The Simpsons/Season Four

Season Four
The Simpsons
Season Premiere	September 24, 1992
Season Finale	May 13, 1993
Episode Count	22
Notable Episodes	4x12 - Marge vs. the Monorail 4x17 - Last Exit to Springfield
Previous Season Three	Next Season Five

Season Four of The Simpsons premiered on September 24, 1992. At the time that the fourth season was in development, show-runners Al Jean and Mike Reiss were met with a massive breaking in the ranks. Popularity of The Simpsons was at such a high point that many of the writers from the previous three seasons were given lucrative development deals and left the show to pursue opportunity.

As a result, Jean and Reiss were forced to actively search for new writing talent for the first time in the show's history. The new writing staff found itself with three early talents: writing duo Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein and former Saturday Night Live writer Conan O'Brien. Oakley and Weinstein would later go on to become show-runners themselves, but got their writing start on the show in this season with "Marge Gets a Job". O'Brien, on the other hand, would leave the show in season five to start his career as a late night talk show host but penned one of the series' most memorable episodes in this season: "Marge vs. the Monorail".

Despite being widely considered to be one of the series' best, this season was initially met with controversy from lyrics contained in "A Streetcar Named Marge" and a somewhat offensive comment about Tourette's Syndrome in "Marge Gets a Job". It was also the first season to feature a clip show and was very nearly the season to pilot FOX executives' desires to pump even more episodes out of each season, with a potential of at least four clip shows per season.

Among the characters introduced in this season are Horatio McCallister (The Sea Captain), Bumblebee Man and Ralph Wiggum, whose personality and family ties are finalized in this season, particularly in the episode "I Love Lisa".

At the end of the season on May 13, 1993, the series saw another drop in the writing staff when the show-runners left to create The Critic for ABC and much of the remaining original staff members including Sam Simon and Jon Vitti also left for greener pastures.

Episodes

#	#	Title			Airdate
60	1	Kamp Krusty			September 24, 1992
61	2	A Streetcar Named Marge			October 1, 1992
62	3	Homer the Heretic			October 8, 1992
63	4	Lisa the Beauty Queen			October 15, 1992
64	5	Treehouse of Horror III			October 29, 1992
65	6	Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie			November 3, 1992
66	7	Marge Gets a Job			November 5, 1992
67	8	New Kid on the Block			November 12, 1992
68	9	Mr. Plow			November 19, 1992
69	10	Lisa's First Word			December 3, 1992
70	11	Homer's Triple Bypass			December 17, 1992
71	12	Marge vs. the Monorail			January 14, 1993
72	13	Selma's Choice			January 21, 1993
73	14	Brother from the Same Planet			February 4, 1993
74	15	I Love Lisa			February 11, 1993
75	16	Duffless			February 18, 1993
76	17	Last Exit to Springfield			March 11, 1993
77	18	So It's Come to This: A Simpsons Clip Show			April 1, 1993
78	19	The Front			April 15, 1993
79	20	Whacking Day			April 29, 1993
80	21	Marge in Chains			May 6, 1993
81	22	Krusty Gets Kancelled			May 13, 1993