Why The Simpsons Season 35 Is The Shortest In 34 Years (& The Second Shortest Ever)

Summary The Simpsons season 35 is short with only 18 episodes, due to labor strikes in 2023 impacting the show's usual output.

The show's first season had even fewer episodes, with only 13 compared to the average of 22 in recent years.

Despite these anomalies, The Simpsons has been consistent in its episode output over the years, with rare exceptions.

Although The Simpsons season 35 is the show’s second-shortest outing in its long history, there is a good reason for this surprising choice. The Simpsons has been around for a long time, with the series first debuting in 1989. Since then, The Simpsons has aired over 760 episodes, making it one of the longest-running scripted television shows in the medium’s history. Although The Simpsons season 36 might change this, almost all the show’s outings have featured the same number of episodes. From seasons 2 to 34, The Simpsons included between 20 and 25 episodes in each season.

As if that weren’t reliable enough, 20 of these seasons featured exactly 22 episodes apiece while a further 4 featured 25 each. The Simpsons never age and the show’s output never slows down, with the series releasing episodes between August and May for 30 straight years. Despite this formula, The Simpsons season 35 ended the show’s lengthy streak with a surprisingly low number of episodes. This was not The Simpsons season 35's biggest problem, but it was a surprise given the television institution’s track record. However, there is a pretty understandable explanation for the rare anomaly.

The Simpsons Season 35 Has Only 18 Episodes Due To 2023’s Strikes

The Animated Sitcom’s Production Was Paused For Months

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Although 2023’s labor action didn’t impact animated TV shows as dramatically as live-action shows, the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes led to The Simpsons season 35’s shorter 18-episode run. These successful labor actions put a pause on television production for a matter of months as the Writer’s Guild of America was on strike for 168 days and SAG-AFTRA held out for 118 days. The series itself even joked about the strikes in season 35, episode 17, “The Tipping Point,” as Homer tried and failed to convince the waiters of Springfield to go on strike for better pay.

Although the Golden Age of The Simpsons saw the series produce 25 episodes per seasons 6, 7, 8, and 9, this work rate slowed down as the show entered its teens. Since then, The Simpsons reliably produced an average of 22 episodes a year for over a decade. Seasons 22 to 34 all featured exactly 22 outings save for seasons 29 and 30, which balanced out their differences when season 29 had 21 episodes and season 30 had 23. Fortunately, there is no reason to think that The Simpsons season 36 will be affected by the strikes of 2023.

The Simpsons Season 1 Was Even Shorter Than Season 35

The Show’s First Outing Featured Only 13 Episodes

Although season 35’s 18 episodes are smaller than the show’s usual annual output, this isn’t the shortest season of The Simpsons by a long shot. For all The Simpsons season 35’s bad habits, the show is much more prolific than it was when it first began. There were only 13 episodes in The Simpsons season 1, with the adult animated comedy still seeming like a risky investment back in 1989. As The Simpsons became a hit, then a global phenomenon, and eventually a pop culture staple, its seasons grew longer. However, the iconic series started with a modest first season.