RHYMES WITH 'COMPLAINING' MATT GROENING MADE THE SHOW THAT MADE A NETWORK.

Byline: David Kronke Television Writer

Last year, in one of those incessant end-of-the-decade/century/millennium issues that every publication was spitting out around this time, Time Magazine proudly declared ``The Simpsons'' to be the best TV series of, yes, the century. Matt Groening, the man who initially created Homer and his brood as bickering interstitial material on ``The Tracey Ullman Show,'' was suitably impressed to mention this fact to an executive at Fox, the network ``The Simpsons'' virtually single-handedly transformed into a viable network almost a dozen years ago.

``This executive said, 'Show of the century? I think it's the greatest show in the history of the world,' '' Groening recalls with an incredulous laugh. ``Well, yeah, but that Leonardo da Vinci cartoon was pretty good...' ''

Groening still manages to be self-deprecating about the impact of his cultural phenomenon, so we'll let someone else tout his achievement for him. Robert Thompson, the founding director of Syracuse University's Center for the Study of Popular Television, says flatly, ``It's just a plain, good old-fashioned, incredibly funny product that doesn't compare just with other television programs, but with the best of American humor. Will Rogers, Mark Twain and 'The Simpsons' can happily occupy the same stratosphere of respect in the annals of American humor.''

And if that's not enough, Thompson adds, ``Homer Simpson is one of the great creations in the history of Western drama. He's an Everyloser, a totally democratic doofus. He's like that character in the Hawaiian Punch commercials - no matter how many withering blows he endures or bouts of toxic infection he takes, he keeps getting up to fight another day, almost in complete stupidity. There's something charmingly noble about this character - if life will simply give him a doughnut every now and again, he's willing to accept horrors which compete with the Old Testament challenges of Job.

``When the show began, it centered on the bratty kid Bart, it was a little like 'Malcolm in the Middle,' '' Thompson continues. ``Not that Bart isn't important, but Homer is the soul of the series.''

``What has the show done for American culture? What hasn't it done?'' asks Ray Richmond, former Daily News TV critic and editor of ``The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to Our Favorite Family'' (HarperCollins; 1997), the best-selling TV book of all time. He continues: ``At one time, Johnny Carson's 'Tonight Show' was the satiric barometer by which we assessed the nation's social and political institutions. Since the mid-1990s, 'The Simpsons' has seized custody of that role, in the process demonstrating a keener eye for irony and a more insightful, unflinching sense of absurdity than has anything that came before it.''

Which is not to say that Richmond is a mindless ``Simpsons'' apologist - he estimates he earned a pittance on the book while Groening's brain trust reaped a cool million. Nonetheless, he offers the following reminiscence:

``While doing the book, I continually clashed with one lackey of the 'Simpsons' world over the fact that, in 'Simpsons' scripts, whenever Homer intones, 'D'oh!,' it is never spelled out as such. It is always denoted instead by the words '(annoyed grunt)' just like that, in parentheses. So this idiot kept badgering me to change any direct Homer 'D'oh!' references from the show that were going to be listed in the book to '(annoyed grunt)' instead. This, of course, was totally absurd. No one would know what '(annoyed grunt)' would mean. But everyone knows 'D'oh!' So I fought and fought with this know-nothing twit.

``Finally, I was told that Matt had interceded and sided with me. And the debate grew so fractious that the title of a 'Simpsons' episode includes an inside joke that refers to it. There was an episode in Season 8 where a Mary Poppins-like nanny named Sherry Bobbins was hired by the family to help out Marge around the house. The title of the episode: `Simpsoncalifragilisticixpiali (annoyed grunt) cious.' I am so proud.

``I wrote a book that spanned 179 episodes,'' Richmond adds. ``It was insane, marathon, back-breaking labor, akin to writing 179 term papers. With all of this immersion in 'Simpsons,' by all rights I should have been sick to death of the show by the end. But I wasn't. I still never miss it. That alone speaks volumes.''

Groening will discuss - and likely humorously downplay - his contributions to Western drama in a rare live appearance at 8 p.m. Thursday at UCLA's Royce Hall. Groening tantalizingly suggests that included in his presentation, alongside a ``Simpsons'' ``greatest-hits'' reel, likely appearances from some of the vocal stars and discussion of his more celebrated work, will be a clip from a film his father (also named Homer) made in 1964 when Groening was a child. The film, a fairy tale his family concocted about children who help animals who ``indicate their helplessness by making odd noises,'' stars Groening and his sisters, Lisa and Maggie. ``You'll see the sneer on my face - that's where Bart originated.''

More than that, we cannot promise. One of Groening's first Hollywood jobs was serving as the chauffeur/biographer for a long-forgotten (even Groening himself claims to have forgotten him) B-movie director.

``You've never heard of this guy's movies; he made some grade-C westerns - all I remember was that this guy was obsessed with his mother,'' Groening recalled in a recent interview. ``His diaries read: 'Met Cecil B. DeMille - went home to tell mother.' When his mother was 78, he noted how she lost control of her bowels.''

Groening recalled the early days of ``Simpsonmania.'' ``There was an immediate, incredibly intense popularity for the show in the summer of 1990 - T-shirts were everywhere and Newsweek was planning to put us on their cover, but when Time got wind of that, they figured they'd puncture our balloon and they panned us. At the end of the year, though, they put Bart on their cover.

``The show was considered controversial back then, and now it's considered the sweetest show, even though it's so much worse,'' Groening continued with a laugh. ``There's so much more vulgarity. What I love is when 'The Simpsons' gets codified by (the network) in some way that people who would never watch the show have to pay attention. Recently, on CBS, Dan Rather had to say the words 'Bart Simpson.' I don't think he liked it.'' Groening adds, apropos of nothing, that Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris would make a perfect ``Simpsons'' character, and that he thinks George W. Bush would make a good writer for the show - ``I hope he's available for the job,'' he says. (Al Gore supplied a voice on his other series, ``Futurama,'' which Fox is dumping early on Sundays - with football overruns, it usually airs only on the West Coast.)

Groening conceded that sometimes his animators take his scripts too literally.

``You know, we make it tough for them sometimes,'' he says. ``We could say, 'A herd of elephants roars through the church, emptying it of parishioners.' Now, I acknowledge that could be tough for the animators - we'd understand if they made it three elephants and six bystanders. Most animators would figure out a way not to show it, but our 'Simpsons' animators plug away, and have that church empty out. You know, even in 'Dumbo,' they showed the audience in darkness.''

Groening's relationship with his animators is healthier than the one he has with Fox executives, which has been on occasions dysfunctional enough to make the Simpsons look like the Waltons.

Ask him about his relationship with the parent company and there's a long silence. Which is followed by, ``Uh ... uh,'' and some laughter. ``Hmm,'' he adds, and laughs some more.

Finally, he goes the diplomatic route. ``It's OK,'' he says. ``If I made decisions, I would promote 'Futurama' more and give it a better time slot.''

Likewise, Groening sometimes wonders about his fans, as well - doing what he calls ``ego surfing'' on the Internet, he reads what fans have to say about him.

``You find the most amazing lies have been written about me,'' Groening marvels. ``My sexual orientation has been discussed, my religion or lack thereof. My favorite rumor is that I'm dead. It's most peculiar. What kind of fans are doing this?''

``THE SIMPSONS''

What: America's longest-running animated sitcom.

Where: Fox (KTTV Channel 11).

When:. 8 p.m. Sundays.

Our rating: Four stars

MATT GROENING ON ``THE SIMPSONS''

Where: UCLA's Royce Hall.

When: 8 p.m Thursday.

Tickets: $9 to $25. Call [phone].

CAPTION(S):

5 photos

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) The gospel according to MATT

Wacky work of `The Simpons' creator Matt Groening pretty much guarantees that pop culture will never be the same

(2) no caption (Matt Groening)

Lauren McFalls/Associated Press

(3) no caption (Homer and Bart Simpson)

(4) Leeal, left, Bender the Robot and Fry are part of the rag-tag flight crew for Planet Express delivery service in Matt Groening's other animated Fox series, ``Futurama.''

(5) Raggedy-looking bartender Moe became quite the ladykiller after plastic surgery in ``a very special `Simpsons.' ''