Al Jean

Alfred Ernest Jean III (born January 9, 1961) is an American screenwriter and producer. Jean is well known for his work on The Simpsons. He was raised near Detroit, Michigan, and graduated from Harvard University in 1981. Jean began his writing career in the 1980s with fellow Harvard alum Mike Reiss. Together, they worked as writers and producers on television shows such as The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, ALF and It's Garry Shandling's Show.

Jean was offered a job as a writer on the animated sitcom The Simpsons in 1989, alongside Reiss, and together they became the first members of the show's original writing staff. They served as showrunners during the show's third (1991–92) and fourth (1992–93) seasons, though they left The Simpsons after season four to create The Critic, an animated show about film critic Jay Sherman. It was first broadcast on ABC in January 1994 (then aired its second season on Fox in March 1995) and was well received by critics, but did not catch on with viewers and only lasted for two seasons.

In 1994, Jean and Reiss signed a three-year development deal with The Walt Disney Company to produce other television shows for ABC. Among multiple pitches made by the duo, their sole project with ABC to come to fruition was the live-action sitcom Teen Angel, which was cancelled in its first season. Jean returned full-time to The Simpsons during the tenth season (1998–99). He became showrunner again with the start of the thirteenth season in 2001, without Reiss, and he stayed in that position until season thirty-three, where he shared it with Matt Selman until season thirty-seven, where he stepped down from that position entirely. Jean was also one of the writers and producers who worked on The Simpsons Movie, a feature-length film based on the series, released in 2007.

Early life

"At college, I was privileged to meet and work with some very talented writers who went on to work for Saturday Night Live, Seinfeld, Late Night with David Letterman and The Simpsons. No doubt my exposure to them at a very young age has been enormously helpful to my writing career." — Jean on his time at Harvard University He was raised in Farmington Hills, Michigan, Jean arrived at Harvard University when he was sixteen years old and graduated in 1981 with a bachelor's degree in mathematics. Daryl Libow, one of Jean's freshman roommates, said he was a "math whiz" when he arrived at Harvard but "soon blossomed and found his comedic feet." He eventually became vice-president of the publication.

Career Early career and The Simpsons The humor magazine National Lampoon hired Jean and Reiss after they graduated in 1981. During this period, they worked as writers and producers on television shows such as The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, ALF, Sledge Hammer! and It's Garry Shandling's Show. a show created by Matt Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon that continues to air today. She is the character he relates to the most because of their similar childhoods and the fact that he has a daughter. The first episode Jean and Reiss ran was "Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington" (aired September 26, 1991), and they felt pressured to make it good, so much so that they did six to seven rewrites of the script in order to improve its humor. Jean said he "kept thinking 'It's not good enough. It's not good enough.'" Reiss added that "we were definitely scared. We had never run anything before, and they dumped us on this."

Jean and Reiss served as showrunners until the end of the fourth season in 1993.

The Critic and Disney Jean and former Simpsons executive producer David Mirkin at the 2007 Comic Con. Jean and Reiss left The Simpsons after its fourth season in order to create The Critic, an animated show about film critic Jay Sherman (voiced by Jon Lovitz); the show was executive produced by Brooks. It was first broadcast on ABC in January 1994 and was well received by critics, but did not catch on with viewers and was put on hiatus after six weeks. It returned in June 1994 and completed airing its initial production run. The Critic was moved to the Fox network for its second season. Since The Simpsons also aired on that network, Brooks was able to create a crossover between it and The Critic. Brooks said, "for years, Al and Mike were two guys who worked their hearts out on this show, staying up until 4 in the morning to get it right. The point is, Matt's name has been on Mike's and Al's scripts and he has taken plenty of credit for a lot of their great work. In fact, he is the direct beneficiary of their work. The Critic is their shot and he should be giving them his support." Reiss stated that he was a "little upset" by Groening's actions and that "this taints everything at the last minute. [...] This episode doesn't say 'Watch The Critic all over it."

In 1994, Jean and Reiss signed a three-year deal with The Walt Disney Company to produce other television shows for ABC. The duo created and executive produced Teen Angel, which was canceled in its first season. Reiss said "It was so compromised and overworked. I had 11 executives full-time telling me how to do my job." The pair periodically returned to work on The Simpsons— for example, while under contract at Disney they were allowed to write and produce four episodes of the show, including season eight's "Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious" (1997).

Further work on The Simpsons

Following Teen Angel'''s cancellation, Jean and Reiss ceased their writing partnership. Subsequently, Jean alone returned full-time to The Simpsons during the tenth season (1998–99) However, some critics have argued that the show's quality has continued to decline in recent years during Jean's tenure. Jean has responded to this criticism by saying: "Well, it's possible that we've declined. But honestly, I've been here the whole time and I do remember in season two people saying, 'It's gone downhill.' If we'd listened to that then we would have stopped after episode 13. I'm glad we didn't."

Jean was one of the writers and producers who worked on The Simpsons Movie, a feature-length film released in 2007. and work then began on the script. The Simpsons producers were initially worried that creating a film would have a negative effect on the show, as they did not have enough crew to focus their attention on both projects. As the show progressed, additional writers and animators were hired so that both the show and the film could be produced at the same time. Groening and Brooks were therefore able to invite Jean (who continued to work as show runner on the television show) to produce the film with them.

Jean frequently appears on the Simpsons DVD audio commentaries for episodes which he has collaborated on. He told IGN that he enjoys doing them because he has not seen some of the episodes in ten to fifteen years, and "it's kind of like a reunion to see some of the people that I worked with before, so it's a really pleasant experience."

In November 2025, Jean announced that he would step down as showrunner of the show after serving for nearly 25 years in the role. The last episode where he served as showrunner was the episode "Bad Boys... for Life?", which was written by him. Selman took over the full showrunning duties afterwards, while Jean remains on the show as a writer and consulting producer.

Awards Jean has received ten Emmy Awards and two Peabody Awards for his work on The Simpsons. In 1997, he and Reiss won an Annie Award in the "Best Producing in a TV Production" category for the Simpsons'' episode "The Springfield Files". In 1991 they shared the Writing A Comedy Series CableAce Award for the It's Garry Shandling's Show Episode "My Mother The Wife". In 2006, the duo was given the Animation Writers Caucus Animation Award which is given by the Writers Guild of America to writers that "advanced the literature of animation in film and/or television through the years and who has made outstanding contributions to the profession of the animation writer."

Personal life As of 2005, Jean lives in Los Angeles, California, with his wife, television writer Stephanie Gillis. Jean also has two daughters.