Mike Reiss
Encyclopedia
Michael "Mike" Reiss is an American
television comedy writer. He served as a show-runner, writer and producer for the animated series The Simpsons
and co-created the animated series The Critic
. He created and wrote the webtoon Queer Duck
and has also worked on screenplays including: Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
, Horton Hears a Who!
, The Simpsons Movie
and My Life in Ruins
.
, Connecticut
. He was the middle child of five children, and his father was a doctor. Mike Reiss attended Memorial Boulevard Public School, Thomas Patterson School and Bristol Eastern High School
and has stated that he felt like an "outsider" in these places. Reiss then went to Harvard University
where he became co-president of the Harvard Lampoon
along with Jon Vitti
. It was there that he met Al Jean
.
as his writing partner. Reiss started his career in television in the 1980s. During this period Reiss and Jean worked as writers and producers on television shows such as The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson (1984–1986), ALF
, and It's Garry Shandling's Show
, and wrote for the humor magazine National Lampoon.
In 1989 Reiss was hired along with Jean as the first members of the original writing staff of The Simpsons
, and worked on the thirteen episodes of the show's first season (1989). They became show runner
s of The Simpsons at the start of the third season
(1991). A show runner has the ultimate responsibility of all the processes that an episode goes through before completion, including the writing, the animation, the voice acting, and the music. The first episode Jean and Reiss ran was "Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington
" (aired September 19, 1991), and they felt a lot of pressure on them to make it good. They were so pressured that they did six to seven rewrites of the script to make it funnier. Jean said "one reason for doing all these rewrites is because I 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 show runners until the end of the fourth season
(1993). Since the show had already established itself in the first two seasons, they were able to give it more depth during their tenure. Jean believes this is one of the reasons that many fans regard season three and four as the best seasons of The Simpsons. Sam Simon
has stated "The Simpsons wouldn't have been The Simpsons without [Reiss]." Reiss has won four Primetime Emmy Award
s for his work on the show.
They left after season four to create The Critic
, an animated show about film critic Jay Sherman (voiced by Jon Lovitz
); the show was executive produced by James L. 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. For the second season of The Critic, Brooks cut a deal with the Fox network
to have the series switch over. This led to controversy as Sherman appeared in the The Simpsons episode "A Star is Burns
" leading Matt Groening
to complain publicly it was just a thirty-minute advert for 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." Jean added "What bothers me about all of this, is that now people may get the impression that this Simpsons episode is less than good. It stands on its own even if 'The Critic' never existed." On Fox, The Critic was again short-lived, broadcasting ten episodes before its cancellation. A total of only 23 episodes were produced, and it returned briefly in 2000 with a series of ten internet broadcast webisode
s. The series has since developed a cult following
thanks to reruns on Comedy Central
and its complete series release on DVD.
In 1994, they signed a three-year deal with Disney to produce other TV shows for ABC and 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 produce four episodes of the show, including season eight
's "Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious
". When Jean returned to The Simpsons permanently for season 13, Reiss worked part-time on it and is currently credited as a "producer" on the show. He flies to Los Angeles
one day a week to attend story meetings. He also co-wrote the screenplay for The Simpsons Movie
.
, a series of 16 flash animation cartoons for Icebox.com
.
Later, Reiss collaborated with Feinberg again to independently produce a short internet cartoon series entitled Queer Duck
for Icebox.com. In 2002, the series was picked up by Showtime, where it aired as a supporting feature to Queer as Folk. Queer Duck: the Movie was released on DVD in 2006. It was named the 94th greatest cartoon of all-time by a Channel 4
poll.
He wrote several jokes for the film Ice Age
after The Simpsons colleague David Silverman
asked him and Jon Vitti
to help out with the film's story issues. He later wrote a number of screenplays including Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
and Horton Hears a Who!
. The first live-action film he wrote was 2009's My Life in Ruins
, starring Nia Vardalos
. Reiss initially wrote the film as a short story but after being rejected by 37 publishers rewrote it as a screenplay and sent it to Vardalos who "snatched it right up". The film garnered a negative critical response with Roger Ebert
, for example, stating "there is, in short, nothing I liked about My Life in Ruins, except some of the ruins" and calling Reiss' script "lousy". Reiss defended the film: "My Life in Ruins really makes people happy. It's a relentlessly sweet movie about the basic decency of humanity. It's happy ending kicks in around the 30-minute mark and continues for the next hour. I know those [critics at the Tribeca Film Festival
] were sitting there in that audience. They were sitting there going, 'These 1,498 people were wrong and the two of us are correct.' It makes me a little nuts."
He has published ten children's books, including How Murray Saved Christmas, published by Penguin. He also won an Edgar Award
for his mystery story Cro-Magnon PI.
with his wife Denise and the two frequently travel abroad. Reiss is an atheist.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
television comedy writer. He served as a show-runner, writer and producer for the animated series The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
and co-created the animated series The Critic
The Critic
The Critic is an American prime time animated series revolving around the life of film critic Jay Sherman, voiced by actor Jon Lovitz. It was created by Al Jean and Mike Reiss, both of whom had worked as writers on The Simpsons. The Critic had 23 episodes produced, first broadcast on ABC in 1994,...
. He created and wrote the webtoon Queer Duck
Queer Duck
Queer Duck is an animated series produced by Mondo that originally appeared on Icebox.com and later moved to the American cable television channel Showtime in 2002, where it aired as a followup feature of the American version of Queer as Folk...
and has also worked on screenplays including: Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, also known as Ice Age 3, is a 2009 3-D computer animated film. It is the third installment of the Ice Age series, produced by Blue Sky Studios and distributed by 20th Century Fox...
, Horton Hears a Who!
Horton Hears a Who! (film)
Horton Hears a Who!, also known as Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!, is a 2008 American CGI-animated comedy feature film based on the Dr. Seuss book of the same name. It is the fourth feature film from Blue Sky Studios, and the third feature film based on a Dr. Seuss book, following How the Grinch...
, The Simpsons Movie
The Simpsons Movie
The Simpsons Movie is a 2007 American animated comedy film based on the animated television series The Simpsons. The film was directed by David Silverman, and stars the regular television cast of Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria, Harry Shearer, Tress...
and My Life in Ruins
My Life in Ruins
My Life in Ruins is a 2009 romantic comedy film set amongst the ruins of ancient Greece, starring Nia Vardalos, Richard Dreyfuss, Alexis Georgoulis, Rachel Dratch, Harland Williams and British comedy actor and impressionist Alistair McGowan...
.
Early life
He was born to a Jewish family in BristolBristol, Connecticut
Bristol is a suburban city located in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States southwest of Hartford. According to 2006 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 61,353. Bristol is primarily known as the home of ESPN, whose central studios are in the city. Bristol is also home to...
, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
. He was the middle child of five children, and his father was a doctor. Mike Reiss attended Memorial Boulevard Public School, Thomas Patterson School and Bristol Eastern High School
Bristol Eastern High School
Bristol Eastern High School is a public high school in Bristol, Connecticut, USA which was opened in 1959. It has an enrollment of 1,354 students in grades 9-12. The main head of the school, as of 2010, is Dr. Steve Wysowski...
and has stated that he felt like an "outsider" in these places. Reiss then went to Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
where he became co-president of the Harvard Lampoon
Harvard Lampoon
The Harvard Lampoon is an undergraduate humor publication founded in 1876 at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.-Overview:Published since 1876, The Harvard Lampoon is the world's longest continually published humor magazine. It is also the second longest-running English-language humor...
along with Jon Vitti
Jon Vitti
Jon Vitti is an American writer best known for his work on the television series The Simpsons. He has also written for the King of the Hill and The Critic series, and has served as a consultant for several animated movies, including Ice Age and Robots...
. It was there that he met Al Jean
Al Jean
Al Jean is an award-winning American screenwriter and producer, best known for his work on The Simpsons. He was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan and graduated from Harvard University in 1981. Jean began his writing career in the 1980s with fellow Harvard alum Mike Reiss...
.
Work with Al Jean
Reiss has frequently collaborated with Al JeanAl Jean
Al Jean is an award-winning American screenwriter and producer, best known for his work on The Simpsons. He was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan and graduated from Harvard University in 1981. Jean began his writing career in the 1980s with fellow Harvard alum Mike Reiss...
as his writing partner. Reiss started his career in television in the 1980s. During this period Reiss and Jean worked as writers and producers on television shows such as The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson (1984–1986), ALF
ALF (TV series)
ALF is an American science fiction sitcom that originally aired on NBC from 1986 to 1990, created by Paul Fusco. The title character was Gordon Shumway, a friendly extraterrestrial nicknamed ALF , who crash lands in the garage of the suburban middle-class Tanner family.The series starred Max...
, and It's Garry Shandling's Show
It's Garry Shandling's Show
It's Garry Shandling's Show is an American sitcom which was initially broadcast on Showtime from 1986 to 1990. It was created by Garry Shandling and Alan Zweibel. The show is notable for its frequent use of breaking the fourth wall to allow characters to speak directly to the audience...
, and wrote for the humor magazine National Lampoon.
In 1989 Reiss was hired along with Jean as the first members of the original writing staff of The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
, and worked on the thirteen episodes of the show's first season (1989). They became show runner
Show runner
Showrunner is a term of art originating in the United States and Canadian television industry referring to the person who is responsible for the day-to-day operation of a television seriesalthough such persons generally are credited as an executive producer...
s of The Simpsons at the start of the third season
The Simpsons (season 3)
The Simpsons third season originally aired on the Fox network between September 19, 1991 and May 7, 1992. The show runners for the third production season were Al Jean and Mike Reiss who executive produced 22 episodes the season, while two other episodes were produced by James L. Brooks, Matt...
(1991). A show runner has the ultimate responsibility of all the processes that an episode goes through before completion, including the writing, the animation, the voice acting, and the music. The first episode Jean and Reiss ran was "Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington
Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington
"Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington" is the second episode of The Simpsons third season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on September 26, 1991. In the episode, Lisa enters in an essay contest to write an essay about America's greatness. When she successfully wins it, she and...
" (aired September 19, 1991), and they felt a lot of pressure on them to make it good. They were so pressured that they did six to seven rewrites of the script to make it funnier. Jean said "one reason for doing all these rewrites is because I 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 show runners until the end of the fourth season
The Simpsons (season 4)
The Simpsons fourth season originally aired on the Fox network between September 24, 1992 and May 13, 1993, beginning with "Kamp Krusty." The show runners for the fourth production season were Al Jean and Mike Reiss. The aired season contained two episodes which were hold-over episodes from season...
(1993). Since the show had already established itself in the first two seasons, they were able to give it more depth during their tenure. Jean believes this is one of the reasons that many fans regard season three and four as the best seasons of The Simpsons. Sam Simon
Sam Simon
Samuel "Sam" Simon is an American director, producer, writer, boxing manager and philanthropist. While at Stanford University, Simon worked as a newspaper cartoonist and after graduating became a storyboard artist at Filmation Studios. He submitted a spec script for the sitcom Taxi, which was...
has stated "The Simpsons wouldn't have been The Simpsons without [Reiss]." Reiss has won four Primetime Emmy Award
Primetime Emmy Award
The Primetime Emmy Awards are awards presented by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in recognition of excellence in American primetime television programming...
s for his work on the show.
They left after season four to create The Critic
The Critic
The Critic is an American prime time animated series revolving around the life of film critic Jay Sherman, voiced by actor Jon Lovitz. It was created by Al Jean and Mike Reiss, both of whom had worked as writers on The Simpsons. The Critic had 23 episodes produced, first broadcast on ABC in 1994,...
, an animated show about film critic Jay Sherman (voiced by Jon Lovitz
Jon Lovitz
Jonathan "Jon" Lovitz is an American comedian, actor, and singer. He is best known as a cast member of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live from 1985 to 1990.-Early life:...
); the show was executive produced by James L. Brooks
James L. Brooks
James Lawrence Brooks is an American director, producer and screenwriter. Growing up in North Bergen, New Jersey, Brooks endured a fractured family life and passed the time by reading and writing. After dropping out of New York University, he got a job as an usher at CBS, going on to write for the...
. It was first broadcast on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
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. For the second season of The Critic, Brooks cut a deal with the Fox network
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
to have the series switch over. This led to controversy as Sherman appeared in the The Simpsons episode "A Star is Burns
A Star is Burns
"A Star Is Burns" is the eighteenth episode of The Simpsons sixth season. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 5, 1995. In the episode, Springfield decides to hold a film festival, and famed critic Jay Sherman is invited to be a judge...
" leading Matt Groening
Matt Groening
Matthew Abram "Matt" Groening is an American cartoonist, screenwriter, and producer. He is the creator of the comic strip Life in Hell as well as two successful television series, The Simpsons and Futurama....
to complain publicly it was just a thirty-minute advert for 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." Jean added "What bothers me about all of this, is that now people may get the impression that this Simpsons episode is less than good. It stands on its own even if 'The Critic' never existed." On Fox, The Critic was again short-lived, broadcasting ten episodes before its cancellation. A total of only 23 episodes were produced, and it returned briefly in 2000 with a series of ten internet broadcast webisode
Webisode
A webisode is a short episode which airs initially as Internet television, either download or stream as opposed to first airing on broadcast or cable television. The format can be used as a preview, a promotion, as part of a collection of shorts, or a commercial.A webisode can be an episode...
s. The series has since developed a cult following
Cult following
A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a specific area of pop culture. A film, book, band, or video game, among other things, will be said to have a cult following when it has a small but very passionate fan base...
thanks to reruns on Comedy Central
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
and its complete series release on DVD.
In 1994, they signed a three-year deal with Disney to produce other TV shows for ABC and 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 produce four episodes of the show, including season eight
The Simpsons (season 8)
The Simpsons eighth season originally aired between October 27, 1996 and May 18, 1997, beginning with "Treehouse of Horror VII". The show runners for the eighth production season were Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein. The aired season contained two episodes which were hold-over episodes from season...
's "Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious
Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious
"Simpsoncalifragilisticexpialacious", also known as "Simpsoncalifragilisticexpialacious", is the thirteenth episode of The Simpsons eighth season and originally aired February 7, 1997. After Marge becomes stressed, the Simpsons hire a new nanny, a Mary Poppins parody, Shary Bobbins , who tries to...
". When Jean returned to The Simpsons permanently for season 13, Reiss worked part-time on it and is currently credited as a "producer" on the show. He flies to Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
one day a week to attend story meetings. He also co-wrote the screenplay for The Simpsons Movie
The Simpsons Movie
The Simpsons Movie is a 2007 American animated comedy film based on the animated television series The Simpsons. The film was directed by David Silverman, and stars the regular television cast of Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria, Harry Shearer, Tress...
.
Solo work
Along with director Xeth Feinberg, in 2000 Reiss independently produced Hard Drinkin' LincolnHard Drinkin' Lincoln
Hard Drinkin' Lincoln is a Macromedia Flash Internet cartoon series produced in 2000 for the Internet animation company Icebox.com. The series was created by Mike Reiss and directed by Xeth Feinberg...
, a series of 16 flash animation cartoons for Icebox.com
Icebox.com
icebox.com is a web television animation company founded in 1999 by Jonathan Collier, Howard Gordon, Rob LaZebnik, Scott Rupp and Tal Vigderson. The founders stated that the company was created to capitalize on the inherent "freedom of the medium" which they felt stifled creativity of writers due...
.
Later, Reiss collaborated with Feinberg again to independently produce a short internet cartoon series entitled Queer Duck
Queer Duck
Queer Duck is an animated series produced by Mondo that originally appeared on Icebox.com and later moved to the American cable television channel Showtime in 2002, where it aired as a followup feature of the American version of Queer as Folk...
for Icebox.com. In 2002, the series was picked up by Showtime, where it aired as a supporting feature to Queer as Folk. Queer Duck: the Movie was released on DVD in 2006. It was named the 94th greatest cartoon of all-time by a Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
poll.
He wrote several jokes for the film Ice Age
Ice Age (film)
Ice Age is a 2002 American computer-animated film created by Blue Sky Studios and released by 20th Century Fox. It was directed by Carlos Saldanha and Chris Wedge from a story by Michael J. Wilson. The story follows three Paleolithical mammals attempting to return a lost human baby to its parents...
after The Simpsons colleague David Silverman
David Silverman
David Silverman is an animator best known for directing numerous episodes of the animated TV series The Simpsons, as well as The Simpsons Movie...
asked him and Jon Vitti
Jon Vitti
Jon Vitti is an American writer best known for his work on the television series The Simpsons. He has also written for the King of the Hill and The Critic series, and has served as a consultant for several animated movies, including Ice Age and Robots...
to help out with the film's story issues. He later wrote a number of screenplays including Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, also known as Ice Age 3, is a 2009 3-D computer animated film. It is the third installment of the Ice Age series, produced by Blue Sky Studios and distributed by 20th Century Fox...
and Horton Hears a Who!
Horton Hears a Who! (film)
Horton Hears a Who!, also known as Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!, is a 2008 American CGI-animated comedy feature film based on the Dr. Seuss book of the same name. It is the fourth feature film from Blue Sky Studios, and the third feature film based on a Dr. Seuss book, following How the Grinch...
. The first live-action film he wrote was 2009's My Life in Ruins
My Life in Ruins
My Life in Ruins is a 2009 romantic comedy film set amongst the ruins of ancient Greece, starring Nia Vardalos, Richard Dreyfuss, Alexis Georgoulis, Rachel Dratch, Harland Williams and British comedy actor and impressionist Alistair McGowan...
, starring Nia Vardalos
Nia Vardalos
Antonia Eugenia "Nia" Vardalos is a Canadian-American actress, screenwriter, director, singer and producer. Her most notable work is the 2002 Academy Award–nominated film My Big Fat Greek Wedding.-Personal life:...
. Reiss initially wrote the film as a short story but after being rejected by 37 publishers rewrote it as a screenplay and sent it to Vardalos who "snatched it right up". The film garnered a negative critical response with Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
, for example, stating "there is, in short, nothing I liked about My Life in Ruins, except some of the ruins" and calling Reiss' script "lousy". Reiss defended the film: "My Life in Ruins really makes people happy. It's a relentlessly sweet movie about the basic decency of humanity. It's happy ending kicks in around the 30-minute mark and continues for the next hour. I know those [critics at the Tribeca Film Festival
Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Film Festival is a film festival founded in 2002 by Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro and Craig Hatkoff in a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the consequent loss of vitality in the TriBeCa neighborhood in Lower Manhattan.The mission of the festival...
] were sitting there in that audience. They were sitting there going, 'These 1,498 people were wrong and the two of us are correct.' It makes me a little nuts."
He has published ten children's books, including How Murray Saved Christmas, published by Penguin. He also won an Edgar Award
Edgar Award
The Edgar Allan Poe Awards , named after Edgar Allan Poe, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America...
for his mystery story Cro-Magnon PI.
Personal life
He lives in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
with his wife Denise and the two frequently travel abroad. Reiss is an atheist.
The Simpsons episodes
The following is a list of episodes of The Simpsons Reiss has written with Al Jean:- "There's No Disgrace Like HomeThere's No Disgrace Like Home"There's No Disgrace Like Home" is the fourth episode of The Simpsons first season. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on January 28, 1990. In the episode, Homer becomes ashamed of his family after a catastrophic company picnic and decides to enroll them in therapy. The...
" - "Moaning LisaMoaning Lisa"Moaning Lisa" is the sixth episode of The Simpsons first season, and originally aired February 11, 1990. The episode was written by Al Jean and Mike Reiss, and was directed by Wes Archer. Ron Taylor guest stars in the episode as Bleeding Gums Murphy. The episode deals with Lisa's depression and...
" - "The Telltale HeadThe Telltale Head"The Telltale Head" is the eighth episode of The Simpsons first season, and it originally aired February 25, 1990. It was written by Al Jean, Mike Reiss, Sam Simon, Matt Groening, and directed by Rich Moore. In the episode, Bart cuts the head off the statue of Jebediah Springfield in the center of...
" (with Matt GroeningMatt GroeningMatthew Abram "Matt" Groening is an American cartoonist, screenwriter, and producer. He is the creator of the comic strip Life in Hell as well as two successful television series, The Simpsons and Futurama....
and Sam SimonSam SimonSamuel "Sam" Simon is an American director, producer, writer, boxing manager and philanthropist. While at Stanford University, Simon worked as a newspaper cartoonist and after graduating became a storyboard artist at Filmation Studios. He submitted a spec script for the sitcom Taxi, which was...
) - "The Way We WasThe Way We Was"The Way We Was" is the twelfth episode of The Simpsons second season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on January 31, 1991. In the episode, Marge tells the story of how she and Homer first met and fell in love. Flashing back to 1974, we see how Homer falls in love with...
" (with Sam Simon) - "Stark Raving DadStark Raving Dad"Stark Raving Dad" is the first episode of the third season of American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on September 19, 1991...
" - "Treehouse of Horror IITreehouse of Horror II"Treehouse of Horror II" is the seventh episode of The Simpsons third season. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 31, 1991. It is the second annual Treehouse of Horror episode, consisting of three self-contained segments, told as dreams of Lisa, Bart and Homer. In the...
" (The Bart Zone) - "Lisa's PonyLisa's Pony"Lisa's Pony" is the eighth episode of the third season of The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 7, 1991. In this episode, Homer goes drinking at Moe's Tavern instead of buying a new reed for Lisa's saxophone, resulting in her flopping at the school...
" - "Treehouse of Horror IIITreehouse of Horror III"Treehouse of Horror III" is the fifth episode of The Simpsons fourth season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 29, 1992. In the third annual Treehouse of Horror episode, Homer buys Bart an evil talking Krusty doll, King Homer is captured by Mr. Burns, and Bart...
" (Clown Without Pity) - "'Round Springfield'Round Springfield"Round Springfield" is the 22nd episode of the sixth season of The Simpsons. It originally aired on April 30, 1995. In the episode, Bart is rushed to hospital after eating a jagged metal Krusty-O and decides to sue Krusty the Clown. Whilst visiting Bart, Lisa meets her old mentor, jazz musician...
" – (Jean and Reiss received story credit only; the teleplay was written by Joshua SterninJoshua Sternin-Career:Among Sternin's producer credits include 23 episodes of Murphy Brown in 1996 through 1997 and as writer for 10 of them, as well as producer for 64 episodes of That 70's Show in 1998 through 2001 and as a writer for 8 of them. In 2002, he and Jeffrey Ventimilia created a show for Fox called...
and Jeffrey Ventimillia) - "Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)ciousSimpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious"Simpsoncalifragilisticexpialacious", also known as "Simpsoncalifragilisticexpialacious", is the thirteenth episode of The Simpsons eighth season and originally aired February 7, 1997. After Marge becomes stressed, the Simpsons hire a new nanny, a Mary Poppins parody, Shary Bobbins , who tries to...
"
The Critic episodes
He co-wrote the following episodes with Al Jean:- "Pilot"
- "Dial 'M' For Mother"
- "Sherman, Woman and Child"
- "I Can't Believe It's A Clip Show!"