‘Table read’ tells the tale of ‘The Simpsons’ success

LOS ANGELES – Bart Simpson is acting like himself, which is to say naughty. And he sounds like himself, with that familiar mischievous lilt.

But Bart’s voice is coming out of a petite blonde wearing a fluffy, bright-pink wrap. Dumpy Homer has morphed into a lanky fellow, and mom Marge’s towering blue hair is brown and tastefully cropped.

The event was a “table read,” when the cast of “The Simpsons” gathered with a roomful of writers, producers and guests, using their imaginations to conjure up the animated family with the distinctive mustard hue.

It was just one of the steps toward crafting an episode of the Fox series that begins its 16th season at 8 p.m. Sunday with its annual “Treehouse of Horror” special.

Irreverent, witty and willing to take on anything from politics to religion to family values, “The Simpsons” has provided a rare bit of spice for the oatmeal-bland bowl of TV broadcasting.

The table read itself is a symbol of the show’s enduring popularity.

Actors, producers and writers sit at a massive conference table littered with water bottles and note pads. Invitation-only visitors ring the table. (Noticeably absent are the network executives who always haunt rehearsals; “The Simpsons” has a rare stipulation, won by executive producer James L. Brooks, limiting Fox’s meddling.)

“It’s sort of the hottest ticket on the lot,” said Yeardley Smith, who voices young Lisa, the wise Simpson daughter.

“I’ll look around and go, ‘Hey, there’s Elvis Costello,’” said Al Jean, an executive producer who’s been with the series since it was spun off in December 1989 from Tracey Ullman’s Fox series.

Singer-songwriter Costello, who provided his voice for one episode, popped up at the table read for another.

“People often come for the fun and bring their children,” Jean said.

It’s a treat for observers but serious work for the cast and producers. This is the first time a script has been performed after months of writing and revision.

This particular week it’s also the first time the actors have seen the script. Finished at the last minute, it couldn’t be provided until the cast arrived at the studio for the rehearsal.

The assembled performers include Smith; Dan Castellaneta, who received his third Emmy this year for voicing Homer and whose other characters include Krusty the clown and Grampa Simpson; Nancy Cartwright as Bart; Julie Kavner as Marge; and Harry Shearer, who does an array of voices including Ned Flanders and C. Montgomery Burns.

Absent is Hank Azaria, who was in New York rehearsing a new musical, whose characters include convenience store owner Apu and police Chief Wiggum.

They’re working on an episode that won’t air until next season, typical for a labor-intensive animated series. A roughly 21-minute episode takes about nine months to create, including the animation work done domestically and in South Korea.

In the script at hand, Marge and Bart are engaged in unusual mother-son bonding, breezing through Springfield on a tandem bicycle and singing “Sweet Home Alabama.”

Marge: “I can’t remember our last outing together.”

Bart: “It was to see that court-appointed psychiatrist.”

Marge: “Oh yeah. He should never have let you near that letter opener.”

The actors move briskly through their lines and most of the jokes draw guffaws from the room. But one shaggy-haired figure proves a tough customer, rarely even smiling – series creator and executive producer Matt Groening.

“He’s not an easy laugh, so when you get a laugh out of him you feel like, ‘Yes!’ It’s a big deal,” said Smith.

No matter what changes, though, the characters stay the same.

“It’s a bratty boy and a sensitive, intellectual girl and a dumb but well-meaning husband and a wife who’s sweet and knows a little better than him,” Jean said.

Just how durable is “The Simpsons,” which has the cast signed through season 19? There will be a 20th season at least, Jean figures, allowing it to match “Gunsmoke” as the longest-running scripted show in prime-time.