Difference between revisions of "Season 18"

Revision as of 18:08, August 30, 2024

Season 18

Season Information Original run: September 10, 2006 - May 20th, 2007 No. of episodes: 22 Previous season: Season 17 Next season: Season 19 DVD boxset: The Complete Eighteenth Season

Season 18 was the eighteenth season of The Simpsons. It originally aired from September 10, 2006, with "The Mook, the Chef, the Wife and Her Homer", to May 20, 2007 with "You Kent Always Say What You Want". You Kent Always Say What You Want was also the 400th episode as well as celebrating the 20th anniversary of the show. Al Jean served as the Showrunner, a position he has held since the thirteenth season.

Episodes

Picture # Title Original airdate Directed by Written by Prod. code 379 - 1 "The Mook, the Chef, the Wife and Her Homer" September 10, 2006 Michael Marcantel Bill Odenkirk HABF15 At school, Lisa befriends a boy, who happens to be the son of mob boss. Fat Tony is put out of commission by a rival family, and Homer and Bart get involved with the mob, when Michael, who is nothing like his father, is not interested in the "family business". Guest starring: Joe Mantegna as Fat Tony, Joe Pantoliano as Dante Calabresi, Sr., Michael Imperioli as Dante Calabresi, Jr. and Metallica as themselves. 380 - 2 "Jazzy and the Pussycats" September 17, 2006 Steven Dean Moore Daniel Chun HABF18 Bart starts to play drums following a psychiatrist's suggestion. He is pretty good at it, so a jazz group asks him to join their band, something that has been Lisa's dream for a long time. Guest starring: Jack White as himself and Meg White as herself. 381 - 3 "Please Homer, Don't Hammer 'Em" September 24, 2006 Mike B. Anderson Co-director: Ralph Sosa Matt Warburton HABF20 Marge gets a job as carpenter, but every man thinks she is going to ruin everything she fixes because she is a woman, so Homer pretends to be the carpenter while Marge does all the work, until he starts receiving too much credit for doing nothing. 382 - 4 "Treehouse of Horror XVII" November 5, 2006 David Silverman and Matthew Faughnan Peter Gaffney HABF17 In "Married to the Blob", Homer eats green extraterrestrial goo and morphs into a rampaging blob with an insatiable appetite; in "You Gotta Know When to Golem", Bart uses a golem; and in "The Day the Earth Looked Stupid," the residents of early-1930s Springfield refuse to believe news of an actual alien invasion after being duped by Orson Welles' War of the Worlds radio broadcast. Guest starring: Phil McGraw as himself, Richard Lewis as Male Golem, Fran Drescher as The Female Golem, Sir-Mix-A-Lot as "Baby Likes Fat" singer and Maurice LaMarche as Orson Welles. 383 - 5 "G.I. (Annoyed Grunt)" November 12, 2006 Nancy Kruse Daniel Chun HABF21 Bart joins the Army when some Army recruiters visit the school, so Homer takes his place. After he escapes with all the other soldiers, the colonel invades Springfield to find him. Guest starring: Kiefer Sutherland as Army colonel and Maurice LaMarche as Army recruiter 2. 384 - 6 "Moe'N'a Lisa" November 19, 2006 Mark Kirkland Matt Warburton HABF19 Lisa turns Moe's notes of an obscure world into a poem, so he is invited to a writer's convention by Tom Wolfe, but he says it is his own work, without any help, which breaks Lisa's heart. Guest starring: J. K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson, Tom Wolfe as himself, Gore Vidal as himself, Michael Chabon as himself and Jonathan Franzen as himself. 385 - 7 "Ice Cream of Margie (with the Light Blue Hair)" November 26, 2006 Matthew Nastuk Carolyn Omine HABF22 Homer is given an ice-cream van in memory of a ice-cream man, and becomes a tyrant to the community. Meanwhile, Marge finds a useful use for leftover ice-cream sticks - building sculptures of people in Springfield. The relationship between them hits a bump in the road when Homer crashes into Marge's sculptures, and Marge won't forgive him, whatever he tries. 386 - 8 "The Haw-Hawed Couple" December 10, 2006 Chris Clements Matt Selman JABF02 Nelson invites the whole of Bart's class to his birthday, but Bart and Martin convince the others not to go. Bart is forced to go to Nelson's birthday by Marge, and ends up becoming friends with Nelson. 387 - 9 "Kill Gil, Volumes I & II" December 17, 2006 Bob Anderson Jeff Westbrook JABF01 The Simpsons let Gil stay with them during Christmas. However, he stays for 11 months because Marge can't tell him "no." Guest starring: Elvis Stojko as himself. 388 - 10 "The Wife Aquatic" January 7, 2007 Lance Kramer Kevin Curran JABF03 During an outdoor movie event, Marge remembers when she went to Barnacle Bay, an island she used to go when she was a child. Homer takes her to the island, but when they arrive they discover it has become very poor. Guest starring: Sab Shimono as Gruff Japanese sailor and Maurice LaMarche as the oceanographer. 389 - 11 "Revenge Is a Dish Best Served Three Times" January 28, 2007 Michael Polcino Joel H. Cohen JABF05 After the Simpsons' car is cut off by the Rich Texan, Homer's lust for revenge prompts his family to tell three stories of vengeance, hoping to convince Homer that pursuing revenge is not a good idea. 1.The Count of Monte Fatso Marge offers a cautionary tale of revenge from Nineteenth-Century France, based on Alexandre Dumas's The Count of Monte Cristo. 2.Revenge of the Geeks Lisa's story revolves around Milhouse's campaign to fight back against the school bullies, and the consequences when he goes too far. 3.Bartman Begins Bart recounts Bartman's "origin story", based on Batman's origin as revealed in the film Batman Begins. 390 - 12 "Little Big Girl" February 11, 2007 Raymond S. Persi Don Payne JABF04 After turning off a big fire, Bart is rewarded with a driving license. However, he gets tired of taking Homer everywhere, so he escapes and meets a teen girl that falls in love with Bart. Meanwhile, Lisa says she is a descendant from a fake Native American tribe for an school work. Guest starring: Natalie Portman as Darcy. 391 - 13 "Springfield Up" February 18, 2007 Chuck Sheetz Matt Warburton JABF07 Declan Desmond films a documentary about the lives of people of Springfield and how they changed over the years. Homer makes him believe he is rich, but he actually took Burns' manor while Mr. Burns was out. Guest starring: Eric Idle as Declan Desmond. 392 - 14 "Yokel Chords" March 4, 2007 Susie Dietter Michael Price JABF09 Lisa teaches the Spuckler children about culture, and soon Krusty hires them to act on his show. They become famous and earn a lot of money, but Cletus spends it on himself. Guest starring: Meg Ryan as Dr. Swanson, Peter Bogdanovich as a psychologist, Andy Dick as himself, James Patterson as himself and Stephen Sondheim as himself. 393 - 15 "Rome-Old and Juli-Eh" March 11, 2007 Nancy Kruse Daniel Chun JABF08 Selma and Grampa fall in love and end up getting married, a marriage both Homer and Patty are against, and in the end the married couple realize that their life together just cannot work out. Guest starring: Jane Kaczmarek as Judge Constance Harm. 394 - 16 "Homerazzi" March 25, 2007 Matthew Nastuk J. Stewart Burns JABF06 Homer starts taking pictures of celebrities so the family can earn money. Eventually, the celebrities get fed up and hire someone to take embarrassing photos of Homer. Guest starring: J. K. Simmons as Tabloid editor, Betty White as herself and Jon Lovitz as Enrico Irritazio. 395 - 17 "Marge Gamer" April 22, 2007 Bob Anderson J. Stewart Burns JABF10 Marge discovers the Internet and gets hooked on an online fantasy role-playing game called Earthland Realms, where she interacts with practically everyone in Springfield, including Bart, whose online persona is the local tough guy, the Shadow Knight. Meanwhile, Homer becomes a soccer referee, which strains his and Lisa's relationship when he has to call penalties on her. Guest starring: Ronaldo as himself. 396 - 18 "The Boys of Bummer" April 29, 2007 Rob Oliver Michael Price JABF11 Bart becomes the most hated person in Springfield after he is the goat in a championship baseball game, and Homer new job as a mattress salesman ruins his and Marge's sex life. 397 - 19 "Crook and Ladder" May 6, 2007 Lance Kramer Bill Odenkirk JABF13 After Homer takes pills to help him sleep and crashes into the Springfield Fire Department, He, Apu, Principal Skinner and Moe Szyslak become voluntary firemen and begin to steal property from the homes of fire victims. 398 - 20 "Stop, or My Dog Will Shoot!" May 13, 2007 Matthew Faughnan John Frink JABF12 Homer unwittingly drags the family into a cornfield maze after attempting to leave a boring Harvest fest that Marge brought them to. When everyone except Homer escapes, Santa's Little Helper rescues him and becomes the town hero. So the Simpsons enroll him in Police Dog Academy where he's teamed with Lou. Guest starring: Stephen Hawking as himself and Maurice LaMarche as the horn stuffer. 399 - 21 "24 Minutes" May 20, 2007 Raymond S. Persi Ian Maxtone-Graham and Billy Kimball JABF14 In a parody of 24, Bart and Lisa join forces to sabotage the school bullies' plan to set off a stink bomb at the school bake sale. Guest starring: Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer and Mary Lynn Rajskub as Chloe O'Brian. 400 - 22 "You Kent Always Say What You Want" May 20, 2007 Matthew Nastuk Tim Long JABF15 When Homer buys the 1,000,000th ice-cream cone at a local shop, he ends up on Kent Brockman's news program. When Brockman swears on live TV after coffee is spilled in his lap, Ned Flanders leads a crusade to clean up Springfield's airwaves, starting with getting Brockman fired. Then Homer once again saves the day. Guest starring: Ludacris as himself and Maurice LaMarche as FOX voice-over.

Season 18 episodes script covers

Reception

Robert Canning of IGN gave the season a 6.6 saying it was "Passable" and that "Now in its eighteenth season, The Simpsons continues to supply America with a decent half-hour of comedy every Sunday night. However, most long-time fans of the show agree that the last several years have seen the program in constant decline. Looking back at this particular season, there's little evidence to prove them wrong. Though we were treated with at least a few hilarious gems this year, the mediocre heavily outweighed the great."^[1]

Ratings

The season had with an average of 8.6 million watching Season 18.

Awards

At the Annie Awards, Alf Clausen and Michael Price won the award for "Best Music in an Animated Television Production" for "Yokel Chords" while Ian Maxtone-Graham and Billy Kimball won "Best Writing in an Animated Television Production" for "24 Minutes"^[2] Jeff Westbrook won a WGA Award for "Kill Gil, Volumes I & II"^[3] while Matt Selman was nominated for "The Haw-Hawed Couple" and John Frink received a nomination for "Stop, or My Dog Will Shoot!".^[4]

References