Last Exit to Springfield
Encyclopedia
"Last Exit to Springfield" is the seventeenth episode of The Simpsons
' fourth season
which originally aired March 11, 1993. It was directed by Mark Kirkland
and was the last episode written by Jay Kogen
and Wallace Wolodarsky
. The plot revolves around Homer
becoming President of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant union and leading the workers of the plant in a strike in order to get their dental plan back. Dr. Joyce Brothers
guest stars as herself. Fans have called this "the greatest Simpsons episode" according to the writers and was named the best episode of the series by Entertainment Weekly
in 2003.
Mr. Burns
sits in his office awaiting the union
leader, who mysteriously disappeared
after promising to clean up the union, so that they can discuss the proposed union contract. While perusing the contract, Burns becomes disgusted with the union demands and reminisces about simpler times in which disgruntled workers were simply walled up in coke ovens. Burns then decides to take on the union, and revokes their dental plan.
Meanwhile, at Painless Dentistry, the Simpson children are getting their teeth checked. It is discovered Lisa
needs braces. When Marge
informs Homer, he tells her not to worry about the cost, as the union had won a dental plan during a previous strike
. Later, at a meeting of the local chapter of International Brotherhood of Jazz
Dancers, Pastry
Chefs and Nuclear Technicians, Carl announces that the newest contract requires the union to give up their dental plan in exchange for a free keg of beer for their meeting. Homer slowly comprehends that giving up their dental plan would require him to pay for Lisa's braces and jumps into action, reminding everyone how their dental plan has helped them all.
Carl proposes Homer be the new union president and he is promptly elected by a nearly unanimous vote. Mr. Burns watches Homer on his hidden cameras and is impressed with his energy. Burns invites Homer to his office to try to reach an agreement, but Homer misconstrues Burns's sly innuendo
s hinting that he wants to bribe him off as sexual advances
. Homer quickly gets to his feet, saying he does not go for those "back door shenanigans
" and promptly leaves, a series of events which establishes the idea in Burns's mind that Homer is a good negotiator.
Mr. Burns sends hired goons to the Simpsons' house in order to take Homer back to Burns' Manor to negotiate. While Burns is setting the agenda for the discussion, Homer is struck by the urgent need to use the rest room. Homer asks Burns where the rest room is and immediately leaves, leading Burns to conclude that Homer is a tough negotiator who is unwilling to even hear him out. At a later union meeting, Homer tries to resign, tired of meeting with Mr. Burns. The union misunderstands his frustration, and the members nearly unanimously decide to strike. Mr. Burns is undeterred by the strike and tries several methods of breaking it up, but fails. On an edition of Kent Brockman
's talk show Smartline, Burns is allowed an opening tirade and he threatens dire events if the strike is not concluded.
Fifteen minutes later, Burns and Smithers
march to a secret room in the Power Plant and turn off the power for the entire town. The strikers do not lose hope and begin to sing. Burns, confident he has broken the union's spirit, steps out on his balcony to hear their reaction but is disarmed by their unity and optimism. Burns finally calls a meeting with Homer to concede to their demands on one condition: that Homer resign as union president. Homer celebrates madly, leading Burns to finally realize that Homer is not the "brilliant tactician" he thought he was. With the Simpson family insured again, Lisa gets her perfect new braces and she, the Simpson family, and the dentist gather and laugh (with the aid of an open container of laughing gas
) as the episode comes to a close.
The idea for this episode came from Mike Reiss
, who thought it would be funny if the plant went on strike. The writers of the episode, Jay Kogen
and Wallace Wolodarsky
, would later add the dental plan aspect of the plot. In several scenes, Mr. Burns is portrayed as the Devil
who is tempting Homer and showing him what he could have. During the production of this episode, an ABC
camera crew was allowed into the rewrite room, which Al Jean
says he regrets because they were working on stage direction, and they came off as not being very funny.
The producers originally asked Anthony Hopkins
and Clint Eastwood
to provide the voice of the dentist, Dr. Wolfe, but they both turned the role down. Anthony Perkins
was later asked to fulfill the role and he agreed, but died before the role could be recorded. In the end, the role went to Simpsons regular Hank Azaria
. As well, the original panelist on Smartline was supposed to be O. J. Simpson
, but he turned it down, which the writers believe was a good thing.
The title of the episode is a homage to Hubert Selby Jr.'s book Last Exit to Brooklyn
. The body of the union president is seen buried under a football field, a homage to the mystery surrounding the whereabouts of Jimmy Hoffa
and his alleged burial at New Jersey
's Giants Stadium
. Mr. Burns' outfit in the flashback to his childhood is based on Buster Brown
. Homer's imagination of a life of organized crime is based on Don Fanucci
's first appearance in The Godfather Part II
, accepting donuts rather than a necklace and an orange.
Lisa has a dream that echoes The Beatles
movie Yellow Submarine, which Al Jean says had to be changed slightly for legal reasons. This included changing the name of the short sequence to "purple submersible"; George Harrison
calls her "Lisa in the Sky
", while Paul McCartney
notes "no diamonds though". The scene where Lisa acquires her monstrous braces and breaks her mirror is based on a scene from the 1989 Tim Burton
film Batman
where Jack Napier discovers his transformation into the Joker
.
When Homer is escorted by the hired goons into what appears to be Burns' conservatory, a Burns-headed bird is sitting in front of the screen, which then flies away. This is a reference to the cockatoo in Citizen Kane
. Lenny asks Lisa to play Mason Williams
' song "Classical Gas
." Before Mr. Burns shuts off the power to the town in response to the strike, he says, "From Hell's heart I stab at thee" which is a reference to Captain Ahab's curse, from the novel Moby-Dick
. The workers' resistance to the power outage, and Mr. Burns's response, is a parody of How the Grinch Stole Christmas
.
of 13.7, equivalent to approximately 12.8 million viewing households. It was the highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, beating COPS
.
This episode is generally ranked as being one of the best of all time and is on a number of Top 10 lists, and the BBC
stated it is "frequently cited as the show's best-ever episode." An Entertainment Weekly
article from January 2003 looking back at the top 25 episodes of the series chose this episode as the show's greatest episode, saying "this episode is virtually flawless, the product of a series at the height of its creative powers -- when the satire was savage and relevant" and "the stuff of syndication legend: Burns facing down brilliant labor kingpin Homer Simpson; Homer Simpson facing down his own brain (DENTAL PLAN!/Lisa needs braces!); Grampa rattling on about wearing onions on his belt. Last Exit is a glorious symphony of the high and the low, of satirical shots at unions." In his book, Planet Simpson, Chris Turner calls it the best episode of the series, saying "Episode 9F15 of The Simpsons should be taught in schools, in history, economics, social studies, literature and art class. It's flawless". He also called it "the funniest half-hour in TV history", and provided a full analysis of the episode, only criticizing the chalkboard and couch gags. He maintains that he chose the episode as best ever before Entertainment Weeklys list was published.
In 2003, to celebrate the show's 300th episode, USA Today
published a top 10 chosen by the webmaster of The Simpsons Archive
, which had this episode in first place. The BBC website says, "This fine episode contains several of our favourite sequences ... A classic, and the series' most marked expedition into the surreal - up to this point." MSNBC
, who listed the episode as their favorite, stated, "This is the episode that every self-respecting Simpsons geek must be able to recite verbatim." Michael Moran of The Times
ranked the episode as the sixth best in the show's history.
Director Mark Kirkland
considers this episode to be one of the most surreal episodes that he has worked on because it has a lot of story crammed into it, lots of parodies and contains several visual sequences. Al Jean has also called this one of the "craziest" episodes. Homer's line "uh... Yeah" after being asked if he found the bathroom is one of Jay Kogen's favorite Simpsons jokes. The episode's parody of Batman was named the 30th greatest film reference in the history of the show by Total Film
' s Nathan Ditum.
The scene in the episode in which Mr. Burns shows his room with a thousand monkeys working at a thousand typewriters, a reference to the infinite monkey theorem
, has inspired a real-life experiment about the theorem. The episode has become study material for sociology courses at University of California Berkeley, where it is used to "examine issues of the production and reception of cultural objects, in this case, a satirical cartoon show", and to figure out what it is "trying to tell audiences about aspects primarily of American society, and, to a lesser extent, about other societies."
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...
The Simpsons (season 4)
The Simpsons fourth season originally aired on the Fox network between September 24, 1992 and May 13, 1993, beginning with "Kamp Krusty." The show runners for the fourth production season were Al Jean and Mike Reiss. The aired season contained two episodes which were hold-over episodes from season...
which originally aired March 11, 1993. It was directed by Mark Kirkland
Mark Kirkland
Mark Kirkland is an American director. He has directed 69 episodes, from 1990-present, of The Simpsons, more than any other person.-Career:...
and was the last episode written by Jay Kogen
Jay Kogen
-Early life:Jay Steven Kogen was born on May 3rd, 1963 in Brooklyn, New York. He is the son of Mad writer Arnie Kogen, and Sue Kogen . His paternal grandparents, Samuel Kogen and Pauline Gorin, were Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire , while his maternal grandparents, Harold Hirsch and Ida...
and Wallace Wolodarsky
Wallace Wolodarsky
Wallace Wolodarsky is an American television writer and director. He wrote for The Simpsons during the first four seasons; all of his episodes were co-written with former writing partner Jay Kogen...
. The plot revolves around 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...
becoming President of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant union and leading the workers of the plant in a strike in order to get their dental plan back. Dr. Joyce Brothers
Joyce Brothers
Joyce Brothers is an American psychologist, television personality and advice columnist, publishing a daily syndicated newspaper column since 1960.-Personal life:...
guest stars as herself. Fans have called this "the greatest Simpsons episode" according to the writers and was named the best episode of the series by Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
in 2003.
Plot
Montgomery Burns
Charles Montgomery "Monty" Burns, usually referred to as Mr. Burns, is a recurring fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons, who is voiced by Harry Shearer and previously Christopher Collins. Burns is the evil owner of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant and is Homer...
sits in his office awaiting the union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
leader, who mysteriously disappeared
Contract killing
Contract killing is a form of murder, in which one party hires another party to kill a target individual or group of people. It involves an illegal agreement between two parties in which one party agrees to kill the target in exchange for consideration, monetary, or otherwise. The hiring party may...
after promising to clean up the union, so that they can discuss the proposed union contract. While perusing the contract, Burns becomes disgusted with the union demands and reminisces about simpler times in which disgruntled workers were simply walled up in coke ovens. Burns then decides to take on the union, and revokes their dental plan.
Meanwhile, at Painless Dentistry, the Simpson children are getting their teeth checked. It is discovered 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...
needs braces. When 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...
informs Homer, he tells her not to worry about the cost, as the union had won a dental plan during a previous strike
Strike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
. Later, at a meeting of the local chapter of International Brotherhood of Jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
Dancers, Pastry
Pastry
Pastry is the name given to various kinds of baked products made from ingredients such as flour, sugar, milk, butter, shortening, baking powder and/or eggs. Small cakes, tarts and other sweet baked products are called "pastries."...
Chefs and Nuclear Technicians, Carl announces that the newest contract requires the union to give up their dental plan in exchange for a free keg of beer for their meeting. Homer slowly comprehends that giving up their dental plan would require him to pay for Lisa's braces and jumps into action, reminding everyone how their dental plan has helped them all.
Carl proposes Homer be the new union president and he is promptly elected by a nearly unanimous vote. Mr. Burns watches Homer on his hidden cameras and is impressed with his energy. Burns invites Homer to his office to try to reach an agreement, but Homer misconstrues Burns's sly innuendo
Innuendo
An innuendo is a baseless invention of thoughts or ideas. It can also be a remark or question, typically disparaging , that works obliquely by allusion...
s hinting that he wants to bribe him off as sexual advances
Flirting
Flirting is a playful, romantic, or sexual overture by one person to another subtly indicating an interest in a deeper relationship with the other person, and can involve verbal communication as well as body language...
. Homer quickly gets to his feet, saying he does not go for those "back door shenanigans
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
" and promptly leaves, a series of events which establishes the idea in Burns's mind that Homer is a good negotiator.
Mr. Burns sends hired goons to the Simpsons' house in order to take Homer back to Burns' Manor to negotiate. While Burns is setting the agenda for the discussion, Homer is struck by the urgent need to use the rest room. Homer asks Burns where the rest room is and immediately leaves, leading Burns to conclude that Homer is a tough negotiator who is unwilling to even hear him out. At a later union meeting, Homer tries to resign, tired of meeting with Mr. Burns. The union misunderstands his frustration, and the members nearly unanimously decide to strike. Mr. Burns is undeterred by the strike and tries several methods of breaking it up, but fails. On an edition of Kent Brockman
Kent Brockman
Kent Brockman is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Harry Shearer and first appeared in the episode "Krusty Gets Busted"...
's talk show Smartline, Burns is allowed an opening tirade and he threatens dire events if the strike is not concluded.
Fifteen minutes later, Burns and Smithers
Waylon Smithers
Waylon Smithers, Jr., usually referred to as Smithers, is a recurring fictional character in the animated series The Simpsons, who is voiced by Harry Shearer. Smithers first appeared in the episode "Homer's Odyssey", although he could be heard in the series premiere "Simpsons Roasting on an Open...
march to a secret room in the Power Plant and turn off the power for the entire town. The strikers do not lose hope and begin to sing. Burns, confident he has broken the union's spirit, steps out on his balcony to hear their reaction but is disarmed by their unity and optimism. Burns finally calls a meeting with Homer to concede to their demands on one condition: that Homer resign as union president. Homer celebrates madly, leading Burns to finally realize that Homer is not the "brilliant tactician" he thought he was. With the Simpson family insured again, Lisa gets her perfect new braces and she, the Simpson family, and the dentist gather and laugh (with the aid of an open container of laughing gas
Nitrous oxide
Nitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas or sweet air, is a chemical compound with the formula . It is an oxide of nitrogen. At room temperature, it is a colorless non-flammable gas, with a slightly sweet odor and taste. It is used in surgery and dentistry for its anesthetic and analgesic...
) as the episode comes to a close.
Production
Mike Reiss
Michael "Mike" Reiss is an American television comedy writer. He served as a show-runner, writer and producer for the animated series The Simpsons and co-created the animated series The Critic...
, who thought it would be funny if the plant went on strike. The writers of the episode, Jay Kogen
Jay Kogen
-Early life:Jay Steven Kogen was born on May 3rd, 1963 in Brooklyn, New York. He is the son of Mad writer Arnie Kogen, and Sue Kogen . His paternal grandparents, Samuel Kogen and Pauline Gorin, were Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire , while his maternal grandparents, Harold Hirsch and Ida...
and Wallace Wolodarsky
Wallace Wolodarsky
Wallace Wolodarsky is an American television writer and director. He wrote for The Simpsons during the first four seasons; all of his episodes were co-written with former writing partner Jay Kogen...
, would later add the dental plan aspect of the plot. In several scenes, Mr. Burns is portrayed as the Devil
Devil
The Devil is believed in many religions and cultures to be a powerful, supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly...
who is tempting Homer and showing him what he could have. During the production of this episode, an ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
camera crew was allowed into the rewrite room, which Al Jean
Al Jean
Al Jean is an award-winning American screenwriter and producer, best known for his work on The Simpsons. He was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan and graduated from Harvard University in 1981. Jean began his writing career in the 1980s with fellow Harvard alum Mike Reiss...
says he regrets because they were working on stage direction, and they came off as not being very funny.
The producers originally asked Anthony Hopkins
Anthony Hopkins
Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins, KBE , best known as Anthony Hopkins, is a Welsh actor of film, stage and television...
and Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
to provide the voice of the dentist, Dr. Wolfe, but they both turned the role down. Anthony Perkins
Anthony Perkins
Anthony Perkins was an American actor, best known for his Oscar-nominated role in Friendly Persuasion and as Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho , and its three sequels.-Early life:...
was later asked to fulfill the role and he agreed, but died before the role could be recorded. In the end, the role went to Simpsons regular Hank Azaria
Hank Azaria
Henry Albert "Hank" Azaria is an American film, television and stage actor, director, voice actor, and comedian. He is noted for being one of the principal voice actors on the animated television series The Simpsons , on which he performs the voices of Moe Szyslak, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, Chief...
. As well, the original panelist on Smartline was supposed to be O. J. Simpson
O. J. Simpson
Orenthal James "O. J." Simpson , nicknamed "The Juice", is a retired American collegiate and professional football player, football broadcaster, and actor...
, but he turned it down, which the writers believe was a good thing.
Cultural references
Last Exit to Brooklyn
Last Exit to Brooklyn is a 1964 novel by American author Hubert Selby, Jr. The novel has become a cult classic because of its harsh, uncompromising look at lower class Brooklyn in the 1950s and for its brusque, everyman style of prose....
. The body of the union president is seen buried under a football field, a homage to the mystery surrounding the whereabouts of Jimmy Hoffa
Jimmy Hoffa
James Riddle "Jimmy" Hoffa was an American labor union leader....
and his alleged burial at New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
's Giants Stadium
Giants Stadium
Giants Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium, located in East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA, in the Meadowlands Sports Complex. Maximum seating capacity was 80,242. The building itself was 230.5 m long, 180.5 m wide and 44 m high from service level to the top of the seating bowl and 54 m high to...
. Mr. Burns' outfit in the flashback to his childhood is based on Buster Brown
Buster Brown
Buster Brown was a comic strip character created in 1902 by Richard Felton Outcault who was known for his association with the Brown Shoe Company. This mischievous young boy was loosely based on a boy near Outcault's home in Flushing, New York...
. Homer's imagination of a life of organized crime is based on Don Fanucci
Don Fanucci
Massimo Fanucci is a fictional character appearing in the Mario Puzo novel The Godfather and the film The Godfather Part II, sequel to the film based on the novel of the same name. He is portrayed by Gastone Moschin.-In the novel:...
's first appearance in The Godfather Part II
The Godfather Part II
The Godfather Part II is a 1974 American gangster film directed by Francis Ford Coppola from a script co-written with Mario Puzo. The film is both a sequel and a prequel to The Godfather, chronicling the story of the Corleone family following the events of the first film while also depicting the...
, accepting donuts rather than a necklace and an orange.
Lisa has a dream that echoes The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
movie Yellow Submarine, which Al Jean says had to be changed slightly for legal reasons. This included changing the name of the short sequence to "purple submersible"; George Harrison
George Harrison
George Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
calls her "Lisa in the Sky
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" is a song written primarily by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney, for The Beatles' 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band...
", while Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
notes "no diamonds though". The scene where Lisa acquires her monstrous braces and breaks her mirror is based on a scene from the 1989 Tim Burton
Tim Burton
Timothy William "Tim" Burton is an American film director, film producer, writer and artist. He is famous for dark, quirky-themed movies such as Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet...
film Batman
Batman (1989 film)
Batman is a 1989 superhero film based on the DC Comics character of the same name, directed by Tim Burton. The film stars Michael Keaton in the title role, as well as Jack Nicholson, Kim Basinger, Robert Wuhl and Jack Palance...
where Jack Napier discovers his transformation into the Joker
Joker (comics)
The Joker is a fictional character, a comic book supervillain published by DC Comics. He is the archenemy of Batman, having been directly responsible for numerous tragedies in Batman's life, including the paralysis of Barbara Gordon and the death of Jason Todd, the second Robin...
.
When Homer is escorted by the hired goons into what appears to be Burns' conservatory, a Burns-headed bird is sitting in front of the screen, which then flies away. This is a reference to the cockatoo in Citizen Kane
Citizen Kane
Citizen Kane is a 1941 American drama film, directed by and starring Orson Welles. Many critics consider it the greatest American film of all time, especially for its innovative cinematography, music and narrative structure. Citizen Kane was Welles' first feature film...
. Lenny asks Lisa to play Mason Williams
Mason Williams
Mason Williams is an American guitarist and composer, best known for his guitar instrumental "Classical Gas". He is also a comedy writer, known for his writing on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, and Saturday Night Live...
' song "Classical Gas
Classical Gas
"Classical Gas" is an instrumental musical piece composed and originally performed by Mason Williams. Originally released in 1968 on the album The Mason Williams Phonograph Record, it has been re-recorded and re-released numerous times since by Williams...
." Before Mr. Burns shuts off the power to the town in response to the strike, he says, "From Hell's heart I stab at thee" which is a reference to Captain Ahab's curse, from the novel Moby-Dick
Moby-Dick
Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, was written by American author Herman Melville and first published in 1851. It is considered by some to be a Great American Novel and a treasure of world literature. The story tells the adventures of wandering sailor Ishmael, and his voyage on the whaleship Pequod,...
. The workers' resistance to the power outage, and Mr. Burns's response, is a parody of How the Grinch Stole Christmas
How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (TV special)
How the Grinch Stole Christmas! is a 1966 American animated television special directed by Chuck Jones. It is based on the homonymous children's book by Dr. Seuss, the story of The Grinch trying to take away Christmas from the townsfolk of Whoville below his mountain hideaway...
.
Reception
In its original broadcast, "Last Exit to Springfield" finished 19th in ratings for the week of March 8–14, 1993, with a Nielsen ratingNielsen 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 13.7, equivalent to approximately 12.8 million viewing households. It was the highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, beating COPS
COPS (TV series)
Cops is an American documentary/reality television series that follows police officers, constables, and sheriff's deputies during patrols and other police activities...
.
This episode is generally ranked as being one of the best of all time and is on a number of Top 10 lists, and the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
stated it is "frequently cited as the show's best-ever episode." An Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
article from January 2003 looking back at the top 25 episodes of the series chose this episode as the show's greatest episode, saying "this episode is virtually flawless, the product of a series at the height of its creative powers -- when the satire was savage and relevant" and "the stuff of syndication legend: Burns facing down brilliant labor kingpin Homer Simpson; Homer Simpson facing down his own brain (DENTAL PLAN!/Lisa needs braces!); Grampa rattling on about wearing onions on his belt. Last Exit is a glorious symphony of the high and the low, of satirical shots at unions." In his book, Planet Simpson, Chris Turner calls it the best episode of the series, saying "Episode 9F15 of The Simpsons should be taught in schools, in history, economics, social studies, literature and art class. It's flawless". He also called it "the funniest half-hour in TV history", and provided a full analysis of the episode, only criticizing the chalkboard and couch gags. He maintains that he chose the episode as best ever before Entertainment Weeklys list was published.
In 2003, to celebrate the show's 300th episode, USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
published a top 10 chosen by the webmaster of The Simpsons Archive
The Simpsons Archive
The Simpsons Archive, better known as snpp.com or simply SNPP , is a Simpsons fan site that has been online since 1994...
, which had this episode in first place. The BBC website says, "This fine episode contains several of our favourite sequences ... A classic, and the series' most marked expedition into the surreal - up to this point." MSNBC
MSNBC
MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
, who listed the episode as their favorite, stated, "This is the episode that every self-respecting Simpsons geek must be able to recite verbatim." Michael Moran of The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
ranked the episode as the sixth best in the show's history.
Director Mark Kirkland
Mark Kirkland
Mark Kirkland is an American director. He has directed 69 episodes, from 1990-present, of The Simpsons, more than any other person.-Career:...
considers this episode to be one of the most surreal episodes that he has worked on because it has a lot of story crammed into it, lots of parodies and contains several visual sequences. Al Jean has also called this one of the "craziest" episodes. Homer's line "uh... Yeah" after being asked if he found the bathroom is one of Jay Kogen's favorite Simpsons jokes. The episode's parody of Batman was named the 30th greatest film reference in the history of the show by Total Film
Total Film
Total Film is a British film magazine published 13 times a year by Future Publishing. The magazine was launched in 1997 and offers film, DVD and Blu-ray news, reviews and features...
The scene in the episode in which Mr. Burns shows his room with a thousand monkeys working at a thousand typewriters, a reference to the infinite monkey theorem
Infinite monkey theorem
The infinite monkey theorem states that a monkey hitting keys at random on a typewriter keyboard for an infinite amount of time will almost surely type a given text, such as the complete works of William Shakespeare....
, has inspired a real-life experiment about the theorem. The episode has become study material for sociology courses at University of California Berkeley, where it is used to "examine issues of the production and reception of cultural objects, in this case, a satirical cartoon show", and to figure out what it is "trying to tell audiences about aspects primarily of American society, and, to a lesser extent, about other societies."
External links
- "Last Exit to Springfield" at The Simpsons.com