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The Simpsons showrunner Al Jean and director Mike Anderson talk with THR about their "Springfield" musical and bringing back fan-favorite character Cletus Spuckler.
-"I actually wrote the first version of this opening in 1993," says Jean, who was a writer on The Simpsons for seasons one through four.
-"We wanted Bart to be bad and Lisa good. And that was the absolute opposite of how they came out."
-Michael Jackson's music team had told them that getting approval for even a five-second clip could take six months to a year.
-"I think 'The Simpsons' is really good at being both funny and emotional," he tells The Hollywood Reporter . "We try to do emotional episodes and they usually work. This one, I think there are a lot of songs that play into it."
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-"We were always trying to find ways to make the show fresh again," says Jean, explaining why they decided on doing another musical episode.
-"It's so much fun because they can be anything we want them to be."
-"We wanted all the songs in this episode to feel like they could have been written by Springfield residents," says Anderson of their process for writing these songs. "I worked on some other episodes where I had to go through thousands of songs before you find something that fits correctly, but here it was very easy."
-Jean shared an anecdote with THR about how the writers on The Simpsons once joked that if they ever did a musical episode, they'd need Paul McCartney to do the opening number.
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-"It's so much fun because they can be anything we want them to be," he said. "We wanted all the songs in this episode to feel like they could have been written by Springfield residents."
-Part of that comes from how it wasn't presented like an actual show within The Simpsons universe, with producers joking that there was no possible way Lance Armstrong (who started guest directing with the second Simpsons Movie) would make an appearance on Tress MacNeille's Chanel-esque talk show.
-"I don't know about Rob Lowe's character but I think most of us got applause at some points," says Jean. "I think The Simpsons is very good at being both funny and emotional. And we try to do episodes that are emotionally focused."
-"We used all the original recordings when they recorded it," says Anderson. "I felt like when you're in Springfield and all of a sudden, the 'Simpsons' music starts playing everywhere you go, it's just so much fun because it really feels like that character is there. It wasn't just someone singing their version of what they think Homer would be."
-Anderson said he wanted to pay homage to Spinal Tap with one shot in particular where he wanted to use the same angle as the iconic rockumentary but this time feature Marge Simpson's hair towering above rather than Stonehenge.
-"This was definitely a great deal of fun to work on," Jean says. "The cast were all game and obviously, they're brilliant singers. We just had fun with it."
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-He adds that whenever anything happens to Mr. Burns the character leans into comedy, but that this time he can lean fully into pathos because everyone else is so funny in their roles too.
-"I think The Simpsons is very good at being both funny and emotional," he tells The Hollywood Reporter . "We try to do episodes that are emotionally focused."
-"We were always trying to find ways to make the show fresh again," says creator/executive producer Al Jean of why they decided on doing another musical episode. "We used all the original recordings when they recorded it."
-"I think 'The Simpsons' is really good at being both funny and emotional," says Jean. "We try to do episodes that are emotionally focused."
-"I think 'The Simpsons' is really good at being both funny and emotional," Jean adds. "We try to do episodes that are emotionally focused."
-"Part of that comes from how it wasn't presented like an actual show within The Simpsons universe, with producers joking that there was no possible way Lance Armstrong (who started guest directing with the second Simpsons Movie) would make an appearance on Tress MacNeille's Chanel-esque talk show. -He adds that whenever anything happens to Mr. Burns the character leans into comedy, but that this time he can lean fully into pathos because everyone else is so funny in their roles too.
-"We wanted all the songs in this episode to feel like they could have been written by Springfield residents," says Anderson of their process for writing these songs. "I felt like when you're in Springfield and all of a sudden, the 'Simpsons' music starts playing everywhere you go, it's just so much fun because it really feels like that character is there."
-"This was definitely a great deal of fun to work on," Jean says. "The cast were all game and obviously, they're brilliant singers."
-"I think The Simpsons is very good at being both funny and emotional
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