The seventeenth season of the American animated television series ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...

'' originally aired between September 2005 and May 2006, beginning on Sunday, September 11, 2005. It broke

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''). Twelve sp ...

's tradition of pushing its shows' season premieres back to November to accommodate the

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

games airing on the network during September and October of each year. Season 17 was released on DVD and Blu-ray in Region 1 on December 2, 2014, Region 2 on December 1, 2014, and Region 4 on December 3, 2014.

Production

Al Jean Alfred Ernest Jean III (born January 9, 1961) is an American screenwriter and producer. Jean is well known for his work on ''The Simpsons''. He was raised near Detroit, Michigan, and graduated from Harvard University in 1981. Jean began his wri ...

remained

show runner 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 the ...

, with this being his fifth year in the position since he started it in season 13, while the season was produced by

Gracie Films Gracie Films is an American film and television production company founded by James L. Brooks in 1986. The company is primarily responsible for producing its long-running flagship animated series ''The Simpsons'', as well as the films ''Big'', ' ...

and

20th Century Fox Television 20th Television (formerly 20th Century Fox Television, 20th Century-Fox Television, and TCF Television Productions, Inc.) is an American television production company that is a division of Disney Television Studios, part of The Walt Disney Compa ...

. David Silverman was the supervising director of animation. New writers included

Patric Verrone Patric Miller Verrone (born September 29, 1959) is an American television writer and labor leader. He served as a writer and producer for several animated television shows, most notably ''Futurama''. Schooling and pre-television career Verrone g ...

(previously a writer for ''

The Critic ''The Critic'' was an American primetime adult animated sitcom revolving around the life of New York film critic Jay Sherman, voiced by Jon Lovitz. It was created by writing partners Al Jean and Mike Reiss, who had previously worked as writers a ...

'', ''

Futurama ''Futurama'' is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of the professional slacker Philip J. Fry, who is cryogenically preserved for 1000 years a ...

'', and current president of the Writers Guild of America, Western Division),

Daniel Chun Daniel Chun is a Korean American comedy writer. He has written for ''The Office'' and ''The Simpsons''. He received a Writers Guild Award nomination and an Annie Award for his work on ''The Simpsons''. He was once head writer and an executive prod ...

, and Stephane Gillis. During this season, there were no episodes that aired during the month of October. Seven hold-over episodes from the season 16 (GABF) production line aired as part of this season. One of these episodes, "

The Girl Who Slept Too Little "The Girl Who Slept Too Little" is the second episode of the seventeenth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on September 18, 2005, and was seen by 9.79 m ...

", was intended to air as the season 16 finale on May 15, 2005, but after "

The Father, the Son, and the Holy Guest Star "The Father, the Son, and the Holy Guest Star" is the twenty-first and the last episode of the sixteenth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 15, 20 ...

", an episode satirizing the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, was postponed due to

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

's death, it was moved into this season.

Reception

Reviews

The season was met with mixed-to-positive reviews. Jeffry Kauffman of Blu-ray.com gave the season 4/5. He said the season was "arguably an incremental step downward" but he still thought "There are still delights galore to be sampled throughout the season," Shadowlocked gave the season 4/5 stars. Luke Connolly said that the season did a great job at tying things together and praised "Girls Just Want to have Sums" and "We're on the Road to D'ohwhere" as highlights. He concluded by saying "While season 17 shows its age in certain places, its continual pursuit of originality and familiar comedy more than makes up for this, and one cannot help but be impressed." Fanboy Nation's Sean Mukvihill was positive on the season saying "Even though it isn't as a great as it once was, the show still boast some very clever writing and the best voice cast of any animated program in history." Capsule Computers was more critical of the season giving the season 5.5/10 and commented "As a long time fan of the early Simpsons that involved great episodes with hilarious, tightly developed plots, it is hard to stomach what the show has become." Spotlight Report gave the season 3.0/5 criticizing that it wasn't as funny as previous seasons.

Awards

" The Seemingly Neverending Story" won an

Emmy 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, the first ''Simpsons'' episode to win since season 14's "

Three Gays of the Condo "Three Gays of the Condo" is the seventeenth episode of the fourteenth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 13, 2003. The episode was written by ...

" and the ninth time in the history of the show.

Kelsey Grammer Allen Kelsey Grammer (born February 21, 1955) is an American actor and producer. He gained notoriety and acclaim for his role as psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane on the NBC sitcom '' Cheers'' (1984-1993) and its spin-off ''Frasier'' (1993-2004), ...

received the Emmy for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for "

The Italian Bob "The Italian Bob" is the eighth episode of the seventeenth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on December 11, 2005. Serving as a sequel to "The Great Louse D ...

Nielsen ratings

The show ranked 56th in the seasonal ratings tied with ''

Invasion An invasion is a military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitical entity aggressively enter territory owned by another such entity, generally with the objective of either: conquering; liberating or re-establishing con ...

'', ''

America's Funniest Home Videos ''America's Funniest Home Videos'', also called ''America's Funniest Videos'' (abbreviated as ''AFV''), is an American video clip television series on American Broadcasting Company, ABC, based on the Japanese variety show ''Kato-chan Ken-chan Gok ...

'', and ''

The Amazing Race ''The Amazing Race'' is an adventure reality game show franchise in which teams of two people race around the world in competition with other teams. The ''Race'' is split into legs, with teams tasked to deduce clues, navigate themselves in forei ...

'' with a viewership 9.2 million viewers and an 18–49

Nielsen Rating Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rati ...

of 4.4/11.

Episodes

Blu-ray and DVD release

The DVD and Blu-ray box set for season seventeen 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 Tuesday, December 2, 2014, eight years after it had completed broadcast on television. As well as every episode from the season, the Blu-ray and DVD releases feature bonus material including

deleted scene A deleted scene is footage that has been removed from the final version of a film or television show. There are various reasons why these scenes are deleted, which include time constraints, relevance, quality or a dropped story thread. A similar o ...

animatics 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 ...

, and commentaries for every episode. The box art features

Sideshow Bob Robert Underdunk Terwilliger Jr., PhD, better known as Sideshow Bob, is a recurring character in the animated television series ''The Simpsons''. He is voiced by Kelsey Grammer and first appeared in the episode " The Telltale Head". Bob is a se ...

, and a special limited-edition "embossed head case" package was also released. This is the only season of ''The Simpsons'' to receive a 15 rating in the UK, but this is due to the additional material (the episodes are only a 12 rating).

References

;Bibliography *

External links

Season 17
at The Simpsons.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Simpsons (season 17) Simpsons season 17 2005 American television seasons 2006 American television seasons