Alfred Ernest "Al" Jean III (born January 9, 1961) is an American screenwriter and producer. Jean is well known for his work on
The Simpsons. He was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan and graduated from
Harvard University in 1981. Jean began his writing career in the 1980s with fellow Harvard alum
Mike Reiss. Together, they worked as writers and producers on television shows such as
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson,
ALF and
It's Garry Shandling's Show. Jean was offered a job as a writer on the animated sitcom
The Simpsons in 1989, alongside Reiss, and together they became the first members of the original writing staff of the show. They served as
show runners during the show's third (1991) and fourth (1992) seasons, though they left
The Simpsons after season four to create
The Critic, an animated show about film critic
Jay Sherman. It was first broadcast on
ABC in January 1994 (then aired its second season on
Fox in March 1995) and was well received by critics, but did not catch on with viewers and only lasted for two seasons.