Wikipedia:WikiProject The Simpsons/Questions for Bill Oakley
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Through the hugest stroke of luck, we will be lucky enough to talk to Bill Oakley! This is extremely important and fantastic, as he will be able to help us a lot. We asked him if he could give us an image or two from his and Josh's time, and amazingly enough, he believes he has two or three good group shots from season 3-8. Sadly, it seems that he has no Phil Hartman, but he said that he will try to check. Bless his heart!
We want to do an IRC chat on the channel we go to, #wpsimpsons, on the freenode server. However, it turns out that if we do one at the WikiNews channel #wikinews-interviews would be a better place to do this as it would be posted on WikiNews (although we should make sure he's okay with this). He is awfully busy though, with family things and picketing at the WGA strike, but he said he will try to schedule a chat once things slow down for him. This is good for us too, since we can prepare some questions this way. The owner of NoHomers.net has agreed to publish our chat logs on his website, and we should be able to post this at WikiNews, which should be useable as an RS.
This page is for everyone to post questions so that if you can't make the chat, there will be an easy quicklist of questions for those who do make it to ask.
However, since we don't know how long we have to talk to him, we must not ask fan boy-ish questions. Remember, we need to ask questions here that will benefit us. For example, we already know what articles we have that we can make reach WP:FA. Therefore, asking him things related to those subjects would greatly benefit us. Once we finish everything we have, I suppose we could talk about some other things that we'd like to know from Bill and his life.
For questions you want to ask, list them below in a number format. Remember, let them be good questions!
Questions
[edit]NOTE: Only WikiProject Simpsons members can ask questions. Any others will be removed. Please remember that some questions relating to thorny issues might not be answered due to legal issues.
When and how did you and Josh first start writing together?
How did you and Josh get your start on The Simpsons?
How did you and Josh get chosen to be showrunners?
How much involvement did James L. Brooks and Matt Groening have in your seasons?
In your opinion, what is the difference between the seasons you and Josh ran as opposed to the other seasons?
What is the favourite episode that you wrote? show ran? in general?
Were you ever tempted to do another two part episode like Who Shot Mr. Burns?
Did John Swartzwelder ever work with the other writers on episodes during your seasons, or did he just write the scripts on his own then send them in?
Why did David Mirkin decide to stop being the show runner after the sixth season, and how much involvement did he have in your seasons?
Of the five main Simpson family members, who do you most relate to? Who do you feel was easiest for you to write for?
What changes to the writing staff were made during your tenure as a show runner? Who was on the staff?
Like the fourth season, the show was not nominated for an Emmy in animation in the fifth season. According to Al Jean, the reason the fourth season wasn't nominated was because it was submitted in the normal comedy category. Was this the case with the fifth season? If so which episodes were submitted for consideration?
This is specifically about "22 Short Films About Springfield": You mention in the commentary that two prominent figures within the running of the show were against the episode, are you allowed to say who they were? And, could you elaborate on the proposed Tales from Springfield - did it ever get anywhere close to something other than an idea?
Do you feel that you and Josh made any major changes to any characters?
Were there any episodes you reacted negatively to?
Where did the idea for Springfield's Most Wanted (the special that aired before Who Shot Mr. Burns Part Two) come from? Was it the idea of the writers/producers or did Fox want to do it? Did the shows writers work on it?
This question is very broad and open-ended, so for that I'm sorry. There are certain disagreements amongst fans over how much leniency there ought to be in Simpsons episodes, regarding things such as character behaviour or absurd plots and so on. I noted that on both the commentaries for The Principal and the Pauper, and the hidden commentary for Lisa The Simpson, that both yourself and Josh said that you regard The Simpsons as a kind of sandbox for comedy writing. In relation to the episodes that yourself and Josh produced only, did you set yourselves any limits? If so, did you and Josh cross these limits at any point in time, and did you later regret it?
What projects are you working on now?
What was your major at Harvard? Did you incorporate anything you learned in your classes into the Simpsons?
Did you ever anticipate that The Simpsons would be studied in college classrooms?