The Dad Who Knew Too Little
"The Dad Who Knew Too Little" | ||
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Couch gag In a parody of Lunch atop a Skyscraper, the Simpsons are dressed as construction workers of the early 20th century and are sitting on a girder watching television. | | |
Commentary | Al Jean Matt Selman Ian Maxtone-Graham Carolyn Omine Matt Warburton Yeardley Smith Mark Kirkland David Silverman "Weird Al" Yankovic | |
"The Dad Who Knew Too Little" is the eighth episode of the fourteenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on January 12, 2003. In the episode, Homer disappoints Lisa on her birthday when he gives her a thoughtless present. He realizes that he knows little about her and decides to hire private detective Dexter Colt to spy on her.
Plot
To keep her secrets confidential,
Feeling sad, Homer gets an idea from
The next morning, someone has vandalized the research lab and stolen all the animals. Chief Wiggum says that, based on the clues, Lisa is the main suspect. Lisa says she is innocent and Homer realizes that she has been framed by Colt. They escape as fugitives, in disguise. While on the run, Homer confesses about the report and Colt to Lisa, upsetting her once more.
The police track the pair to a motel, but they escape again and find themselves at a circus, where they discover all the stolen animals. Colt shows up and chases Homer into a hall of mirrors. As Colt is about to kill Homer, Lisa catches up. After Homer mentions her strong sense of hearing, Lisa, impressed he actually remembered something about her, blinds Colt with a laser pointer (Bart's gift to her), and Colt is soon arrested. Lisa is exonerated, and the animals are all released back into the wild, until Cletus and his family adopts them.
Later at night, Lisa eventually gets her Turbo Diary. When she goes to sleep, Bart sneaks in steals the diary using a pair of tongs. While the house was shown, we hear Bart walking to Homer and asking him to read him a bedtime story. Homer accepts and asks Bart to give him the diary. He opens it and gets electrocuted as a result of being an unauthorized user. Then, Bart laughs at gullible Homer's excruciating pain and misery.
Production
"The Dad Who Knew Too Little" was written by Matt Selman and directed by Mark Kirkland as part of the fourteenth season of The Simpsons (2002–03).[1][2] American actor Elliott Gould guest starred in the episode as himself,[3] appearing in the television show Padz that Bart and Lisa watch at the beginning of the episode. Padz, which is a parody of the reality show MTV Cribs, takes its viewers inside the luxurious homes of celebrities. The celebrity featured in the episode that Bart and Lisa watch is Krusty the Clown, and he is seen having a fight with his neighbor, Gould, whose son has been bitten by Krusty's tame chimp.[4] Gould had been referenced in a previous episode of The Simpsons, in which it was revealed that he was Marge's hero when she was in high school. According to The Simpsons showrunner Al Jean, Gould wrote a letter to the producers of the show thanking them for the reference. This prompted them to ask him if he wanted to do a guest appearance in the series.[4] When Gould assaults Krusty, he names his fists and feet Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice, a reference to the film of the same name that Gould starred in.
The Simpsons cast member Hank Azaria provided the voice of Dexter Colt, basing it on actor Robert Stack who has played several detectives and agents.[4] Kirkland was enthusiastic about directing the episode as he enjoys film noir detective films and is a big fan of actor Humphrey Bogart, who has appeared in many films of the genre. Kirkland based the design of Colt on Robert Mitchum, who, in addition to being a film noir actor, played a detective in the 1991 film Cape Fear, while playing the villain in the original film.[5] A viewing of detective films from the film noir period was arranged by Kirkland for his animation crew so that they would get inspiration on how to animate the scenes featuring Colt, including how to design the environments and how to make Colt act.[5]
Release
The episode originally aired on the
In February 2004, "The Dad Who Knew Too Little" won a
Homer's email
Homer gives his email, [email protected], to Dexter Colt in the episode so that they can keep contact.[12] In an article for the technology section of the Time website, Selman wrote that he registered that email before the broadcast of the episode, thinking that "if anyone wanted to write an email to Homer, it would be fun to answer back."[13] Once the episode had aired, he logged in to find that his inbox had reached its maximum 999-message limit.[12][13] According to Selman, most messages "were of the simple, 'Who is this?' or 'Are U Matt Groening?' or 'LOL Homer Rulzzz LOL!' variety. But many people wrote long, thoughtful, attempting-to-be funny missives to Homer".[13]
Selman responded to many of the messages in the character of Homer. He initially intended to answer them all, but gave up when he received even more messages after deleting some of the answered ones in his inbox.
In 2008, Homer's email name "Chunkylover53" drew media attention after it had been used by
Cultural references
The title is a reference to the noir film "The Man Who Knew Too Much". It may also be a callback to the episode "The Boy Who Knew Too Much".
The hall of mirrors scene is a reference to "The Lady from Shanghai".
References
- ^ ISBN 9780594045052.
- ^ Selman, Matt (2011). Audio commentary for "The Dad Who Knew Too Little", in The Simpsons: The Complete Fourteenth Season [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
- ^ Valdivia, Victor (December 22, 2011). "The Simpsons: The Fourteenth Season". DVD Verdict. Archived from the original on August 22, 2012. Retrieved August 21, 2012.
- ^ a b c Jean, Al (2011). Audio commentary for "The Dad Who Knew Too Little", in The Simpsons: The Complete Fourteenth Season [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
- ^ a b Kirkland, Mark (2011). Audio commentary for "The Dad Who Knew Too Little", in The Simpsons: The Complete Fourteenth Season [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
- Sun-Sentinel. p. 4E.
- ^ Lambert, David (September 28, 2011). "The Simpsons - Finalized Box Art, Details and Extras for 'The Complete 14th Season' DVDs, Blu-rays". TVShowsOnDVD.com. Archived from the original on August 22, 2012. Retrieved August 19, 2012.
- ^ a b Jacobson, Colin (December 16, 2011). "The Simpsons: The Complete Fourteenth Season [Blu-Ray] (2002)". DVD Movie Guide. Retrieved August 2, 2012.
- ^ "Awards Winners". Writers Guild of America. Archived from the original on May 3, 2012. Retrieved April 28, 2009.
- ^ "Writers Guild Award winners named". USA Today. February 23, 2004. Retrieved August 26, 2012.
- ^ a b "Simpsons scoop script nominations". BBC News. January 20, 2004. Retrieved August 26, 2012.
- ^ a b c "Simpsons fans get e-mails from Homer". CBBC Newsround. January 30, 2003. Retrieved January 28, 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f g Selman, Matt (July 16, 2008). "Defending ChunkyLover53". Techland (Time). Retrieved January 28, 2022.
- ^ Leyden, John (July 14, 2008). "Homer Simpson's email address hacked". The Register. Retrieved January 28, 2022.
- ^ Elliott, Amy-Mae (January 26, 2011). "10 Fascinating Facts About E-mail". Mashable. Retrieved August 27, 2012.
- ^ a b Mills, Elinor (July 11, 2008). "Malware targets 'Simpsons' fans on AIM". CNET. Retrieved January 28, 2022.
- ^ a b Boyd, Christopher (July 11, 2008). "Homer Simpson and the Kimya Botnet". SpywareGuide (Actiance). Archived from the original on August 31, 2012. Retrieved January 28, 2022.
External links
- "The Dad Who Knew Too Little" at IMDb