Latest in Al Jean

Fox Television Group chairman/CEO Dana Walden says she is not sure how The Simpsons is going to deal with its Apu character going forward after a season dominated by controversy over the character. The network trusts Jim Brooks and team “to handle it in the way that’s best for the show,” Walden told inquiring TV…

In the wake of the death of former First Lady Barbara Bush, The Simpsons showrunner Al Jean shared a letter that Bush sent Marge Simpson almost two decades ago when the two had an exchange that started salty but had a heartwarming ending. During a magazine interview in 1990, Bush said The Simpsons “was the dumbest…

The Simpsons showrunner Al Jean said today he’ll continue “to try to find an answer that is popular & more important right” after a couple days of engaging with Twitter followers on both sides of the recent controversy over the show’s longstanding Apu character and the episode that made a brief reference to it. “I…

Ah, good ol’ Ted Cruz is back in the news — and this time he’s dragging Springfield’s most famous family into the partisan brawl. Seems the Texas senator glommed on to The Simpsons during an appearance at CPAC today. Some reporters at the GOP chum-fest quoted Cruz as saying, “The Democrats are the party of Lisa…

It’s taken 25 years, but The Simpsons‘ showrunner Al Jean finally had his chance to return a jab at George H.W. Bush. During a speech on family values in 1992, the former president said that American families needed to be “a lot more like the Waltons and a lot less like the Simpsons”. At the time, The Simpsons…

Mr. Burns goes to college, sort of, in an upcoming episode of The Simpsons. Titled “Caper Chase,” the story has Springfield’s wealthy villain, fed up with collegiate political correctness, starting his own for-profit university. Naturally, Homer is hired as a professor. Hmm, Trump University? Exec producer and…

As we remember the life and career of Sam Simon, who died Sunday of cancer at 59, here are some lesser-known facts about the The Simpsons co-creator, philanthropist and dog lover as told by his longtime collaborator and friend, The Simpsons executive-producer/showrunner Al Jean. Jean started on The Simpsons as…

Executive producer Al Jean is being tight-lipped until the very end regarding which The Simpsons character is going to be killed off in the Season 26 premiere on September 28. One promise he’s keeping, “When we kill ’em, they stay dead.” Meaning, unlike Family Guy, which killed off Brian the dog for three weeks, don’t…

UPDATE, 5:48 PM: The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences issued a statement in responsed to today’s letter from The Simpsons’ Al Jean, Family Guy’s Seth MacFarlane and 50 other animation producers and writers over Community’s eligibility in Emmy animation categories. It is a general rule of the Emmy competition…

Ray Richmond contributes to Deadline’s TV coverage. The salary showdown with voice actors last October on The Simpsons was “less of a close call than people thought” as a threat to the Fox show’s future, according to exec producer and showrunner Al Jean. Speaking to reporters on a conference call promoting the series…