“Matt Groening rang me up because he’d seen The Office on a flight, ages before it was shown in America. I did a very rough sketch and wrote a song. So the only things that were mine were the song, a couple of jokes and the Wife Swap idea, which was Jane’s anyway. So I mustn’t take too much credit – I said as much once, but they said no, no, that’s always the case. Whoever it says ‘wrote’ the episode goes through the same process. So that made me feel slightly less guilty.”
Are you a young person? Do you enjoy The Simpsons? If so, you are the target demographic for the Church of England’s latest attempt to show they’re “hip” and “with it.”
Called “Mixing it up with ‘The Simpsons,'” the new book will be sent to youth advisers across the nation to give them a modern example of the church’s teachings in a more entertaining format, The Sunday Telegraph said.
Among the activities included in the book is determining whether teens can resist temptation by showing them a plate of doughnuts labeled “don’t touch.”
The book also compares Christians’ patient wait for the return of Jesus Christ to the antsy nature Bart Simpson displays toward an upcoming Krusty the Clown show.
“Jesus was a great storyteller — as are the creators of ‘The Simpsons’ — and the power of a good story lies in meeting people where they are, making them laugh and then giving them something to think about afterwards,” said the Rev. John Pritchard, the Bishop of Oxford.
Come on, isn’t Matt Groening’s ego big enough?? [The Money Times]
The aloof creator of The Simpsons will be appearing in an upcoming issue of Playboy! Here is a funny quote:
As a parent, Groening says, “I’m the dad I wished I had. I try to let my kids have a good time.” His reward? “[My kids] tell me I’m not funny anymore. … My son said he wishes [‘Family Guy’ creator] Seth MacFarlane were his father.”
In a top ten list of the top ten environmental films (#9: FernGully), Ken Eisner rounds off his appraisal of Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth with a solicitation to “look for some of these themes to emerge in The Simpsons Movie, from Al’s pal Matt Groening.” [straight.com]
iF: For everyone who worked on [Futurama], it’s been off the air much longer, since Fox had a whole season left in the can to air once production had stopped.
GROENING: That’s the nature of animation. When the SIMPSONS finally ends, there will probably be another season and we’ll do a long farewell tour and wave to people.
[Zap2it]
Matt Groening doesn’t think so:
“At the beginning, there was probably some competition going on” between “The Simpsons” and “Family Guy,” he says. “But certainly not from me.
“I know how hard it is to do an animated TV show. [‘Family Guy’ creator] Seth MacFarlane is a good friend. And ‘Family Guy’ is funny. It’s got its own style. The more the merrier. I want more cartoons on TV,” Groening says.
MacFarlane had some nice things to say about The Simpsons, too:
“You could almost say ‘The Honeymooners’ or subsequently ‘All in the Family’ laid down the ground rules — everything structurally — for a live-action sitcom.
“And I think it’s the same thing for ‘The Simpsons’ regarding subsequent animated shows. They reinvented the process. A lot of things worked. So of course you’re gonna use that as a springboard.”
The [minor league baseball team] Portland Beavers will honor America’s goofiest dad later this summer. The Pacific Coast League Beavers, in announcing their 2007 promotional schedule, said they’ll hold Homer Simpson Night on July 21. The homage will honor the cartoon character whose creator, Matt Groening, grew up in Portland.
Homage, or should it be…. Homerage??? [Portland Business Journal]
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]