The Day the Violence Died
Encyclopedia
"The Day the Violence Died" is the eighteenth episode of The Simpsons
seventh season
and originally aired on March 17, 1996. It was written by John Swartzwelder
and directed by Wesley Archer. Kirk Douglas
guest stars as Chester J. Lampwick, Alex Rocco
as Roger Meyers Jr., Jack Sheldon
as an anthropomorphic constitutional amendment
, Suzanne Somers
as herself, and Phil Hartman
as Lionel Hutz
. The end of the episode features Lester and Eliza, versions of Bart
and Lisa Simpson
that appeared in The Tracey Ullman Show
in the 1980s.
In the episode, Bart meets Chester J. Lampwick, who claims and successfully proves that he is the creator of Itchy from The Itchy & Scratchy Show
. Lampwick sues Itchy and Scratchy Studios, the owner of the Itchy and Scratchy characters, which he claims stole his idea. After the studio awards Lampwick a US$ 800 billion settlement, it is forced into bankruptcy and shuts down. When The Itchy & Scratchy Show is replaced by a parody of Schoolhouse Rock!
s "I'm Just a Bill
" segment, Bart and Lisa try to bring the show back. They find a legal precedent
that could help their cause, but before they can contact the studio, Lester and Eliza save the day instead.
The episode finished 47th in ratings for the week of March 11–17, 1996 with a 9.2 Nielsen rating. It was the highest-rated show on the Fox network that week. The episode received a generally positive reception from television critics. DVD Movie Guide and the Los Angeles Daily News
enjoyed the episode's focus on The Itchy & Scratchy Show. Criticism of the episode focused on its observations of generic television shows.
from him and proves this claim to Bart with his animated short Manhattan Madness from 1919. The film, however, is suddenly destroyed by the projector. To shelter Lampwick, Bart lets him live at his house. However, the Simpson family want Lampwick to leave, but Bart does not want him to live on the streets. Suddenly coming up with an idea to properly compensate Lampwick for creating Itchy, Bart and Chester go to Roger Meyers Jr., CEO of Itchy & Scratchy Studios, and ask him for $800 billion. They are quickly thrown out.
Lampwick then decides, with the help of Bart and lawyer Lionel Hutz
, to sue Itchy and Scratchy Studios. His case is not solid, until Bart remembers that he saw an original animation cel created by Lampwick for sale by Comic Book Guy
. Buying the cel, Bart shows its inscription, proving that Lampwick is the creator of Itchy. Roger Meyers Jr. then admits that his father stole Itchy from Lampwick, but still rebuffs him by saying that animation is based on plagiarism. The judge rules in favor of Lampwick and orders Meyers to pay Lampwick the $800 billion, which was apparently the entire corporation’s welfare. While Bart is happy that Lampwick is no longer poor, he is sad when he realizes that by helping Lampwick, he has helped take The Itchy & Scratchy Show off of television because the studio is bankrupt
and forced to close down.
When Bart and Lisa discover that The Itchy & Scratchy Show has been replaced by a parody of Schoolhouse Rock!
s "I'm Just a Bill
" segment, they search for a way to resurrect the cartoon. They find a legal precedent that could help, but discover that two other kids, Lester and Eliza, have beaten them to it. Discovering that the post office mascot Mr. Zip
had been ripped off from Itchy & Scratchy Studios, Lester and Eliza helped secure a large cash settlement from the government for Itchy & Scratchy Studios. Bart and Lisa leave, disturbed that their spotlight has been stolen.
During their tenure as executive producers of The Simpsons, Bill Oakley
and Josh Weinstein
tried to include one episode related to The Itchy & Scratchy Show
in every season. "The Day the Violence Died", written by John Swartzwelder
and directed by Wes Archer
, was The Itchy & Scratchy Show-related episode for the seventh season, and became a vehicle for jokes about animation. After completing the episode, Oakley commented, "This episode is one of the craziest episodes ever, I would dare say. It is so packed with references and inside jokes and the ending is so bizarre that a lot of people didn't understand it." The episode was considered polarizing. In one of its jokes, Bart asks Homer for a large sum of money and Homer immediately pulls out his wallet. Oakley described the scene as "very controversial" among the show's producers; Matt Groening
, the creator of The Simpsons, in particular did not like it.
In Swartzwelder's original script, the "Amendment to Be" segment was a cartoon that was consciously a parody of the humor style of The Simpsons, but the producers felt that it was not funny. As a result, it was replaced by the "Amendment to Be" cartoon, which is a parody of the "I'm Just a Bill
" segment of the educational television series Schoolhouse Rock. Worried about potential lawsuits, the lawyer of The Simpsons made the animators change the design of the senator in the segment. The end of the episode features Lester and Eliza, different versions of Bart and Lisa, who save Itchy & Scratchy Studios. Bart and Lisa typically solve problems in the show, but the writers decided to try something different and have a new pair of characters take their positions. Lester's design is a slightly altered version of Bart's design in The Tracey Ullman Show
and is voiced by Tress MacNeille
, who normally voices Bart on temporary tracks.
American actor Kirk Douglas
guest stars in the episode as Chester J. Lampwick. William Hickey
, not Douglas, was the producers' first choice for the role, who they described as "famous for being a grouchy, mean old man". Oakley and Weinstein, who often search for "the absolutely perfect voice" when looking for guest stars rather than simply using celebrities, felt that Hickey's gruff raspy voice would be perfect for the role, but he turned them down. In Nancy Cartwright
's autobiography My Life as a 10-Year-Old Boy, she comments that the episode's script was a "gem" and recalls that Kirk Douglas' recording session, directed by Josh Weinstein, was fraught with interruptions. He refused to wear the earphones supplied to him in the recording studio, saying they hurt his ears, so he was unable to hear Weinstein from his booth. Cartwright directed Douglas, who was in a hurry and said that he would do two takes per line at the most. However, despite reading his lines all at once, he only had trouble with one scene; the scene in which Lampwick tells Bart he created Itchy & Scratchy required three takes, as Douglas continuously misread the line "I changed all that" as "I charged all that". Cartwright managed to get him to do a third reading of the line by pretending to sneeze during his second take.
In his script, Swartzwelder randomly paired David Brinkley
and Suzanne Somers
together as the parade commentators. The producers were unable to get Brinkley to play his part, so he was instead voiced by Dan Castellaneta
. However, they were successful in getting Somers to voice herself. Alex Rocco
returned to voice Roger Meyers, Jr. He had previously voiced the character in the episode "Itchy & Scratchy & Marge
", and while the character had reappeared in several episodes, in those instances he was voiced by Hank Azaria
. The episode also stars Pamela Hayden
and Tress MacNeille
, and Phil Hartman
as lawyer Lionel Hutz
.
's head was similarly frozen. When Roger Meyers Jr. pleads his case in court, he mentions that several animated television series and characters were plagiarized from other series and characters: "Animation is built on plagiarism! If it weren't for someone plagiarizing The Honeymooners
, we wouldn't have The Flintstones
. If someone hadn't ripped off Sergeant Bilko, there'd be no Top Cat
. Huckleberry Hound
, Chief Wiggum, Yogi Bear
? Hah! Andy Griffith
, Edward G. Robinson
, Art Carney
." The Manhattan Madness cartoon in "The Day the Violence Died" is based on very early animated cartoons such as Gertie the Dinosaur
. The original name of Itchy on the film reel, "Itchy the Lucky Mouse", is a direct reference to Walt Disney's first cartoon "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
". The "Amendment To Be" segment is a parody of the educational show Schoolhouse Rock, and more specifically "I'm Just a Bill
", and refers to the Flag Desecration Amendment
. Jack Sheldon
, who sang the original song in "I'm Just a Bill", voices the song in the "Amendment to Be" segment.
The cartoon "Itchy and Scratchy Meets Fritz The Cat" is a reference to the 1972 animated film Fritz the Cat
that depicts drug use and sexual situations openly. Fritz the Cat was also the first animated movie to be rated X, before the NC-17 rating existed. The first Itchy & Scratchy cartoon entitled "Steamboat Itchy", which originally appeared in "Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie
", is a reference to Steamboat Willie
, the first Mickey Mouse
cartoon, and Joseph P. Kennedy, father of former United States President John F. Kennedy
, is listed as one of the cartoon's producers. The episode's title alludes to the line "the Day the Music Died
" from Don McLean
's 1971 song "American Pie".
's impression of David Brinkley
. "It’s hard to top the original Itchy cartoon – where else can you see a cartoon mouse kill both an Irishman and Teddy Roosevelt?" said Jacobson, further complimenting the episode's twist ending: "For once, when Bart and Lisa team up to do the right thing, it backfires badly." He also applauded the casting of Kirk Douglas as a guest star, and ended the review by calling the episode a "winner". Total Film
s Nathan Ditum named Douglas the 18th best guest star on The Simpsons.
DVD Movie Guide claimed that any show focused on The Itchy & Scratchy Show is "hard to beat" and the Los Angeles Daily News
considered this a "cause for joy". Jennifer Malkowski of DVD Verdict said that the best part of the episode is during The Itchy & Scratchy Show copyright trial, when lawyer "Lionel Hutz
stalls for time by calling all of his surprise witnesses again: a ventriloquist and his dummy, Santa Claus
with a broken leg, a Barney
-looking stranger, Ralph Wiggum
, and the fattest twins
in The Guinness Book of World Records." Malkowski concluded her review by giving the episode a grade of B-. The episode was considered a classic by The Rockford Register Star
, which enjoyed the "perfect parody of the old 'Schoolhouse Rock
' cartoon, 'I'm Just a Bill
.'" DVD Movie Guide "loved" the first The Itchy & Scratchy Show cartoon, "Itchy & Scratchy Meet Fritz the Cat". In the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Unofficial "Simpsons" Guide by Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, they comment that "The Day the Violence Died" is "a great episode, with some clever observations on ideas and copyright, and a superb – and sinister – twist ending featuring the return of both Bart and Lisa from their days on The Tracey Ullman Show."
Criticism of the episode stemmed from its observations of generic television shows. Dave Foster of DVD Times commented that it features "clever inside jokes, a few astute gags at the expense of the often ridiculous situations found in sitcoms as well as some keen insights on the oft-debated TV violence issue" but that "its played-out observations on how generic shows can be are often too adept making this one tough to fully appreciate with the same affection as the other well-realised scripts found in this season." Columbia University
offered a course that analyzed The Simpsons during the September 2005 school term. In one of the classes, entitled "The Simpsons' Self-Referentiality", students viewed "The Day the Violence Died", and later considered one of the episode's most memorable quotes to be: "Bart: 'Lisa, if I ever stop loving violence, I want you to shoot me.' Lisa: 'Will do.'"
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...
seventh season
The Simpsons (season 7)
The Simpsons seventh season originally aired on the Fox network between September 17, 1995 and May 19, 1996. The show runners for the seventh production season were Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein who would executive produce 21 episodes this season. David Mirkin executive produced the remaining...
and originally aired on March 17, 1996. It was written by John Swartzwelder
John Swartzwelder
John Swartzwelder is an American comedy writer and novelist, best known for his work on the animated television series The Simpsons, as well as a number of novels. He is credited with writing the largest number of Simpsons episodes by a large margin...
and directed by Wesley Archer. Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas is an American stage and film actor, film producer and author. His popular films include Out of the Past , Champion , Ace in the Hole , The Bad and the Beautiful , Lust for Life , Paths of Glory , Gunfight at the O.K...
guest stars as Chester J. Lampwick, Alex Rocco
Alex Rocco
Alex Rocco is an American actor. His roles have ranged from comedy to playing gangsters in Mafia movies.-Early life:...
as Roger Meyers Jr., Jack Sheldon
Jack Sheldon
Jack Sheldon is an American bebop and West Coast jazz trumpeter, singer, and actor. He is a trumpet player and was a comedian on The Merv Griffin Show, as well as the voice heard on several episodes of the educational music television series Schoolhouse Rock.-Biography:Sheldon was born in...
as an anthropomorphic constitutional amendment
Constitutional amendment
A constitutional amendment is a formal change to the text of the written constitution of a nation or state.Most constitutions require that amendments cannot be enacted unless they have passed a special procedure that is more stringent than that required of ordinary legislation...
, Suzanne Somers
Suzanne Somers
Suzanne Somers is an American actress, author, singer and businesswoman, known for her television roles as Chrissy Snow on Three's Company and as Carol Lambert on Step by Step....
as herself, and Phil Hartman
Phil Hartman
Philip Edward "Phil" Hartman was a Canadian-American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and graphic artist. Born in Brantford, Ontario, Hartman and his family moved to the United States when he was 10...
as Lionel Hutz
Lionel Hutz
Lionel Hutz is a recurring character from the animated television series The Simpsons. He was voiced by Phil Hartman, and his first appearance was in the season two episode "Bart Gets Hit by a Car". Due to the death of Hartman, his final speaking role was in the episode "Realty Bites"...
. The end of the episode features Lester and Eliza, versions of 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...
and Lisa Simpson
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...
that appeared in The Tracey Ullman Show
The Tracey Ullman Show
The Tracey Ullman Show was an American television variety show, hosted by British comedian and onetime pop singer Tracey Ullman. It debuted on April 5, 1987 as the Fox network's second primetime series after Married... with Children, and ran until May 26, 1990. The show blended sketch comedy shorts...
in the 1980s.
In the episode, Bart meets Chester J. Lampwick, who claims and successfully proves that he is the creator of Itchy from The Itchy & Scratchy Show
The Itchy & Scratchy Show
The Itchy & Scratchy Show is a show within a show in the animated television series The Simpsons. It usually appears as a part of The Krusty the Clown Show, watched regularly by Bart and Lisa Simpson...
. Lampwick sues Itchy and Scratchy Studios, the owner of the Itchy and Scratchy characters, which he claims stole his idea. After the studio awards Lampwick a US$ 800 billion settlement, it is forced into bankruptcy and shuts down. When The Itchy & Scratchy Show is replaced by a parody of Schoolhouse Rock!
Schoolhouse Rock!
Schoolhouse Rock! is an American interstitial programming series of animated musical educational short films that aired during the Saturday morning children's programming on the U.S. television network ABC. The topics covered included grammar, science, economics, history, mathematics, and civics...
s "I'm Just a Bill
I'm Just a Bill
"I'm Just a Bill" is a Schoolhouse Rock! segment, featuring a song of the same title written by Dave Frishberg. The segment debuted as part of "America Rock", the third season of the Schoolhouse Rock series, in 1975. The song featured in the segment is sung by Jack Sheldon and his son...
" segment, Bart and Lisa try to bring the show back. They find a legal precedent
Precedent
In common law legal systems, a precedent or authority is a principle or rule established in a legal case that a court or other judicial body may apply when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts...
that could help their cause, but before they can contact the studio, Lester and Eliza save the day instead.
The episode finished 47th in ratings for the week of March 11–17, 1996 with a 9.2 Nielsen rating. It was the highest-rated show on the Fox network that week. The episode received a generally positive reception from television critics. DVD Movie Guide and the Los Angeles Daily News
Los Angeles Daily News
The Los Angeles Daily News is the second-largest circulating daily newspaper of Los Angeles, California. It is the flagship of the Los Angeles Newspaper Group, a branch of Colorado-based MediaNews Group....
enjoyed the episode's focus on The Itchy & Scratchy Show. Criticism of the episode focused on its observations of generic television shows.
Plot
During a parade honoring The Itchy & Scratchy Show, Bart meets an elderly homeless person, Chester J. Lampwick, who claims to be the creator of Itchy. He insists Roger Meyers, the supposed creator of the characters Itchy and Scratchy, stole the ideaPlagiarism
Plagiarism is defined in dictionaries as the "wrongful appropriation," "close imitation," or "purloining and publication" of another author's "language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions," and the representation of them as one's own original work, but the notion remains problematic with nebulous...
from him and proves this claim to Bart with his animated short Manhattan Madness from 1919. The film, however, is suddenly destroyed by the projector. To shelter Lampwick, Bart lets him live at his house. However, the Simpson family want Lampwick to leave, but Bart does not want him to live on the streets. Suddenly coming up with an idea to properly compensate Lampwick for creating Itchy, Bart and Chester go to Roger Meyers Jr., CEO of Itchy & Scratchy Studios, and ask him for $800 billion. They are quickly thrown out.
Lampwick then decides, with the help of Bart and lawyer Lionel Hutz
Lionel Hutz
Lionel Hutz is a recurring character from the animated television series The Simpsons. He was voiced by Phil Hartman, and his first appearance was in the season two episode "Bart Gets Hit by a Car". Due to the death of Hartman, his final speaking role was in the episode "Realty Bites"...
, to sue Itchy and Scratchy Studios. His case is not solid, until Bart remembers that he saw an original animation cel created by Lampwick for sale by Comic Book Guy
Comic Book Guy
Comic Book Guy is a recurring fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Hank Azaria, and first appeared in the second-season episode "Three Men and a Comic Book", which originally aired on May 9, 1991. He is the proprietor of a comic book store, The...
. Buying the cel, Bart shows its inscription, proving that Lampwick is the creator of Itchy. Roger Meyers Jr. then admits that his father stole Itchy from Lampwick, but still rebuffs him by saying that animation is based on plagiarism. The judge rules in favor of Lampwick and orders Meyers to pay Lampwick the $800 billion, which was apparently the entire corporation’s welfare. While Bart is happy that Lampwick is no longer poor, he is sad when he realizes that by helping Lampwick, he has helped take The Itchy & Scratchy Show off of television because the studio is bankrupt
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
and forced to close down.
When Bart and Lisa discover that The Itchy & Scratchy Show has been replaced by a parody of Schoolhouse Rock!
Schoolhouse Rock!
Schoolhouse Rock! is an American interstitial programming series of animated musical educational short films that aired during the Saturday morning children's programming on the U.S. television network ABC. The topics covered included grammar, science, economics, history, mathematics, and civics...
s "I'm Just a Bill
I'm Just a Bill
"I'm Just a Bill" is a Schoolhouse Rock! segment, featuring a song of the same title written by Dave Frishberg. The segment debuted as part of "America Rock", the third season of the Schoolhouse Rock series, in 1975. The song featured in the segment is sung by Jack Sheldon and his son...
" segment, they search for a way to resurrect the cartoon. They find a legal precedent that could help, but discover that two other kids, Lester and Eliza, have beaten them to it. Discovering that the post office mascot Mr. Zip
Mr. ZIP
Mr. ZIP, informally "Zippy", is a cartoon character used in the 1960s by the United States Post Office Department, and in the 1970s by its successor, the United States Postal Service, to encourage the general public to include the ZIP code in all mailings....
had been ripped off from Itchy & Scratchy Studios, Lester and Eliza helped secure a large cash settlement from the government for Itchy & Scratchy Studios. Bart and Lisa leave, disturbed that their spotlight has been stolen.
Production
Bill Oakley
Bill Oakley is an American television writer and producer, known for his work on the animated comedy series The Simpsons. Oakley and Josh Weinstein became best friends and writing partners at high school; Oakley then attended Harvard University and was Vice President of the Harvard Lampoon...
and Josh Weinstein
Josh Weinstein
Josh Weinstein is an American television writer and producer, known for his work on the animated comedy series The Simpsons. Weinstein and Bill Oakley became best friends and writing partners at St. Albans High School; Weinstein then attended Stanford University and was editor-in-chief of the...
tried to include one episode related to The Itchy & Scratchy Show
The Itchy & Scratchy Show
The Itchy & Scratchy Show is a show within a show in the animated television series The Simpsons. It usually appears as a part of The Krusty the Clown Show, watched regularly by Bart and Lisa Simpson...
in every season. "The Day the Violence Died", written by John Swartzwelder
John Swartzwelder
John Swartzwelder is an American comedy writer and novelist, best known for his work on the animated television series The Simpsons, as well as a number of novels. He is credited with writing the largest number of Simpsons episodes by a large margin...
and directed by Wes Archer
Wes Archer
Wesley Meyer Archer is a television animation director. He was one of the original three animators on The Simpsons' Tracey Ullman shorts and subsequently directed a number of The Simpsons episodes before becoming supervising director at King of the Hill. A...
, was The Itchy & Scratchy Show-related episode for the seventh season, and became a vehicle for jokes about animation. After completing the episode, Oakley commented, "This episode is one of the craziest episodes ever, I would dare say. It is so packed with references and inside jokes and the ending is so bizarre that a lot of people didn't understand it." The episode was considered polarizing. In one of its jokes, Bart asks Homer for a large sum of money and Homer immediately pulls out his wallet. Oakley described the scene as "very controversial" among the show's producers; Matt Groening
Matt Groening
Matthew Abram "Matt" Groening is an American cartoonist, screenwriter, and producer. He is the creator of the comic strip Life in Hell as well as two successful television series, The Simpsons and Futurama....
, the creator of The Simpsons, in particular did not like it.
In Swartzwelder's original script, the "Amendment to Be" segment was a cartoon that was consciously a parody of the humor style of The Simpsons, but the producers felt that it was not funny. As a result, it was replaced by the "Amendment to Be" cartoon, which is a parody of the "I'm Just a Bill
I'm Just a Bill
"I'm Just a Bill" is a Schoolhouse Rock! segment, featuring a song of the same title written by Dave Frishberg. The segment debuted as part of "America Rock", the third season of the Schoolhouse Rock series, in 1975. The song featured in the segment is sung by Jack Sheldon and his son...
" segment of the educational television series Schoolhouse Rock. Worried about potential lawsuits, the lawyer of The Simpsons made the animators change the design of the senator in the segment. The end of the episode features Lester and Eliza, different versions of Bart and Lisa, who save Itchy & Scratchy Studios. Bart and Lisa typically solve problems in the show, but the writers decided to try something different and have a new pair of characters take their positions. Lester's design is a slightly altered version of Bart's design in The Tracey Ullman Show
The Tracey Ullman Show
The Tracey Ullman Show was an American television variety show, hosted by British comedian and onetime pop singer Tracey Ullman. It debuted on April 5, 1987 as the Fox network's second primetime series after Married... with Children, and ran until May 26, 1990. The show blended sketch comedy shorts...
and is voiced by Tress MacNeille
Tress MacNeille
Tress MacNeille is an American voice actress best known for providing various voices on the animated series The Simpsons, Futurama, Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Disney's House of Mouse, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Rugrats, All Grown Up!, Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers, and Dave the...
, who normally voices Bart on temporary tracks.
Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas is an American stage and film actor, film producer and author. His popular films include Out of the Past , Champion , Ace in the Hole , The Bad and the Beautiful , Lust for Life , Paths of Glory , Gunfight at the O.K...
guest stars in the episode as Chester J. Lampwick. William Hickey
William Hickey (actor)
William Edward Hickey was an American actor. He was best known for his Oscar-nominated role as Don Corrado Prizzi in the John Huston 1985 film Prizzi's Honor, as well as the voice of Dr...
, not Douglas, was the producers' first choice for the role, who they described as "famous for being a grouchy, mean old man". Oakley and Weinstein, who often search for "the absolutely perfect voice" when looking for guest stars rather than simply using celebrities, felt that Hickey's gruff raspy voice would be perfect for the role, but he turned them down. In Nancy Cartwright
Nancy Cartwright
Nancy Campbell Cartwright is an American film and television actress, comedian and voice artist. She is best known for her long-running role as Bart Simpson on the animated television series The Simpsons...
's autobiography My Life as a 10-Year-Old Boy, she comments that the episode's script was a "gem" and recalls that Kirk Douglas' recording session, directed by Josh Weinstein, was fraught with interruptions. He refused to wear the earphones supplied to him in the recording studio, saying they hurt his ears, so he was unable to hear Weinstein from his booth. Cartwright directed Douglas, who was in a hurry and said that he would do two takes per line at the most. However, despite reading his lines all at once, he only had trouble with one scene; the scene in which Lampwick tells Bart he created Itchy & Scratchy required three takes, as Douglas continuously misread the line "I changed all that" as "I charged all that". Cartwright managed to get him to do a third reading of the line by pretending to sneeze during his second take.
In his script, Swartzwelder randomly paired David Brinkley
David Brinkley
David McClure Brinkley was an American newscaster for NBC and ABC in a career lasting from 1943 to 1997....
and Suzanne Somers
Suzanne Somers
Suzanne Somers is an American actress, author, singer and businesswoman, known for her television roles as Chrissy Snow on Three's Company and as Carol Lambert on Step by Step....
together as the parade commentators. The producers were unable to get Brinkley to play his part, so he was instead voiced by Dan Castellaneta
Dan Castellaneta
Daniel Louis "Dan" Castellaneta is an American actor, voice actor, comedian, singer and screenwriter. Noted for his long-running role as Homer Simpson on the animated television series The Simpsons, he voices many other characters on The Simpsons, including Abraham "Grampa" Simpson, Barney Gumble,...
. However, they were successful in getting Somers to voice herself. Alex Rocco
Alex Rocco
Alex Rocco is an American actor. His roles have ranged from comedy to playing gangsters in Mafia movies.-Early life:...
returned to voice Roger Meyers, Jr. He had previously voiced the character in the episode "Itchy & Scratchy & Marge
Itchy & Scratchy & Marge
"Itchy & Scratchy & Marge" is the ninth episode of The Simpsons second season and first aired on December 20, 1990. In the episode, which is a satire of censorship issues, Maggie attacks Homer with a mallet and Marge blames The Itchy & Scratchy Show for Maggie's actions. It was written by John...
", and while the character had reappeared in several episodes, in those instances he was voiced by 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...
. The episode also stars Pamela Hayden
Pamela Hayden
Pamela Hayden is an American actress, best known for providing various voices for the animated television show The Simpsons.-Biography:...
and Tress MacNeille
Tress MacNeille
Tress MacNeille is an American voice actress best known for providing various voices on the animated series The Simpsons, Futurama, Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Disney's House of Mouse, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Rugrats, All Grown Up!, Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers, and Dave the...
, and Phil Hartman
Phil Hartman
Philip Edward "Phil" Hartman was a Canadian-American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and graphic artist. Born in Brantford, Ontario, Hartman and his family moved to the United States when he was 10...
as lawyer Lionel Hutz
Lionel Hutz
Lionel Hutz is a recurring character from the animated television series The Simpsons. He was voiced by Phil Hartman, and his first appearance was in the season two episode "Bart Gets Hit by a Car". Due to the death of Hartman, his final speaking role was in the episode "Realty Bites"...
.
Cultural references
Roger Meyers Sr. being cryogenically frozen is a reference to the myth that Walt DisneyWalt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
's head was similarly frozen. When Roger Meyers Jr. pleads his case in court, he mentions that several animated television series and characters were plagiarized from other series and characters: "Animation is built on plagiarism! If it weren't for someone plagiarizing The Honeymooners
The Honeymooners
The Honeymooners is an American situation comedy television show, based on a recurring 1951–'55 sketch of the same name. It originally aired on the DuMont network's Cavalcade of Stars and subsequently on the CBS network's The Jackie Gleason Show hosted by Jackie Gleason, and filmed before a live...
, we wouldn't have The Flintstones
The Flintstones
The Flintstones is an animated, prime-time American television sitcom that screened from September 30, 1960 to April 1, 1966, on ABC. Produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, The Flintstones was about a working class Stone Age man's life with his family and his next-door neighbor and best friend. It...
. If someone hadn't ripped off Sergeant Bilko, there'd be no Top Cat
Top Cat
Top Cat is a Hanna-Barbera prime time animated television series which ran from September 27, 1961 to April 18, 1962 for a run of 30 episodes on the ABC network. Reruns are played on Cartoon Network's classic animation network Boomerang.-History:...
. Huckleberry Hound
Huckleberry Hound
The Huckleberry Hound Show is a 1958 syndicated animated series and the second from Hanna-Barbera following The Ruff & Reddy Show, sponsored by Kellogg's. Three segments were included in the program: one featuring Huckleberry Hound; another starring Yogi Bear and his sidekick Boo Boo; and a third...
, Chief Wiggum, Yogi Bear
Yogi Bear
Yogi Bear is a fictional bear who appears in animated cartoons created by Hanna-Barbera Productions. He made his debut in 1958 as a supporting character in The Huckleberry Hound Show. Yogi Bear was the first breakout character created by Hanna-Barbera, and was eventually more popular than...
? Hah! Andy Griffith
Andy Griffith
Andy Samuel Griffith is an American actor, director, producer, Grammy Award-winning Southern-gospel singer, and writer. He gained prominence in the starring role in director Elia Kazan's epic film A Face in the Crowd before he became better known for his television roles, playing the lead...
, Edward G. Robinson
Edward G. Robinson
Edward G. Robinson was a Romanian-born American actor. A popular star during Hollywood's Golden Age, he is best remembered for his roles as gangsters, such as Rico in his star-making film Little Caesar and as Rocco in Key Largo...
, Art Carney
Art Carney
Arthur William Matthew “Art” Carney was an American actor in film, stage, television and radio. He is best known for playing Ed Norton, opposite Jackie Gleason's Ralph Kramden in the situation comedy The Honeymooners....
." The Manhattan Madness cartoon in "The Day the Violence Died" is based on very early animated cartoons such as Gertie the Dinosaur
Gertie the Dinosaur
Gertie the Dinosaur is a 1914 American animated short film by Winsor McCay. Although not the first feature-length animated film, as is sometimes thought, it was the first cartoon to feature a character with an appealing personality...
. The original name of Itchy on the film reel, "Itchy the Lucky Mouse", is a direct reference to Walt Disney's first cartoon "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit is an anthropomorphic rabbit and animated cartoon character created by Ub Iwerks and Walt Disney for films distributed by Universal Pictures in the 1920s and 1930s...
". The "Amendment To Be" segment is a parody of the educational show Schoolhouse Rock, and more specifically "I'm Just a Bill
I'm Just a Bill
"I'm Just a Bill" is a Schoolhouse Rock! segment, featuring a song of the same title written by Dave Frishberg. The segment debuted as part of "America Rock", the third season of the Schoolhouse Rock series, in 1975. The song featured in the segment is sung by Jack Sheldon and his son...
", and refers to the Flag Desecration Amendment
Flag Desecration Amendment
The Flag Desecration Amendment, often referred to as the flag burning amendment, is a controversial proposed constitutional amendment to the United States Constitution that would allow the United States Congress to statutorily prohibit expression of political views through the physical desecration...
. Jack Sheldon
Jack Sheldon
Jack Sheldon is an American bebop and West Coast jazz trumpeter, singer, and actor. He is a trumpet player and was a comedian on The Merv Griffin Show, as well as the voice heard on several episodes of the educational music television series Schoolhouse Rock.-Biography:Sheldon was born in...
, who sang the original song in "I'm Just a Bill", voices the song in the "Amendment to Be" segment.
The cartoon "Itchy and Scratchy Meets Fritz The Cat" is a reference to the 1972 animated film Fritz the Cat
Fritz the Cat (film)
Fritz the Cat is a 1972 American animated comedy film written and directed by Ralph Bakshi as his feature film debut. Based on the comic strip of the same name by Robert Crumb, the film was the first animated feature film to receive an X rating in the United States...
that depicts drug use and sexual situations openly. Fritz the Cat was also the first animated movie to be rated X, before the NC-17 rating existed. The first Itchy & Scratchy cartoon entitled "Steamboat Itchy", which originally appeared in "Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie
Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie
"Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie" is the sixth episode of The Simpsons fourth season and first aired on November 3, 1992. The plot follows Bart continually getting in trouble, and how Homer is unable to give him any suitable punishment. Marge gets Homer to agree to make a punishment stick, and he...
", is a reference to Steamboat Willie
Steamboat Willie
Steamboat Willie is a 1928 American animated short film directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. It was produced in black-and-white by The Walt Disney Studio and released by Celebrity Productions. The cartoon is considered the debut of Mickey Mouse, and as his girlfriend Minnie, but the characters...
, the first Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse is a cartoon character created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at The Walt Disney Studio. Mickey is an anthropomorphic black mouse and typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves...
cartoon, and Joseph P. Kennedy, father of former United States President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
, is listed as one of the cartoon's producers. The episode's title alludes to the line "the Day the Music Died
The Day the Music Died
On February 3, 1959, a small-plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, killed three American rock and roll pioneers: Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, as well as the pilot, Roger Peterson. The day was later called The Day the Music Died by Don McLean, in his song...
" from Don McLean
Don McLean
Donald "Don" McLean is an American singer-songwriter. He is most famous for the 1971 album American Pie, containing the renowned songs "American Pie" and "Vincent".-Musical roots:...
's 1971 song "American Pie".
Reception
In its original American broadcast, "The Day the Violence Died" finished 47th in the ratings for the week of March 11–17, 1996, with a Nielsen rating of 9.2. The episode was the highest rated show on the Fox network that week. "The Day the Violence Died" received generally positive reviews from television critics. DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson enjoyed the episode and called it a "hoot", praising Harry ShearerHarry Shearer
Harry Julius Shearer is an American actor, comedian, writer, voice artist, musician, author, radio host and director. He is known for his long-running role on The Simpsons, his work on Saturday Night Live, the comedy band Spinal Tap and his radio program Le Show...
's impression of David Brinkley
David Brinkley
David McClure Brinkley was an American newscaster for NBC and ABC in a career lasting from 1943 to 1997....
. "It’s hard to top the original Itchy cartoon – where else can you see a cartoon mouse kill both an Irishman and Teddy Roosevelt?" said Jacobson, further complimenting the episode's twist ending: "For once, when Bart and Lisa team up to do the right thing, it backfires badly." He also applauded the casting of Kirk Douglas as a guest star, and ended the review by calling the episode a "winner". 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...
s Nathan Ditum named Douglas the 18th best guest star on The Simpsons.
DVD Movie Guide claimed that any show focused on The Itchy & Scratchy Show is "hard to beat" and the Los Angeles Daily News
Los Angeles Daily News
The Los Angeles Daily News is the second-largest circulating daily newspaper of Los Angeles, California. It is the flagship of the Los Angeles Newspaper Group, a branch of Colorado-based MediaNews Group....
considered this a "cause for joy". Jennifer Malkowski of DVD Verdict said that the best part of the episode is during The Itchy & Scratchy Show copyright trial, when lawyer "Lionel Hutz
Lionel Hutz
Lionel Hutz is a recurring character from the animated television series The Simpsons. He was voiced by Phil Hartman, and his first appearance was in the season two episode "Bart Gets Hit by a Car". Due to the death of Hartman, his final speaking role was in the episode "Realty Bites"...
stalls for time by calling all of his surprise witnesses again: a ventriloquist and his dummy, Santa Claus
Santa Claus
Santa Claus is a folklore figure in various cultures who distributes gifts to children, normally on Christmas Eve. Each name is a variation of Saint Nicholas, but refers to Santa Claus...
with a broken leg, a Barney
Barney Gumble
Barnard "Barney" Gumble is a fictional character on the American animated sitcom The Simpsons. The character is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared in the series premiere episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire". He is the town drunk and Homer Simpson's best friend. His capacity for...
-looking stranger, Ralph Wiggum
Ralph Wiggum
Ralph Wiggum is a recurring fictional character on the animated series The Simpsons, voiced by Nancy Cartwright. The son of Police Chief Wiggum and a classmate of Lisa Simpson, Ralph is best known as the show's resident oddball, and is noted for his non sequiturs and erratic behavior...
, and the fattest twins
McGuire twins
Billy Leon McCrary and Benny Loyd McCrary , known together as the McGuire twins, were listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the "World's Heaviest Twins"...
in The Guinness Book of World Records." Malkowski concluded her review by giving the episode a grade of B-. The episode was considered a classic by The Rockford Register Star
The Rockford Register Star
The Rockford Register Star is the Rockford, Illinois metropolitan area's primary daily newspaper.The paper began following the merger of two influential Rockford competitors, The Register Republic and The Morning Star...
, which enjoyed the "perfect parody of the old 'Schoolhouse Rock
Schoolhouse Rock!
Schoolhouse Rock! is an American interstitial programming series of animated musical educational short films that aired during the Saturday morning children's programming on the U.S. television network ABC. The topics covered included grammar, science, economics, history, mathematics, and civics...
' cartoon, 'I'm Just a Bill
I'm Just a Bill
"I'm Just a Bill" is a Schoolhouse Rock! segment, featuring a song of the same title written by Dave Frishberg. The segment debuted as part of "America Rock", the third season of the Schoolhouse Rock series, in 1975. The song featured in the segment is sung by Jack Sheldon and his son...
.'" DVD Movie Guide "loved" the first The Itchy & Scratchy Show cartoon, "Itchy & Scratchy Meet Fritz the Cat". In the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Unofficial "Simpsons" Guide by Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, they comment that "The Day the Violence Died" is "a great episode, with some clever observations on ideas and copyright, and a superb – and sinister – twist ending featuring the return of both Bart and Lisa from their days on The Tracey Ullman Show."
Criticism of the episode stemmed from its observations of generic television shows. Dave Foster of DVD Times commented that it features "clever inside jokes, a few astute gags at the expense of the often ridiculous situations found in sitcoms as well as some keen insights on the oft-debated TV violence issue" but that "its played-out observations on how generic shows can be are often too adept making this one tough to fully appreciate with the same affection as the other well-realised scripts found in this season." Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
offered a course that analyzed The Simpsons during the September 2005 school term. In one of the classes, entitled "The Simpsons' Self-Referentiality", students viewed "The Day the Violence Died", and later considered one of the episode's most memorable quotes to be: "Bart: 'Lisa, if I ever stop loving violence, I want you to shoot me.' Lisa: 'Will do.'"
External links
- "The Day the Violence Died" at The Simpsons.com