All language subtitles for Icons.Unearthed.S02E03.The.Room.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD+2.0.H.264-playWEB_track3_[eng]

NARRATOR:
This is Matt Groening,
the one and only creator...

Smile, please.

Thank you.

NARRATOR: ...and face
of The Simpsons.

You had such a punk rock guy
as Matt Groening.

He was an offbeat
LA underground guy.

NARRATOR: However,
as season one of The Simpsons

started rocking the world...

The Simpsons were a huge hit.

NARRATOR: ...there were
two other things

people were talking about.

The writing was always
super funny.

And the animation
was particularly

a great source of comedy, too.

NARRATOR: But Matt Groening

wasn't responsible for
either of them.

That's right. The writing
and animation on The Simpsons
are one of a kind.

These are just stupid drawings
that give you a cheap laugh.

NARRATOR: In fact, they're two
very different stories.

Just a bunch of
hilarious stuff, you know?

Like people getting hurt
and stuff, stuff like that.
[GROANS]

NARRATOR: How Klasky Csupo
and the animation team

created these iconic
cartoon characters...

Well, that's a story
for another episode.

But it was the simple
words on a page

where, arguably, The Simpsons'
genius could be found.

Anybody that wrote in
The Simpsons writers room

is, like, a legend in this town.

NARRATOR: As The Simpsons
ventured into its first season,

the writer's room became
the engine room of the show...

It helped to have worked
with great writers

who hated
the West Coast sensibility.

NARRATOR:
...in attitude and aptitude.

It's like being on
a Super Bowl winning team.

NARRATOR: This would be
a writers room like no other.

There was an amazing
group of writers.

NARRATOR: And this is the story
of how the writers

of the first four seasons
and beyond, of The Simpsons,

rewrote the rules
of television sitcoms.

[OPENING THEME MUSIC PLAYING]

-[BIRDS CHIRPING]
-[ANGELIC MUSIC PLAYING]

NARRATOR: It seems
that everyone involved
in The Simpsons Season 1

was surprised by its success.

I'm taking you out for
a frosty chocolate milkshake.

KIDS: Yay!

NARRATOR: From the showrunner,
Sam Simon...

Sam Simon turned
to the season one writers,

and he said, "Guys, we have 13,
and then we're done.

"Thirteen episodes,
and then we're probably
going to get canceled."

NARRATOR: ...to the writers.

None of us expected
the show to run very long.

But in a weird way,
I think that helped us
write the show.

Well, if the crime
is making me laugh,

they're all guilty.
[CHUCKLES]

JON VITTI: We were so certain
it was gonna be 13 episodes,

I think the mindset
we all adopted was,

"Well, let's make them
13 episodes

"that we're
really happy with."

That wound up being the best way
to create a successful show.

NARRATOR: And create
a successful show, they did.

And now, it looked like
they might have to
do it again.

The Emmy goes to...

Can I read it, Mom? Please?
Can I? Can I? Can I?

Well, okay, Bart.

NARRATOR: Because
after winning an Emmy

for Outstanding
Animated Program,

it was the icing
on the cake for Fox.

Their investment
had paid off big time.

They must think people
will watch anything.

NARRATOR: They renewed
the series for a staggering
22 Episodes.

Woo-hoo!

NARRATOR: And they
haven't stopped renewing it
ever since.

But back in 1990,

the future of The Simpsons
was far from certain.

Come to the one you love best.

NARRATOR:
Because, as hilarious
as The Simpsons was,

it was the Fox Network itself

that some people
were laughing at.

The Fox Network,
which was a punchline
at the time,

had ridiculous shows.

They had a drama
about a teenage werewolf...

-[ROARS]
-[SOBBING]

They had all kinds of
failed sitcoms

and weird high-concept stuff.

And then The Simpsons,
which is its only, you know,
success at the time.

NARRATOR: And Fox wanted
to show America and advertisers

that they were all in
on The Simpsons.

-Hey, you said
you were Homer Simpson.
-Yeah.

-See you on Thursday.
-D'oh.

NARRATOR:
And they switched the show

from Sunday night
to Thursday night.

And people thought
that was crazy.

NARRATOR: Back then,
Thursday nights weren't just
regular Thursday nights.

DANIEL M. KIMMEL:
Eight o' clock on Thursdays,

was The Cosby Show.

Fox said, "Why are we just
writing off that time slot?

"Let's counterprogram."

-What?
-We're gonna take on

the reigning champs
of American family sitcoms.

NARRATOR: A gutsy move
for the up and coming
Fox Network,

and an overwhelming task
for the team.

All except for Sam Simon,

who had nothing to fear.

RUSS WOODY: Sam Simon
was a bigger than life
sort of guy.

Everybody in the business
knew him.

He was a really
talented individual.

NARRATOR:
Simon had honed his art

on some of the 1980's
most celebrated sitcoms.

♪ Sometimes you wanna go

♪ Where everybody
Knows your name ♪

I had known Sam Simon
back when I was working
on Cheers

and Sam was on Cheers as well.

NARRATOR:
And there was no doubt

Sam Simon was
the right person for the job.

I'm here with the writers.

So Sam, he was a great writer,

and really knew how to
make people laugh.

He really understood comedy,
almost like a science.

He could put his finger on
why a scene wasn't working,

and with a little adjustment,
suddenly it's hilarious.

NARRATOR: In 1987,
Groening teamed up
with award-winning producers

James L. Brooks and Sam Simon.

Sam Simon was really important
in bridging the gap between

the sensibilities
of James L. Brooks,

who makes heartwarming
TV and movies,

and Matt Groening,
who has this very kind of
punk rock sensibility.

And then you have Sam Simon
as the bridge between the two.

NARRATOR: And now,
it was his task

to gather a team of writers

to create a huge pile of
new Simpsons scripts.

All right, leeches.

I want you to see what
a good writer looks like.

NARRATOR: And he
already had a good start,

with the writers
from season one.

CHRIS TURNER: Sam Simon
basically hired

the core comedy writing team

that created that
distinctive Simpsons voice.

NARRATOR: That included
Matt Groening's

one and only writing pick.

My name is Mimi Pond,

and I wrote the premiere episode
of The Simpsons.

Ho ho ho! Ho ho ho!

NARRATOR: Mimi was
an established writer

and a friend of Matt Groening,

who shared his love
of the sketched world.

I just love visual storytelling.

My father was
an amateur cartoonist,

and had me drawing
at an early age.

And my parents
just kept saying,

"She's gonna be a cartoonist
when she grows up."

And I'm like,
"That sounds good."

I'd started publishing comics

in a local classified
sex ads newspaper

called The Spectator.

NARRATOR: But then,
the phone rang.

[PHONE RINGING]

Sam Simon called me up
and asked

if I wanted to be
on the original staff

of what would become
the longest-running show
in TV history.

Breaks don't come
much bigger than that.

NARRATOR: Sam Simon made
a lot of calls during his time
at The Simpsons,

but he didn't reach
for the phone book.

He reached for something else.

Army Man,
"America's only magazine,"
as George billed it.

Army Man was, you know,
sight gags and little,
goofy vignettes.

It was, like, eight pages of
just white paper stock.

It was typed in xerox.

There'd be, like, eight
short, little items a page.

NARRATOR: Created
by George Meyer,

Army Man recruited
a crack Navy SEALs division
of comedy writers.

VITTI: George knew
all the best writers,

and some of them were
so good at it.

People like Jack Handey.

MAN: And now, Deep Thoughts
By Jack Handey.

Before Deep Thoughts,
there was Jack Handey
on Army Man.

JACK HANDEY: Dad always thought
laughter was the best medicine,

which, I guess,
was why several of us
died of tuberculosis.

[LAUGHTER]

But some of the people doing it
were really, really good.

NARRATOR: Army Man's
audience was tiny.

And it was completely
just to send to his friends.

NARRATOR: But among its readers
were key people.

Which included
a lot of TV and film people,
including Sam Simon.

NARRATOR: By pilfering
Army Man staff,

it was almost too easy

for Sam Simon to find
great comedy writers.

It is so simple,

you egghead writers would've
never thought of it!

NARRATOR: And of course,
the Army Man commander himself,

George Meyer, joined the team.

George had a very jaundiced
view of American society.

Did what I say make sense?

Well, no, not really, Bill.

Boy, now I know
how the pilgrims felt.

You know, people are out
to rip you off,

everyone is
a little bit of a fraud.

Release the hounds.

BILL OAKLEY: Companies are
all out for the bottom line,

which all tend to be true.

But no one was able to produce
such brilliant material

in that vein as George was.

It's your fault
America has lost its way.

-I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
-ALL: It's all your fault!

NARRATOR: Also,
from the trenches of Army Man,

came the man who would go on

to write more Simpsons episodes
than anybody else,

John Swartzwelder.

JULIA PRESCOTT:
I love John Swartzwelder.

He would go to
his favorite diner,

and he would write
all of his scripts

in this one particular booth.

And then the diner
ended up closing,

and so, he negotiated
to get that specific booth

installed into his house,
which I think is delightful.

NARRATOR: A lot of the writers
on those early seasons
of The Simpsons

had a lot in common.

MAN: Steve Tompkins,

Rich Appel, Dan Greaney...

Cut, cut, cut.

...David X. Cohen...

KEN LEVINE: We were all in
the Simpsons writers room,

and my partner, David Isaacs,

at one point, said to everybody,

"So where'd you guys all
go to college?"

Yes. Harvard, Yale, MIT,
Oxford, the Sorbonne,
the Louvre.

And it was Harvard, Harvard,
Princeton, Yale, Yale.

David said, "Uh-huh."

He goes, "University of Miami.

"And I'm doing the same job
you guys are."

It felt like, "Oh, my God,
all these guys went to college
together at Harvard

"and have
been together forever."

Sing "Fair Harvard."

[SINGING] Fair Harvard, I...

[GASPS]

We were all
on the Harvard Lampoon
at the same time.

And then we wound up
back in the same room
at The Simpsons.

NARRATOR: Students Mike Reiss,
Al Jean, and Conan O'Brien

did some of their
best work at Harvard.

And none of it
was on their studies.

We kind of found
kindred spirits at the Lampoon,

and we would sit around
watching Brady Bunch reruns...

Hey, you guys!

[GASPS] My nose!

...deconstructing them,
instead of

reading the great books of
Western literature.

Hi, guys. Great to see ya.

Get lost, Poindexter.

Yeah, beat it, Professor.

NARRATOR: It was arguably
the most overqualified

writers room ever assembled.

I remember thinking it was
a little pretentious,

but they were super smart
and they got the comedy.

NARRATOR: The payroll read like
a who's who of seasoned
comedy writers,

minus one mildly seasoned
comedy writer.

I didn't get picked up
to be on staff. [CHUCKLES]

You know, I got
a weird vibe the whole time,

like I really wasn't wanted.

-Yeah.
-Yeah. You know, it's good.

They just didn't wanna
have a girl around.

NARRATOR: Despite writing
the premiere episode
of The Simpsons...

This is the best gift of all.

NARRATOR: ...Mimi Pond
would not be
on the writing team

from season two onwards.

Oh, well.

NARRATOR: And The Simpsons
continued nonetheless.

CAROL WYATT: The Simpsons
was a hit right away.

The first reaction to it
was huge,

but then it just got bigger.

You couldn't get away
from the Simpson mania.

[ALL LAUGHING]

Kind of feels like it had
a Beatles-esque explosion.

[ALL SCREAMING]

Beatlemania, Bartmania.

NARRATOR: And like The Beatles,

The Simpsons and Bartmania
went around the world.

TURNER: The show
is one of the first American
sitcoms, I think,

to travel as far as it did.

You know, huge following
in Europe,

huge following in Asia.

Just an extraordinary
cultural phenomenon.

NARRATOR: The Simpsons
had gone viral.

'90s style, that is.

TURNER: We're talking about
the pre-internet age.

You know, only a handful
of things got talked about,

and everyone was
talking about The Simpsons.

Simpson, eh?

NARRATOR: And as Season 2
turned into Season 3...

If I hear one more thing
about The Simpsons,

I swear, I am going to scream.

NARRATOR: ...and Season 4...

[BOTH SCREAMING]

NARRATOR: ...it was obvious
that Sam Simon

had done something very right,

assembling an incredibly
talented writing team.

In the case of The Simpsons,
room was very, very valuable.

But the room only functions
as well as the person
running it.

NARRATOR: And he was
the smartest guy in the room,

even though he
only made it to Stanford.

You're smarter than me.

NARRATOR: And he was
certainly smart enough

to identify
the fundamental problem

in this newfangled
animated family sitcom.

Come in, my captivating one.

LEVINE: When you're
doing animation,

you have so much freedom

that you can go
in so many places...

Ooh, la, la.

...it's hard to
harness all of that

into some cohesive
type of series.

NARRATOR: And it was partly
Sam Simon's job

to make sure the writers'
outlandish animations...

[BOTH LAUGHING]

...didn't create an impossible
task for the animators.

LEVINE: When you're
doing animation,

it's just as easy to
do a scene

at Yankee Stadium
with 50,000 people...

These seats stink.

...as it is to have

Homer and Marge
at the kitchen table.

Oh, I don't know.

NARRATOR: The animators
would disagree.

[CHUCKLES]

But we'll give them
their chance to explain
soon enough.

LEVINE: Sam managed to find
that level of absurdity,

so that the show was
both absurd and grounded,

which is very difficult to do.

NARRATOR: And so,
for the writers

of this absurdly grounded
groundbreaking show,

they had a cast of characters

who gave them
plenty to work with.

I'm Bart Simpson.
Who the hell are you?

Bart was definitely the most
popular character at first.

Ooh, cowabunga!

Kids just loved Bart...

-Bitchin'!
-...and they would use

all his catchphrases.

-Eat my shorts.
-Pardon?

That was part of why
they got hate mail
from teachers.

NARRATOR: Bart was
the character

every 10-year-old kid
wished they could be.

Don't have a cow, Dad.

NARRATOR: But it was Lisa
who changed the most.

TURNER: As the show
was sort of evolving,

and you began to see,

in the sense of
beginning to find its legs...

Watch this ugly face.

On the shorts, Lisa used to
just kind of be a female Bart.

Check this out.

They were both
kind of troublemakers
and kind of mean.

I want to see a giant squid
attack a sperm whale

and battle to the death.

NARRATOR: And one
episode in particular

showed that Lisa was more than
merely Bart's sister.

I'm too sad.

Too sad to play dodgeball?

"Moaning Lisa" had
some very emotional moments.

[SAXOPHONE PLAYING]

TURNER: It's about
this relationship
between Lisa Simpson

and this old jazz legend
that she loves,

Bleeding Gums Murphy.

-My friends call me
Bleeding Gums.
-Ew.

You really started
to feel the influence

of Jim Brooks and Sam Simon.

I don't see any tears
in her eyes.

It's not that kind of sad.

Jim had a lot to do with

making Lisa an important
part of the show.

I want you to smile today.

But I don't feel like smiling.

Lisa got the heavy
emotional hitters
pretty early on

because she was
the sweet, dorky girl.

That's my girl.

NARRATOR: And when you
consider the heartfelt nature

of some of Brooks' prior work,

his influence on
the sentimentality of the show

is loud and clear.

James L. Brooks, he understood,

if you were gonna spend
a half hour a week

with a sitcom family,
you had to care about them.

[SNIFFLES]

Lisa has often
served that role,

both from an emotional
point of view,

and also sort of from
an intellectual point of view,

where she's the conscience
of the show.

How can we sleep at night

when there's so much
suffering in the world?

She grounds us in a reality

that allows us to have
sympathy for these characters.

♪ I'm the saddest kid
In grade number two ♪

[SAXOPHONE PLAYING]

PRESCOTT: When it comes
to cartoons,

you know, you can't have
a character like Homer...

Look, I'm the funniest guy
in the world.

...without the love of Marge.

MARGE: My one, my love, my all.

That was beautiful.

...to sympathize with him.

[GRUNTING AND SCREAMING]

NARRATOR: It was the show
that had something
for everyone.

Woo-hoo! I...

[SCREAMS]

NARRATOR: Sight gags
for the kids...

[GROANING]

D'oh! Do'h. Ooh.

...satire for the adults.

Think you have room in your jail
for a two-time loser?

Well, no, frankly.

But that never
stopped us before.

NARRATOR:
In a pre on-demand age,

The Simpsons was
appointment viewing only.

TURNER: It was a show that
people gathered together
to watch.

There aren't
a lot of precedents

for a TV show
to have that degree

of global cultural import
so quickly out of the gate.

NARRATOR: And with
international reach

came a marketing opportunity

that Fox couldn't wait
to exploit.

18 bucks for this?

What a rip-off.

At first, there were
Simpsons products everywhere,

they were flying off the shelf.

NARRATOR: An almost
unlimited ability

to merchandise
The Simpsons brand.

MAN: It's The Simpsons
from Mattel.

BOY: Don't have a cow, Homer.

The Simpsons is this, you know,
merchandising juggernaut.

Na-na-na-na na-na. Whoa!

You name it, you could find
The Simpsons version of that.

MAN: With Simpson
merchandise selling like crazy

and Simpson gin
wetting whistles worldwide.

TURNER: Basically, you slap
The Simpsons on anything

and you could sell it
for whatever you ask.

Money in the bank.

COOPER BARNES:
The Simpsons had their own
action figures right away.

This is a sitcom cartoon show.

These are not, like,
action-oriented characters

with, like, a kung fu grip.

And yet, there's
a Homer Simpson action figure.

I remember I had it.

Is that guy on TV?

[BARNES CHUCKLES]
The Homer action figure
didn't do anything.

He just stood there
and looked overweight.

NARRATOR: And getting fatter
than any Homer figurine

were the coffers at Fox.

KIMMEL: The network
is alive and thriving.

We're getting more viewers
and we're making money on this.

♪ Do it to the music
That's the Bartman ♪

TURNER: The Simpsons
really did, you know,
milk every last bit

of its first explosive
Bartmania phase.

NARRATOR: None of
the writers got a piece

of the merchandising
action initially,

but the massive success
of The Simpsons

was about to make
their job a lot easier.

The Simpsons
is the longest running

scripted American TV show.

-Cartoons have writers?
-Eh, sort of.

NARRATOR: And every single gag

in every single one
of those scripts

had to fight for
its place on screen.

There's a back and forth
between group and solo work.

The story meeting
would be done in a group.

NARRATOR: A comedy crucible,

the writer's room was the first
and most brutal test of an idea

that might be turned
into television.

Any given story,
there's a thousand
decisions to be made.

You're literally having,
like, a debate with 13 people.

-Debate, like arguing?
-Yes.

I'll take that, you stinkpot!

Not everyone's gonna get
what they want.

-You write up your proposal.
-Proposal?

You know, outline your project,
what you hope to achieve.

VITTI: After the outline,

you would check in with Sam
and some of the key producers,

and they could make
huge changes,

they could make small changes.

And then, you would get
two weeks

to go from outline to draft.

NARRATOR: Making sure
that draft had everything
it needed

to make a Simpsons episode

was the showrunner's job.

We'd hand in the script.

Over the weekend,
the showrunners would read it.

-[HORN HONKING]
-Look at this. It's that boy
who laughs at everyone.

Let's laugh at him.

[ALL LAUGHING]

OAKLEY: The showrunner,
in general, knows what
they want.

They know what
they're waiting for,
what kind of joke.

A joke that either
everyone laughs at,

or a joke that is
the perfect character moment.

NARRATOR: Throughout the first
dynasty of The Simpsons,

the man not just
running the show,

but shaping it
like an expert sculptor,

was a sitcom mastermind.

Sam found young people
who were basically untested,

but were genuinely funny,

and Sam taught them.

VITTI: Sam was so
infinitely talented at comedy,

he trusted himself
to clean up our mistakes,

no matter how big they got.

He could sense what
you were trying to do

and usually, at the end
of Sam's rewrite,

it was the episode
you would have written

if you were a better writer.

If I puked in a fountain pen

and mailed it
to the monkey house,

I'd get better scripts.

Once they believe in a story,

they always make
an episode out of that.

NARRATOR: No matter
how much rewriting it took.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,

they would have to
rewrite the show.

And then, the script,
they would do a table read.

Dad, I know I didn't hold up
my end of the bargain, but...

can I go to Kamp Krusty?

Yeah, sure. I didn't want you

-hanging around
all summer anyway.
-[ALL LAUGHING]

Then they could see
if the story's working,
some of the jokes are playing.

And then you would have
the rest of Thursday and Friday

to rewrite for the record
on Monday.

I no longer fear hell
because I've been
to Kamp Krusty.

[CHUCKLES]
Ah, kids' letters from camp.

NARRATOR: The room was full
of promising young writers

who hadn't been hired

just because
they were promising.

LEVINE: One reason
that Sam Simon

hired all of these
young, untested writers

was because
Simpsons paid nothing.

NARRATOR: "Nothing" being...

They were paying
Saturday morning cartoon prices,

which were, basically, nothing.

NARRATOR: Which
at least meant that

if they weren't
doing it for the money,

they were doing it
for the right reasons.

WYATT: I've got my jacket,
our first season jacket.

The big perk for us
was getting those jackets.

WYATT: They were really
high quality.

NARRATOR: And they weren't
turning up for the plush
working environment.

The writer's room was
a crappy old dorm room

with torn up furniture
and garbage and stuff
all over the place.

The Simpsons writers
probably worked in worse offices

than anybody on the Fox lot.

It just looked like
a crummy motel.

There was a fountain
in the courtyard.

VITTI: The fountain was always

struggling to keep
the fish alive.

To try to help,
they completely changed
the water in the fountain.

So what happened instead
was all the fish died,

and they floated to the top.

And then the studio cats

pulled the fish
out of the fountain,

and ate them and left their
half-eaten bodies

outside our office doors.

NARRATOR:
As The Simpsons writers

tiptoed over dead fish
in their jackets...

They're really warm.

NARRATOR:
...their boss, Sam Simon,

reeled in something
considerably more substantial.

LEVINE: Sam put together
a very good deal

where he got
a certain percentage
of the merchandising.

Benefits? Perks?

A green cookie
on Saint Patrick's Day?

NARRATOR: Benefitting from
a contract renegotiation

that fell after
The Simpsons had exploded,

Sam Simon
inked a deal that meant

he would never be searching
for change behind the couch.

Hey, there's
some quarters in here.

One time, he came into
the rewrite room

and he's just in a great mood.

Somebody said,
"What are you so happy about?"

He goes, "Well, I was moving
a chest of drawers this morning

"and this check dropped down
that I forgot about."

They go, "Oh, God. That's great.
Was it, you know, a good check?"

He said,
"Well, it was $9 million."

BOTH: Yay!

Woo-hoo!

NARRATOR:
But if Sam Simon was
happy with his remuneration,

he was not
always happy at work.

Especially when
dealing with this man.

My name is Richie Sakai.

NARRATOR: Sakai
was James L. Brooks'
right-hand man.

And at Gracie Films,
a lion tamer,

not shy of cracking the whip.

RICH MOORE: He is
kind of the taskmaster.

"You're behind.
You're over budget."

You know, someone has to have
those difficult conversations.

And that falls on Richard.

NARRATOR:
And those conversations
were often with Sam.

And the resulting tension
between the two

manifested in the creation
of one Waylon Smithers.

Oh. [THUDS]

Sam Simon is credited
for creating Smithers.

NARRATOR: Along with
his master, Mr. Burns,

with a carefully
hidden agenda.

Smithers, tip over
this table for me.

Yes, sir.

I heard that Smithers
was sort of

an exaggerated version
of the relationship

that Richard Sakai
had with James L. Brooks.

What's the meaning
of this slacking off?

-Uh, there's
a bee in my eye, sir.
-And?

NARRATOR: But whatever beef

Sam Simon had
with Richard Sakai,

paled in comparison to the rift

growing between
him and Matt Groening.

Sam and Matt were like
oil and water,

they just could not
come together.

NARRATOR:
And admittedly, Simon...

He was a monster.

NARRATOR: ...was hard
to get along with.

He just pissed Matt off
right from the get go.

Sam was a wonderful
cartoon artist,

and he'd draw the characters
in different ways and stuff,

whereas Matt Groening
can't draw to save his life.

NARRATOR: And while
Matt Groening may have

felt threatened
by this comedic savant,

Sam Simon already felt like

the one getting
cast out of the spotlight.

VITTI: Sam was actually
incredibly sensitive,

and he knew he had done
something great,

and he noticed that the press
wasn't mentioning him a lot.

KEN ESTIN:
Matt got all the credit,
nobody mentioned Sam Simon,

and that made Sam furious.

NARRATOR: And much like
the Sakai-Smithers connection,

another rumor
started to flare up.

There's a rumor that
the "Flaming Moe's" episode

is Sam Simon
telling the audience

about his experience
on The Simpsons.

NARRATOR: In which Homer
creates an irresistible
new cocktail...

What you call it?

-It's called a Flaming...
-Moe!

NARRATOR:
...that Moe the bartender
takes credit for.

That rotten Moe is getting rich
off a recipe I gave him.

He is Homer in that situation.

NARRATOR: And Moe is...

Well, that's anyone's guess.

If there was any justice,

my face would be on
a bunch of crappy merchandise.

NARRATOR:
So, who did deserve credit

for television's
most successful cocktail?

Jim Brooks and Sam Simon

invented the form of
The Simpsons.

'Cause Matt didn't know
anything about television.

It says, "Created by Matt,"

and it says,
"Developed by Sam and Jim."

The "Developed by" is critical.

The "Developed by"
is the form of the show.

Matt's humor was there,
Matt's sensibilities
were there,

but they put it together.

Whatever tensions were going on,

it just made the product better.

NARRATOR: By the time
The Simpsons was renewed
for a third season,

it was a juggernaut.

And a gold mine.

That meant there would be
big winners

in the coming seasons.

And even bigger losers.

Before there was even time
to renegotiate contracts,

Fox's riskiest show had entered
the ratings stratosphere.

And even though
they weren't quite yet

the most popular
American family on television,

The Simpsons were moving
beyond the Huxtables

and entering the zeitgeist.

And for the producers at Fox,

this meant something
even more precious than
monster ratings.

WOODY: It takes
a certain amount of clout.

And once a show becomes
valuable to the network,

then you have that clout.

Now, boys, uh,

the network has a problem with
some of your lyrics.

Would you mind
changing them for the show?

Forget you, clown.

NARRATOR: That clout
meant the ability to look
at network notes

and ignore them.

It was decided,
you're messing us up too much.

And they invoked
the Jim Brooks rule and said,

"We don't want network notes."

NARRATOR: The Jim Brooks Rule
was like a force field,

protecting the show
from network meddling.

Brooks even had it
written into his contract.

We pretty much did
whatever we wanted to do,

we didn't have
any network notes.

We never even thought
about the network.

VITTI: A big reason
why so many guys still work
at The Simpsons,

because the writers
don't get network notes.

And Jim never gave in on it.

There was never any input
from the Fox executives.

NARRATOR:
Unmatched creative freedom

made The Simpsons
a dream gig for any writer.

And as Season 2
turned to 3, turned to 4,

they needed many writers.

What we need around here
is some fresh blood.

Would you like me
to drain Simpson

while he's passed out, sir?

NARRATOR: So, writers
kept getting calls.

I was working at Letterman
and I got a call

that The Simpsons
was interested
in interviewing me.

Letterman was my life.

We worked around the clock.

We actually did stop
on Thursday nights.

We would stop and watch
The Simpsons as a staff.

So we were all fans.

NARRATOR:
However, unlike Donick,
who came from Late Night,

Conan O'Brien was an SNL writer
by way of Harvard.

And he was doing things
the other way around.

ANNOUNCER: Conan O'Brien!

NARRATOR:
As he blazed across the show
on his way to the top.

Well, sir, where should
we dump this?

Conan O'Brien started off
on The Simpsons.

Conan O'Brien, I think,

was one of the central forces
in that writers room.

ALLIE GOERTZ:
When he was on the show,

he did write some of
the most iconic episodes,

including
"Marge vs. the Monorail".

There's nothing on earth

like a genuine, bona fide,
electrified six-car monorail.

TURNER: The Conan O'Brien
episodes are some of the ones

that really nail
that golden age tone.

This is the most blatant case
of fraudulent advertising

since my suit against the film,
The NeverEnding Story.

He had a positive outlook
that was very beneficial.

Wow!

OAKLEY: He also kept it light.

He was a fun guy to be around.

He certainly was the most
entertaining person in the room.

[CHUCKLES]

Great material.

There was a unique melding of

people like George Meyer,
Swartzwelder, and Vitti,

who all had extremely
strong comic sensibilities

that complemented each other.

NARRATOR: However,
for some writers...

[SIGHS WEARILY]

...it's not
their phone ringing.

It's them
hustling for a chance.

Freelancers can never do
that great a job on The Simpsons

just because it's such
a difficult show to write.

NARRATOR: As Bill Oakley
and his writing partner,

Josh Weinstein, found out.

OAKLEY: We wanted to
be TV writers

and we moved to LA.

Then we were unemployed,

really, seriously unemployed,
like, for a long time.

This is the dullest moment
I've ever experienced.

NARRATOR: But then,
a new sitcom came along

that Bill and Josh
knew nothing about,

which was perfect

because the show
was about... nothing.

-It's unbelievable.
-I know...

OAKLEY: When Seinfeld
was invented,

it was called
The Seinfeld Chronicles
for the first four episodes.

We had a really good idea
for a script.

We wrote it, it took off.

Amazingly, it got us
an agent immediately

who got us a whole bunch
of meetings immediately

at all the big shows
of the time.

Then the guys
at The Simpsons read it,

but they thought
the script was good.
I think they knew us.

They had encountered
us previously,

maybe from The Harvard Lampoon,

and they offered us
a freelance episode.

I finished my resume.

NARRATOR:
Which meant their first script
was like an audition.

OAKLEY:
They assigned us a story,

which was "Marge Gets a Job".

I think it needs
a little padding.

NARRATOR: And if
Marge could get a job,

surely Bill and Josh could.

Chauffeur, seamstress,

curator of large mammals.

The Marge episodes were always
assigned to the new guys.

NARRATOR: If they could
just clear a hurdle

about the size of
a tall beehive hairdo.

Marge is hard to write for

because you don't know where
the comedy is coming from.

At the time, she has the least
clearly defined point of view.

My life is pretty boring.

She was kind of provincial
and she was kind of uptight.

Care to join me
in a belt of scotch?

It's 9:30 in the morning.

Yeah, but I haven't
slept in days.

NARRATOR: Bill and Josh
had their episode accepted.

That is to say, rewritten.

And they rewrote it
pretty heavily,

but it's a funny episode.

Homer, I want you
to show this woman

the time of her life.

Got ya. Marge, we're
getting some drive-through,

then we're doing it twice.

NARRATOR: And just like that,

Bill Oakley
had a seat at the table.

Or wherever he was sitting,
possibly the couch.

Speaking of couches...

Sometimes we'd have a mini room.

We'd say, "You three go off

"and come up with
all the couch gags
for this season."

NARRATOR: An entire season
of running gags

could be written by one team.

[TIRES SCREECH]

Because running gags
were part of the furniture
of The Simpsons.

The couch gags
have always blown my mind.

PRESCOTT: Over the years,
this has been a way

for the writers to write
a quick visual joke.

Maybe we see the Simpsons
as skeletons,

maybe we see them as pinatas.

We see them in
all of these different ways.

It's just a way
to sort of inject

a little bit more creativity
into the opening of the show.

I don't get it.
They should be here by now.

Ah, what are you gonna do?

But then, in the later seasons,

it's been a really great way

of getting guests to come in
and guest direct.

Oh, my God, Morty.
What did you do?

-You killed the Simpsons, Morty.
-Oh, my God! No!

NARRATOR: Now one of
television's most recognizable
set pieces,

the couch gag
is not even the first gag
in a Simpsons episode.

GOERTZ: One of the best parts
about it being time to watch
The Simpsons

is sitting down in time
to catch the opening credits.

But the chalkboard gags
are always so funny,

and you wished
you could pause it.
Now that's a thing.

But, at the time,
you just wanted to make sure
that you got the joke.

What other show had a joke
so early into the show?

NARRATOR: It was
as though the writers
had so much material

they had to cram jokes
into the show.

But who is responsible
for this durable gem?

Sam Simon, he liked creating
regular but replaceable gags.

Phone call for Al.

Al Coholic.

Is there an Al Coholic here?

[ALL LAUGHING]

NARRATOR: One thing
that did not seem replaceable
was Sam Simon himself.

But the man who had designed

so much of the Simpsons'
comedy architecture

was ready for a change.

Writing for primetime
but also animation,

the Simpsons' writers
needed a certain kind of
lens on the world.

I think, to be a cartoonist,

you have to have a kind of,
like, a cartoon eye.

NARRATOR:
The show needed writers
with the vision to balance

its two conflicting identities.

The often absurd cartoon...

So I said, "I must get out
of these wet clothes

"and into a dry martini."

-[ALL LAUGHING]
-Well said.

Thank you.

NARRATOR: ...with a relatable
family sitcom.

WYATT: It really is a sitcom.

It's written that way,
it's acted that way.

That's how we made it.

But then, they're yellow.

It doesn't always
have to be super-cartoony,

but it also doesn't have
to be super-grounded.

It can be a balance of both.

This is 1,000 monkeys
working at 1,000 typewriters.

Soon, they'll have written
the greatest novel known to man.

NARRATOR:
The ability to be both

had become the secret
of The Simpsons' success.

The fact of that tension

actually is part of what
makes it work at its best.

NARRATOR: The tension
behind the scenes

was a threat to that power.

The hope that you can keep
that lightning,

sort of, in the bottle
that it's in

and not ruin it, not taint it.

NARRATOR: After 37 episodes,
the wizards of the show

were ready to
try a different formula.

It was a very easy transition.

NARRATOR: Showrunners
Matt Groening, James L. Brooks,
and Sam Simon

made way for
two Harvard veterans.

Now the writers
really were in charge.

To hell with cartoons.

WAS ARCHER: When Al Jean
and Mike Reiss stepped up,

you know, the train
kept on rolling.

Any of you guys know
which freight goes
to Springfield?

NARRATOR: As The Simpsons train
gathered momentum,

it still carried
few female passengers.

MAN: We have quite a few
women senators, you know?

Only two, I checked.

[LAUGHS] You're a sharp one.

Mike Reiss and Al Jean,
who also worked

at the National Lampoon
when I was there,

I know they didn't like me.

NARRATOR: The woman
whose key episode

had launched The Simpsons
as a half-hour show

was ultimately reduced
to a footnote.

MIMI POND:
In the LA Times, Al Jean

had to make the point
of saying, like,

"Well, you know, we rewrote
most of that episode."

I'm, like,
"Yeah, every TV episode
gets rewritten."

It's a collaborative thing.

I don't recall it being
dramatically changed in any way,

they just added a lot of jokes,

which is what you do
in a rewrite meeting.

Here I am, an independent
female cartoonist,

just getting by with
my husband and my two kids,

and he's still got to,
like, get that dig in.

Come on, man.

NARRATOR:
Mimi wanted acknowledgement,
if nothing else,

but plenty of other creators
wanted a lot more than that.

And some
were prepared to fight.

LEVINE: With success,
lawsuits seemed
to naturally follow.

And there were
any number of them
involving The Simpsons.

It's just normal.

Can you imagine a world
without lawyers?

[PLEASANT MUSIC PLAYING]

[SHUDDERS]

NARRATOR: It seemed,
the more money
The Simpsons raked in,

the more original creators
emerged from the woodwork.

LEVINE: Jerry Belson
was a writer

on The Tracey Ullman Show,

and he and Jim Brooks

got into some financial dispute

which severed their
long-time relationship.

NARRATOR: And let's
not forget about the woman
whose own TV show

bore The Simpsons
like a surrogate mother.

Tracey Ullman
was also litigious.

She felt, well, The Simpsons
came from her show,

so she deserved
a certain ownership stake
in the franchise.

NARRATOR:
Failure is an orphan,

and because success
has many parents,

Fox was braced
for the custody battles.

ESTIN: I know the merchandising
must be making money,

but I never got a check from it.

I said, "Wait a minute.
I created
The Tracey Ullman Show.

"I brought Matt aboard
The Tracey Ullman Show.".

Tracey Ullman Show's on the air
and Sam does a spin-off.

They wouldn't even
talk to me about

me getting anything
from The Simpsons.

I went to the studio,

I went to Jim,
I went to Richard.

This is just how it is.

You don't get any
of the merchandising.

And I went to a lawyer who said,

"Of course it's a spin-off
of your show.

"You're entitled to part of
the merchandising."

So we filed a lawsuit.

Lawsuit? Oh, come on!

NARRATOR: Much to
the annoyance of Fox

and some of Ken's
oldest and dearest friends.

ESTIN: Jim Brooks hated me.

He was was my mentor,

and somebody
I felt very close to.

Fox hated me.
Everybody cut me off.

NARRATOR:
So, was it all worth it?

They said,
"We'll give you $600,000

"to go away...
To be friends again.

"You'll drop the lawsuit,

"we'll own both shows.

"And you'll have the $600,000."

So I said, "Yes, I'll take
the $600,000."

NARRATOR:
Which was small change
on Planet Simpsons,

and even smaller change
than Ken could have imagined.

Always ask them
what the net money is.

What you'll end up with
after they take things out

that they're gonna invent.

They took out so many things
that they invented

out of that $600,000,

I ended up with $200,000

for my share of The Simpsons.

NARRATOR: But one of
the biggest stakeholders of all

was about to test his muscle,

and this was gonna cost
a lot more than 200 grand.

ESTIN: I believe that there was
an effort to get rid of Sam

to make life easier
for everybody.

I knew that there was
some friction

between Matt Groening
and Sam Simon.

NARRATOR: The man who had
invented The Simpsons,

and the man who had
turned them into TV stars,

were falling out.

I had heard that
the relationship became
very tense.

NARRATOR: It would mark
the beginning of the end

for the first dynasty
of The Simpsons.

ESTIN: Sam Simon,
he once said something
to the effect that,

no matter what the show was
when he started on it,

by the end,
he was the show's monster.

He was the person
everybody said,

"Oh, Sam. We don't want
to talk to Sam. We don't wanna
deal with Sam."

NARRATOR: And now,
the monster was going to attack

in a very Simpsons way.

NARRATOR: With four seasons
under its belt...

Yes!

NARRATOR: ...The Simpsons
had emerged as a unicorn show
in American television.

Ooh, look at me,
I'm making people happy.

I'm the magical man
from Happy Land.

NARRATOR: But,
behind the scenes,

not everyone wanted to ride
the unicorn into Season 5.

I knew Sam Simon was
unhappy and disillusioned.

NARRATOR: Even for a man
widely acknowledged as
a legend in his field,

lack of recognition
had been a constant thorn
in Sam Simon's side.

-Can I help you, sir?
-I need to talk to Moe.

Your name's not on the list.

I didn't even tell you my name.

WOODY: I remember walking
onto the lot with Sam one day,

and we got to the guard's gate

and Sam goes, "I don't...

"Uh, I don't have my ID."

The guard says,
"Well, I can't let you in."

He says, "Well, I'm Sam Simon."

He says,
"It means nothing to me.

"Either you have an ID
or you don't."

He says, "I built this studio!

"Are you kidding me?"
[CHUCKLES]

-How about a beer?
-I'd rather have
a Flaming Homer!

A what?
[CHUCKLES NERVOUSLY]

NARRATOR: Regardless
of who deserved the credit,

the power ultimately resided
in The Simpsons creator.

ESTIN: Matt was The Simpsons.

NARRATOR: And just as
he could create,

Matt Groening could destroy.

Sam and Matt,

both very talented people,
very strong-willed people...

NARRATOR: Something
would have to give.

And soon enough,
Sam Simon was gone.

But this time, his revenge

would take
a less abstract form,

and burn more intensely
than any Flaming Moe.

Sam Simon felt that he deserved,
due to his contract,

a certain percentage
of the merchandise.

NARRATOR: And as
his negotiated severance,
that's exactly what he got.

Which meant that,
for all the credit
he never received,

there was soon plenty of credit
in his bank account.

He told me, and I don't know
if that's true,

he told me he's making
$10 million a year

after he left the show.

BARNES: He complained
that he didn't get enough
credit at the time,

and that he was underpaid,

but, boy, he made out all right
for himself in the end.

I think he made,
like, $10 million a year.

NARRATOR: And because...

People are still buying
Simpsons lunchboxes...

Sam had about
$200 to $300 million.

NARRATOR: Few would question
that Sam Simon deserved

to get rich off his creation.

OAKLEY: Sam was instrumental
in developing everything

that became popular
about The Simpsons

the whole universe
of Springfield.

Much of the stuff
that everybody loves
about The Simpsons,

came from Sam's input.

NARRATOR: One way or another,
Sam Simon got the last laugh.

It was a fantastic experience
writing for Sam Simon.

TURNER: There's no question
that was a Hall of Fame
writers room.

The density of humor
that was being sort of
packed into it

by all these
great comedy writers

who were really, really
playing off each other.

NARRATOR: Making, arguably,
Sam Simon's greatest creation,

this room full of
lovable slouches.

TURNER: He had
put together this team

that was really
just starting to figure out

how to work together
and do so really well.

NARRATOR: So, with the best
writers in the world,

the future of The Simpsons
was assured.

Most of those guys left,

immediately making Conan

the most senior person
on the show...

Ooh.

...followed by us.

And we'd only been there
for about eight months,

and now we were the second
most senior people on the show.

NARRATOR: Conan soon ascended
to his Late Night TV throne...

ANNOUNCER: It's
Late Night with Conan O'Brien!

NARRATOR: ...leaving
the most lucrative property
in network television

in the hands of
two anxious comedy writers,

and a showrunner
brand new to The Simpsons,
David Mirkin.

We didn't wanna be the guys
that ushered it to the grave.

Because how much longer
can any sitcom ever last?

NARRATOR:
But Sam Simon's departure
at the end of Season 4,

and the subsequent
procession of showrunners,

is only part of the story.

Because, it would seem,
the conflict and infighting

infiltrated every aspect
of production on The Simpsons.

And as we'll find out,
the story of the animators

in Gabor Csupo's
Hollywood dream,

is one that draws a line
in the sand.

[CLOSING THEME MUSIC PLAYING]