With the movie opening this weekend and the hype at a fever pitch, it’s entirely possible that you’ve had just about enough of The Simpsons. Indeed, the Onion’s AV Club is currently featuring an interesting debate about whether or not the show should be put out to pasture. (Sample argument: “The advantage The Simpsons had for years over other family sitcoms—the characters never age—has became a disadvantage. These characters, so iconic, have no room to grow.”)

Regardless of whether you think the show is over the hill or not, Vanity Fair has brought together an impressive list of past and present cast and crew to talk about the show’s genesis, its growing pains, and more, giving one of the most comprehensive looks at the show’s history I’ve ever seen. Even former Fox Network Prez Barry Diller and media magnate Rupert Murdoch get in on the action. What’s more, the online version is expanded from the print version, and free! Some of the highlights and nuggets of new (to me, anyway) information include discussions of creator Matt Groening’s ongoing feud with early show runner Sam Simon:

Jay Kogen: It was clear that there was animosity back and forth. It was a tough position for Sam to be in, because Matt was getting all the accolades. I would think that if you were pouring your life’s blood into something and getting none of the credit, it would be irritating. If you look at the original Simpsons cartoons, those are closer to Matt’s drawings, but Sam reshaped them and re-drew them. He had experience in sitcoms. He had also worked in animation. He’s also a very talented cartoonist himself. He’s really smart, and handled storyboards and all that stuff.

(Don’t feel too bad for Simon. According to this fascinating profile from 60 Minutes, Simon left the show more than a decade ago and still makes more than $10 million a year from it.)

Then there’s the inevitable snafu, including serious problems creating the first episode, which eventually led to the show’s debut being pushed back:

Gabor Csupo: [T]hey forced us to show this raw footage before we could even correct it. Jim was screaming and yelling that “this is not funny!” And I said, “Well, it may be not funny because you didn’t write it funny.” And then everybody looks at me: “Oh my God! You dared to say that to Jim!” But I felt I had nothing to lose.

Now, I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that Harry Shearer has a bit of a reputation as a primadonna, but the article sheds some light on the cast’s treatment by Fox executives that makes for some fascinating reading, particularly this exchange:

Larry Doyle: The actors actually didn’t come to work for a while. Their contract expired, and we weren’t recording them for I think a month. Fox had started to audition people. The actors got their deal because of a last-minute thing, some sort of bonus. And it turned out that they weren’t going to get [the bonus money] until 2005 or something. [...] So Harry [Shearer], for the longest time, came to every table read wearing a T-shirt that said, YOU’LL GET IT IN 2005. The suggestion being that he wasn’t going to do anything but work to contract.

For any fan of the show, Vanity Fair’s article is essential reading.