The Simpsons season 1

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The Simpsons
Season 1
The Simpsons - The Complete 1st Season.jpg
DVD cover featuring The Simpsons family
No. of episodes13
Release
Original network Fox
Original releaseDecember 17, 1989 (1989-12-17) 
May 13, 1990 (1990-05-13)
Season chronology
Next 
Season 2
List of episodes

The first season of the American animated television series The Simpsons originally aired on the Fox network between December 17, 1989, and May 13, 1990, beginning with the Christmas special "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire". The executive producers for the first production season were Matt Groening, James L. Brooks, and Sam Simon. [1]

Contents

The series was originally set to debut in fall 1989 with the episode "Some Enchanted Evening" (which was meant to introduce the main characters), [2] but during the first screening of the episode, the producers discovered that the animation was so poor that 70% of the episode needed to be redone. [3]

The producers considered aborting the series if the next episode turned out as bad, but it suffered from only easily fixable problems. The producers convinced Fox to move the debut to December 17, and aired "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" as the first episode of the series. [2] The first season won one Emmy Award, and received four additional nominations. [4] The DVD boxset was released on September 25, 2001, in Region 1 and September 24, 2001, in both Region 2 and Region 4.

With a total of 13 episodes, this is the shortest season of the show to date, and is the only season where Homer was halfway intelligent and at times was the voice of reason and where Dan Castellaneta voiced Homer in a loose Walter Matthau impression (as he had done in the shorts). Starting the next season, Homer would begin to adopt his more familiar voice and set a lower bar for intelligence.

This is also the only season to not have a Treehouse of Horror episode.

Voice cast & characters

Penny Marshall guest-starred in the season finale episode "Some Enchanted Evening" as the babysitter Ms. Botz Penny Marshall 1976.jpg
Penny Marshall guest-starred in the season finale episode "Some Enchanted Evening" as the babysitter Ms. Botz

Main cast

Recurring

Guest stars

Reception

Ratings

The Simpsons first season was Fox network's first TV series to rank among a season's top 30 highest-rated shows. [5] It won an Emmy and received four additional nominations. Although television shows are limited to one episode per category, "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" was considered a separate special and nominated alongside fellow episode "Life on the Fast Lane" for Outstanding Animated Program; "Life on the Fast Lane" won. "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" was also nominated for "Outstanding Editing in a Miniseries or Special", while "The Call of the Simpsons" was nominated for "Outstanding Individual Achievement in Sound Mixing for a Comedy Series or a Special". The main theme song, composed by Danny Elfman, was nominated for "Outstanding Achievement in Main Title Theme Music". [4]

Critical and public response

The first season of The Simpsons received positive reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, the season has a 100% approval rating based on 18 critical reviews with an average rating of 8.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "The Simpsons' first season proves a quickly addictive introduction to America's animated first family with a run of entertaining episodes that set the stage for a groundbreaking series." [6] On Metacritic, a site which uses a weighted mean score, the season scored a 79/100 from six critics, translating to "generally favorable reviews". However, the show was controversial from its beginning. The rebellious lead character at the time, Bart, frequently received no punishment for his misbehavior, which led some parents to characterize him as a poor role model for children. [7] [8] Several US public schools even banned The Simpsons merchandise and t-shirts, such as one featuring Bart and the caption "Underachiever ('And proud of it, man!')". [9] Despite the ban, The Simpsons merchandise sold well and generated US$2 billion in revenue during the first 14 months of sales. [9]

At the 6th annual Television Critics Association Awards, the first season of the show won 'Outstanding Achievement in Comedy', beating the likes of "Designing Women," "Murphy Brown," "Newhart," and "The Wonder Years." Additionally, it was nominated for 'Program of the Year' but lost to "Twin Peaks."

Episodes

Related Research Articles

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References

  1. Richmond & Coffman 1997, pp. 16–17.
  2. 1 2 Groening, Matt (2001). The Simpsons season 1 DVD commentary for the episode "Some Enchanted Evening" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
  3. Silverman, David (2001). The Simpsons season 1 DVD commentary for the episode "Some Enchanted Evening" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
  4. 1 2 Emmy Awards official site Archived February 15, 2009, at the Wayback Machine "The Simpsons" "1989–1990" emmys.org. Retrieved on July 3, 2007
  5. "TV Ratings: 1989–1990". ClassicTVHits.com. Retrieved July 3, 2006.
  6. "The Simpsons". Rotten Tomatoes .
  7. Turner 2004, p. 131.
  8. Rosenbaum, Martin (June 29, 2007). "Is The Simpsons still subversive?". BBC News . Retrieved August 6, 2007.
  9. 1 2 Griffiths, Nick (April 15, 2000). "America's First Family". The Times Magazine. pp. 25, 27–28.
  10. 1 2 Henry, Matthew (April 2007). "Don't Ask me, I'm Just a Girl: Feminism, Female Identity, and The Simpsons". The Journal of Popular Culture . 40 (2): 272–303. doi:10.1111/j.1540-5931.2007.00379.x.
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  12. "NIELSENS; AMA gets the popular votes". Life. USA Today . January 31, 1990. p. 03.D.
  13. "NIELSENS; 'Amen,' wedded to ratings win". Life. USA Today . February 7, 1990. p. 03.D.
  14. "NIELSENS; 'Faith' abides for No.1 NBC". Life. USA Today . February 14, 1990. p. 03.D.
  15. "NIELSENS; 'Home Videos' a hit for ABC". Life. USA Today . February 21, 1990. p. 03.D.
  16. "NIELSENS; 'Videos' is a repeat winner". Life. USA Today . February 28, 1990. p. 03.D.
  17. "NIELSENS; 'Simpsons' soar for No.4 Fox". Life. USA Today . March 21, 1990. p. 03.D.
  18. "NIELSENS; Fox builds Sunday strength". Life. USA Today . March 28, 1990. p. 03.D.
  19. unknown (April 27, 1990). "The Ratings. TV chart for week of April 9—15, 1990". Entertainment Weekly . TV ARTICLE. Published in issue #11 Apr 27, 1990. In millions of viewers ...  The Simpsons Fox, 31.2
  20. unknown (May 11, 1990). "The Ratings". Entertainment Weekly . TV ARTICLE. Published in issue #13 May 11, 1990. In millions of viewers ...  The Simpsons Fox, 30.4
  21. "NIELSENS; Sunday night sinks NBC". Life. USA Today . May 16, 1990. p. 03.D.
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  23. The Simpsons Archive: Matt Groening Interview (October 2000)
  24. 1 2 Lambert, David (September 19, 2004). "Chappelle's Show—S1 DVD Passes The Simpsons As #1 All-Time TV-DVD; Celebrates by Announcing Season 2!". TVshowsonDVD.com. Archived from the original on July 4, 2006. Retrieved July 3, 2006.
  25. 1 2 3 "The Simpsons Season 1 DVD". The Simpsons Shop. Archived from the original on October 11, 2007. Retrieved March 8, 2008.
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Bibliography


No.
overall
No. in
season
TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air dateProd.
code
U.S. viewers
(millions)
11"Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" David Silverman Mimi Pond December 17, 1989 (1989-12-17)7G0826.7 [10]
While the Simpsons are Christmas shopping, Bart sneaks off and gets a tattoo. Marge soon discovers this and uses the family's Christmas savings to get it removed. Meanwhile, Homer discovers that he will not be getting a Christmas bonus from Mr. Burns and thus the family has no money to buy Christmas presents. He decides to keep their financial troubles a secret and get a job as a department store Santa, but later discovers that the job does not pay enough. Desperate for a miracle, Homer and Bart go to the dog track on Christmas Eve in hopes of earning some money. He bets it all on a long shot named Santa's Little Helper, who loses. Angry that he lost, the dog's owner disowns him. Homer lets Bart keep him. Later, Homer attempts to come clean to everyone, but Bart exclaims that they have a dog and everyone happily welcomes the newest member of the Simpson family.
22"Bart the Genius"David Silverman Jon Vitti January 14, 1990 (1990-01-14)7G0224.5 [10]
Bart has trouble on an intelligence test and sneakily switches tests with Martin Prince, the class genius. After the results are tabulated, the school psychiatrist labels Bart a genius and sends him to the Enriched Learning Center for Gifted Children. Homer starts treating Bart with respect, but Bart immediately feels out of place among his new classmates and alienated from his former peers. He confesses that he cheated on the test and is subsequently sent back to Springfield Elementary School.