The Simpsons season 20

The twentieth season of the American animated sitcom The Simpsons aired on Fox between September 28, 2008, and May 17, 2009. The season was produced by Gracie Films and Fox Television. The showrunner for the season was Al Jean. With this season, the show tied Gunsmoke as the longest-running American primetime television series in terms of total number of seasons. The season was released on Blu-ray on January 12, 2010, making this the first season to be released on Blu-ray as well as the only one to contain both 16:9 widescreen and high-definition episodes. It was released on DVD in Region 1 on January 12, 2010, and in Region 4 on January 20, 2010. The season was only released on DVD in Region 2 on September 17, 2010, in a few areas.

Fandom simpsons:Season_20

Voice cast & characters

Main cast

Dan Castellaneta as Homer Simpson, Mayor Quimby, Barney Gumble, Rich Texan, Groundskeeper Willie, Krusty the Clown, Sideshow Mel, Santa's Little Helper, Grampa Simpson, Blue-Haired Lawyer, Squeaky-Voiced Teen, Mr. Teeny, Gil Gunderson, Louie, and various others
Julie Kavner as Marge Simpson, Patty Bouvier, and Selma Bouvier
Nancy Cartwright as Bart Simpson, Nelson Muntz, Kearney Zzyzwicz, Ralph Wiggum, and various others
Yeardley Smith as Lisa Simpson
Hank Azaria as Moe Szyslak, Chief Wiggum, Snake, Superintendent Chalmers, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, Carl Carlson, Disco Stu, Officer Lou, Comic Book Guy, Old Jewish Man, Cletus Spuckler, Wiseguy, Julio, Professor Frink, Bumblebee Man, Luigi Risotto, Coach Krupt, Sea Captain, Dr. Nick Riviera, Kirk Van Houten, Johnny Tightlips, Chazz Busby, Duffman, and various others
Harry Shearer as Mr. Burns, Principal Skinner, Ned Flanders, Dr. Hibbert, Rainier Wolfcastle, Lenny Leonard, Waylon Smithers, Scratchy, Otto Mann, Kent Brockman, Principal Dondelinger, Reverend Lovejoy, Jasper Beardsley, Marty, Dewey Largo, Officer Eddie, and various others

Supporting cast

Tress MacNeille as Agnes Skinner, Dolph Shapiro, Brandine Spuckler, Lindsey Naegle, Cookie Kwan, Lewis, Mrs. Muntz, Crazy Cat Lady, Bernice Hibbert, Manjula Nahasapeemapetilon, Shauna Chalmers, Lunchlady Dora, and various others
Karl Wiedergott as additional characters
Pamela Hayden as Milhouse Van Houten, Jimbo Jones, Janey Powell, and various others
Russi Taylor as Wendell Borton, Martin Prince, Sherri, Terri, and various others
Maggie Roswell as Maude Flanders, Helen Lovejoy, Luann Van Houten, Elizabeth Hoover, and various others

Guest stars for the season included Denis Leary, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Mark Cuban, Jeff Bezos, Jodie Foster, and Anne Hathaway.

Episodes

Production

The season contained nine holdover episodes from season 19’s KABF production line, which all ended up being the nine standard-definition episodes of the season. Al Jean continued his role as showrunner, a role he had since the thirteenth season.
Production on the season was delayed because of contract negotiations with the six main voice actors. The dispute was resolved, and the actors' salary was raised to US$400,000 per episode. The delay in production caused the planned 22 episodes to be shortened to 20. In addition, voice actor Dan Castellaneta was credited as a consulting producer for the first time.
The Simpsons began high-definition production in season 20. The first episode in HD, "Take My Life, Please", aired on February 15, 2009. It is also the first to feature the new opening sequence.
More episodes were given the TV-14 rating than any previous season. The episodes that were given this rating were "Sex, Pies and Idiot Scrapes", "Treehouse of Horror XIX", "Gone Maggie Gone", "No Loan Again, Naturally", "Dangerous Curves", "Wedding for Disaster", and "Four Great Women and a Manicure".

20th anniversary

In 2009, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the premiere of The Simpsons, Fox announced that a year-long celebration of the show titled "Best. 20 Years. Ever." would run from January 14, 2009 to January 14, 2010. Several contests were run, including the "Unleash Your Yellow" contest in which entrants designed a poster for the show and "Best. Couch Gag. Ever." where fans created their own live-action couch gag video.
As part of the celebration, the Irish-themed episode "In the Name of the Grandfather" premiered on Sky1 in the United Kingdom and Ireland on March 17, 2009. It was the first-ever episode of the show to air in Europe before being seen in the United States. The American debut of the episode was on March 22.

Reception

Critical response

Robert Canning of IGN gave the season a 7.9 out of 10 improving 1.3 from the past season. He gave it a positive review saying that it was "Good" and that "With at least two more years of The Simpsons guaranteed, this unexpected but very welcome resurgence has come at a perfect time. If they can keep the momentum moving, the series is primed to once again approach perfection and go out at the top of its game."

Awards

Episodes from the twentieth season received five Primetime Emmy Award nominations. "Gone Maggie Gone" was nominated for Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming less than One Hour) and Outstanding Music Composition for a Series. Dan Castellaneta won the Outstanding Voice-Over Performance Emmy for voicing Homer in the episode "Father Knows Worst"; Hank Azaria and Harry Shearer were also nominated for the episodes "Eeny Teeny Maya Moe" and "The Burns and the Bees", respectively. The winners were announced on September 12, 2009. The Simpsons was the only series to be nominated in the Animation category at the Writers Guild of America Awards in 2010. The nominees were: Stephanie Gillis for "The Burns and the Bees", John Frink for "Eeny Teeny Maya, Moe", Billy Kimball & Ian Maxtone-Graham for Gone Maggie Gone", Don Payne for "Take My Life, Please", and Joel H. Cohen for "Wedding for Disaster". The award was won by Joel H. Cohen.

Nielsen ratings

The season ranked 77th in ratings with an average of 6.93 million viewers and an 18/49 rating of 3.4/9 and the rerun timeslot ranking 113th. The most viewed episode was "Treehouse of Horror XIX", with 12.48 million watching it and a 4.9 Nielsen rating. The least viewed episode was "Four Great Women and a Manicure" which is the second-least-viewed episode of the series, after Season 21's "Million Dollar Maybe".

Blu-ray and DVD release

The DVD and Blu-ray boxset for season twenty was released by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment in the United States and Canada on January 12, 2010, eight months after it had completed broadcast on television. As well as every episode from the season, the Blu-ray and DVD releases feature hand-drawn menus by Matt Groening.