United States Poet Laureate and "The Simpsons"

Factual Questions
1

Over lunch last Friday the discussion turned to “The Simpsons” and I commented that I had read an article about a year or so ago (in the New York Times, probably) where (as I recall it) the Poet Laureate (sp?) of the United States stated that “The Simpsons” was his favorite program, and gave a little rundown about how it was incredibly clever in the tradition of Charles Dickens or something like that.

IAAL, so of course everyone else at the table told me I must be making it up or otherwise deluded. Can someone please direct me to that article (or some similar article demonstrating that “The Simpsons” is not viewed/appreciated by the same demographic as “Beavis and Butthead”)?

2

Here’s the piece the poet laureate, Robert Pinsky, wrote for the New York Times Magazine back in 1998:
http://www.snpp.com/other/articles/pinsky.html

(Is linking to clear copyright violations disallowed? :))

3

Thanks. That’s exactly it.