Season 20

The twentieth season began airing on September 28, 2008 with "Sex, Pies and Idiot Scrapes" and ended airing on May 17, 2009 with "Coming to Homerica". Al Jean is the showrunner of this season and previous seasons since Season 13. The season had officially been confirmed to air by the network in May, 2008. The show is now tied with as the longest running American primetime television series. Production on the season was delayed because of contract negotiations with the six main voice actors, but was resolved and the actors' salary was raised to $400,000 per episode. The delay in production has caused the planned 22 episodes to be shortened to 21. Voice actor Dan Castellaneta is credited as a consulting producer for the first time. The Simpsons Season 20 was released on DVD on January 12, 2010 to celebate its twenty years.