Q: Who's the real brains behind "The Simpsons"? or: Who put the spring in Springfield?

A: The new Vanity Fair feature on The Simpsons is full of great details of the show's history and pre-history — among them:

• Producer James L. Brooks discovered Matt Groening when the production designer on Terms of Endearment bought Brooks one of Groening's Life in Hell cartoons she thought he'd appreciate. That cartoon was called "Success and Failure in Hollywood" (not available on the Interwebs, sadly), and the gist of it was that in Hollywood, success and failure both end badly. It's funny to think that if Groening hadn't drawn that cartoon — or if the designer hadn't come across it in an L.A. alt-weekly, or if Groening had already sold the original to someone else, or etc etc etc — one of the greatest works in TV history wouldn't even exist.
• Groening and original show-runner Sam Simon hated one another. Simon comes off as a kind of unbearably mad genius, but is credited with "taking Groening's crude characters from The Tracey Ullman Show and making them into the Simpsons that the world knows and loves," including literally redrawing them (he's a cartoonist himself, which I didn't know).
• Animator Gabor Csupo says Brooks originally conceived the Simpsons' segments on The Tracy Ullman Show to be black-and-white, as Groening had drawn them. So the characters' yellow skin and Marge's blue hair were added by the animators, not by Groening himself.
• Art Spiegelman, Maus author and current New Yorker toon editor, originally "pleaded" with Groening not to work with FOX. "'They're gangsters! They're gonna take your rights away!"' Spiegelman recalls telling him. "He's never let me forget it."

Spiegelman's advice is particularly funny given the creative freedom the show has famously enjoyed — but it seems like the network wasn't always completely hands off. According to production supervisor Colin Lewis, "David Mirkin was the first [show-runner] who said, 'Why do we have to change it? We're The Simpsons. We're in control because they want their hit show, and I will get to Saturday night and I won't deliver them a show, and then they will have to air what I give them.'"

But elsewhere in the article, Mirkin and the show-runners who followed him are indirectly cited as partly responsible for the show's post-season-eight decline (before Al Jean returned in '01). So maybe the occasional network input wasn't as harmful as one might assume. [CORRECTION / CLARIFICATION: Mirkin ran the show's fifth and sixth seasons. The show may have been in decline by then, considering how strong the third and fourth seasons were, but it wasn't a huge dropoff.] Incidentally, Rupert Murdoch comes off as an okay dude (I don't really blame Murdoch for Fox News' existence, but that's fodder for a different post).


As to who provided the real brains behind the show, you could go a lot of different directions — Simon or the voice talent would both be solid picks there — but I was particularly struck by the degree to which former Harvard University nerds shaped the show.

I knew a lot of the more prominent early writers, like Conan O'Brien, were Harvard Lampoon vets, but I didn't realize the degree to which they dominated the writing room. Says writer/exec. producer Bill Oakley, "From Season 2 to Season 8, there was never a time that there were less than 80 percent Harvard Lampoon graduates on the staff."

Given that Seasons 2 through 8 is the show's golden age, maybe Hahhhvahd deserves more of the credit that I ever realized.

BONUS: From Season 9's "All Singing, All Dancing," here's the "We Put the Spring in Springfield" sequence.



Even the "down" years have their share of great bits.

DISCUSS: Is Harvard still pumping out funny people these days? I suspect it's a different type crowd there than it was 20 or 30 years ago.

(Oh, and Dear Lampoon staff: Maybe you should give a call to your peers over at MIT and ask them to build you a Web site that doesn't blow. Just a thought. Love, t.a.m.s.y.)

Q: What's the hottest American obsession of 2007?

A: Zee News India has the surprisinger scoop:

Sanjaya becoming the biggest obsession of Americans this year

While many may consider him vocally challenged, there is no doubt that Sanjaya Malakar is becoming the biggest obsession of Americans that is making its way into national political debate.

During a radio call-in on WOKQ-FM, Hillary Clinton was asked what the United States can do about Sanjaya, the American Idol underdog who has confounded his critics by surviving deep into the voting on this season`s programme.

"That's the best question I`ve been asked in a long time," Clinton said.

And you thought political discourse in America was dead!?

Anyway, Zee News' grammar may be crooked, but its reportage is stellar. In what is probably the top news of the week, scientists recently announced that Sanjaya has rocketed to the top of America's obsession charts '07.


On a related note, what is a Sanjaya?

EARLIER: Why the terrorists hate you | t.a.m.s.y. on meth

Q: You know what's an even better way to subvert "American Idol"?

A: BY NOT WATCHING AMERICAN IDOL. And especially by not blogging about American Idol. Oy fucking vey, people. Please avert your eyes, I need to go on a

CRAZY OLD MAN RANT: WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU, AMERICA? IS YOUR BRAIN ON FIRE!?! WHY ARE WE ALL STILL WATCHING TERRIBLE SHOWS ABOUT ANNOYING PEOPLE SINGING TERRIBLE MUSIC TERRIBLY!?!? WHEN IS THIS PHASE OF AMERICAN CULTURE GOING TO BE OVER?!?! PLEASE? ANYONE?

WHY THE TERRORISTS HATE US: Arrested Development = cancelled. Freaks & Geeks and Mr. Show = cancelled (a million years ago, but still the pain lingers). Stella = cancelled. But American Dad? Inexplicably not cancelled. Two & a Half Men = America's #1 comedy. Everybody Loves Raymond = in syndication for the next 300 years. Mind of Mencia = get ready for an exciting new season!!! Becker = existed. CBS = still a network. American Idol = WATCHED BY 40 BILLION PEOPLE.


(It's also possible that I'm just annoyed Andrew Sullivan somehow has time to watch American Idol, in between posting to his blog 400 times daily, reading all known newspapers, magazines, insane Conservative bloggers and books, making frequent radio and television appearances, keeping in touch with surreal European sports, smoking tons of weed, and performing his actual job as Senior Editor of the Atlantic. I am now 100% positive that he is repeatedly cloning himself. And that the cloning turns out to be exactly as portrayed in Multiplicity, with each clone a tiny bit dumber than the previous one, and that it's the 700th clone who watches American Idol.)

EARLIER: Are Americans total idiots?

Q: Deal or NO DEAL?

A: I just saw Deal or No Deal for the first time last night. Wow, that shit is mean. Never before has a game show been so complexly constructed to guarantee its guests will go home some level of disappointed.

Anyway, I'm glad I could provide that observation. And what about that Ken Jennings, huh??? He sure does win a lot at Jeopardy! Tune in to my blog next week, when I'll be proffering my thoughts on the recent film Dances With Wolves. Did it deserve its Oscar? THE ANSWER MAY SURPRISE YOU!

DEAL OR NO DEAL: If you do not complain about T.A.M.S.Y.'s recent unannounced hiatus, I will make you a special offer: Next week, I'll give you a sneak-preview write-up of David Wain's hotly, wetly anticipated new film The Ten, which premiers Sunday at Los Festivalo en Cinematatta de Cleveland — four-plus months ahead of its August 3 release.

Those last two links appear to be down right now, but whatever, here's The Ten's (WARNING: uncensored) teaser trailer.



Tickets are still available, I believe, for both the noon and 4:45 showings, if you're in the area.

EARLIER: David Wain has a cameo in last fall's travelogue by fellow Statesmen/Stella creators, the Michaels Showalter & Ian Black.

POSTSCRIPT: David Wain has a blog, although it too is down right now. Also, um, is the Internet dying?

Q: During what month of pregnancy does a woman begin to look pregnant?

A: September.



Adorable.

The person who uploaded that to various places on the Internet doesn't know how to spell "feud." But it's okay, because neither does ESPN.


It's a veritable shoedown of the tittans.

Q: How good are Krispy Kreme donuts?

A: So good, you'll... well, just ask the news team at NBC Augusta.



As Ohio's own Livin' in Cowtown notes, "This is what happens when you hire idiots that get their on-air graphics from a Google Search without even looking at the results." [story via Scotty Jay, who does not have a Web site]

UPDATE: Unshockingly, NBC Augusta is none too happy about the hubbub surrounding this clip. As you can see, YouTube took it down.

Also unshockingly, the Internet is smarter than NBC Augusta. But I guess you already knew that.



As far as I can tell, the network doesn't really have a leg to stand on here, legally. See: Fair use under United States law. Airing ten seconds of a thirty-minute news program does not copyright infringement make. -- 3/4/07, 12:48AM

Q: What happened to the Sands?

A: Hey, remember that episode of Full House where Stephanie and DJ Tanner won $100,000 from a slot machine at in Lake Tahoe casino, and then their dad made them give it back to teach them an important lesson about underage gambling?

Danny Tanner sure was an idiot. He could have used that cash to get Michelle a much-needed college education. On a related note:

Casino told to fork over jackpot won by minor [Reuters]

Macau's gaming bureau has ruled that the Sands Macao casino — operated by U.S. gaming giant Las Vegas Sands — must pay an under-age player's HK$740,000 ($94,900) jackpot winnings to her mother, a local daily said on Saturday.

The Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau — Macau's gaming watchdog — made the decision after meeting the 16-year-old girl and her mother, Hong Kong's South China Morning Post reported.

The Hong Kong teenager was playing at [the] Sands on Tuesday with her mother and grandmother, the paper said. She put HK$100 into a slot machine, and it stopped on the winning number.

Uncle Jesse Katsopolis could not be reached for comment.

By the way, I kind of get the feeling that Reuters has never actually been in a casino. It "stopped on the winning number"? Was it a roulette-themed slot machine? This sounds like the easiest $100,000 jackpot ever. No wonder the Sands Atlantic City went bust.

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PAS/CAL: Left us out in the cold?

SHODDY TRANSITION: Hey, speaking of what happened to the Sands, what happened to Detroit indie poppers PAS/CAL? They were supposed to release their debut full-length, Citizen's Army Uniform, two months ago; but two months ago has come and gone, and the LP hasn't so much as leaked yet. Curious.

Anyway, Tiny Mix Tapes says the album will revisit a couple of old PAS/CAL songs, including this old T.A.M.S.Y. favorite:

PAS/CAL
What Happened to the Sands
Oh Honey, We're Ridiculous [EP], 2004

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SHODDIER TRANSITION: The Brothers Maloof do not own the Sands. They do, however, own the Palms, as well as the NBA's Sacramento Kings. The Palms is a great casino. The Kings are not a great basketball team. They are, in fact, in last place.

Joe Maloof recently referred to his team's coach, Eric Musselman, as "inexperienced." It is generally not a good sign when you are one of the highest ranking employees of a company, and your boss refers to you as "inexperienced." It is also not a very good sign for your boss, especially if he's the one who hired you. So it wasn't long before the other Maloof stepped in to clarify the issue.

"He's still our coach, plain and simple," Gavin Maloof said. "It's still what it's always been. We're behind him, and that's the way it is. We're going to move forward until he's not our coach. That's the way it's always been. We're behind him, and that's the way it is."

So don't worry about your job status, Eric! Plain and simple, you are not going to be fired until you are fired.

Q: Is there anything funny about Fox News' "The 1/2 Hour News Hour"?

A: As people who know me well¹ know, I have a cold, icy, steel heart made of steel and very cold ice; and thus I very rarely Laugh-Out-Loud at anything, unless I'm drunk and/or hitting on you and/or so bewildered by the blackness of mortality that laughter is the only means by which to release the tension in my cold, icy, steel, bronze heart of ice.²

Among the things least likely to coax sincere laughs out of me (e.g., Carlos Mencia; Schindler's List; Carlos Mencia) is the Fox News' 1/2 Hour News Hour, a.k.a., the conservative³ Daily Show, a.k.a., this thing:



(I am averting my eyes and ears. Please tell me when it is over.)

(No, wait, tell me when the hot girl is talking; and then tell me when it is over.)

After watching that, you will surely be surprised when I tell you there is something funny about The 1/2 News Hour: The Comedy Central Insider's coverage of it is very funny. I even found myself LOL'ing at this bit —

Even a brief showing by brilliant alternative comedian Ann Coulter — who, for years, has managed to trick most of the country into believing that he's a vitriolic female conservative — couldn't pull the show above the level of a high school AV club produced parody.⁴

— after which I was disturbed to find myself sober and alone.

MEANWHILE: Washinton Post TV critic Tom Shales writes that The 1/2 Hour has "funny spots." "In a nutshell," he concludes, "it isn't terrible."

The Washington Monthly's (liberal) Kevin Drum begs to differ, calling it "bad. Really bad." On the other side of the political spectrum, the National Review's David Frum applauds the program's mirthfu—oh, no wait, he hated it even more than the liberal did:

The 1/2 Hour News Hour is not a right-of-center comedy show. It's more like some not very clever left-wing blogger's mean-spirited parody of a right-of-center comedy show: "These right-wingers are so clueless that they would think it funny that Barack Obama's initials are BO."

What a minute ... maybe that's exactly what "The 1/2 Hour News Hour" really is! Maybe it's some ultra-Colbertian exercise in meta-irony: a parody within a parody within a parody... Seriously: The 1/2 Hour News Hour is so unfunny as to be affirmatively insulting.

In a related development, producer Joel Surnow had all of these critics tortured to death.

ANYWAY: T.A.M.S.Y. missed the first episode, but we'll be certain to report back after the follow-up airs, Sunday at 10pm. Unless we forget.

SIDENOTE: It will be interesting to see how much of the surprisingly many Nielsen families who caught the premier come back for more.

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¹ No one knows me well.
² I can be commonly found doing all three simultaneously.
³ I should note here — on behalf and in defense of dear reader Sean McWasp — that I am not using the term "conservative" in the traditional sense (e.g., that conservative fellow over there strongly dislikes government wastefulness), but rather in the modern sense, as a synonym for "ignorant and hateful" (e.g., that conservative fellow over there strongly dislikes the mosque through which he just drove a truck).
⁴ I just noticed this may have been written by Internet comedy veteran and sometime-T.A.M.S.Y. reader Lindsay Lindsayism, to whom I tip my hat.

Q: How much more Peyton Manning can one nation take?

A: Get ready to find out.

Peyton says, "Click to enlarge."

On the bright side, at least he won't be singing "This Is Our Country."¹

EARLIER: My playoff predictions may surprise you.

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¹ No, just kidding, he totally will be.

Q: Could someone get Angela Lansbury's agent on the line?

A: She's still alive, right? Because I have the comeback role of a late-lifetime with her name on it. Think Golden Girls meets Weeds in the Arizona desert: An adorable grandmother turns to dealing dope, hundreds of pounds of dope, to feed her crippling bingo habit. Based, obvs, on a true story:

Bingo-playing grandma guilty in pot case [AP Wire, via attu]

This thing has all the universal themes covered: crime; money; drugs; bingo; sweaty senior citizens; did I already say bingo? And it's the role Angela Lansbury was born to play -- an desperate, impoverished Mexican American.

Jessica Fletcher: She just don't give a fuck.

I smell Emmy gold, people. Feel the pathos:

"People who play bingo almost every night of the week end up losing in the long run," Prosecutor Doyle Johnstun told jurors. "The underlying issue is that she's got a bingo problem, which explains why an otherwise nice person might get sucked into something like this."

Oh, maybe also because she was trying to survive on a $275/month welfare check. On the other hand -- 210 pounds!? Christ, that must have been some high-stakes bingo.

Anyway, kudos to the American legal system for sending a 61-year-old woman to three to 12 years in prison for the unthinkable crime of getting a bunch of people stoned. Man, do I feel safer.

Q: Why is Bart Simpson not having a cow?

A: Because he employed the techniques learned in L. Ron Hubbard's "Dianetics" to manage his stress level.

On a related note, Simpsons voice talent Nancy Cartwright is a Scientologist. And like South Park's now-dead Chef, she is rumored not to take too kindly to Scientology jokes in Springfield, says TimesUK blogger Chris Ayres:

"The writers figured they could slip the joke past her," smirked my Simpsons insider. "But they were wrong. Nancy's line was something like, "Mormonism? That's the second freakiest religion in America!'. Nancy caught it, and she wasn't happy. We had to drop it."

Cartwright's publicist denied the story, which means it's probably true.

SO, YEAH: This was supposed to be a post with the newly unveiled trailer for the Simpsons movie... but then it got taken off of YouTube within like five seconds (damn you, Google, and your cripplingly effective copyright police!). So I guess you're just going to have to download it from Apple. Whatevs. T.A.M.S.Y. expects the movie to be the awesomeyest, even though that trailer relies pretty heavily on a stupid sight gag.

Q: Does caffeine stimulate the mind?

A: Yes. Except for when it explodes it.



Oh God, it hurts my heart to see that. I guess his brain needed a Surge protector.

Q: How excited are you for "Borat"?

A: Not excited enough, America. Via Reuters:

Concerned that ["Borat"] wasn't registering strongly enough in tracking polls, the studio has scaled back its opening to about 800 theaters in hopes of building word-of-mouth.

Suffice to say, word of mouth will be good, with critics lavishing praise on the Sacha Baron Cohen film to the tune of 95% fresh.

The suits in Hollywood are so psyched for the movie, which opens Friday, that it's already sparked a $45 million bidding war for the follow-up, "Bruno," to be based on Cohen's gay Austrian fashion reporter.

Meanwhile, Borat's been all over North America, promoting his film debut. These have been on YouTube for a while, but I thought mayhaps you'd missed them...

Here's Borat's D.C. press conference...



...and part of his Q&A at the Toronto film fest...



...and a new one, his appearance last week on "Conan O'Brien."

Q: Who likes it freakier, Marilyn Manson or Bill O'Reilly?

TEMP. Q: Why, God, why can't I get YouTube videos to work?
TEMP. A: As of this writing (3:20pm EST), YouTube remains down for maintenance. Everything should be working normally now.

If you're here looking for the Bill O'Reilly/Marilyn Manson interview, bookmark this page and try back in a few hours. In the meantime, perhaps you might consider checking out the rest of my blog, The Answer May Surprise You, where mirth meets whimsy meets arousal meets mild brain damage.

All Andrew Sullivan readers under the age of seven receive a free balloon and/or Matt Yglesias bobblehead.

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A: Hold on, Marilyn Manson is still famous? Like, he makes records and goes on tour and people pay dollars to see him? Huh. This is the most shocking development since Leah revealed people still "FUCKING LOVE ALICE IN CHAINS."

Anyway, read more after the proverbial jump...

CLICK ME for Manson vs. O'Reilly | Plus free MP3s from Blur, Supergrass

Because I'm always happy to support a nice Ohio boy, here's Mr. Manson face-to-face with an even dirtier man, Bill O'Reilly.

[hat tip to Andrew Sullivan for the video]

O'Reilly featured Manson as part of his "Children at Risk" feature, in which he imagines that his viewers are young enough to have children. As surprised as I am to discover that people are still listening to Marilyn Manson, I would be even more shocked if anyone under 16 even knows who he is¹. He wasn't even that cool when I was 16.

Anyway, the interview is disappointly cordial -- I was hoping Marilyn would, you know, bite the head off a live dove or whatever -- but check out this exchange from around the two-minute mark (especially Bill's classic facial expression at 2:13):

BOR: They tell me that you engaged in a sex act with another man in a stage in Miami. Is that true?
MM: To a certain degree. To a certain degree. It wasn't, ah...
BOR: [face frozen in hilarious disgust]
MM: ...so much a formal sex act. No one was aroused... [describes incident, in which fan jumped on stage, dropped pants, was mock blown or something...]
BOR: But it was shocking.
MM: It was entertaining. To me.
BOR: To you.
MM: To me.
BOR: But if kids saw that, if they saw you simulating, or actually doing, whatever happened, a sex act with another man, maybe they would go out and do it too.
MM: Well, I can't be blamed for something like that. You'd have to blame Richard Simmons, and, uh, [laughing] and Liberace and people like that...

Sorry, Bill. It's going to take a lot more than that to goad Marilyn Manson; he's been answering preposterous questions from reporters since before you were a Factor.

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Pet the lonely kitten to be magically transported to T.A.M.S.Y.'s front page

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RELATED: I do have one Marilyn Manson song in my collection, a decent David Bowie cover from the surprisingly unterrible (Dust Brothers-produced) Dead Man on Campus soundtrack. Check it out.

MARILYN MANSON
Golden Years [link expired]

Just for kicks, here are a couple unrelated-but-excellent tracks from that album. T.A.M.S.Y. loves 90s Brit-pop!

BLUR
Cowboy Song [link expired]

SUPERGRASS
We Still Need More (Than Anyone Can Give) [link expired]
[Dead Man on Campus: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, 1998]

OBTAIN: Dead Man On Campus | Dissecting Marilyn Manson [Amazon]

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¹ I am far too lazy to verify that, but if you know something I don't, feel free to drop me a comment.

UPDATE: Added fancier jump image, because I'm obsessed with Photoshop.