Greg Daniels on 'The Simpsons,' 'King of The Hill,' 'Space Force' and more

Bullseye with Jesse Thorn

NPR

Society & Culture

4.7 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 15 March 2022

⏱️ 41 minutes

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Summary

Greg Daniels is a screenwriter, television producer and director. Over the span of more than three decades he's worked on some of the most beloved comedy television shows. Seriously, he's worked on some of your favorite tv series: Seinfeld, The Simpsons, Saturday Night Live, The Office, King of The Hill, and so many more. These days, he still keeps busy. Greg has two sitcoms in production. On Amazon, you can watch the second season of his show Upload – a dramedy set in a cloud-backup afterlife. Netflix's Space Force, reunites Greg with Steve Carrell for the first time since The Office. The premise for the show is pretty simple: Carrell plays General Mark Naird, and he heads up the newest branch of the American armed forces. He's got a bunch of money and a sort of vague sense of purpose – what could possibly go wrong? Space Force and Upload are streaming now.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Bullseye with Jesse Thorn is a production of MaximumFun.org and is distributed by NPR.
0:21.3	It's Bullseye, I'm Jesse Thorn.
0:23.5	My first guest this week is Greg Daniels.
0:26.3	If you know that name, it's probably because you've watched a TV comedy, any TV comedy
0:32.0	in the last 30 years.
0:34.2	Greg has written for Seinfeld, Saturday Night Live, and The Simpsons.
0:38.4	He co-created King of the Hill, the American version of the office and Parks and Recreation.
0:44.5	On his shelf at home there are four Emmys and 20 Emmy nominations.
0:50.9	And what's he up to lately?
0:52.3	Well, making TV shows.
0:54.4	On Amazon you can watch the second season of his show, Upload, which is a dramedy set
1:00.3	in a cloud backup afterlife.
1:03.8	And there's Space Force.
1:06.0	Space Force reunites Daniels with Steve Carell, for the first time since the office.
1:11.1	The premise of Space Force is pretty simple.
1:13.6	Carell plays General Mark Naird, and he heads up the newest branch of the American Armed
1:19.4	Forces.
1:20.4	He's got a bunch of money and a kind of vague sense of purpose to put boots on the moon,
1:26.9	whatever that means.
1:28.6	In this scene he's testifying in front of the Secretary of Defense, played by Tim Meadows.
1:33.6	The Space Force has already flubbed it a few times.
1:36.8	And here, Naird is trying to make the case for keeping the Space Force and him around.
	...

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