With three nominations in total, the chance of The Simpsons winning a Writers Guild Award this year was fairly high. The 56th annual awards were presented in simultaneous ceremonies in New York and Los Angeles this Saturday, with “Lost in Translation” and “American Splendor” taking top screenwriting honors. The Simpsons tops the television winners in the animation category. The show received the award for the Season 14 episode “The Dad Who Knew Too Little” written by Matt Selman. Other episodes nominated were “Moe Baby Blues” by J. Stewart Burns, and “My Mother The Carjacker” by Michael Price, but these did not come out on top. This is the show’s first Writers Guild Award after a category for animation was introduced last year.
Ratings
Ratings: Milhouse Doesn’t Live Here
It’s another week of disappointing figures for The Simpsons after last week’s airing of “Margical History Tour” was trounced by the Grammy Awards as well as two other networks. “Milhouse Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” ranked #49 for the week with a total of 9.43 million viewers.
While CBS easily swept the four primetime hours on Sunday in total viewers, NBC pulled the same trick in the key young adult demos. Fox was once again no where to be seen, sitting at position #4 behind the ABC for the night. At 8pm, “Cold Case” kept CBS in first at, beating the conclusion of NBC’s airing of “Shrek.” ABC was a sold third with the 6.5/11 for “Extreme Makeover,” while FOX stayed fourth with “The Simpsons”(5.3/8).
News
Season Four DVD Update
After months with no talk about the Season 4 DVD, it looks as though things are finally starting to happen. DVDFanatic.com today announced that Conan O’Brien will be providing a commentary for the episodes Marge Vs. The Monorail and New Kid On The Block. “After seeing a Conan O’Brien show, one of our devoted readers asked Conan if he was going to do The Simpsons: Season 4 Commentary track. Apparently, Conan told him that he recorded them the week prior. “Tall Al” asked, “Even the Monorail?” and Conan replied back, “Yeah, Monorail!” In addition to this, early last week the website also announced Jon Lovitz would be providing commentaries for episodes he appeared in. There’s still no release date available for the fourth box set in the series, but we’ll let you know as soon as any news comes to hand.
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Milhouse Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
Don’t miss tonights new episode of The Simpsons titled ‘Milhouse Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.’ A description of the episode follows and may contain spoilers. “Bart is heartbroken when Milhouse and his mother move away to Capitol City. Desperate to fill Milhouse’s shoes, Bart attempts to find a new best friend with no such luck. That is, until Marge asks him to wash the family car with Lisa, and the two have so much fun they begin to do everything together as best friends would. Later, Bart decides to pay Milhouse a visit and is shocked to see his once meek best friend has reinvented himself. The new Milhouse sports spiked blond hair, is popular and even gives Bart a wedgie in the halls at school.” The episode airs tonight at 8pm on Fox.
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Happy Birthday Matt Groening!
The staff of The Simpsons Channel would like to wish Simpsons creator Matt Groening a happy birthday. The cartoonist who first brought our favorite family to life in a series of Tracey Ullman Shorts in 1987 celebrates his 50th birthday today. On behalf our visitors, we wish him all the best for today and in the future. Way to go, Matt!
News
Mike Reiss Pulled A Homer
Sure it’s great to be an Emmy Award-winning producer and writer for a legendary television show, but Mike Reiss, who has worked for years on The Simpsons is prepared to tell students at Weber State University today about the other half of that equation. While he was the executive producer and head of the classic animated Fox series during seasons three and four, “I worked 80 to 100 hours a week, 51 weeks a year. It nearly killed me,” he said. “That’s why I ran the show for only two years and that’s why people only do it for two or three years.” At the end of the fourth season, Reiss visited his doctor and learned he gained 70 pounds while he was head of the series. “My doctor said, ‘You’re morbidly obese. Do you know what that is?'” Reiss remembered. “I said, ‘That’s what Homer is.'” Read More >>>
News
Eugene Gets Simpsons Plug
After years of living in Springfield’s celebrity shadow, Eugene finally got its own moment in the spotlight. For 14 years, Eugene’s neighbor to the east has reveled in its status – earned or not – as hometown to The Simpsons. But on Sunday night, Eugene got a brief taste of the thrill when the writers deigned to put the city in the script, too. In the episode “Margical History Tour”, characters Lenny and Carl re-enact the Lewis and Clark expedition. Naturally, when the two reach the mouth of the Columbia River, the rain kicks in. “I say we give this lovely land a name,” says Lenny. “How about: Eugene, Oregon?” Executive producer Al Jean said writer, Michael Price, came up with the line because he thought it sounded funny and because Eugene’s a pretty well-known place. While Groening didn’t inspire the line himself, he was on hand for the final mixing of the show, when special sound effects are added, and was amused when he heard the line. Read More >>>
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Simpsons Movie Coming In 2006!
DVD Fanatic got a chance to talk to The Simpsons producer and writer Mike Reiss, who chatted about the next “Simpsons” DVD and says that The Simpsons movie is definitely in the works. “It’s been 13 years of wanting to do “The Simpsons” Movie. Finally FOX said, “Let’s just do it!” We never had the greatest idea that was compelling but FOX said, “Maybe if we start paying you, you’ll get inspired.” And sure enough it worked! We’ve got a very good and interesting idea and it’s different from the show. You know, it’s like the “South Park” movie where it’s just a bigger, longer, amplified version of the show. I can’t tell you anything specific about it. My wife doesn’t even know the secret.” When asked when he thought this movie would come out, Reiss said “I will say two years from this summer. I think it’s going to be Summer 2006 or maybe Christmas 2006. It’s a reality after being just sort of this phantom idea. I think it is really gonna happen.” Read More >>>
Ratings
Ratings: Margical History Tour
Sunday’s 46th annual Grammy Awards telecast delivered its highest numbers in three years, driving CBS to an easy victory for the night. This left The Simpsons with its lowest figures in quite some time, rating fourth in its timeslot with just 8.9 million viewers.
News
Cowell Talks About Appearance
Simon Cowell is cut down to size in a classic TV moment by Homer Simpson. The acid-tongued pop impresario suffers the wrath of Homer after he makes baby daughter Maggie cry. Cowell is the latest celebrity to land a starring part in the long-running cartoon series. And he said yesterday: “It’s the best thing I’ve ever been asked to do.” The episode, “Smart And Smarter,” sees Cowell given the role of a nursery school admissions officer. He is confronted by Homer after he makes cruel comments about Maggie when she fails an Idol-style audition for his nursery. The episode is set to be a smash in the States, where Cowell has become a hate figure for his acidic put downs on American Idol. An insider said: “Simon Cowell made his name in Britain for being stuck-up and arrogant and he went one better in the States. Read More >>>
News
The Simpsons Wins Annie Award
The Simpsons has come home with the goods once again. The show last night left the 31st Annual Annie Awards with another award to add to its vast collection. The Annie for “Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Television Production” was won by our favorite family over fellow nominees “Captain Sturdy,” “Fairly OddParents,” “Samurai Jack,” and “Spider Man: The Animated Series.”
News
Margical History Tour
A new episode airs in North America tonight, titled “Margical History Tour”. The episode is a trilogy of stories similar to that of “Simpsons Bible Stories” and “Tales From The Public Domain”, which you either love or don’t care for. This year’s format is tales from our history. Details in the episode follow. “There’s a shortage of books at Springfield Library, but Marge isn’t about to let that stand in the way of telling a few stories about historical characters: Henry VIII (Homer), Lewis and Clark (Lenny and Carl), Sacagawea (Lisa), and Mozart (Bart)” It’s the first episode in an all-new February lineup, with new episodes guaranteed all month. Other scheduled episodes can be seen on our right column.