The eleventh season of the American animated television series '' The Simpsons'' originally aired on the Fox Network in the United States between September 26, 1999 and May 21, 2000, starting with " Beyond Blunderdome" and ending with " Behind the Laughter". With Mike Scully as the

showrunner A showrunner (or colloquially a helmer) is the top-level executive producer of a television series production who has creative and management authority through combining the responsibilities of employer and, in comedy or dramas, typically also th ...

for the eleventh season,Groening, p. 12. it has twenty-two episodes, including four hold-over episodes from the

season 10 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

production line. Season 11 was released on DVD in Region 1 on October 7, 2008 with both a standard box and Krusty-molded plastic cover. The season coincided with The Simpsons family being awarded their star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame, the season receiving itself an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

for Outstanding Animated Program, an

Annie Award The Annie Awards are accolades which the Los Angeles branch of the International Animated Film Association, ASIFA-Hollywood, has presented each year since 1972 to recognize excellence in animation shown in cinema and television. Originally desi ...

, and a British Comedy Award. It also saw the departure of voice actress Maggie Roswell. ''The Simpsons'' ranked 41st in the season ratings with an average U.S. viewership of 8.8 million viewers, making it the second highest rated show on

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelv ...

after ''

Malcolm in the Middle ''Malcolm in the Middle'' is an American family television sitcom created by Linwood Boomer for Fox. The series premiered on January 9, 2000, and ended on May 14, 2006, after seven seasons and 151 episodes. The series follows a dysfunctional ...

''. It got an 18-49 Nielsen Rating of 8.2//13.

Production

Towards the end of the production of season 10, voice actress Maggie Roswell, who voiced Helen Lovejoy, Maude Flanders and Miss Hoover, among others, left the show because of a contract dispute. She returned to the show in season 14. As a result of Roswell's leaving, Marcia Mitzman Gaven was brought to voice many of her characters, but it was decided to kill off Maude Flanders in the episode " Alone Again, Natura-Diddily" to open new storylines for that episode. Gaven started voicing Roswell's characters in hold-over season 10 episode " Brother's Little Helper". Writers credited with episodes in the 11th season include Al Jean, Dan Greaney, Donick Cary, Tim Long, Ian Maxtone-Graham,

Carolyn Omine Carolyn Omine is an American television writer. She won four Emmy Awards for her writing work on ''The Simpsons''. Writing credits ''The Simpsons'' episodes Omine has written the following episodes: *"Little Big Mom" (2000) *"Treehouse of ...

, Mike Scully, Matt Selman, John Swartzwelder and George Meyer. Animation directors included Bob Anderson,

Mike B. Anderson Mike B. Anderson, sometimes credited as Mikel B. Anderson, is an American television director who works on ''The Simpsons'' and has directed numerous episodes of the show, and was animated in "The Secret War of Lisa Simpson" as cadet Anderson. W ...

, Mark Kirkland, Lance Kramer, Nancy Kruse, Lauren MacMullan, Pete Michels,

Steven Dean Moore Steven Dean Moore is an American animation director. His credits include 65 episodes of the animated television series ''The Simpsons'' and several episodes of the Nickelodeon series ''Rugrats'' (1991–2004). Moore was also one of four sequence ...

, Matthew Nastuk, Michael Polcino and Jim Reardon. The main cast consisted of Dan Castellaneta (

Homer Simpson Homer Jay Simpson is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the American animated sitcom ''The Simpsons''. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared, along with the rest of his family, in ''The Tracey Ullman Show'' short "G ...

, Grampa Simpson, Krusty the Clown amongst others), Julie Kavner ( Marge Simpson), Nancy Cartwright (

Bart Simpson Bartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional character in the American animated television series ''The Simpsons'' and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in ''The Tracey Ullman Show'' ...

, Ralph Wiggum, Nelson Muntz), Yeardley Smith ( Lisa Simpson), Hank Azaria ( Moe Szyslak, Apu, Chief Wiggum, amongst others) and Harry Shearer ( Ned Flanders,

Mr. Burns Charles Montgomery Plantagenet Schicklgruber "Monty" Burns, usually referred to as Mr. Burns, Monty, or C. Montgomery Burns, is a recurring character and the main antagonist of the animated television series ''The Simpsons'', voiced initially by ...

, Principal Skinner, amongst others). Other cast members included Marcia Wallace ( Edna Krabappel), Pamela Hayden ( Milhouse Van Houten, amongst others), Tress MacNeille (Agnes Skinner, amongst others),

Russi Taylor Russi Taylor (May 4, 1944 – July 26, 2019) was an American voice actress. She is best remembered as the official voice of Minnie Mouse from 1986 to 2019, and was notably married to voice actor Wayne Allwine, the voice of Mickey Mouse, until his ...

( Martin Prince) and Karl Wiedergott (additional characters). This was also the first season to have Tress MacNeille performing voices in every episode.

Release

Awards

Aside from winning several awards in 2000, The Simpsons family themselves were awarded on January 14, 2000, their own star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard. The 11th season itself gathered an

for Outstanding Animated Program, as well as an

for Outstanding Achievement in a Primetime or Late Night Animated Television Program, and a British Comedy Award for Best International Comedy TV Show.

Alf Clausen Alf Heiberg Clausen (born March 28, 1941) is an American film and television composer. He is best known for his work scoring many episodes of ''The Simpsons'', for which he was the sole composer between 1990 and 2017. Clausen has scored or orc ...

also received a 2000 Annie Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement for Music in an Animated Television Production for his work on the episode " Behind the Laughter". In the same year, " Treehouse of Horror X" won the CINE Golden Eagle Award. In 2000, music editor Bob Beecher was nominated for the Golden Reel Award for " Treehouse of Horror X". At the Prism Awards, " Days of Wine and D'oh'ses" received a commendation in the Comedy Series Episode category in 2001 for its frank depiction of alcoholism and drug rehabilitation. The show was also nominated for a Blimp Award in the Favorite Cartoon category at the 2000 Kids' Choice Awards, as well as for the Teen Choice Award in the category Choice TV Show — Comedy.

Episodes

DVD release

The DVD boxset for Season 11 was released by

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment 20th Century Studios Home Entertainment (commonly referred to as 20th Home Video, or 20th Home Entertainment, formerly known as 20th Century-Fox Video, CBS/Fox Video, Fox Video, and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment) is a home video label of Wa ...

in the United States and Canada on October 7, 2008, eight years after it had completed broadcast on television, in the UK on October 6, 2008, and in Australia on November 5, 2008. The special features include deleted scenes,

storyboard A storyboard is a graphic organizer that consists of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence. The storyboarding process, i ...

animatic A storyboard is a graphic organizer that consists of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence. The storyboarding process, in the ...

s, and commentaries. The set was released in two different packagings: a standard rectangular cardboard box featuring Krusty the Clown on the cover, and a "limited edition" plastic packaging molded to look like Krusty's head. This is first time that a character-themed packaging doesn't feature a main character from The Simpsons family. Unlike the previous seasons, the Collector's Edition packaging is a removable molded face attached to a cardboard sleeve, as opposed to a fully plastic clamshell. Both versions have changed from a digipak style of disc tray in previous seasons, to an accordion-style series of cardboard sleeves into which the discs slide. Following the release of the set, there were a number of complaints regarding the style of packaging due to the fact that the cardboard packaging may scratch the discs; David Lambert of TVShowsOnDVD.com described the set as "functionally defective."

References

;Specific ;General * *

External links

Season 11
at The Simpsons.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Simpsons (season 11) Simpsons season 11 1999 American television seasons 2000 American television seasons