The fourteenth season of the American animated sitcom The Simpsons aired on Fox between November 3, 2002, and May 18, 2003. It was produced by Gracie Films and 20th Century Fox Television. The showrunner for the fourteenth production season was Al Jean, who executive produced 21 of 22 episodes. The other episode, "How I Spent My Strummer Vacation", was run by Mike Scully. The fourteenth season has met with mostly positive reviews and won two Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming less than One Hour), four Annie Awards and a Writers Guild of America Award. This season contains the show's 300th episode, "Barting Over".

Production Writers credited with episodes in the fourteenth season included J. Stewart Burns, Kevin Curran, John Frink & Don Payne, Dana Gould, Dan Greaney, Brian Kelley, Tim Long, Ian Maxtone-Graham, Carolyn Omine, Mike Scully, Matt Selman, John Swartzwelder, Matt Warburton and Marc Wilmore. Freelance writers included Brian Pollack & Mert Rich, Sam O'Neal & Neal Boushall, Dennis Snee and Allen Glazier. Animation directors included Bob Anderson, Mike B. Anderson, Chris Clements, Mark Kirkland, Lance Kramer, Nancy Kruse, Lauren MacMullan, Pete Michels, Steven Dean Moore, Matthew Nastuk, Michael Polcino, Jim Reardon and David Silverman.

Season 14 marked the show's permanent switch to digital ink and paint, starting with "The Great Louse Detective."

Four episodes ("How I Spent My Strummer Vacation", "Bart vs. Lisa vs. the Third Grade", "Large Marge" and "Helter Shelter") were holdovers from season 13's production run and used traditional cel animation. Another season 13 holdover episode ("Treehouse of Horror XIII") used digital animation as a test run.

"Barting Over", which aired February 16, 2003, was promoted as the show's milestone 300th episode by Fox. However, "The Strong Arms of the Ma" was the 300th episode to be broadcast. According to Ben Rayner of the Toronto Star, "It's very difficult to find a straight answer why milestone status has been bestowed on "Barting Over". Some rationalize that the 300 figure doesn't account for two early holiday specials, Fox maintains that there was some discrepancy between the original, scheduled broadcast date- deep in the heart of the ratings-mad February sweeps- and the number of episodes that were eventually aired leading up to it." "Barting Over" refers to the error when Marge tells Lisa "I can't count the number of times (Homer) has done something crazy like this." Lisa responds that it is 300, to which Marge replies that she "could have sworn it's been 302".

Voice cast & characters

This season saw the return of voice actress Maggie Roswell, who had left the show during season 11 because of a contract dispute. It is also the last season to feature Jan Hooks voicing Manjula Nahasapeemapetilon. Simpsons co-creator James L. Brooks voices himself in an episode.

Main cast Dan Castellaneta as Homer Simpson, Grampa Simpson, Gil Gunderson, Mayor Quimby, Rich Texan, Sideshow Mel, Kodos, Groundskeeper Willie, Krusty the Clown, Barney Gumble, Yes Guy, Squeaky-Voiced Teen, Santa's Little Helper, Blue-Haired Lawyer, Arnie Pye, Louie, Count Dracula, Hans Moleman, Rabbi Krustofsky, Bill and various others Julie Kavner as Marge Simpson, Patty Bouvier and Selma Bouvier Nancy Cartwright as Bart Simpson, Ralph Wiggum, Nelson Muntz, Kearney Zzyzwicz, Todd Flanders, Database and various others Yeardley Smith as Lisa Simpson Hank Azaria as Moe Szyslak, Chief Wiggum, Officer Lou, Comic Book Guy, Professor Frink, Luigi Risotto, Captain McCallister, Bumblebee Man, Disco Stu, Carl Carlson, Raphael, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, Superintendent Chalmers, Dr. Velimirovic, Snake, Drederick Tatum, Cletus Spuckler, Old Jewish Man, Duffman, Frank Grimes, Dr. Nick Riviera, Johnny Tightlips, Julio, Les Moore, Kirk Van Houten, Pyro and various others Harry Shearer as Ned Flanders, Kent Brockman, Lenny Leonard, Dr. Hibbert, Mr. Burns, Kang, Otto Mann, Principal Skinner, Rainier Wolfcastle, Reverend Lovejoy, Waylon Smithers, Judge Snyder, God, Legs, Marty, Dave Shutton, Officer Eddie and various others.

Recurring Pamela Hayden as Milhouse Van Houten, Jimbo Jones, Rod Flanders, Sarah Wiggum and various others Maggie Roswell as The Ghost of Maude Flanders, Helen Lovejoy, Luann Van Houten and various others Russi Taylor as Martin Prince and Sherri and Terri Tress MacNeille as Governor Mary Bailey, Cookie Kwan, Lindsey Naegle, Dolph Shapiro, Agnes Skinner, Brandine Spuckler, Booberella, Miss Springfield and various others Marcia Wallace as Edna Krabappel Karl Wiedergott as Capital City Goofball and additional characters Marcia Mitzman Gaven as Helen Lovejoy, Miss Hoover and various others ("Large Marge")

Guest cast

Joe Mantegna as Fat Tony (3 episodes) Jane Kaczmarek as Judge Constance Harm (2 episodes) Elvis Costello, Mick Jagger, Lenny Kravitz, Tom Petty, Keith Richards, and Brian Setzer as themselves ("How I Spent My Strummer Vacation") Jan Hooks as Manjula Nahasapeemapetilon ("Large Marge") Burt Ward as Robin ("Large Marge") Adam West as Batman ("Large Marge") Baha Men as themselves ("Large Marge") David Lander as Squiggy ("Helter Shelter") Larry Holmes as himself ("Helter Shelter") Kelsey Grammer as Sideshow Bob ("The Great Louse Detective") Little Richard as himself ("Special Edna") Elliott Gould as himself ("The Dad Who Knew Too Little") Pamela Reed as Ruth Powers ("The Strong Arms of the Ma") Ken Burns as himself ("Pray Anything") Lisa Leslie as herself ("Pray Anything") Travis Barker as himself ("Barting Over") Tom DeLonge as himself ("Barting Over") Mark Hoppus as himself ("Barting Over") Tony Hawk as himself ("Barting Over") George Plimpton as himself ("I'm Spelling as Fast as I Can") James L. Brooks as himself ("A Star Is Born Again") Helen Fielding as herself ("A Star is Born Again") Marisa Tomei as Sara Sloane ("A Star is Born Again") Eric Idle as Declan Desmond ("'Scuse Me While I Miss the Sky") Scott Thompson as Grady("Three Gays of the Condo") "Weird Al" Yankovic as himself ("Three Gays of the Condo") Terry W. Greene as Large Gay Military Man ("Three Gays of the Condo") David Byrne as himself("Dude, Where's My Ranch?") Andy Serkis as Cleanie ("Dude, Where's My Ranch?") Jonathan Taylor Thomas as Luke Stetson("Dude, Where's My Ranch?") Stacy Keach as Howard K. Duff VII ("Old Yeller-Belly") John Kassir as Various Animals ("Old Yeller-Belly") Steve Buscemi as himself("Brake My Wife, Please") Jackson Browne as himself ("Brake My Wife, Please")

Reception Season 14 received generally positive reviews. High-Def Digest was positive recommending the set and writing "The show has numerous moments that make you laugh." and gave it 3.5/5 stars. Blu-ray.com also gave season 14 3.5/5 stars who thought "After rewatching all of it for the first time since this batch of episodes originally aired, I have to say—season fourteen has a pretty good laugh-per- minute ratio." Casey Broadwater also felt it was an improvement over the Scully seasons and season 13. Collider gave the season a B−. The reviewer thought "As far as the overall quality of the season, it isn't as consistently good as some earlier seasons but in the evolution of the show and the characters, it's solid.". Jackson Cresswell thought "C.E.D'oh" was the best of the season along with "Pray Anything" and "Brake My Wife, Please" while citing "Three Gays of the Condo", "Large Marge", and "Helter Shelter" as the worst. Ryan Keefer of DVD Talk gave it a 4/5 calling it "a good spot to start brushing up on things".

Awards

Episodes of the fourteenth season won several awards, including two Primetime Emmy Awards. "Three Gays of the Condo" became the eighth episode of the series to win the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming less than One Hour). Hank Azaria won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for voicing various characters in the episode "Moe Baby Blues". It was Azaria's third Emmy in that category. The song "Everybody Hates Ned Flanders" (music by Alf Clausen, lyrics by Ian Maxtone-Graham and Ken Keeler) from "Dude, Where's My Ranch?" received a nomination for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music and Lyrics.

The show also won four Annie Awards, including its 12th consecutive in the Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Television Production category. The other awards won were Best Directing in an Animated Television Production (Steven Dean Moore for 'Scuse Me While I Miss the Sky"), Best Music in an Animated Television Production (Alf Clausen, Ken Keeler and Ian Maxtone-Graham for "Dude, Where's My Ranch?") and Best Writing in an Animated Television Production (Matt Warburton for "Three Gays of the Condo"). "The Dad Who Knew Too Little" (written by Matt Selman) won a Writers Guild of America Award in 2004 in the animation category. "Moe Baby Blues", written by J. Stewart Burns, was also nominated in the category.

The series was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Musical or Comedy Series in 2003. It was the first time The Simpsons had been nominated for the award. The episode Scuse Me While I Miss the Sky", nominated for an Environmental Media Award for Best Television Episodic Comedy. Chris Ledesma was nominated for the Golden Reel Award for Best Sound Editing in Television Animation – Music for his work on "Large Marge".

Episodes

Blu-ray and DVD release The DVD and Blu-ray boxset for season fourteen was released by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment in the United States and Canada on Tuesday, December 6, 2011, 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 scenes, animatics, and commentaries for every episode. The boxart features Kang, and a special limited edition "embossed head case" package was also released. The Complete Fourteenth Season Set detailsSpecial features 22 episodes 3-disc set (Blu-ray) 4-disc set (DVD) 1.33:1 aspect ratio AUDIO (DVD) English 5.1 Dolby Digital Spanish 2.0 Dolby Surround French 2.0 Dolby Surround AUDIO (Blu-Ray) English 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital French 5.1 Dolby Digital SUBTITLES English SDH Spanish Introduction from Matt Groening Optional commentaries for all 22 episodes Animation showcases for "Moe Baby Blues" Deleted scenes Treehouse of Horror XIII How I Spent My Strummer Vacation Large Marge Helter Shelter The Great Louse Detective Special Edna the Strong Arms of the Ma Pray Anything Barting Over A Star Is Born Again Mr. Spritz Goes to Washington 'Scuse Me While I Miss the Sky Dude, Where's My Ranch? The Bart of War Special Language Feature Three Gays and the Condo Portuguese 2.0 Dolby Surround Czech 2.0 Dolby Surround German 2.0 Dolby Surround Italian 2.0 Dolby Surround Featurettes It's Only Rock 'N' Roll The 300th Episode In the Beginning The Halloween Classics Foolish Earthlings Sketch Galleries Bonus Episodes (Blu-ray only) Treehouse of Horror V Treehouse of Horror VI Release dates Region 1 Region 2 Region 4 Tuesday, December 6, 2011 Monday, October 10, 2011 Wednesday, November 2, 2011

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