The Simpsons season 18


The eighteenth season of the American animated sitcom The Simpsons aired on Fox between September 10, 2006, and May 20, 2007. The season contained seven hold-over episodes from the seventeenth season’s HABF production line. Al Jean served as the showrunner, a position he has held since the thirteenth season, while the season was produced by Gracie Films and 20th Century Fox Television.
The season finale, "You Kent Always Say What You Want", was the series' 400th episode. Additionally, the Simpsons franchise celebrated its 20th anniversary, as it has been on the air since April 19, 1987, beginning with shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show.
Fandom simpsons:Season_18

Voice cast & characters

Main cast

Supporting cast

Season 18 included guest appearances by Metallica, Tom Wolfe, Gore Vidal, Michael Chabon, Ludacris, Jonathan Franzen, Fran Drescher, The White Stripes, Kiefer Sutherland, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Richard Lewis, Dr. Phil, Elvis Stojko, Natalie Portman, Jon Lovitz, Betty White, Eric Idle, Sir Mix-a-Lot, Stephen Sondheim, Ronaldo, Meg Ryan, Andy Dick, Peter Bogdanovich, James Patterson and others.

Episodes



Production

This season and the following season were ordered in March 2006. Al Jean remained as showrunner, a role he had since the thirteenth season. This season included the 400th episode of the series and marked the 20th anniversary of the Simpson characters' debut on The Tracey Ullman Show. Regarding the show's longevity, executive producer James L. Brooks commented that the fan base of the show was being "replenished" with younger fans as current fans become older. He thought the work environment remained the same as it was in the beginning but with more creative independence.

Reception

Critical response

Robert Canning of IGN gave the season a 6.6 saying it was "Passable" and that "Now in its eighteenth season, The Simpsons continues to supply America with a decent half-hour of comedy every Sunday night. However, most long-time fans of the show agree that the last several years have seen the program in constant decline. Looking back at this particular season, there's little evidence to prove them wrong. Though we were treated with at least a few hilarious gems this year, the mediocre heavily outweighed the great."
Colin Jacobson of DVD Movie Guide called the season "lackluster" and said it was a step back from the previous season. He attributed this to The Simpsons Movie "absorbing much of the show's talent" and concluded, "Season 18 will be a must-see for Simpsons fans, but it's not a great offering." Stuart Galbraith IV of DVD Talk wrote, "Season 18 on DVD certainly has some evidence of that, but almost every episode still offers at least a laugh, and some of the episodes in that collection are quite funny." John Schwarz of Bubbleblabber gave it a nine out of ten, saying, "For both die-hard Simpsons fans and seasoned series stalwarts alike, this collection is a must-have. If you like the special features, you might want more at the end, but there's so much commentary on the episodes that it'll keep you busy for a while."

Awards

At the 35th Annie Awards, Alf Clausen and Michael Price won the award for "Best Music in an Animated Television Production" for "Yokel Chords" while Ian Maxtone-Graham and Billy Kimball won "Best Writing in an Animated Television Production" for "24 Minutes" Jeff Westbrook won a WGA Award for "Kill Gil, Volumes I & II" while Matt Selman was nominated for "The Haw-Hawed Couple" and John Frink received a nomination for "Stop, or My Dog Will Shoot!".
The series also received a British Comedy Award nomination for "Best International Comedy" a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Animated Program for "The Haw-Hawed Couple" and an Environmental Media Award nomination for "Best Television Episodic Comedy" for "The Wife Aquatic".

Nielsen ratings

The show ranked 60th in the seasonal ratings with an average of 8.6 million watching it and a Nielsen rating of 4.1/10.

DVD release

Series showrunner Al Jean reported in April 2015 that The Simpsons would no longer see home media releases after the seventeenth season, claiming an inability for DVD sales to keep up with the rise in streaming and downloads, as well as a boom in FXX reruns, and Fox's on-demand video service, FXNOW. Jean reassured that bonus features commonly featured on the DVDs, such as commentaries for each episode, would still be available, now packaged with the digital format.
In 2016, audio commentary for the 18th season was made available exclusively through FXNOW.
On Saturday, July 22, 2017, it was announced during the 2017 San Diego Comic-Con panel that, due to fan demand, the eighteenth season DVD would be released after all on Tuesday, December 5, 2017, in the United States and Canada by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, ten years after it had completed broadcast on television.