Season 1
The Simpsons (Season 1)
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Season Information
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The Simpsons' first season began on 17th December 1989 with the first episode of the series, "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" and ended on 13th May 1990 with "Some Enchanted Evening". Matt Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon were the show runners of the season.
It was originally intended that the season finale, "Some Enchanted Evening", would be the first episode of the season as well as the series which would have aired at Autumn of 1989. However, after a poorly received workprint of the episode, 70% of its animation had to be redone, delaying it to months throughout the season until finally being aired at the end of the season on 13th May 1990. Subsequent episodes in production such as "Bart the Genius" had minor problems that were easy to fix and were suitable for airing. As "Some Enchanted Evening" was being overhauled, the producers considered to air the Christmas special, "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", on 17th December 1989 which had to be aired in the Christmas holidays of 1989 nonetheless.
The season had four nominations and won one of them. It won Outstanding Animated Program from "Life on the Fast Lane", which the episode was tied with "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire". "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" was nominated for "Outstanding Editing in a Miniseries or Special", "The Call of the Simpsons" was nominated for "Outstanding Individual Achievement in Sound Mixing for a Comedy Series or a Special" and "The Simpsons Theme", composed by Danny Elfman, was nominated for "Outstanding Achievement in Main Title Theme Music".
All of the 13 episodes of Season 1, including extras such as the "Some Enchanted Evening" workprint, were released on DVD on 25th September 2001 in Region 1 and 24th September 2001 in Region 2 and 4. This is the First of the Complete Seasons of The Simpsons released in boxsets for home media.
Episodes
| # | Original title (top) Alternate title (bottom) |
Original airdate | Directed by | Written by | Prod. code |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Summary | |||||
| 1 - 1 |
"Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" "The Simpsons Christmas Special" |
December 17, 1989 | David Silverman | Mimi Pond | 7G08 |
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The Simpsons have a difficult Christmas,primarily due to lack of money as all of the savings, which was intended for shopping, had to be spent to pay for an expensive tattoo removal for Bart and no bonus for Homer in work. They try to ensure a good holiday within their financial pressure whilst Homer tries to earn money in such ways such as being Santa Claus. | |||||
| 2 - 2 | "Bart the Genius" | January 14,1990 | David Silverman | Jon Vitti | 7G02 |
| Bart is considered to be intelligent by a high test score despite that he switched his name to Martin Prince's test and vice versa i.e. being Martin's score. Bart is then enrolled the Enriched Learning Center for Gifted Children, a school that is beyond his intelligence capabilities and is closer to Homer, all while not confessing what he had done in the exam. | |||||
| 3 - 3 | "Homer's Odyssey" | January 21,1990 | Wes Archer | Jay Kogen & Wallace Wolodarsky | 7G03 |
| Homer is promptly fired after an accidental incident when he was distracted by greeting Bart and his class on their field trip to the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. A depressed and unemployed considers suicide until becoming a safety crusader after noting dangerous areas of Springfield. | |||||
| 4 - 4 | "There's No Disgrace Like Home" | January 28,1990 | Gregg Vanzo & Kent Butterworth |
Al Jean & Mike Reiss | 7G04 |
| Homer decides to improve his family's behaviour, seeing their dysfunctionality and impoliteness as well as unfavourable comparisons to other families after a picnic from Mr.Burns manor. | |||||
| 5 - 5 | "Bart the General" | February 4, 1990 | David Silverman | John Swartzwelder | 7G05 |
| Bart is constantly bullied by Nelson Muntz, under unfortunate circumstances leading to this, and is desperate to find various methods to stop this. | |||||
| 6 - 6 | "Moaning Lisa" | February 11, 1990 | Wes Archer | Al Jean & Mike Reiss | 7G06 |
| Lisa is being continually unhappy, which begins to decline her performance in school. Homer and Marge cannot make her happier. She meets a musician who also plays the saxophone named Bleeding Gums Murphy, with plays jazz music to express her depression. | |||||
| 7 - 7 | "The Call of the Simpsons" | February 18, 1990 | Wes Archer | John Swartzwelder | 7G09 |
| The Simpsons go camping with their dilapidated RV, although problems arouse when the RV eventually gets destroyed by falling into an abyss, being unable to exit out of the woods and Homer and Bart as well as Maggie are split from Marge and Lisa. | |||||
| 8 - 8 | "The Telltale Head" | February 25, 1990 | Rich Moore | Al Jean, Mike Reiss,
Sam Simon & Matt Groening |
7G07 |
| Bart decapitates the head of the Jebediah Springfield statue, thinking that this will impress a gang he is trying to befriend, Jimbo, Dolph and Kearney as they had said so. He becomes worried while carrying the hidden head as the beheaded statue gains public attention. | |||||
| 9 - 9 | "Life on the Fast Lane" | March 18,1990 | David Silverman | John Swartzwelder | 7G11 |
| Marge is unhappy with her birthday present from Homer i.e. a bowling ball as she had never bowled and the ball is best suited to Homer with his name on it and holes his size. She is trained by a French bowling instructor named Jacques, with whom he has fallen for Marge. | |||||
| 10 - 10 | "Homer's Night Out" | March 25,1990 | Rich Moore | Jon Vitti | 7G10 |
| Bart takes a picture of Homer dancing with Princess Kashmir, a belly dancer. The photo is then copied all over Springfield, which Marge is furious at Homer as soon as she sees it, thinking of the photo being an affair. She kicks him out of the house, which he attempts to apologize to her as well as convince that women are not just sex objects like the photo. | |||||
| 11 - 11 | "The Crepes of Wrath" | April 15,1990 | Wesley Archer & Milton Gray |
George Meyer, Sam Simon, John Swartzwelder & Jon Vitti |
7G13 |
| After a series of pranks succeded with a recent incident with a cherry bomb, Principal Skinner decides that Bart would be sent to France at a student exchange program. The family including Bart agree and | |||||
| 12 - 12 | "Krusty Gets Busted" | April 29, 1990 | Brad Bird | Jay Kogen & Wallace Wolodarsky | 7G12 |
| Krusty the Clown is arrested as a suspect who robbed the Kwik-E-Mart looked like him. Aware that he is innocent, Bart attempts to find evidence to prove Krusty's innocence and the impersonator responsible for the crime. | |||||
| 13 - 13 | "Some Enchanted Evening" | May 13, 1990 | David Silverman & Kent Butterworth |
Matt Groening & Sam Simon | 7G01 |
| Homer and Marge go out for dinner one night while having Bart, Lisa and Maggie responsible by a babysitter called Ms. Botz. Unbeknownst to the family, Botz is known as a wanted bandit for babysitting and which she is covering her identity while Homer and Marge spends their time fairly. | |||||
DVD release
Season 1 was released on DVD by 20th Century Fox in Region 2 and 4 on 24th September 2001 and 25th September in Region 1. While primarily consisting of the original 13 episodes, the DVD release features bonus material including deleted scenes, Animatics, and commentaries for every episode. The set became the highest selling television program on DVD, selling 1.9 million units, until October 2004 when it was passed by the first season of Chappelle's Show, superseding the record.
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