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

TVGuide.com: golden girls complete box set How does it feel to be celebrating the show's 20th anniversary? entourage dvd
Al Jean: I can't believe it. Everything I do with the show is more surreal than the last .. gossip girl dvd box set . It doesn't seem very long ago at all that I was just starting. Disney dvd collection It's like a waking dream, Michael Jackson ultimate collection dvd like where you have these crazy things that are really cool happen again and again, Curb Your Enthusiasm dvd with the guest stars we've had and the countries we're seen in . Star Trek Enterprise dvd .. I'm still driving the same car by the way NCIS dvd
TVGuide.com: An entire generation has grown up with the show. stargate atlantis dvd
Jean: It's bizarre. I have a daughter who's 19 .. boston legal complete series. We are seeing the generation that has been raised by The Simpsons. how I met your mother dvd box set I don't know if that's good or bad scrubs dvd
TVGuide.com: Some of the very early episodes you and [frequent co-writer] Mike Reiss wrote introduced important supporting characters Apu, criminal minds dvd Ralph Wiggum and many others. Which supporting characters were you the most involved in creating? mash complete series
Jean: I would say Ralph Wiggum, Bleeding Gums Murphy and Troy McClure would be three. that 70s show complete series It's always been such a team effort and so many amazing people involved with it, ghost whisperer dvd every character is a compilation of all the writers and the actors and the animators. grey’s anatomy dvd It's a shared experience. James Bond 007 dvd box set
TVGuide.com: What was your inspiration for those characters and the show as a whole? Charmed complete box set
Jean: I think that Ralph, house md dvdeven his name, was influenced by Ralph Kramden [of The Honeymooners]. He's certainly somebody who we thought was just the funniest TV character ever. supernatural dvd box set Influences that the show has had, the office dvd box setI would 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 animated show in that style. monk dvd box set
TVGuide.com: You and Reiss also have written some of the early emotional episodes of The Simpsons, star trek complete seriessuch as when Lisa is depressed and when Bleeding Gums dies. the sopranos complete seriesWas it hard to dive into that aspect of the show? farscape complete series
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. ally mcbeal complete series We were regarded as a little sketchy, one tree hill dvd in the way people like to pigeonhole writers. battlestar galactica dvd When we were working for [James L.] Brooks, we thought let's go for these really emotional but funny shows that Jim is well known for. frasier complete box set