Alone Again, Natura-Diddily
Encyclopedia
"Alone Again, Natura-Diddily" is the fourteenth episode of the eleventh season
of The Simpsons
, and marks the final regular appearance of the character Maude Flanders. In the episode, she is killed in an accident while watching a speedway
race, devastating Ned Flanders
and prompting Homer
to find a new woman for his grieving neighbor. After a series of unsuccessful dates, Ned begins to lose faith in God. However, his faith is restored after hearing the female lead singer of a Christian rock band, played by guest star Shawn Colvin
, sing in church.
The episode was written by Ian Maxtone-Graham
and directed by Jim Reardon
. Maggie Roswell
, the voice of Maude, left the show in 1999 after a pay dispute, and the producers decided to kill off the character to open up for new storylines. Another reason for her death was to increase ratings. The episode was viewed in 10.8 million households during its original broadcast on February 13, 2000, and became the highest-rated show on the Fox network the week it aired.
A commercial for "Alone Again, Natura-Diddily" that aired before the episode was broadcast attracted criticism from many viewers because it appeared the episode would be parodying an incident at Lowe's Motor Speedway
in Charlotte, North Carolina
that left three spectators dead. The Fox affiliate in Charlotte refused to show the commercial, but after viewing the episode they came to the conclusion that it was not making fun of the incident. Reviews of "Alone Again, Natura-Diddily" from television critics have been mixed.
discovers that a new speedway
racetrack has been built around the sanctuary and is opening that day. The family goes to the track and takes a seat at the very back of the spectator stand. They are surprised to see Ned Flanders
and his family, who came not to see the race but to see the high levels of safety used by the drivers. Later, a squad of cheerleaders is giving out free T-shirt
s by firing them from air cannons into the crowd, and Homer
rudely demands one. Irritated by his antics, Maude goes to buy some hot dogs. Homer draws a target on his chest with ketchup and gains the attention of the cheerleaders. They send a full salvo of T-shirts in his direction, but Homer bends down at the last second to pick up a bobby pin
on the ground. Maude returns from the concession stand at that exact moment and is sent screaming over the edge of the bleachers, hitting the concrete parking lot below. As a crowd quickly gathers, Dr. Hibbert
pronounces Maude dead.
Everyone offers their condolences to Ned
, and Bart
reluctantly spends time with Rod and Todd by playing a Christian video game with them. Even Homer decides to stop acting in a rude manner towards Ned, instead accompanying him back home after the funeral and giving him a goodnight kiss as a gesture of friendship. He also talks with Ned later that night when Ned is unable to sleep due to his loneliness and now having to raise his sons as a widow
er. Homer reveals to Ned that he parked in the ambulance zone, unintentionally preventing the ambulance from reaching Maude and thus eliminating any chance to rescue her. To help his neighbor get on with his life, Homer secretly makes a videotape of Ned to show to single girls across Springfield
. This tape includes Ned taking a shower and footage of Marge
giving birth to Maggie
that Homer failed to edit out from the final cut. Ned gets to date several women thanks to the tape, including Lindsey Naegle and Edna Krabappel
. However, all of the dates are unsuccessful.
On Saturday night, Ned prays to God, but begins to lose faith and becomes angry with him when he feels he is not getting any response. The next morning, Ned is still angry and tells his sons that he will not be going to church, scaring them. Guilt-ridden, he later rushes to church (apologizing repeatedly to God the whole way). Upon entering, he sees a Christian rock
band, Kovenant, performing. He is attracted to the singer, Rachel Jordan, who sings about not losing faith in God because he is always there for people. Inspired by the song, Ned later assists Rachel in loading some equipment onto her truck and confides in her of his loss, with which she sympathizes. He and Rachel become acquainted, but she quickly has to leave for the next stop on the band's tour.
and directed by Jim Reardon
as part of the eleventh season of the show (1999–2000). When the writing staff conceived the idea for the speedway parts, they were thinking that it would be great opportunity for them to get several NASCAR
drivers to make guest appearances in the episode. However, according to Scully, they could not get a single one because "they were all concerned about the way we were portraying NASCAR." Speedway racing is depicted in a negative light in the episode, with an overemphasis on crashes.
The episode features the death of the character Maude Flanders, who had previously been voiced by cast member Maggie Roswell
. This kill-off was the result of Roswell leaving The Simpsons in spring 1999 after a pay dispute with the Fox Broadcasting Company
, which airs the show. Since 1994, she had been flying between her Denver home and Los Angeles
twice a week to record episodes of The Simpsons. She eventually grew tired of this, and the price of plane tickets was constantly increasing. As a result, she asked Fox for a pay raise from $2,000 per episode to $6,000 per episode. However, Fox only offered her a $150 raise, which did not cover the travel costs, so she decided to quit.
Voice actress Marcia Mitzman Gaven
was hired to fill in for Roswell's characters, including Maude in this episode and the earlier episodes of the eleventh season, although the producers decided to kill her off to open up new storylines for the show. Executive producer Mike Scully
said it "was a chance for one of our regular characters [Ned Flanders] to face a challenge and grow in a new direction. The idea came up quickly, we all latched on to it, and it just felt right. We didn't want to kill a character for the sake of killing. We wanted it to have consequences for surviving characters to deal with in future episodes." Roswell returned to The Simpsons in 2002 after reaching a deal with Fox to record her lines from her home in Denver. Since returning, she has voiced Maude in flashbacks and as a ghost. When asked by The Denver Post
on how she thought Ned was doing without Maude, she replied: "OK. But Maude was such a vulnerable character. Maude and Lisa
and Marge were the only vulnerable characters, really, everybody else has an edge. So they [the staff] discovered that arc was lost, and now there are a lot of flashbacks with Maude."
Scully has noted that "there was a lot of discussion about making sure we [the staff] did deal with some of the emotional ramifications of death [in the episode] and not just make it all joke, joke, joke. But at the same time, we're a comedy, they're animated, they're not real." In one of the first scripts for the episode there was a scene in which Rod and Todd discuss their mother's death. However, according to Maxtone-Graham, the writing staff decided to cut it because "it just never played anything but sad." He added that the writers "really wanted to address how [the children] would feel" but they "could never pull it off without it just being sad." Scully has commented that it was a "very sweet scene" but it was too difficult to "get out of it comedically to the next scene."
American musician Shawn Colvin
guest starred in the episode as Rachel Jordan, a character that she would later return to voice in the episode "I'm Goin' to Praiseland
" (2001) from season twelve. In that episode, she stays at the Flanders' house with Ned, and leaves briefly after he attempted to mold her in the image of his deceased wife. At the end of the episode, however, she returns and has a date with him. Colvin told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
that being raised in Carbondale, Illinois
meant she did not have to do much research for the guest appearance: "It's just very isolated [in Carbondale]. There was church music and that was about it. [...] I didn't have to dig too deep for the role. I suppose the whole 'Simpsons' thing is kind of like a hick town." Colvin has shown a segment of her guest role on The Simpsons during some of her concerts, including one at Cape Cod Melody Tent
in 2007. She has also performed the song that she sings in "Alone Again, Natura-Diddily" in concert. The Wisconsin State Journal
reported that during her 2001 concert at Barrymore Theatre
, the "loudest audience response came after she sang a ditty that she performed as a character on The Simpsons." The song, called "He's the Man", later appeared on the 2007 soundtrack album The Simpsons: Testify
.
for the 17th place (compared the season average of 37) in the ratings for the week of February 7–13, 2000, with a Nielsen rating
of 10.7. The episode was the highest-rated show on Fox that week, and was viewed in approximately 10.8 million households.
Scully has admitted that another reason for killing off Maude was to increase ratings for The Simpsons during the February sweeps. To bring in even more viewers for the broadcast, the Simpsons producers chose not to reveal beforehand who the character that would be killed off was to create speculation. Fox also decided not to send out screener tapes to television critics to keep it a secret. However, according to an article in the Contra Costa Times
that was published on the day the episode aired, "all the advance rumors suggest that Ned Flanders' wife, Maude, should watch her back." The revelation of the episode's title, "Alone Again, Natura-Diddly", was one of the reasons that the media and many people (including Internet fans) suspected Maude. As The Post-Standards William LaRue writes, "diddly" is the "familiar greeting of Maude's husband, Ned Flanders." Roswell's announced departure strengthened this suspicion.
placed it at number eleven on his list of the show's fifteen best episodes that target the world of sports. Writing for IGN
, Robert Canning gave the episode a 7 out of 10 rating, commenting that he thought the three acts felt disconnected. He wrote: "First Maude dies, then Ned dates and now Ned questions his faith. To me, these three storylines would have been better served had they been the focus of their own individual episodes." Canning added that he felt "the episode made a poor choice by rushing through the mourning period and moving right into Ned dating," but that "the dating stuff, while, again, feeling hurried, was quite funny, especially Ned's date with Edna Krabappel." DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson commented on the episode in a negative way, writing that it was "a harsh and cynical move [to kill of Maude because of Roswell's departure], though I could forgive the decision if it produced a more satisfying episode. Perhaps the writers made this one super-sincere to counteract the inherent cynicism behind its origins, but the show just seems sappy and lame."
president Jerry Gappens, expressed their concern as it appeared the episode was parodying an actual incident that happened during a speedway race at Lowe's Motor Speedway in May 1999, in Charlotte, North Carolina
, when flying debris in a crash killed three spectators. Gappens said that doing a parody of that was "a real insensitive thing to do, pretty irresponsible. Obviously what might appear funny in L.A. or New York isn't funny here in Charlotte." Lowe's Motor Speedway announced to WSOC-TV
's Channel 9 Eyewitness News
on February 7, 2000 that they were thinking of placing a complaint to the Fox Broadcasting Company. WCCB
, the Fox affiliate in Charlotte, refused to continue showing the commercial for the episode. As a result, Fox distributed a new commercial to the affiliate on February 9 that did not contain the scene with Lenny.
Antonia Coffman, a spokeswoman for The Simpsons, told The Charlotte Observer
that "the Lowe's incident didn't inspire the scene" and that the episode was not meant to offend anyone. After WCCB had gotten the opportunity to actually see the episode they decided that they would air it, realizing that the original commercial was misleading and that they did not think the episode was making fun of the incident. In the episode, the viewers can see that Lenny tries to get the attention of the cheerleaders by raising his hand so that they aim a T-shirt with the cannon at him. However, he is hit by a car tire instead. Unlike what the commercial implied, Lenny is not killed and is soon back in his seat. WCCB told the Associated Press
that their interpretation of the scene was that someone threw the tire to Lenny because he was raising his hand, and that the tire did not actually come from a car crash on the track. Despite this, the affiliate announced that they would start the broadcast of the episode with a message warning viewers of the scene anyway.
The Simpsons (season 11)
The Simpsons 11th season originally aired between September 1999 and May 2000, beginning on Sunday, September 26, 1999, with "Beyond Blunderdome". The show runner for the 11th production season was Mike Scully...
of The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
, and marks the final regular appearance of the character Maude Flanders. In the episode, she is killed in an accident while watching a speedway
Stock car racing
Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing found mainly in the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Great Britain, Brazil and Argentina. Traditionally, races are run on oval tracks measuring approximately in length...
race, devastating Ned Flanders
Ned Flanders
Nedward "Ned" Flanders, Jr. is a recurring fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Harry Shearer, and first appeared in the series premiere episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire". He is the next door neighbor to the Simpson family and is generally...
and prompting Homer
Homer Simpson
Homer Jay Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons and the patriarch of the eponymous family. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared on television, along with the rest of his family, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
to find a new woman for his grieving neighbor. After a series of unsuccessful dates, Ned begins to lose faith in God. However, his faith is restored after hearing the female lead singer of a Christian rock band, played by guest star Shawn Colvin
Shawn Colvin
Shawn Colvin is an American singer-songwriter and musician.-Childhood and early career:Colvin was born in Vermillion, South Dakota. Her formative years were spent in the town of Carbondale, Illinois, where she attended Southern Illinois University Carbondale. She learned to play guitar at the age...
, sing in church.
The episode was written by Ian Maxtone-Graham
Ian Maxtone-Graham
Ian Maxtone-Graham is an American television writer and producer. He has written for Saturday Night Live and The Simpsons , and has also served as a co-executive producer and consulting producer for The Simpsons...
and directed by Jim Reardon
Jim Reardon
Jim Reardon is an animation director and storyboard consultant, best known for his work on the animated TV series The Simpsons. He has directed over 30 episodes of the series, and was credited as a supervising director for seasons 9 through 15...
. Maggie Roswell
Maggie Roswell
Maggie Roswell is an American film and television actress and voice artist from Los Angeles, California. She is well known for her voice work on the Fox network's animated television series The Simpsons, in which she has played recurring characters such as Maude Flanders, Helen Lovejoy, Miss...
, the voice of Maude, left the show in 1999 after a pay dispute, and the producers decided to kill off the character to open up for new storylines. Another reason for her death was to increase ratings. The episode was viewed in 10.8 million households during its original broadcast on February 13, 2000, and became the highest-rated show on the Fox network the week it aired.
A commercial for "Alone Again, Natura-Diddily" that aired before the episode was broadcast attracted criticism from many viewers because it appeared the episode would be parodying an incident at Lowe's Motor Speedway
Lowe's Motor Speedway
Charlotte Motor Speedway is a motorsports complex located in Concord, North Carolina, United States 13 miles from Charlotte, North Carolina. The complex features a quad oval track that hosts NASCAR racing including the prestigious Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend and the Sprint All-Star Race...
in Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the seat of Mecklenburg County. In 2010, Charlotte's population according to the US Census Bureau was 731,424, making it the 17th largest city in the United States based on population. The Charlotte metropolitan area had a 2009...
that left three spectators dead. The Fox affiliate in Charlotte refused to show the commercial, but after viewing the episode they came to the conclusion that it was not making fun of the incident. Reviews of "Alone Again, Natura-Diddily" from television critics have been mixed.
Plot
On a trip to the bird sanctuary, the Simpson familySimpson family
The Simpson family is a family of fictional characters featured in the animated television series The Simpsons. The Simpsons are a nuclear family consisting of the married couple Homer and Marge and their three children Bart, Lisa and Maggie. They live at 742 Evergreen Terrace in the fictional town...
discovers that a new speedway
Stock car racing
Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing found mainly in the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Great Britain, Brazil and Argentina. Traditionally, races are run on oval tracks measuring approximately in length...
racetrack has been built around the sanctuary and is opening that day. The family goes to the track and takes a seat at the very back of the spectator stand. They are surprised to see Ned Flanders
Ned Flanders
Nedward "Ned" Flanders, Jr. is a recurring fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Harry Shearer, and first appeared in the series premiere episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire". He is the next door neighbor to the Simpson family and is generally...
and his family, who came not to see the race but to see the high levels of safety used by the drivers. Later, a squad of cheerleaders is giving out free T-shirt
T-shirt
A T-shirt is a style of shirt. A T-shirt is buttonless and collarless, with short sleeves and frequently a round neck line....
s by firing them from air cannons into the crowd, and Homer
Homer Simpson
Homer Jay Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons and the patriarch of the eponymous family. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared on television, along with the rest of his family, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
rudely demands one. Irritated by his antics, Maude goes to buy some hot dogs. Homer draws a target on his chest with ketchup and gains the attention of the cheerleaders. They send a full salvo of T-shirts in his direction, but Homer bends down at the last second to pick up a bobby pin
Bobby pin
A bobby pin is a type of hairpin. In British English, it is known as a hair grip, grip, or kirby grip. It is a small pin or clip, usually of metal or plastic, used in coiffure to hold hair in place. Typical bobby pins are plain and unobtrusively colored, but some are elaborately decorated or jeweled...
on the ground. Maude returns from the concession stand at that exact moment and is sent screaming over the edge of the bleachers, hitting the concrete parking lot below. As a crowd quickly gathers, Dr. Hibbert
Julius Hibbert
Dr. Julius M. Hibbert, usually referred to as Dr. Hibbert, is a recurring character on the animated series The Simpsons. His speaking voice is provided by Harry Shearer and his singing voice was by Thurl Ravenscroft, and he first appeared in the episode "Bart the Daredevil". Dr...
pronounces Maude dead.
Everyone offers their condolences to Ned
Ned Flanders
Nedward "Ned" Flanders, Jr. is a recurring fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Harry Shearer, and first appeared in the series premiere episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire". He is the next door neighbor to the Simpson family and is generally...
, and Bart
Bart Simpson
Bartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by actress Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
reluctantly spends time with Rod and Todd by playing a Christian video game with them. Even Homer decides to stop acting in a rude manner towards Ned, instead accompanying him back home after the funeral and giving him a goodnight kiss as a gesture of friendship. He also talks with Ned later that night when Ned is unable to sleep due to his loneliness and now having to raise his sons as a widow
Widow
A widow is a woman whose spouse has died, while a widower is a man whose spouse has died. The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed widowhood or occasionally viduity. The adjective form is widowed...
er. Homer reveals to Ned that he parked in the ambulance zone, unintentionally preventing the ambulance from reaching Maude and thus eliminating any chance to rescue her. To help his neighbor get on with his life, Homer secretly makes a videotape of Ned to show to single girls across Springfield
Springfield (The Simpsons)
Springfield is the fictional town in which the American animated sitcom The Simpsons is set. A mid-sized town in an undetermined state of the United States, Springfield acts as a complete universe in which characters can explore the issues faced by modern society. The geography of the town and its...
. This tape includes Ned taking a shower and footage of Marge
Marge Simpson
Marjorie "Marge" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the eponymous family. She is voiced by actress Julie Kavner and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
giving birth to Maggie
Maggie Simpson
Margaret "Maggie" Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons. She first appeared on television in the Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Maggie was created and designed by cartoonist Matt Groening while he was waiting in the lobby of James...
that Homer failed to edit out from the final cut. Ned gets to date several women thanks to the tape, including Lindsey Naegle and Edna Krabappel
Edna Krabappel
Edna Krabappel is a fictional character from the animated TV series The Simpsons, voiced by Marcia Wallace. She is a 4th grade teacher at Springfield Elementary School. Krabappel is the only character Wallace voices on a regular basis.- Profile :...
. However, all of the dates are unsuccessful.
On Saturday night, Ned prays to God, but begins to lose faith and becomes angry with him when he feels he is not getting any response. The next morning, Ned is still angry and tells his sons that he will not be going to church, scaring them. Guilt-ridden, he later rushes to church (apologizing repeatedly to God the whole way). Upon entering, he sees a Christian rock
Christian rock
Christian rock is a form of rock music played by individuals and bands whose members are Christians and who often focus the lyrics on matters concerned with the Christian faith. The extent to which their lyrics are explicitly Christian varies between bands...
band, Kovenant, performing. He is attracted to the singer, Rachel Jordan, who sings about not losing faith in God because he is always there for people. Inspired by the song, Ned later assists Rachel in loading some equipment onto her truck and confides in her of his loss, with which she sympathizes. He and Rachel become acquainted, but she quickly has to leave for the next stop on the band's tour.
Production
"Alone Again, Natura-Diddily" was written by Ian Maxtone-GrahamIan Maxtone-Graham
Ian Maxtone-Graham is an American television writer and producer. He has written for Saturday Night Live and The Simpsons , and has also served as a co-executive producer and consulting producer for The Simpsons...
and directed by Jim Reardon
Jim Reardon
Jim Reardon is an animation director and storyboard consultant, best known for his work on the animated TV series The Simpsons. He has directed over 30 episodes of the series, and was credited as a supervising director for seasons 9 through 15...
as part of the eleventh season of the show (1999–2000). When the writing staff conceived the idea for the speedway parts, they were thinking that it would be great opportunity for them to get several NASCAR
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...
drivers to make guest appearances in the episode. However, according to Scully, they could not get a single one because "they were all concerned about the way we were portraying NASCAR." Speedway racing is depicted in a negative light in the episode, with an overemphasis on crashes.
The episode features the death of the character Maude Flanders, who had previously been voiced by cast member Maggie Roswell
Maggie Roswell
Maggie Roswell is an American film and television actress and voice artist from Los Angeles, California. She is well known for her voice work on the Fox network's animated television series The Simpsons, in which she has played recurring characters such as Maude Flanders, Helen Lovejoy, Miss...
. This kill-off was the result of Roswell leaving The Simpsons in spring 1999 after a pay dispute with the Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
, which airs the show. Since 1994, she had been flying between her Denver home and Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
twice a week to record episodes of The Simpsons. She eventually grew tired of this, and the price of plane tickets was constantly increasing. As a result, she asked Fox for a pay raise from $2,000 per episode to $6,000 per episode. However, Fox only offered her a $150 raise, which did not cover the travel costs, so she decided to quit.
Voice actress Marcia Mitzman Gaven
Marcia Mitzman Gaven
Marcia Mitzman Gaven is an award-winning American actress from New York. Since studying at the High School of Performing Arts and the State University of New York at Purchase, she has appeared in many musicals during her career singing in both mezzo-soprano and soprano roles...
was hired to fill in for Roswell's characters, including Maude in this episode and the earlier episodes of the eleventh season, although the producers decided to kill her off to open up new storylines for the show. Executive producer Mike Scully
Mike Scully
Mike Scully is an American television writer and producer. He is known for his work as executive producer and showrunner of the animated sitcom The Simpsons from 1997 to 2001. Scully grew up in West Springfield, Massachusetts and long had an interest in writing. He was an underachiever at school...
said it "was a chance for one of our regular characters [Ned Flanders] to face a challenge and grow in a new direction. The idea came up quickly, we all latched on to it, and it just felt right. We didn't want to kill a character for the sake of killing. We wanted it to have consequences for surviving characters to deal with in future episodes." Roswell returned to The Simpsons in 2002 after reaching a deal with Fox to record her lines from her home in Denver. Since returning, she has voiced Maude in flashbacks and as a ghost. When asked by The Denver Post
The Denver Post
-Ownership:The Post is the flagship newspaper of MediaNews Group Inc., founded in 1983 by William Dean Singleton and Richard Scudder. MediaNews is today one of the nation's largest newspaper chains, publisher of 61 daily newspapers and more than 120 non-daily publications in 13 states. MediaNews...
on how she thought Ned was doing without Maude, she replied: "OK. But Maude was such a vulnerable character. Maude and Lisa
Lisa Simpson
Lisa Marie Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons. She is the middle child of the Simpson family. Voiced by Yeardley Smith, Lisa first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Cartoonist Matt Groening...
and Marge were the only vulnerable characters, really, everybody else has an edge. So they [the staff] discovered that arc was lost, and now there are a lot of flashbacks with Maude."
Scully has noted that "there was a lot of discussion about making sure we [the staff] did deal with some of the emotional ramifications of death [in the episode] and not just make it all joke, joke, joke. But at the same time, we're a comedy, they're animated, they're not real." In one of the first scripts for the episode there was a scene in which Rod and Todd discuss their mother's death. However, according to Maxtone-Graham, the writing staff decided to cut it because "it just never played anything but sad." He added that the writers "really wanted to address how [the children] would feel" but they "could never pull it off without it just being sad." Scully has commented that it was a "very sweet scene" but it was too difficult to "get out of it comedically to the next scene."
American musician Shawn Colvin
Shawn Colvin
Shawn Colvin is an American singer-songwriter and musician.-Childhood and early career:Colvin was born in Vermillion, South Dakota. Her formative years were spent in the town of Carbondale, Illinois, where she attended Southern Illinois University Carbondale. She learned to play guitar at the age...
guest starred in the episode as Rachel Jordan, a character that she would later return to voice in the episode "I'm Goin' to Praiseland
I'm Goin' to Praiseland
"I'm Goin' to Praiseland" is the nineteenth episode of the twelfth season of the American animated sitcom The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 6, 2001. In the episode, Ned Flanders builds a Christian-themed amusement park to commemorate his dead wife,...
" (2001) from season twelve. In that episode, she stays at the Flanders' house with Ned, and leaves briefly after he attempted to mold her in the image of his deceased wife. At the end of the episode, however, she returns and has a date with him. Colvin told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is an online newspaper and former print newspaper covering Seattle, Washington, United States, and the surrounding metropolitan area...
that being raised in Carbondale, Illinois
Carbondale, Illinois
Carbondale is a city in Jackson County, in the state of Illinois, within the Southern Illinois region. It is located at the junction of Illinois Route 13 and U.S. Route 51, southeast of St. Louis, Missouri, on the northern edge of the Shawnee National Forest...
meant she did not have to do much research for the guest appearance: "It's just very isolated [in Carbondale]. There was church music and that was about it. [...] I didn't have to dig too deep for the role. I suppose the whole 'Simpsons' thing is kind of like a hick town." Colvin has shown a segment of her guest role on The Simpsons during some of her concerts, including one at Cape Cod Melody Tent
Cape Cod Melody Tent
Cape Cod Melody Tent is a South Shore Playhouse Associates-owned tent theater located in Hyannis, Massachusetts, in the city of Barnstable. Affiliated with the Cohasset Music Circus, these are the only two continuously-operated tent theaters in the round in the United States...
in 2007. She has also performed the song that she sings in "Alone Again, Natura-Diddily" in concert. The Wisconsin State Journal
Wisconsin State Journal
The Wisconsin State Journal is a daily newspaper published in Madison, Wisconsin by Lee Enterprises. The newspaper, the second largest in Wisconsin, is primarily distributed in a 19 county region in south-central Wisconsin...
reported that during her 2001 concert at Barrymore Theatre
Barrymore Theatre
-Barrymore Theatre:The Barrymore Theatre is located at 2090 Atwood Avenue on the east side of Madison, Wisconsin. The theatre has featured everything from music, movies, and masques to parties, porn, and puppet shows.-History:...
, the "loudest audience response came after she sang a ditty that she performed as a character on The Simpsons." The song, called "He's the Man", later appeared on the 2007 soundtrack album The Simpsons: Testify
The Simpsons: Testify
The Simpsons: Testify is an album that features songs from the animated television series The Simpsons. It was released on September 18, 2007 and includes songs from season 11 to season 18...
.
Broadcast and ratings
The episode originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 13, 2000. It tied Dateline NBCDateline NBC
Dateline NBC, or Dateline, is a U.S. weekly television newsmagazine broadcast by NBC. It previously was NBC's flagship news magazine, but now focuses on true crime stories. It airs Friday at 9 p.m. EST and after football season on Sunday at 7 p.m. EST.-History:Dateline is historically notable for...
for the 17th place (compared the season average of 37) in the ratings for the week of February 7–13, 2000, with a Nielsen rating
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
of 10.7. The episode was the highest-rated show on Fox that week, and was viewed in approximately 10.8 million households.
Scully has admitted that another reason for killing off Maude was to increase ratings for The Simpsons during the February sweeps. To bring in even more viewers for the broadcast, the Simpsons producers chose not to reveal beforehand who the character that would be killed off was to create speculation. Fox also decided not to send out screener tapes to television critics to keep it a secret. However, according to an article in the Contra Costa Times
Contra Costa Times
The Contra Costa Times is a daily newspaper based in Walnut Creek, California, U.S.. The paper serves Contra Costa and eastern Alameda counties, in the eastern part of the San Francisco Bay Area...
that was published on the day the episode aired, "all the advance rumors suggest that Ned Flanders' wife, Maude, should watch her back." The revelation of the episode's title, "Alone Again, Natura-Diddly", was one of the reasons that the media and many people (including Internet fans) suspected Maude. As The Post-Standards William LaRue writes, "diddly" is the "familiar greeting of Maude's husband, Ned Flanders." Roswell's announced departure strengthened this suspicion.
Reception
The episode has received mixed reviews from television critics. Gregory Hardy of the Orlando SentinelOrlando Sentinel
The Orlando Sentinel is the primary newspaper of the Orlando, Florida region. It was founded in 1876. The Sentinel is owned by Tribune Company and is overseen by the Chicago Tribune. As of 2005, the Sentinel’s president and publisher was Kathleen Waltz; she announced her resignation in February 2008...
placed it at number eleven on his list of the show's fifteen best episodes that target the world of sports. Writing for IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
, Robert Canning gave the episode a 7 out of 10 rating, commenting that he thought the three acts felt disconnected. He wrote: "First Maude dies, then Ned dates and now Ned questions his faith. To me, these three storylines would have been better served had they been the focus of their own individual episodes." Canning added that he felt "the episode made a poor choice by rushing through the mourning period and moving right into Ned dating," but that "the dating stuff, while, again, feeling hurried, was quite funny, especially Ned's date with Edna Krabappel." DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson commented on the episode in a negative way, writing that it was "a harsh and cynical move [to kill of Maude because of Roswell's departure], though I could forgive the decision if it produced a more satisfying episode. Perhaps the writers made this one super-sincere to counteract the inherent cynicism behind its origins, but the show just seems sappy and lame."
Controversy
Before "Alone Again, Natura-Diddily" was broadcast, a promotional commercial aired on television that featured, among other things, the announcement that "one of Springfield's most beloved will die" and a snippet of a scene from the episode in which the character Lenny is sitting in the speedway spectator stand and is hit by a car tire, giving the impression that he is the one who will die. Many viewers of the commercial, including Lowe's Motor SpeedwayLowe's Motor Speedway
Charlotte Motor Speedway is a motorsports complex located in Concord, North Carolina, United States 13 miles from Charlotte, North Carolina. The complex features a quad oval track that hosts NASCAR racing including the prestigious Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend and the Sprint All-Star Race...
president Jerry Gappens, expressed their concern as it appeared the episode was parodying an actual incident that happened during a speedway race at Lowe's Motor Speedway in May 1999, in Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the seat of Mecklenburg County. In 2010, Charlotte's population according to the US Census Bureau was 731,424, making it the 17th largest city in the United States based on population. The Charlotte metropolitan area had a 2009...
, when flying debris in a crash killed three spectators. Gappens said that doing a parody of that was "a real insensitive thing to do, pretty irresponsible. Obviously what might appear funny in L.A. or New York isn't funny here in Charlotte." Lowe's Motor Speedway announced to WSOC-TV
WSOC-TV
WSOC-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station in Charlotte, North Carolina. It is owned by Cox Enterprises. The station's studio is located at North Tryon and 23rd Streets, just north of Uptown Charlotte, and is shared with sister station WAXN-TV . The transmitter is located just outside...
's Channel 9 Eyewitness News
Eyewitness News
Eyewitness News is a style of news broadcasting used by local television stations in different markets across the United States. It refers to a particular style of television newscast with an emphasis on visual elements and action video...
on February 7, 2000 that they were thinking of placing a complaint to the Fox Broadcasting Company. WCCB
WCCB
WCCB is the Fox affiliate television station in Charlotte, North Carolina. The station's headquarters are located just outside Uptown, off Independence Boulevard across from Bojangles' Coliseum at . It is the flagship station of its owner and operator, Bahakel Communications...
, the Fox affiliate in Charlotte, refused to continue showing the commercial for the episode. As a result, Fox distributed a new commercial to the affiliate on February 9 that did not contain the scene with Lenny.
Antonia Coffman, a spokeswoman for The Simpsons, told The Charlotte Observer
The Charlotte Observer
The Charlotte Observer, serving Charlotte, North Carolina and its metro area, is the largest newspaper, in terms of circulation, in North Carolina and South Carolina...
that "the Lowe's incident didn't inspire the scene" and that the episode was not meant to offend anyone. After WCCB had gotten the opportunity to actually see the episode they decided that they would air it, realizing that the original commercial was misleading and that they did not think the episode was making fun of the incident. In the episode, the viewers can see that Lenny tries to get the attention of the cheerleaders by raising his hand so that they aim a T-shirt with the cannon at him. However, he is hit by a car tire instead. Unlike what the commercial implied, Lenny is not killed and is soon back in his seat. WCCB told the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
that their interpretation of the scene was that someone threw the tire to Lenny because he was raising his hand, and that the tire did not actually come from a car crash on the track. Despite this, the affiliate announced that they would start the broadcast of the episode with a message warning viewers of the scene anyway.
External links
- "Alone Again, Natura-Diddily" at The Simpsons.com