Mitch Albom, author of Tuesdays with Morrie, who had a cameo in last week’s episode:
Months passed. Christmas. New Year’s. And last Sunday, I was in the car on my way to a birthday party when someone called and said, “Hey, your ‘Simpsons’ episode is on.”
And I said, “Again, please?”
They never called to tell me.
So I missed it.
Newsarama tried to stealthily ask showrunner Al Jean why he’s been showrunner for the past nine years, and he answered that the writers haven’t been getting offers to work on other comedies and that comedy might finally be back on the upswing. I guess all those Judd Apatow-produced movies and animated comedies (some of them not created by Seth MacFarlane) and single-camera sitcoms like Arrested Development and The Office that have popped up in the past couple of years were actually part of a downswing?
Nrama: But haven’t you always had a philosophy of keeping the writers rotating? It kept new blood flowing.
Jean: Well, it was never a philosophy. There were two dynamics at work. In the 1990’s, there were a lot of comedies on the air. People who were on ‘The Simpsons’ got all these offers to work elsewhere. So they would leave, often to head their own projects. So we’d replace them.
This decade, unfortunately, comedy has not been doing so well. If people are doing a good job, then I keep them. So it doesn’t rotate as much. Still, I’m encouraged by this year’s ratings. Comedy might be back on the upswing. ‘American Family’ has started off really well.
Last Sunday’s episode, Any Given Sundance, was supposedly the least-watched first-run episode in recent history, with only 6.18 million viewers. [Simpsons Channel]
Kalina says this of the surprise Simpsonization: “A few months back a producer from the Simpsons contacted Carly [Comando] about using her song ‘everyday’ for an upcoming episode in which they were going to parody my video. She was negotiating a rate for the song, until they never got back to her. No fee was agreed on, no contracts signed. She and I both assumed that they were no longer interested in using her song for the show. Last night the episode aired and sure enough her song is part of the show. What’s up with that?! I am thrilled that the Simpsons parodied me, but Carly should have been compensated.”
The Simpsons Movie lost out to a Michael Bay movie based on a cartoon from the 1980s designed to sell toys in a worthless category (“Best Summer Movie You Haven’t Seen Yet”) at Sunday night’s MTV Movie Awards. [No Homers Club]
On November 8th, The Simpsons will be replaced by an episode of Family Guy, which will then be followed by a 30-minute “variety special” starring Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane and featuring integrated advertisements for the upcoming Windows 7 operating system. [