The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase
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"The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase" is an episode in the eighth season of The Simpsons, featuring fictional pilot episodes from non-existent television series derived from The Simpsons. The episode is a parody of the tendency of network executives to try to find any reason to spin-off characters from a hit series.
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[edit] Synopsis
Troy McClure hosts a television special introducing three television shows produced using Simpsons characters. The gimmick of the special is that the FOX network, faced with a schedule with only three filled slots (The Simpsons, Melrose Place, and The X-Files), commissions the producers of The Simpsons to produce 35 different series. The producers end up churning out three. None of these shows exist in real life.
[edit] Chief Wiggum, P.I.
Clancy Wiggum and his son Ralph move to New Orleans with Seymour Skinner (AKA 'Skinny Boy', a former resident of the city) as Clancy's sidekick, in what is supposedly a dark police drama. When Ralph is kidnapped by Clancy's new nemesis, Big Daddy, Clancy tracks Big Daddy down and saves Ralph, but ultimately lets the villain escape, feeling he will meet him again the following week. The Simpson family makes a guest appearance while celebrating Mardi Gras.
[edit] The Love-matic Grampa
The next clip is from an odd sitcom-style comedy about the bartender Moe's love life. Moe receives advice from the ghost of Abraham Simpson, who was crushed by a falling shelf in a store and subsequently got lost on his way up to Heaven and possesses Moe's Love Tester machine, a la My Mother, the Car. Moe gets a date, but his dependence on the machine is revealed, and 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. Homer makes a guest appearance when he visits the bar.
[edit] The Simpson Family Smile-Time Variety Hour
Homer, Marge, Bart, and Maggie appear in a comedy show featuring various songs and skits. Lisa refuses to participate, but is replaced by an attractive blonde prom queen. This segment is a parody of The Brady Bunch Variety Hour, an infamous short-lived spinoff of the 1970s sitcom, considered one of the worst shows of all time.
Troy McClure ends the special with a look at the upcoming season of The Simpsons, filled with blatantly 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, amongst others, Itchy, and Homer meeting an alien named Ozmodiar that only he can see.
[edit] Trivia
- Many of the producers, notably Matt Groening, were uneasy about this episode, feeling that its intentionally bad writing and plots would be mistranslated as actual bad sitcom writing. He also didn't like the idea of breaking the fourth wall and saying that in "reality" the Simpsons were not a family and just a bunch of actors. This issue wasn't really addressed in this episode, but the viewers are left with the impression that they are a family. In the Season 11 episode "Behind the Laughter", the fourth wall is broken again, but the Simpsons are portrayed as a family that goes into acting together.
- This episode has since proved very controversial, with some loving it, such as Entertainment Weekly which put the episode in its Top 25 Simpsons episode list, while others seem to misinterpret the intentionally bad writing and simply call it a bad episode.
- Yeardley Smith, the voice of Lisa, has only one line in this episode (not counting her giggle as she removes her Mardi Gras outfit).
- This was the first non-Halloween episode to have 3 separate stories, although "22 Short Films About Springfield" had over a dozen storylines.
[edit] Cultural references
- The title of the Wiggum segment is an obvious spoof of Magnum, P.I., but may have been inspired by the Hill Street Blues spinoff Beverly Hills Buntz, which similarly featured a single law enforcement character from a popular show transplanted to a completely different city to become a detective. The segment goes on to parody Live and Let Die, Miami Vice and Baywatch Nights.
- Moe's segment has a Bewitched/I Dream of Jeannie feel to it, as well as My Mother the Car. The first moments of the segment parody Cheers, but it quickly swings away from that.
- Skinner can be seen talking to Huggy Bear of Starsky & Hutch fame.
- The replacement of Lisa in the third segment with another girl reflects the recasting of Jan Brady in the Brady Bunch Variety Hour when Eve Plumb refused to participate.
- On the commentary, the producers cited several shows parodied during the variety show, including The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour and Laugh In.
- Ozmodiar is a spoof of the Great Gazoo from The Flintstones.
- The songs parodied during the third segment are:
- "I Want Candy" by The Strangeloves
- "Peppermint Twist" by Joey Dee and the Starlighters
- "Whip It" by Devo
- "Lollipop" by The Chordettes
- The Lovematic-Grandpa machine sings Daisy Daisy in a distorted manner when its electrical circuits are failing, spoofing HAL from the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey.
[edit] Quotes
- Chief Wiggum: Ah, New Orleans. The Big Easy. Sweet Lady Gumbo. Old... Swampy.
- Ralph Wiggum: Look, Big Daddy, it's Regular Daddy!
Big Daddy: Oh no, the Chief! It's times like these I wish I weren't so fat. - Barney: Well, I gotta go. I got a date with the lady in front of the drug store who's always yelling things. (leaves)
Moe: She told me she was washing her hair tonight. Sigh, I'm so desperately lonely.
(canned audience laughter) - Kearney: (complaining about the Love Tester) It said I was gay!
- Grampa: (complaining to Homer) You buried me naked and sold my suit to buy a ping-pong table. What kind of a son—
Homer: (unplugs the Love Tester) Call me when you get a karaoke machine. - Judge Snyder: I move that the last sketch be stricken from the record.
- Moe: I need help here.
Grampa: Tell her her rump's as big as the Queen's, and twice as fragrant.
Moe: ...Okay. (leaves, then comes back suddenly, covered in escargot) You are absolutely, positively, the dumbest haunted love tester that I have ever met! - Troy McClure: Welcome back! I'm talking with the curator of the Museum of TV and Television, Mr. John Winslow. (leaves before Winslow can say anything)
- Announcer: Chief Wiggum, P. I. will return — right now!
- (Betty tries the Love Tester)
Grampa: Lovelorn. You need man. Moe near now. Go near Moe.
Betty: What?
Moe: "Go near Moe." I'd say that's a pretty strong endorsement. - Chef Paul Prudhomme: I guar-an-tee!
Skinner: Will you stop saying that? - Grampa: Ladies like sweet-talking.
Moe: Hey, I'm sweet. I'm sweeter than Jewish wine.
Grampa: Then prove it. I want you to charm the next pretty young thing that walks through that door.
(Homer suddenly enters the bar to the applause of the studio audience)
Homer: Greetings! - Troy McClure: Hi, I'm Troy McClure. You may remember me from such TV spinoffs as Son of Sanford and Son and AfterMannix.
- Big Daddy: You know, boys, there's an old saying down on the bayou that... uh... blah! (returns Ralph to Wiggum and escapes)
- (Wiggum encounters the Simpsons at Mardi Gras)
Wiggum: If it isn't my old friends from Springfield, the Simpsons! What brings you folks to New Orleans?
Bart: Mardi Gras, man! When the Big Easy calls, you gotta accept the charges.
Lisa: Chief Wiggum, I can't wait to hear about all the exciting, sexy adventures you're sure to have against this colorful backdrop.
Wiggum: Well golly, I'd love to chat, but my son's been kidnapped. You haven't seen him, have you? Caucasian male, between the ages of six and ten, thinning hair.
Homer: (points to Ralph and Big Daddy) Over there. - Wiggum: (answering his phone) Who is this?
Skinner: It's me, chief. I'm on the other extension. - Moe and Betty: Thanks, Grampa.
Grampa: Yeah, yeah, now how's about introducing me to that cute little pay phone out front?
[edit] The Love-Matic Grampa theme lyrics
While shopping for some cans,
An old man passed away.
He floated up toward Heaven,
But got lost along the way.
Now he's the Love-Matic Grampa.
The wise Socratic Grampa.
He'll fill our hearts with love.
[edit] Closing theme lyrics
He's the Love-Matic Grampa,
And he filled our hearts with love.
[edit] The Simpson Family Smile-Time Variety Hour theme lyrics
Come along and bring the family,
Come along and join the fun,
Come along and join the family,
Join the family Simpson!
Roll Call!
Marge:
Remember me? My name is Marge,
The TV mom whose hair is large!
Maggie:
(suck, suck)
Bart:
Step back, mom, it's Bart's turn now!
Eat my shorts! Don't have a cow!
Replacement Lisa:
I'm Lisa, peppy, blonde, and stunning,
Sophomore prom queen five years running!
Go Lisa!
(after an interruption where Homer mistakes the special guest for a "special ghost")
It's the Simpsons Family Smile-Time Variety Hour!
