The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase
"The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase" | |
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The Simpsons episode | |
Episode no. | Season 8 Episode 24 |
Directed by | Neil Affleck |
Story by | Ken Keeler |
Teleplay by | David X. Cohen Dan Greaney Steve Tompkins |
Production code | 4F20 |
Original air date | May 11, 1997 |
Guest appearances | |
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Episode features | |
Commentary | Matt Groening Josh Weinstein David X. Cohen Dan Greaney Yeardley Smith Ken Keeler |
"The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase" is the twenty-fourth and penultimate episode of the
The episode was written by David X. Cohen, Dan Greaney and Steve Tompkins, with Ken Keeler coming up with the story and the general idea of intentionally bad writing. It was directed by Neil Affleck,[1] and Tim Conway, Gailard Sartain and Phil Hartman guest-starred.[1][2]
The producers were initially uneasy about the episode, as they feared that the purposely bad writing would be mistaken for actual bad writing. The episode, however, now appears on several lists of the most popular Simpsons episodes.
Plot
"Chief Wiggum, P.I." is a crime-dramedy spin-off and a parody of Magnum, P.I., which follows Chief Wiggum, Ralph and Seymour Skinner. Chief Wiggum and his son Ralph move to New Orleans following Wiggum's removal from the Springfield Police Department for corruption, with Seymour Skinner as Wiggum's sidekick. Wiggum has proclaimed that he will "clean up the city" of New Orleans, but it does not take long before he meets his nemesis, Big Daddy, who warns Wiggum to stay out of his business. Soon after, Ralph is kidnapped and Wiggum finds Big Daddy's calling card left behind. Wiggum manages to track Big Daddy's ransom call to the Mardi Gras, where he briefly runs into the Simpson family, and the two chase each other to Big Daddy's mansion in the New Orleans bayou (in reality the Louisiana governor's mansion which Big Daddy had managed to steal). Chief Wiggum then threatens Big Daddy with a gun, but Big Daddy counters by tossing Ralph at his father, then jumping out the window and swimming away (at an extremely slow speed, due to his weight). Wiggum ultimately lets the villain escape, feeling that he will meet him again "each and every week", a riff on serialized, weekly television dramas.
"The Love-matic Grampa" is a
"The Simpson Family Smile-Time Variety Hour" is a
Troy ends the special with a look at the upcoming season of The Simpsons, filled with ridiculous plot twists, such as Homer turning Lisa into a frog using magical powers, the discovery of Bart's two long-lost identical twin brothers (one African-American, the other a cowboy),
Production
Ken Keeler came up with the idea for the episode from the one sentence statement: "Let's do spin-offs".[3] His idea was to use intentionally bad writing and "crazy plots", which underlines their critique of spin-offs in general.[4] After he had pitched the idea it was decided that "it was an idea that ought to work pretty well" and production went ahead.[3] Creator Matt Groening was uneasy about the idea, feeling that it could be mistranslated as actually bad sitcom writing. He also did not like the idea of breaking the fourth wall and the concept of saying that the Simpsons were just actors in a television show.[5] The idea was later explored in the season 11 episode "Behind the Laughter".[6] One of the "crazy" ideas was the inclusion of the character of Ozmodiar, who was originally included in the script for an earlier episode but was considered too ridiculous for the time. When this episode came along the character seemed to fit with the story and was included.[7] Even though Keeler came up with the story, David S. Cohen, Dan Greaney and Steve Tompkins wrote the scripts for the three segments.[2] Cohen wrote Chief Wiggum P.I.,[8] Greaney wrote Love-matic Grampa and Tompkins wrote The Simpson Family Smile-Time Variety Hour.[9]
The episode demanded a different approach to directing than a usual The Simpsons episode. Director
Three guest stars appear in the episode; Phil Hartman as Troy McClure, Tim Conway as himself and Gailard Sartain as Big Daddy.[2] McClure is used as a host of the episode, something he had previously done in the episode "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular".[10] Conway appears as himself. Conway, a comic veteran, was known for his work on The Carol Burnett Show, which has a similar format to The Simpson Family Smile-Time Variety Hour.[11] Due to Lisa being substituted for an older teenager (voiced by Pamela Hayden) in the third segment, Yeardley Smith, despite having the flu after recording all of her lines in "In Marge We Trust", has a cameo in this episode, like the previous episode, and speaks only one line in the entire episode,[12] making it one of the four times Lisa has a minor role in a Season 8 episode, the others being "Bart After Dark", "Grade School Confidential", and "Homer's Enemy".
Proposed real spin-offs
Over the course of the show, the staff have considered producing several
"
Groening also expressed a wish to make Simpstasia, a parody of Fantasia, but it was never produced, partly because it would have been too difficult to write a feature-length script, although a similar idea did appear in the episode "Itchy & Scratchy Land".[17] Before his murder, Phil Hartman had said he had wished to make a live-action film based around his character of Troy McClure, and several of the show's staff had expressed a desire to help create it.[18] Groening later told Empire that the idea never "got further than enthusiasm", but "would have been really fun".[13]
Cultural references
The entire episode is a satire of unoriginal, poor television writing and references and parodies many television series. When Troy McClure mentions that Fox can only fill up three slots for the next season, the three series are
Chief Wiggum, P.I. is a parody of police-dramas, such as
The Love-matic Grampa is a parody of fantasy sitcoms such as
The Simpson Family Smile-Time Variety Hour is a parody of the 1960s and 1970s live variety shows. Mainly it is a parody of
The songs parodied during the third segment are:
- "I Want Candy" by The Strangeloves, performed by the Simpson family.[2]
- "Peppermint Twist" by Joey Dee and the Starliters, performed by Bart, "Lisa" and Maggie.[2]
- "Lollipop" by Ronald & Ruby, performed by Jasper Beardley.[2]
- "Whip It" by Devo, performed by Waylon Smithers.[2]
In the planned future for the show, Homer meets a green space alien named Ozmodiar that only he can see. This is a reference to The Great Gazoo, a character added into some of the final episodes of The Flintstones.[22]
Reception
In its original American broadcast, "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase" finished 61st place in the weekly ratings for the week of May 5–11, 1997 with a
Matt Groening feared that the fans would interpret the episode in a negative light and was uneasy about the episode when it was in production. He later went on to say that the episode "turned out great".[5]
The writers of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood called it, "A very clever spin on the alternates offered by the Treehouse of Horrors run. Each of the spin-offs is very clever in its own way."[2] It has also appeared as one of the favorite episodes on a number of "best of" lists. Entertainment Weekly placed the episode 19th in their top 25 Simpsons episode list.[25]
In an interview for Star-News, The Simpsons writer Don Payne revealed that the episode was in his personal top six of the best The Simpsons episodes.[26]
Additionally, Gary Mullinax, a staff writer for The News Journal, picked the episode as part of his top-ten list.[27]
References
- ^ a b c Richmond & Coffman 1997, p. 228.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Martyn, Warren; Wood, Adrian (2000). "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase". BBC. Archived from the original on December 5, 2011. Retrieved February 15, 2007.
- ^ a b c Keeler, Ken (2006). The Simpsons The Complete Eighth Season DVD commentary for the episode "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^ a b Alberti, pp. 155–156
- ^ a b c Groening, Matt (2006). The Simpsons The Complete Eighth Season DVD commentary for the episode "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^ Long, Tim; Meyer, George; Scully, Mike; Kirkland, Mark (May 21, 2000). "Behind the Laughter". The Simpsons. Season 11. Episode 248. Fox.
- ^ a b c Weinstein, Josh (2006). The Simpsons The Complete Eighth Season DVD commentary for the episode "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^ a b Cohen, David X. (2006). The Simpsons The Complete Eighth Season DVD commentary for the episode "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^ Greaney, Dan (2006). The Simpsons The Complete Eighth Season DVD commentary for the episode "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^ Vitti, John; Silverman, David; Oakley, Bill; Weinstein, Josh (December 3, 1995). "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular". The Simpsons. Season 7. Episode 138. Fox.
- ^ a b c Alberti, pp. 158–159
- ^ a b c Smith, Yeardley (2006). The Simpsons The Complete Eighth Season DVD commentary for the episode "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^ a b c d Olly Richards (May 24, 2007). "Life In Development Hell". Empire. p. 76.
- ^ Dan Snierson (April 15, 1999). "Matt Groening tells EW Online about the lost 'Simpsons' spin-off". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on April 9, 2008. Retrieved January 23, 2022.
- ^ Groening, Matt (2006). The Simpsons The Complete Seventh Season DVD commentary for the episode "22 Short Films About Springfield" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^ Weinstein, Josh (2006). The Simpsons The Complete Seventh Season DVD commentary for the episode "22 Short Films About Springfield" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^ Groening, Matt (2004). The Simpsons The Complete Fourth Season DVD commentary for the episode "A Streetcar Named Marge" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^ Oakley, Bill (2006). The Simpsons The Complete Seventh Season DVD commentary for the episode "Homerpalooza" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^ Alberti, p. 154
- ^ "The Simpsons Spinoff Showcase". Archived from the original on December 8, 2015. Retrieved December 3, 2015.
- ^ a b Alberti, pp. 156–157
- ^ Alberti, p. 160
- ^ "Prime-time Ratings". The Orange County Register. May 14, 1997. p. F02.
- ^ "The Simpsons in Australia, March to July 1997". simpsonsgazette.tripod.com. Archived from the original on September 4, 2014. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
- ^ "The best Simpsons episodes, Nos. 16-20". Entertainment Weekly. February 6, 2003. Archived from the original on May 10, 2007. Retrieved January 23, 2022.
- ^ Ballard, Allison (August 21, 2005). "Wilmington Walk of Fame 'Simpsons' writer Don Payne — Master of his D'oh-main Don Payne left the Port City years ago for Springfield, but he'll always be a celebrity in his hometown". Star-News (Wilmington, NC). p. 1D, 5D.
- ^ Mullinax, Gary (March 16, 2003). "Homer's Odyssey". The News Journal. pp. 14, 15, 16H.
Bibliography
- Alberti, John, ed. (2003). Leaving Springfield: 'The Simpsons' and the Possibility of Oppositional Culture. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 0-8143-2849-0.
- OL 433519M.