Season 20

The twentieth season began airing on September 28, 2008 with "Sex, Pies, and Idiot Scrapes" and ended on May 17, 2009 with "Coming to Homerica". Al Jean is the showrunner of this season and previous seasons since Season 13. The season had officially been confirmed to air by the network in May 2008. The show is now tied with Gunsmoke as the longest running American primetime television series. Production on the season was delayed because of contract negotiations with the six main voice actors, but was resolved and the actors' salary was raised to $400,000 per episode. The delay in production has caused the planned 22 episodes to be shortened to 20. Voice actor Dan Castellaneta is to be credited as a consulting producer for the first time.

The Complete Twentieth Season was released on DVD on January 12th, 2010, just a few weeks after the series' 20th anniversary.

Transition to HD
Season 20 also marks the transition to the HD broadcast format. Starting with the episode "Take My Life, Please", more elaborate Opening Sequences were developed that could change from episode to episode. For example, a three-eyed crow flies from left to right at the beginning of this episode, then flies in the opposite direction every other episode. The chalkboard gag for "Take" reads "HDTV is worth every cent".

The Opening Sequence would have even more variations, starting with "Bart Gets a "Z"" in Season 21.

Episodes

 * 1 - "Sex, Pies, and Idiot Scrapes" - September 28 2008 - KABF17
 * 2 - "Lost Verizon" - October 5 2008 - KABF15
 * 3 - "Double, Double, Boy in Trouble" - October 19 2008 - KABF14
 * 4 - "Treehouse of Horror XIX" - November 2 2008 - KABF16
 * 5 - "Dangerous Curves" - November 9 2008 - KABF18
 * 6 - "Homer and Lisa Exchange Cross Words" - November 16, 2008 - KABF19
 * 7 - "Mypods and Boomsticks" - November 30, 2008 - KABF20
 * 8 - "The Burns and the Bees" - December 7, 2008 - KABF21
 * 9 - "Lisa the Drama Queen" - January 25, 2009 - KABF22
 * 10 - "Take My Life, Please" - February 15, 2009 - LABF01
 * 11 - "How the Test Was Won" - March 1, 2009 - LABF02
 * 12 - "No Loan Again, Naturally" - March 8, 2009 - LABF03
 * 13 - "Gone Maggie Gone" - March 15, 2009 - LABF04
 * 14 - "In the Name of the Grandfather" - March 22, 2009 - LABF11
 * 15 - "Wedding for Disaster" - March 29, 2009 - LABF05
 * 16 - "Eeny Teeny Maya, Moe" - April 5, 2009 - LABF06
 * 17 - "The Good, the Sad and the Drugly" - April 19, 2009 - LABF07
 * 18 - "Father Knows Worst" - April 26, 2009 - LABF08
 * 19 - "Waverly Hills 9-0-2-1-D'oh" - May 3, 2009 - LABF10
 * 20 - "Four Great Women and a Manicure" - May 10, 2009 - LABF09
 * 21 - "Coming to Homerica" - May 17, 2009 - LABF12