The Hollywood Reporter did a big cover story about The Simpsons in honor its meaningless milestone of having churned out a certain number of product. Former showrunner Mike Scully used the occasion to share his death wish with the nation:
“I think the show will outlive all of us,” says former producer Mike Scully. “Nothing would make me happier than some episode in the future to end with a title card that reads, ‘In memory of Mike Scully.'”
Yup, Mike Scully wants to die. Nothing would make him happier. There is no other way to interpret that quote. After years of death threats from Simpsons nerds, it seems Scully has decided to embrace the icy hand of death.
The rest of the article is mostly just a rehash of the same stories they’ve been telling for years in interviews and audio commentaries (did you know Michael Jackson didn’t do his own singing???), but nonetheless there’s a few interesting tidbits I haven’t heard elsewhere, if you use a charitable interpretation of “interesting.”
- A small confirmation from creator Matt Groening that he didn’t come up with the Simpsons on the spot: “I’d had them in mind for a while but had never drawn them.” In fact, he’d come up with them in high school, a detail he never mentions anymore.
- James L. Brooks claims director David Silverman gave him the idea of turning the original shorts into a series while drunk at a Christmas party. But basically everyone vaguely involved with the show, including Rupert Murdoch, says it was their idea, so who knows.
- Future former Tonight Show host Conan O’Brien gave Johnny Carson the wrong directions out of the Fox lot.
- Mike Scully’s first day was the day NBC told Conan he was taking over Late Night from David Letterman. So, in a sense, he replaced Conan. That’s a nice bit of symbolism for the contingent of Simpsons fans who think Conan was responsible for Everything Good about the show and Scully was responsible for Everything Bad.
- Julie Kavner (voice of Marge) has some words of praise for the dreaded upcoming season finale starring Lady Gaga. I’ve always had her pegged as “not a fan” of the show in its current incarnation and a member of what Groening dubs “the sour wall,” but maybe I was wrong.
- Hank Azaria mentions – although not by name – Christopher “Cobra Commander” Collins, whom he replaced as the voice of Moe. Supposedly Collins was “difficult to work with.” Azaria’s also the only person to mention former producer Sam Simon.
- Apparently, when rich people reminisce about their days in the 99%, they make sure to mention what kind of car they drove, as a class indicator. Groening drove a 1962 Ford Fairlane; Nancy Cartwright drove a Honda Prelude.
- This photo gallery of the animation studio is kinda neat. However, they put the photos out of order, so character designer Joe Wack is referred to out of the blue as just “Wack” in photo 5 and introduced in photo 7. I sure hope somebody got fired for that blunder.