22 Short Films about Springfield
Encyclopedia
"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 Weinstein
, Bill Oakley
and Matt Groening
, with the writing being supervised by Greg Daniels
. The episode was directed by Jim Reardon
. Phil Hartman
guest starred as Lionel Hutz
and the hospital board chairman. The episode looks into the lives of other Springfield residents in a series of linked stories and originated from the end segment of the earlier episode "The Front
". The episode is a loose parody of Pulp Fiction
, which gave the staff the idea of a possible spin-off from The Simpsons. The title is a reference to the film Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould
.
after Bart
and Milhouse
wonder if anything interesting happens to Springfield's citizens.
Bart and Milhouse spit and squirt condiments from a highway overpass onto cars, then go to the Kwik-E-Mart. There, Apu
leaves his shop for five minutes to briefly attend a party at his brother Sanjay's house. Lisa
gets gum
in her hair and Marge tries to get it out by putting a variety of foods on her head. Smithers
gets stung by a bee
while bike riding with Mr. Burns. Dr. Nick comes under criticism from the medical board for his unorthodox medical procedures only to treat Abraham Simpson
with an electric light socket, saving his career. Moe
gets robbed by Snake after Barney
gives him $2,000 to pay for a portion of his bar tab. Skinner
hosts dinner for Superintendent Chalmers and when his roast is burnt, he attempts to disguise food from the Krusty Burger as his own cooking. Homer
accidentally traps Maggie
in a newspaper vending box. The cops debate McDonald's
Quarter Pounder vs. Krusty Burgers. Bumblebee Man's house is destroyed and his wife leaves him after a horrible day at work. Snake runs Chief Wiggum over and the two begin to fight, they roll into Herman's shop, who captures them at gun point. Reverend Lovejoy
urges his dog to use the Flanders lawn as a toilet. Various townspeople advise Marge and Lisa on how to remove the gum stuck in Lisa's hair. Cletus
offers Brandine some shoes he found. Milhouse has to use the bathroom in Comic Book Guy
's Android's Dungeon and has to purchase a comic book first, but ends up leaving before he can use it. He then goes with his father to Herman's store, there he accidentally knocks him out, saving his father, Snake and Wiggum's lives. Lisa gets the gum cut out of her hair, leaving her with a different hairstyle. Nelson
laughs at Lisa's new haircut, and at an extremely tall man in a small car, who gets out and humiliates him to teach him a lesson in making fun of others. Bart and Milhouse conclude that life is interesting in their town after all. Lastly, "The Tomfoolery of Professor John Frink
" is almost seen, but the episode ends before Frink can begin his story.
episode "The Front
", which featured a short scene entitled "The Adventures of Ned Flanders
" at its conclusion. The scene had no relevance to the main plot of the episode and was designed solely to fill time. The staff loved the concept and attempted to fit similar scenes into other episodes, but none were short enough to require one. Show runner
s Bill Oakley
and Josh Weinstein
decided to make an entire episode of linked short scenes involving many of the show's characters, in a similar style to Quentin Tarantino
's Pulp Fiction
. The title "22 Short Films About Springfield" was decided upon from the start of the episode's production, even though there are not actually twenty-two stories in it. Originally there were more scenes, but several of them had to be cut out for time. To decide who would write each of the segments, all of the writers chose their top three favorite characters and put them into a hat, the names were drawn out and the writers were assigned their parts. Oakley wrote the Superintendent Chalmers story, Weinstein did the Comic Book Guy
and Milhouse
scene, David Cohen
penned the Reverend Lovejoy
sketch, as well as the deleted Krusty scene. Brent Forrester
wrote the Krusty Burger scene, while Rachel Pulido wrote the Bumblebee Man one. Richard Appel
wrote a deleted "elaborate fantasy segment" revolving around Marge
, the only remnant of which is her cleaning the sink during the first Lisa scene, and also did a scene with Lionel Hutz
that was dropped as well.
The episode's first draft was 65 pages long and needed to be cut down to just 42, so numerous scenes were cut for time or because they did not fit into the overall dynamic of the episode. To solve this problem, a scene before the second act break, where the townspeople go to the Simpsons house to provide advice of how Lisa can get the gum out of her hair, was created to include every character that did not appear anywhere else during the course of the episode. Weinstein and writing supervisor Greg Daniels
was responsible for ordering and linking together the episodes, and director Jim Reardon
had the challenge of segueing between each section in a way that did not make the change seem abrupt. Those that were hard to link were put before or after an act break or were given a theme song, one of which was cut from the Apu story, but was included as a deleted scene on the DVD.
Bill Oakley wrote the Chalmers scene because he is his all time favorite character from the show. The main reason he loved him was that, until Frank Grimes was created for the season eight
episode "Homer's Enemy
", Chalmers was the only character that "seemed to operate in the normal human universe." In previous episodes, Skinner and Chalmers' scenes together revolved around one joke: Skinner tells Chalmers an unbelievable lie, but Chalmers believes him anyway. So, their scene in this episode is made up of a string of thirteen interconnected lies. The dialogue between him and Skinner was something that had never been done before, in that it is just a long relaxed conversation with nothing important being said at all.
In the Mr. Burns story, every single word he yells at Smithers is real and used correctly. To maintain accuracy, the writers used a 19th century slang thesaurus to look up words. Many of the Spanish words used in Bumblebee Man's segment are easily understood cognates of English and not accurate Spanish; this was done deliberately so that non-Spanish speakers could understand the dialogue without subtitles. The very tall man was a caricature of writer Ian Maxtone-Graham
, and the barber was based on one from the Tracey Ullman shorts. The crowd on the street who laugh at Nelson includes caricatures of Matt Groening
, Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein. Oakley wrote in the script that the street was filled with Springfield's biggest idiots and so the animators drew him, Weinstein and Groening into the scene.
The episode contains numerous references to Quentin Tarantino
's Pulp Fiction
. Like the film, the episode's plot is episodic, though the stories are interconnected. The policemen's conversation about McDonald's parallels the famous "Royale With Cheese" discussion, and the music played during the segment's beginning was also taken from the film. The story involving Chief Wiggum and Snake is a direct parody of the "Gold Watch" segment of the film. Snake runs over the donut-carrying Wiggum at a red light, like Butch did to Marcellus Wallace, before crashing into a fire hydrant and beginning an on-foot chase. The two run into Herman's Military Antique shop, where Herman beats, ties up and gags the two, then waits for "Zed" to arrive, exactly as Maynard does in Pulp Fiction. The writers were pleased that Herman already existed as otherwise they would have had to create another character just for this scene. The episode's title is a reference to the film Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould
.
of 6.9. It was the seventh highest rated show from the Fox Network
that week. The episode is Bill Oakley
's personal favorite episode, but it is hated by two prominent figures within the running of the show. That said, the episode is frequently cited as a popular one amongst the show's fans on the internet. Entertainment Weekly
placed the episode 14th on their top 25 The Simpsons episode list, praising the episode's structure and finding the Pulp Fiction references "priceless". Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, the authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, called it "an untypical episode, and a very good one," naming the Skinner and Chalmers story as the best. IGN
named "A Fish Called Selma
" the best episode of the seventh season, but found that "22 Short Films About Springfield" was "good competition" for the crown. Empire
named the episode's Pulp Fiction parody the seventh best film gag in the show, calling Wiggum and Snake bound and gagged with red balls in their mouths "the sickest visual gag in Simpsons history". The episode is the favorite of British comedian Jimmy Carr
who called it "a brilliant pastiche of art cinema".
episode "Three Hundred Big Boys
".
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
The Simpsons (season 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...
, which originally aired on April 14, 1996. It was written by Richard Appel
Richard Appel
Richard "Rich" Appel is an American writer, producer and former attorney. Growing up in Wilmette, Illinois, Appel developed a love of comedy and dreamt of a career as a comedy writer; he attended Harvard University and wrote for the Harvard Lampoon. Following in his mother's footsteps Appel...
, 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:...
, Jonathan Collier
Jonathan Collier
Jonathan Collier is an American television writer, best known for his work on The Simpsons, Monk, and King of the Hill. He worked as an executive producer on Mike Reiss' DVD movie, "Queer Duck: The Movie". He attended and graduated from Harvard University.-Season Seven:*"Lisa the Iconoclast"*"22...
, Jennifer Crittenden, Greg Daniels
Greg Daniels
Gregory Martin "Greg" Daniels is an American television comedy writer, producer, and director.-Life and career:...
, Brent Forrester
Brent Forrester
Brent Forrester is an American writer, who wrote several episodes of the animated television sitcom The Simpsons between 1993 and 1997. He has also worked as an executive producer on King of the Hill, and a writer on The Ben Stiller Show, Mr. Show with Bob and David, Undeclared, and The Office...
, Rachel Pulido, 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...
, 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...
, Bill Oakley
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 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....
, with the writing being supervised by Greg Daniels
Greg Daniels
Gregory Martin "Greg" Daniels is an American television comedy writer, producer, and director.-Life and career:...
. The episode was directed by Jim Reardon
Jim Reardon
Jim Reardon is an animation director and storyboard consultant, best known for his work on the animated TV series The Simpsons. He has directed over 30 episodes of the series, and was credited as a supervising director for seasons 9 through 15...
. 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 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"...
and the hospital board chairman. The episode looks into the lives of other Springfield residents in a series of linked stories and originated from the end segment of the earlier episode "The Front
The Front (The Simpsons)
"The Front" is the nineteenth episode of The Simpsons fourth season, and originally aired in the United States on the Fox network on April 15, 1993. In the episode, Bart and Lisa decide to write an episode of The Itchy & Scratchy Show; after their script is rejected, they resubmit it under the name...
". The episode is a loose parody of Pulp Fiction
Pulp Fiction (film)
Pulp Fiction is a 1994 American crime film directed by Quentin Tarantino, who co-wrote its screenplay with Roger Avary. The film is known for its rich, eclectic dialogue, ironic mix of humor and violence, nonlinear storyline, and host of cinematic allusions and pop culture references...
, which gave the staff the idea of a possible spin-off from The Simpsons. The title is a reference to the film Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould
Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould
Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould is an award-winning 1993 film about the piano prodigy Glenn Gould played by Colm Feore. The film's screenplay was written by François Girard and Don McKellar....
.
Plot
The episode is a series of short skits, each showing a brief slice of life in SpringfieldSpringfield (The Simpsons)
Springfield is the fictional town in which the American animated sitcom The Simpsons is set. A mid-sized town in an undetermined state of the United States, Springfield acts as a complete universe in which characters can explore the issues faced by modern society. The geography of the town and its...
after 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 Milhouse
Milhouse Van Houten
Milhouse Mussolini Van Houten is a fictional character featured in the animated television series The Simpsons, voiced by Pamela Hayden. He is Bart Simpson's best friend in Mrs. Krabappel's fourth grade class at Springfield Elementary School....
wonder if anything interesting happens to Springfield's citizens.
Bart and Milhouse spit and squirt condiments from a highway overpass onto cars, then go to the Kwik-E-Mart. There, Apu
Apu Nahasapeemapetilon
Apu Nahasapeemapetilon is a character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Hank Azaria and first appeared in the episode "The Telltale Head". Apu is the proprietor of the Kwik-E-Mart, a popular convenience store in Springfield, and a friend of Homer Simpson. He is also...
leaves his shop for five minutes to briefly attend a party at his brother Sanjay's house. 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...
gets gum
Chewing gum
Chewing gum is a type of gum traditionally made of chicle, a natural latex product, or synthetic rubber known as polyisobutylene. For economical and quality reasons, many modern chewing gums use rubber instead of chicle...
in her hair and Marge tries to get it out by putting a variety of foods on her head. 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...
gets stung by a bee
Bee
Bees are flying insects closely related to wasps and ants, and are known for their role in pollination and for producing honey and beeswax. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamily Apoidea, presently classified by the unranked taxon name Anthophila...
while bike riding with Mr. Burns. Dr. Nick comes under criticism from the medical board for his unorthodox medical procedures only to treat 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...
with an electric light socket, saving his career. 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"...
gets robbed by Snake after 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...
gives him $2,000 to pay for a portion of his bar tab. 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...
hosts dinner for Superintendent Chalmers and when his roast is burnt, he attempts to disguise food from the Krusty Burger as his own cooking. Homer
Homer Simpson
Homer Jay Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons and the patriarch of the eponymous family. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared on television, along with the rest of his family, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
accidentally traps 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...
in a newspaper vending box. The cops debate McDonald's
McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...
Quarter Pounder vs. Krusty Burgers. Bumblebee Man's house is destroyed and his wife leaves him after a horrible day at work. Snake runs Chief Wiggum over and the two begin to fight, they roll into Herman's shop, who captures them at gun point. Reverend Lovejoy
Reverend Timothy Lovejoy
Reverend Timothy "Tim" Lovejoy is a recurring character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Harry Shearer, and first appeared in the episode "The Telltale Head". Lovejoy is the minister at The First Church of Springfield—the Protestant church in Springfield which most of...
urges his dog to use the Flanders lawn as a toilet. Various townspeople advise Marge and Lisa on how to remove the gum stuck in Lisa's hair. Cletus
Cletus Spuckler
Cletus Delroy Spuckler is a recurring character in the Fox animated series, The Simpsons, and is voiced by Hank Azaria. Cletus is Springfield's resident hillbilly stereotype. He is very messy and is usually portrayed wearing a white sleeveless shirt and pair of blue jeans.- Biography :Cletus was...
offers Brandine some shoes he found. Milhouse has to use the bathroom in 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...
's Android's Dungeon and has to purchase a comic book first, but ends up leaving before he can use it. He then goes with his father to Herman's store, there he accidentally knocks him out, saving his father, Snake and Wiggum's lives. Lisa gets the gum cut out of her hair, leaving her with a different hairstyle. Nelson
Nelson Muntz
Nelson Mandela Muntz is a fictional character and bully from the animated TV series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Nancy Cartwright. Nelson was introduced in Season 1's "Bart the General" as a bully but later turned into a friend of Bart Simpson, who is best identified by his signature laugh .-Role...
laughs at Lisa's new haircut, and at an extremely tall man in a small car, who gets out and humiliates him to teach him a lesson in making fun of others. Bart and Milhouse conclude that life is interesting in their town after all. Lastly, "The Tomfoolery of Professor John Frink
Professor Frink
Professor John Nerdelbaum Frink, Jr., or simply Professor Frink, is a recurring character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Hank Azaria, and first appeared in the 1991 episode "Old Money". Frink is Springfield's nerdy scientist and professor and is extremely...
" is almost seen, but the episode ends before Frink can begin his story.
Production
The episode's principal idea came from the season fourThe Simpsons (season 4)
The Simpsons fourth season originally aired on the Fox network between September 24, 1992 and May 13, 1993, beginning with "Kamp Krusty." The show runners for the fourth production season were Al Jean and Mike Reiss. The aired season contained two episodes which were hold-over episodes from season...
episode "The Front
The Front (The Simpsons)
"The Front" is the nineteenth episode of The Simpsons fourth season, and originally aired in the United States on the Fox network on April 15, 1993. In the episode, Bart and Lisa decide to write an episode of The Itchy & Scratchy Show; after their script is rejected, they resubmit it under the name...
", which featured a short scene entitled "The Adventures of Ned Flanders
Ned Flanders
Nedward "Ned" Flanders, Jr. is a recurring fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Harry Shearer, and first appeared in the series premiere episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire". He is the next door neighbor to the Simpson family and is generally...
" at its conclusion. The scene had no relevance to the main plot of the episode and was designed solely to fill time. The staff loved the concept and attempted to fit similar scenes into other episodes, but none were short enough to require one. Show runner
Show runner
Showrunner is a term of art originating in the United States and Canadian television industry referring to the person who is responsible for the day-to-day operation of a television seriesalthough such persons generally are credited as an executive producer...
s Bill Oakley
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...
decided to make an entire episode of linked short scenes involving many of the show's characters, in a similar style to Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
's Pulp Fiction
Pulp Fiction (film)
Pulp Fiction is a 1994 American crime film directed by Quentin Tarantino, who co-wrote its screenplay with Roger Avary. The film is known for its rich, eclectic dialogue, ironic mix of humor and violence, nonlinear storyline, and host of cinematic allusions and pop culture references...
. The title "22 Short Films About Springfield" was decided upon from the start of the episode's production, even though there are not actually twenty-two stories in it. Originally there were more scenes, but several of them had to be cut out for time. To decide who would write each of the segments, all of the writers chose their top three favorite characters and put them into a hat, the names were drawn out and the writers were assigned their parts. Oakley wrote the Superintendent Chalmers story, Weinstein did the 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...
and Milhouse
Milhouse Van Houten
Milhouse Mussolini Van Houten is a fictional character featured in the animated television series The Simpsons, voiced by Pamela Hayden. He is Bart Simpson's best friend in Mrs. Krabappel's fourth grade class at Springfield Elementary School....
scene, David 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:...
penned the Reverend Lovejoy
Reverend Timothy Lovejoy
Reverend Timothy "Tim" Lovejoy is a recurring character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Harry Shearer, and first appeared in the episode "The Telltale Head". Lovejoy is the minister at The First Church of Springfield—the Protestant church in Springfield which most of...
sketch, as well as the deleted Krusty scene. Brent Forrester
Brent Forrester
Brent Forrester is an American writer, who wrote several episodes of the animated television sitcom The Simpsons between 1993 and 1997. He has also worked as an executive producer on King of the Hill, and a writer on The Ben Stiller Show, Mr. Show with Bob and David, Undeclared, and The Office...
wrote the Krusty Burger scene, while Rachel Pulido wrote the Bumblebee Man one. Richard Appel
Richard Appel
Richard "Rich" Appel is an American writer, producer and former attorney. Growing up in Wilmette, Illinois, Appel developed a love of comedy and dreamt of a career as a comedy writer; he attended Harvard University and wrote for the Harvard Lampoon. Following in his mother's footsteps Appel...
wrote a deleted "elaborate fantasy segment" revolving around 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...
, the only remnant of which is her cleaning the sink during the first Lisa scene, and also did a scene with 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"...
that was dropped as well.
The episode's first draft was 65 pages long and needed to be cut down to just 42, so numerous scenes were cut for time or because they did not fit into the overall dynamic of the episode. To solve this problem, a scene before the second act break, where the townspeople go to the Simpsons house to provide advice of how Lisa can get the gum out of her hair, was created to include every character that did not appear anywhere else during the course of the episode. Weinstein and writing supervisor Greg Daniels
Greg Daniels
Gregory Martin "Greg" Daniels is an American television comedy writer, producer, and director.-Life and career:...
was responsible for ordering and linking together the episodes, and director Jim Reardon
Jim Reardon
Jim Reardon is an animation director and storyboard consultant, best known for his work on the animated TV series The Simpsons. He has directed over 30 episodes of the series, and was credited as a supervising director for seasons 9 through 15...
had the challenge of segueing between each section in a way that did not make the change seem abrupt. Those that were hard to link were put before or after an act break or were given a theme song, one of which was cut from the Apu story, but was included as a deleted scene on the DVD.
Bill Oakley wrote the Chalmers scene because he is his all time favorite character from the show. The main reason he loved him was that, until Frank Grimes was created for the season eight
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...
episode "Homer's Enemy
Homer's Enemy
"Homer's Enemy" is the twenty-third episode of the eighth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It was first broadcast on the Fox network in the United States on May 4, 1997. The episode's plot centers on the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant's hiring a new employee named...
", Chalmers was the only character that "seemed to operate in the normal human universe." In previous episodes, Skinner and Chalmers' scenes together revolved around one joke: Skinner tells Chalmers an unbelievable lie, but Chalmers believes him anyway. So, their scene in this episode is made up of a string of thirteen interconnected lies. The dialogue between him and Skinner was something that had never been done before, in that it is just a long relaxed conversation with nothing important being said at all.
In the Mr. Burns story, every single word he yells at Smithers is real and used correctly. To maintain accuracy, the writers used a 19th century slang thesaurus to look up words. Many of the Spanish words used in Bumblebee Man's segment are easily understood cognates of English and not accurate Spanish; this was done deliberately so that non-Spanish speakers could understand the dialogue without subtitles. The very tall man was a caricature of writer Ian Maxtone-Graham
Ian Maxtone-Graham
Ian Maxtone-Graham is an American television writer and producer. He has written for Saturday Night Live and The Simpsons , and has also served as a co-executive producer and consulting producer for The Simpsons...
, and the barber was based on one from the Tracey Ullman shorts. The crowd on the street who laugh at Nelson includes caricatures of 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....
, Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein. Oakley wrote in the script that the street was filled with Springfield's biggest idiots and so the animators drew him, Weinstein and Groening into the scene.
Cultural references
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
's Pulp Fiction
Pulp Fiction (film)
Pulp Fiction is a 1994 American crime film directed by Quentin Tarantino, who co-wrote its screenplay with Roger Avary. The film is known for its rich, eclectic dialogue, ironic mix of humor and violence, nonlinear storyline, and host of cinematic allusions and pop culture references...
. Like the film, the episode's plot is episodic, though the stories are interconnected. The policemen's conversation about McDonald's parallels the famous "Royale With Cheese" discussion, and the music played during the segment's beginning was also taken from the film. The story involving Chief Wiggum and Snake is a direct parody of the "Gold Watch" segment of the film. Snake runs over the donut-carrying Wiggum at a red light, like Butch did to Marcellus Wallace, before crashing into a fire hydrant and beginning an on-foot chase. The two run into Herman's Military Antique shop, where Herman beats, ties up and gags the two, then waits for "Zed" to arrive, exactly as Maynard does in Pulp Fiction. The writers were pleased that Herman already existed as otherwise they would have had to create another character just for this scene. The episode's title is a reference to the film Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould
Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould
Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould is an award-winning 1993 film about the piano prodigy Glenn Gould played by Colm Feore. The film's screenplay was written by François Girard and Don McKellar....
.
Reception
In its original American broadcast, "22 Short Films About Springfield" finished tied for 73rd in the weekly ratings for the week of April 6-April 14, 1996 with a Nielsen ratingNielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
of 6.9. It was the seventh highest rated show from 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...
that week. The episode is Bill Oakley
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...
's personal favorite episode, but it is hated by two prominent figures within the running of the show. That said, the episode is frequently cited as a popular one amongst the show's fans on the internet. 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 14th on their top 25 The Simpsons episode list, praising the episode's structure and finding the Pulp Fiction references "priceless". Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, the authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, called it "an untypical episode, and a very good one," naming the Skinner and Chalmers story as the best. IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
named "A Fish Called Selma
A Fish Called Selma
"A Fish Called Selma" is the nineteenth episode of The Simpsons seventh season and originally aired on March 24, 1996. The episode sees Troy McClure attempt to resurrect his acting career by marrying Selma Bouvier. Show runners Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein were fans of Phil Hartman and wished to...
" the best episode of the seventh season, but found that "22 Short Films About Springfield" was "good competition" for the crown. 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...
named the episode's Pulp Fiction parody the seventh best film gag in the show, calling Wiggum and Snake bound and gagged with red balls in their mouths "the sickest visual gag in Simpsons history". The episode is the favorite of British comedian Jimmy Carr
Jimmy Carr
James Anthony Patrick "Jimmy" Carr is an English-Irish comedian and humourist. He is known for his deadpan delivery and dark humour. He is also a writer, actor and presenter of radio and television....
who called it "a brilliant pastiche of art cinema".
Legacy
The episode 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." "22 Short Films About Springfield" also helped inspire the FuturamaFuturama
Futurama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J...
episode "Three Hundred Big Boys
Three Hundred Big Boys
"Three Hundred Big Boys" is the sixteenth episode of season four of Futurama, which aired June 15, 2003.-Plot:Zapp Brannigan leads an attack on Tarantulon VI, claiming silken artworks. Earth President Richard Nixon gives the riches to the citizens of Earth as a $300 tax rebate. Leela plans to swim...
".
External links
- "22 Short Films About Springfield" at The Simpsons.com