The twentieth season of the American animated television series ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, ...

'' aired on Fox from September 28, 2008, to May 17, 2009. With this season, the show tied ''

Gunsmoke ''Gunsmoke'' is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston. It centers on Dodge City, Kansas, in the 1870s, during the settlement of the American West. The central chara ...

'' as the longest-running American primetime television series in terms of total number of seasons. The season was released on

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

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.

Production

It contained nine holdover episodes from season 19’s KABF production line. 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 Daniel Louis Castellaneta (; born October 29, 1957) is an American actor, comedian, and writer. He is best known for voicing Homer Simpson on the animated series ''The Simpsons'' (as well as other characters on the show such as Abraham "Grampa" ...

was credited as a consulting producer for the first time. The main cast consisted of Castellaneta,

Julie Kavner Julie Deborah Kavner (born September 7, 1950) is an American actress. Best known for her voice role as Marge Simpson on the animated television series ''The Simpsons'', Kavner first attracted notice for her role as Brenda Morgenstern, the younge ...

Nancy Cartwright Nancy Cartwright (born October 25, 1957) is an American actress. She is the long-time voice of Bart Simpson on the animated television series ''The Simpsons'', for which she has received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Perform ...

Yeardley Smith Martha Maria Yeardley Smith ( ; born July 3, 1964) is an American actress, artist and writer. She currently stars as the voice of Lisa Simpson on the long-running animated television series ''The Simpsons''. Smith became an actress in 1982 aft ...

Hank Azaria Henry Albert Azaria ( ; born April 25, 1964) is an American actor, comedian, and writer. He is known for voicing many characters in the animated sitcom ''The Simpsons'' (1989–present), most notably Moe Szyslak, Chief Wiggum, Comic Book Guy, ...

, and

Harry Shearer Harry Julius Shearer (born December 23, 1943) is an American actor, comedian, writer, musician, radio host, director and producer. Born in Los Angeles, California, Shearer began his career as a child actor. From 1969 to 1976, Shearer was a member ...

. The recurring cast consisted of

Marcia Wallace Marcia Karen Wallace (November 1, 1942 – October 25, 2013) was an American actress and comedian, primarily known for her roles in television situation comedies. She is best known for her roles as receptionist Carol Kester on the 1970s sitc ...

Pamela Hayden Pamela Hayden (born November 28, 1953) is an American actress and voice actress, known for providing various voices for the animated television show ''The Simpsons'', such as Milhouse Van Houten. Biography Hayden provides voices for characters ...

Tress MacNeille Teressa Claire MacNeille (née Payne; born June 20, 1951) is an American voice actress, whose credits include voicing Dot Warner on the animated television series '' Animaniacs'', Babs Bunny on ''Tiny Toon Adventures'', Chip and Gadget Hackwrenc ...

Russi Taylor Russi Taylor (May 4, 1944 – July 26, 2019) was an American voice actress. She is best remembered as the official voice of Minnie Mouse from 1986 to 2019, and was notably married to voice actor Wayne Allwine, the voice of Mickey Mouse, until h ...

, and Karl Wiedergott. ''The Simpsons'' began high-definition production in season 20. The first episode in HD, " Take My Life, Please", aired on February 15, 2009. "Take My Life, Please" is also the first to feature the new opening sequence. Also, 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 "Sex, Pies and Idiot Scrapes" is the first episode of the twentieth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on September 28, 2008. In the episode, Homer meet ...

", "

Treehouse of Horror XIX "Treehouse of Horror XIX" is the fourth episode of the twentieth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 2, 2008 and in the United Kingdom on November 2 ...

", "

Gone Maggie Gone "Gone Maggie Gone" is the thirteenth episode of the twentieth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 15, 2009. The episode was written by both Bill ...

", "

No Loan Again, Naturally "No Loan Again, Naturally" is the twelfth episode of the twentieth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on March 8, 2009. In the episode, the Simpsons lose their hou ...

", " 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 Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non- terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

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 reception

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 The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime ...

nominations. "

" was nominated for Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming less than One Hour) and Outstanding Music Composition for a Series.

won the Outstanding Voice-Over Performance Emmy for voicing

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

in the episode "

Father Knows Worst "Father Knows Worst" is the eighteenth episode of the twentieth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 26, 2009. In the episode, Bart and Lisa sta ...

and

were also nominated for the episodes " Eeny Teeny Maya Moe" and "

The Burns and the Bees "The Burns and the Bees" is the eighth episode of the twentieth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on December 7, 2008. In the episode, during a poker game, M ...

", 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 The Writers Guild of America Awards is an award for film, television, and radio writing including both fiction and non-fiction categories given by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America West since 1949. Eligibility T ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

. The nominees were:

Stephanie Gillis Stephanie Gillis is an American television writer. She writes for ''The Simpsons'' and has written 11 episodes. Gillis lives in Los Angeles, California, with her husband, fellow ''The Simpsons'' writer Al Jean. She is a graduate of Barnard Col ...

for "

", John Frink for "Eeny Teeny Maya, Moe",

Billy Kimball Billy Kimball (born July 8, 1959) is an American writer and producer. He was a co-executive producer on the acclaimed HBO series ''Veep''. Personal life He was born in New York City, attended Trinity School, and graduated from Harvard College w ...

& Ian Maxtone-Graham for

", 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 "

", with 12.48 million watching it and a 4.9

Nielsen rating Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rati ...

. 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".

Episodes

Blu-ray and DVD release

The DVD and Blu-ray boxset for season twenty was released by

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment 20th Century Studios Home Entertainment (commonly referred to as 20th Home Video, or 20th Home Entertainment, formerly known as 20th Century-Fox Video, CBS/Fox Video, Fox Video, and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment) is a home video label of Wa ...

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 Matthew Abram Groening ( ; born February 15, 1954) is an American cartoonist, writer, producer, and animator. He is the creator of the comic strip ''Life in Hell'' (1977–2012) and the television series ''The Simpsons'' (1989–present), ''Fut ...

Notes

References

;Bibliography *

External links

Season 20
at The Simpsons.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Simpsons (season 20) Simpsons season 20 2008 American television seasons 2009 American television seasons