Cannonball Read #2 – The Simpsons: An Uncensored, Unauthorized History – By, John Ortved

There is a timely article on CNN today as I’m writing this review. As The Simpsons, the longest running fictional program in television history, trudges through its 20th season the critics and fans are (once again) asking if it is time to throw in the towel. One of the interviewees is John Ortved, writer of The Simpsons: An Uncensored, Unauthorized History. When asked about the supposed decline in the quality of the show he offers the following explanation:

Ortved makes the case that despite new writers and characters, the show has fallen out of touch and gotten more craven, playing to guest stars and cross-promoting other Fox shows. “What’s been described to me is … (current show runner) Al Jean just doesn’t get it,” he says. “The young, hip writers are either getting their jokes annihilated by Al Jean and his sort of yes men, or they’ve stopped writing them because they know they’re going to get rewritten anyway.”

Kind of a contentious statement, right? Makes you want to know more, find out what is really going on in the writers’ room at The Simpsons. Unfortunately, The Simpsons: An Uncensored,

Wrong Simpson. By the way, this Simpson has 99 problems but... never mind.

Unauthorized History not only fails to answer that question, it completely wimps out when it comes to finger pointing. Ortved’s statement to CNN is far clearer than anything the book has to offer, and very little is offered in the book to back up the quote.

The primary problem with the book is that as Ortved traces the program from the beginning he can only give us part of the story. For explanation you need only look to the title of the book and the “uncensored” and “unauthorized” monikers. Very few people still associated with the show are interviewed for the book and it hurts the content and conclusions. Without the participation of the 3 creators of the show (yes, three); uber producer James L. Brooks, Sam Simon, and cartoonist Matt Groening, we are left with a case of He Said without the She Said.

The He Said is still pretty compelling. The book goes in depth on the early days of the show; who was there, who got screwed out of profits, who sued, who’s friendships broke up, etc.  There is a lot of juicy details of squabbles in the writers room, and much is made about who really was the mastermind behind the show (the book points to Sam Simon).  But this only can carry the book so far and after a while you start really wanting to hear from the people that are being maligned in the book. Obviously there are deals in place forbidding those still involved from casting the show in a negative light. Yet even as Ortved tries to make a comment about the asinine behavior of a showrunner, he immediately follow it up with fawning praise.  The result is rather toothless.

In addition, the only cast member that allowed himself to be interviewed was Hank Azaria. While Azaria certainly brings some interesting anecdotes and a bit of behind the scenes scuttlebutt not having Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, or Harry Shearer’s involvement is very disappointing.

The book tries to get around this shortcoming by referencing other interviews the cast and other crew members have had in the past and it works to smooth over the rough spots but it really feels like you are not getting the whole story. The involvement of Conan O’Brian helps a great deal, but it is indicative of the flimsiness of the book when an entire chapter is devoted to O’Brian’s involvement. Not to belittle his contributions, he has written some of the best shows of the series, but devoting a chapter to O’Brian is a poor consolation prize when Ortved fails to get Groening, Brooks, Mike Scully, or any of the current producers of the show on record.

Matt Groening: Sometimes people look just like you'd expect. Which is nice.

For casual fans of The Simpsons there are some interesting revelations you may not know, especially if you think the show was solely created by Matt Groening. For long time fans looking for insight into the precipitous decline in quality, cast anecdotes, or even the decision to break a long running maxim at the series and kill off a character permanently (as they did with Maude Flanders), you will not find a great deal of interest.

The Simpsons: An Uncensored, Unauthorized History is a quick read and entertaining but fans of the series are going to be disappointed by the mostly surface observations. The fans know the show has been in decline for some time and the glory days of the mid 90’s are long gone yet by dancing around the idea of where the blame lies the book comes up short in the end.