All language subtitles for Icons.Unearthed.S02E01.The.Origin.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD+2.0.H.264-playWEB_track3_[eng]

NARRATOR: This is
the story of how
an underground cartoonist...

Matt, at the time,
was living in,

literally, a shack in Venice.

NARRATOR:
...somehow connected with
a bunch of Ivy League geniuses.

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

I remember thinking
he was a little pretentious.

NARRATOR: An American
television royalty.

Biggest comedy director,
probably in the business.

NARRATOR: To turn one man's
second best idea...

He was in the waiting room
about to pitch the show

and didn't have these
characters drawn up yet.

NARRATOR:
...from an afterthought...

The animated segments
got bigger laughs
than our comedies.

...into a juggernaut.

Hey, we've got a hit show,
let's put out an album.

♪ Do the Bartman ♪

There were
Simpsons products everywhere,
flying off the shelf.

REPORTER: Matt Groening
has broken into cartooning
big-time.

NARRATOR: With the help
of a tiny group of animators...

-Go away.
-MAN: We were not

polished studio guys.

I wanted
to do something different.

If we play our cards right,
we could do something
really big here.

I'm out.

NARRATOR: ...and some
ambitious young executives...

So we became
the bad boys of television.

NARRATOR: ...at a struggling
network that could barely
keep the lights on...

He's a big TV star.

Yeah, on Fox.

NARRATOR: ...they would grow
into America's most
durable, dynamic,

and dysfunctional family...

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

They just thought
we were the Antichrist.

-[LAUGHING MANIACALLY]
-ALL: Amen.

NARRATOR: ...while the family
behind them disintegrated.

The relationship
became very tense.

-Jim Brooks hated me.
-I love the animators.

The man looked at me
like I was insane.

I love the spirit
they brought to the work.

He said, "You don't tell me
how to run my studio."

So we filed a lawsuit.

Will that hold up in court?

No, I've tried it before.

NARRATOR: But amidst
the chaos,

The Simpsons
bankrolled the network

that would go on
to change the face of America,

creating the longest-running
sitcom ever

in the process.

None of us expected
the show to run very long.

This is a show
that could last forever.

-NARRATOR: So take a load off.
-HOMER: Ah.

NARRATOR: Crack open a Duff

-and get ready for a trip...
-[MAN GROANS]

NARRATOR: ...to the very heart
of America...

At the time
it was a shocking show.

...as we expose
this family's true colors.

They're yellow, so...

NARRATOR: On Icons Unearthed:
The Simpsons.

[THEME MUSIC PLAYING]

NARRATOR: While this imperfect
but much-loved American family

grew up in the '90s,

the Simpsons family tree
has its roots

in a different era.

It all happened at the beginning

of that turbulent decade
known at the '80s.

-NARRATOR: A time when
Reagan was president...
-...of the United States.

NARRATOR: ...people were
holding hands across America,

and television was nothing...

What you talking about, Willis?

NARRATOR: ...like it is today.

If we cast our memories back.

there are three networks.

NARRATOR: ABC, CBS and NBC.

They are largely focused
on weekday prime time.

NARRATOR: From 7:00
to 10:00 each night,

those three networks
waged a war for viewers.

It's very, very heavily
fought-over media real estate.

NARRATOR: And to win
the ratings war...

TURNER: You need a handful
of marquee sitcoms.

-Afternoon, everybody.
-Norm.

-A couple of big dramas.
-Miserable bitch.

In particular in the 1980s,
the family sitcom was dominant.

What's the matter?
You guys aren't getting enough?

95% of television landscape,

especially comedies,

was pretty much just like
bland old family comedies.

NARRATOR: And no one would
know that better than this guy.

My name is Garth Ancier.

I was the head
of current comedy programming
at NBC,

so I had the top five shows
in television reporting to me.

NARRATOR: And none was
as important as show number 1.

That's right.

The Cosby Show
was this comedic juggernaut,

very typical of its time.

It was very moralistic.

Jokes were very good-natured
and family-oriented,
that kind of thing.

Very much about
a slightly bumbling dad
who knows everything.

A mom who knows even more.

The kids all are
a little bit out of line

in very acceptable ways.
But ultimately
everyone loves each other.

NARRATOR: The Cosby Show's
blueprint was
the guiding philosophy

behind all of Garth's
primetime shows.

The philosophy in my head
is that most television shows

are versions
of extended families,

whether it's the Today show,

which is
a surrogate husband and wife,

or it's Family Ties,

or it's Golden Girls.

They're all families.

Even if you do
a workplace comedy,

for example, Cheers,

no one's related to each other,
but it's a family.

NARRATOR: And by the mid '80s,
these fictional families

were under the firm control
of the networks.

The networks had been

in their positions
of authority and power

for a very long time.

NARRATOR: But in 1986,

a new, unexpected challenger

would step into the ring
to compete with the Big Three.

Rupert Murdoch and Barry Diller
wanted to start a new network.

NARRATOR: Rupert and Diller
were the respective owner

and CEO of film studio,
20th Century Fox,

who immediately named
their new company

the Fox
Broadcasting Corporation,

which quickly became known

-as simply...
-Fox.

NARRATOR:
To develop the network,
Barry Diller immediately

poached from the competition,

hiring a young
but experienced Garth Ancier.

Before I left NBC,

I got quite a bit of

talking to
from Brandon Tartikoff.

In case you're wondering,
I'm Brandon Tartikoff,

president of NBC Entertainment.

You know,
you're about to start a network

on all these UHF stations.

NARRATOR: He wasn't wrong.

The Big Three were on
the stronger VHF band.

NBC is on Channel 4

and CBS is on Channel 2.

NARRATOR: Which made them
come in clearer.

LEVINE: And they're
on Channel 31.

It's hard for people
to find them.

All stuff that no longer matters

to how we consume
television shows,

but was very, very important
at the time.

NARRATOR: Famously,
Tartikoff even cracked,

"They're on
a coat-hanger network."

Which was
a mean way of saying...

All the deck
is stacked against it.

The networks are
really well-established,

they have lots of money,
lots of advertisers.

We were, you know, an upstart,
and we didn't have an audience.

NARRATOR:
Garth's former NBC boss
even threatened...

"I can assure you there'll
never be a fourth column

"on that scheduling board."

So, I go to Fox. Of course,
the first thing we did

was make a magnetic
scheduling board
with four columns.

NARRATOR:
But Garth was gonna need
to fill that magnetic board

with shows.

The challenge with
being a programmer is,

you're not making the shows,

you're saying,
"You make a show."

"I think that idea
is good enough."

"I think you can do it."

We are placing our bets
on other people.

NARRATOR: And this was
the guy Garth hired
to make those bets.

Name is Rob Kenneally.

NARRATOR: Luckily,
he was already working
at 20th Century Fox.

I was in my boss's office,
and the assistant came in

and she said,
"It's Barry Diller on 3."

and he leaned back for the fun,
and she said, "For Rob."

I was like, "Uh-oh."

NARRATOR: Rob took
the long walk of doom
across the lot

to Barry's office,
only to find...

He was very complimentary,
and he basically said,

"I need you more here
than over there."

So I said, "I know nothing about

"being a network executive,"
and he was like, "Good."

-NARRATOR:
The ripe old age of...
-I was 26.

...Rob became a network exec,

wielding immeasurable power.

You're famous overnight
when you take those jobs.

I was one of four gatekeepers,

so everybody was
my new best friend.

NARRATOR: But they would only
use this power to...

Make the best shows possible.

NARRATOR: So they set off
to fill programming slate.

We had nothing.

I can only compare

starting a network
to what a writer faces

when they stare
at a blank piece of paper.

NARRATOR: So before they even
wrote on the page,

they took a good,
hard look in the mirror.

You have to figure out
what that network is about.

What's the personality
of that network?

NARRATOR: For example...

ABC was
the female drama network.

-You said this was gonna be fun.
-I said that?

NBC was the comedy network.

-Afternoon, everybody.
-Oh, Norm.

CBS was the Tiffany Network.

Older. They were more adult.

NARRATOR: And Fox...

We didn't quite know
what we'd be

until we started making shows
and seeing what worked.

NARRATOR: Barry Diller
had one directive
for his young staff.

You can't put

shows on Fox

that would work on NBC.

We have to do
exactly the opposite.

What we were looking for
is niches,

and ways to kind of stand out.

We have to put shows

that will grab people
by the throats

and drag them over
to an alternative network.

NARRATOR: But Fox
soon realized

they couldn't just
steal someone else's audience.

They needed
to create their own.
The problem was...

No one wanted to work at Fox.

So I was usually on my knees

begging anyone who

I wanted to come over,
to come over.

NARRATOR: But Garth
wasn't on his knees
for too long,

because off the elevator
came two writers

that had something
that smelled like

something Fox
would be interested in.

Ron Leavitt and Michael Moye

had done very traditional shows,
but done them really well.

NARRATOR:
Although relatively young,

they had
already tasted success,
writing and producing

-a show called...
-The Jeffersons.

I wear the pants in this family.

And when you zip 'em up,
include your mouth.

And they were funny guys,
but they weren't like...

They weren't Aaron Spelling,
they weren't Witt/Thomas.

They have a sick sensibility,
which I like.

And they pitched
more of an experiment,
more of a pilot.

NARRATOR: A pilot called...

ANCIER: On the front
is the title.

It said, "We Don't Know
What To Call This."

NARRATOR: Title aside,
did it fit Garth's philosophy?

Television shows are versions
of extended families.

NARRATOR: And this script
was about...

About a sort of
terrible family and...

NARRATOR: Oh, perfect.

But did it follow
Barry's directive?

We have to put shows
that will grab people

-by the throats.
-NARRATOR: And this script...

Subverted the idea
of the sitcom.

You know,
it's the anti-Cosby show,
I think it was pitched as.

NARRATOR: So they
green-lit the show,

and gave it a title,

Married... With Children.

Honey, take a picture of me

so you can remember me
when I was beautiful.

What, are you gonna get worse?

NARRATOR: That was
the first, like,

really irreverent family sitcom.

At the time,
it was a shocking show.

It was really offensive
back then.

NARRATOR: If every sitcom
was shot in front of
a live studio audience,

Married... With Children,
it was like the show was shot

in front of
a live strip club audience.

NARRATOR: So perhaps
it wasn't surprising

-that...
-Pissed a lot of people off.

There was a housewife
in the Midwest.

I think her name was
Terry Rakolta.

And she took it on as a cause

that she was gonna
crush this show.

REPORTER: Terry Rakolta
got so sore,

she wrote letters
to the sponsors

and some of them pulled
their ads from the show.

And the more
that she tried to crush it,

and the more that she said,
"This is a show that

"no child should watch
in America,"

the more the ratings went up.

That's what made it popular.
Like, that's what
I tuned in for.

I'm like, "I gotta find out
what this show is

"everybody's talking about.
It's fantastic."

NARRATOR: Seems like
Barry's advice really paid off.

What became clear
when "Married" became

the biggest show on the network

was that, that was

the only way to go
to make this network work.

KENNEALLY: What we realized
was if we were

controversial and noisy

and people talked
about our shows,

that would be a Fox show.

-Oh, yeah.
-We became
the bad boys of television.

NARRATOR:
Married with Children had
given the fledgling Fox network

an acerbic hit.

So they put on
Married with Children,

which people flipped about.

I can't believe
everybody doesn't.

NARRATOR: Proving
younger viewers were hungry

for a new kind of comedy.

-I'm mortified.
-Well, get happy.

NARRATOR: Even if
executives didn't get
the anti-sitcom sitcom.

From an outsider's point
of view, there's other

networks started looking
down their nose at them,

like, "What is this crap
you're peddling?"

I don't know what it is,
but I want you to cut it out.

NARRATOR: Now the competition
was taking notice.

Fox wanted to get some adults
in the room,

and not just any adults.

The biggest director,

comedy director,
probably in the business.

-NARRATOR: The one and only...
-James L. Brooks.

ANCIER: Jim Brooks
is a television industry

-and movie industry icon.
Thank you very much.

MAN: He'd been a TV producer,
you know, hit sitcom Taxi.

NARRATOR: From Room 222
to The Mary Tyler Moore Show,

his vast experience
had seen him play

a role in defining
American television.

He was one of the most
famous guys
in the history of television.

Then had gone off and done,

you know, a series
of very, very successful,

celebrated Oscar-winning movies.

NARRATOR: From
Terms of Endearment
to Broadcast News...

Pretty peppy party,
isn't it, pal?

He was immensely respected.

So, of course,
you're starting a network,

the first person
you want to go beg
to do a show is Jim Brooks.

NARRATOR: Who knew
if James L. Brooks
and his Gracie Films

could be tempted
back to television

in the '80s, a small screen
with small time?

For him to go back into TV

after having won
a gazillion Emmys

on The Mary Tyler Moore Show
and Taxi,

it's like he
and Martin Scorsese,

"You're now doing a sitcom?
What's this all about?"

NARRATOR: Fortunately,
James was interested.

But his focus was
entirely on one woman.

He wanted to do a show
about Tracey Ullman.

Who is this
Tracey Ullman anyway?

NARRATOR: Tracey Ullman
was a comedian
and character actress

who had
blazed across British comedy

like a comet in a dress.

She could do any character
under the sun.

NARRATOR: But in the US,
she was relatively unknown,

leaving Garth
with only one choice.

You say yes to him, of course.

I would have
crawled over broken glass
to get him to make a show.

NARRATOR:
Fox immediately green-lit
the eponymously named show.

And Brooks called in
a trusted hand

to develop the project.

My name is Ken Estin.

And I was
one of the executive producer,

creator, show runners

of The Tracey Ullman Show.

NARRATOR: James and Ken
were old friends

from their days on Taxi.

Jim said,
Tracey was so talented

he didn't think we could catch
all her talent in a sitcom.

I always knew
you had a thing for her.

NARRATOR: So they decided,
why not a variety show.

A variety show would be sketches
so she could act.

[WOMAN YELLING]

ESTIN: But we also would have
one sketch

that was a musical sketch
with singing and dancing

so we could show everybody
her talent as a singer/dancer.

Another good idea.

NARRATOR: But this was not
the all-singing,

all-dancing age. In fact...

Variety show was dead.

-[TIRES SCREECHING]
-[GASPS]

NARRATOR: So was Fox
about to start beating
a dead horse?

Pretty much Fox said
do whatever you want

because they had Jim Brooks.

NARRATOR: Ken and his team
now had to work out

how to eloquently speak
to an audience

no longer fluent in variety.

The sketches, when they ended
and another one started,

we weren't sure
people would always know

that it wasn't just
another scene
of the same sketch.

And we didn't want
to create that confusion,

so we decided we need a bumper

between every sketch.

NARRATOR: A perennial problem
for sketch shows.

Brooks looked
to Ullman's compatriots

for inspiration.

We thought of Monty Python

because it was a show
we all admired.

MAN: Thank you, thank you.
You've saved our city.

But at what cost?

And so our first thought was

kind of a Monty Python-ish thing

in that we said,
"Let's have a talking bear."

NARRATOR: But after talking
with their spouses...

None of our spouses
liked the talking bear.

NARRATOR: Instead,
they shifted their focus

to a little something
that producer Richard Sakai

had dug up.

So Richard Sakai,

maybe a year earlier,
for my birthday, gave me

a cartoon that he bought

that was called Life in Hell.

NARRATOR: Written by a young
underground cartoonist

named Matt Groening.

Life in Hell is, you know,
often a one-panel comic,

sometimes one
very complex panel
with what's happening.

It's quite nihilistic.

The main character
is a one-eared,

very simply drawn bunny.

It's got sort of a
philosophical bend to it.

NARRATOR: Not to mention,
very progressive for its time.

So you don't immediately
look at that and think,

"Oh, this could be
network material here."

-NARRATOR: But someone did.
-Yeah.

I loved it. I said,

"Gosh, these characters
are so weird-looking."

They're drawn poorly.

They all have overbites
for no apparent reason.

They were perfect.

NARRATOR: But who was
this Matt Groening,

who drew rabbits
with overbites?

Matt Groening was kind of this
cool punk rock dude

who was making these
edgy comics.

Offbeat, LA underground
animation guy.

What that means
in 1980s pop culture

is that you draw cartoons
for alternative weeklies,

sort of
small-circulation magazines,
that kind of stuff.

Matt, at the time,
was living in,

literally, a shack in Venice.

ESTIN: We loved Matt
for that reason.

He was a bohemian.
He was an outsider.

NARRATOR: Meanwhile,
co-executive producer
Heide Perlman

had someone else in mind.

She had a favorite cartoonist.

NARRATOR: By the name
of M.K. Brown.

M.K. Brown is a famous
underground kind of illustrator.

ESTIN: This woman did
a psychiatrist

who spoke with a click language
that they used in Africa.

NARRATOR: Which had
the rather unique name of...

Dr. Janice N!Godatu.

And Heide wanted that.

NARRATOR: Forced to pick
between the two, the producers

reached a compromise.

So Heide Perlman agreed
her artists could do half

and our artists could do half.

NARRATOR: But first
they would need to submit
a writing sample.

We're gonna tell 'em
we want one joke

and we want you
to take three to four

little segments
to tell that one joke,

and you're all gonna have
a total of one minute
on our show.

NARRATOR: But 60 seconds
was about

how much time Matt had
to pitch his idea.

Groening, you know,
he's getting ready to go in

and pitch his idea for a show
based on Life in Hell,

when it occurs to him
that if he pitches successfully,

he will no longer control
his own creation.

It'll be, you know,
property of Fox or whatever.

And Groening
coming from this, you know,

irreverent underground

cartooning
alternative universe,

deeply suspicious
of corporate influence

and corporate control,

decides more or less on spot,

"No, I'm not pitching them
Life in Hell."

NARRATOR: Instead...

"I'm gonna just go
an entirely other direction.

"I'm gonna quickly draw,

"you know,
this sort of sketch."

GOERTZ: And he quickly looked
at his own family

for his inspiration,

including his mom,
who had this beehive hairdo,

and the different people
in his family

from the names
of actual family members.

NARRATOR:
That would be Dad, Homer,
sister, Lisa,

baby sister, Maggie,

and his mom, Margaret,

or perhaps Marge, for short.

But, you know, sketches

a mom, a dad, and three kids,

and then goes in and says,
"You know, what we should do is

"the sitcom family from hell."

NARRATOR: And so,
about a minute

was all Matt Groening needed

to change
the course of his life.

And that's where
The Simpsons is born.

NARRATOR:
Or so we've been told.

I think Matt can attest to

whether or not that is
actually true or not.

I think it is. Yeah,
I think that's a true story.

NARRATOR: But according
to Ken, that's...

-No.
-NARRATOR: ...not quite
how it went down.

Let's rewind a bit,

back to when Matt Groening
was given the assignment.

We're gonna tell him
we want one joke,

and you're all gonna have
a total of one minute
on our show.

NARRATOR: And Matt went off
to write that one joke.

So we go into pre-production

and we're not
getting anything from Matt.
He's not turning anything in.

NARRATOR: In this version,

a lack of Life in Hell
was making Ken's life hell.

So I said to Richard,
"What's going on with Matt?"

He said, "Well,
he doesn't want to give up

"any of the merchandising
of Life in Hell

"because he makes his living
off of Life in Hell.

"He doesn't want
to mess with it."

He's keeping that to himself.
He's not gonna share it
with anybody.

NARRATOR: To which
Fox responded...

"If you won't give us
the rights, then it's over."

He was a nobody at the time,
in terms of

the way they judge talent.
And so they let him go.

NARRATOR: Matt Groening's
hastily drawn family

looked destined
to remain a doodle.

With The Tracey Ullman Show
about to go into production

and still
needing interstitials,

executives were determined
not to lose Matt Groening.

One day I said to Richard,

I don't care about
Life in Hell.

He draws. He must have some
other characters lying around.

Let's just have him bring in
any characters

and his sense of humor.

NARRATOR: James L. Brooks
and Richard Sakai

were prepared
to make a simple concession

that was to alter the course
of television history.

Richard did do that.

He went back to Fox, said,

"We're willing to take
what Matt will sell to us,

"will allow
merchandising shared."

NARRATOR: No longer afraid
to lose his life's work

to a huge corporate entity,
Matt Groening...

He went into Jim's office,
and he may or may not,

'cause I was not in the office,
may or may not

have drawn the characters
right in the office.

NARRATOR: Well, whenever
it happened, Matt Groening
put pencil to paper.

ESTIN: All I know is,
within days,

he gave Jim The Simpsons.

NARRATOR: With scripts in hand
for some cartoon bumpers,

James L. Brooks set out
to find an animation studio

to bring these stories to life.

Finally settling on
a little studio

called Klasky Csupo.

Klasky Csupo was
a small Hollywood studio.

NARRATOR: Founded by producer,
Arlene Klasky,

and animator, Gabor Csupo,

the studio had built up
quite a reputation

for doing imaginative,
cutting edge work.

But to take on a project
like The Tracey Ullman Show,

they had to hire
some fresh talent

like these two merrymakers.

I had met Wes at CalArts.

We were
like roommates, basically.

NARRATOR: A school
known for producing
top-tier animation talent,

Bill even won an Academy Award
for his student film Mr. Gloom.

KOPP: It was funny,
'cause at CalArts,

these guys were talking about it
and going like,

"Yeah, what do you do
after you win,

"you know, that Academy Award?
I mean, where do you go?"

And then I jokingly said, like,

"Well, you win another one."

NARRATOR: And he did
just that,

with his student film,
Observational Hazard.

I was looking at, like,
Pink Floyd The Wall.

[MAN SCREAMING]

Wow. Look at all the cool shit
you can do with this artform.

Like, it's incredible.

-NARRATOR: And wanting
to make more...
-Cool shit.

NARRATOR: ...Bill left CalArts
to go animate

on the John Cusack movie
One Crazy Summer,

bringing along
his CalArts friends

Wes Archer and David Silverman.

But after a year on that gig,

they all found themselves...

Out of work. And Wes was the one
that called me.

NARRATOR:
Wondering if Bill wanted

-to work on more...
-Cool shit.

Well, we were all aware
of Matt Groening's

comic strip Life in Hell.

And when Gabor Csupo mentioned

that they might be getting
an animated series of shorts,

I was pretty excited about that.

NARRATOR: Producing
The Simpsons interstitials

would be a big ask
for a small production company.

We had one week to animate it
and very low budget.

There was no art director.

It was a long day.

NARRATOR:
They quickly realized they
would need a third animator,

and they brought David in
to help.

We were just
kind of making it up
as we were going along.

NARRATOR: And they
had to work quick
'cause deadlines were looming.

Hello, my name is Tracey Ullman,
and my show is on next.

NARRATOR: On April 5th, 1987,

Tracey Ullman
braved the airwaves

for the very first time,

and quickly found an audience
amongst Gen Xers.

There was nothing like it
on the air then,

so it had that going for it.

NARRATOR: This late night
sketch comedy show

was at the vanguard
of Fox's comedy lineup.

The Tracey Ullman Show was

definitely at the higher end
on the quality scale

of Fox in the late '80s.

And it was critically received.

She was considered a genius,

and it had a lot of
the positive buzz that way.

I love The Tracey Ullman Show.

NARRATOR: The Simpsons kept
their powder dry for now

as the only interstitials
in the premier

belonged to the doctor
with the African name.

I'm Dr. Janice N!Godatu.

Dr. Janice N!Godatu.

I have a patient coming
in just one minute.

But first I have
to show you something.

Look, I wore my slippers
to the office.

What was I thinking of?

[LAUGHING]

NARRATOR: But come
episode three of
The Tracey Ullman Show,

America got its first look
at The Simpsons.

Well, good night, son.

-Um, Dad?
-Yeah?

What is the mind?

Is it just a system of impulses

or is it something tangible?

Relax.

What is mind?

No matter.

What is matter?

Never mind. [LAUGHS]

Thanks, Dad.

NARRATOR:
And even in a single minute,
there was something emerging.

You got the real feeling
of the emotional content

'cause they all are
about something.

KENNEALLY: Maggie
being put to bed by Marge.

MARGE: ♪ When the bough breaks

♪ The cradle will fall ♪

And when the lights
go out in the room,

Maggie's eyes are bugged out

'cause she's just been told
a horror story.

And I just remember loving that.

NARRATOR: As for the voices...

We may be
the best parents in the world.

MARGE: Hmm.

-Good night, dear.
-Good night.

NARRATOR: Those were
also kept low budget.

We pulled the voice talent

out of the cast
of The Tracey Ullman Show.

That way, there wouldn't be
a second set of residuals
to have to pay.

NARRATOR: Fortunately,
The Tracey Ullman Show

had a supporting cast
to match its star,

including Dan Castellaneta.

Maybe this will help.

NARRATOR: Who would be tapped
to play Homer.

-Dad.
-I haven't got all day.

Now leap,

-and give it all you've got.
-Do I have to?

Homer, at the beginning,
he sounded

very, like, Walter Matthau.

-Bart.
-GOERTZ: Very aggressive,
stern Father.

-I'll get it.
-[BART GROANS]

And would only later become
the lovable goofball.

That voice is quite different.

NARRATOR: It'd be Dan's
castmate and experienced

comedic actress
Julie Kavner...

Honey, can we help you
with something?

NARRATOR: ...who'd lend
her voice to Marge.

Burp. I mean, Bart.

-Are you burping again?
-Maybe.

NARRATOR: Outsiders
Nancy Cartwright
and Yeardley Smith

were cast as Bart and Lisa.

This is a dorky show, Bart.
Change the channel.

-No.
-Change the channel.

NARRATOR: The tone was
harder and edgier
than the Big Three networks.

BOTH: Hey! Turn that back on!

NARRATOR: In a word,
it was very Fox.

The voices are really kind of
mean and snarly,

and it fit really well
at the time on Fox,

because in a sense,
it almost felt like
Fox stating its brand.

Watch this.
The burp champion of the world.

Fox always wanted
to be outrageous.

They always wanted
to be in your face.

We're the loud obnoxious kid
at the back of the classroom.

[BURPS]

We are Bart Simpson.
That's who we are as a network.

The show must go on.

NARRATOR: Aside from
talented voices,

animating The Simpsons
would require storyboards,

which are
a collection of pictures,

each representing a shot

or a key moment
in the animation.

But since the characters were
created by a skilled artist,

that bit would be easy.

So Matt would roll in

with his
really crude storyboards

drawn on animation paper.

They were incredibly crude
at the time.

And we're not
talking about the humor.

KOPP: You know, Matt,
God bless him,

but he's not the world's
greatest draftsman. [CHUCKLES]

Here's Bart Simpson.
Let me draw you Bart Simpson.

KOPP: I think he
admits this too, that he
never really evolved past

the eighth grade level
of draftsmanship.

ARCHER: We were
scrambling to figure out,

how do we animate this
Matt Groening style?

But we would take Matt's...

layout drawings...

Let's just be nice
and call 'em that.

And we'd go like, "Holy smoke.
This is never gonna work."

A lot of it was just
kind of trying out stuff

and seeing what sticks.

NARRATOR: The unrefined style
led to the first signs

of what would become
Simpsons' trademarks.

Do you hear something?

Like, we were big fans of

popping Bart's eyes
out of his head back then.

-I'll get it.
-[BART GROANS]

We tried to throw in
as many wacky takes as we could.

Good news, son.
The boxing gloves have arrived.

NARRATOR: And for that unique
Simpsons coloring...

Initially, it was supposed
to be black-and-white.

But it just kind of
screamed out for color.

NARRATOR: The distinctive hue
of The Simpsons

had its origins in a place
a long way from Hollywood.

With this woman.

I am Gyorgyi Kovacs-Peluce.

And I design the color
on The Simpsons.

NARRATOR: Gyorgyi hailed
from a place few Americans

associated with color.

GYORGYI: I was born
and raised in Hungary.

Unfortunately, I was born

in a politically
undesirable family.

So there is not a whole lot
of things was open to me.

NARRATOR: With no hope
of standing out

in the Hungarian film industry,

Gyorgyi escaped to Italy,

where she managed to secure
a passage to America.

GYORGYI: I was so happy
when I landed in America,

I kissed the ground
when I landed.

NARRATOR: Gyorgyi's first job
in the New World

would be thanks
to an Old World connection,

the fellow Hungarian countrymen
and artist Gabor Csupo.

He needed some color design,

so he called me,
and then we started.

NARRATOR: Gyorgyi began
contemplating a palette

that would give
the unique cartoon

a unique look.

I did not wanted to do...

flesh color,

because our characters were
such as

they didn't fit in anywhere.

NARRATOR: So Gyorgyi made
a simple color choice

that would define the look
of The Simpsons.

Yellow is...

It's kind of universal.

I wanted
to unite the characters.

NARRATOR: But the legend
of The Simpsons yellow

is another Simpsons story
with more than one author.

That was Matt's idea.

I think he just
wanted them to be

all the regular suburban,

-you know, but they're yellow.
-No.

NARRATOR: Well,
the definitive answer
to this colorful conundrum

can be found
in a blue magazine.

So I got the Playboy,

and this is where
Matt Groening says

he was interviewed.

Playboy used to have
the best articles.

They were known for that.

"So when it came time
to give them a skin color,

"the animation colorist,
Gyorgyi Peluce,

"chose yellow skin."

She never got
a proper credit for that.

NARRATOR:
When it came to the hair,
that was easier to explain.

I didn't wanted
to have it black. But blue.

Well, you hear those old ladies

with the blue white hair wash,

and I said, "Okay,
let's make it darker blue,"

because it looks good.

All right.

They trusted my judgment.

And I thought, "Yay.

"I can really create something
what was different."

NARRATOR: The Simpsons look
was so different

it clashed with
The Tracey Ullman Show's

other resident cartoon.

Hi. You probably
don't even recognize me.

Dr. Janice N!Godatu.

I haven't had a blind date
since med school.

NARRATOR: Also produced
by the team.

It was an awkward style
for us to work.

It was a little stiff for us.

-I thought you were an attorney.
-I am an attorney.

I'm also a surgeon. [CHUCKLES]

-NARRATOR: It was...
-Funny

and different and odd.

-Really, really odd.
-NARRATOR: However...

Matt just seemed funnier.

NARRATOR: So funny, in fact,

that they started using it as
studio audience warm up.

RUSSO: I remember
the crowd being,
like, belly laughs,

over this crazy show.

These bumpers were
making us laugh,
and they were really funny,

And at that, point I really knew
there was something there,

like, I knew there was
a lot of potential there.

NARRATOR: Everyone in the room
wanted to hop in bed
with The Simpsons.

With one notable exception.

Tracey was not fond
of The Simpsons.

She was not fond of
of any of the of the bumpers

'cause she didn't think
they were the quality
of her show.

NARRATOR: And in
the board rooms over at Fox,

there were executives
who agreed.

I will tell you there were
people in corporate at Fox

who wanted us to kill these.

[CHUCKLING] Because it cost
$15,000 a week

to make the animated bumpers.

NARRATOR: Thankfully,
Garth went with his gut.

I had the argument. I go like,

"No, we're not killing
the animated bumpers.

"You know, they're
onto something here.

"I don't know what it is,
but they're onto something."

NARRATOR: Instead,
the producers went
with audience sentiment,

and it was
The Simpsons' stablemate
that would be sacrificed.

M.K. Brown turned in her stuff,
and it was good too.

Just fabulous.

Her point of view is so unusual
and strange and,

you know, that's everything
I love about it.

[DR. JANICE LAUGHING]

So I wore my slippers
to the office again.

That's okay.

I always keep an extra pair
of pumps in this cabinet,

so there's nothing
to worry about.

-Uh-oh.
-[SLIPPERS LAUGHING]

But his made us laugh
and hers didn't.

And we finally went
to Heide and said,

"Heide, we want
to go with Matt totally.

"We wanna just make it Matt."

I'll have to wear my slippers
home on the subway again.

NARRATOR: Meaning, at the end
of the first season...

ARCHER: Dr. Janice N!Godatu.

NARRATOR: ...had seen
her last patient.

And then it was all Simpsons.

NARRATOR: But at Klasky Csupo,

the work didn't really
get any easier.

Because we were not
polished studio guys at all.

I wasn't sure
what I was doing there really.

I was just doing it
because my girlfriend
got me a job.

I was 24 years old.
I'd been out of school for,
like, two years.

NARRATOR:
And they were undaunted.

We had, you know,
a weekly turnaround

of an episode,
so we had to crank through it.

And it was pretty much
seven days a week as I recall.

It was grueling. They didn't
let us out of the basement
very often.

NARRATOR: But just as
The Simpsons were landing...

Oh! I thought I heard a thud.

You'll hear another one
if you don't shut your trap.

NARRATOR: ...they'd be losing
a family member.

I never had
any bad feelings about

being asked to leave the show.

NARRATOR: Just as momentum
was building for The Simpsons,

a key creative player
was asked to leave.

No, I wasn't. It's a lie.
I'm totally fucking with you.

NARRATOR: Bill was leaving
to pursue other opportunities.

That is to say...

Does this answer your question?

NARRATOR: ...to chase
a rabbit.

Roger Rabbit
had come out just recently,

and we all thought
that was just amazing.

And they hired me to work on

these theatrical
Roger Rabbit shorts.

So I couldn't turn it down.

NARRATOR: With Bill off
to Toontown,

season two
of The Simpsons shorts

would fall squarely
on Wes Archer
and David Silverman.

It was just David and I,

and the interstitial shorts

actually got a little shorter,

so we could handle it
between the two of us.

NARRATOR: A job
made more challenging

by The Simpsons' own creator.

Matt would drop off
his sketches to us,

drawn in his inimitable style.

He definitely had a vision
and wanted to see things happen.

But he was
really open to letting

David and Wes explore
how to get a scene across.

His drawings got
sloppier and sloppier,

and he, he kept saying,
"You guys draw better than me.

"Draw the way you, you know,
you want it to look."

NARRATOR: And so,
they did just that.

ARCHER: We really kind of
honed in on the style,

and so, during the second year,

we kind of arrived
at a more consistent look.

We kind of started changing

his drawings up
a little bit more.

NARRATOR: The unique anatomy
of The Simpsons

was taking shape.

And we arrived at,

like, a certain number of points

-on Lisa's head.
-You can say that again.

ARCHER: Certain number
of points on Bart's head.

Cowabunga!

How big the eyeballs are.
All that kind of stuff.

NARRATOR: Even with a tiny
on-screen footprint,

The Simpsons were
starting to make an impact

as big as their bulging eyes.

It soon became obvious
that this growing family

was outgrowing its home.

RUSSO: I remember
season two, hearing,

people were calling Fox
to find out at what point

during Tracey Ullman Show
was The Simpsons gonna be on

so they could tune in
during that time only.

And that's when I think everyone
started to realize,

like, there's something
going on here that's bigger

than maybe we understand yet,

and we should buckle up

'cause it's gonna be
a big ride coming down the pipe.

NARRATOR: And inevitably,
as the bigness grew,

the big producers started
paying more attention.

When we were
working on season three
of the interstitials,

I remember it seemed like

they were getting
more and more notes
from James L. Brooks or Matt.

NARRATOR: But this
was a good sign.

And I remember Gabor
getting all of us together,

and there was this
big moment of pep talk,

and like, "Hey, guys,
if we play our cards right,

"we can do
something really big here."

NARRATOR: Gabor didn't know
how right he was.

The tiny, roughed-edge
interstitials that could

were being talked about
at high levels.

They saw potential.

NARRATOR: It was time for
The Simpsons family to grow.

We thought about,
"Oh, maybe we should do this
as a full half-hour."

NARRATOR: Half-hour
animated series

had worked on network before.

The precedent for that
was not what you would think
it would be.

It was The Flintstones
and The Jetsons on ABC,

which were huge hits on ABC
in the '60s.

NARRATOR: In fact,
The Flintstones were so popular

that for several weeks,
ABC was number one

over NBC and CBS.

ANCIER: So there was
something in this idea

if you could
recreate that magic.

NARRATOR: But it was
the kind of magic that studios

rarely tried to capture.

There hadn't been
a primetime animation since

one in the '70s called
Wait Till Your Father
Gets Home.

♪ Wait till your father gets

♪ Until your father gets

♪ Wait till your father
gets home ♪

NARRATOR: So it was
an extremely daunting idea

to pitch a primetime animation

to the intimidating
Barry Diller.

The reason
Barry is intimidating is,

he's really, really smart.

And he can tell
if you're fibbing

because in Hollywood,
we have so many executives

who are
so prone to bullshitting.

And Barry is just, like...
He has a bullshit meter.

You don't even try.

NARRATOR: So when it came
to pitching to Barry...

You have to be willing to die
on the railroad tracks

if you want this show
to go forward.

NARRATOR: Fox desperately
needed another breakout hit

to repeat the success

of Married With Children
for the family audience.

-Positive!
-Definitely!

NARRATOR: Their most
notable attempt
was a presidential sitcom...

George C. Scott, Mr. President.

NARRATOR: But it failed
to win the popular vote.

It was one of those things
where you go like,
"Wow, that was a big miss."

NARRATOR: And the misses
kept comin'.

[SCREAMS] No!

NARRATOR:
With everything from...

A teenage drama
about a werewolf.

NARRATOR: ...to sharks,
of a sort.

I'm looking for someone
who can help me

-buy... Yes.
-A house.

Open House,
which was a realtor comedy.

I really appreciate
what you're trying to do here,
but it's not working.

You either swing for the fence
or you don't swing.

Pitch your favorite

of all time "I'm willing to die
on the railroad track" shows.

NARRATOR: And so,
Rob and the team

faced the locomotive head on.

We went to our boss, Barry,

and we pitched him
on The Simpsons.

He obviously had
seen the bumpers, but we were
pushing the idea of

building it
into a show to itself.

NARRATOR: But would now
be the moment

for animation to make
its return to primetime?

We couldn't get our boss
to kind of go for it.

NARRATOR:
The Simpsons were returned
to their original purpose,

playing support,
even for in-house gigs.

The year that I was showing
our new pilots,

we would have a screening room
down in our conference room.

Wow. The glamorous world of TV.

And in order to try
and get attention,

we put The Simpsons on
like you would

an animated trailer
before a movie.

And I remember that backfiring
'cause it was like, "Oh, shit."

The Bart Simpson show.

The animated segments got
bigger laughs than our comedies.

You could see that these
little segments really worked,

and when they were isolated
they worked even better.

NARRATOR: And this time,
Barry Diller was

willing to take
a risk on The Simpsons,

but only a much smaller one.

Barry wanted to do the special.

NARRATOR: Just one hour
specials to test the waters.

So we're gonna do
a Simpsons Christmas special,

a Simpsons Halloween special.

NARRATOR: But James L. Brooks
hadn't made a career

out of half-baked ideas.

And he wasn't gonna start now.

Brooks being in the room
can say,

"We're going to do it
the way we want to do it."

Jim Brooks wasn't gonna do
less than 13 episodes.

NARRATOR: This wasn't
simply naked ambition.

Brooks' bottom line
was all about the bottom line.

ANCIER: The idea
of doing a special

back in animation in those days
was a one-year project.

And then if you want to do more,
you've got to come back,

and it takes another year
just to do that.

You have to buy 13 episodes,

or you can't make a show.

NARRATOR: But Fox executives
were thinking about
their bottom line too.

-Neither side would budge.
-And it died.

NARRATOR: Again.

The Simpsons sitcom
was dead in the water.

Jim Brooks, he wasn't gonna
take less than 13,

and my management at the time
wasn't gonna take a swing
at that level.

NARRATOR: But its backers
inside Fox weren't giving up.

So Garth Ancier hatched a plan
to turn things around.

I agreed

to tell a little white lie

to our management.

NARRATOR:
Meaning, to the one guy
you don't lie to...

He has a bullshit meter.

NARRATOR: But not wanting
the opportunity to slip away,

Garth risked it all.

I mean, yeah, I did.

NARRATOR: And told his boss
with a straight face...

ABC had offered six episodes.

NARRATOR: And just
to be clear...

As far as I could tell,
they had not.

NARRATOR: But are we
to believe that
the great Barry Diller

fell for it?

In fairness,
because I do think Barry has

an extraordinary bullshit meter,

I think he knew it was a lie.

And he went along with an angle
knowing this was a good idea.

That's when we got Barry
to order 13.

-NARRATOR: And as
the Gracie logo suggests...
-MAN: Shh.

NARRATOR: ...that remained
a little secret for years.

Little known fact is,
I'm the person who goes, "Shh."

NARRATOR: But that's not
the full story,

because around the same time,

James L. Brooks
had a film deal with Fox
that needed to be renewed.

When his film deal renewed,

The Simpsons was part of it.

NARRATOR: So whether the show
was green-lit

-because of a big lie...
-It's a white lie.

NARRATOR: ...or because Fox
just wanted

to keep Jim Brooks
in their stable,

one way or another,
The Simpsons was a go.

But it would be
a long countdown to launch,

more than a year later.

We bought the show
in December 1988.

Thirteen-episode animated show,
you had to have
a lot of lead time.

You know, once that train
is on the tracks,

it's just, you know,
you've got to try
and make it work.

NARRATOR: But making
a half-hour animation
was a tall order.

And there was no guarantee
that tiny Klasky Csupo

would get the sizable contract.

There was a lot of competition.

I think every studio in town
wanted the show

because everyone knew
it's gonna be huge.

But I think, you know,
like anything else,
it came down to numbers.

NARRATOR:
Fortunately, Klasky Csupo
had an ace up their sleeve.

I heard that
he underbid everybody.

NARRATOR: Which was
good enough for Gracie Films.

And Klasky Csupo
retained the show
they had helped create.

My recollection of when
Klasky got the pickup was

walking into work and everyone
in Gabor's office celebrating.

It was like early in the morning
but there was still champagne,

and I was like,
"What the hell's going on?"

It was such an exciting time.

RUSSO: At the time,
I didn't really understand

what it meant to go
from a studio of six people

to a studio
of 100 people overnight.

NARRATOR: What it meant was,

they'd be hiring,
and not just animators.

Designers, storyboard artists,

background designers,

prop designers, layout artists.

NARRATOR: But won't all this
money and attention

file down The Simpsons edge?

'Cause it is anarchic.

Distrustful of authority
and irreverent

and subversive
as much as possible.

NARRATOR: Turning this cartoon
into something much more

was gonna need
the right executive team.

TURNER: Matt Groening,
underground cartoonist

brings this
kind of anarchic spirit,

and this distrust
of authority to it.

Big shot TV and movie
veteran producer,
James L. Brooks,

who brings
kind of a kind-hearted,

maybe a little bit saccharine

kind of sensibility
to the thing.

NARRATOR: But they
would need a third person
to round out the team.

Jim Brooks is a busy guy.

We needed to find
a voice for the show,
a showrunner.

NARRATOR: Enter Sam Simon.

And Sam Simon at the time,

you know, he had
the right credits of,

you know, premium comedy,
Emmy kind of level comedies.

NARRATOR: Having written
for Taxi,

The Tracey Ullman Show
and Cheers.

TV veteran, the guy who's worked
a lot of writer's rooms

knows comedy, knows how
to find good comedy writers.

NARRATOR: While he was
the perfect addition,

Sam Simon would be navigating

a minefield
littered with the corpses

of failed primetime sitcoms.

When you're gonna spend
half an hour a week

with a family,

you have to kind of like them.
They can't just be terrible.

NARRATOR: It would be up to
these three gentlemen

to turn an imperfectly drawn,

imperfect family
into the perfect TV show.

And even if the executives
didn't know it at the time,

the fate of Fox

was riding on this cadre
of colorful cartoon characters.

The fear was always just that
it was like a big leap.

Would there be an audience?

[THEME MUSIC PLAYING]