By Alan Siegel

On Sale: Jun 10, 2025
Page Count: 304 pages
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
ISBN-13: 9781538742846

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This comprehensive account of the meteoric rise of The Simpsons combines incisive pop culture criticism and interviews with the show’s creative team that take readers inside the making of an American phenomenon during its most influential decade, the 1990s.

“The best Simpsons book ever.”―Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone’s chief television critic and author of The Soprano Sessions and TV (The Book)

The Simpsons is an American institution. But its status as an occasionally sharp yet ultimately safe sitcom that’s still going after 33 years on the air undercuts its revolutionary origins. The early years of the animated series didn’t just impact Hollywood, they changed popular culture. It was a show that altered the way we talked around the watercooler, in school hallways, and on the campaign trail, by bridging generations with its comedic sensibility and prescient cultural commentary.

In Stupid TV, Be More Funny, writer Alan Siegel reveals how the first decade of the show laid the groundwork for the series’ true influence. He explores how the show’s rise from 1990 to 1998 intertwined with the supposedly ascendent post-Cold War America, turning Fox into the juggernaut we know today, simultaneously shaking its head at America’s culture wars while finding itself in the middle of them. By packing the book with anecdotes from icons like Conan O’Brien and Yeardley Smith, Siegel alaso provides readers with an unparalleled look inside the making of the show.

Through interviews with the show’s legendary staff and whip-smart analysis, Siegel charts how The Simpsons developed its singular sensibility throughout the ‘90s, one that was at once groundbreakingly subversive for a primetime cartoon and shocking wholesome. The result is a definitive history of The Simpsons‘ most essential decade.

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Los Angeles-based Ringer senior staff writer Alan Siegel specializes in pop culture retrospectives about the making of iconic movies, television shows, and albums. Over the last 10 years, there’s no subject that he’s written about more than The Simpsons. He’s interviewed dozens of the show’s writers, producers, actors, guest stars, and fans for features that are some of his most popular articles.

"Stupid TV, Be More Funny is, without a doubt, the best Simpsons book ever. Rest assured that I was on the Internet within minutes registering my delight throughout the world with this loving account of the first, funniest decade of the greatest TV show of all time."
Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone’s chief television critic and author of The Soprano Sessions and TV (The Book)
"No family in American history—not the Kennedys, not the Jacksons, not the Brady Bunch—has done more for this glorious and misbegotten country than the Simpsons, who single-handedly defined the ‘90s, and truly great television, and rancid internet backlash, and defiant longevity. And nobody’s done more for the Simpsons than Alan Siegel, who perfectly captures both the eternal myth of that grody writers’ room, and the terrified and triumphant humans who toiled there. Best. Book. Ever."
Rob Harvilla, author and host of 60 Songs That Explain the '90s
"If someone in the future wants to understand this F’d up, broken, consumer, faltering empire moment we’re in right now I’d show them five or six all-time Simpsons episodes with no explanation. Or maybe an hour long time share video sales pitch. But no one’s writing a whole book about time share sales pitches so here we are…"
Adam McKay, Academy Award-nominated writer and director
"A great man named Homer once said trying is the first step towards failure; I would submit this terrific book as counter-evidence, as Alan Siegel's efforts to explain The Simpsons' lasting impact—on both television *and* society—have paid off here. STUPID TV, BE MORE FUNNY is a must-read for fans of the show, as it will only embiggen your appreciation for what it's meant to pop culture."
Mina Kimes, award-winning journalist and host for ESPN
"[A] love letter to America's favorite dysfunctional family."
Booklist, starred review
"[A]dmirable. . . Stupid TV, Be More Funny: How the Golden Era of The Simpsons Changed Television—and America—Forever, describes how the show’s tone sprouted straight from TV’s collective id, and how this family unit came to seem fully imagined, abstract yet absolute, boob tube history in psychedelic color."
LA Review of Books

May 9 2025

Excerpt from STUPID TV, BE MORE FUNNY by Alan Siegel

INTRODUCTION “WHO WOULD HAVE GUESSED READING AND WRITING WOULD PAY OFF?” — HOMER SIMPSON This story begins in that unforgettable spring of 1990. The Cold War was finally coming to an end. America was on the verge of a crushing recession. And NASA was receiving the first mind- blowing photographs from the Hubble Space Telescope.…

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Alan Siegel

About the Author

Los Angeles-based Ringer senior staff writer Alan Siegel specializes in pop culture retrospectives about the making of iconic movies, television shows, and albums. Over the last 10 years, there’s no subject that he’s written about more than The Simpsons. He’s interviewed dozens of the show’s writers, producers, actors, guest stars, and fans for features that are some of his most popular articles.

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