The Simpsons' Executive Producer Al Jean Looks Back at 20 Years in Springfield

After 20 years and nearly 450 episodes, The Simpsons received a surprising distinction: an endorsementthe simpsons dvd box set from the Vatican.
"I called my father — whose been going to Catholic Mass for 70 years — and I said, 'So it turns out I've been doing God's work all this time,'" laughs longtime executive producer Al Jean.family guy dvd box set (The official Vatican newspaper praised theall disney dvds show last month for its "realistic and intelligent writing.")
Even without the Roman Catholic Church'sSouth park dvd collection approval, the series has thrived. Playing in more than 90 countries, the longest-running prime-time scripted series will simultaneously celebrate itsSouth park dvd box set 20th anniversary and 450th episode Sunday. The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special: In 3D! On Ice!, airing Sunday at 8:30/7:30c, will look back at the simpsons dvd both the show'sSouth park dvd collection humble origins and worldwide impact.
TVGuide.com talked with Jean — the disney box setseries' current showrunner and a writer since Season 1 — about the show's anniversary, hisdisney dvd box set favorite characters and guest stars.
Watch full episodes of The Simpsons
TVGuide.com: How does it feel to be celebrating the show's 20th anniversary?
Al Jean: I can't believe it. Everything I do with the show is more surreal than the last ... It doesn't seem very long ago at all that I was just starting. It's like a waking dream, like where you have these crazy things that are really cool happen again and again, with the guest starsdisney dvd we've had and the countries we're seen in ... I'm still driving the same the simpsons dvd box set car by the way [laughs].
TVGuide.com: An entire generation disney box sethas growndisney dvd box set up with the show.
Jean: It's bizarre. I have a daughter who's 19 ...all disney dvds We are seeing the generation that has been raised by The Simpsons. I South park dvd collectiondon't know if that's the simpsons dvd good or bad [laughs].
TVGuide.com: Some of the family guy dvd box set very early episodes you and [frequent co-writer] Mike Reiss wrote introduced important supporting characters Apu, Ralph Wiggum and disney dvdmany others. Which supportingdisney box set characters were you the most involved in creating?
Jean: I would say Ralph Wiggum, Bleeding Gums Murphy and Troy McClure would be three. It's always been such a team effort and so many amazing people involved with it, every character is a compilation of alldisney dvd box set the writers and the actors and the animators. It's a shared experience.
TVGuide.com: What was yourSouth park dvd collection inspiration for those characters and the show as a whole?
Jean: I think that Ralph, even his disney dvd collectionname, was disney box setinfluenced by Ralph Kramden [of The Honeymooners]. He's certainly somebody who we thought was just the funniest TV character ever. Influences that the show has had, I South park dvd collectionwould say Second City TV was a huge one ... Classic '70s sitcoms like The Mary Tyler Moore Show [influenced us because] this was the first attempt to write an animatedSouth park dvd collection show in that style.
TVGuide.com: You and Reiss also have written some of the early emotional episodes of The Simpsons, such as when Lisa is depressed and when Bleeding Gums dies. Was it hard to dive into that aspect of the show?
Jean: The reason why we choose that path a little more than others is because we had just come off The Tonight Show and The Garry Shandling Show. We were regarded as a little sketchy, in the way people like to pigeonhole writers. When we were working for [James L.] Brooks, we thought let's goall disney dvds for these really emotional but funny shows that Jim is well known for.
TVGuide.com: One of the South park dvd collectionepisodes you and Reiss wrote was "Starkdisney box set Raving Dad" with Michael Jackson. After he died this past year, did the significance of that episodethe simpsons dvd and his talent on the show really set in?
Jean: It was one of the many amazing things that happened to me while working on the show. He had said to Jim Brooks, 'I want to be on the show and I want to write a No. 1 song for Bart.' And he did and he did, it was No. 1.[Jackson co-wrote — although uncredited — the song "Do the Bartman," which reached No. 1 in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia.] He did come to the table reads and read the script but when it came to the singing, he wanted a sound-alike to do the recording and we never really understood why. I did hear him sing and of course he was great. It was one of the coolest things I've beenfamily guy dvd box set involved with.
TVGuide.com: Over the years, itdisney dvd must get very hard to find new ideas and new territory that hasn't been covered on the show yet. Howdisney box set do the writers avoid that after 20 years and 450 episodes?
Jean: It's hard, there's no doubtSouth park dvd collection — 450 episodes and we often do two story lines per episode so that's about 900 plot lines. I'm familiar with every episode and I've seen all of them, so I think, we can send them to an amusement park again but it has to be all disney dvdsdifferent ... If you're exploring emotions, obviously we've done different shows that deal with a marriage disney dvd collectionbut marriages have many different aspects to them. Just because you've done one or two or 450, doesn't mean that you can't explore new territory. As long as people have problems and families have issues,South park dvd collection I think we'll have shows.
TVGuide.com: The show hasSouth park dvd collection gotten a lot of flak for possibly disney box setnot being as good as it was in the early years. You were heavily involved in the early disney dvdseasons as well as the most recent years so why do you think that is? What do you say to those critics?
Jean: There's different responses. One would be: maybe we've declined but at a slower rate than the rest of the world. It's very hard to be objective because I've been hearing the same thingfamily guy dvd box set since Season 2 ... by objective standards, we're doing really well.
TVGuide.com: Looking back South park dvd box setover the entire series, do you have a favorite guest star or character or episode?
Jean: My favorite guest star might be Kelsey Grammer [Sideshow Bob] and it's a really tough contest because there are so many great ones. His voice gives you so much ... Favorite character, Ithe simpsons dvd box set love writing for Lisa. And favorite episode is impossible.