A Star Is Torn

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

"A Star Is Torn"
Couch gag
In a parody of the opening of the 1960s sitcom, Get Smart, Homer goes through many futuristic doors and passageways until he reaches the phone booth, falls through the floor, and lands on the couch (with the rest of the family already seated).
CommentaryAl Jean
Carolyn Omine
Tim Long
Joel H. Cohen
Matt Selman
Yeardley Smith
Episode chronology
← Previous
"The Heartbroke Kid"
Next →
"Thank God, It's Doomsday"
The Simpsons (season 16)
List of episodes

"A Star Is Torn" is the eighteenth episode of the

Fantasia Barrino
guest stars as Clarissa Wellington.

Plot

After being unable to shop at the

Krusty make an endorsement for his "Li'l Starmaker" competition, a children's American Idol
-style competition where the winner shall be animated in an episode of Itchy & Scratchy. Bart convinces Lisa to enter because he believes she has a great voice.

At the competition, another child (played by guest star

Fantasia Barrino) sings a fancy version of Lisa's planned song, "Hush, Little Baby", which is declared by Bart to sound like "Whitney Houston brought to life". Lisa starts to panic, but Homer comes to her rescue by going to the nearby piano store and writing a song for her to sing. She sings the song, "I'm Talking Springfield", which praises Springfield (except Ned Flanders
), delighting the crowd. Soon, the competition enters its knockout stages. Homer, now Lisa's manager, starts using every means at his disposal to make Lisa feel comfortable. He even gets her the right spotlight by beating up the technician.

The competition progresses and contestants are eliminated, with Paul Simon disqualified after posing as a 10-year-old, leaving just fan favorites Cameron and Lisa in the final to take place the next week. However, Homer's aggressive treatment of staff at the competition makes Lisa mad. As a result, Lisa fires him as her manager, causing him to be upset. Later that night, as the rest of the family eat dinner, Homer enters to announce that he has become Cameron's manager. Lisa is sad that Homer is upset with her.

During the competition final, Lisa sings a song that she has written herself, called "Always My Dad", dedicated to Homer.[2] The song expresses how much she loves her dad, and how sorry she is for hurting him. After she finishes, everyone loves it. Cameron, now restyled by Homer as "Johnny Rainbow", then sings a rather condescending song called "Privileged Boy" that Homer wrote, the lyrics of which say how much better he is than everyone else. The audience boos Cameron and throw tomatoes at him, and he flees the stage in disgrace. Lisa is thrilled that Homer sabotaged Cameron to help her win, and Homer says he will always be there for her.

During the closing credits, Homer teaches Lisa the jazz hands routine, which he taught Cameron earlier, for her next performance. Maggie joins in, as well, though does stumble at first before picking up the routine.

Cultural references

References

  1. ^ Lynch, Joe (March 21, 2022). "Here's Every Musical Guest on The Simpsons, in Chronological Order". Billboard. Retrieved February 3, 2024.
  2. ^ Cavna, Michael (August 31, 2017). "Alf Clausen has created so many classic Simpsons songs. Here are 12 of his most memorable". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 3, 2024.
  3. ^ Elan, Priya (September 10, 2014). "The Simpsons' most underrated musical numbers". The Guardian. Retrieved February 3, 2024.

External links