TVSquad

Al Jean started out with The Simpsons 20 years ago as a writer working a couple of days a week. He was there when the series started, and even before it was officially a series, working on the Christmas show in 1989, when The Simpsons first broke away from its beginnings on The Tracey Ullman Show.

Now he's an executive producer and showrunner, staring down the twentieth anniversary of the official start of the series, which happens in January. I spoke with him this week about this Sunday's season premiere, a bit of Simpsons history, and just how long the Simpsons can keep making people laugh.

After 20 years of doing The Simpsons, how do you find something new to do with the show? How do you generate ideas you haven't done before?

Well, it's the best of both worlds. If something happens to you in your life or to the world, you can satirize it but you get to use these characters that people love and that you're very familiar with. To me, there's a lot of topics that are fresh and interesting.

They're together. No, wait, they're separated. No, wait. They're together again.

And now, talk show host Jimmy Kimmel and his girlfriend Sarah Silverman, star of Comedy Central's The Sarah Silverman Program, have split up again.

Matt Damon jokes aside, I was kind of hoping that they would prosper as a couple. I have no particular reason for this. I just find them each entertaining individually (although I found Silverman's humor grating after a while). Plus, I thought they were cute together.

Sadly, they suffer from the relationship problems of most of Hollywood: it doesn't last. Why is that? Is it that Hollywood creates a higher standard, or does Hollywood simply reflect the rest of American culture? Are most relationships like this, with the only difference being that a break-up anywhere else doesn't make headlines?

Of course, for all you single men, this means Sarah Silverman is back on the market. Ditto for the ladies and Jimmy Kimmel. Good luck with that.

Once again, people, I'm forced to asked the question, what the hell is going on here? Has black become white? Has up replaced down? Has Rush Limbaugh been saying he wishes Barack Obama all the best, while Janeane Garofalo is caught trying to start a fire in the White House rose garden?

The makers of The Sarah Silverman Program have been in a standoff with Comedy Central over their latest budget negotiations. Thankfully, a deal was reached and the show will return for another season, but the deal was even bigger than the budget they called into question.

Well, no one ever said you had to be good at math to run a major network, or any of the other basic requirements for passing standardized testing, for that matter. Fred Silverman's parents, for instance, had to hire their boy a special tutor so he could pass finger painting.

The prospect of a news show featuring people with disabilities interviewing celebrities and people on the street sounds like a sick way to spend a Sunday evening. That assumption doesn't help when you see South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker's names under the executive producer heading, two guys who made the phrase "Timmy!" and "cripple fight" part of the American pop culture lexicon.

But as Stone said himself in my soon-to-be awarding winning interview (my boss said he would put a gold star on my next paycheck), How's Your News? -- which premieres at 10:30 tomorrow night on MTV -- aims to change the audience's perspective on more than one level.

It's a journey of self-discovery for both the participants and the viewers and that's a big step for a network that has had a hard time figuring out what it's supposed to be.

A funny thing happened at the beginning of the ABC executive session this morning. After ABC Entertainment president Steve McPherson got on stage, said some opening remarks, and opened the floor to questions, someone got up and identified himself as Tom Weinerman of the Sarasota Star-Herald Tribune. That was a bit unusual, as the reporters here never identify themselves before asking questions.

But then, people started recognizing the voice, or turned in the direction of the questioner, and realized what was going on: It was Jimmy Kimmel, and he had some pointed -- and funny -- questions for McPherson about the possibility of Jay Leno coming to ABC.

As the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences tries to whittle the submissions down to actual nominees, it's interesting to take a look at who has made it to the semifinals. It's not a nomination, but it's one step away. Today comes word of the finalists for best comedy actress and best supporting drama actor. There are some surprises.

Chief among those for me is Sarah Silverman. I honestly hadn't even considered her in the running. I'm not much of a fan, but I do like that she is being considered for the simple fact that the base the nominees are drawn from can always use some expansion. And if she is the most surprising inclusion, the most surprising snub just might be Teri Hatcher. Eva Longoria, Marcia Cross, and Felicity Huffman all made the cut, but not Hatcher. Ouch. The rest of the finalists, and the supporting actors from a drama, after the jump.

Sarah Silverman, the star of The Sarah Silverman Program, is fu*king Jimmy Kimmel, the host of ABC's late night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live. At least we assume so, considering they've been dating for years and kidding about their love story in public -- remember her video, "I'm fu*king Matt Damon," which he countered with "I'm fu*king Ben Affleck"? These two are a fun couple and seem to really have it together. However, don't look for Ms. Silverman to ever become Mrs. Kimmel.

Simply stated, Sarah Silverman told People.com that she's vowed to never marry Jimmy Kimmel. Nothing personal, Jimmy, she just likes things exactly as they are and doesn't want to muck it up with rice, flowers, lace, cake, invitations and all the other wedding malarkey.

Clearly, little Sarah never fantasized about her parents walking her down the aisle, standing under the chuppa with her groom, and seeing the man of her dreams shatter a wine glass beneath his foot, all elements of a typical nice Jewish wedding for a nice Jewish girl like Sarah.

So, Disney CEO Robert Iger was having one of those yummy breakfast confabs talking about the future of the network and new media, alternate platforms and all those other fun buzz words about how we're going to be watching shows in the next few years. Then, kind of as an aside, he was asked about Jay Leno. With the end of Leno's era as the host of The Tonight Show looming -- and Conan O'Brien chomping at the bit to take over -- Mr. Iger said that he wouldn't rule out ABC going after Jay.

Ken Auletta of the New Yorker pressed Iger about Leno, to which the ABC head man squirmed and said, "It's not something we typically comment on."

Last night I went to a taping of the second installment of Idol Gives Back at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood. This year the charities that benefited were Malaria No More, Children's Defense Fund, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, Children's Health Fund, and Save the Children.

Keep in mind, there will be spoilers. It's not like I found out the secret to Lost, but I figured I would still give fair warning. The show will air on Wednesday April 9th at 7:30 pm ET / PT. For what happened at the taping and in the press room, read on after the jump. And check back for Jason's review Wednesday night.

Jenna Fischer: This is one of those "I've arrived!" moments. Seriously. There's, like, little milestones... Like, being on David Letterman for the first time and then, like, being in Vanity Fair.
Chelsea Handler: ... I knew I arrived when I got my period.
Everyone: [groans and laughter]

Yeah, I know how most of our male readers are. They like their ladies funny, smart, and painfully out of their league. Well, start lurking around the magazine stands, boys, because the upcoming Vanity Fair has a new Annie Leibovitz photo spread featuring some of the funniest ladies on the scene. The impressive list boasts Sandra Bernhard, Susie Essman, Tina Fey, Jenna Fischer, Chelsea Handler, Leslie Mann, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Amy Sedaris, Sarah Silverman, Wanda Sykes, and Kristen Wiig, each of them doing very typical "Hollywood bad girl" things. I especially love Maya Rudolph's hair and how Silverman manages to do Amy Winehouse better than Amy Winehouse.

Like a lot of writers, I have an idea folder (it's manila, but I have it covered in puffy rainbow and unicorn stickers, so it's beautiful). As each week progresses, I jot down all my ideas -- for columns, for stand-up bits, for ransom notes -- and at the end of that week, I take stock of my creative output.

This week, I noticed that there were a lot of ideas that I wanted to share, but that weren't quite big enough for a full TV 101 column. I attached them to the end of my last column in a section called "Dribs and Drabs." It was a good thought, except that it took an already bloated piece (my writing makes the Unabomber's manifesto look like a dream of concise thought) and puffed it up into a 3000 word monstrosity. My editor suggested I break up the Dribs and Drabs section into its own piece, and that, dear readers, is what I did. Dribs and Drabs, after the jump...

In a reversal of their stance on most of the major awards shows this season, Variety tells us the WGA is not only allowing Guild member Rainn Wilson to host the 2008 Spirit Awards, but he has received a waiver to write gags for it as well. The awards ceremony will be held February 23, a day before the Oscars (which did not receive a waiver), on the Santa Monica beach in a tent.

Broadcast live and uncensored on IFC at 5/4pm Central, the Spirit Awards honors the best in independent filmmaking and tends to feature a lot of off-color humor and remarks. Hell, last year's host Sarah Silverman opened the ceremony with a long discussion of her Mommy parts! Hopefully Wilson won't feel the need to discuss his Daddy parts, but if he wants to tell any off-color stories about Jenna Fischer, I'm all ears. Pam Beesly is my Office crush (Shh! don't tell HR) and now that Jenna's as "single" as Pam is, I can fantasize about both of them without feeling guilty! It's a win-win ... win!

I had a very interesting week last week. The high point was an interview I did with Laura Silverman for my podcast. Most of you will know Laura from her role as Sarah's sister on The Sarah Silverman Program. However, she also had major roles on HBO's The Comeback and the comedy classic Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist.

She had some funny things to say about working for HBO and Comedy Central but the best part of the interview was a story she told about Sarah's pooch, Duck, who plays Doug on the Comedy Central show.

Taking a diversion from Will Ferrell videos, someone posted a preview on FunnyOrDie.com for The Sarah Silverman Program. In it, Sarah takes things to new lows as she tries to determine why her dog is so fascinated with licking himself by sampling the orifice in question.

The sample is from tonight's episode. TV Squad tries to warn its loyal audience in advance when television sinks to new lows of depravity. I could barely watch it the third time.

Not one, not two, but three giveaways today. To add to the list today, we've got five copies of The Sarah Silverman Program season one on DVD for five lucky, random commenters. The set is already available in stores.

To enter, simply leave a comment below before 5:00PM Eastern, Friday, October 12, simply telling us why you'd like to own this series. As always, we'll randomly choose five winners amongst the eligible entries. Some other details:
Click here for complete Official Rules.