Al Jean

MEANINGLESS MILESTONES

Is executive producer Al Jean hepped up on goofballs, or is he just reading off a generic press release? Read this in a stoner voice and decide for yourself:

Jean recalled the magic of making the first full-length episode, The Simpsons’ Christmas Special. “That show – wow – it was one of the best things,” said Jean, who has served as the show’s head writer and, since 2001, its executive producer… “It had emotion, humor – it was just beautiful,” Jean recalled… “A lot of times, we first think about who we would like to meet and then write a character for them,” he said. “The show has had a lot of success in getting people to come on.” When asked for some his favorite celebrity performers, Jean immediately ticks off names: “Well, Phil Hartman, of course. Kelsey [Grammer] has been great. Jon Lovitz is really amazing. Eric Idle was great. We even had George and Paul and Ringo from the Beatles… It was very exciting when Liz Taylor came on to do Maggie’s voice. She said one word, ‘Daddy,'” Jean recalled. “Ms. Taylor had a little dog – and a ring bigger than my fist. It was all very ‘movie star.'”

IMPORTANT NEWS DISCLOSURE: A publicist for parade.com sent me an e-mail and asked if “[I] could make this announcement on [my] website and include a link to Parade.com” [Parade]

GROEN DRAIN

TW: Fans talk of the golden age, seasons three through eight or nine. Now that you’re into season 18, haven’t there been other phases, maybe a new renaissance?

MG: I don’t feel like I want to defend the show to people who don’t like it, but I would say that the animation is better, that we’re doing shows that I defy anybody to say that we’ve already done. We’re coming up with, I think, ideas that are certainly surprising to us. And the show still makes me laugh. That’s all I care about. I hope that it makes other people laugh, too.

For comparison to other executive producers:

Al Jean: “I think the last couple years have been among our best”
James L. Brooks: Season 17 is “a classic”
Matt Groening: Animation is better, surprising new ideas, still makes him laugh [The Wave]

BART ART

Here’s a pretty generic update on the upcoming movie from the LA Times, with some mildly entertaining new tidbits – the producers seem to advise walking in with low expectations, Groening doesn’t know off-hand how many spikes of hair Bart has, director David Silverman wants it to be as wide as possible. But the real highlight of this article is this delightful Silverman drawing of Homer and Bart being chased by Silverman, Groening, Al Jean and James L. Brooks:

[Los Angeles Times]