What would you do if you were show runner of the Simpsons?

[Patches O'houlihan]

isn't the show bad enough?

There's money in the budget to give me a raise, or three

Some of the rules laid out by earlier posters sound restrictive and firing all the writers is just unnecessary. As a showrunner, I wouldn't want to be a strict, headmaster like figure, I'd try to give friendly advice and inspire the writers, but still work hard in order to achieve perfection. No one wants to work for someone they hate.

It's better to be feared than loved.

 

[RJS160]

If Al Jean stepped down as show runner, who would be the best candidate to be his replacement?

 

[RJS160]

If Al Jean stepped down as show runner of the Simpsons, who would be the best candidate for his replacement?

 

[Patches O'houlihan]

Will you stop DP'ing the board?

 

[HRH Sir Prince Charles]

all "END IT PLZ" aside, I'd vote for Dino Stamatopoulos. Moral Orel's third season was a great template for what the end of The Simpsons should look like and his work on Community has been riveting stuff.

 

[Dark Homer]

I've watched one episode apiece of moral orel and frankenhole and they were both really underwhelming

 

[HRH Sir Prince Charles]

you need to watch moral orel as a whole to appreciate it, frankenhole was lame though

 

[Nwordpassforsale]

Better then anything the Simpsons has done in 13 years

 

[hughes]

fuck that, i'm not learning to spell his name

 

[gayformoleman]

Unprecedented goal and assistant/co-showrunner

If I were showrunner, I would challenge the writers to achieve a near-impossible goal. I heard once that the writers during season 4 were motivated to win the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series (not the less prestigious Creative Arts Emmy for Outstanding Animation that "The Simpsons" has won many times before). It was and is literally unheard of for an animated program to win the Outstanding Comedy Series Emmy, as no animated program has won it to this day. Knowing they were underdogs, season 4's writers, directors, animators, cast and crew (or so I believe) toiled to create the best damn season in the history of television and shove the TV Establishment's outmoded conception of "cartoons'" potential in their ugly NBC-bought faces. Ultimately, they were unsuccessful in winning the Outstanding Comedy Series Emmy but (IMHO) they were extremely successful in developing the best damn season in the history of television (and yes, I'm factoring "Seinfeld's" '92-'93 season, which won the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series that year, into the equation). Bear in mind that I could have the show's history all wrong (I didn't research this post in the least), but it would make sense for the writers to try extra hard (and be excited about trying extra hard) if they were challenged to accomplish a seemingly impossible feat directly related to the show's quality.

Anyway, if I were showrunner, I'd accept the contract only on the condition that "The Simpsons" be nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series instead of Outstanding Animation. I'd tell the writers, cast, crew, animators (well, their English-Korean translators), etc that they absolutely must achieve this goal (not under threat of any sort of penalty, but I'd make my expectations unequivocally known). I'd tell the writers and directors in particular to get excited about breaking new ground and revv them up to create the best season in the show's history and television history's history (as that would probably be required to overcome what might be a bias against animated shows winning the award). In addition to the normal writers' room schedule, I'd schedule regular conferences, retreats, etc, where we'd just sit around and talk about where we want to take the show during the pending season. It would be a fun atmosphere, assuming the writers et al were passionate, energetic and brimming with ideas. If some were not (and I'm pretty sure a number of current writers are beyond burning out), it would be easy to separate them from the herd, given the packed schedule. (Just to be clear, I'm pretty sure "The Simpsons" wouldn't win no matter how good the season was, but shoot for the moon and land among the stars and all that crap).

Also, I'd probably hire an assistant showrunner or a co-showrunner. This would allow one of us to work almost exclusively with the writers and network to chart a course for the season while the other one of us handled the production details. I think it's no coincidence that seasons considered to be the show's best had more than one showrunner.

---

PS - I tried responding to several of your replies to my "Biggest Disappointment" post, but my response didn't upload. Please accept my apologies

 

[Mira]

I love Moral Orel, but Dino's style is really different from the Simpsons. Not sure how that would turn out. Also, Moral Orel's third season mostly scared and disturbed me; wasn't so crazy about it.

As far as being show-runner, there's no way I'd end the show, simply because I need the money. However, I wouldn't want my name attached to anything horrible, so I'd at least put a lot of effort into making the show good. I think the best newer episodes are ones that go into territory that the show hasn't covered yet, so I'd flat out stay away from Moe redesigning the bar, Lisa feeling out of place, Homer & Marge marriage troubles, guest stars playing themselves etc. The show has tons of characters so a lot could be done with Homer, Marge, Lisa and Bart interacting with familiar characters in ways that they haven't before.

Format benders (Eternal Moonshine, Seemingly Never Ending Story) are fun, but I am typically more impressed with episodes like "The Nedliest Catch", "Homer the Father" or "Once Upon a Time in Springfield" that keep the same personalities they've always had, but still allow the show to feel new after 22 years by doing something completely different with their characters.

 

[HRH Sir Prince Charles]

He began his career by writing a Simpsons spec script that was good enough to land him a job on the Ben Stiller Show and later on Conan. So yeah. Moral Orel was dealing with specific themes and, in the first two seasons, was lampooning very specific things. The third season is an achievement... to take this little parody of 1950's morality and Christian fundamentalism and transform it into some of the darkest TV ever made, really exploring the breakdown of an entire town and showing just how fucked up this whole world is and doing it all in a 15 minute format.

I'm not saying I want to see episodes of The Simpsons were it's implied that Selma gave herself a coathanger abortion after being raped, but Dino would really bring some humanity back to the characters. Plus Community is essentially a live action version of The Simpsons and while he's not the driving force behind the series, he works very closely with Dan Harmon

 

[Mira]

Ah, ok. I guess that makes sense; didn't know all of that. I'm definitely a fan of Moral Orel and I didn't think season 3 was bad at all, I just preferred the tone and style of seasons 1 & 2. And I think Community is a fun show.

 

[Patches O'houlihan]

Seriously, if I was the Executive producer, I'd try to bring back some the darker, grittier realism of the first two seasons. Ever since Scully, the Simpsons lost that 'innocent' facade that hid all the weirdness and just became blatant, unsubtle cartoon. Also, I'd make sure the mentality of "Mediocrity is NOT good enough!" be known in the writers's room, bring back the writer's retreats and hire some writers who have the snarky angst like Bill Mahr and Bill Hicks. There needs to be more "fuck you" jokes aimed at pop culture and more punching of sacred cows. I would make darn sure there'd be no more coddling of pop culture and the jokes would NOT be explained / dumbed down so the writer's kids can understand them. Finally, I'd make sure the Treehouse of Horrors would be SCARY again.

My first speech to the staff would start off with: "...If you're not an alcoholic or divorced by the end of the upcoming season, you will be."

 

[Nwordpassforsale]

sorry a little off topic, but Brodie do you know if Moral Orel is getting a proper release? Cause I think only the first season has been released so far. Would love a series set.

 

[DotheBartman]

I understand all these posts about wanting to be harder on the writers, but I don't really think comedy tends to be very funny if it isn't at least fun to write. SNL is (often) a notoriously difficult and nasty place to work, at least for some people, and I think this shows in the inconsistent and sometimes downright awful writing of many seasons. Whereas early Simpsons and shows like The Daily Show were/are apparently much better in this regard, and were/are consistently brilliant.

Obviously you should have expectations, and hire the best writers you can, but opening your first day with a monologue about how everyone is going to hate their lives by the end of it probably isn't a good way to keep good people writing for you.

One of the things I don't like about later Simpsons is that it often doesn't feel like the writers are having much fun while writing, but rather going through whatever motions seem appropriate to go through that day. Factually, that may or may not be the case, but it's certainly the impression I get from watching it. It doesn't have the fun or liveliness I would expect from a show that the people making it actually enjoy making. It feels like the writers are tired of the characters and hate their jobs.

 

[Patches O'houlihan]

Obviously you should have expectations, and hire the best writers you can, but opening your first day with a monologue about how everyone is going to hate their lives by the end of it probably isn't a good way to keep good people writing for you.

It's called humoring them.

I could also say: "Start dropping Acid. Look at what LSD did for the Beatles. Sgt Pepper wasn't created with the help of Tobacco."

One of the things I don't like about later Simpsons is that it often doesn't feel like the writers are having much fun while writing, but rather going through whatever motions seem appropriate to go through that day. Factually, that may or may not be the case, but it's certainly the impression I get from watching it. It doesn't have the fun or liveliness I would expect from a show that the people making it actually enjoy making. It feels like the writers are tired of the characters and hate their jobs

I think that feeling comes from feeling like there's no where else better to further their careers, not from the show itself.

 

[DotheBartman]

It's called humoring them.

I could also say: "Start dropping Acid. Look at what LSD did for the Beatles. Sgt Pepper wasn't created with the help of Tobacco."

I'm being completely sincere when I say I have precisely zero idea what you're trying to say here. Not the slightest clue.

I think that feeling comes from feeling like there's no where else better to further their careers, not from the show itself.

It's just my impression. I've heard some horror stories here and there but it's hard to judge the veracity of them. But when WATCHING THE SHOW, it feels like it's very tired and going through the motions, with little enthusiasm. This would tend to be the sign of a show that the writers themselves are tired of doing or a little bit exhausted on in terms of trying to think of fresh ideas. If you look at the list of the people writing it now, a lot of them have been on it for ages and most any show would get tiring to write for for that long. I think they've stuck around because it's a relatively secure position (in a field where that's extremely difficult to come by), and because earlier writers had less luck after leaving, but this doesn't mean they aren't tired of writing for it. I certainly would be after more than a decade, and most shows have a lot more turnover, as the older seasons did.

I don't think it's that Al Jean or Matt Groening are being dicks to the writing staff or anything like that (I suppose anything is possible), but I just sense fatigue among the writers while I watch the show. Again, factually I could be completely wrong and maybe all the writers are just super stoked to begin each writing day, but I can only speak to the impression I get while I watch it. It just feels old and tired even when I'm only watching brief clips. I personally suspect it is the show at least in the sense that the show itself is tired and most of the writers have been working on it for eons. In that sense, thinking very seriously about what a new showrunner would do strikes me as somewhat pointless (even as a fun diversion on an internet forum), if only because I think it's a pointless exercise in real life for any showrunner to try to save this show anymore. Fresh, less-fatigued writers might or might not help, but it's essentially a dead, tired series that should have been retired ages ago, regardless of who's working on it.

 

[Diversity Pumpkin]

You're right in saying the original writers had more fun; it was THEIR show, and THEIR characters. Even the writers who came on board a little bit later - they were only a mere addition to the original writing staff family.

That family of Al Jean, Mike Reis, Conan O Brian, etc have broken up now. The new writers aren't a family - they just consider it a writing job. Look at those IGN interviews of the current writers, and compare them to interviews with the original ones. Heck, just listen to the DVD commentaries of the original writers and seasons and compare them to the ones of today. Sure, Al Jean and Mike Scully have stuck around, but they're still not part of the same family.

It's like I was hired to write for season 22 of Cheers or something (assuming that show was still airing). I have no fucking idea what the original writing staff were like; I'm just treating it like another writing job.

 

[Patches O'houlihan]

I'm being completely sincere when I say I have precisely zero idea what you're trying to say here. Not the slightest clue.

I was joking about drugs being used to expand the writers' creativity.

It's just my impression. I've heard some horror stories here and there but it's hard to judge the veracity of them. But when WATCHING THE SHOW, it feels like it's very tired and going through the motions, with little enthusiasm.

Well, if the writers were that tired, bored, suicidal, whatever, then they should simply quit. But that goes back to what I said earlier--they stay there because it's the most safe and secure job (in their minds) at the moment. Imagine working on a TV show that has the same brand recognition as Coca Cola and McDonalds, you don' "have" to push it 110% to get recognized and worry about job security.

 

[friendswithsalad]

I'd question the mindset that caused them to choose an unqualified 16 year old for the position.

 

[Canadian Boy]

First off I'd make sure that all of the writers were die-hard Simpsons' fans. If I'm going to be showrunner I want to know that everyone I work with loves The Simpsons as much or even more so then I do. If they don't treat it like it's sacred by disrespecting it with mediocre or awful work then they will be fired. I would also try and get back old writers for special episodes. I'd also want to shake things up and start doing something a little edgier, like the Banksy opener they did at the beginning of the last season, except for you know an entire episode. I think they should probably also kill a character off, like think Grandpa Simpson has the most potential to leave a lasting impact on viewers, but it would have to be done with the utmost care and sincerity. Introducing plots that stetch for more than one episode would another way to freshen things up, and I don't mean just to part eps I'm talking about potentially season long arcs.

 

[biffwestwood]

I would have a two-part episode be produced in which it would be one where part 2 airs one week after part 1.