Simpsons executive producer James L. Brooks was also an executive producer on The Critic, the short-lived, mid-'90s animated series that starred Jon Lovitz as TV film critic Jay Sherman, who hated most every movie he was forced to review. The show, created by long-time Simpsons writers and producers Al Jean and Mike Reiss, debuted on ABC in 1994, but after cancellation was picked up by Fox in 1995 thanks to some behind-the-scenes dealing by Brooks. Fox then gave it a great time slot, Sundays at 8:30, right after The Simpsons.
Brooks also arranged for a Critic crossover episode of The Simpsons in which Jay Sherman visits Springfield to judge a film festival. Groening, however, was adamantly opposed to the episode, thinking it amounted to little more than advertising. "The two reasons I am opposed to this crossover is that I don't want any credit or blame for The Critic and I feel this violates the Simpsons universe," Groening said. He even took his name off of the credits for the episode. Brooks called Groening's behavior "rotten." The episode took months to produce, but Groening waited until just before the episode aired to go on the offensive, hoping Brooks would change his mind at the last minute and pull the episode.
