The Simpsons' twentieth season aired on Fox from September 28, 2008 to May 17, 2009. With this season, the show tied Gunsmoke as the longest running American primetime television series in terms of total number of seasons. The season was released on BD January 12, 2010, making this the first season released on BD. It was released on DVD in region 1 on January 12, 2010, and in region 4 on January 20, 2010. The season was only released on DVD in region 2 in a few areas.
It contained nine holdover episodes from the season 19 (KABF) production line.
Production on the season was delayed because of contract negotiations with the six main voice actors. The dispute was resolved, and the actors' salary was raised to $400,000 (US) per episode. The delay in production caused the planned 22 episodes to be shortened to 20. In addition, voice actor Dan Castellaneta was credited as a consulting producer for the first time. The main cast consisted of Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria, and Harry Shearer. The recurring cast consisted of Marcia Wallace, Pamela Hayden, Tress MacNeille, Russi Taylor, and Karl Wiedergott.
The Nanny is an American television sitcom originally broadcast 1993–1999, starring Fran Drescher as Fran Fine, a Jewish Queens native who becomes the nanny of three children from the New York/British high society.
Created and executive produced by Drescher and her then-husband Peter Marc Jacobson, The Nanny took much of its inspiration from Drescher's personal life growing up in Queens, involving names and characteristics based on her relatives and friends. The show earned a Rose d'Or and one Emmy Award, out of a total of thirteen nominations, and Drescher was twice nominated for a Golden Globe and an Emmy. The sitcom has also spawned several foreign adaptations, loosely inspired by the original scripts.
Jewish-American Fran Fine, fresh out of her job as a bridal consultant in her fiance's shop, first appears on the door step of Broadway producer Maxwell Sheffield (Charles Shaughnessy) peddling cosmetics, and quickly stumbles upon the opportunity to become the nanny for his three children. Soon Fran, with her off-beat nurturing and no-nonsense honesty, touches the whole family as she gives the prim-and-proper Maxwell and his children a dose of 'Queens logic,' helping them to become a healthy, happy family; a family that she later fully joins when she becomes engaged and then married to Maxwell. She then adds to this family of five when she and Maxwell have fraternal twins.
(So that was it. I was on my own, just me and my girl. I had a little money left in my savings from all the checks my parents sent when I was young. My grandparents never used them, they just put them in saving account for me. And I never touched it. I guess because I always had a feeling that something like this would happen someday. Oh well. We were happy and maybe a little scared. We were kids out just out of high school. We just really didn't know what to do. I got a job at a coffee shop. Emily got a job at a pet shop. I mean, we weren't making a lot of money, but we were surviving)
[Shrink]
Well, so he just left?..
[Patient]
See there comes a point in everyone's life
Where they just start seeing things differently
Or you know they're put in a situation where they have to
I guess it was just his night
[Shrink]
If you don't mind, whats his name?
[Patient]
His name is Matt, and I think his fathers name is Matt too, but I don't know
[Shrink]
Okay, so what happened next, where did he go from there?
[Patient]
Well he stood in his girlfriend's dorm room for a little while
He couldn't stay there long
I think her father actually felt bad for him
So he offered him a job as a file clerk at his law firm
Nothing special, just sorting papers
And her dad made him a deal he said, if you take this job seriously
And if you start going to school and you're serious about my daughter
I'll help you guys out with an apartment
So he took it, and maybe Matt really didn't want that
Maybe he didn't really want to go to school or work at a place like that
But he also wanted to prove to his father that he was better off without him
That he wasn't a waste
And he also knew that making that deal with her dad would make his dad so much more mad
Because he hated her father
He always said how lazy he was, and he steals peoples money
And he doesn't have a real job, and he doesn't know what it feels like to work
I guess that's the motivation he needed to straighten out his life
But I don't think they ever talked again anyway
So I don't think it really mattered
(You see the deal was, her parents would take care of the kid until they got their feet on the ground. Cause they both have full time jobs and weren't financially stable yet, so they say. But her mom would always ask, "when are you gonna pick up Dean?" the baby. And they'd say they didn't have the time or they weren't ready. Ya know time passed quick and he wasn't a baby anymore. None of them really had the heart to tell him that his parents were too busy for him, didn't have time for him. He never knew that his aunt and uncle were actually his mom and dad.)
So they never picked him up?
(No, but they did however send checks every week to pay for all his expenses.)
Well that's good, but I thought they couldn't afford it, that was why they couldn't pick him up right?
(Yeah)
(Yeah I guess. Started a life, went to school, had a job, got married. He was even going to be a lawyer. Everything seemed great. The only problem was he went from wanting nothing to wanting everything, more than he even knew what to do with. Sometimes when you get that taste for wanting things, you only want for yourself. And if you ask me that's where it gets dangerous.)
So what you're saying is, he grew up his whole life being tortured practically.
And as soon as he finally gets a taste of what normal life is like,
something huge happens, like an unexpected baby.
He gets scared, he thinks he can't do it, so he panics.
And still being a kid himself, he does what any kid should do, he asks his parents for help.
It seems pretty normal to me.
(No, you don't understand. You see they didn't just leave him there for a weekend
while they got the house straightened up for him.
They left him for weeks, for months. They left him for years.)
So wow, that's a pretty hard way to find something like that out.
(Yeah I know. You see the best part, is when they were telling me, I guess my reaction wasn't the most positive. So they tried playing this guilt trip like...
[continued on song "You Don't Know What It's Like"]
...You don't know what it was like, blah blah blah blah.)
(Well the next few years were probably the slowest, most uncomfortable years of my life. I mean, they tried to make it easy but they gave up pretty quickly. And I'm not gonna lie, I didn't make it easy on them either. I could just never forgive them. You know. But I'm the kinda person who believes everything happens for a reason. I'm kinda glad that I was so miserable counting down the days till I was 18, ya know, so I could leave. Cause the way it worked for me, it was this one day where I was in the right place at the right time.
Now I'm not the type of person to just go get what I want. I usually wait for it to casually come to me. Something hit me that day like a ton of bricks. I know it sounds cheesy, but I fell in love. And that's what kept me there for the next few years. I would've run away if it wasn't for her.)
Well it was just the same as any day I was looking to run far from the school
And I was at the door ready to go when I heard some books hit the floor
So then I stopped, jaw dropped, I said, this must be love
Cause when I pulled myself together you were already gone
I screamed wait a minute, listen to the voice in my head
It said, kid you better run cause she's getting away with it
(So I chased after her, running down the hallways. Running up to her and grabbed her arm. Actually just stood there frozen, didn't know what to say to her. I think she kinda felt the same thing so it worked out. I felt like I had a reason to finally be happy, you know. She would be the first person in my life who was completely honest with me. I had a reason to trust. When I was with her it just felt like my problems with my parents didn't seem to big anymore. Oh well, I just didn't care about them.)
So what was it like for Dean?
(Well he kept to himself most of the time. He watched a lot of TV. He wasn't like umm...)
Wait I got it. He didn't have many friends. And his mom and dad slash grandma and grandpa always were just a little too tired to wanna play. So when he was around kids, he would just sit in the corner and occupy himself. Because that's all he knew how to do. I mean how would he know any different.
(Wow, that's uh, pretty good.)
Yeah, I can relate.
(Well sadly, awhile after his 12th birthday. His grandmother suddenly got sick.)
And that's how...
(And that's how.)
(After I learned about my parents, they asked me to live with them. And I didn't want to but I really had no choice. So I finished out the school year, where I was, I lived with my grandfather, and uh, then I moved in with them. And you know what, it was great. I was happy. I was happy and I knew it. I clapped my hands.)
(Yeah, if it was only like that. Oh well. It was hard then, and I was already really bad with people skills. And I had to start all over again pretty much. Anything I felt secure with was gone. And you know what it was probably the only time in my life that I was actually excited to go to school. Not to learn, or get made fun of, but to get out of the house and get away from them. And now that I think about it, I don't think school was any easier.)
It used to be unreal
Fairy tales of yesterday
I washed away with all my pain
But they won't ever fade away
Once freezing some ideals
The cold wind took them all away
No sunshine to brighten up our memories
Who can turn back into old times
We pray for a dying hour
This season is not the theme
We only pray to cry our dream
Upon this emptiness
We pray for clouds that hug
The thunder's trumpet roars
The rain comes down upon my head
Tonight we gonna pray
We pray for the end of the season
The sound of the coming darkness
A crown of thorns which burns
That falls into the soul like rain
The day that the sun will depart
Once freezing some ideals
The cold wind took them all away
No sunshine to brighten up our memories
Who can turn back into old times
So what was it like for Dean?
(Well he kept to himself most of the time. He watched a lot of TV. He wasn't like umm...)
Wait I got it. He didn't have many friends. And his mom and dad slash grandma and grandpa always were just a little too tired to wanna play. So when he was around kids, he would just sit in the corner and occupy himself. Because that's all he knew how to do. I mean how would he know any different.
(Wow, that's uh, pretty good.)
Yeah, I can relate.
(Well sadly, awhile after his 12th birthday. His grandmother suddenly got sick.)
And that's how...
So what you're saying is, he grew up his whole life being tortured practically.
And as soon as he finally gets a taste of what normal life is like,
something huge happens, like an unexpected baby.
He gets scared, he thinks he can't do it, so he panics.
And still being a kid himself, he does what any kid should do, he asks his parents for help.
It seems pretty normal to me.
(No, you don't understand. You see they didn't just leave him there for a weekend
while they got the house straightened up for him.
So that was it.
I was on my own,
just me and my girl.
I had a little money left in my savings
from all the checks my parents sent
when I was young.
My grandparents never used them,
they just put them in saving account for me.
And I never touched it.
I guess because I always had a feeling
that something like this would happen someday.
Oh well.
We were happy and maybe a little scared.
We were kids out just out of high school.
We just really didn't know what to do.
I got a job at a coffee shop.
Emily got a job at a pet shop.
I mean, we weren't making a lot of money,
So wow, that's a pretty hard way to find something like that out.
(Yeah I know. You see the best part, is when they were telling me, I guess my reaction wasn't the most positive. So they tried playing this guilt trip like...
[continued on song "You Don't Know What It's Like"]
(You see the deal was, her parents would take care of the kid until they got their feet on the ground. Cause they both have full time jobs and weren't financially stable yet, so they say. But her mom would always ask, "when are you gonna pick up Dean?" the baby. And they'd say they didn't have the time or they weren't ready. Ya know time passed quick and he wasn't a baby anymore. None of them really had the heart to tell him that his parents were too busy for him, didn't have time for him. He never knew that his aunt and uncle were actually his mom and dad.)
So they never picked him up?
(No, but they did however send checks every week to pay for all his expenses.)
Well that's good, but I thought they couldn't afford it, that was why they couldn't pick him up right?
(Well the next few years were probably the slowest, most uncomfortable years of my life. I mean, they tried to make it easy but they gave up pretty quickly. And I'm not gonna lie, I didn't make it easy on them either. I could just never forgive them. You know. But I'm the kinda person who believes everything happens for a reason. I'm kinda glad that I was so miserable counting down the days till I was 18, ya know, so I could leave. Cause the way it worked for me, it was this one day where I was in the right place at the right time.
Now I'm not the type of person to just go get what I want. I usually wait for it to casually come to me. Something hit me that day like a ton of bricks. I know it sounds cheesy, but I fell in love. And that's what kept me there for the next few years. I would've run away if it wasn't for her.)
Well it was just the same as any day I was looking to run far from the school
And I was at the door ready to go when I heard some books hit the floor
So then I stopped, jaw dropped, I said, this must be love
Cause when I pulled myself together you were already gone
I screamed wait a minute, listen to the voice in my head
It said, kid you better run cause she's getting away with it
Yeah I guess.
Started a life,
went to school,
had a job,
got married.
He was even going to be a lawyer.
Everything seemed great.
The only problem was he went from wanting nothing
to wanting everything,
more than he even knew what to do with.
Sometimes when you get that taste for wanting things,
you only want for yourself.