The Simpsons: An Uncensored, Unauthorized History

During Episode 117 of The Simpsons, the entire town (minus Ned Flanders) gathers in the Flanders family bomb shelter as a comet heads towards Springfield.

To pass the time, Moe makes the noise of a barnyard animal and has others guess what it is. While no one can agree on one definitive answer, everyone has an opinion: "It's a pig!" "It's a cow, man!" "It's a pony!" "No it's a goat. You know, one of them lady goats."

The same confusion arises in real-life when trying to explain how the television series itself came to be. The Simpsons: An Uncensored, Unauthorized History, John Ortved's first book, attempts to present the "truth" behind the multi-billion dollar pop culture phenomenon.

The book rolls out like a VH1 Behind The Music special, with quotes taken from interviews with producers, writers, cartoonists and executives who all worked on the show. Ortved plays the role of the sometimes-opinionated narrator.

Interestingly, the author didn't speak with the Matt Groening, Sam Simon or James Brooks, who together played the biggest roles in the show's creation. But that's not to say the three are excluded from the book, as material from other publications and DVD commentaries are present.

There's no shortage of celebrity input, as Ortved includes thoughts from Family Guy's Seth MacFarlane, South Park's Matt Stone and guest stars Ricky Gervais, former Marvel Comics president and chairman Stan Lee and Steven Tyler. Those looking to get their Conan O'Brien fix will be happy to know there's an entire chapter on the former Late Night and Tonight Show host.

There's much that can be argued when it comes to figuring out how one of the greatest television programs came to be, and The Simpsons: An Uncensored, Unauthorized History does an excellent job of providing material for such a debate.

What is certain in this excellent read is that Matt Groening receives far too much credit. That and the barnyard animal was a baby ox.