I found an article from the Simpsonian Institute about the ten rules the writers use to keep a "Top TV family on top." Have they been broken?
(Quoted w/o permission:)
- Always be real.
"One thing about The Simpsons," says executive producer Josh Weinstein, is that "even though it's a cartoon, in a lot of ways it's more realistic than a lot of sitcoms." And that's how it must be, says Groening, who keeps close tabs on his characters. A few years back, Homer lurched violently out of character and Groening had to pull things back into reality. "What I try to do is remind everybody that we have to stick to certain rules," he says. "We're the only cartoon show where, when people hit the grounds, they actually get bruised and bloody."
How many times has Homer been hurt, in Season 12 only, only for sake of visual gags?
- Never tell the same joke twice.
The producers boast that their show has twice as many jokes as the average sitcom. "We've done tens of thousands of jokes," says Weinstein. "And we never do the same joke twice." Sometimes, you have to watch an episode twice to catch a joke - which is a good thing, says Groening. "There are the obvious jokes, the visual sight gags, the subtle literary allusions and at the most subtle, what we call the freeze frame gags - jokes you can only get if you videotape the show and play it back in freeze frame. What we try to do is reward people for paying attention."
I can't think of any examples but there's probably a lot (any help, guys?)
- Rewrite, rewrite, rewrite.
"We've rewritten every show on average five to seven times and they have to make us laugh at every stage," says executive producer Bill Oakley. "When we edit the show, we go through it another ten times. Every time it's got to make us laugh or it's got to be changed." Groening hears some jokes 40 or 50 times. "Generally, if a joke makes it on the air," he says, "it means that we are pretty happy with it."
If only they had rewritten the "Maude is dead" episode.
- Use the whole town.
"Over eight years, we've developed a town full of characters," says Oakley. "Apu became a fully fleshed out, real person a few years ago. Moe the bartender, Mr. Burns or Principal Skinner can also provide the engines for stories." Adds Dan Castellaneta, who provides the voice for Homer, "It's such a rich place to mine. You can certainly never be at a loss to do something."
IMO, it sems like the only supporting characters are Skinner, Moe, Comic Book Guy, and Krusty. Where's Mr. Burns been? What about Krabappel?
- Treat guest stars like family.
Many Hollywood stars have jumped at the chance to appear in cartoon form on The Simpsons, including Meryl Streep, Dustin Hoffman and Michelle Pfieffer. Paul and Linda McCartney have guest starred, as have David Duchovny, Rodney Dangerfield and the Smashing Pumpkins, But even the stars have to follow the script. "I'm not very fond of us having the celebrity come on and play him or herself," says Groening, although he does feel honored that "these luminaries agree to help our little show."
"On lousy sitcoms," adds Oakley, "they'll write in a star and go, 'Elizabeth Taylor will come on and promote her perfume.' We never write around a star, but if we have a new character that's a big role, we often go after a star." Like they did with Taylor, who spoke baby Maggie's one and only word.
One word: N'Sync.
- Be clever, not nasty.
Need I say more?
(To see the rest of the list see http://www.labyrinth.net.au/~kwyjibo/ and click on "Main Articles")
S1.3 OFF++++ HTZ+++ Matt Groening ++++ LIS++ Duffman++ Big Rich Texan--Ron Howard--- f++ n+ Is $/$+ 9F10, 5F18, 3F31, 3F04, 2F15, "TOE", 2F16, M1987
Learn the Simpsons Geek Code or else you will die (not a guarantee).