"The Simpsons" At 20

Tomorrow marks the 20th anniversary of The Simpsons. The Christmas-themed special "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire," was the first show to air (following the Simpsons earlier appearances on The Tracey Ullman Show), after which the series resumed on January 14, 1990, to become the longest-running American primetime entertainment series.

The current Emmy magazine (Issue #6, 2009) features a cover story celebrating The Simpsons' 20th. Within Emmy magazine's pages you'll find a listing of several of the writers-producer's favorite episodes over the series long run to-date. What is "Simpsons" creator Matt Groening's favorite episode? Groening chose "Lisa the Skeptic" from season 9 (airdate: 11/23/97). To see what other episodes were chosen, pick up a copy of Emmy magazine, currently on newsstands.

Go to the Archive's The Simpsons page to watch James L. Brooks' interview in which he discusses the development of the show.

2008 Emmy Nominations Announced!

The 60th Annual Primetime and Creative Arts Emmy nominations were announced early this morning from The Academy in North Hollywood. We're very happy to report that quite a few Archive Interviewees were among those honored!

Congratulations to James L. Brooks ("The Simpsons") Ken Burns ("The War"), Roy Christopher ("80th Annual Academy Awards"), Diahann Carroll ("Grey's Anatomy"), Tim Conway ("30 Rock"), Sally Field ("Brothers and Sisters"), John Moffitt ("Bill Maher: The Decider"), Phylicia Rashad ("Raisin in the Sun"), William Shatner ("Boston Legal") and to the late George Carlin ("It's Bad for Ya!") and to all the other nominees!

To see the full list, go to the emmy website.

To see the complete list of archive interviews, click here.

George Carlin --- Roy Christopher --- Tim Conway

"The Simpsons" Hits the Big Screen

After years and years of gossip and teasers about a Simpsons feature film, the time has come! This weekend marks the opening of The Simpsons Movie -- marking the iconic television series' transition to the big screen.


In 2003, the Archive of American Television interviewed James L. Brooks, the executive producer of The Simpsons. In the interview parts 9 and 10, he speaks in-depth about the creation of The Simpsons.

Click here to access James L. Brooks 11-part interview.

Interview description:
James L. Brooks was interviewed for five-and-a-half hours (in two sessions) in Bel-Air, CA. Mr. Brooks spoke of his early days as a page at CBS – working his way up to the newsroom. After working in documentaries, Brooks turned to comedy, where he wrote scripts for Hey Landlord, The Andy Griffith Show and My Three Sons before co-creating (with Gene Reynolds) Room 222. In 1970, MTM Productions teamed Brooks with Allen Burns, where they created and produced The Mary Tyler Moore Show. They were also producers on the spin-off series Rhoda, Phyllis and Lou Grant. After leaving MTM, Brooks produced Taxi, The Associates, and The Tracy Ullman Show. Mr. Brooks also talked about the craft of writing and producing for television and his continuing work as executive producer on The Simpsons. The two-part interview was conducted by Karen Herman on January 17 and February 12, 2003.

Also available, is a full interview with Phil Roman, the founder of Film Roman, which currently oversees the animation of The Simpsons.