The fifth season of the American animated television series '' The Simpsons'' originally aired on the

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 ...

network between September 30, 1993, and May 19, 1994. 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 fifth production season was David Mirkin who executive produced 20 episodes. Al Jean and Mike Reiss executive produced the remaining two, which were both hold overs that were produced for the previous season. The season contains some of the series' most acclaimed and popular episodes, including "

Cape Feare "Cape Feare" is the second episode of the fifth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 7, 1993. The episode features guest star Kelsey Grammer i ...

", "

Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy "Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy" is the fourteenth episode of the fifth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons'', and the 95th episode overall. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 17, 1994. Li ...

", "

Homer Goes to College "Homer Goes to College" is the third episode of the fifth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 14, 1993. In the episode, Homer causes a nuclear ...

", "

Deep Space Homer "Deep Space Homer" is the fifteenth episode of the fifth season of American animated television series ''The Simpsons'', which was first broadcast on Fox in the United States on February 24, 1994. In the episode, NASA selects Homer Simpson to p ...

", and " Rosebud". It also includes the 100th episode, "

Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song" is the nineteenth episode of the fifth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons'', and the 100th episode overall. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on Ap ...

". The season was nominated for two

Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime ...

s and won 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 ...

for Best Animated Television Program as well as an Environmental Media Award and a

Genesis Award The Genesis Awards are awarded annually by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) to individuals in the major news and entertainment media for producing outstanding works which raise public awareness of animal issues. Presented by the HSUS ...

. The DVD box set was released in Region 1 on December 21, 2004, Region 2 on March 21, 2005, and Region 4 on March 23, 2005.

Production

The season was the first to be executive produced by David Mirkin, who would also run the following season. Several of the show's original writers who had worked on ''The Simpsons'' since the first season had left following the completion of season four. "

", which was the final episode to be produced by the "original team", aired during this season as a hold over. Jay Kogen, Wallace Wolodarsky, Sam Simon and

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 ...

wrote their final episodes for the season four production run. Show runners Al Jean and Mike Reiss left to produce their own series '' The Critic'', but returned in subsequent seasons to produce more ''Simpsons'' episodes, and Jean again became the show runner starting with season thirteen. George Meyer and

John Swartzwelder John Joseph Swartzwelder Jr. (born February 8, 1949) is an American comedy writer and novelist, best known for his work on the animated television series ''The Simpsons''. Born in Seattle, Washington, Swartzwelder began his career working in adv ...

Conan O'Brien Conan Christopher O'Brien (born April 18, 1963) is an American television host, comedian, writer, and producer. He is best known for having hosted late-night talk shows for almost 28 years, beginning with ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' (19 ...

Frank Mula Frank Mula (January 20, 1950 – December 17, 2021) was an American television writer. He wrote for '' Cosby'', ''Madame's Place'', ''Grand'', ''The Simpsons'', and created the series '' Local Heroes'' which lasted 7 episodes. Life and career Mu ...

and future show runners

Bill Oakley William Lloyd Oakley (born February 27, 1966) is an American television writer and producer, known for his work on the animated comedy series ''The Simpsons''. Oakley and Josh Weinstein became best friends and writing partners at St. Albans Sc ...

and Josh Weinstein all stayed with the show following the previous season. O'Brien would leave the series halfway through the production of the season to host his own show on NBC, '' Late Night with Conan O'Brien''. He had been working on "

" when he found out he was chosen to host ''Late Night'' and was forced to walk out on his contract. He later had a cameo appearance in "

Bart Gets Famous "Bart Gets Famous" is the twelfth episode of the fifth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 3, 1994. In the episode, Bart gets a job as Krusty ...

". He recorded his part while ''Late Night'' was on the air, but O'Brien thought that his show might be canceled by the time the episode aired. A whole new group of writers were brought in for this season.

Jace Richdale Jace Richdale is an American producer and writer. He served as co-executive producer for seasons 5 and 6 of ''The Simpsons'' and wrote the season five episode "Burns' Heir". He was a part of the ''Simpsons'' writing staff during seasons 5, 6, 9 and ...

was the first to be hired by Mirkin and others to receive their first writing credits were Greg Daniels and

Dan McGrath Dan McGrath is an American television writer, educator and stage director. He is known primarily for his work as a writer/producer for several TV series including ''The Simpsons'', ''Saturday Night Live'', ''King of the Hill'', ''Gravity Falls'' ...

. Mike Scully wrote "

Lisa's Rival "Lisa's Rival" is the second episode of the sixth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on September 11, 1994. Winona Ryder guest stars as Allison Taylor, ...

", which was produced for this season, but aired the next. Two freelance writers wrote episodes: David Richardson wrote "

Homer Loves Flanders "Homer Loves Flanders" is the sixteenth episode of the The Simpsons (season 5), fifth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network in the United States on Marc ...

" while Bill Canterbury received two writing credits. Bob Anderson and Susie Dietter, who had previously worked on the show as part of the animation staff, would direct their first episodes. Davidmirkin

The season started off with " Homer's Barbershop Quartet" which was chosen as the season premiere because it guest starred

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian c ...

. The Fox executives had wanted to premiere with "Homer Goes to College" because it was a '' National Lampoon's Animal House'' parody, but the writers felt "Homer's Barbershop Quartet" would be a better episode because of Harrison's involvement. Even though the episode aired during the beginning of the fifth season, "

" was the last episode written by the original team of writers and guest starred Kelsey Grammer as

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 ...

. Compared to previously produced episodes, the episode featured several elements that could be described as cartoonish. This was a result of the staff's careless attitude towards the end of season four as the majority of them were leaving which, combined with the shortness of the episode, led to the creation of the

rake Rake may refer to: * Rake (stock character), a man habituated to immoral conduct * Rake (theatre), the artificial slope of a theatre stage Science and technology * Rake receiver, a radio receiver * Rake (geology), the angle between a feature on a ...

sequence, became a memorable moment for this episode. "Cape Feare" and " Rosebud" were both broadcast early in the season and are amongst the series' most acclaimed episodes, both having placed highly on ''Entertainment Weekly'''s list of the top 25 episodes. The episode "

" was the only episode to be written by David Mirkin and was controversial amongst the show's writing staff when the episode was in production. Some of the writers felt that having Homer go into space was too "large" an idea. Matt Groening felt that the idea was so big that it gave the writers "nowhere to go". As a result, every aspect of the show was worked on to make the concept work. The writers focused more upon the relationship between Homer and his family and Homer's attempts to be a hero. "

" was the series' 100th episode. It was chosen because it heavily featured Bart and was promoted as "Bart's biggest prank ever," even though Bart did not actually pull any pranks in the episode; rather, Bart accidentally let his dog loose, eventually resulting in Principal Skinner's firing. Cletus Spuckler and the Rich Texan were the only recurring characters to be introduced this season, first appearing in "

Bart Gets an Elephant "Bart Gets an Elephant" is the seventeenth episode of the fifth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 31, 1994. In this episode, Bart wins a radio ...

", and "

$pringfield #REDIRECT $pringfield (or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling) {{R from move ...

" respectively. Other minor characters who first appeared this season were Luigi and

Baby Gerald 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 ...

. Two more episodes, "

Bart of Darkness "Bart of Darkness" is the first episode of the sixth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on September 4, 1994. In the episode, Bart breaks his leg and be ...

" and "

" were produced as part of the season five (1F) production run, but both aired the following season.

Voice cast & characters

Main cast

* Dan Castellaneta as

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, Barney Gumble and various others * Julie Kavner as Marge Simpson, Patty Bouvier, Selma Bouvier 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, Comic Book Guy,

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 ...

Bumblebee Man 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 various others * 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, Reverend Lovejoy, and various others

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 ...

as Martin Prince 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 as Agnes Skinner * Marcia Wallace as Edna Krabappel * Joe Mantegna as Fat Tony *

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 Santa's Little Helper, various animals

Guest stars

* Phil Hartman as Troy McClure,

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 ...

(various episodes) *

as himself (" Homer's Barbershop Quartet") * David Crosby as himself ("Homer's Barbershop Quartet") * The Dapper Dans as the singing voices of the Be Sharps ("Homer's Barbershop Quartet") * Kelsey Grammer as

") * The Ramones as themselves (" Rosebud") * Pamela Reed as Ruth Powers (" Marge on the Lam") * George Fenneman as the narrator ("Marge on the Lam") *

Albert Brooks Albert Brooks (born Albert Lawrence Einstein ; July 22, 1947) is an American actor and filmmaker. He received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for 1987's '' Broadcast News'' and was widely praised for his performance as a ...

as Brad Goodman (" Bart's Inner Child") *

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the honor ...

as himself ("Bart's Inner Child") * Ernest Borgnine as himself ("

Boy-Scoutz 'n the Hood "Boy-Scoutz 'n the Hood" is the eighth episode of the fifth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 18, 1993. In the episode, Bart, intoxicated f ...

") *

Michelle Pfeiffer Michelle Marie Pfeiffer (; born April 29, 1958) is an American actress and producer. A prolific performer whose List of Michelle Pfeiffer performances, screen work spans over four decades, she became one of Hollywood's most bankable stars and ...

as Mindy Simmons ("

The Last Temptation of Homer "The Last Temptation of Homer" is the ninth episode of the fifth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on December 9, 1993. In the episode, a female employee ...

") *

Werner Klemperer Werner Klemperer (March 22, 1920 – December 6, 2000) was an American actor. He was known for playing Colonel Wilhelm Klink on the CBS television sitcom ''Hogan's Heroes'', for which he twice won the award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in ...

Colonel Klink The following is a list of characters from '' Hogan's Heroes'', an American sitcom television series which starred Bob Crane, Werner Klemperer and John Banner, and featured Robert Clary, Richard Dawson, Ivan Dixon, and Larry Hovis. It ran for s ...

("The Last Temptation of Homer") * Gerry Cooney as himself ("

$pringfield (or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling) #REDIRECT $pringfield (or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling) {{R from move ...

") *

Robert Goulet Robert Gérard Goulet (November 26, 1933 October 30, 2007) was an American and Canadian singer and actor of French-Canadian ancestry. Goulet was born and raised in Lawrence, Massachusetts until age 13, and then spent his formative years in Cana ...

as himself ("$pringfield (or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling)") * Sam Neill as Molloy ("

Homer the Vigilante "Homer the Vigilante" is the eleventh episode of the fifth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on January 6, 1994. In the episode, a crime wave caused by ...

") *

as himself ("

") * James Woods as himself ("

Homer and Apu "Homer and Apu" is the thirteenth episode of the fifth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 10, 1994. In the episode, Homer participates in a ...

") *

Kathleen Turner Mary Kathleen Turner (born June 19, 1954) is an American actress. She has received various accolades, including two Golden Globe Awards, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, and two Tony Awards. Turner became widely k ...

as Stacy Lovell ("

") * Buzz Aldrin as himself ("

") * James Taylor as himself ("Deep Space Homer")

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the fifth season of ''The Simpsons'' has a 100% approval rating based on 5 critical reviews.

Awards

''The Simpsons'' won an

for Best Animated Television Production, while David Silverman received a nomination for "Best Individual Achievement for Creative Supervision in the Field of Animation". "

" won both an Environmental Media Award for "Best Television Episodic Comedy" and a

for "Best Television Comedy Series". At the

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 ...

and Greg Daniels received a nomination in the "Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music and Lyrics" category for the song "Who Needs The Kwik-E-Mart?" from the episode "

". Clausen also was nominated for "Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore)" for the episode "

". The producers submitted episodes for " Outstanding Comedy Series" category rather than the " Outstanding Animated Program" as they had previously done and were not nominated. The series was also nominated for a

Saturn Award The Saturn Awards are American awards presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. The awards were created to honor science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, but have since grown to reward other films be ...

for "Best Genre Television Series". At the 10th annual Television Critics Association Awards, the fifth season of the show was nominated for "Outstanding Achievement in Comedy", but lost to '' Frasier''.

Ratings

Like the previous three seasons, ''The Simpsons'' aired Thursday at 8:00 pm in the United States and was coupled with the series ''

The Sinbad Show ''The Sinbad Show'' is an American sitcom starring comedian David "Sinbad" Adkins that was premiered on September 16 of 1993 on Fox. The show's main plot is about a bachelor taking in two orphaned children. Chuck Brown performed this sitcom's the ...

''. " Homer's Barbershop Quartet", the season premiere, finished 30th in the ratings with a Nielsen rating of 12.7. "

Treehouse of Horror IV "Treehouse of Horror IV" is the fifth episode of the fifth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons'' and the fourth episode in the ''Treehouse of Horror'' series of Halloween specials. It originally aired on the Fox net ...

", which was broadcast on October 28, was the highest rated episode of the season, finishing 17th with a Nielsen rating of 14.5 and finishing ninth in terms of viewers, being seen by approximately 24 million. "

Secrets of a Successful Marriage "Secrets of a Successful Marriage" is the twenty-second and final episode of the fifth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 19, 1994. In the episode ...

", the season finale, aired during the week of May 16–22, 1994 and finished 43rd with a Nielsen rating of 9.8.

Episodes

DVD release

The DVD boxset for season five 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 December 21, 2004, ten years after it had completed broadcast on television. As well as every episode from the season, the DVD release features 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 ...

s, animatics, and commentaries for every episode. The menus are a different format than the previous seasons, and that format would be used in every set after. It is the last box set that features the Simpson family on television.

References

Bibliography

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Simpsons season 5 Simpsons season 05 1993 American animated television seasons 1994 American animated television seasons