Michael L. Reiss 1959 Jeff Martin, another writer for the Lampoon, said Reiss and Jean "definitely loomed large around the magazine. They were very funny guys and unusually polished comedy writers for that age. We were never surprised that they went on to success."

Career

Work with Al Jean on The Simpsons, The Critic and other projects

The humor magazine National Lampoon hired Jean and Reiss after they graduated in 1981. During that time Reiss and Jean worked as writers and producers on television shows such as The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1984–1986), ALF, Sledge Hammer!, and It's Garry Shandling's Show.

In 1989, Reiss was hired along with Jean as the first members of the original writing staff of the Fox network animated series The Simpsons. He worked on the thirteen episodes of the show's first season (1989). 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. Jean said "one reason for doing all these rewrites is because I kept thinking 'It's not good enough. It's not good enough." Jean and Reiss were show runners until the end of the fourth season (1993).

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 The Simpsons co-developer 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.

Brooks wanted to have Sherman crossover on to The Simpsons, as a way to promote The Critics move to Fox. Sherman appeared in the episode "A Star Is Burns", which Reiss and Jean returned to produce. The Simpsons creator Matt Groening was not fond of the crossover and complained publicly that it was just a thirty-minute advertisement 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 said 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, Reiss and Jean signed a three-year deal with The Walt Disney Company to produce other TV shows for ABC. The duo created and executive produced Teen Angel, which was canceled in its first season in 1997. Reiss said "It was so compromised and overworked. I had 11 executives full-time telling me how to do my job." This was the only project created under their contract which was broadcast. While under contract at Disney they produced two episodes of season eight: "The Springfield Files" and "Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious", and two of season nine: "Lisa's Sax" and "Simpson Tide". When Jean returned to The Simpsons permanently as showrunner from season thirteen, Reiss returned part-time as a consultant and producer, He also co-wrote the screenplay for The Simpsons Movie in 2007.

Solo work

Along with director Xeth Feinberg, in 2000 Reiss independently produced Hard Drinkin' Lincoln, a series of 16 flash animation cartoons for Icebox.com. 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. He later wrote a number of screenplays including Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs and Rio. Reiss defended the film: "My Life in Ruins really makes people happy. It's a relentlessly sweet movie about the basic decency of humanity. Its 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."

Co-authored by Mathew Klickstein, his memoir, Springfield Confidential: Jokes, Secrets, and Outright Lies from a Lifetime Writing for The Simpsons, was published by Dey Street which is an imprint of HarperCollins, in June 2018.

Reiss' first play, "I'm Connecticut" set box-office records at Connecticut Repertory Theatre in December 2011. The Hartford Courant called the romantic comedy "hysterically funny" and named it one of the top ten productions of the year. It was named Best Play of 2012 by Broadway World Connecticut.

Personal life

Reiss lives in New York City with his wife Denise, and the two frequently travel abroad.

In 2022 Reiss visited the wreck of the Titanic in OceanGate's Titan submersible, a year prior to the submersible's implosion that killed five passengers. He noted that before embarking on the expedition he had to sign a waiver that mentioned the likelihood of death multiple times.

Writing credits

The Simpsons episodes

The following is a list of episodes of The Simpsons Reiss has written with Al Jean:

  • "There's No Disgrace Like Home"
  • "Moaning Lisa"
  • "The Telltale Head" (with Matt Groening and Sam Simon)
  • "The Way We Was" (with Sam Simon)
  • "Stark Raving Dad"
  • "Treehouse of Horror II" (The Bart Zone)
  • "Lisa's Pony"
  • "Treehouse of Horror III" (Clown Without Pity)
  • 'Round Springfield" – (Jean and Reiss received story credit only; the teleplay was written by Joshua Sternin and Jennifer Ventimilia)
  • "Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious"

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!"

Films

Screenwriter

Feature films

  • Queer Duck: The Movie (2006)
  • The Simpsons Movie (2007) (With James L. Brooks, Matt Groening, Al Jean, Ian Maxtone-Graham, George Meyer, David Mirkin, Mike Scully, Matt Selman, John Swartzwelder and Jon Vitti)
  • My Life in Ruins (2009)
  • Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009) (With Michael Berg, Peter Ackerman and Yoni Brenner)

Short films

  • Surviving Sid (2008) (With Jon Vitti and Yoni Brenner)
  • Scrat's Continental Crack Up (2010)
  • Scrat's Continental Crack Up: Part 2 (2011)
  • Cosmic Scrat-tastrophe (2015)

TV specials

  • Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas (2011) (With Sam Harper)
  • How Murray Saved Christmas (2014)

Consultant

  • Robots (2005)

Story consultant

  • Horton Hears a Who! (2008)
  • Rio (2011)
  • The Lorax (2012)
  • Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012)
  • Despicable Me 2 (2013)

References