Season 3

The third season originally aired from September 19, 1991 with "Stark Raving Dad" to August 27, 1992 with "Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes?". Al Jean and Mike Reiss were the show runners of throughout most of the season and the following season. Season 3 won one Emmy award and received one other nomination. Six voice actors shared the Emmy for "," and the show was nominated for "" for "Radio Bart."

Season 3 is also noteworthy for the guest voice appearance of Michael Jackson (credited at the time as "John Jay Smith") in "Stark Raving Dad." Jackson voiced his character's speaking parts while sound-a-like Kipp Lennon performed all of the singing. Jackson also wrote the song "Happy Birthday, Lisa". After the episode was produced, the show instituted a policy that celebrities wishing to guest-star on the show had to be willing to be credited under their real names rather than using pseudonyms.

All 24 episodes of Season 3 were released as a DVD boxset on August 26, 2003 in, October 6, 2003 in , and October 22, 2003 in.

History
Al Jean and Mike Reiss became showrunners of the third season and the the following season after having written previous episodes of The Simpsons and felt pressure when executive managing the show. The pair also executive produced four episodes that were broadcast during Season 8 and 9 under a 3Gxx production code when The Simpsons at this period had Bill Oakley & Josh Weinstein and mostly Mike Scully as showrunners respectively. Jean has remained showrunner of the show since Season 13, this time without Reiss.

Carlos Baeza and Jeffrey Lynch received their first directing credits in this season. Assistant director and layout artist, Alan Smart, would receive his only directing credit. Robert Cohen, Howard Gewirtz, Ken Levine and David Isaacs were one-time writers in the third season. Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein, who would later become executive producers, became a part of the writing staff to replace Jay Kogen and Wallace Wolodarsky both of whom had proposed to leave at the next season although they did not until the following season after. The final and current arrangement of the Opening Sequence was introduced during this season.

Season 3 was also noteworthy for the guest voice appearance of Michael Jackson, under a pseudonym of "John Jay Smith", in the season premiere "Stark Raving Dad". Jackson voiced the speaking parts of his character, Leon Kompowski, while sound-a-like Kipp Lennon performed all of the singing despite that he wrote the episode's song, "Happy Birthday, Lisa". Following his guest appearance, the show instituted a policy that celebrities wishing to guest-star on the show had to be willing to be credited under their real names rather than using pseudonyms. This was also Jackson's only appearance on television (d. 2009).

On January 30, 1992, a rerun of "Stark Raving Dad" featured a brief alternate opening, which was written in response to a comment made by then-President of the United States George H. W. Bush, who made a speech during his re-election campaign where he said, "We are going to keep on trying to strengthen the American family, to make American families a lot more like and a lot less like The Simpsons." The writers wanted to respond to this speech by inserting a tongue-in-cheek opening using a recycled clip of the previous season's "Simpson and Delilah" where the Simpsons watch Bush's speech on their television and Bart replies "Hey, we're just like the Waltons. We're praying for an end to the Depression, too".

"Homer at the Bat" featured a large supporting cast of guest stars. This was suggested by Sam Simon, who wanted an episode filled with real players. Nine players agreed to guest-star in the episode, and their lines were recorded over a period of six months. Several new characters were introduced this season, including Lunchlady Dora, Fat Tony, Legs and Louie, Hyman Krustofsky, Lurleen Lumpkin and Kirk and Luann Van Houten.

DVD Release
Season 3 was released on DVD in its entirety as The Complete Third Season on August 26, 2003 in, October 6, 2003 in and October 22, 2003 in  by 20th Century Fox. While primarily containing the original 24 episodes, the boxset also includes bonus features such as storyboards.

Awards
Season 3 won one Emmy award. Six voice actors shared the Emmy for "":


 * Nancy Cartwright as Bart Simpson in "Separate Vocations"


 * Dan Castellaneta as Homer Simpson in "Lisa's Pony"


 * Julie Kavner as Marge Simpson in "I Married Marge"


 * Jackie Mason as Rabbi Hyman Krustofsky in "Like Father, Like Clown"


 * Yeardley Smith as Lisa Simpson in "Lisa the Greek"


 * Marcia Wallace as Edna Krabappel in "Bart the Lover"

The show received one other Emmy nomination for Season 3: "" for "Radio Bart."

Michael Jackson and Kipp Lennon guest-starred in "Stark Raving Dad." Jackson appeared under the pseudonym of "John Jay Smith" and voiced his character's speaking parts, while Lennon performed all of the singing. Jackson also wrote the song "Happy Birthday, Lisa." After the episode was produced, the show instituted a policy that celebrities wishing to guest-star on the show had to be willing to be credited under their real names rather than using pseudonyms.