The Simpsons, John Ortved
The Simpsons, John Ortved
List: $20.49 | Sale: $14.34
Club: $10.24

The Simpsons
An Uncensored, Unauthorized History

Author: John Ortved

Narrator: John Allen Nelson, Justine Eyre

Unabridged: 11 hr 27 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 11/30/2009


Synopsis

The Simpsons is one of the most successful shows to ever run on television. From its first moment on air, the series's rich characters, subversive themes, and layered humor resounded deeply with audiences both young and old who wanted more from their entertainment than what was being meted out at the time by the likes of Full House, Growing Pains, and Family Matters. Spawned as an animated short on The Tracy Ullman Show—mere filler on the way to commercial breaks—the series grew from a controversial cult favorite to a mainstream powerhouse, and after nineteen years the residents of Springfield no longer simply hold up a mirror to our way of life: they have ingrained themselves into it.

John Ortved's oral history is the first-ever look behind the scenes at the creation and day-to-day running of The Simpsons, as told by many of the people who make it, including writers, animators, producers, and network executives. It's an intriguing yet hilarious tale, full of betrayal, ambition, and love. Like the family it depicts, the show's creative forces have been riven by dysfunction from the get-go—outsize egos clashing with studio executives and one another over credit for and control of a pop-culture institution. Contrary to popular belief, The Simpsons did not spring out of one man's brain, fully formed, like a hilarious Athena. Its inception was a process, with many parents, and this book tells the story.

About John Ortved

Journalist and author John Ortved's writing has appeared in Vanity Fair, where he serves as a contributing editorial associate; Interview; the New York Observer; and Vice. He lives in New York City.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Edmole

I haven't gone near The Simpsons for about 12 years. When I was 11 or 12 and Sky started showing The Simpsons and I was lucky enough to have cable and The Simpsons was The Greatest Thing I Ever Done Seen. I would tape every show and obsessively rewatch it, sucking up the jokes over and over and lovi......more

Goodreads review by Sam

I'm about 60 pages away from finishing this thing and I gotta' say that it's a MUST for SIMPSONS fans. You'll zip through it. And you might not believe how big of a DICK this thing paints Matt Groening. Put together as an 'oral history,' it's simply a set of chronological interviews, but it's a great......more

Goodreads review by Jinny

Enjoyed some chapters, not all. Matt Groening, a loyal customer of my store, told me that he would in no way support "Ortved and his book". He'd been approached to contribute and he refused. Groening explained those that had declined an interview with Ortved were either written out of the book's Sim......more

Goodreads review by Jj

Amazingly, considering that The Simpsons has been on the air for 20 years now, there has been no official, or authorized, history of the show written. Ortved may have set out to write an authorized history, but it is obvious that he was not getting the cooperation he felt was necessary. As a result......more

Goodreads review by Jason

(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com:]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.) Although the staff of the cultural touchstone The Simpsons has done a good job over the years of keeping i......more