Difference between revisions of "Season 10"

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Season 10

Season Information Original run: August 23, 1998 - May 16, 1999 No. of episodes: 23 Previous season: 9 Next season: 11 DVD boxset: The Complete Tenth Season

The tenth season of The Simpsons ran from August 23, 1998 to May 16, 1999. Its season boxset was released on August 7, 2007.

Highlights

The big guest stars for the season: Joe Mantegna as himself in "Treehouse of Horror IX", Jessica Simpson and Natalie Imbruglia as themselves in "When You Dish Upon a Star", and Phil Hartman as Lionel Hutz in "Grift of the Magi" The tenth season of The Simpsons received generally positive reviews from critics, with many praising the show's continued ability to balance humor with heart. The season averaged around 12 million viewers per episode, making it one of the highest-rated seasons in the show's history. The season won several awards, including: Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for Hank Azaria as Moe Szyslak and Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for Peter Frampton's song "Behind the Laughter" The season was nominated for several other awards, including: Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program and Annie Award for Best Achievement in Directing for an Animated Television Production.

Episodes

Picture # Original title Original airdate Directed by Written by Prod. code 204 - 1 "Lard of the Dance" August 23, 1998 Dominic Polcino Jane O'Brien 5F20 Homer and Bart team up to dip their hands in the grease recycling business. Meanwhile, Lisa is chosen to introduce a new student to Springfield Elementary, one who's years ahead of her age. Guest starring: Lisa Kudrow as Alex Whitney. 205 - 2 "The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace" September 20, 1998 Mark Kirkland John Swartzwelder 5F21 Homer experiences a mid-life crisis when he realizes, at 38.1 years of age, that he hasn't accomplished anything meaningful. To curve his remorse, Homer decides to pattern himself after Thomas Edison and become the next great inventor. Guest starring: William Daniels as KITT. 206 - 3 "Bart the Mother" September 27, 1998 Steven Dean Moore David S. Cohen 5F22 Nelson invites Bart over to test a BB gun he won at an arcade center. When Bart uses it and accidentally kills a bird mother, Marge becomes furious with him, thinking that he killed the animal on purpose. Bart feels guilty for what he did and takes it upon himself to nurse the mother's orphaned eggs. Marge soon finds out about this and becomes proud of him. However, when the eggs hatch, they are found to be lizards that lived in the bird's nest. Skinner, a member of the Springfield Birdwatching Society, tells Bart that the lizards must die because they kill so many species of birds. Bart refuses and helps the lizards escape. After the lizards devour the pigeon population, which the townsfolk considered to be a nuisance, Bart is honored by Mayor Quimby. Guest starring: Phil Hartman as Troy McClure. 207 - 4 "Treehouse of Horror IX" October 25, 1998 Steven Dean Moore David X. Cohen, Larry Doyle and Donick Cary AABF01 Treehouse of Horror IX is an anthology episode that features mini-stories. In "Hell Toupée," Homer receives a hair transplant from executed criminal Snake which possesses him and makes him go on a murder spree. In "The Terror of Tiny Toon," a plutonium-powered TV remote zaps Bart and Lisa into an Itchy & Scratchy cartoon. "Starship Poopers" reveals that Maggie's real father is Kang, which leads to a custody dispute and an appearance on The Jerry Springer Show. Guest starring: Regis Philbin as himself (live-action), Ed McMahon as himself, Kathie Lee Gifford as herself (live-action), Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger and Jerry Springer as himself. 208 - 5 "When You Dish Upon a Star" November 8, 1998 Pete Michels Richard Appel 5F19 When a parasailing accident sends Homer crashing into the secret home of Hollywood couple Kim Basinger and Alec Baldwin, they hire him as their personal assistant, provided that Homer does not tell anyone where they live. The couple starts to become irritated with Homer, who gives them ridiculous suggestions for film screenplays. When he accidentally violates their trust by revealing their location in Springfield, the couple immediately end the friendship. After a chase between the Hollywood stars in their Hummer and Homer in his mobile museum of stuff that belongs to the couple, Homer is ordered by a court of law to remain 500 miles away from any celebrity. Guest starring: Alec Baldwin as himself, Kim Basinger as herself, Ron Howard as himself and Brian Grazer as himself. 209 - 6 "D'oh-in' in the Wind" November 15, 1998 Mark Kirkland and Matthew Nastuk Donick Cary AABF02 While filling out a Screen Actors Guild form (after starring in an instructional video filmed at the nuclear plant where he works), Homer realizes that he does not know what his middle initial "J" stands for. After finding the answer, "Jay", on a mural in the hippie commune where his mother once lived, Homer decides to live the hippie lifestyle. He stays with his mother's old friends Seth and Munchie who now own a juice company. Homer quickly ruins one of their juice shipments by accident, and tries to make up for it by taking crops from their garden and making juice with them. However, some of these crops contained drugs and after people start to have crazy hallucinations from drinking the juice, Chief Wiggum arrests Seth and Munchie. Guest starring: George Carlin as Munchie and Martin Mull as Seth. 210 - 7 "Lisa Gets an "A"" November 22, 1998 Bob Anderson Ian Maxtone-Graham AABF03 In discovering the joy of video gaming, Lisa neglects to study for her upcoming test, which she later relents to cheating upon in order to pass. But when the resulting grade raises the school's state average and qualifies it for financial aid, she decides to keep the secret for the good of the school. Meanwhile, Homer raises a baby lobster to beat the high store prices of adults. 211 - 8 "Homer Simpson in: "Kidney Trouble"" December 6, 1998 Mike B. Anderson John Swartzwelder AABF04 On behalf of Homer's infamous ignorance, Grandpa Simpson falls victim to a textbook kidney blowout. But when Homer steps up to offer a donor kidney, he quickly finds himself suffering from a much more common phenomenon: cold feet. 212 - 9 "Mayored to the Mob" December 20, 1998 Swinton O. Scott III Ron Hauge AABF05 When Homer rescues Mark Hamill and Mayor Quimby from a rowdy mob of sci-fi fanatics, he is appointed the mayor's new bodyguard. But after convincing Quimby that he needs to stop Fat Tony's mob from selling rat's milk to the town's schools, the mayor's life is placed in jeopardy. Also guest starring are Joe Mantegna as Fat Tony and Dick Tufeld as the Robot. Guest starring: Mark Hamill as himself and Leavelle, Joe Mantegna as Fat Tony and Dick Tufeld as Robot B-9. 213 - 10 "Viva Ned Flanders" January 10, 1999 Neil Affleck David M. Stern AABF06 When Springfield's only casino is demolished, massive dust clouds form, prompting the Simpson family and Ned Flanders to go to a car wash to get rid of the dust on their cars. There, Homer sees Ned gets a senior discount. Thinking that Flanders is not a senior and lying about his age, Homer reveals this at church. As a result, Ned is forced to admit to everyone that he is sixty years old and only looks young because he has never done anything exciting in his life. Out of pity, Homer decides to take him to Las Vegas, where, after a night of partying and gambling, they end up marrying two casino barmaids while drunk. As Homer and Ned try to escape from the barmaids the next day, they go on a wild rampage through the casino, until they are confronted by casino security and banned from ever visiting Las Vegas again. Guest starring: The Moody Blues as themselves. 214 - 11 "Wild Barts Can't Be Broken" January 17, 1999 Mark Ervin Larry Doyle AABF07 Homer, Lenny, Carl, and Barney celebrate a rare victory of the Springfield Isotopes baseball team and end up going on a drunken rampage through town. During this rampage, they vandalize Springfield Elementary School. The next morning, Chief Wiggum suspects that students committed the crime and places all of Springfield's youth under curfew. The children respond by setting up a pirate radio show in which they reveal the embarrassing secrets of Springfield's adults. The location from which the children send out the broadcast is soon tracked down and an argument between the children and the adults ensues. As each side is stating their case in a song, the senior citizens turn up to complain about the children and the adults and agree to raise a curfew for everyone less than seventy years old. Guest starring: Cyndi Lauper as herself and Franklin D. Roosevelt as himself (uncredited; via archived audio). 215 - 12 "Sunday, Cruddy Sunday" January 31, 1999 Steven Dean Moore Tom Martin, George Meyer, Brian Scully and Mike Scully AABF08 Homer meets a travel agent named Wally Kogen who offers to send him to the Super Bowl for free if he can sign up all of his friends for a special travel package. Homer convinces Moe, Barney, Lenny, Carl, Kirk Van Houten and a bunch of other guys to sign up. All the men pile into a bus Wally furnishes for the trip and drink their way to Miami for the game. When they get there, however, they discover that the tickets Wally sold them were counterfeit. Guest starring: Fred Willard as Wally Kogen, Troy Aikman as himself, Rosey Grier as himself, John Madden as himself, Dan Marino as himself, Rupert Murdoch as himself, Dolly Parton as herself and Pat Summerall as himself. 216 - 13 "Homer to the Max" February 7, 1999 Pete Michels John Swartzwelder AABF09 When the new television show, Police Cops, premiers with a savvy character holding Homer's full name, the real-life Homer enjoys mock-stardom en masse. But when the show is retooled to give the character a Gomer Pyle-like facade, Homer changes his name to Max Power to escape the laughing and taunts of fellow townspeople. Guest starring: Ed Begley, Jr. as himself. 217 - 14 "I'm with Cupid" February 14, 1999 Bob Anderson Dan Greaney AABF11 As Kwik-E-Mart convenience store proprietor Apu showers his wife with glowing, outrageous Valentine's Day gifts, the other husbands of Springfield are made to look bad in his shadow. But as his gifts grow increasingly grand, the men attempt to foil his efforts, instigating a Valentine's massacre. Guest starring: Jan Hooks as Manjula Nahasapeemapetilon and Elton John as himself. 218 - 15 "Marge Simpson in: "Screaming Yellow Honkers"" February 21, 1999 Mark Kirkland David M. Stern AABF10 Homer offers Marge a new Canyonero SUV after embarrassingly discovering that he bought a model marketed to women. But once in the driver's seat, Marge becomes increasingly intoxicated by the vehicle's dynamism, leading to a case of aggravated road rage. Guest starring: John Kassir as Possum and Hank Williams Jr. as "Canyonero" singer. 219 - 16 "Make Room for Lisa" February 28, 1999 Matthew Nastuk Brian Scully AABF12 Lisa experiences stress when forced to temporarily share a room with Bart. Meanwhile, Marge discovers the joys of eavesdropping on cellular telephone calls and becomes obsessed with the personal dramas of complete strangers. 220 - 17 "Maximum Homerdrive" March 28, 1999 Swinton O. Scott III John Swartzwelder AABF13 While at a steakhouse, a trucker named Red challenges Homer to an eating contest. Red wins, but quickly dies of "beef poisoning", making it the first time he will miss a shipment. Feeling bad for him, Homer takes on the duty of transporting Red's cargo to Atlanta with his son Bart by his side. After falling asleep behind the wheel, Homer awakes to discover that the truck drove by itself with its Navitron Autodrive system. He informs other truck drivers, who tell him that he cannot let anyone know about the Autodrive system because it would make all truck drivers lose their jobs. Later, when cars that pass by Homer find out about it, a mob of truckers confront him. Homer and Bart escape, finish the shipment on time, and go home on a freight train. Meanwhile, after deducing that only Homer and Bart get to do the fun things in life, Marge and Lisa decide to add excitement to their lives by installing a new doorbell. However, it starts to malfunction after Lisa presses it. 221 - 18 "Simpsons Bible Stories" April 4, 1999 Nancy Kruse Tim Long, Larry Doyle and Matt Selman AABF14 A particularly boring sermon by Reverend Lovejoy sends each member of the Simpson family into his or her own biblical fantasy. Marge imagines herself and Homer as Adam and Eve, Lisa dreams of herself and the other kids of Springfield Elementary as the Israelites in ancient Egypt, and Homer dreams that he is King Solomon, solving every dispute by cutting the contested object in half. 222 - 19 "Mom and Pop Art" April 11, 1999 Steven Dean Moore Al Jean AABF15 When Homer learns to vent his anger through home-grown artwork, he attracts the attention of a professional art dealer. Guest starring: Jasper Johns as himself and Isabella Rossellini as Astrid Weller. 223 - 20 "The Old Man and the "C" Student" April 25, 1999 Mark Kirkland Julie Thacker AABF16 After causing his fellow townspeople to lose the Olympic Games, Bart is forced to slave away his time helping the elderly residents of the local retirement home. Guest starring: Jack LaLanne as himself and NRBQ. 224 - 21 "Monty Can't Buy Me Love" May 2, 1999 Mark Ervin John Swartzwelder AABF17 Mr. Burns tries his hand at winning the public's admiration by taking part in blue collar radio talk shows and retrieving the legendary Loch Ness Monster. Guest starring: Michael McKean as Jerry Rude. 225 - 22 "They Saved Lisa's Brain" May 9, 1999 Pete Michels Matt Selman AABF18 Lisa is invited to join the local MENSA society after penning an inspiring letter over Springfield's complete humiliation at the hands of her father. Guest starring: Stephen Hawking as himself. 226 - 23 "Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo" May 16, 1999 Jim Reardon Donick Cary and Dan Greaney AABF20 When Snake Jailbird steals money from the Simpson family's bank account through the Internet, the Simpsons go on a budget and save enough to buy a trip to Japan. The Simpsons thoroughly enjoy the country, and Homer defeats one of the mightiest sumo wrestlers. Impressed, the Emperor of Japan congratulates Homer, but, thinking the emperor is a new challenger, Homer knocks him out. As a result, he is placed in prison. After Marge pays the bail, Homer loses their last money and the family is unable to buy plane tickets home. All seems lost until a Japanese game show allows the Simpsons to compete in order to return to Springfield. Their last task on the show is to retrieve the plane tickets on a suspension bridge over an active volcano, which, once the family falls in, is revealed to be filled with orangeade and not lava. Although the family gets the tickets, Homer scolds the Japanese for their lack of ethics. Guest starring: George Takei as Wink.

Season 10 episodes script covers