The Simpsons (season 16)

The sixteenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons began airing on Sunday, November 7, 2004, and finished airing on Sunday, May 15, 2005. It contained 21 episodes, beginning with Treehouse of Horror XV. The season contains six hold-over episodes from the season 15 (FABF) production line. Season 16 was released on DVD and Blu-ray in Region 1 on December 3, 2013, Region 2 on December 2, 2013, and Region 4 on December 11, 2013.

The Simpsons
Season 16
DVD cover featuring Professor Frink
Country of originUnited States
No. of episodes21
Release
Original networkFox
Original releaseNovember 7, 2004 (2004-11-07) –
May 15, 2005 (2005-05-15)
Season chronology

Production

This season was the first in which Ian Maxtone-Graham and Matt Selman were credited as executive producers. Originally supposed to air April 10, the episode "The Father, the Son and the Holy Guest Star" was dropped from the week's schedule due to the death of Pope John Paul II, since this episode revolved around Catholicism. As a result, it aired on May 15, 2005, in the United States, while "The Girl Who Slept Too Little", the episode intended for the finale of season 16, became a season 17 episode.[1][2]

Response

Critical reception

The 16th season of The Simpsons has garnered generally positive reviews from critics, with many noting while the episodes are still good and funny they are of a lesser quality than those of the show's earlier seasons. CraveOnline gave the season a rating of 8.0 out of 10, and spoke highly of its "little pieces of continuity", "sharp parody", and "non sequitur gags".[3] Entertainment Focus gave it 4 out of 5 stars, concluding "Some people have criticised The Simpsons claiming that the show is tired and has passed its prime. We don't agree with those people at all and think The Simpsons has been remarkably consistent in terms of its humour and stories. Sure it may have been eclipsed by the edgier Family Guy in more recent years but The Simpsons is, and always will be, one of the most original and talked-about shows. The Simpsons: Season 16 is another cracking instalment of the hit show and we still, after all these years, just can't get enough.[4] High-Def Digest also gave a 4/5 star rating, saying "As mentioned in the review, there are plenty of laughs to be had in this season, but very few of them come from a place that feels truly genuine and sincere. Sixteen seasons in, it seems that the show is a mixture of been-there-done-that sentiment and perfunctory punch lines. Aside from the so-so image, there's plenty here to keep the die-hard 'Simpsons' fan happy, so this one comes recommended for fans".[5] Cinema Sentries said "This is not something to pick up if you are a general TV fan, or a casual Simpsons fan. The overall quality of the season is not high enough, and you may not get satisfactory enjoyment from them. If you sort of turned your back on the show, this probably isn't the season to check out. However, if you are a Simpsons devotee, then you will want to pick it up".[6] DVDTalk wrote "The Simpsons: Season Sixteen isn't the best of the series' run but it is a very strong collection of truly funny and frequently quite clever doses of animated comedic insanity."[7]

Awards and nominations

For his musical work in "Treehouse of Horror XV", Alf Clausen was nominated for the Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore) Emmy award in 2005.[8] In addition, Michael Price won a Writers Guild of America Award for animation for the episode "Mommie Beerest".[9] Also, for his work on "There's Something About Marrying", J. Stewart Burns was nominated for the Writers Guild of America Award for animation.[10] In 2005, "On a Clear Day I Can't See My Sister" was nominated for the Best Television Episodic Comedy Environmental Media Award.[11] Also, "Goo Goo Gai Pan" was nominated for the Turner Award of the Environmental Media Award.[11] "Future-Drama" was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming less than One Hour) In 2006, Don Payne was nominated for the Writers Guild of America Awards for animation for his work in "Thank God, It's Doomsday". In the same year, Matt Warburton was nominated for Writers Guild of America Awards for animation as well for "The Father, the Son and the Holy Guest Star".[9]

Episodes
See also: List of The Simpsons episodes
No.
overall		No. in
season		TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air dateProd.
code		U.S. viewers
(millions)
3361"Treehouse of Horror XV"David SilvermanBill OdenkirkNovember 7, 2004 (2004-11-07)FABF2311.29[12]
The Ned Zone – Ned Flanders suffers a head injury that gives him the power to foresee doom a la Christopher Walken from The Dead Zone.
Four Beheadings with a Funeral – Lisa and Bart investigate the murders of Victorian-era England's most prolific prostitutes.
In the Belly of the Boss – The Simpsons go on a fantastic voyage through Mr. Burns's body to rescue Maggie after she gets shrunk down into a pill and ingested.[13]
3372"All's Fair in Oven War"Mark KirklandMatt SelmanNovember 14, 2004 (2004-11-14)FABF2011.64[14]
Marge resorts to sabotage as payback on the contestants who sabotaged her food entry for a cook-off. Meanwhile, Homer finds his old issues of Playdude in the ceiling, which Bart finds (after Marge cuts out all of the centerfolds and other nude photos) and uses as a guide on how to live the bachelor life.[15]
Guest stars: James Caan, Thomas Pynchon and Amy Stiller
3383"Sleeping with the Enemy"Lauren MacMullanJon VittiNovember 21, 2004 (2004-11-21)FABF199.95[16]
Feeling unappreciated by her own children, Marge takes in Nelson as her surrogate child. Meanwhile, Lisa's bottom grows too fat and so she purposely starves herself in order to be skinny.[17]
3394"She Used to Be My Girl"Matthew NastukTim LongDecember 5, 2004 (2004-12-05)FABF2210.81[18]
Marge bumps into an old high-school acquaintance who is now a successful news reporter. While Marge becomes jealous of her friend's success and wonders what may have been had she not stayed with Homer, Lisa becomes inspired by this new, strong woman.[19]
Guest star: Kim Cattrall
3405"Fat Man and Little Boy"Mike B. AndersonJoel H. CohenDecember 12, 2004 (2004-12-12)FABF2110.31[20]
Bart becomes depressed about growing older after losing his last baby tooth, and, following advice from Lisa, deals with his problems by writing ironic slogans on T-shirts. Meanwhile, Homer tries to help Lisa make a science project after Bart cuts Homer out of helping him sell T-shirts.[21]
Guest star: Eric Idle
3416"Midnight Rx"Nancy KruseMarc WilmoreJanuary 16, 2005 (2005-01-16)FABF168.11[22]
Mr. Burns cancels the nuclear plant's prescription pill plan, prompting Homer and Grampa to smuggle prescription pills in from Canada to medicate the town. Mr. Burns soon regrets his actions when his faithful assistant Smithers suffers from a goiter and joins Homer and Grampa on one last heist.[23]
3427"Mommie Beerest"Mark KirklandMichael PriceJanuary 30, 2005 (2005-01-30)GABF019.97[24]
When Moe's Tavern is shut down by the health department, Homer takes out a second mortgage without consulting Marge to finance the bar's return, but Marge finds out and decides to protect her investment by becoming Moe's business partner and renovating the tavern into a pub.[25]
3438"Homer and Ned's Hail Mary Pass"Steven Dean MooreTim LongFebruary 6, 2005 (2005-02-06)GABF0223.07[26]
After Homer inadvertently performs a wild crowd-pleasing dance at a local carnival, he is hired by several sports figures to teach them how to showboat. Meanwhile, Flanders creates ultra-violent, ultra-gory Bible movies à la Passion of the Christ.[27]
Guest stars: Tom Brady, Warren Sapp, LeBron James, Yao Ming and Michelle Kwan
3449"Pranksta Rap"Mike B. AndersonMatt SelmanFebruary 13, 2005 (2005-02-13)GABF038.01[28]
Bart fakes his own kidnapping to get out of being punished for going to a rap concert, but the ruse goes too far when Milhouse's father is implicated as the kidnapper and Chief Wiggum sees this as an opportunity to make a name for himself as a competent police officer.[29]
Guest star: 50 Cent
34510"There's Something About Marrying"Nancy KruseJ. Stewart BurnsFebruary 20, 2005 (2005-02-20)GABF0410.39[30]
Homer becomes a minister after Springfield legalizes gay marriage (to boost their damaged reputation for tourists) and Patty comes out of the closet, much to the shock of her sister, Marge, who was naive to her sister's sexuality.[31]
34611"On a Clear Day I Can't See My Sister"Bob AndersonJeff WestbrookMarch 6, 2005 (2005-03-06)GABF0510.39[32]
After years of tolerating his antics, Lisa files a restraining order against Bart, forcing him to live in the backyard. Meanwhile, Homer becomes a greeter for a Walmart-esque department store called "Sprawl-Mart".
Guest star: Gary Busey[33]
34712"Goo Goo Gai Pan"Lance KramerDana Gould[lower-alpha 1]March 13, 2005 (2005-03-13)GABF0610.28[34]
The Simpsons are going to China, after Selma (who recently began menopause) lists Homer as her husband in order to adopt a Chinese baby (while Marge poses as Selma and Homer's live-in nanny).[35]
Guest stars: Lucy Liu and Robert Wagner
Note: This episode was removed from the Disney+ streaming platform in Hong Kong due to references to the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.[36]
34813"Mobile Homer"Raymond S. PersiTim LongMarch 20, 2005 (2005-03-20)GABF078.49[37]
After Homer buys an RV with the family's insurance money, Marge kicks him out of the house and Bart and Lisa, who worry their parents may get divorced, drive the RV back to the dealers to make sure it does not break up their family.[38]
34914"The Seven-Beer Snitch"Matthew NastukBill OdenkirkApril 3, 2005 (2005-04-03)GABF087.48[39]
After Shelbyville accuses Springfield of being hicks, Marge convinces the townspeople to fund a Frank Gehry-designed concert hall, which is then converted to a prison when the concert hall goes bankrupt on opening night. Meanwhile, Bart and Lisa investigate Snowball II's recent weight gain.[40]
Guest stars: Frank Gehry, Charles Napier, and Joe Mantegna
35015"Future-Drama"Mike B. AndersonMatt SelmanApril 17, 2005 (2005-04-17)GABF128.31[41]
Through Professor Frink's future machine, Bart and Lisa see their lives in the year 2013, where Bart steals Lisa's chances at going to an Ivy League school in order to impress a skater girl named Jenda while Homer (now separated from Marge and living in an underwater apartment) fights Krusty the Clown after Marge begins dating him.[42]
Guest stars: Amy Poehler and John DiMaggio
35116"Don't Fear the Roofer"Mark KirklandKevin CurranMay 1, 2005 (2005-05-01)GABF1011.92[43]
Sick of being unwanted, Homer befriends a man who works as a roofer. No one else can see him and Homer's insistence that the man exists prompts everyone to think he has gone crazy.[44]
Guest stars: Ray Romano and Stephen Hawking
35217"The Heartbroke Kid"Steven Dean MooreIan Maxtone-GrahamMay 1, 2005 (2005-05-01)GABF1110.79[43]
Springfield Elementary signs a deal with a snack company to install vending machines in the schools—with Bart taking advantage of the situation to the point that he becomes obese and suffers a heart attack.[45]
Guest star: Albert Brooks
35318"A Star Is Torn"Nancy KruseCarolyn OmineMay 8, 2005 (2005-05-08)GABF138.72[46]
Lisa participates in a singing competition with Homer as her manager, but helps Lisa's rival after being fired.[47]
Guest star: Fantasia Barrino
35419"Thank God, It's Doomsday"Michael MarcantelDon PayneMay 8, 2005 (2005-05-08)GABF1410.05[46]
Homer sees a movie about the end of the world and fears the same thing will happen in real life after seeing a chain of random occurrences (celebrities ["stars"] falling from the sky, raining blood, a man in a realistic devil costume) and doing a complicated math equation that predicts the end will come on May 18th, but when the end does not come, Homer discovers a flaw in the equation and ends up in Heaven where he meets God and learns that God is planning The Rapture.[48]
35520"Home Away from Homer"Bob AndersonJoel H. CohenMay 15, 2005 (2005-05-15)GABF158.17[49]
Flanders rents a room to two college girls who, without his knowledge, use the spare room to broadcast live softcore pornographic web videos of themselves. Upset that no one in town told him this (and that Homer was the one who told everyone), Ned moves to the seemingly perfect town of Humbleton, Pennsylvania, while a brash coach moves into Flanders' house and begins harassing Homer the same way Homer harassed Ned.[50]
Guest star: Jason Bateman
35621"The Father, the Son, and the Holy Guest Star"Mike Frank PolcinoMatt WarburtonMay 15, 2005 (2005-05-15)GABF099.69[49]
Bart gets expelled from school and transfers to a Catholic school, where a hip priest named Father Sean tries to convert Bart and Homer to Catholicism, which worries Marge when she believes that Catholics do not go to the same heaven as Protestants and discovers that Catholic women do not use birth control.[51]
Guest star: Liam Neeson
  1. Credited as "Lawrence Talbot"

Blu-ray and DVD releases

The DVD and Blu-ray box set for season sixteen was released by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment in the United States and Canada on Tuesday, December 3, 2013, 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 Professor Frink, and a special limited edition "embossed head case" package was also released.

The Complete Sixteenth Season
Set Details Special Features
  • 21 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
Release Dates
Region 1 Region 2 Region 4
Tuesday, December 3, 2013[52] Monday, December 2, 2013[53] Wednesday, December 11, 2013[54]

References
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Bibliography
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