• Source: The Simpsons season 13

The thirteenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons originally aired on the Fox network between November 6, 2001, and May 22, 2002, and consists of 22 episodes. The showrunner for the thirteenth production season was Al Jean, who executive-produced 17 episodes. Mike Scully executive-produced the remaining five, which were all hold-overs that were produced for the previous season. The Simpsons is an animated series about an American family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. The show is set in the fictional city of Springfield, and lampoons American culture, society, television and many aspects of the human condition.
The season won an Annie Award for Best Animated Television Production, and was nominated for several other awards, including two Primetime Emmy Awards, three Writers Guild of America Awards, and an Environmental Media Award. The Simpsons ranked 30th in the season ratings with an average viewership of 12.4 million viewers. It was the second-highest-rated show on Fox after Malcolm in the Middle. Season 13 was released on DVD in Region 1 on August 24, 2010, Region 2 on September 20, 2010, and Region 4 on December 1, 2010.




Production


Mike Scully served as executive producer for the show for seasons nine to twelve. Five of the episodes produced for season 12 were held over and aired as part of the thirteenth season. He left the show following season 12 and was replaced by Al Jean. Jean was one of the original writers for The Simpsons, and served as executive producer of the third and fourth seasons with Mike Reiss before leaving the show in 1993. Jean returned full-time to The Simpsons during the tenth season (1998), this time without Reiss. Jean called it "a great job with a lot of responsibility," and cited "the fact that people love it so much" as "great".
This is the last full season to use cel animation, though four episodes from this season's production cycle would air during the following season as holdover episodes.
Writers credited with episodes in the thirteenth season included Joel H. Cohen, John Frink, Don Payne, Carolyn Omine, George Meyer, Mike Scully, Dana Gould, John Swartzwelder, Ian Maxtone-Graham, Matt Selman, Tim Long, Jon Vitti, Matt Warburton, Deb Lacusta, Josh Lieb and cast member Dan Castellaneta. Freelance writers included Bill Freiberger. Animation directors included Bob Anderson, Mike B. Anderson, Mark Kirkland, Jen Kamerman, Lance Kramer, Nancy Kruse, Lauren MacMullan, Michael Marcantel, Pete Michels, Steven Dean Moore, Matthew Nastuk, Michael Polcino, Jim Reardon and Chuck Sheetz.




Voice cast & characters






= Main cast

=
Dan Castellaneta as Homer Simpson, Grampa Simpson, Krusty the Clown, Mayor Quimby, Groundskeeper Willie, Barney Gumble, Santa's Little Helper, and various others
Julie Kavner as Marge Simpson, Patty Bouvier, Selma Bouvier and various others
Nancy Cartwright as Bart Simpson, Nelson Muntz, Ralph Wiggum and various others
Yeardley Smith as Lisa Simpson
Hank Azaria as Moe Szyslak, Chief Wiggum, Professor Frink, Carl Carlson, Comic Book Guy, Apu, Bumblebee Man and various others
Harry Shearer as Mr. Burns, Waylon Smithers, Ned Flanders, Principal Skinner, Dr. Hibbert, Lenny Leonard, Kent Brockman, Reverend Lovejoy, and various others.




= Recurring

=
Pamela Hayden as Milhouse Van Houten, Jimbo Jones
Marcia Mitzman Gaven as Helen Lovejoy, Miss Hoover and various others
Russi Taylor as Martin Prince and Sherri and Terri
Tress MacNeille as Agnes Skinner and various others
Marcia Wallace as Edna Krabappel
Karl Wiedergott as additional characters




= Guest stars

=
Jane Kaczmarek as Judge Constance Harm (2 episodes)
Joe Mantegna as Fat Tony(2 episodes)
Pierce Brosnan as Ultrahouse 3000's Pierce Brosnan voice and himself ("Treehouse of Horror XII")
Matthew Perry as Ultrahouse 3000's Matthew Perry voice ("Treehouse of Horror XII")
Jess Harnell as Poncho the Seal ("The Parent Rap")
R.E.M. as themselves ("Homer the Moe")
Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Gloria ("A Hunka Hunka Burns in Love")
George Takei as the waiter ("A Hunka Hunka Burns in Love")
Paul Newman as himself("The Blunder Years")
Judith Owen as herself ("The Blunder Years")
Richard Gere as himself("She of Little Faith")
Delroy Lindo as Gabriel("Brawl in the Family")
Ben Stiller as Garth Motherloving ("Sweets and Sour Marge")
Jon Lovitz as Artie Ziff ("Half-Decent Proposal")
Wolfgang Puck as himself ("The Bart Wants What It Wants")
Reese Witherspoon as Greta ("The Bart Wants What It Wants")
Dennis Weaver as Buck McCoy("The Lastest Gun in the West")
Frank Welker as Dog ("The Lastest Gun in the West")
Olympia Dukakis as Zelda ("The Old Man and the Key")
Bill Saluga as Ray Jay Johnson ("The Old Man and the Key")
Phish as themselves ("Weekend at Burnsie's")
Stan Lee as himself ("I Am Furious (Yellow)")
James Lipton as himself ("The Sweetest Apu")
Robert Pinsky as himself ("Little Girl in the Big Ten")
Carmen Electra as herself ("The Frying Game")
Frances Sternhagen as Mrs. Bellamy ("The Frying Game")




Release






= Critical reception

=
Some critics felt season 13 was an improvement over the previous Scully seasons. On review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, the season has an 86% approval rating. DVDDizzy rhetorically asked how the season "stand[s] up for someone just looking to jump into a full, semi-recent year of episodes", answering "Pretty darn well". It explained "Nearly everything that makes "The Simpsons" what it is can be found here. Most important is the large cast of Springfield residents used to perfection...Clearly, real thought and lots of it goes into each episode's creation", and added "it's almost miraculous how fresh and sharp "The Simpsons" remains in its thirteenth year on air". The site explained "Not every moment here is brilliant. After a rocky start, the season really hits its groove a few episodes in. Even though jokes don't always land, there are guaranteed to be at least a few amusing moments per episode. The stylings haven't changed all that much. There are tasteful homages and cultural references, including loving parodies of classic movies, television, and literature [and] as usual, tons of famous guest stars lend their voices, some as themselves and others as fictional characters". Adam Rayner of WhatCulture wrote that "Season thirteen represents a time when the show was clinging to the classic humour that was derived from situations that were rooted in a reality—albeit a heightened reality—which could happen to you and your family, while slowly descending into the surreal and farcical." Matt Wheeldon of GoodFilmGuide said "the 13th Season another solid, and fairly memorable, effort from the world's best loved cartoon; even if it isn't the be all and end all of Simpsons cartooning. DVD Talk's Ryan Keefer gave a season 3.5/5 stars and said "While Jean might not have brought things to previous glory, he certainly righted the ship in Season 13." Blu-Ray.com gave season 13 a 3.5/5 and Casey Broadwater's sentiment was "The hit-to-miss ratio is much better here than in the previous three seasons, and while the episodes are never quite as hilarious as the Simpsons of old—from way back in the early 1990s—season 13 does mark a turning point for the series." Ron Martin of 411 Mania was more critical giving the season a 6.5/10. Part of the verdict was "Season 13 is representative of the chaotic scatterbrained nature the show would take on from here on out." Casey Burchby of DVD Talk gave the season a 3/5 and wrote "the thirteenth season is further proof of the regrettable change in comic tone that the series took on in the early part of the last decade."




= Awards and nominations

=

In 2002, The Simpsons won its eleventh consecutive Annie Award for Best Animated Television Production.
"She of Little Faith" was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming less than One Hour). The song "Ode to Branson" from "The Old Man and the Key" by Alf Clausen and Jon Vitti was nominated for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music and Lyrics. "Brawl in the Family" was nominated for the Environmental Media Award for Best Television Episodic Comedy. Three episodes were nominated for the Writers Guild of America Award in the animation category: "Blame It on Lisa" (written by Bob Bendetson), "The Bart Wants What It Wants" (written by John Frink and Don Payne) and "Jaws Wired Shut" (written by Matt Selman). The award was won by the Futurama episode "Godfellas". It marked the only time since the introduction of the category that a show other than The Simpsons won the award.
In 2003, the show was the first and only animated program to be nominated for a Golden Globe Award, for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy, which it lost to Curb Your Enthusiasm.




Episodes






Blu-ray and DVD release


The DVD and Blu-ray box set for season thirteen was released by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment in the United States and Canada on Tuesday, August 24, 2010, eight years after it had completed broadcast on television. As well as every episode from the season, the Blu-ray and DVD releases feature bonus material including deleted scenes, animatics, and commentaries for every episode. The box art features Ralph Wiggum, and a special limited-edition "embossed head case" package was also released. The Blu-ray set is also available on Region 4. In Region 2, the set is only available on DVD.




References



Bibliography
McCann, Jesse L.; Groening, Matt (2005). The Simpsons One Step Beyond Forever!: A Complete Guide to Our Favorite Family ...Continued Yet Again. HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-081754-2.
Turner, Chris (2004). Planet Simpson: How a Cartoon Masterpiece Documented an Era and Defined a Generation. Foreword by Douglas Coupland. (1st ed.). Toronto: Random House Canada. ISBN 978-0-679-31318-2. OCLC 55682258.




External links


Official website
The Simpsons at IMDb

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