Homer's Barbershop Quartet

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"Homer's Barbershop Quartet"
The Simpsons episode
Four barbershop quartet singers, with one handing an award to a mustached man in a suit
Promotional artwork for "Homer's Barbershop Quartet", featuring David Crosby
Episode no.Season 5
Episode 1
Directed byMark Kirkland
Written byJeff Martin
Production code9F21
Original air dateSeptember 30, 1993 (1993-09-30)
Guest appearances
Episode features
Couch gag
The family rush into the room, crash into each other, and shatter like glass. Then, on take 2, the family morph into one disfigured creature. Finally, on take 3, the family run into each other and explode.[2]
CommentaryMatt Groening
Mike Reiss
Al Jean
Jeff Martin
Hank Azaria
Jon Lovitz
Mark Kirkland
Episode chronology
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The Simpsons season 5
List of episodes

"Homer's Barbershop Quartet" is the first episode of the fifth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on September 30, 1993. It features the Be Sharps, a barbershop quartet founded by Homer Simpson. The band's story roughly parallels that of the Beatles. George Harrison and David Crosby guest star as themselves, and the Dapper Dans partly provide the singing voices of the Be Sharps.

The episode was written by

Moe's Tavern
, singing their number-one hit "Baby on Board".

In its original American broadcast, "Homer's Barbershop Quartet" finished 30th in ratings, with a

Nielsen rating
of 12.7. It was praised for its Beatles pastiche, despite being a leftover episode from the previous season.

Plot

At the Springfield Swap Meet, Bart and Lisa notice Homer on the cover of an LP album. Homer tells the story of how he, Principal Skinner, Barney, and Apu recorded a barbershop quartet album in 1985, which catapulted them to national fame.

In 1985, Homer, Skinner, Apu and

Moe's Tavern, which was then called Moe's Cavern. An agent named Nigel offers to represent the group, but only on the condition that they replace Wiggum; Homer does this by abandoning him on the side of the road in the forest. They hold auditions for a fourth member but have no luck until they hear Barney's beautiful Irish tenor
voice in the men's room. After their first show as a foursome, they decide to name themselves "The Be Sharps."

Homer has little luck as a songwriter until Marge buys a "

Grammy Award for Outstanding Soul, Spoken Word, or Barbershop Album of the Year. At the ceremony, Barney meets his hero David Crosby and Homer meets George Harrison of the Beatles
. That night, Homer calls home to talk to Lisa and Marge and realizes how much they miss him. Disillusioned, he gives his award statuette away as a tip to the unimpressed bellhop.

In the present, Homer looks through a box of Be Sharps merchandise, including

lunch boxes, mugs, and posters, as well as their second album, Bigger than Jesus
. Bart wonders how it all went wrong, and Homer tells the end of the story.

Creative disputes arise within the group when Barney falls in love with a

Moe's, and Homer returns to the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, where his job had temporarily been covered by a chicken
.

Bart and Lisa ask several more questions about Homer's time in the Be Sharps, but he sends them to bed without giving them answers. Feeling nostalgic, Homer calls Skinner, Apu, and Barney. The next day, the Be Sharps perform "Baby on Board" on the roof of Moe's. Pedestrians stop and listen to the performance, including Harrison, who dismissively remarks, "It's been done," and Wiggum, who prepares to release tear gas on his former bandmates.

Production

A man leaning towards the left
Jeff Martin, a fan of the Beatles, wrote the episode.

One of the writers for The Simpsons suggested that they should create an episode that focuses on Homer in a barbershop quartet and "a big parody of the Beatles." The episode was written by Jeff Martin, who was an "obsessive" Beatles fan, making him "a natural to write [the episode]."[3] Mark Kirkland, a "huge" Beatles fan, directed it, and ensured that the Beatles references were accurate. Kirkland enjoyed directing "Homer's Barbershop Quartet" and, unlike other episodes he directed, he did not experience any trouble animating it. The animators liked creating the Beatles gags and enjoyed the barbershop music. After the animators synchronized the audio track, music and animation, they "just fell in love" with it. They also enjoyed working on the choreography of the Be Sharps and trying to match the characters' movements with the music. They were inspired by the 1970 Beatles film Let It Be, including the shots of the band in the recording studio where they decide to break up. Kirkland did not think there was anything "spectacular" in the episode's animation, but he and his animation team "just loved" working on it.[4]

Four members of a barbershop quartet standing around
The Dapper Dans, a barbershop quartet, partly provided the singing voices of the Be Sharps in the episode.

Lisa sees a man selling an original Malibu Stacy doll from 1958 that has big, pointed breasts. The man, nicknamed "Wiseguy" by the show's staff, tells Lisa that "they took [the doll] off the market after some kid put both his eyes out." The joke received a censor note from the Fox network's censors, but the producers ignored it and the joke appeared in the episode when it aired.[5]

The Be Sharps' singing voices were partly provided by the

Disneyland in Anaheim, California. Before working on the episode, Martin had seen one of the quartet's performances and enjoyed it. When the episode's production began, he contacted the quartet, and they agreed to make a guest appearance in the episode. The Dapper Dans' singing was intermixed with the normal voice actors' voices, often with a regular voice actor singing the melody and The Dapper Dans providing backup.[3]

show runners, Al Jean and Mike Reiss, that Harrison was coming and that they were not allowed to tell anybody about it because it was intended to be a secret. Jean, Reiss, and the show's creator Matt Groening went to see Harrison in the studio, and when they returned to the writer's room, Groening, unaware that it was supposed to be a secret, said, "Guess who I just met! George Harrison!"[6] Harrison arrived at the studio by himself, without entourage or bodyguards. Groening recalls that Harrison was "pretty glum," and he was unenthusiastic when the staff asked him questions about the Beatles. However, when Groening asked Harrison about the Wonderwall Music album, he suddenly "perked up" because it was one of his solo albums that he was rarely questioned on. Harrison's guest appearance was one of Groening's favorites because he was "super nice" and "very sweet" to the staff.[5] Jean said it was a "huge thrill" to have him appear.[6] David Crosby also makes a guest appearance in the episode as himself, in the scene where he presents a Grammy Award to the Be Sharps.[7]

"Homer's Barbershop Quartet" was a hold-over episode from the season four production line. It was chosen to air as the fifth season's premiere episode because it guest starred Harrison. The Fox network executives wanted to premiere with

National Lampoon's Animal House, but the writers felt "Homer's Barbershop Quartet" would be a better choice because of Harrison's involvement.[6]

Cultural references

At the swap meet,

LP albums at the swap meet, they find a recording of "Yankee Doodle" by Melvin and the Squirrels, a spoof of Alvin and the Chipmunks.[2] When the Be Sharps perform "Goodbye, My Coney Island Baby" for the Statue of Liberty centennial, President Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy are in attendance.[8]

Marge's painting of

Cavern Club in Liverpool, where the Beatles frequently performed in the early 1960s.[2] Chief Wiggum, thrown out of the band, mirrors Pete Best, an early member of the Beatles who was replaced by Starr.[6] Like Starr, Apu is given a stage name: Apu de Beaumarchais. The cover of Bigger Than Jesus, the Be Sharps' second album, is a parody of the cover of Abbey Road. The title is a reference to a controversial quote made by John Lennon in 1966. Bart asks, "What did you do [to lose your popularity]? Screw up like the Beatles and say you were bigger than Jesus?" Homer replies, "All the time. That was the title of our second album."[1] Near the end of the episode, the album's back cover is revealed, on which Homer is seen turned away from the camera. This is a parody of the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band LP reverse, in which Paul McCartney is in the same pose.[6] Homer meets George Harrison at the Grammy party. Barney's Japanese conceptual artist girlfriend is a parody of Yoko Ono.[2] Their song repeats the phrase "Number 8" and a burp by Barney, a reference to the Beatles' "Revolution 9". While Barney plays this song to the group, the members are seen standing in such a way to resemble a photograph of the Beatles in their studio with Ono while recording The White Album. The group performing atop Moe's Tavern at the end of the episode is a parody of the Beatles' impromptu performance on the Apple Corps rooftop during their Get Back recording sessions in 1969.[2] The Be Sharps are wearing the same outfits as the Beatles during the rooftop concert scene: Barney in a brown fur coat (Lennon), Homer in a bright red coat (Starr), Skinner in a black suit (McCartney), and Apu in a black Mongolian lamb coat with green trousers (Harrison).[4] Harrison, seeing the concert, notes "It's been done." After the performance, Homer says, "I'd like to thank you on behalf of the group and I hope we passed the audition," paraphrasing Lennon's line at the end of the concert.[2]

Reception

In its original American broadcast, "Homer's Barbershop Quartet" finished 30th in the ratings for the week of September 27 to October 3, 1993, with a

Nielsen rating of 12.7, translating to 11,963,400 households.[9]

Despite being a "leftover from last season,"

Brush With Greatness" and Paul McCartney would star in "Lisa the Vegetarian
").

Giving the episode a score of 5 out of 5,

Sunday Tasmanian called the episode a "first-class offering."[16]

Although it appreciated the story and use of the main characters, Current Film was not enthused about the episode, claiming that it was not consistently funny.[17] The Age called "Homer's Barbershop Quartet" an awful episode, with a "weak, unfunny parody of The Beatles," blaming the series' change of writers before the episode was written.[18]

IGN ranked the Beatles' appearances (in "Lisa the Vegetarian", "Brush with Greatness", and "Homer's Barbershop Quartet") 10th on their list of the Top 25 Simpsons Guest Appearances,[19] and the Toronto Star ranked the band fifth on a list of the 11 best cameos on The Simpsons.[20] Andrew Martin of Prefix Mag named Harrison his fourth-favorite musical guest on The Simpsons out of a list of ten.[21] Nathan Rabin writes that the episode "is a swooning yet irreverent valentine to Beatles mythology—an inspired, episode-length riff on the rise, fall, and glorious afterlife of what we can all agree was the single greatest rock band of all time."[22]

Legacy

The cocktail Barney's girlfriend orders in this episode – "a single plum, floating in perfume, served in a man's hat" – was recreated by Icelandic artist

Reykjavík Art Museum, which was curated by Yoko Ono.[23]

References

  1. ^
    OL 433519M
    ..
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Martyn, Warren; Wood, Adrian (2000). "Homer's Barbershop Quartet". BBC. Retrieved April 12, 2008.
  3. ^ a b c d Martin, Jeff (2004). The Simpsons season 5 DVD commentary for the episode "Homer's Barbershop Quartet" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
  4. ^ a b Kirkland, Mark (2004). The Simpsons season 5 DVD commentary for the episode "Homer's Barbershop Quartet" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
  5. ^ a b Groening, Matt (2004). The Simpsons season 5 DVD commentary for the episode "Homer's Barbershop Quartet" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
  6. ^ a b c d e Jean, Al (2004). The Simpsons season 5 DVD commentary for the episode "Homer's Barbershop Quartet" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
  7. ^ a b Azaria, Hank (2004). The Simpsons season 5 DVD commentary for the episode "Homer's Barbershop Quartet" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
  8. ISBN 9780195353754
    – via Google Books.
  9. ^ "Nielsen Ratings Sept. 27–Oct. 3". Press-Telegram. October 6, 1993.
  10. ^ Shales, Tom (September 30, 1993). "Return of 'The Simpsons': Still the Best on the Block". The Washington Post. p. B1.
  11. ^ Bromley, Judge Patrick (February 23, 2005). "The Simpsons: The Complete Fifth Season". DVD Verdict. Archived from the original on January 16, 2009. Retrieved January 24, 2009.
  12. ^ Jacobson, Colin (December 21, 2004). "The Simpsons: The Complete Fifth Season (1993)". DVD Movie Guide. Retrieved January 24, 2009.
  13. ^ Gibron, Bill (December 21, 2004). "The Simpsons – The Complete Fifth Season". DVD Talk. Retrieved January 24, 2009.
  14. ^ Daly, Kay (February 11, 2005). "The Simpsons: The Complete Fifth Season DVD Review". TV DVD Reviews. Archived from the original on January 16, 2009. Retrieved January 24, 2009.
  15. ^ Melloy, Neil (July 25, 2002). "The Simpsons: Backstage Pass". The Courier-Mail. p. 6.
  16. ^ Miller, Craig (March 27, 2005). "DVD Releases". Sunday Tasmanian. p. 22.
  17. ^ "DVD Information". Current Film. Archived from the original on January 16, 2009. Retrieved January 24, 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  18. ^ Schembri, Jim (July 6, 1995). "My life as Lisa". The Age. p. 10.
  19. ^ Goldman, Eric; Iverson, Dan; Zoromski, Brian (January 4, 2010). "Top 25 Simpsons Guest Appearances". IGN. Retrieved January 16, 2022.
  20. ^ Jones, Arnold Wayne (May 20, 2007). "Producer speaks out on cartoon cameos". The Toronto Star. p. C05.
  21. ^ Martin, Andrew (October 7, 2011). "Top 10 Best Musical Guests On 'The Simpsons'". Prefix Mag. Archived from the original on May 14, 2016. Retrieved October 8, 2011.
  22. ^ Rabin, Nathan. "The Simpsons (Classic): "Homer's Barbershop Quartet"". The A.V. Club.
  23. ^ Carey Dunne (October 28, 2016). "Yoko Ono Joke from 'The Simpsons' Becomes Sculpture in Her Exhibition". Hyperallergic. Retrieved November 2, 2021.

External links

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