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The tenth season of the animated television series ''The Simpsons'' was originally broadcast on the Fox network in the United States between August 23, 1998, and May 16, 1999. It contains twenty-three episodes, starting with "Lard of the Dance". ''The Simpsons'' is a satire of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie. Set in the fictional city of Springfield, the show lampoons American culture, society, television, and many aspects of the human condition. The showrunner for the tenth season was Mike Scully. Before production began, a salary dispute between the main cast members of ''The Simpsons'' and Fox arose. However, it was soon settled and the actors' salaries were raised to $125,000 per episode. In addition to the large ''Simpsons'' cast, many guest stars appeared in season ten, including Phil Hartman in his last appearance before his death. Despite winning an Annie Award for "Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Television Program", season 10 has been cited by several critics as the beginning of the series' decline in quality. It ranked twenty-fifth in the season ratings with an average of 13.5 million viewers per episode. The tenth season DVD boxset was released in the United States and Canada on August 7, 2007. It is available in two different packagings. ==Production== The tenth season was the second during which Mike Scully served as show runner (he had previously run the ninth season). As show runner and executive producer, Scully headed the writing staff and oversaw all aspects of the show's production. However, as he told UltimateTV in January 1999, he did not "make any decisions without the staff's input. We have great staffs in all the departments from animation to writing. So I don't want to make it sound like a dictatorship."〔 Scully was popular with the staff members, many of whom have praised his organization and management skills. Writer Tom Martin has said that he was "quite possibly the best boss I've ever worked for" and "a great manager of people". Scully's aim while running ''The Simpsons'' was to "not wreck the show". In addition to his role as show runner during the tenth season, he co-wrote the episode "Sunday, Cruddy Sunday". In 1999, there were around sixteen staff writers working on ''The Simpsons''.〔 Many of them had written for the show for several years, including John Swartzwelder and George Meyer.〔 The third episode of the tenth season, "Bart the Mother", was the last full-length episode written by David S. Cohen, a longtime writer on the show. He left to team up with ''The Simpsons'' creator Matt Groening to develop ''Futurama'', a series on which he served as executive producer and head writer. The tenth season marked the full-time return of staff member Al Jean, who had departed from the show after the fourth season to create the animated series ''The Critic''. Between seasons four and ten, he had only worked periodically on the show, writing four episodes. The main cast of the season consisted of Dan Castellaneta (Homer Simpson, Grampa Simpson, Krusty the Clown, among others), Julie Kavner (Marge Simpson), Nancy Cartwright (Bart Simpson, Ralph Wiggum, Nelson Muntz), Yeardley Smith (Lisa Simpson), Hank Azaria (Moe Szyslak, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, Chief Wiggum, among others) and Harry Shearer (Ned Flanders, Mr. Burns, Principal Skinner, among others).〔 Up until the production of season ten in 1998, these six main voice actors were paid $30,000 per episode. In 1998, a salary dispute between them and the Fox Broadcasting Company (which airs ''The Simpsons'') arose, with the actors threatening to go on a strike. Fox went as far as preparing for casting of new voices, but an agreement was soon made and the actors' salaries were raised to $125,000 per episode.〔 Groening expressed his sympathy for the cast members in an issue of ''Mother Jones'' a while after the salary dispute had been settled. He told the magazine: "They are incredibly talented, and they deserve a chance to be as rich and miserable as anyone else in Hollywood. It looked for a while there like we might not have a show, because everyone was holding firm on all sides. That's still my attitude: Hold out for as much money as you can get, but do make the deal." Other cast members of the season included Pamela Hayden (Milhouse Van Houten, among others), Tress MacNeille (Agnes Skinner, among others), Maggie Roswell (Helen Lovejoy, Maude Flanders, among others), Russi Taylor (Martin Prince), and Karl Wiedergott. Season ten also featured a large number of guest stars,〔 including Phil Hartman in his final appearance on the show in the episode "Bart the Mother" that originally aired in September 27, 1998. Hartman was shot to death by his wife four months before the episode aired and it was dedicated to his memory. Rather than replacing Hartman with a new voice actor, the production staff retired two of his recurring characters, Troy McClure and Lionel Hutz, from the show. However, Hutz and McClure still appear in various Simpsons comics, because a voice actor is not needed. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Simpsons (season 10)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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