Who Shot Mr. Burns?
| "Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part One)" | |
|---|---|
| The Simpsons episode | |
 Promotional artwork showing Mr. Burns and potential suspects | |
| Episode no. | Season 6 Episode 25 |
| Directed by | Jeffrey Lynch |
| Written by | |
| Production code | 2F16 |
| Original air date | May 21, 1995 |
| Guest appearance | |
| |
| Episode features | |
Couch gag | In the style of Hanna-Barbera cartoons, the family attempts to run across a continuously repeating background.[2] |
| Commentary |
|
| "Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part Two)" | |
|---|---|
| The Simpsons episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 7 Episode 1 |
| Directed by | Wes Archer |
| Written by |
|
| Production code | 2F20 |
| Original air date | September 17, 1995 |
| Guest appearance | |
| |
| Episode features | |
Couch gag | The Simpsons line up for a mug shot, with the theme to Dragnet.[3] |
| Commentary |
|
"Who Shot Mr. Burns?" is a two-part episode of the American animated television series The Simpsons. Part One is the twenty-fifth and final episode of the sixth season and originally aired on Fox in the United States on May 21, 1995, while Part Two is the season premiere of the seventh season and aired on Fox on September 17, 1995.
The episodes begin with
Both episodes were written by Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein; Part One was directed by Jeffrey Lynch and Part Two by Wes Archer.[1] Musician Tito Puente guest stars as himself in both parts.[4] "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" was conceived by series creator Matt Groening, and the writing staff decided to turn it into a two-part mystery episode. Part One contains several clues about the identity of the culprit because the writers wanted it to be solvable.
Plot
Part One
While burying the deceased 4th grade gerbil,
At the
Meanwhile, Burns plots to take the school's oil, of which Smithers disapproves. Burns establishes a
Burns reveals to Smithers his grandest scheme: the construction of a giant disc that will permanently block out the sun in Springfield, forcing the residents to continuously use the electricity from his plant. When Smithers says he has gone too far, Burns fires him. Homer, driven to insanity, sneaks into Burns's office and spray paints "I AM HOMER SIMPSON" on the wall. Despite catching him in the act, Burns still fails to remember his name. In a rage, Homer lunges at him and is hauled away by security. Many of the citizens affected by Burns's schemes, including Homer and Smithers, gather firearms and swear vengeance.
A town meeting is held to discuss Burns' actions, where several citizens are armed with guns. Burns arrives, armed with his own gun after his encounter with Homer, and activates the sun-blocking device. Afterwards, he walks into an alley and struggles with an unseen figure until a gun fires. Wounded, Burns stumbles and collapses onto the town's sundial, falling into unconsciousness. The townspeople find him and Marge mentions that since he has angered so many people recently, anyone could have been the shooter. Chief Wiggum agrees to start the investigation to find the culprit.
Part Two
With Burns hospitalized, the Springfield police search for his assailant. Smithers vaguely remembers shooting someone the night before in a drunken rage. Guilt-ridden, he heads for a local church, and is promptly arrested when the
With one of the prime suspects cleared, the police, aided by Lisa, eliminate other suspects, including Puente (who sought revenge through song), Skinner (who had planned on killing Burns but had been found by Chalmers accidentally putting on his mother's makeup instead of facial camouflage at the time of the shooting), Willie (who claimed that he was physically incapable of operating a firearm due to playing Space Invaders in 1978), and Moe (whose assertions of innocence are confirmed via polygraph). After a surreal dream involving Lisa, Wiggum finds an eyelash on Mr. Burns' suit that matches Simpson DNA. At the same time, Burns wakes up from his coma, exclaiming "Homer Simpson!" The police conclude that Homer shot Burns as revenge for not remembering his name. They raid the Simpson home and find a gun under the seat of their car, covered with Homer's fingerprints and loaded with bullets matching the one fired at Burns; subsequently, they arrest Homer for attempted murder. On the way to jail, the police wagon crashes at Krusty Burger and Homer escapes. Smithers offers a $50,000 reward for his capture.
At the hospital, it is revealed via
After leaving the town meeting, Burns came across Maggie eating a lollipop in the Simpsons' car. He decided to try stealing candy from a baby, but struggled against Maggie. As Burns yanked the lollipop away, his gun slipped from its holster into Maggie's hands and discharged. The gun fell beneath the car seat, and Homer would unknowingly leave fingerprints on the gun while reaching under the seat for an ice cream cone he dropped. Burns demands for Maggie to be arrested, but he is dismissed by Wiggum, who says no jury in the world would convict a baby for a crime, except for "maybe Texas". Marge also adds the shooting must have been an accident, considering Maggie is an infant. In the final shot, Maggie is shown with shifty eyes as she sucks her pacifier, implying she shot Burns intentionally.
Production
The idea for the episode came from series creator Matt Groening, who had wanted to do an episode in which Mr. Burns was shot, which could be used as a publicity stunt.[5] The writers decided to write the episode in two parts with a mystery that could be used in a contest.[6] It was important for them to design a mystery that had clues, took advantage of freeze frame technology, and was structured around one character who seemed to be the obvious culprit.[6] While deciding who the culprit was, Oakley and Weinstein pitched Barney Gumble because he was a character that could go to jail and it could change the dynamic of the show.[7] Mirkin suggested Maggie because he felt it was funnier and wanted the culprit to be a Simpsons family member.[8]
The producers worked hard to keep the ending of the episode a secret. While it was in production, David Silverman was the only animator who knew who the culprit was.[9] Wes Archer, director of the episode, was initially unaware of the solution and directed the episode up until the conclusion.[10] When it was time to animate the ending of the show, Silverman and Archer waited until the end of the summer of 1995 to work on it. They realized they needed help with the layouts and started giving various animators small parts to work on without telling them who the culprit was.[9] The table read for the episode also ended before the third act.[11] The writers had wanted the clues that were animated to be just right, so there were many animation retakes.[11] Oakley and Weinstein were initially unsure about having Maggie as the culprit, and it was decided that the episode would end with Maggie shifting her eyes and making it look like it was not a complete accident.[11]
Tito Puente and his Latin jazz ensemble appear in the episode and sing the song "Señor Burns". Oakley and Weinstein were unfamiliar with Puente and wrote him into the episode because Groening is a fan. They figured he would sing the song, but later discovered that Puente was a drummer, not a singer.[11] The lyrics were sung by one of Puente's band members.[8] His band would also play their version of The Simpsons' theme over the end credits.[8]
Hidden clues
A number of subtle clues, and a few
- Almost every clock is set at three or nine o'clock. The point of the clocks was to teach the viewer to view the sundial at the end upside down.[5]
- Mr. Burns looks from his balcony and talks about stealing candy from a baby.[6]
- The box of chocolates Homer sends Burns is lined with a Simpsons family photo, and as Burns and Smithers gorge on the candy, Maggie is the first Simpson the audience sees.[12]
- When Mr. Burns collapses on the sundial, he points at W and S, although from his viewpoint, the W looks like an M.[5]
- Many of the suspects have the letters S and either W or M in their initials, and the intention was that several "obvious" suspects could be eliminated by the letters. Several characters already had names with those initials, but some were made up specifically for this episode.[5]
- Principal Skinner's full name is revealed to be "W. Seymour Skinner" on a diploma in his office.[5]
- Smithers's full name is "Waylon Smithers".
- Mr. Burns calls Santa's Little Helper the "Simpson Mutt".[5]
- Moe's liquor license reveals that his full name is Moe Szyslak.[5]
- Melvin Van Horne is known to everyone by his stage name "Sideshow Mel".
- Grampa's gun is a Smith & Wesson.[13]
- Groundskeeper Willie was laid off from his job. Although his name was later revealed to be William MacDougal, he is also a Scotsman named Willie.
- Just before entering Mr. Burns' office to spray paint his name, Homer passes in front of the words "ONLY IN" on the pavement (upside down from the viewer's perspective), and very briefly blocks all of the letters except "NO" and a small arrow pointing at him.[14]
- A television in Moe's Tavern shows that "Pardon My Zinger" is broadcast on weekdays at 3 p.m. on Comedy Central.[5] It is later revealed that Burns is shot at 3 p.m. Smithers reveals at the meeting that he never misses the show, and afterward is seen heading in the opposite direction that Burns heads.[5]
- During the scene at the town hall, several citizens are seen stroking guns: Smithers and an unidentified woman have
- Also during the town hall scene, Mr. Burns smugly asks the townspeople "Who here has the guts to stop me?", followed by a panning shot of the townspeople glaring at Mr. Burns before each looking away in reluctance. During this shot, Maggie, at the bottom of the screen in Marge's arms, was the only one to continue glaring.
- As Mr. Burns collapses on the sundial, it is seen that the holster under his arm is empty. This was inserted as an intentional freeze frame clue to show that he had been shot with his own gun.[5]
Alternate endings
Due to the amount of interest in the ending of this episode, David Mirkin wrote several "terrible endings" and, with just Harry Shearer, recorded several alternate endings.[6] His original intention was to fool the production staff and also leak the endings to various media outlets, but much to his surprise he was unsuccessful.[6] Several endings were animated that showed various characters shooting Mr. Burns.[8] Several of the alternate endings aired during the clip show "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular". Various clips showed Barney, Tito, Moe, Apu, and even Santa's Little Helper as the gunmen. There was also a full-length conclusion that aired in which Smithers shot Burns and explained his doing so at Burns' bedside after Homer's wild chase, and fell on "W" and S" on the compass, Waylon's initials; Burns then gives Smithers a 5% pay cut for attempting to kill him.[15]
Alternate theories
Over the years, fan theories have emerged which hypothetically propose that other characters, such as Marge, Lisa, Grandpa, Bart, and Homer, could have shot Mr. Burns instead of Maggie.[16] In April 2020, a viral post compared Krusty's appearance in the final scene of Part One to how Homer looked when he dressed as him in "Homie the Clown", leading some to believe that Homer wanted to frame Krusty for Burns' attempted murder by posing as him. On a Twitter post, Oakley revealed that this was an animation error. In addition, released animation notes for the final scene indicate that Homer was not supposed to appear.[17][18]
Later episodes of the show have poked fun at the reveal of Maggie as the shooter. In season 9's "The Cartridge Family", Homer incorrectly recalls that Smithers was the culprit, which Lisa grumbles would have made more sense. In the season 18 episode "Revenge Is a Dish Best Served Three Times", Homer casually mentions that he shot Mr. Burns and pinned it on Maggie.
Contest
In the months following the broadcast of Part One, there was widespread debate among fans of the series as to who shot
The contest is referenced at the end of Part 1 when
On the DVD commentary, Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein remarked that they knew of only one person who had correctly guessed Maggie was the shooter based on the several clues in the episode. The individual had made a post on an online forum and the writers wanted to give them a special gift, but due to the contest regulations, Oakley and Weinstein were unable to contact them until after the contest had concluded. By that time, Oakley was unable to find the anonymous poster and on the DVD commentary, Oakley was still searching for the individual to give them a prize.[22]
Springfield's Most Wanted
Springfield's Most Wanted was a TV special hosted by John Walsh, host of America's Most Wanted. The special aired on September 17, 1995, before Part Two of "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" A parody of Walsh's television series, this special was designed to help people find out who shot Mr. Burns, by laying out the potential clues and identifying the possible suspects. It features opinions from former Los Angeles police chief Daryl Gates and predictions from Dennis Franz, Courtney Thorne-Smith, Kevin Nealon, Chris Elliott, and Andrew Shue. The special also included oddsmaker Jimmy Vaccaro of The Mirage casino and hotel in Las Vegas, who had been taking bets on the shooter's identity; a brief look at the casino's tote board shows Homer as the favorite with 2:1 odds, while Maggie was a longshot at 70:1. It was directed by Bill Brown and written by Jack Parmeter and Bob Bain.
The special was criticized for taking the publicity of the episode too far. Several critics said the special tainted host Walsh's credibility and was described as gimmicky,
Cultural references
The title and concept for these two episodes were taken from the series
When Mr. Burns refers to his package at the beginning of the episode, he states that it "absolutely, positively" has to arrive in Pasadena, California, the following day, a reference to an early FedEx slogan.[6] The song Mr. Burns sings to a lamp-post echo the lyrics of Simon & Garfunkel's song "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)".[6] The musical score that ends the first episode (when the credits roll) is a parody of John Williams' Drummers' Salute, which is part of the musical score he composed for Oliver Stone's film JFK.[5] During the scene in Part One where Moe's bar is closed, an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 is playing on the television in the background following a promotion for the fictional program Pardon My Zinger at 3:00 pm.[6]
The opening of Part Two, wherein Smithers realizes that he merely dreamed about shooting Mr. Burns, is a reference to the episode "Blast from the Past" from Dallas, in which the events of the entire ninth season were explained away as being merely a character's dream.[3][8] The dream itself, in which Smithers and Burns are undercover detectives on the 1960s Speedway racing circuit, parodied The Mod Squad.[3] Groundskeeper Willie's interrogation, and particularly his crossing and uncrossing his legs, is a parody of Sharon Stone's famous interrogation scene in Basic Instinct.[1] The nightclub is called 'Chez Guevara', a reference to Communist revolutionary Che Guevara.[1]
A
Reception
Part One finished 51st with a
In 2003, Entertainment Weekly published a Top 25 The Simpsons episode list and placed both parts of "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" in 25th place, saying, "a two-part comedic homage to Dallas' Who shot J.R.? stunt, [Who Shot Mr. Burns] is perhaps The Simpsons' most grandiose pop moment ever".[29] The Daily Telegraph characterized the episode as one of "The 10 Best Simpsons TV Episodes".[30] Entertainment.ie named it among the 10 greatest Simpsons episodes of all time.[31] When The Simpsons began streaming on Disney+ in 2019, Oakley named Part One one of the best classic Simpsons episodes to watch on the service.[32]
The authors 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 superb end to the season—and what's more, it's a genuine whodunnit. There's no cheating—all the clues are there."[2] Jake Rossen of Wizard called the ending the sixth-greatest cliffhanger of all time but expressed disappointment in the resolution, saying: "Sometimes it's better to make up your own ending, kids."[33] In 2008, Entertainment Weekly included Part One in their list of the best television season finales of all time.[34]
The song "Señor Burns", which was composed by
In The A.V. Club, Erik Adams writes, "Eighteen years later, we can look at 'Who Shot Mr. Burns?, Part One' as a successful experiment in The Simpsons thinking big without losing its core charms. The cliffhanger is irrelevant at this point—the central question now is 'Can the resolution pay off this madcap whodunit?' I don't think so: Like a lot of television mysteries that became zeitgeist-capturing catchphrases—like the one that inspired this first part, or the one that partially inspires the second, 'Who killed Laura Palmer?'—the thrill is in the question mark, not the period. But 'Who Shot Mr. Burns?, Part One' is such an inspired romp that I can't find a reason to fault the show for not being able to follow through on it 100 percent. Can you?[37]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Richmond & Coffman 1997, pp. 176–177, pp. 180–181.
- ^ a b c Martyn, Warren; Wood, Adrian (2000). "Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part One)". BBC. Archived from the original on 2003-06-23. Retrieved 2007-05-07.
- ^ a b c Martyn, Warren; Wood, Adrian (2000). "Who Shot Mr Burns? Part Two". BBC. Archived from the original on 2005-09-02. Retrieved 2008-03-28.
- ^ "Tito Puente". Frinkiac. Retrieved January 17, 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oakley, Bill (2005). Commentary for the episode "Who Shot Mr. Burns (Part One)". The Simpsons: The Complete Sixth Season (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Mirkin, David (2005). Commentary for the episode "Who Shot Mr. Burns (Part One)". The Simpsons: The Complete Sixth Season (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^ a b Weinstein, Josh (2005). Commentary for the episode "Who Shot Mr. Burns (Part Two)". The Simpsons: The Complete Seventh Season (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^ a b c d e f Mirkin, David (2005). Commentary for the episode "Who Shot Mr. Burns (Part Two)". The Simpsons: The Complete Seventh Season (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^ a b Silverman, David (2005). Commentary for the episode "Who Shot Mr. Burns (Part Two)". The Simpsons: The Complete Seventh Season (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^ Archer, Wes (2005). Commentary for the episode "Who Shot Mr. Burns (Part Two)". The Simpsons: The Complete Seventh Season (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^ a b c d e Oakley, Bill (2005). Commentary for the episode "Who Shot Mr. Burns (Part Two)". The Simpsons: The Complete Seventh Season (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^ Siegel, Alan (2015-06-09). "The making of 'Who Shot Mr. Burns?'". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on 2017-12-13. Retrieved 2017-05-07.
- ^ Weinstein, Josh (2005). Commentary for the episode "Who Shot Mr. Burns (Part One)". The Simpsons: The Complete Sixth Season (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^ Walk, Gary Eng (1995-09-15). "A Burns-ing Mystery". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 2012-10-08. Retrieved 2007-05-07.
- ^ Vitti, Jon; Silverman, David (1995-12-03). "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular". The Simpsons. Season 7. Episode 10. Fox.
- ^ "10 Craziest Fan Theories About The Simpsons". 14 October 2014. Archived from the original on 2019-09-08. Retrieved 2021-02-28.
- ^ "Simpsons writer offers answer to massive Homer and Krusty the Clown fan theory". The Independent. 26 April 2020. Archived from the original on 24 April 2021. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
- ^ "The Simpsons fan spots incredible Who Shot Mr Burns? twist". Archived from the original on 2021-02-25. Retrieved 2021-02-28.
- ^ Cuprisin, Tim (1995-08-10). "Broadcast bucks, events get bigger – Networks step up battle with cable to get viewers to tune in". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. p. 3.
- ^ The Simpsons - Who Shot Mr. Burns Commercial 1 (August 1995), retrieved 2023-08-09
- ^ a b Turnquist, Kristi (1995-09-11). "To Be Continued... Cyberspace Has Been". The Oregonian. p. D01.
- ^ Oakley, Bill (2005). Commentary for the episode "Who Shot Mr. Burns (Part One)". The Simpsons: The Complete Sixth Season (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- Gannett Company. p. 3.
- Times Publishing Group. p. 3.
- ^ Hopkins, Tom (September 15, 1995). "Walsh joins 'Simpsons' hype". Dayton Daily News. Dayton, Florida: Cox Enterprises. p. 11B.
- ^ a b "CBS comes tumbling down, falls to 4th place in week's ratings". The Plain Dealer. Associated Press. 1995-09-21. p. 4F.
- St. Petersburg Times. 1995-05-26. p. 15.
- ^ ""Simpsons" helps shoot down CBS". Dayton Daily News. Associated Press. 1995-09-21. p. 11B.
- ^ "The best Simpsons episodes, Nos. 21-25". Entertainment Weekly. 2003-01-29. Archived from the original on 2014-10-20. Retrieved 2022-01-17.
- ^ Walton, James (July 21, 2007). "The 10 Best Simpsons TV Episodes (In Chronological Order)". The Daily Telegraph. pp. Page 3.
- ^ Molumby, Deidre (September 6, 2019). "The 10 greatest 'The Simpsons' episodes of all time". Entertainment.ie. Archived from the original on October 19, 2021. Retrieved September 7, 2019.
- ^ Katz, Mathew (2019-11-11). "The best classic Simpsons episodes on Disney+". Digital Trends. Retrieved January 17, 2022.
- ^ Rossen, Jake (2007-08-05). "The Top 25 Cliffhangers of All Time!". Wizard. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-05.
- ^ Gary Susman (2008-05-15). "TV's Best Season Finales Ever". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 2008-05-19. Retrieved 2022-01-17.
- ^ "Primetime Emmy Awards Advanced Search". Emmys.org. Archived from the original on 2009-02-15. Retrieved 2008-05-01.
- ^ Potts, Kimberly. "Favorite 'Simpsons' Guest Stars". AOL. Archived from the original on 2010-09-24. Retrieved 2008-11-24.
- ^ Adams, Erik (November 24, 2013). "The Simpsons (Classic): "Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part One)"".
- Bibliography
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External links
- "Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part One) episode capsule". The Simpsons Archive.
- "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" at IMDb
- "Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part Two) episode capsule". The Simpsons Archive.
- "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" at IMDb
