“Los Angeles is a town wallpapered with tickets, but few tickets are as elusive as one to The Simpsons. Only 22 times each year the writers, voice cast and Matt Groening and Al Jean gather in a bungalow on the 20th Century Fox lot to read through that week’s script. Tickets are by invitation only, and today – episode #EABF20, titled The President Wore Pearls, which will not be seen until late in 2003 – I find myself sitting between a handful of British government ministers and Hank Azaria’s dog. A decade ago, the “read-throughs” were open only to a hallowed few. Today, there are no fewer than two dozen people in the room, and for a moment it looks like we might even run out of seats at the table. It is, to be sure, a very big table. But The Simpsons, to be sure, is a very big show.” Read More >>>
