The season was ordered on November 11, 2010. Seven episodes were holdovers from the previous season.
Al Jean continued his role as primary showrunner, a role he had since the
thirteenth season. Starting this season, executive producer
Matt Selman was also the showrunner for several episodes. This season featured the only episode written by
Justin Hurwitz. It also featured the final episode written by
Matt Warburton before leaving for the television series
Community.
Viewer vote result The season premiere episode "
The Falcon and the D'ohman" features a reference to the previous episode of the series, the
twenty-second season finale "
The Ned-Liest Catch" that aired May 22, 2011. In that episode, the characters
Ned Flanders and
Edna Krabappel started dating. The episode ends with
Homer and
Marge Simpson giving the viewers a link to the official
The Simpsons website, TheSimpsons.com, and encouraging them to go on the website and vote over the summer of 2011 on whether Ned and Edna should stay together. The result of the poll were revealed in "The Falcon and the D'ohman". According to Jean, the poll was "very strong in one direction". Analysts consider a cancellation and subsequent second-run deal that includes cable networks to be worth $750 million. On this issue,
Al Jean commented in an interview with
TV Guide that "It's a big company, and there are definitely people whose interests would have been better served by ending it. Those interests were superseded because we're still valuable to the network in terms of our ratings." For the negotiations, the studio requested that the cast members accept a 45% cut of their salaries so that more seasons could be produced after season 23, or else that season would be the series' last. The actors were willing to take a pay cut, but wanted a percentage of the
back-end payments instead. At one point,
Harry Shearer even offered a 70% pay cut in exchange for back-end percentages, but the studio was unwilling to make any deal involving back-end percentages. In the end, the studio and the actors reached a deal, in which the actors would take a pay cut of 30%, down to just over $300,000 per episode, renewing the show to its 25th season. As well as the voice actors, everybody involved in the show took a pay cut. This included the animators, writers, post-production crew and even Jean himself. The further use of digital animation also saved money, as the animation of the show became more efficient. ==Reception==