Richard Appel

There, he wrote seven episodes, often employing the use of "joke sequences, a narrative approach to humor that eschews the quick laugh in favor of something that develops over time." Appel found work on The Simpsons to be a learning curve because it was a "very tough show to write for." His first episode was season seven's "Mother Simpson". Appel was desperately trying to think of a story idea to show and decided that he had to really reach out and opted to do something about Homer's mother, who previously had only been mentioned once. He named her Mona Simpson, after his wife. Many of the writers could not believe that an episode about Homer's mother had not previously been produced. The writers used the episode to solve several little puzzles, such as where Lisa's intelligence came from. Also for season seven he penned "Bart on the Road", in which he utilized the plot devices of "go to work with your parents day" and Bart getting a driving license, and contributed to the episode "22 Short Films About Springfield"; the two segments he wrote for the episode (one about Marge, the other about Lionel Hutz) were both cut. Appel wrote two episodes from season eight, "Bart After Dark" and "The Secret War of Lisa Simpson", as well as season nine's "The Two Mrs Nahasapeemapetilons" and season 10's "When You Dish Upon A Star". Read Less

In 2008, he served as a co-executive producer on Family Guy and executive producer on American Dad! from 2008 until 2009. Appel wrote the Family Guy seventh season episode "Family Gay". Read Less