we have for years it’s the only show we all watch together, the only one we plan meals around, and the only one during which we don’t read, fold laundry, or talk. Even more unusual is the breadth of the show’s popularity. Longevity like that is rare in television, especially for a sitcom. “The Simpsons” is now in its eleventh season on the beach last summer, I overheard my teen-age daughter and several of her friends trading favorite lines from favorite episodes, some of which dated back almost to their toddlerhood. People are always asking why ‘The Simpsons’ is still so good after all these years, and, at the risk of pissing off all the other writers, I think I’d have to say that the main reason is probably George.” “George completely changed my approach, and I’m a much better writer as a result. “The writers on those shows get to the point where they can almost write scripts in their sleep,” he said. ![]() I had done a lot of sitcom work before, but George’s stuff was so different and so original that for a while I wondered if I wasn’t in over my head.” On other sitcoms, Scully explained, the dialogue is highly predictable, and the same kinds of setups inevitably lead to the same kinds of jokes. “When I first came to work here, seven years ago, he just blew me away. “George is the best comedy writer in Hollywood,” he said. Mike Scully, who shares Meyer’s title and serves as the program’s “show runner,” or editor-in-chief, talked to me about Meyer not long ago in his office at Fox. He has so thoroughly shaped the program that by now the comedic sensibility of “The Simpsons” could be viewed as mostly his. The credits in recent years have listed him as one of several executive producers, but no title could adequately describe his role. Meyer began writing for “The Simpsons” late in 1989, a few months before the show’s première, on Fox. Then they’ll mention their two favorite lines, and both of them will be George’s.” “A show that you have the writer’s credit for will run, and the next day people will come up to you and tell you how great it was. ![]() ![]() “That kind of thing happens to all the show’s writers all the time,” Vitti said. “It was extremely flattering-except that I hadn’t written any of those jokes.” Everything Tucker quoted from the episode was actually the work of a colleague of Vitti’s named George Meyer. “The article quoted five jokes from the show,” Vitti told me afterward. Several years ago, Entertainment Weekly ran an effusive review of the television show “The Simpsons.” The review’s author, Ken Tucker, singled out a particular episode as “a masterpiece of tiny, throwaway details that accumulate into a worldview.” That episode was written by Jon Vitti, who at the time was one of the show’s most talented and prolific writers.
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