WHEN THE READING LIGHT WENT ON

Josh Weinstein, 33, co-creator and executive producer of “Mission Hill,” which premiered Friday on the WB network. Before that, he was a co-writer and an executive producer for “The Simpsons.”

When I was assigned books in school, I never wanted to read them. But when my Mom talked about books--she was a teacher and she was always interested in anthropology--she would bring to life history that in traditional texts seemed so dry. She made it clear to me that history does not lie in the traditional texts.

The first book that I found really interesting, that opened up this outside world to me, was a Carl Jung book about symbolism. I can’t remember the full name of it, but it was fascinating to me that there was so much behind everyday life and the way people see things. I was about 11.

Ever since then, I’ve voraciously chewed up history books, social history books. I’ve never been that interested in fiction. I always found real life more interesting.

Reading--and especially reading history--taught me to look beyond what you just see on the surface. Most TV shows are surface dressing, and they’re garbage. And there are a lot of books that are garbage, as well. They’re just textural TV shows. Like worthless biographies of worthless people who never did anything.

But I would say “The Simpsons” is a readers’ show, because there are jokes in the background, different jokes that work on different levels. And the more you’re able to delve into the layers, the more you see. We are definitely trying to do that in “Mission Hill” as well.