All language subtitles for Icons.Unearthed.S02E02.The.Pilot.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD+2.0.H.264-playWEB_track3_[eng]

NARRATOR: The Simpsons.

The ground-breaking,
record-shattering show

that has transcended television

to become a multi-generational,
multi-cultural phenomenon.

All comedy shows
of the last couple decades

have Simpsons DNA in it.

NARRATOR: But how did a small,
animated segment

on a variety show
become an empire?

I don't know.

It all started
with 13 episodes.

Jim Brooks wasn't gonna do
less than 13.

NARRATOR:
A fledgling network...

On all these UHF stations.

...with a terrifying boss...

I was like, "Uh-oh."

...a couple of TV execs

with backgrounds
in multi-cam sitcoms...

They worked on Taxi.

...along with
an underground cartoonist...

He was a bohemian.
He was an outsider.

...and an entire
animation crew...

We were not polished
studio guys.

[BELCHES]

...most of whom
had absolutely no idea

what they were doing.

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

What the...
Hey, I'll take the job.

-Excellent.
-[SCOFFS]

[THEME SONG PLAYING]

[BIRDS CHIRPING]

[CHOIR HARMONIZING]

NARRATOR: In December of 1988,
Fox executive Garth Ancier

and legendary producer
James L. Brooks

scored a 13-episode order
for a primetime
Simpsons series.

A big deal for both
James L. Brooks
and his Gracie Films

and the Fox bigwig
Barry Diller.

I don't think they had any idea
what they were getting into

when they gave The Simpsons
the go-ahead.

They were taking a chance
on an animated show.

Gambling, the eighth deadly sin.

NARRATOR:
And for the fledgling
Fox network,

they were putting a lot
on the line for this cartoon.

I don't call it a cartoon.

I call it a...
An animated show.

NARRATOR:
Animation hadn't been
in primetime

since the Stone Age.

Sorry, buddy,
you got me confused
with Fred Flintstone.

Yes, there was The Flintstones
and The Jetsons,

but that was a long time ago.

It was kind of amazing
that we were gonna be competing

against Roseanne, 60 Minutes.

That was unheard of.

NARRATOR: So, it was crucial
to draw a line
between primetime

and the slums
of Saturday morning.

Common usage of cartoon

signifies something
for a younger audience

or... Or else something wacky.

I consider it an animated series

because it was supposed to be,
like, a sitcom.

I'm hoping she notices
Wheeler's got the better nose.

NARRATOR: And not
just any sitcom. It's, uh...

A half-hour, primetime
animated sitcom.

If cartoons
were meant for adults,
they'd put them on in primetime.

NARRATOR: And as a sitcom,
it would have to take on

primetime's most-beloved
institutions

and break the spell
of shows like The Cosby Show,

which held sway
on up to half

of all American TV sets in use,
on a good night.

But not to worry,

because as well as
Matt Groening...

It's not pronounced
Matt "Growing-ning,"

which we all thought it was,

uh, I think until, like,
the Internet was created.

NARRATOR: Uh, right.
Yeah, good note.

These industry heavyweights
had the experience and know-how

to make
very successful television.

The same couldn't be said
for animation studio
Klasky Csupo.

They were not really
in the character
animation business.

NARRATOR:
With limited experience,

the team behind The Simpsons
were flying blind.

The interstitials
were crude and short.

There was a lot to sort out.

Luckily, the head
of the animation team

was none other
than Gabor Csupo,

who could
best be described as...

Gabor is funky.

RICH: Gabor Csupo
ran Klasky Csupo
with his wife Arlene Klasky,

and he was
very forward-thinking.

It was family-like.

Like any small,
boutique studio would be.

CAROL: He was always having
comedians come in

that he seemed to know.

It was just fun.

WES: His seal of approval
upon watching scenes

was "That's funky. I love it."

NARRATOR: While Gabor Csupo
may have been a fun-loving
animation producer,

his early life wasn't as funky.

He escaped Hungary
when it was tough
to get out of Hungary.

He would tell stories
about climbing over
barbed-wired fences

to get out of that country.

RICH: It was
a lifelong dream of his
to be an animator in Hollywood.

We always wondered, like,
"Why can't it be in the Valley?

[LAUGHING]
"There's more parking
over there."

But I think it's 'cause
he wanted to be in Hollywood.

NARRATOR:
Despite the bad commute...

There was a lot of, like,
"Yay! Let's do this!"

I also remember a lot of, like,
"How are we gonna do this?"

A lot of questions, like,
"Where are we gonna
put everybody?"

We had to find places
for people to work.

NARRATOR: And if they wanted
to turn The Simpsons
into a full-length show,

they had to gear up.

First on the list,
they needed an animation staff.

Klasky Csupo hired
an entire crew.

Prop designers,
storyboard artists,
layout artists,

designers,

character designers,
background designers.

Like most animation jobs,
you have to take a test
to show what you can do.

So, there was a layout test
that I took.

They said, "We're looking
for background artists.
Would you be interested?"

I was like, "Yes, absolutely."

CAROL: Well, I started
as a background
clean-up artist.

I wanted to be on The Simpsons
'cause I loved the shorts.

Eat my shorts.

NARRATOR: Oh, no, no.
Not those shorts.

They had a long way to go
before Bart
would be saying that.

CAROL: I was a big fan
of the shorts.

I looked up who did them

and it said, "Klasky Csupo,"
and I called.

I pursued it
'cause I really loved
those shorts.

NARRATOR: And just like that,
the staffing list
was getting longer by the day.

I was working for Ralph Bakshi,

and we had just finished
on a Saturday morning version
of Mighty Mouse .

One of the directors was a guy
named Kent Butterworth,

and Kent had just landed
a gig on The Simpsons.

-I thought he was talking
about the shorts.
-Eat my shorts.

NARRATOR: Gah,
we've talked about this.

I headed over there
and interviewed,

and got a job doing storyboards.

NARRATOR: Things were starting
to come together
for The Simpsons.

Seemingly overnight,
Klasky Csupo had expanded

from a small team
doing interstitials.

And in the same manner
of which he secured

the animation gig
for his company.

Gabor was renowned
for underbidding everyone.

NARRATOR: Hmm,
that business model worked
for hiring staff also.

RICH: So, I think
he even underbid a bunch of us,
you know, college students.

There were some older people

who, you know,
were in the twilight
of their careers

and didn't wanna work too hard.

There was, like, no in between.

It was kind of, like,
hard-core unemployables

and young people

and really nothing
in the middle.

NARRATOR: Underpaid or not,
The Simpsons
had their animation team.

Now they just needed
something to animate.

Simon, Groening and Brooks
were all masters
of their crafts.

Each had earned the right
to have final say
on all creative decisions,

but it was Matt Groening's
voice and vision

that drove The Simpsons .

Matt Groening to me, like...

He was an idol of mine.

I thought he was so good,
that he scared me.

We're trying to really challenge
the other cartoons out there,

and I think that we do
a fantastic job.

We make The Smurfs
look like Scooby Doo.

Matt Groening's humor
was just perfect.

It was sarcastic
and it was different.
It was fresh.

RICH: He understands people.

Just has his finger
on something.

NARRATOR:
Whatever Matt's finger was on,

it would point in a singular,
creative direction.

Matt was really striving
for a consistent universe.

There's certain things
that wouldn't happen
in The Simpsons world

because it's a real world.

Get your hand
out of that cookie jar.

NARRATOR: But the man
with his finger on the pulse

wasn't interested in being
under anyone's thumb,

especially Sam Simon's.

Sometimes maybe Sam Simon,
the showrunner,

wanted to push
the cartooniness of it

and have things happen
that wouldn't happen
in the real world.

I think, sometimes,
they had to convince Matt

and it would
still hold together.

NARRATOR:
It was Matt Groening

that was responsible
for making The Simpsons
what it is today.

MAN: Sam Simon
was the vision of the show.

It was Sam who managed
to take these very small,

crude vignettes,

and turn it into a family show

that was really built
on characters and emotion.

NARRATOR: So,
it was showrunner Sam Simon

who gave The Simpsons
its unique take on the sitcom.

JOE: No one knew better
than Gabor.

He knew how to make
The Simpsons

and he knew
how to make it entertaining
for all those people.

NARRATOR: Got it.
So, credit belongs
to Sam, Matt and Gabor.

RICH: It was Jim Brooks
who said, "We're not making
a cartoon show,

"we're not even making
an animated show,

"we're making a sitcom.

"It just happens
to be animated."

NARRATOR: The first primetime
animated sitcom in decades

was an enticing concept.

But they couldn't just make
The Simpsons shorts longer.

The show needed
to be developed,

and for that,
they needed writers.

But that wouldn't be a problem
for TV sitcom veteran
Sam Simon.

I am Jon Vitti.
I was the first story editor
on The Simpsons.

It was my first 30-minute job.

NARRATOR: In fact,
Jon Vitti's only credits

were one year of SNL,

followed by one year
of unemployment.

I didn't know
how to be a writer.

I assumed that, you know,
I'd be fired
if I ever wasn't there.

NARRATOR: And so Jon was there,

waiting for instructions.

JON: Sam's primary job
was being a producer
on The Tracey Ullman Show.

There were so many days
where I went in at 10:00,

sat in my office,
waited for the phone to ring.

And then eight hours later,
at 6:00,

I got in my car to go home.

NARRATOR: But not every phone
was inactive in this story.

[PHONE RINGING]

Rubber Baby Buggy Bumper
Babysitting Service.

NARRATOR:
Because Matt Groening
was busy making a call

to the one writer he wanted
to add to the writer's room.

Or, at least, the one writer
who agreed to do it.

He called and said, you know,
that they were gonna turn

The Simpsons shorts
into a series,

and did I want to write
an episode?

Apparently, he was asking
all his cartoonist friends
if they wanted to do that,

and I was the only one
who said yes.

NARRATOR:
And a good thing, too,

because Mimi Pond
was an accomplished cartoonist

and best-selling author.

And as Matt's
one and only writing pick,

perhaps Mimi
would prove to be an ally

in a Sam Simon-stacked
writer's room.

Not that that really gave him
any confidence.

JON: Sam Simon was asked
at a party what he thought
the show's chances were.

What are the odds
on Santa's Little Helper?

-"Thirteen and out."
-Wow!

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

NARRATOR: But Sam's comment
wasn't without repercussions.

I got a bad feeling about this.

Matt Groening
had caught wind
of that being said,

and took it as a slight

that Sam Simon
didn't believe in their show

and that he didn't think
that it had the stuff
to get past season one.

Groening's perspective
was that he didn't have

anywhere to go
if the show failed,

but Sam did, because he had
a TV career prior.

NARRATOR: Sam was betting
on himself,

not Matt Groening
and The Simpsons .

And, so, after barely starting,

Matt and Simon
were at odds with each other.

CHRIS: And, particularly,
when you're dealing with a show

that began
from a pretty simple premise

it's not surprising that,
eventually, there's gonna be
some tension.

NARRATOR: With 13 episodes
to produce,

if Sam Simon was right,

then, at the very least,

if James, Matt and Sam
couldn't find a way
to work together,

getting just one episode made

might send them over the edge.

NARRATOR: The Simpsons
were on their way
to primetime,

but as tension
between Matt Groening
and Sam Simon

simmered behind the scenes,

in the writer's room,
it was James L. Brooks
ruffling feathers.

JON: We would come
to story meetings
a lot of the time

and you would pitch stories
directly to Jim Brooks

and either get them
approved or not.

There's nothing more terrifying

than coming up with ideas

that you're gonna pitch
directly to Jim Brooks.

NARRATOR: But the terror
Jon Vitti faced,
staring at Jim Brooks,

had been somewhat allayed

from back when Jon was staring
at the phone instead,

waiting for Sam Simon to call.

Just on the phone,
I pitched five stories to Sam.

Three of them were terrible,
amateurish attempts at comedy.

One was, like, half of a thing
that later got used on the show

and one was Bart the Genius,
which Sam wanted to do,

and so I got a chance
to write a script that way.

NARRATOR: And so,
Bart the Genius was in.

Around the same time,

Mimi was on the phone
with Matt Groening.

Talked on the phone,

and they said,
"Well, we need
a Christmas episode."

And I said,
"Well, that sounds great."

[LIGHTS SHORT CIRCUITING]

'Cause I hate Christmas.
[LAUGHS]

I wrote my episode
and I used my brand-new,
high-tech fax machine

to fax them the pages.

NARRATOR: Mimi Pond
may not have had experience

with animated
television before,

but she had sunk her teeth
into another writing job.

I wrote an episode
of Pee-wee's Playhouse.

[LAUGHING MANIACALLY]

NARRATOR:
Although that experience
may have cut down

-on her expectations
of the writing process.
- [YELLS]

We gave them our script,

and they shot it. [LAUGHS]

I thought, "Great!
This is the way it works."

Then at this rewrite meeting
at The Simpsons,

I found out this is really
a very collaborative process.

NARRATOR: For example...

MIMI: I had written a thing
about the Christmas pageant

from around the world,

and I just made up some stuff
of different traditions,

and Sam Simon said, "No,"

and he sent someone
to the library,

on the lot at Fox, to get a book

about Christmas traditions
around the world,
and came back.

Of course, they were much more
strange and interesting

than anything
I could've made up.

In Germany,
Santa's servant, Ruprecht,

gives presents to good children

and whipping rods
to the parents of bad ones.

NARRATOR: The Simpsons
would premiere
in the fall of 1989.

So, Mimi's episode
was, of course, scheduled
for later in the series.

And they didn't want to show
the Christmas episode
in October.

NARRATOR: So,
as the 13 episodes
came together...

The first episode written
is Some Enchanted Evening,

the babysitter bandit episode.

NARRATOR: The premiere episode

written by
the bosses themselves.

But Jon's position wasn't bad.

My script, Bart the Genius,
actually winded up being
the second one produced.

NARRATOR: And the third
would be Homer's Odyssey.

The animation directors
got to work,

working out how to make
these animated sitcoms.

For season one,
I had Homer's Odyssey.

David had Bart the Genius,

Kent had
Some Enchanted Evening.

NARRATOR: Burying their heads
in their hands,

the directors faced
a difficult task.

And it was clear
they needed a bit of help.

Richard Sakai was, and still is,

the President of Gracie Films,

and his job was to come over

[CHUCKLING] and educate

members of the crew
about the laws of a sitcom,
[CHUCKLING] you know,

and what they looked like.

And bring over tapes
of Taxi and stuff.

"See how the cutting patterns
are here?"

"See how they set it up,
pay it off,
set it up, pay it off.

"That's what we're doing."

NARRATOR: But a lot of that
was down to the actors

Interacting on a live
studio set.

The process of making animation
is very different.

But, luckily,
most of the vocal cast
was in place

because, as you'll remember...

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: But they did need
a few more voices,

including versatile talents
like Hank Azaria...

Yeah, Moe's Tavern.
Moe speaking.

You look familiar, sir.
Are you on the television
or something?

Pamela Hayden.

Look out, Bart!
Here comes Skinner!

And Marcia Wallace.

Do not stick any part
of your body out the window.

And Harry Shearer.

Who was very versatile.

Hello, Mrs. Simpson...

Very, very versatile.

-Ain't ya hungry, Homer?
-A little bit more versatile.

Good evening,
again, Springfield.

Yup. Yup, there's more.

-Ain't ya hungry, Homer?
-A little bit more versatile.

Today is Sunday. The Lord's day.

He's even Mr. Burns-versatile.

Now get to work.

The way Mr. Burns says...

- Excellent!
-Is excellent.

NARRATOR:
But not just Mr. Burns.

Fabulous observation, sir.

It was so amazing
to watch Harry do

Burns and Smithers.

-You ruined my picnic.
-It will be gone
by the tug-of-war, sir.

I don't know how he does it.

NARRATOR: So,
as the cast recorded
their unique characters

and the writers wrote
their different scripts,

the animators
needed to find a way
to all draw

in the one same style.

And to do that,

they needed to standardize.

When it went to series,
we had to make sure
and codify everything

and make sure
that it looked like the show,

and so that everyone
could draw it the same way.

JON: Like, 500 artists
have to draw Homer
perfectly on model

so you can shift
from one artist's work
to the other,

and it looks the same.

CAROL: It was partly
designing it

so that it could be done
quickly overseas.

NARRATOR: These weren't
30-second
interstitials anymore.

Even with 75 people
on the team,

Klasky Csupo needed more help.

They enlisted AKOM,

an animation studio
based in Seoul, South Korea.

It started in South Korea
because it was a lower
cost of living,

so the animation was cheaper.

In order to do it here,
it would cost, you know,
at least twice as much.

MAN: Basically,
his job is to take this...
WOMAN: Mmm-hmm.

...and turn it into the TV show.

The actual animating, clean-up,

ink and paint, compositing,

that happens overseas.

And that would then turn
into drawings

which are then,
generated cells

which were then painted by hand
and then shot onto film.

NARRATOR: But this process
didn't take place overnight.

If the episode
was animated wrong,

Klasky Csupo wouldn't know
until it was too late.

It was six to nine months

to get one episode.

NARRATOR: But before
that clock started ticking,

AKOM needed a rule book.

That enormous job
went to animation director
Wes Archer.

WES: And I was charged
with putting together
this model pack.

These are templates
for all the other artists.

So, you map out Homer's head,
like, where are his eyes?

Are they
in the middle of the head?
Third of the way down?

So, you have to do
this turnaround

of the way
the characters are drawn
at every angle.

That's where
I had to really nail down
the designs.

So, I had some influence
on the designs.

This is
the Klasky Csupo model pack

that helped
the show standardize.

This would show you

how to draw size-wise,
scale-wise.

So, this is your sizing chart
of all the people.

These are different ways
to draw Homer

so he's three-heads tall.

NARRATOR: When it came
to drawing Homer,

one of the directors had,
what can only be described
as a light bulb moment.

David Silverman drew
this picture of a light bulb,

which was the shape
of Homer's body,

and then three
of those light bulbs

was the size of Homer

from the top of his head
to the bottom of him.

NARRATOR: And Homer
wasn't the only
household product.

JOE: Bart was a can,
like a soup can.

His head was, and it was tilted
at a certain degree
from his neck.

And your lip had to have
a certain little curl
at the end of it.

Ears had to sit at a certain
position to the nose.

All this stuff,
over the years,
was how you did it.

NARRATOR: No detail
was too small
for the rule book.

WES: How many teeth Bart has.

How far Homer's mouth goes.

His beard line.

Does his mouth stretch
past his beard line?
It used to.

Smooth as a baby's behind, papa.

Wes taught me
how to draw Lisa.

You divide her head
into four pieces of pie,

and then there's three spikes
on this part,

three spikes on that part,
two spikes on this part.

You just draw it
and you don't think about it.

NARRATOR: And the foundations
laid by this early team

would go on to echo
through the rest of the series.

That was the bible

that people still use
to this day of how to draw
the Simpsons,

and things you're allowed to do
and things you definitely
weren't allowed to do.

NARRATOR: With the foundation
of writers and animators laid,

The Simpsons team
had another question
on their minds.

A question that would go on
to be one of the most important
in Simpsons history.

NARRATOR: The Simpsons' offices
were a flurry of activity.

Finally, it appeared
the Simpsons
were finding their voice.

Well, I... Uh...

But they hadn't yet
found their home.

When it came to naming
the Simpsons' hometown,

Matt Groening
found inspiration in TV Land.

There'd been a sitcom
he'd grown up watching as a kid,
Father Knows Best.

NARRATOR:
And that show was set in...
CHRIS: This town, Springfield.

Watch out, Springfield.
Here I come.

By having this very generic,

throwback American
idealized small town,

and then revealing
that it wasn't
this idealized place,

stands on its head,
the notion that there was
this better time in the past

where everyone got along.

NARRATOR:
Springfield had a name.

Now it just had to be built.

It was color designer
Gyorgyi Peluce

that made the Simpsons
iconically yellow.

But when it came
to Springfield,

Gyorgyi looked
to paint the town red,

white and blue.

I tried to think
of something Americana,

but in a California way,

what was, for me,
represented Americana
as a foreigner.

NARRATOR: Creating a town
from scratch is no small feat.

And The Simpsons team
would need to be able
to keep track

of where everything was
from episode to episode.

When we went in to make
this map of Springfield,

it was a lot of work.

We would draw out pans
that would show streets

and where things were.

We would go in
and meticulously draw
all the angles.

Like the Kwik-E-Mart
I have memorized in my head
for a lifetime.

Hello, steady customer.
How are you this evening, sir?

How you doing, Apu?

NARRATOR:
There was just one more thing
that needed to be nailed down.

Where is Springfield?

NARRATOR: Well, that all
depends on which one
you're talking about.

It's one of the most common
place names in America.

NARRATOR: In fact,
there are currently 34 of them
throughout the United States.

So, which one is it?

Originally,
it was supposed to be
kind of a Midwest place,

but then Matt Groening
is from the Northwest.

I believe
that there is a Springfield

not far from where he grew up.

NARRATOR: Maybe?
But most likely, it's nowhere.

- Or maybe it's...
-Everywhere.

And that's why it has
a little bit of everything.

CAROL: You could
have mountains,
or deserts, or oceans.

CHRIS: It's this sort of
malleable map of America

that can be anything
that the show's creators want.

NARRATOR: With Springfield
established,

it seemed like all the pieces
were coming together
for The Simpsons,

but there was one thing
no show can go without.

and so the show
enlisted the aid

of Oingo Boingo
frontman-turned-composer,
Danny Elfman.

♪ Isn't this fun?♪

Who, judging by this footage,

may not necessarily look
like someone who screams
network primetime.

But, like Matt, Elfman
was an underground artist

crossing over
into the mainstream,

and had the bona fides
to prove it.

Danny Elfman is associated
as having written
some of the best scores ever,

from Pee-wee ...

[PEE WEE THEME MUSIC PLAYING]

-...to Batman.
-[BATMAN THEME MUSIC PLAYING]

NARRATOR:
And Groening's direction
for this crusading composer?

"Just do something
with a retro style."

NARRATOR: And as inspiration...

Matt specifically requested
a little Jetsons homage.

NARRATOR: Doesn't get
any more retro than that.

[THE JETSONS
THEME MUSIC PLAYING]

[THE SIMPSONS
THEME MUSIC PLAYING]

And then he took two days

to write this work of art.

NARRATOR: Well,
The Simpsons producers
would be the judge of that.

I was there
when the orchestra played

The Simpsons theme
for the first time.

I wasn't sure
if I liked it at first.

NARRATOR:
Neither was James Brooks,
who had one headline note.

"Play it funnier.
Play it a little goofier."

And Danny Elfman
understood that note.

NARRATOR: After all,
he had had some experience

-with "goofier."
- [CHUCKLES]

Elfman had delivered the funny,
the goofy, and the retro,

but what was maybe
most important,

was what
the theme song didn't have.

It doesn't have lyrics,
so I think it allows itself

to kind of slip
into global audiences

in a way that,
maybe if it did have cheesy,
Fresh Prince lyrics,

it wouldn't be able to do that.

NARRATOR: Might wanna watch
what you say
about the Fresh Prince.

Anyway, after months
of hard work,

it was time to find out.

Could this rag-tag team
get all the moving pieces
to slide into place?

[BART THUDS] Ooh.

Some of the layout artists

just kind of wanted
to come make a buck
and go home.

One time, I literally had
a batch of scenes turned in

that were drawn
in ballpoint pen

where you couldn't
even erase it.

I was kind of
pulling my hair out,

figuring out
how to make all this work.

NARRATOR: It was hard
for the veterans.

Even harder
for the new recruits.

I was learning on the job.

So, I didn't
really know animation,

and I would make a mistake,

and one of the directors,
or someone,
would get really upset

because I wasn't doing
something right.

What in blue blazes do you think
you're doing, Simpson?

Those were, like,
the worst days.

NARRATOR: But it wasn't
just the animators that were
feeling the pressure.

It was a learning curve
for a lot of the producers
and writers on the show.

Very few of them had ever worked
in animation before.

NARRATOR: Even veteran
James L. Brooks

had trouble adapting
from studio to celluloid.

For Jim Brooks, who was used

to the magic
of a live-action set,

of chemistry
between two people...

[AUDIENCE LAUGHING]

That's not animation.

I remember one time they asked,
"Is there coverage?"

We don't shoot coverage.

NARRATOR: Animation
had James L. Brooks
scratching his head.

I couldn't fathom how a guy
who can't draw a stick figure

would know how to make
a stick figure emote.

NARRATOR: While James L. Brooks
wrestled with animation,

Sam Simon and Matt Groening
began to wrestle
with each other.

Sam, if I may be honest,

did not have
the greatest people skills.

CAROL: I know
there were a lot of tensions

that went on back and forth

between Sam Simon
and Matt Groening.

NARRATOR:
To make matters worse,

even Gabor wanted
to have more of a say.

JON: Gabor didn't just accept

that he was a contract worker
working for us.

He knew that there were
parts of the show

that Klasky Csupo
had had a great deal
with creating.

And so, he had an expectation

that he'd be treated
more as a co-creator,
and he wasn't.

NARRATOR: It was starting
to become clear

that if something
didn't change soon,

this unproven
animation experiment

was about to blow up.

-[EXPLOSION]
-In everyone's faces.

Sorry.

NARRATOR: The power struggle
between James L. Brooks,
Sam Simon and Matt Groening

gave way to anarchy.

There's a lot of wondering
who was leading the charge.

Who was doing layouts.
Which scenes
were getting approved,

and was any of this working?
There was just chaos.

The Simpsons
had a leadership problem.

James L. Brooks and Sam Simon
were still splitting their time
with The Tracey Ullman Show,

and Matt Groening
had never worked
in television before,

and when
they were all together,
they'd argue.

It was up to the directors
to step up.

But the problem was,
one of the three directors,

Wes Archer,
didn't know how to step up.

He'd never done it before.

I don't think David had directed
a half-hour, either.

NARRATOR: Make that two
of the three directors
had never done it before.

And one might even
ask the question...

You're an animation director,
what do you direct?

You don't have a set,
you don't have actors.
What do you direct?

NARRATOR: Well, here's what.

JON: Similar to
what a director does
in live action,

you're blocking the characters,
blocking the camera.

You are also an editor,
in a way,

'cause you're thinking,
"Okay, I want to cut
to a wide shot here."

You're not gonna draw
every action from every angle.

That's impossible.
It'd take you forever.

So, you're thinking ahead.
"What do you want
to see on screen?"

I wanna see, you know,
a close-up here
for this particular line,

and then we widen
when Bart comes in to the room.

You're also
the Director of Photography.

You're doing a lot
of different things.

NARRATOR: At least
the third director
was very experienced,

and you might even say mighty.

Kent Butterworth,

who worked
on The New Mighty Mouse show...

NARRATOR: And, so, obviously,
Kent would be taking
the reins of episode one.

I think he had
a real big challenge
ahead of him,

directing the pilot episode
of The Simpsons.

NARRATOR:
Rather than break down,
Kent doubled down.

He'd done this before
and he knew what worked.

Kent didn't work
on The Tracey Ullman
interstitials

so he didn't have the benefit
of knowing what Matt liked,

knowing what Jim Brooks liked.

NARRATOR: And don't forget,
Wes had put together
the rule book.

And I was charged
with putting together
this model pack.

So...

So, Kent

decided he was going to,
kind of, plus the material.

NARRATOR: Plussing refers
to when a director
takes license.

Adding jokes and visual gags
that aren't in the script.

When, really, the material

was the material, you know?

And our job was to make
that material play

the best it could,
because it was very, very good.

You forgot
the special lunches I made.

BART: That's okay, Mom!
LISA: We got money!

Now, just a darn...

But Kent thought
it could be better. [CHUCKLES]

So, Kent, um, injected
a lot of his sense of humor

onto that episode.

MAN [OVER RADIO]:
An overturned melon truck...

Whoops. Don't wanna
go to work in my shorts.

We had one director
going his own way,

and David Silverman
and Wes Archer later told us

that during the production,
he had been telling them

"We did some pretty cool stuff
at Mighty Mouse.

"I'm gonna show them
how animation really happens."

And they had been trying
to tell him, um,

"I think they don't want us
to do that."

So, he did it, anyway.

NARRATOR: Kent was hired
for his experience.

He trusted his gut
and he went for it,

knowing that when the footage
came back from South Korea,

he would be setting the bar
for the entire series.

Finally, we got
Some Enchanted Evening back.

Everyone was really excited

that show one
came back from overseas.

WES: As soon as it came in,
they cut it together

and they rushed it over
to Gracie Films to show it.

JON: There was
enormous expectation.

The first episode
of The Simpsons
is being screened.

I remember being nervous.

JON: W e all piled in
to the screening room
at Gracie Films.

And they aired it,

and... [HESITATING]

Um... [EXHALES]

I definitely heard the reaction
to the first episode,

but I also saw it myself, and...

And saw.

It was not...

It was not
what a lot of us thought
it would be.

NARRATOR: Did The Simpsons work
as a sitcom?

And if not, was it the fault
of Gracie Films
or Klasky Csupo?

There was no question about it.

Peoples' careers
were on the line.

I'm thinking, like, "I wonder
what's going to happen.

"I wonder
what they're going to say."

NARRATOR:
With everything at stake

at this first screening
of the pilot,

would Kent Butterworth's
gamble pay off?

Or would this episode
close the door
on The Simpsons for good?

But before things
got too dramatic,

Brooks asked that only
the key players remain

to discuss
what they had just witnessed.

Turns out James L. Brooks
was sitting on a secret.

He had gone out to dinner
and had a lot to drink,

and he was hoping
that he was drunk

and that the episode
was actually really good,

and he was too drunk
to appreciate it.

So, he didn't say anything.

And so, like, after a minute
of dead, cold silence

he realized,
"Okay, I'm not drunk.
That was horrible."

NARRATOR: Inebriated or not,
it was easy to see.

It was off-style.

The jokes weren't coming across.

It did not look
like the characters

that had been established.

There was a lot
of extra drawings.

You didn't want
the pictures on the wall
to be too distracting.

WES: I remember seeing a scene

where it was literally
like a horse's ass
taking a dump.

A picture of, like,
horse shit on the wall.

NARRATOR: Well, soon
it would be on the fan.

News of the screening
spread quickly.

There was a pall over,
[LAUGHING] you know,
the whole studio.

They hated it.

It was a... It was a fiasco.

Everyone was like,
"Oh, shit." "Oh, fuck."
You know?

"What are we gonna do?
This is horrible."

NARRATOR: But not every scene
was objectionable, right?

Almost every scene
was objectionable in some way.

There was some fix
that had to happen.

NARRATOR:
It was a tough screening
for all involved,

but it was Gabor
that was on the hot seat.

I was nervous for Gabor

because he wanted
to make something
really great and really cool,

and the thing
that was coming back,

uh, it just wasn't working,

and we hadn't quite figured out
what was wrong.

NARRATOR: With a deeply
disappointing first episode,

everything was at stake.

They didn't like the animation,

and then Gabor
was defending the animation,

and it got kinda heated.

The famous quote that lasted
through the ages was,

Gabor got mad enough and said,

"Well, maybe your script's
not so funny."

Jim Brooks
did not take that well.

NARRATOR:
And with that one comment,

a rift formed
between Gabor Csupo
and James L. Brooks.

And in fairness to Gabor,
in retrospect,
it was not Gabor's fault.

There was a director
who just decided
he was gonna go his own way.

NARRATOR: Kent Butterworth
was the director responsible
for the screening

which would go on
to be called...

The Butterworth Incident.

Turns out, the only thing
seasoned director
Kent Butterworth taught

the rookie directors
was what not to do.

To make matters worse,

the network had waited
a very, very long time
for this footage.

That was one
of the most frustrating things
about The Simpsons is,

you have to buy 13 episodes,

or you can't make a show.

It's not like a pilot situation.

You have to make the show,
send them to Korea,

and then when the animation
comes back,

then you kind of...

NARRATOR: Cross your fingers.

And that's exactly
what The Simpsons were doing.

They had a 13-episode order,

but if the show wasn't working,

Fox could pull the plug
at any point
and cut their losses.

This may not
be happening anymore.

It was a given
that The Simpsons had blown up
on the launch pad.

The Simpsons was over.

NARRATOR: If The Simpsons
were to have
any shot at primetime

there would have to be
a shake-up.

Things got tumultuous
on the series

where there was kind of

a big restructuring

of, kind of, leadership
and directors on the show.

NARRATOR: First things first...

WES: Well, Kent is midway
through another episode

and he's phased out
almost immediately.

Some Enchanted Evening
was kind of put
on the back burner.

They were like,
"We're not even gonna
deal with this right now."

NARRATOR: Confidence
was at an all-time low.

There was a fear that

what everyone was imagining
could not be captured.

That animation as a medium

was kind of broken
and entrenched

in, kind of, old ways.

That doing a show like this
might not be possible to do.

NARRATOR: But hold on
just a minute.

Gabor Csupo
had climbed over fences
to escape Hungary

and make his way,
bad traffic or otherwise...

-[HORNS HONKS]
-...to Hollywood.

And he had a dream to fulfill.

And he wasn't ready
to give up. Yet.

JOE: Gabor's like...
He's such a hero
for stuff like this.

He goes, "No problem, babe.
We'll figure it out."

He just tucked that show
in his back pocket,

and rallied everyone together
and said, "All right, guys,

"this shows you
how not to make the show.

"Now we have to make the show.

"The show that we wanna make."

NARRATOR: Next up
was the one directed

by a director
who'd never directed
a long-form animation before,

and a script writer
who'd never written

a long-form animation before.

It was my first 30-minute job.

NARRATOR: As the footage
came back from Korea,

it all came down to this.

And the results were not...

It came back great.

-Impossible.
-No, no, we're quite certain.

-NARRATOR: Oh, they were great.
-That was proof

that it could be done.

So, a lot of that pressure,
you know, of,

"Can this even happen?"
That was lifted.

-You're stifling
my creativity, Dad.
-Sorry, boy.

Very luckily,

Bart the Genius was directed
by David Silverman.

Jim didn't even wanna wait
for it to be delivered
to Gracie.

We rented a trailer

at the Klasky Csupo lot,
and watched it,

and it was immediately evident
that totally had nailed it,
and we...

And we still had a show.

-[BART SCREAMING]
-What's going on there?

[HOMER PANTING]

I think Bart's
stupid again, Mom.

They were like,
"Okay, this is it.
This is the show."

That was actually
the happy intense version

of the first episode screening,
and that, I'll never forget.

I don't care what
that stupid test says, Bart.

You're a dimwit.

Maybe so, but from now on,
this dimwit is on easy street.

NARRATOR: But the team
was on awkward street,

because even though
they were now confident
they had a show,

they certainly
couldn't premiere
with Some Enchanted Evening .

WES: It was literally like
a horse's ass taking a dump.

We'll deal with that one later.

You know, we'll put it
on the backburner,
and try to fix it.

NARRATOR: And to do that,

the tediously long process
of having episodes
animated in Korea

was gonna put their fall launch
completely out of whack.

So, they'd need more time,

which was no small ask
from a new network

who were desperately trying
to get new content on the air.

I would not have wanted
to have been the one
to deliver the bad news...

NARRATOR: But the team
had no choice.

Jim and Matt had to go
into a room with Barry Diller,

who was the head of Fox.

Terribly intimidating guy,

and screen my episode,
Bart the Genius,

to Barry Diller,
and ask for an extension.

NARRATOR: Barry Diller
could just as easily throw
The Simpsons a lifeline

-or shut
the show down permanently.
- [GULPS]

They would need
divine intervention.

First of all, God called.

God, that's what I called
Barry Diller,

he was the chairman
of the company.

With a nickname like God,

it goes without saying
that the prospect of asking
Fox chairman Barry Diller

for more time was intimidating.

With Barry, it's...

very dangerous territory.

There were people
who ended friendships

over the fights
that Diller provoked.

I would not relish
working for him.

NARRATOR:
Based on what he saw,

Barry Diller could either give
The Simpsons a lifeline

or end it
right there on the spot.

There's always a time
you think it's not gonna go
the distance.

NARRATOR: James L. Brooks
recruited a few writers
to join him

as they screened
Bart the Genius

for God, err, Barry Diller.

Barry quickly made it clear
that he liked the episode.

Sign me up, Doc.

NARRATOR:
Based off the strength
of Bart the Genius ,

Barry Diller gave his blessing.

The Simpsons were going to have
the time they needed

to deliver season one.

It was an incredibly
intense half hour.

When you're living it,
it's terrifying,

but he would never look back
and hold you accountable
for a failure.

He'd hold you accountable
for not trying something.

NARRATOR: But before Brooks
and company left,

Barry wanted
to get one thing straight.

JON: And there was not a day

to disagree with anything
Barry Diller said.

NARRATOR: Barry Diller,
or otherwise known...

ROB: God. That's what I called
Barry Diller.

...was happy, on one condition.

He would, in his incredibly
intimidating deep voice,

"You are going to score it,
aren't you?"

Jim and Sam were like,
"Oh, yes. Of course.
Of course you'd score it."

The belief is that
The Simpsons, to this day,

has full orchestral scoring
because Barry Diller said that,

and there was not a day
to disagree with anything
Barry Diller said.

NARRATOR: So, we have
Barry Diller to thank

for both The Simpsons'
iconic orchestral score,

as well as giving the team
the time to finish
the first season.

There was only
one problem, though,
with pushing the schedule.

We were supposed
to premiere fall of '89,

but because
of the Butterworth Incident,

the premiere got pushed
into, uh, spring.

NARRATOR: An unwanted,
yet necessary, delay.

Yet amidst the confusion
and relief,

could it be?

A little Christmas miracle
would be delivered early?

Because Mimi Pond's
Christmas episode had arrived

back from the North Pole.

Or maybe it was Korea?

The Christmas episode came back

and they're like, "Great.
This is awesome.

"How about we do this?
We'll edit together
the Christmas show.

"It can still air
holiday season,

"and then the series
will premiere in the spring."

So, this is kind of
like a Christmas special.

NARRATOR: Mimi Pond's
Christmas Special was bumped

from the eighth episode
in the season
to the series premiere.

HOMER: Okay, kids,
prepare to be dazzled.

There's always
a lot at stake with Christmas

and having a perfect Christmas.

The disasters that then turn
into the triumphs.

NARRATOR: A great metaphor
for The Simpsons' road
to primetime

and ironic,
as the first episode
is literally about an underdog.

ANNOUNCER [OVER PA SYSTEM]:
With no luck in last place,
it's Santa's Little Helper...

[GROANS]

The dog track
was Sam Simon's idea,
to be honest.

NARRATOR: But Mimi Pond
brought her own experiences
to the episode, too.

Well, I was just trying to bring

my own point of view,
as having been a little girl,

to what I wrote.

Ow! Quit it.

-Hey, what's with this?
-Ow! Quit it.

Yeah, ow, ow.

[LAUGHING] That's me.

MAN 1: We see
the first episode.

I'm pretty sure we got
something special.

NARRATOR: The Simpsons
were finally ready
for primetime.

Series premiered
with the Christmas episode
in December of 1989.

NARRATOR: But was primetime
ready for The Simpsons?

When we aired
the very first episode,

we're all kind of talking
at the party about,

"I hope we have a job next week.

"I hope the ratings are okay."

I remember watching it
December 17th of '89.

We watched it that night.

NARRATOR: Before Twitter ,
there was the playground

and the office water cooler.

And the next day,
The Simpsons dominated both.

It was very well-received.

People loved it.

NARRATOR:
And they kept loving it,

because after the success
of Mimi's Christmas episode,

the hits kept coming.

And Jon Vitti's
Bart the Genius kicked off
the rest of the season.

The jocks
at my school watched it.

The nerds
at my school watched it.

Everyone was talking about it.

NARRATOR:
Not to mention up-and-coming
comic book artists.

To see primetime animation
come to life,

it was a big moment,

and what was better for me

is that the more
you watched it,
the more you saw

that it wasn't trying to be
a Saturday morning cartoon.

It was gonna be funny,

serious, heartwarming, and...

give a little bit of insight
into the human condition.

I think if something
can bring us that close,

it can't possibly be bad.

-Why, you little...
-Uh-oh.

NARRATOR: Even moms loved it.
[CHUCKLES] Just kidding.

I think most moms
across America didn't want

their kids or their husbands
watching it, for that matter.

I know that my sisters
wore Simpsons shirts to school,

and got expelled for doing it.

Simpson, you and I are going
to have a little talk.

NARRATOR: Well, surely
all that controversy
will just blow over.

Oh, and as for that
Some Enchanted Evening ,

it aired in the number 13 spot.

Almost all of it
had to be re-animated.

NARRATOR: And so,
even that disastrous episode

turned out okay in the end.

For now, The Simpsons '
season one premiere
was a success.

and for Jon, Wes, Mimi...

I thought it was brilliant.
It was great.

-[LAUGHS]
-NARRATOR: And an
inexperienced team

who were essentially making it
up as they went along,

the future was
looking bright yellow.

We knew we had something good.

It wasn't a show
where you would go,
"I don't know,

"let's just throw it out there
and see what happens."

It was a show that when
you watched it you knew

it was, uh... It was gonna hit.

NARRATOR:
And as for Barry Diller
and the new Fox network...

It was getting them
talked about.

Sometimes, you know,
with controversy,

but that was okay.

Controversy makes people
wanna tune in.

And if you suddenly have
this network
that not everybody can get,

that has shows
that people are talking about,

people are gonna be contacting
their cable companies,

"Why don't I have
a Fox station?"

NARRATOR: But just because
they'd done it 13 times

doesn't mean
they could do it again.

And there was no guaranteeing
that the staff

that had pulled off
this miracle would be back.

MIMI: Sam Simon
was very talented,

and I know
he had a lot of demons.

NARRATOR: But one thing
was for sure,

The Tracey Ullman days
were now long behind them.

And from now on,
the only shorts...

I really loved those shorts.

...would be these kind.

BART: Eat my shorts.

[THEME MUSIC PLAYING]