The second season of the 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 on the Fox network between October 11, 1990, and July 11, 1991, and contained 22 episodes, beginning with " Bart Gets an "F". Another episode, " Blood Feud", aired during the summer after the official season finale. The executive producers for the second production season were Matt Groening,

James L. Brooks James Lawrence Brooks (born May 9, 1940) is an American director, producer, screenwriter and co-founder of Gracie Films. His television and film work includes ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'', ''Taxi'', ''The Simpsons'', '' Broadcast News'', ''As G ...

, and Sam Simon, who had also been executive producers for the previous season. It was produced by Gracie Films 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 ...

. The DVD box set was released on August 6, 2002, in Region 1, July 8, 2002 in Region 2 and in September 2002 in Region 4. The episode "

Homer vs. Lisa and the 8th Commandment "Homer vs. Lisa and the 8th Commandment" is the thirteenth episode of the second season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. The 26th episode of the series overall, it originally aired on the Fox network in the United Stat ...

" won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour), and was also nominated in the "Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy Series or a Special" category.Emmy Awards official site
"The Simpsons" "1991–1991" ''emmys.org''. Retrieved on August 31, 2007

Production

Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish "Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish" is the fourth episode of the second season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It is actually the first episode of that season in the production order. It originally ...

" was the first episode produced for the season, but "

Bart Gets an 'F' Bart is a masculine given name, usually a diminutive of Bartholomew, sometimes of Barton, Bartolomeo, etc. Bart is a Dutch and Ashkenazi Jewish surname, and derives from the name ''Bartholomäus'', a German form of the biblical name ''Bartholo ...

" aired first because Bart was popular at the time and the producers had wanted to premiere with a Bart-themed episode. The second season featured a new

opening sequence A title sequence (also called an opening sequence or intro) is the method by which films or television programmes present their title and key production and cast members, utilizing conceptual visuals and sound (often a opening theme song with visu ...

, which was shortened from its original length of roughly 90 seconds. The opening sequence for the first season showed Bart stealing a "Bus Stop" sign; whilst the new sequence featured him skateboarding past several characters who had been introduced during the previous season. Starting with this season, there were three versions of the opening: a full roughly 75-second version, a 45-second version and a 25-second version. This gave the show's editors more leeway. This sequence would remain in use until the show's transfer to

high definition High definition or HD may refer to: Visual technologies *HD DVD, discontinued optical disc format *HD Photo, former name for the JPEG XR image file format *HDV, format for recording high-definition video onto magnetic tape * HiDef, 24 frames-pe ...

midway through the twentieth season. Mark Kirkland and Jim Reardon received their first directorial credits on the show while

Jeff Martin Jeff Martin may refer to: * Jeff Martin (American musician) (born 1957), lead vocalist for the bands Surgical Steel and Racer X; drummer for Badlands *Jeff Martin (Canadian musician) (born 1969), guitarist, singer, and songwriter for the Tea Party ...

and

David M. Stern David Michael Stern is an American television screenwriter. Among his first work in television was writing episodes of ''The Wonder Years'' in the late 1980s. He then proceeded to write several episodes of ''The Simpsons'' in the 1990s. In 2010, ...

joined the writing staff.

Voice cast & characters

The season saw the introduction of several new recurring characters, including

Mayor Quimby Mayor Joseph Fitzgerald O'Malley Fitzpatrick O'Donnell The Edge "Joe" Quimby, nicknamed Diamond Joe, is a recurring character from the animated sitcom television series ''The Simpsons''. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta, and first appeared in th ...

Kang and Kodos Kang and Kodos Johnson are a duo of fictional recurring characters in the animated television series ''The Simpsons''. Kang is voiced by Harry Shearer and Kodos by Dan Castellaneta. They are green, perpetually drooling, octopus-like aliens from ...

, Maude Flanders, Bill and Marty,

Dr. Hibbert Dr. Julius Michael Hibbert, M.D. is a recurring character on the television animated sitcom ''The Simpsons''. He is Springfield's most prominent medical professional. Although he has a kind and warm persona, he is also often characterized as gree ...

, Roger Meyers, Jr., Sideshow Mel,

Lionel Hutz Lionel Hutz is a fictional character in the American animated sitcom ''The Simpsons''. He was voiced by Phil Hartman, and his first appearance was in the season two episode " Bart Gets Hit by a Car". Hutz is a stereotypical shady ambulance cha ...

, Dr. Nick Riviera, Blue-Haired Lawyer,

Rainier Wolfcastle The American animated television series ''The Simpsons'' contains a wide range of minor and supporting characters like co-workers, teachers, students, family friends, extended relatives, townspeople, local celebrities, and even animals. The writ ...

, Troy McClure, Groundskeeper Willie,

Hans Moleman The American animated television series ''The Simpsons'' contains a wide range of minor and supporting characters like co-workers, teachers, students, family friends, extended relatives, townspeople, local celebrities, and even animals. The write ...

, Professor Frink,

Snake Snakes are elongated, Limbless vertebrate, limbless, carnivore, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales. Ma ...

and Comic Book Guy.

Main cast

Dan Castellaneta Daniel Louis Castellaneta (; born October 29, 1957) is an American actor, comedian, and writer. He is best known for voicing Homer Simpson on the animated series ''The Simpsons'' (as well as other characters on the show such as Abraham "Grampa" ...

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, Groundskeeper Willie, Troy McClure, Barney Gumble and various others * Julie Kavner as Marge Simpson,

Patty Bouvier Patricia Maleficent "Patty" Bouvier and Selma Bouvier-Terwilliger-Hutz-McClure-Discotheque-Simpson-D'Amico () are fictional characters in the American animated sitcom ''The Simpsons''. They are identical Twin, twins and are voiced by Julie Kavne ...

Selma Bouvier Patricia Maleficent "Patty" Bouvier and Selma Bouvier-Terwilliger-Hutz-McClure-Discotheque-Simpson-D'Amico () are fictional characters in the American animated sitcom ''The Simpsons''. They are identical twins and are voiced by Julie Kavner who ...

and various others * Nancy Cartwright as

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'' ...

, Nelson Muntz, Ralph Wiggum and various others * Yeardley Smith as Lisa Simpson * Hank Azaria as Moe Szyslak, Chief Wiggum, Professor Frink, Carl Carlson, Comic Book Guy and

Apu APU or Apu may refer to: Film and television * ''The Apu Trilogy'', a series of three Bengali films, directed by Satyajit Ray, with the fictional character Apu Roy, comprising: ** ''Pather Panchali'' (''Song of the Little Road'') (1955), the first ...

* Harry Shearer as

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 ...

Waylon Smithers Waylon Joseph Smithers Jr., usually referred to as Mr. Smithers or simply Smithers, is a recurring fictional character in the animated sitcom ''The Simpsons'', voiced by Harry Shearer. He first appeared in "Homer's Odyssey", although his voice co ...

, Ned Flanders, Principal Skinner,

Lenny Leonard The American animated television series ''The Simpsons'' contains a wide range of minor and supporting characters like co-workers, teachers, students, family friends, extended relatives, townspeople, local celebrities, and even animals. The writ ...

, Kent Brockman, and

Reverend Lovejoy Reverend Timothy "Tim" Lovejoy, Jr. is a recurring character in the animated television series ''The Simpsons''. He is voiced by Harry Shearer, and first appeared in the episode "The Telltale Head". Rev. Lovejoy is the minister at The First ...

Recurring

Pamela Hayden Pamela Hayden (born November 28, 1953) is an American actress and voice actress, known for providing various voices for the animated television show ''The Simpsons'', such as Milhouse Van Houten. Biography Hayden provides voices for characters ...

Milhouse van Houten Milhouse Mussolini Van Houten is a recurring character in the Fox animated television series ''The Simpsons'' voiced by Pamela Hayden and created by Matt Groening. Milhouse is Bart Simpson's best friend in Mrs. Krabappel's fourth grade class at ...

, Jimbo Jones *

Maggie Roswell Maggie Roswell is an American actress, comedian, writer and producer from Los Angeles, California. She is well known for her voice work on the Fox network's animated television series ''The Simpsons'', in which she has played recurring characters ...

as Maude Flanders,

Helen Lovejoy The American animated television series ''The Simpsons'' contains a wide range of minor and supporting characters like co-workers, teachers, students, family friends, extended relatives, townspeople, local celebrities, and even animals. The writ ...

and Miss Hoover *

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 The American animated television series ''The Simpsons'' contains a wide range of minor and supporting characters like co-workers, teachers, students, family friends, extended relatives, townspeople, local celebrities, and even animals. The write ...

and

Sherri and Terri The American animated television series ''The Simpsons'' contains a wide range of minor and supporting characters like co-workers, teachers, students, family friends, extended relatives, townspeople, local celebrities, and even animals. The write ...

Tress MacNeille Teressa Claire MacNeille (née Payne; born June 20, 1951) is an American voice actress, whose credits include voicing Dot Warner on the animated television series ''Animaniacs'', Babs Bunny on ''Tiny Toon Adventures'', Chip and Gadget Hackwrench ...

as Mrs. Bloomenstein, Kim and Davey * Marcia Wallace as Edna Krabappel * Jon Lovitz as Artie Ziff, Professor Lombardo and the doughnut delivery man *

Jo Ann Harris Jo Ann Harris (born Jo Ann Marcovitch; May 27, 1949) is an American actress known for her many film and television roles beginning in 1967. In the 1971 film '' The Beguiled'' she portrayed a 17-year-old who seduced Clint Eastwood's character. H ...

as background characters

Guest stars

* Phil Hartman as Troy McClure,

Moses Moses hbo, מֹשֶׁה, Mōše; also known as Moshe or Moshe Rabbeinu (Mishnaic Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ, ); syr, ܡܘܫܐ, Mūše; ar, موسى, Mūsā; grc, Mωϋσῆς, Mōÿsēs () is considered the most important pro ...

Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...

and various others (various episodes) * Harvey Fierstein as Karl ("

Simpson and Delilah "Simpson and Delilah" is the second episode of the second season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 18, 1990. In the episode, Homer uses the Springfie ...

") *

James Earl Jones James Earl Jones (born January 17, 1931) is an American actor. He has been described as "one of America's most distinguished and versatile" actors for his performances in film, television, and theater, and "one of the greatest actors in America ...

as the mover, Serak the Preparer, and the narrator of "The Raven" (" Treehouse of Horror") * Tony Bennett as himself (" Dancin' Homer") *

Tom Poston Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

as the Capital City Goofball ("Dancin' Homer") * Daryl L. Coley as "Bleeding Gums" Murphy ("Dancin' Homer") * Ken Levine as Dan Horde ("Dancin' Homer") *

Greg Berg Greg Berg (born November 26, 1960) is an American voice actor, best known for his work in cartoons, video games Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input de ...

as Rory ("

Bart vs. Thanksgiving "Bart vs. Thanksgiving" is the seventh episode of the second season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 22, 1990. In the episode, Bart runs away fro ...

") *

Alex Rocco Alex Rocco (born Alessandro Federico Petricone Jr.; February 29, 1936 – July 18, 2015) was an American actor. Known for his distinctive, gravelly voice, he was often cast as villains, including Moe Greene in ''The Godfather'' (1972) and his Pr ...

as Roger Meyers, Jr. ("

Itchy & Scratchy & Marge "Itchy & Scratchy & Marge" is the ninth episode of the second season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on December 20, 1990. In the episode, which is a satire of ce ...

") * Larry King as himself (" One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish") * George Takei as Akira Kurosawa ("One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish") * Danny DeVito as

Herb Powell The Simpson family are the fictional characters featured in the animated television series ''The Simpsons''. The Simpsons are a nuclear family consisting of married couple Homer and Marge and their three children, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. T ...

Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" is the fifteenth episode of the second season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 21, 1991. In the episode, Grampa co ...

") * Tracey Ullman as Emily Winthrop and Sylvia Winfield (" Bart's Dog Gets an "F") *

Frank Welker Franklin Wendell Welker (born March 12, 1946) is an American voice actor. He began his career in the 1960s, and holds over 860 film, television, and video game credits as of 2022, making him one of the most prolific voice actors of all time. With ...

as animal voices (" Bart's Dog Gets an "F") * Audrey Meadows as Beatrice "Bea" Simmons ("

Old Money Old money is "the inherited wealth of established upper-class families (i.e. gentry, patriciate)" or "a person, family, or lineage possessing inherited wealth". The term typically describes a social class of the rich who have been able to ma ...

") *

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the ...

as himself (" Brush with Greatness") *

Dustin Hoffman Dustin Lee Hoffman (born August 8, 1937) is an American actor and filmmaker. As one of the key actors in the formation of New Hollywood, Hoffman is known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and emotionally vulnerable characters. He is th ...

as Mr. Bergstrom ("

Lisa's Substitute "Lisa's Substitute" is the nineteenth episode of the second season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 25, 1991. In the episode, Lisa's teacher Miss Ho ...

") * Cloris Leachman as Mrs. Glich ("

Three Men and a Comic Book "Three Men and a Comic Book" is the twenty-first and penultimate episode of the second season (and the ''de facto'' season finale) of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United S ...

") * Daniel Stern as the adult version of Bart ("Three Men and a Comic Book")

Reception

Ratings

Due to the show's success during its abbreviated first season, Fox decided to move The Simpsons from its Sunday night lineup on August 23, 1990. The move came as the still-fledgling network was adding two additional nights of programming to its lineup, one of which was Thursday. Fox placed ''The Simpsons'' in the leadoff position of their lineup for their initial Thursday offerings, with the new sitcom ''

Babes Babes may refer to: __NOTOC__ Arts and entertainment * Babes (band), an American indie pop band * "Babes", a song from the album '' The Inner Me'' by Lala Hsu * ''Babes'' (TV series), an American sitcom (1990–1991) * Babes (website), a pornograph ...

'' and a new

Aaron Spelling Aaron Spelling (April 22, 1923 June 23, 2006) was an American film and television producer and occasional actor. His productions included the TV series ''Family'' (1976–1980), '' Charlie's Angels'' (1976–1981), ''The Love Boat'' (1977–1986 ...

-produced drama, ''

Beverly Hills 90210 ''Beverly Hills, 90210'' (often referred to by its short title, ''90210'') is an American teen drama television series created by Darren Star and produced by Aaron Spelling under his production company Spelling Television. The series ran fo ...

'', offering competition for the lineups fielded by the other networks including ratings champion NBC. ''The Simpsons'' settled into the 8:00 PM position, which put it in direct competition with the five-time defending #1 show in all of television, '' The Cosby Show''. Many of the producers, including

, were against the move because ''The Simpsons'' had been in the top 10 while airing on Sunday and they felt the move would destroy its ratings. All through the summer of 1990, several news outlets published stories about the supposed "Bill vs. Bart" rivalry. At the time, NBC had 208 television stations, while Fox had only 133. Bart Gets an "F" was the first episode to air against '' The Cosby Show'' and averaged an 18.4 Nielsen rating and 29% of the audience. In the weeks ratings, it finished tied for eighth behind ''The Cosby Show'' which had an 18.5 rating. However, an estimated 33.6 million viewers watched the episode, making it the number one show in terms of actual viewers that week. At the time, it was the most watched episode in the history of

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 ...

. The next week, "

" had a 16.2 rating and 25% share while the ''Cosby Show'' managed to maintain its 18.5 rating. However, viewer-wise, ''The Simpsons'' won again with 29.9 million viewers. The next week, " Treehouse of Horror" fell in the ratings, finishing 24th. Ratings wise, new episodes of ''The Cosby Show'' beat ''The Simpsons'' every time during the second season and ''The Simpsons'' eventually fell out of the top 10. "

" would boast the only victory over ''The Cosby Show'', finishing 23rd in the weekly ratings while a rerun of ''Cosby'' finished 26th. At the end of the season, ''Cosby'' averaged as the fifth highest rated show on television while ''The Simpsons'' was 38th. It would not be until the seventeenth episode of the third season, " Homer at the Bat," that ''The Simpsons'' would beat ''The Cosby Show'' in the ratings. The show remained in its Thursday timeslot until the sixth season.

Reception

The second season of ''The Simpsons'' received critical acclaim. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the season has a 100% approval rating based on 8 critical reviews. On aggregate review website

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, a site which uses a weighted mean score, the season scored a 92/100 based on seven critics, indicating "universal acclaim". At the 7th annual Television Critics Association Awards, the second season of the show was nominated for "Outstanding Achievement in Comedy" but lost to ''

Murphy Brown ''Murphy Brown'' is an American television sitcom created by Diane English that premiered on November 14, 1988, on CBS. The series stars Candice Bergen as the eponymous Murphy Brown, a famous investigative journalist and news anchor for ''FYI'', a ...

''.

Episodes

DVD release

The DVD boxset for season two was released by

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

in the United States and Canada on August 6, 2002, eleven years after it had completed broadcast on television. As well as every episode from the season, the DVD release features bonus material including commentaries for every episode. The commentaries were recorded in late 2001.The Simpsons Archive: The Springfield Times: Simpsons DVD News Archive - Season 2
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References

;Bibliography * * *

External links

* * {{DISPLAYTITLE:''The Simpsons'' season 2 Simpsons season 02 1990 American animated television seasons 1991 American animated television seasons