Longtime Simpsons fans ought to know three names by heart— James L. Brooks, Matt Groening, and Sam Simon. These three legends of television were the original masterminds behind The Simpsons, and their names appear in the opening sequence of every episode. Special recognition is given to Matt Groening, who rightfully receives credit as the show's creator, as well as a spot on the list of developers alongside Brooks and Simon. However, there is one episode where Groening's name is nowhere to be found. After the couch gag, the episode cuts to the eponymous family's television set as per usual, but the theme plays out to the sole text of "Developed by James L. Brooks and Sam Simon." There is no creator credit, and Groening is missing entirely.

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"A Star Is Burns" Tied 'The Simpsons' to a Different Animated Series

The Critic
Image via American Broadcasting Company

This outlying episode is "A Star Is Burns," the 18th episode in the show's sixth season. Debuting on March 5th, 1995, the episode is commonly considered a pivotal entry in the show's golden years. The plot focuses on Springfield hosting its first film festival after being named the least cultural city in the United States. Marge (Julie Kavner) runs the festival and members of the town submit films. Meanwhile, she also selects Krusty the Clown, Mayor Quimby, and Homer (Dan Castellaneta) for the festival's jury, along with a special guest star that caused some behind-the-scenes strife between Groening and his fellow Simpsons producers.

The fourth judge is esteemed New York City film critic Jay Sherman. Voiced by Jon Lovitz, Jay Sherman is neither a real-life figure nor a Simpsons regular. He was instead the title character on The Critic, a different animated sitcom that aired for two seasons in the mid-90s. Former Simpsons writers Mike Reiss and Al Jean created the show, and James L. Brooks served as an executive producer. Although it debuted on ABC for its initial season, The Critic joined The Simpsons on Fox in 1995. "A Star Is Burns" was thus a crossover between Fox's most beloved show and its new acquisition.

Matt Groening Didn't Approve of a 'Simpsons'/'Critic' Crossover

Lisa and Bart looking at Jay Sherman in The Simpsons Season 6 episode 'A Star Is Burns'
Image via Fox

It may seem odd that Groening objected so heavily to a crossover episode. The Simpsons has always been open to guest stars and repackaging popular culture into their wacky cartoon world. Admittedly, such repackaging is usually done in the name of parody. Bringing Jay Sherman to Springfield was less of a jesting jab at the other show, but rather an acknowledgment that the two exist in the same universe — even if Sherman adopted a yellow skin tone for this particular occasion.

For that, Groening took issue with "A Star Is Burns," seeing it as Fox and Brooks using The Simpsons to advertise their new, less influential show. When Groening failed to stop the episode from airing, he went public with his complaints, citing a concern for his "professional ethics and reputation." He feared that viewers would start thinking that The Critic was his show, when he really had no involvement in it whatsoever. Similarly, he saw it as an encroachment on The Simpsons' world, which he had built with his own concepts and characters over several years. In Groening's eyes, Jay Sherman's presence felt like a cheap, forced insert into his personally crafted narrative canvas.

Conflict Intensified in 'The Simpsons' Writing Room

Homer screaming in Jay Sherman's face in Season 6 episode of The Simpsons, 'A Star Is Burns'
Image via Fox

The conflict heated up when Brooks responded to Groening's public complaints in the Los Angeles Times. He openly accused the creator of complaining about the episode to every Fox executive, and deemed his public outcry inappropriate. He even went so far as to bitingly mention how Fox, Reiss, and Jean had helped make Groening a rich man through their work on The Simpsons, raising the question of who's really responsible for the show's runaway success.

Perhaps the most agreeable statements from the episode's creators came from Reiss and Jean, who expressed disappointment in Groening's aversion to the episode, but seemed mainly concerned with how all the notoriety might affect the audience's perception of "A Star Is Burns." As Reiss told the Los Angeles Times, "this taints everything at the last minute," and Jean added that the episode "stands on its own even if The Critic never existed." Twenty-seven years later, this view still holds true.

There Is Still a Lot To Appreciate in "A Star Is Burns"

Homer and Jay Sherman fighting over the last piece of steak at the dinner table in The Simpsons Season 6 episode 'A Star Is Burns'
Image via Fox

"A Star Is Burns" truly is a superb Simpsons episode. It includes a wide gambit of Springfield residents behaving the ways viewers would expect them to. Mr. Burns (Harry Shearer) characteristically uses his wealth to create a blockbuster movie glorifying himself, and then bribes the judges to get a leg up in the competition. The episode's festival sequence also gave the world Hans Moleman's film, Man Getting Hit By Football (and Homer's hysterically uproarious reaction to it) as well as Barney Gumble's unexpectedly beautiful documentary Pukahontas, which explores his alcoholism through an artistic lens. Outside of the main story, there are also the memorable moments of Moe (Hank Azaria) being mistaken for Drew Barrymore, Grampa Simpson calling the Metric System the tool of the Devil, McBain investigating his loafers for untied laces, and countless other quotable, laugh-out-loud jokes.

The episode is also a gem for cinephiles. The festival premise provides ripe material for satire on the filmic arts and industry. Mr. Burns' movie, A Burns For All Seasons hilariously inserts the titular elder into scenes taken from The Alamo, E.T., and Ben-Hur, and the whole production is directed by Stephen Spielberg's "non-union Mexican equivalent," Señor Spielbergo. At the end of the episode, Mr. Burns even buys his way to an Academy Award nomination... only to lose to George C. Scott in a remake of Moleman's Man Getting Hit By Football.

All of this is peak Simpsons humor, with or without Jay Sherman. Really, Sherman hardly seems like a central focus in the episode, and watching it today, viewers unfamiliar with The Critic will hardly recognize it as a crossover. Still, the episode treats the synergy with winking self-awareness. When Bart meets Sherman, he praises the critic's show, just before turning away, shivering, and admitting to a sudden dirty feeling. At one point, a TV in the background plays The Flintstones Meet The Jetsons, to which Bart claims "Uh-oh, I smell another cheap cartoon crossover." Lastly, when Sherman leaves to go back to New York, he starts offering the Simpsons to visit him, but Bart cuts him off, asserting that they definitely won't be doing that. Like when Family Guy crossed over into The Simpsons in 2014 (albeit in a proper Family Guy episode rather than a Simpsons episode), "A Star Is Burns" makes clear that The Simpsons is the trendsetting staple in adult animation, and the tied-in series delivers due homage.

Matt Groening nevertheless elected to distance himself from the episode, his name absent in the opening and closing credits, and his commentary left off of "A Star Is Burns" on the Season 6 DVD set. Although other Simpsons episodes have sparked controversy before and since, "A Star Is Burns" stands as possibly the sole episode where such tense conflict occurred behind-the-scenes and then went public. All the same, it seems that the trio put their differences aside, as every subsequent episode for the past twenty-eight seasons has included Groening, Brooks, and even the late Simon's name. In 2014, The Simpsons even helmed a second crossover episode, this time with Futurama, which was, of course, a far more outlandish series to insert into The Simpsons' diegesis than The Critic. Groening did not protest that episode, but perhaps that's because he also created Futurama and thus didn't fear as much for his reputation. Regardless, one shouldn't expect The Simpsons to lead more crossovers with other shows in the future... except maybe Disenchantment.