Sam Simon
started off with a spec script for the third season of Taxi in the early 80’s. By the fifth and final season when
executive producers Glen & Les Charles moved on to their own series Cheers they trusted Simon enough to be
showrunner after only two years as a working television writer. Not only that,
Simon was brought over to Cheers as
part of its inaugural writing staff. He managed to handle showrunning and
writing responsibilities for one series while also writing for another. Not just
that, he wrote Cheers’ best episode
that season “Endless Slumper” which I highly recommend as it mixes the comedic
with the sometimes necessary dramatic moments of a sitcom perfectly
encapsulating his style. And it really foreshadows his work on The Simpsons. Sometimes on his own, sometimes with partner
Ken Estin he continued to write great episodes for Cheers in its first three seasons including “Fairy Tales Can Come
True” and “Cheerio Cheers”. And I always felt his episodes had a little more
heart than average as well as some damn good jokes.
Simon
also worked on series like It’s Garry
Shandling’s Show and The George
Carlin Show but perhaps his greatest legacy is The Simpsons. Simon had worked with James L. Brooks as the
co-creator of Taxi and eventually
both became executive producers on The
Tracey Ullman Show. Into that show walked cartoonist and animator Matt
Groening and the rest is history. Simon many don’t realize, actually designed a
number of Simpsons characters
including Mr. Burns, Chief Wiggum, and Dr. Hibbert, having started his career
as an artist. In addition to that Simon’s influence on The Simpsons in those early years was tremendous. He is credited
with developing the show’s sensibility, it’s incredibly funny environment and
character coupled with its ability to be heartwarming and dramatic,
characteristics that to me and many others are what make it one of the greatest
shows of all time. And we owe it to him. Episodes such as “Two Cars in Every
Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish” (which he co-wrote with John Swartzwelder),
“Black Widower”, The Treehouse of Horror episodes (who can forget “The Raven”
segment he “co-wrote” with Edgar Allan Poe) including “Dial Z for Zombies” my
personal favourite Treehouse of Horror segment, and one of my personal
favourite episodes “The Way We Was” (co-written with Al Jean and Mike Reiss),
certainly are testaments to what he brought to the show. The Simpsons writers room being what it was then, most of the original staff handpicked by Simon himself, he contributed so much that most of the shows from those early years have his fingerprints somewhere on them. He left in the show’s fourth season going on
to philanthropic work for PETA and other organizations, and directing work, overall winning nine Emmy Awards.
In 2012
he was diagnosed with colorectal cancer and given only a few months to live. But
as always Simon surpassed expectations for over two years. Unfortunately it has finally caught up with him. He planned on donating his entire fortune to charity upon his death which hopefully will now happen.
Sam Simon
though gone will not be forgotten. He was one of the best writers in the
history of American television and comedy and is leaving a great void. Personally
he has been a major influence on me, his style and sensibility on Cheers and The Simpsons in particular has inspired my own approach to writing
and viewing comedy. He’ll always be a gold standard of sitcom writing to me and
many others and I hope will continue to inspire from beyond the grave (much
like his Simpsons zombies). He was a
brilliant and talented man and there will never be another quite like him. Rest
in Peace Sam Simon.
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