Mike Scully

Mike Scully

Mike Scully (born West Springfield, Massachusetts) is an American writer and producer. He served as executive producer and showrunner of The Simpsons from season 9 to season 12 (1997 - 2001).

Career

After dropping out of college after one day, Scully came to Los Angeles. He worked on short-running sitcoms such as Out of This World and What a Country! and wrote jokes for comedian Yakov Smirnoff. He was eventually appointed to write for The Simpsons. He also wrote several episodes of the show, beginning in the sixth season. These were: "Lisa's Rival", "Lisa on Ice", "Two Dozen and One Greyhounds", "Marge Be Not Proud", "Team Homer" and "Lisa's Date with Density". From season 9 onwards he became executive producer and showrunner. During his seasons in charge, Scully wrote "The HΩmega Man" from "Treehouse of Horror VIII, "Sunday, Cruddy Sunday" (with Tom Martin, George Meyer and Brian Scully), "Beyond Blunderdome", "Behind the Laughter", (with Tim Long, George Meyer and Matt Selman) and "The Parent Rap" (with George Meyer). He left after season 12, but returned to write and produce "How I Spent My Strummer Vacation". He served as a co-writer and co-executive producer on The Simpsons Movie and returned to work on The Simpsons as a consulting producer.

Scully's tenure as showrunner has been widely criticized. John Ortved wrote "Scully's episodes excel when compared to what The Simpsons airs nowadays, but he was the man at the helm when the ship turned towards the iceberg." The BBC noted "the common consensus is that The Simpsons' golden era ended after season nine", An editorial from Chris Suellentrop of Slate claims The Simpsons changed from a realistic show about family life into a typical cartoon during Scully's years as executive producer of The Simpsons.

"But under Scully's tenure, The Simpsons became, well, a cartoon. ... Episodes that once would have ended with Homer and Marge bicycling into the sunset (perhaps while Bart gagged in the background) now end with Homer blowing a tranquilizer dart into Marge's neck."

He started his career by writing jokes for Yakov Smirnoff. He was a writer on Everybody Loves Raymond for Season 8, and co-created The Pitts for Fox and Complete Savages for ABC. He is currently a writer and producer for Parks and Recreation.

Scully is married to fellow writer Julie Thacker. His brother is writer Brian Scully.

Quotes

• About people who criticize his years at The Simpsons: "People want everything to stay the same. I think it's easier for people to go in and just criticize and say what they hate about something, rather than find out what they like."