The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase
Encyclopedia
"The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase" is the twenty-fourth episode of the eighth season
of The Simpsons
. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 11, 1997. The episode centers on fictional pilot episodes of non-existent television series derived from The Simpsons, and is a parody of the tendency of networks to spin off
characters from a hit series. As such it includes references to many different TV series. The first fictional spin-off is Chief Wiggum P.I., a cop-drama featuring Chief Wiggum and Seymour Skinner
. The second is The Love-matic Grampa, a sitcom featuring Moe Szyslak
who receives dating advice from Abraham Simpson
, whose ghost is possessing a love testing machine. The final segment is The Simpson Family Smile-Time Variety Hour, a variety show featuring the Simpson family
except for Lisa, who has been replaced.
The episode was written by David S. Cohen
, Dan Greaney
and Steve Tompkins
, with Ken Keeler
coming up with the story and the general idea of intentionally bad writing. It was directed by Neil Affleck
, and Tim Conway
, Gailard Sartain
and Phil Hartman
guest-starred. The producers were initially uneasy about the episode, as they feared that the purposely bad writing would pass off as actual bad writing. The episode, however, now figures on several lists of the most popular The Simpsons episodes.
hosts a television special from the museum of television introducing three spin-offs productions, created using characters from The Simpsons. The Fox network
only has three filled slots for the next season and so commissions the producers of The Simpsons to create thirty-five new shows. The producers instead decided to create just three new shows.
Chief Wiggum, P.I. is a cop-drama spin-off, which follows Chief Wiggum, Ralph
and Seymour Skinner
. Chief Wiggum and his son Ralph move to New Orleans with Seymour Skinner as Wiggum's sidekick. Wiggum has proclaimed that he will "clean up the city" of New Orleans, but it does not take long before he meets his nemesis, Big Daddy, who warns Wiggum to stay out of his business. After they have experienced the Mardi Gras
, Ralph is kidnapped by Big Daddy. Wiggum tracks him down and the two people chase each other to Big Daddy's house. Chief Wiggum then threatens Big Daddy with a gun, but Big Daddy counters by tossing Ralph at his father, then jumping out the window and swimming away (at an extremely slow speed, due to his weight). Wiggum ultimately lets the villain escape, feeling that he will meet him again "each and every week, always in more sexy and exciting ways".
The Love-matic Grampa is a sitcom-style television series about Moe
's love life. He receives advice from the ghost
of Abraham Simpson
, who was crushed by a store shelf containing cans of figs that toppled on him and subsequently "while travelling up toward Heaven...got lost along the way" and now possesses Moe's love tester machine. Moe ends up getting a date he meets at the bar. On Grampa's advice he takes his date out to a French restaurant and hides the Love Tester in the toilet, so he can get advice while at the restaurant. After Kearney, Dolph and Jimbo whack the machine because it said they were gay
, it malfunctions and advises Moe to tell his date that "her rump's as big as the Queen's, and twice as fragrant". Moe returns with a bowl of snails dumped on his head and his dependence on the machine is revealed, so he confesses to receiving advice. His date is actually happy when she hears this, flattered that Moe would go to all that trouble for her. Grampa asks to be introduced to an attractive payphone
in front of the restaurant, much to the mirth of Moe and his date.
The Simpson Family Smile-Time Variety Hour is a comedy
show featuring various songs and sketches. It features Homer, Marge
, Bart
, and Maggie
. Lisa
refuses to participate, but is replaced by an attractive blonde bombshell (voiced by Pamela Hayden
). After the introduction there is a sketch, where the family are portrayed as beavers living in a dam
with Tim Conway
as a skunk
and Homer's boss. The show ends with a medley of songs sung by the family, Jasper Beardley and Waylon Smithers
.
Troy ends the special with a look at the upcoming season of The Simpsons, filled with ridiculous plot twists, such as Homer turning Lisa into a frog using magic powers, the discovery of Bart's two long lost identical brothers, Selma marrying Lenny, Bumblebee Man, and Itchy
, and Homer meeting an alien named Ozmodiar whom only he can see
.
Ken Keeler
came up with the idea for the episode from the one sentence statement: "Let's do spin-offs". His idea was to use intentionally bad writing and "crazy plots", which underlines their critique of spin-offs in general. After he had pitched the idea it was decided that "it was an idea that ought to work pretty well" and production went ahead. Creator Matt Groening
was uneasy about the idea, feeling that it could be mistranslated as actually bad sitcom writing. He also did not like the idea of breaking the fourth wall
and the concept of saying that the Simpsons were just actors in a television show. The idea was later explored in the season 11
episode "Behind the Laughter
". One of the "crazy" ideas was the inclusion of the character of Ozmodiar, who was originally included in the script for an earlier episode but was considered too ridiculous for the time. When this episode came along the character seemed to fit with the story and was included. Even though Keeler came up with the story, David S. Cohen, Dan Greaney and Steve Tompkins wrote the scripts for the three segments. Cohen wrote Chief Wiggum P.I., Greaney wrote Love-matic Grampa and Tompkins wrote The Simpson Family Smile-Time Variety Hour.
The episode demanded a different approach to directing than a usual The Simpsons episode. Director Neil Affleck
had to animate each segment so that it fitted the style of the show it parodied. The Love-matic Grampa segment for instance emulates a three camera setup, as is normally used in sitcoms.
Three guest stars appear in the episode; Phil Hartman
as Troy McClure
, Tim Conway
as himself and Gailard Sartain
as Big Daddy. McClure is used as a host of the episode, something he had previously done in the episode "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular
". Conway appears as himself. Conway, a comic veteran, is known for his work on The Carol Burnett Show
, which has a similar format to The Simpson Family Smile-Time Variety Hour. Due to Lisa being substituted for an older teenager in the third segment, Yeardley Smith
only has one line in the entire episode.
pitched a live action
spin-off from The Simpsons that centered on Krusty and would star Dan Castellaneta. He and Michael Weithorn wrote a pilot script where Krusty moved to Los Angeles
and got his own talk show. A recurring joke throughout the script was that Krusty lived in a house on wooden stilts which were continuously being gnawed by beavers
. Eventually, the contract negotiations fell apart and Groening decided to stop work on the project.
"22 Short Films About Springfield
" sparked the idea amongst the staff for a spin-off series entitled Tales from Springfield. The proposed show would focus on the town in general, rather than the Simpson family. Every week would be a different scenario: three short stories, an adventure with young Homer or a story about a background character that was not tied in to the Simpson family at all. The idea never came to anything, as Groening realized that the staff did not have the manpower to produce another show as well as The Simpsons. The staff believe it is something that they would still be interested in doing, and that "could happen someday."
Groening also expressed a wish to make Simpstasia, a parody of Fantasia
; it was never produced, partly because it would have been too difficult to write a feature-length script. Before his death, Phil Hartman
had said he had wished to make a live action Troy McClure
film, and several of the show's staff had expressed a desire to help create it. Matt Groening
later told Empire
that the idea never "got further than enthusiasm", but "would have been really fun".
The whole episode is a satire of unoriginal, poor television writing and references and parodies many TV shows. When Troy McClure mentions that Fox can only fill up three slots for the next season, the three shows are The Simpsons
, Melrose Place, and The X-Files
. On the museum of television Troy walks by posters of spin-offs, such as The Ropers
(spun off from Three's Company
), Laverne and Shirley (spun off from Happy Days
), Rhoda
(spun off from The Mary Tyler Moore Show
) and Fish
(spun off from Barney Miller
), to demonstrate the power of spin-offs. Troy walks by a poster of The Jeffersons
(a spin-off of All in the Family
) twice, because the writers could not think of any more spin-offs.
Chief Wiggum, P.I. is a parody of police-dramas, such as Miami Vice
, Magnum, P.I.
and Starsky and Hutch
. Skinner emulates Don Johnson from Miami Vice in order to look scruffier. The character of Big Daddy is based on Dr. John
, who comes from New Orleans.
The Love-matic Grampa is a parody of fantasy sitcoms such as Mister Ed
, I Dream of Jeannie
and Bewitched
as well as having similarities to My Mother the Car
. The Love-matic Grampa machine singing "Daisy Bell
" in a distorted manner when its electrical circuits are failing is a reference to HAL
from the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey
. Grampa also references All Quiet on the Western Front
, when Moe says he "wrote the book on love". Moe's date, Betty, looks somewhat like Tress MacNeille
, the actress who voiced her.
The Simpson Family Smile-Time Variety Hour is a parody of the 1960s and 1970s live variety shows. Mainly it is a parody of The Brady Bunch Hour
, a short-lived spin-off of the 1970s sitcom The Brady Bunch
. The replacement of Lisa in the third segment with another girl reflects the recasting of Jan Brady in the Brady Bunch Hour when Eve Plumb
refused to participate. The Simpson family is made to look like The Partridge Family
. Also, the segment holds numerous references to Laugh-In. Kent Brockman
introduces the show from inside a broadcast booth in a style similar to Laugh-In, there is a joke wall similar to the one in Laugh-In where The Sea Captain opens a porthole
. There is also a Laugh-In-like montage wherein other characters comments on the skit itself. When Hans Moleman
reads a poem, it is based on Henry Gibson
reading a poem on Laugh-In. Other shows parodied during the variety show include The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour, and The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
.
The songs parodied during the third segment are:
In the planned future for the show, Homer meets a green space alien named Ozmodiar that only he can see. This is a reference to The Great Gazoo
, a character added into some of the final episodes of The Flintstones
.
, King of the Hill
, and Married… with Children.
The writers later noted that the episode divided fans. Essentially, those who loved it were those who realised that the writing was deliberately bad as a way of parodying bad writing, while others who did not appreciate this distinction were less enthusiastic. Matt Groening feared that the fans would interpret the episode in a negative light and was uneasy about the episode when it was in production. He later went on to say that the episode "turned out great". The writers of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood called it, "A very clever spin on the alternates offered by the Treehouse of Horrors run. Each of the spin-offs is very clever in its own way." It has also figured as one of the favorite episodes on a number of "best of" lists. Entertainment Weekly
placed the episode 19th in their top 25 Simpsons episode list. In an interview for Star-News, The Simpsons writer Don Payne revealed that the episode was in his personal top six of the best The Simpsons episodes. Additionally, Gary Mullinax, a staff writer for The News Journal, picked the episode as part of his top-ten list.
The Simpsons (season 8)
The Simpsons eighth season originally aired between October 27, 1996 and May 18, 1997, beginning with "Treehouse of Horror VII". The show runners for the eighth production season were Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein. The aired season contained two episodes which were hold-over episodes from season...
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...
. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 11, 1997. The episode centers on fictional pilot episodes of non-existent television series derived from The Simpsons, and is a parody of the tendency of networks to spin off
Spin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
characters from a hit series. As such it includes references to many different TV series. The first fictional spin-off is Chief Wiggum P.I., a cop-drama featuring Chief Wiggum and Seymour Skinner
Seymour Skinner
Principal W. Seymour Skinner is a fictional character in the American animated sitcom The Simpsons. He is voiced by Harry Shearer. Born in Capitol City, he is the principal of Springfield Elementary School...
. The second is The Love-matic Grampa, a sitcom featuring Moe Szyslak
Moe Szyslak
Momar / Morris "Moe" Szyslak is a fictional character in the American animated television series, The Simpsons. He is voiced by Hank Azaria and first appeared in the series premiere episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire"...
who receives dating advice from Abraham Simpson
Abraham Simpson
Abraham J. "Abe" Simpson, often known simply as Grampa, is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and he is also the patriarch of the Simpson family, the father of Homer Simpson, and the grandfather of Bart, Lisa, and Maggie Simpson...
, whose ghost is possessing a love testing machine. The final segment is The Simpson Family Smile-Time Variety Hour, a variety show featuring the Simpson family
Simpson 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...
except for Lisa, who has been replaced.
The episode was written by David S. Cohen
David X. Cohen
David Samuel Cohen , primarily known as David X. Cohen, is an American television writer. He has written for The Simpsons and he is the head writer and executive producer of Futurama.-Early life:...
, Dan Greaney
Dan Greaney
Daniel "Dan" Greaney is an American television writer. He has written for The Simpsons. He was hired during the show's seventh season after writing the first draft of the episode "King-Size Homer", but left after season eleven...
and Steve Tompkins
Steve Tompkins
Steve Tompkins is an American television writer. He attended Harvard University and wrote for the Harvard Lampoon; he graduated in 1988. He has worked on such television shows such as The Critic, In Living Color, Entourage, Bernie Mac and The Knights of Prosperity...
, with Ken Keeler
Ken Keeler
Kenneth "Ken" Keeler is an American television producer and writer. He has written for numerous television series, most notably The Simpsons and Futurama. According to an interview with David X. Cohen, he proved a theorem which appears in the Futurama episode "The Prisoner of Benda".-Career:After...
coming up with the story and the general idea of intentionally bad writing. It was directed by Neil Affleck
Neil Affleck
Neil Affleck is an actor, animator and director. Currently directing the children's cartoon, Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends on Nick Jr., he has worked on The Simpsons and Family Guy in the past....
, and Tim Conway
Tim Conway
Thomas Daniel "Tim" Conway is an American comedian and actor, primarily known for his roles in sitcoms, films and television. Conway is best known for his role as the inept second-in-command officer, Ensign Charles Parker, to Lt...
, Gailard Sartain
Gailard Sartain
Gailard Sartain is an American comedic and serious actor, often playing characters with roots in the South. He is also an accomplished and successful painter and illustrator.-Early years and education:...
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...
guest-starred. The producers were initially uneasy about the episode, as they feared that the purposely bad writing would pass off as actual bad writing. The episode, however, now figures on several lists of the most popular The Simpsons episodes.
Plot
Troy McClureTroy McClure
Troy McClure is a fictional character in the American animated sitcom The Simpsons. He was voiced by Phil Hartman and first appears in the second season episode "Homer vs. Lisa and the 8th Commandment". McClure is a washed-up actor, usually shown doing low-level work, such as hosting infomercials...
hosts a television special from the museum of television introducing three spin-offs productions, created using characters from The Simpsons. The Fox network
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...
only has three filled slots for the next season and so commissions the producers of The Simpsons to create thirty-five new shows. The producers instead decided to create just three new shows.
Chief Wiggum, P.I. is a cop-drama spin-off, which follows Chief Wiggum, Ralph
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 Seymour Skinner
Seymour Skinner
Principal W. Seymour Skinner is a fictional character in the American animated sitcom The Simpsons. He is voiced by Harry Shearer. Born in Capitol City, he is the principal of Springfield Elementary School...
. Chief Wiggum and his son Ralph move to New Orleans with Seymour Skinner as Wiggum's sidekick. Wiggum has proclaimed that he will "clean up the city" of New Orleans, but it does not take long before he meets his nemesis, Big Daddy, who warns Wiggum to stay out of his business. After they have experienced the Mardi Gras
Mardi Gras
The terms "Mardi Gras" , "Mardi Gras season", and "Carnival season", in English, refer to events of the Carnival celebrations, beginning on or after Epiphany and culminating on the day before Ash Wednesday...
, Ralph is kidnapped by Big Daddy. Wiggum tracks him down and the two people chase each other to Big Daddy's house. Chief Wiggum then threatens Big Daddy with a gun, but Big Daddy counters by tossing Ralph at his father, then jumping out the window and swimming away (at an extremely slow speed, due to his weight). Wiggum ultimately lets the villain escape, feeling that he will meet him again "each and every week, always in more sexy and exciting ways".
The Love-matic Grampa is a sitcom-style television series about Moe
Moe Szyslak
Momar / Morris "Moe" Szyslak is a fictional character in the American animated television series, The Simpsons. He is voiced by Hank Azaria and first appeared in the series premiere episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire"...
's love life. He receives advice from the ghost
Ghost
In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...
of Abraham Simpson
Abraham Simpson
Abraham J. "Abe" Simpson, often known simply as Grampa, is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and he is also the patriarch of the Simpson family, the father of Homer Simpson, and the grandfather of Bart, Lisa, and Maggie Simpson...
, who was crushed by a store shelf containing cans of figs that toppled on him and subsequently "while travelling up toward Heaven...got lost along the way" and now possesses Moe's love tester machine. Moe ends up getting a date he meets at the bar. On Grampa's advice he takes his date out to a French restaurant and hides the Love Tester in the toilet, so he can get advice while at the restaurant. After Kearney, Dolph and Jimbo whack the machine because it said they were gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
, it malfunctions and advises Moe to tell his date that "her rump's as big as the Queen's, and twice as fragrant". Moe returns with a bowl of snails dumped on his head and his dependence on the machine is revealed, so he confesses to receiving advice. His date is actually happy when she hears this, flattered that Moe would go to all that trouble for her. Grampa asks to be introduced to an attractive payphone
Payphone
A payphone or pay phone is a public telephone, often located in a phone booth or a privacy hood, with pre-payment by inserting money , a credit or debit card, or a telephone card....
in front of the restaurant, much to the mirth of Moe and his date.
The Simpson Family Smile-Time Variety Hour is a comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
show featuring various songs and sketches. It features Homer, 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...
, 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 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...
. 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...
refuses to participate, but is replaced by an attractive blonde bombshell (voiced by Pamela Hayden
Pamela Hayden
Pamela Hayden is an American actress, best known for providing various voices for the animated television show The Simpsons.-Biography:...
). After the introduction there is a sketch, where the family are portrayed as beavers living in a dam
Dam
A dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. Hydropower and pumped-storage hydroelectricity are...
with Tim Conway
Tim Conway
Thomas Daniel "Tim" Conway is an American comedian and actor, primarily known for his roles in sitcoms, films and television. Conway is best known for his role as the inept second-in-command officer, Ensign Charles Parker, to Lt...
as a skunk
Skunk
Skunks are mammals best known for their ability to secrete a liquid with a strong, foul odor. General appearance varies from species to species, from black-and-white to brown or cream colored. Skunks belong to the family Mephitidae and to the order Carnivora...
and Homer's boss. The show ends with a medley of songs sung by the family, Jasper Beardley and Waylon 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...
.
Troy ends the special with a look at the upcoming season of The Simpsons, filled with ridiculous plot twists, such as Homer turning Lisa into a frog using magic powers, the discovery of Bart's two long lost identical brothers, Selma marrying Lenny, Bumblebee Man, and Itchy
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...
, and Homer meeting an alien named Ozmodiar whom only he can see
The Great Gazoo
The Great Gazoo is a character from The Flintstones animated series. He first appeared on the show on October 29, 1965. The Great Gazoo was voiced by the late Harvey Korman.-Biography:...
.
Production
Ken Keeler
Kenneth "Ken" Keeler is an American television producer and writer. He has written for numerous television series, most notably The Simpsons and Futurama. According to an interview with David X. Cohen, he proved a theorem which appears in the Futurama episode "The Prisoner of Benda".-Career:After...
came up with the idea for the episode from the one sentence statement: "Let's do spin-offs". His idea was to use intentionally bad writing and "crazy plots", which underlines their critique of spin-offs in general. After he had pitched the idea it was decided that "it was an idea that ought to work pretty well" and production went ahead. Creator 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....
was uneasy about the idea, feeling that it could be mistranslated as actually bad sitcom writing. He also did not like the idea of breaking the fourth wall
Fourth wall
The fourth wall is the imaginary "wall" at the front of the stage in a traditional three-walled box set in a proscenium theatre, through which the audience sees the action in the world of the play...
and the concept of saying that the Simpsons were just actors in a television show. The idea was later explored in the season 11
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...
episode "Behind the Laughter
Behind the Laughter
"Behind the Laughter" is the twenty-second episode of The Simpsons eleventh season. It first aired in the United States on the Fox network on May 21, 2000. In the episode, which is a parody of the VH1 series Behind the Music, the Simpson family are portrayed as actors on a sitcom, and their...
". One of the "crazy" ideas was the inclusion of the character of Ozmodiar, who was originally included in the script for an earlier episode but was considered too ridiculous for the time. When this episode came along the character seemed to fit with the story and was included. Even though Keeler came up with the story, David S. Cohen, Dan Greaney and Steve Tompkins wrote the scripts for the three segments. Cohen wrote Chief Wiggum P.I., Greaney wrote Love-matic Grampa and Tompkins wrote The Simpson Family Smile-Time Variety Hour.
The episode demanded a different approach to directing than a usual The Simpsons episode. Director Neil Affleck
Neil Affleck
Neil Affleck is an actor, animator and director. Currently directing the children's cartoon, Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends on Nick Jr., he has worked on The Simpsons and Family Guy in the past....
had to animate each segment so that it fitted the style of the show it parodied. The Love-matic Grampa segment for instance emulates a three camera setup, as is normally used in sitcoms.
Three guest stars appear in the episode; 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 Troy McClure
Troy McClure
Troy McClure is a fictional character in the American animated sitcom The Simpsons. He was voiced by Phil Hartman and first appears in the second season episode "Homer vs. Lisa and the 8th Commandment". McClure is a washed-up actor, usually shown doing low-level work, such as hosting infomercials...
, Tim Conway
Tim Conway
Thomas Daniel "Tim" Conway is an American comedian and actor, primarily known for his roles in sitcoms, films and television. Conway is best known for his role as the inept second-in-command officer, Ensign Charles Parker, to Lt...
as himself and Gailard Sartain
Gailard Sartain
Gailard Sartain is an American comedic and serious actor, often playing characters with roots in the South. He is also an accomplished and successful painter and illustrator.-Early years and education:...
as Big Daddy. McClure is used as a host of the episode, something he had previously done in the episode "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular
The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular
"The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular" is the tenth episode of The Simpsons seventh season. It originally aired on Fox on December 3, 1995. As the title suggests, it is the 138th episode and the third clip show episode of The Simpsons after "So It's Come to This: A Simpsons Clip Show" and...
". Conway appears as himself. Conway, a comic veteran, is known for his work on The Carol Burnett Show
The Carol Burnett Show
The Carol Burnett Show is a variety / sketch comedy television show starring Carol Burnett, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, Lyle Waggoner, and Tim Conway. It originally ran on CBS from September 11, 1967, to March 29, 1978, for 278 episodes and originated from CBS Television City's Studio 33...
, which has a similar format to The Simpson Family Smile-Time Variety Hour. Due to Lisa being substituted for an older teenager in the third segment, Yeardley Smith
Yeardley Smith
Yeardley Smith is a French-born American actress, voice actress, writer and painter. She is best known for her long-running role as Lisa Simpson on the animated television series The Simpsons....
only has one line in the entire episode.
Proposed real spin-offs
Over the course of the show, the staff have considered producing several spin-off television series and films, based on The Simpsons. In 1994, Matt GroeningMatt 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....
pitched a live action
Live action
In filmmaking, video production, and other media, the term live action refers to cinematography, videography not produced using animation...
spin-off from The Simpsons that centered on Krusty and would star Dan Castellaneta. He and Michael Weithorn wrote a pilot script where Krusty moved to 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...
and got his own talk show. A recurring joke throughout the script was that Krusty lived in a house on wooden stilts which were continuously being gnawed by beavers
American Beaver
The North American Beaver is the only species of beaver in the Americas, native to North America and introduced to South America. In the United States and Canada, where no other species of beaver occurs, it is usually simply referred to as "beaver"...
. Eventually, the contract negotiations fell apart and Groening decided to stop work on the project.
"22 Short Films About Springfield
22 Short Films about Springfield
"22 Short Films About Springfield" is the twenty-first episode of The Simpsons seventh season, which originally aired on April 14, 1996. It was written by Richard Appel, David S. Cohen, Jonathan Collier, Jennifer Crittenden, Greg Daniels, Brent Forrester, Rachel Pulido, Steve Tompkins, Josh...
" sparked the idea amongst the staff for a spin-off series entitled Tales from Springfield. The proposed show would focus on the town in general, rather than the Simpson family. Every week would be a different scenario: three short stories, an adventure with young Homer or a story about a background character that was not tied in to the Simpson family at all. The idea never came to anything, as Groening realized that the staff did not have the manpower to produce another show as well as The Simpsons. The staff believe it is something that they would still be interested in doing, and that "could happen someday."
Groening also expressed a wish to make Simpstasia, a parody of Fantasia
Fantasia (film)
Fantasia is a 1940 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and released by Walt Disney Productions. The third feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film consists of eight animated segments set to pieces of classical music conducted by Leopold Stokowski, seven of which are...
; it was never produced, partly because it would have been too difficult to write a feature-length script. Before his death, 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...
had said he had wished to make a live action Troy McClure
Troy McClure
Troy McClure is a fictional character in the American animated sitcom The Simpsons. He was voiced by Phil Hartman and first appears in the second season episode "Homer vs. Lisa and the 8th Commandment". McClure is a washed-up actor, usually shown doing low-level work, such as hosting infomercials...
film, and several of the show's staff had expressed a desire to help create it. 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....
later told Empire
Empire (magazine)
Empire is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. From the first issue in July 1989, the magazine was edited by Barry McIlheney and published by Emap. Bauer purchased Emap Consumer Media in early 2008...
that the idea never "got further than enthusiasm", but "would have been really fun".
Cultural references
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...
, Melrose Place, and The X-Files
The X-Files
The X-Files is an American science fiction television series and a part of The X-Files franchise, created by screenwriter Chris Carter. The program originally aired from to . The show was a hit for the Fox network, and its characters and slogans became popular culture touchstones in the 1990s...
. On the museum of television Troy walks by posters of spin-offs, such as The Ropers
The Ropers
The Ropers is an American sitcom that ran from March 13, 1979 to May 22, 1980 on ABC. The series is a spinoff of Three's Company and based on the British sitcom George and Mildred...
(spun off from Three's Company
Three's Company
Three's Company is an American sitcom that aired from March 15, 1977, to September 18, 1984, on ABC. It is based on the British sitcom, Man About the House....
), Laverne and Shirley (spun off from Happy Days
Happy Days
Happy Days is an American television sitcom that originally aired from January 15, 1974, to September 24, 1984, on ABC. Created by Garry Marshall, the series presents an idealized vision of life in mid-1950s to mid-1960s America....
), Rhoda
Rhoda
Rhoda is an American television sitcom, starring Valerie Harper, which ran for five seasons, from 1974 to 1978 airing in 109 episodes. The show was a spin-off from The Mary Tyler Moore Show, in which Harper between the years 1970 and 1974 had played the role of Rhoda Morgenstern, a spunky,...
(spun off from The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Mary Tyler Moore Show is an American television sitcom created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns that aired on CBS from 1970 to 1977...
) and Fish
Fish (TV series)
Fish was a spin-off television series of the sitcom Barney Miller. It starred Abe Vigoda as New York Police Department Detective Phil Fish and Florence Stanley as his wife Bernice.- Overview :...
(spun off from Barney Miller
Barney Miller
Barney Miller is a situation comedy television series set in a New York City police station in Greenwich Village. The series originally was broadcast from January 23, 1975 to May 20, 1982 on ABC. It was created by Danny Arnold and Theodore J. Flicker...
), to demonstrate the power of spin-offs. Troy walks by a poster of The Jeffersons
The Jeffersons
The Jeffersons is an American sitcom that was broadcast on CBS from January 18, 1975, through June 25, 1985, lasting 11 seasons and a total of 253 episodes. The show was produced by the T.A.T. Communications Company from 1975–1982 and by Embassy Television from 1982-1985...
(a spin-off of All in the Family
All in the Family
All in the Family is an American sitcom that was originally broadcast on the CBS television network from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979. In September 1979, a new show, Archie Bunker's Place, picked up where All in the Family had ended...
) twice, because the writers could not think of any more spin-offs.
Chief Wiggum, P.I. is a parody of police-dramas, such as Miami Vice
Miami Vice
Miami Vice is an American television series produced by Michael Mann for NBC. The series starred Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas as two Metro-Dade Police Department detectives working undercover in Miami. It ran for five seasons on NBC from 1984–1989...
, Magnum, P.I.
Magnum, P.I.
Magnum, P.I. is an American television series starring Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum, a private investigator living on Oahu, Hawaii. The series ran from 1980 to 1988 in first-run broadcast on the American CBS television network....
and Starsky and Hutch
Starsky and Hutch
Starsky and Hutch is a 1970s American cop thriller television series that consisted of a 90-minute pilot movie and 92 episodes of 60 minutes each; created by William Blinn, produced by Spelling-Goldberg Productions, and broadcast between April 30, 1975 and May 15, 1979 on the ABC...
. Skinner emulates Don Johnson from Miami Vice in order to look scruffier. The character of Big Daddy is based on Dr. John
Dr. John
Malcolm John "Mac" Rebennack, Jr. , better known by the stage name Dr. John , is an American singer-songwriter, pianist and guitarist, whose music combines blues, pop, jazz as well as Zydeco, boogie woogie and rock and roll.Active as a session musician since the late 1950s, he came to wider...
, who comes from New Orleans.
The Love-matic Grampa is a parody of fantasy sitcoms such as Mister Ed
Mister Ed
Originally produced in late 1960, Mister Ed is an American television situation comedy produced by Filmways that first aired in syndication from January 5 to July 2, 1961, and then on CBS from October 1, 1961, to February 6, 1966....
, I Dream of Jeannie
I Dream of Jeannie
I Dream of Jeannie is a 1960s American sitcom with a fantasy premise. The show starred Barbara Eden as a 2,000-year-old genie, and Larry Hagman as an astronaut who becomes her master, with whom she falls in love and eventually marries...
and Bewitched
Bewitched
Bewitched is an American situation comedy originally broadcast for eight seasons on ABC from 1964 to 1972, starring Elizabeth Montgomery, Dick York and Dick Sargent , Agnes Moorehead, and David White. The show is about a witch who marries a mortal and tries to lead the life of a typical suburban...
as well as having similarities to My Mother the Car
My Mother the Car
My Mother the Car is an American fantasy sitcom which aired for a single season on NBC between September 14, 1965 and September 6, 1966. A total of thirty episodes were produced by United Artists Television....
. The Love-matic Grampa machine singing "Daisy Bell
Daisy Bell
"Daisy Bell" is a popular song with the well-known chorus "Daisy, Daisy/Give me your answer do/I'm half crazy/all for the love of you" as well as the line "...a bicycle built for two".-History:"Daisy Bell" was composed by Harry Dacre in 1892...
" in a distorted manner when its electrical circuits are failing is a reference to HAL
HAL 9000
HAL 9000 is the antagonist in Arthur C. Clarke's science fiction Space Odyssey saga. HAL is an artificial intelligence that interacts with the astronaut crew of the Discovery One spacecraft, usually represented as a red television-camera eye found throughout the ship...
from the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey
2001: A Space Odyssey (film)
2001: A Space Odyssey is a 1968 epic science fiction film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, and co-written by Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, partially inspired by Clarke's short story The Sentinel...
. Grampa also references All Quiet on the Western Front
All Quiet on the Western Front
All Quiet on the Western Front is a novel by Erich Maria Remarque, a German veteran of World War I. The book describes the German soldiers' extreme physical and mental stress during the war, and the detachment from civilian life felt by many of these soldiers upon returning home from the front.The...
, when Moe says he "wrote the book on love". Moe's date, Betty, looks somewhat like 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...
, the actress who voiced her.
The Simpson Family Smile-Time Variety Hour is a parody of the 1960s and 1970s live variety shows. Mainly it is a parody of The Brady Bunch Hour
The Brady Bunch Hour
The Brady Bunch Hour is an American variety television series produced by Sid and Marty Krofft in association with CBS Television Distribution, which aired on ABC between 1976 to 1977....
, a short-lived spin-off of the 1970s sitcom The Brady Bunch
The Brady Bunch
The Brady Bunch is an American sitcom created by Sherwood Schwartz and starring Robert Reed, Florence Henderson, and Ann B. Davis. The series revolved around a large blended family...
. The replacement of Lisa in the third segment with another girl reflects the recasting of Jan Brady in the Brady Bunch Hour when Eve Plumb
Eve Plumb
Eve Aline Plumb is an American actress and painter. She is best known for her portrayal of Jan Brady in the iconic television sitcom The Brady Bunch.-Early career:...
refused to participate. The Simpson family is made to look like The Partridge Family
The Partridge Family
The Partridge Family is an American television sitcom about a widowed mother and her five children who embark on a music career. The series originally ran from September 25, 1970 until August 31, 1974, the last new episode airing on March 23, 1974, on the ABC network, as part of a Friday-night lineup...
. Also, the segment holds numerous references to Laugh-In. 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"...
introduces the show from inside a broadcast booth in a style similar to Laugh-In, there is a joke wall similar to the one in Laugh-In where The Sea Captain opens a porthole
Porthole
A porthole is a generally circular, window used on the hull of ships to admit light and air. Porthole is actually an abbreviated term for "port hole window"...
. There is also a Laugh-In-like montage wherein other characters comments on the skit itself. When Hans Moleman
Hans Moleman
Hans Moleman is a recurring character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta, and first appeared in the episode "Principal Charming". He normally appears in a running gag, where he usually suffers unfortunate, nearly fatal, events...
reads a poem, it is based on Henry Gibson
Henry Gibson
Henry Gibson was an American actor and songwriter, best known as a cast member of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In and for his recurring role as Judge Clark Brown on Boston Legal.-Early life:...
reading a poem on Laugh-In. Other shows parodied during the variety show include The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour, and The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour is an American comedy and variety show hosted by the Smothers Brothers and initially airing on CBS from 1967 to 1969.-History:...
.
The songs parodied during the third segment are:
- "I Want CandyI Want Candy"I Want Candy" is a song written and originally recorded by The Strangeloves in 1965 that went to number 11 in the United States. It is a famous example of a song that uses the Bo Diddley beat.-Original version:...
" by The StrangelovesThe StrangelovesThe Strangeloves were the creation of an American songwriting/production team in the 1960s who were from New York, but pretended to be from Australia. Their biggest hits were "I Want Candy," "Cara-Lin" and "Night Time"....
, performed by the Simpson family. - "Peppermint TwistPeppermint Twist"Peppermint Twist" is a song written by Joey Dee and Henry Glover, recorded and released by Joey Dee and the Starliters in 1961. Capitalizing on the Twist dance craze and the nightclub in which Dee performed , the song hit number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in early 1962...
" by Joey Dee and the Starlighters, performed by BartBart SimpsonBartholomew 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...
, LisaLisa SimpsonLisa 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 MaggieMaggie SimpsonMargaret "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...
. - "Lollipop" by Ronald & RubyRonald & RubyRonald & Ruby were an American interracial pop vocal duo, best known for their 1958 hit single "Lollipop".The duo's members were the black Ronald Gumm and the white Beverly "Ruby" Ross; interracial pop groups were a rarity at this time, and the group did not appear in public or in major press and...
, performed by Jasper Beardley. - "Whip ItWhip It"Whip It" is the title of a 1980 single by the American New Wave band Devo. It appears on the album Freedom of Choice. There were two 7" single releases of "Whip It", one backed with a remix of the track "Snowball" and one backed with "Turn Around"...
" by DevoDevoDevo is an American band formed in 1973 consisting of members from Kent and Akron, Ohio. The classic line-up of the band includes two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs and the Casales . The band had a #14 Billboard chart hit in 1980 with the single "Whip It", and has maintained a cult...
, performed by Waylon SmithersWaylon SmithersWaylon 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...
.
In the planned future for the show, Homer meets a green space alien named Ozmodiar that only he can see. This is a reference to The Great Gazoo
The Great Gazoo
The Great Gazoo is a character from The Flintstones animated series. He first appeared on the show on October 29, 1965. The Great Gazoo was voiced by the late Harvey Korman.-Biography:...
, a character added into some of the final episodes of 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...
.
Reception
In its original American broadcast, "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase" finished 61st place in the weekly ratings for the week of May 5–May 11, 1997 with a Nielsen rating of 7.3. It was the seventh highest rated show on the Fox Network that week. Even though Troy mentions that The Simpsons, Melrose Place, and The X-Files are the only shows worth a slot in the next season's lineup, three other Fox shows actually did better than The Simpsons that week. These were Beverly Hills, 90210Beverly Hills, 90210
Beverly Hills, 90210 is an American drama series that originally aired from October 4, 1990 to May 17, 2000 on Fox and was produced by Spelling Television in the United States, and subsequently on various networks around the world. It is the first series in the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise...
, King of the Hill
King of the Hill
King of the Hill is an American animated dramedy series created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels, that ran from January 12, 1997, to May 6, 2010, on Fox network. It centers on the Hills, a working-class Methodist family in the fictional small town of Arlen, Texas...
, and Married… with Children.
The writers later noted that the episode divided fans. Essentially, those who loved it were those who realised that the writing was deliberately bad as a way of parodying bad writing, while others who did not appreciate this distinction were less enthusiastic. Matt Groening feared that the fans would interpret the episode in a negative light and was uneasy about the episode when it was in production. He later went on to say that the episode "turned out great". The writers of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood called it, "A very clever spin on the alternates offered by the Treehouse of Horrors run. Each of the spin-offs is very clever in its own way." It has also figured as one of the favorite episodes on a number of "best of" lists. 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...
placed the episode 19th in their top 25 Simpsons episode list. In an interview for Star-News, The Simpsons writer Don Payne revealed that the episode was in his personal top six of the best The Simpsons episodes. Additionally, Gary Mullinax, a staff writer for The News Journal, picked the episode as part of his top-ten list.
External links
- "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase" at The Simpsons.com