Matt Groening Says American Animators Sabotaged a Lost Episode of ‘The Simpsons’

There was a lost episode of The Simpsons that Matt Groening feared would never be seen again, he told David Letterman back in 1990. You can blame renegade American animators, he said. In addition to being way more expensive than their international counterparts, “they want to throw in their own jokes.” 

Well, The Simpsons is a comedy, so what’s the problem with jokes? 

“We have a whole first show that we can’t show anymore,” Groening told Letterman. “It will be the lost Simpsons episode because they added things that weren’t in the script.”

In the offending episode, the Simpsons kids gather around the television to watch a children’s show in which the Happy Little Elves (The Simpsons version of the Smurfs) meet the Curious Bear Cub. In the script, the Elves and the Curious Bear Cub are having fun together. “But the animators had the Bear Cub rip the head off of one of the elves and drink blood out of his neck,” Groening explained. “We didn’t expect that.”

Neither did James L. Brooks, who blew a gasket when he saw the footage, according to DVD commentary for the show’s first season. The blood-drinking bit was in the episode that was supposed to be the first Simpsons aired, but that gag — and several other technical problems — meant that a Christmas episode aired first instead. The “lost” episode, “Some Enchanted Evening,” did get cut out of the early syndication reruns, but it’s back and available on Disney+ without the gore.  

Letterman joked that same tearing-off-an-elf-head joke appeared in an early episode of The Cosby Show, a sitcom that had been television’s most popular for years. As The Simpsons gained traction with young viewers, Fox decided to put it on opposite Cosby. It was a risky move but The Simpsons was more than holding its own as the ‘90s began. “You guys are right there neck and neck with them,” Letterman noted. “That must be a great source of satisfaction.”

Not necessarily, said Groening. “It wasn’t our choice. We liked Sunday night, that’s where we were originally (and where the show eventually returned),” he said. “It’s tough. Two good shows. People have to make a choice.”

Simpsons creators also had a choice — between expensive, smart-ass American animators and their cheap, follow-the-script South Korean counterparts. After the blood-drinking debacle, it was an easy verdict. “All the creative decisions are done in Los Angeles at an animation studio,” Groening explained. “And the actual ink and paint and camera work are done in South Korea. American animators charge too much. We couldn’t do the show if we did it here.”

That process hasn’t changed. “Ink and paint” went out after the show’s 14th season, but digital painting of the animation cels is still done in South Korea. American artists design characters and create storyboards, but those images travel overseas for final transformation into the finished product.

Rest assured, no elves are harmed during the process.