| The Simpsons | |
|---|---|
| Season 14 | |
 DVD cover featuring Kang | |
| Showrunner | Al Jean |
| No. of episodes | 22 |
| Release | |
| Original network | Fox |
| Original release | November 3, 2002 – May 18, 2003 |
| Season chronology | |
The fourteenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons was originally broadcast on the Fox network in the United States between November 3, 2002, and May 18, 2003, and was produced by Gracie Films and 20th Century Fox Television. The show runner for the fourteenth production season was Al Jean, who executive produced 21 of 22 episodes. The other episode, "How I Spent My Strummer Vacation", was run by Mike Scully.[1] The season was the first to use digital ink-and-paint for most of its episodes, though four episodes ("How I Spent My Strummer Vacation", "Bart vs. Lisa vs. the Third Grade", "Large Marge" and "Helter Shelter") were hold-overs from season 13's production run and used traditional ink-and-paint. A fifth season 13 holdover episode ("Treehouse of Horror XIII"), which was the first episode of season 14, used digital ink-and paint like the rest of the season. The fourteenth season has met with mostly positive reviews and won two Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming less than One Hour), four Annie Awards and a Writers Guild of America Award. This season contains the show's 300th episode, "Barting Over".
Writers credited with episodes in the fourteenth season included J. Stewart Burns, Kevin Curran, John Frink & Don Payne, Dana Gould, Dan Greaney, Brian Kelley, Tim Long, Ian Maxtone-Graham, Carolyn Omine, Mike Scully, Matt Selman, John Swartzwelder, Matt Warburton and Marc Wilmore. Freelance writers included Brian Pollack & Mert Rich, Sam O'Neal & Neal Boushall, Dennis Snee and Allen Glazier. Animation directors included Bob Anderson, Mike B. Anderson, Chris Clements, Mark Kirkland, Lance Kramer, Nancy Kruse, Lauren MacMullan, Pete Michels, Steven Dean Moore, Matthew Nastuk, Michael Polcino, Jim Reardon and David Silverman. The main cast consisted of Dan Castellaneta (Homer Simpson, Grampa Simpson, Krusty the Clown, among others), Julie Kavner (Marge Simpson), Nancy Cartwright (Bart Simpson, Ralph Wiggum, Nelson Muntz), Yeardley Smith (Lisa Simpson), Hank Azaria (Moe Szyslak, Apu, Chief Wiggum, among others) and Harry Shearer (Ned Flanders, Mr. Burns, Principal Skinner, among others).[2] Other cast members included Marcia Wallace (Edna Krabappel), Pamela Hayden (Milhouse Van Houten, among others), Tress MacNeille (Agnes Skinner, among others), Russi Taylor (Martin Prince) and Karl Wiedergott (Additional Voices).[2] This season also saw the return of voice actress Maggie Roswell (Helen Lovejoy, Maude Flanders, among others),[2] who had left the show during season 11 because of a contract dispute.[3]
"Barting Over", which aired February 16, 2003, was promoted as the show's milestone 300th episode by Fox.[4] However, "The Strong Arms of the Ma" was the 300th episode to be broadcast. According to Ben Rayner of the Toronto Star, "It's very difficult to find a straight answer why milestone status has been bestowed on ["Barting Over"]. Some rationalize that the 300 figure doesn't account for two early holiday specials, Fox maintains that there was some discrepancy between the original, scheduled broadcast date- deep in the heart of the ratings-mad February sweeps- and the number of episodes that were eventually aired leading up to it."[5] "Barting Over" refers to the error when Marge tells Lisa "I can't count the number of times (Homer) has done something crazy like this." Lisa responds that it is 300, to which Marge replies that she "could have sworn it's been 302".[5]
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
McCann 2005 68–69was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b c McCann & Groening 2005, pp. 118–119
- ^ Cartwright 2000, p. 96
- ^ Kaplan, Don (November 20, 2002). "Simpsons Celebrates 300th Episode With Divorce". Fox News. Archived from the original on October 22, 2012. Retrieved April 28, 2009.
- ^ a b Rayner, Ben (February 16, 2003). "Still a riot at 300, er 302? Doh!". Toronto Star.