Alan Siegel

Big thanks to Dan and Derek for having me on. More Simpsons talk!

Thanks! Appreciate it.

Amazing. I have a friend who kept his VHS recordings from the '90s. He's a vice principal and let a student borrow them--but he never got 'em back! Crushing.

Same!

You may be on to something!

Stupid Tv, Be More Funny: How the Golden Era of the Simpsons Changed Television-And America-Forever How the Golden Era of the Simpsons Changed Television-And America-Forever

If you need a Simpsons fix, the great @bookshop.org has free shipping today and tomorrow. bookshop.org/p/books/stup...

Ranking the 117 Best NBA Names of the Quarter Century What’s in a name? Everything. Featuring Dwayne Bacon, Stromile Swift, and so many more, these are the NBA player handles that stand the test of time.

NAME RANK

It's amazing how long people have been projecting negative shit onto Lisa.

RIP Kimberly Hébert Gregory, who played Belinda Brown in Vice Principals. If you want to know how funny and smart she was, I talked to her for this story back in the spring. www.theringer.com/2025/05/01/t...

I knew them before they were famous.

A prophecy foretold.

Is This the End of the Dictionary? Obsolete (adj.): no longer in use or no longer useful

Merriam survives on snarky posts, games, and sharper SEO. With U.S. lexicographers down from about 200 to under 50, this piece urges treating dictionaries as public goods amid fights over words like insurrection and woke.

By @stefanfatsis.bsky.social in @theatlantic.com

buff.ly/ycOMo0K

The Simpsons didn’t predict the modern world – it shaped it The record-breaking animation may be returning for a 37th season, but many fans have long switched off. If ‘The Simpsons’ is struggling to make an impact, it only has its own success to blame, writes ...

Wrote about FBI raids on bootleg Bart Simpson shirts, @alansiegella.bsky.social’s fantastic new book on it, and how an animated show helped shape our modern times for @the-independent.com

www.independent.co.uk/arts-enterta...

The internet definitely helped make fandom much more influential than criticism. Used to be the other way around.

Thanks!

And old-timey great taste, too.

Like me, he was obsessed with John Swartzwelder. I get the sense that those two would've actually gotten along really well.

He seemed to be struggling. With drinking and with not drinking of late. Always looking for work too. What a fucking condemnation of this industry that he was ever in need of it. One of his greatest pieces ever – on Haggard – was taken down by a corporation that decided it no longer needed great writing anymore. It can only be read on the internet archive . That’s just how the industry is now I suppose. In an earlier time he would have been the kind of writer being paid $5 a word by magazines to go write about whatever he pleased. And no one would be pissed off or jealous about it either. All of the rest of us scrabbling for that kind of gig just nodding in approval. That makes sense. He has that coming. A couple years ago I offered him the most money I have ever offered anyone to write for Hell World. Not as much as he deserved mind you but a lot for me. Write about literally anything you want I said. He said he would. He promised he would write something for me multiple times over the years but one thing or another always came up. Something big just around the corner was about to happen.

Put together some thoughts here.

In an earlier time he would have been the kind of writer being paid $5 a word by magazines to go write about whatever he pleased. And no one would be pissed off or jealous about it either.
www.welcometohellworld.com/life-is-a-pr...

it was such a pleasure to edit this charming and hilarious @joshgondelman.bsky.social take on balding. i giggled to myself pretty much the whole way through it

To Artistic Freedom: The Cause Of, And Solution To, All Of Life’s Problems | Defector People have been quoting The Simpsons to me so often, and for so long, that even if I don’t recognize the quote, I am able to recognize that it’s from The Simpsons. When I do recognize the quote, it’s...

wrote about THE SIMPSONS, a show people can't stop quoting to me even tho i have never seen an entire episode. (s/o to @alansiegella.bsky.social for sending me his book despite this).

every single time!

Getting Made The Scorsese Way Yes, indeed, The Godfather is masterful. The Sopranos? We never missed an episode. But you want to talk about a movie that leaves a mark? Twenty years after the release of GoodFellas, the good people ...

I always go back to this quote by Michael Imperioli about the legacy of Goodfellas: "When was the last time you rented Dances with Wolves?" www.gq.com/story/goodfe...

!!!

Happy 77th birthday to the late, great Phil Hartman, The Simpsons' skeleton key.

libtron - Twitch TV Month: Simpsons Week: Virtual Springfield with Alan Siegel !tv

it's Virtual Springfield on the stream today with @alansiegella.bsky.social talking about his book!! www.twitch.tv/libtron NOW

Wow, thank you!

Don't stop believing Some news, as they say

Some news: yesterday was my last at Rolling Stone. For now, I'm going solo, doing all my TV reviewing, recapping, etc., at my newsletter. I hope you'll consider subscribing. Many more details here:

Robert Redford's supernatural charisma perfectly summed up in this anecdote from Sam Kashner's Vanity Fair story about Mike Nichols casting The Graduate. www.vanityfair.com/news/2008/03...

NEW SEASON! Tomorrow we’re back with your biweekly dose of Simpsons movie parodies on the Springfield Googolplex podcast. pod.link/googolplex

This season also features some outstanding guests like @alliegoertz.bsky.social, @normwilner.bsky.social, @dedecrim.bsky.social, & @alansiegella.bsky.social.