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2 days ago · "The Simpsons" showrunner and executive producer Matt Selman revealed in a new interview how they pulled off the 'series finale' episode.
- "We're still pumping out crazy episodes."
- A Generational Time Capsule
- The Simpsons: The Good, The Bart, and The Loki - Exclusive First Look Images
- Looking Ahead to Season 33
By Kat Bailey
Updated: Jul 28, 2021 7:11 pm
Posted: Jul 28, 2021 6:00 pm
If you want to get Matt Selman talking, you only need to mention Simpsons Hit & Run — the 2003 sandbox action game that took America's most famous cartoon family and effectively dropped them into Grand Theft Auto 3.
Now 20 years old, Simpsons Hit & Run has enjoyed a mini-renaissance among fans of the series, who fondly remember it for its silly, simple gameplay and reams of references. These recollections have created a groundswell of support for a remaster or even a remake — a groundswell that Selman fully supports.
“I would love to see a remastered version of [Simpsons Hit & Run], I would,” Selman tells IGN. “It's a complicated corporate octopus to try to make that happen.”
Like the rest of the show’s ancillary material, Simpsons Hit & Run — and more recently, the crossover short featuring Loki — serve as a time capsule for a show that encompasses multiple pop culture eras. The Simpsons has been in practically every conceivable entertainment medium, from comic books to film to video games. Now in its 33rd season, multiple generations of fans have grown up with the series, which Selman describes as "the ultimate compliment."
Selman himself has been present for several of those eras. While he wasn’t around for the earliest days of the series, he had a hand in several seminal Simpsons moments. His first credited episode was the Season 9 finale Natural Born Kissers — the famously racy episode that ends with a naked Marge and Homer being chased throughout Springfield. Selman would go on to work on several of the games based on The Simpsons, including The Simpsons Game, and talks about being addicted to The Simpsons Tapped Out mobile game, amused by how one could find an “uncensored, bizarre, crazy, bananas joke” buried in one of its otherwise unassuming dialogue bubbles.
These days Selman is the co-showrunner alongside Al Jean, a relationship he describes as "super collaborative." His writing days on The Simpsons largely behind him, he is currently focused on the show’s upcoming 33rd season, which among other things will include a musical episode featuring Kristen Bell, and what Selman calls a massive two-part tribute to prestige dramas like Fargo. He describes himself as a coach, there to give writers, animators, actors, and musicians the occasional nudge while aiding Jean in running day-to-day operations.
If Selman feels the burden of history working on a show like The Simpsons, he doesn’t show it. Even so many years after South Park joked that the Simpsons had already done every conceivable idea, Selman says he’s still able to find ways to put established characters in strange and interesting situations. He points to the Season 30 episode "Krusty the Clown," which finds the cantankerous TV host hiding out in a low-budget circus.
We're not saying this is the official continuity now, and none of that other stuff happened. We're just saying in this one episode, this is a silly way to present the character’s life. It doesn't mean that the people's beloved episodes from the past didn't happen
“
As for the perpetual threat of the Simpsons coming to an end, Selman says he’s never really sat down with the team to brainstorm a conclusion, despite rumors of a stealth ending through the years. "That doesn't seem like a fun meeting, that seems like a sad meeting. And maybe we shouldn't even do a last episode," he says. "We should just pick a ran...
For now, The Simpsons can look ahead to another season — and another one beyond that, as it has already been renewed for Season 34. The upcoming year will feature the aforementioned two-parter, which Selman calls an “artistic, ambitious, dark, twisted... kind of chapterized... crime story” — the kind of story that Simpsons can’t normally tell. It will also explore Homer’s relationship with Grandpa, which Selman calls a “great, emotional episode,” and Mo’s love life.
However it turns out, the Simpsons continues to be further than ever from that unprofitable moment once predicted by Troy McClure (rest in peace, Phil Hartman). When Selman came aboard in Season 9, many were predicting that the show was on its last legs. More than 20 years later, it’s still going — the television equivalent of Homer’s bus that couldn’t slow down.
For Selman, its enduring generational appeal — from the show to the games — remains one of its greatest strengths. "The ultimate compliment and one of my favorite things about the show is how many kids in third, fourth, fifth, sixth grade... it becomes their favorite show. They can watch them with their parents who also remember watching it when they were kids
"It's just this multi-generational experience,” he says. “We're still pumping out crazy episodes."
- Kat Bailey
Aug 8, 2022 · The Simpsons is consistently Emmy nominated for a reason, with Selman being a major part of it these days. He’s quick to make sure we credit the whole team, however, which in turn is a credit to his graciousness. Here now is my interview with The Simpsons‘ producer, writer, and co-showrunner Matt Selman. Enjoy:
- Joey Magidson
Jan 15, 2024 · The two-part Season 33 episode “A Serious Flanders” was incredibly ambitious and written by Cesar Mazariegos at the behest of Simpsons executive producer Matt Selman. The entire story was a play on prestige TV, particularly FX’s Fargo .
Matt Selman. Producer: The Simpsons. Matt Selman is an American screenwriter and producer from Watertown, Massachusetts known for producing and writing various episodes of The Simpsons.
- January 1, 1
- 2 min
- Watertown, Massachusetts, USA
May 18, 2023 · When the series returns in the fall, THE SIMPSONS will do another docuseries-type episode, “kind of like the Elizabeth Holmes documentary-type show,” Selman previews. “We’ve done documentary episodes before…so this is not [entirely new].
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Jun 22, 2023 · In-between panels at ATX TV Fest, we caught up with "The Simpsons" showrunner Matt Selman and his wife Renee Ridgeley for a conversation about how her fight with breast cancer inspired a...
