Once Upon a Time in Springfield
Encyclopedia
"Once Upon a Time in Springfield" is the tenth episode 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...

twenty-first season
The Simpsons (season 21)
The Simpsons twenty-first season aired on Fox from September 27, 2009 to May 23, 2010. It was the first of two seasons that the show was renewed for by Fox, and also the first season of the show to air entirely in high definition....

. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on January 10, 2010. It was promoted as the 450th episode of the series, but is actually the 451st, and aired alongside The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special – In 3-D! On Ice!. The episode is dedicated to Eartha Kitt
Eartha Kitt
Eartha Mae Kitt was an American singer, actress, and cabaret star. She was perhaps best known for her highly distinctive singing style and her 1953 hit recordings of "C'est Si Bon" and the enduring Christmas novelty smash "Santa Baby." Orson Welles once called her the "most exciting woman in the...

, who died December 25, 2008, over one year before the episode first aired.

In the episode, The Krusty the Clown Show is once again reconstructed. This time, in a bid to get girls to watch the show, a princess character named Penelope is hired as Krusty's latest sidekick. Meanwhile, a corporate recruiter persuades 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...

, Lenny, and Carl to work for a nuclear plant in Capital City, after Mr. Burns announces a moratorium on free doughnuts. The episode was written by Stephanie Gillis
Stephanie Gillis
Stephanie Gillis is a television writer. She currently works on The Simpsons and has written five episodes: "See Homer Run", "Midnight Towboy", "The Burns and the Bees", "Once Upon a Time in Springfield", and "Moe Letter Blues." She was nominated for Writers Guild of America Awards in 2006 for "See...

 and directed by Matthew Nastuk
Matthew Nastuk
Matthew Nastuk is an animation director on The Simpsons. He started directing during the tenth season, and has since directed over a dozen episodes and continues to direct today.-Season Ten:...

. The episode has received positive reviews from critics and received a Nielsen rating of 6.9/17 in the 18–49 demographic and in 2010 was nominated for two awards at the Primetime Emmy Award
Primetime Emmy Award
The Primetime Emmy Awards are awards presented by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in recognition of excellence in American primetime television programming...

, winning one.

Plot

Krusty the Clown is informed by his producers that his show is dropping in ratings with the demographics of young girls, and therefore they will introduce a new character named Princess Penelope. Her act features singing, glitter
Glitter
Glitter describes an assortment of very small pieces of copolymer plastics, aluminum foil, titanium dioxide, iron oxides, bismuth oxychloride or other materials painted in metallic, neon and iridescent colors to reflect light in a sparkling spectrum...

, and a unicorn
Unicorn
The unicorn is a legendary animal from European folklore that resembles a white horse with a large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead, and sometimes a goat's beard...

, which — though immediately attracting a youthful female audience — disgusts the series' predominately male audience, as well as Krusty himself. Soon, the Krustylu Studio becomes almost completely filled with girls (including 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...

), and all of Krusty's merchandise is replaced by that of Penelope's. However, 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...

 doesn't like it and complains that "women ruin all the great things" (the Army, Fantastic Four
Fantastic Four
The Fantastic Four is a fictional superhero team appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The group debuted in The Fantastic Four #1 , which helped to usher in a new level of realism in the medium...

 and American Idol
American Idol
American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...

"what would be better with only Simon Cowell
Simon Cowell
Simon Phillip Cowell is an English A&R executive, television producer, entrepreneur, and television personality. He is known in the United Kingdom and United States for his role as a talent judge on TV shows such as Pop Idol, The X Factor, Britain's Got Talent and American Idol...

 and Randy Jackson
Randy Jackson
Randall Darius "Randy" Jackson is an American bassist, singer, record producer, music manager, A&R executive, entrepreneur, and television personality. He is best known as a judge on American Idol and executive producer for MTV's America's Best Dance Crew...

"). Bart demands that Krusty do something in order to get his show back.

Krusty follows Bart's advice and confronts Penelope in her dressing room. Penelope admits she has followed Krusty ever since she was a young girl, who grew up in Mineola, NY, Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...

. They consequently discover that they share a mutual attraction towards one another. Subsequent episodes of the show (Krusty's) feature the two singing love songs to one another, culminating in Krusty's marriage proposal to Penelope and the latter's acceptance. On the wedding day, Bart 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....

 attempt to sabotage the marriage by showing Penelope Krusty's former wives, Holly Hippie and Eartha Kitt
Eartha Kitt
Eartha Mae Kitt was an American singer, actress, and cabaret star. She was perhaps best known for her highly distinctive singing style and her 1953 hit recordings of "C'est Si Bon" and the enduring Christmas novelty smash "Santa Baby." Orson Welles once called her the "most exciting woman in the...

, who both despise him; Eartha divorced him after six hours. Penelope still wants to get married, but Krusty decides that he is not good enough for Penelope and cancels the wedding. Penelope moves to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, only to discover that Krusty is there and apologizes for leaving her. She accepts and the two float down the Seine River together into the night.

Meanwhile, budgeting issues cause Mr. Burns to eliminate donuts from the lunch room, mortifying 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...

, Lenny, and Carl. While at Moe's Tavern, a recruiter named Gator McCall offers them a job at the Capital City Nuclear Power Plant. The trio agree to take a tour, where they discover there are luxurious working conditions, including free massages, sushi
Sushi
is a Japanese food consisting of cooked vinegared rice combined with other ingredients . Neta and forms of sushi presentation vary, but the ingredient which all sushi have in common is shari...

, and cartoonist Gary Larson
Gary Larson
Gary Larson is the creator of The Far Side, a single-panel cartoon series that was syndicated internationally to newspapers for 15 years. The series ended with Larson's retirement on January 1, 1995. His 23 books of collected cartoons have combined sales of more than 45 million...

, who has come out of retirement to draw The Far Side
The Far Side
The Far Side is a popular single-panel comic created by Gary Larson and syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate, which ran from January 1, 1980, to January 1, 1995. Its surrealistic humor is often based on uncomfortable social situations, improbable events, an anthropomorphic view of the world,...

cartoons for plant employees. They accept the offer, but while they are packing their possessions from the power plant, Mr. Burns confronts them and offers to reinstate donuts if they return to work, which they gleefully accept.

Production

The episode features Anne Hathaway
Anne Hathaway (actress)
Anne Jacqueline Hathaway is an American actress. After several stage roles, she appeared in the 1999 television series Get Real. She played Mia Thermopolis in The Princess Diaries...

's return to the show, this time voicing Princess Penelope. Jackie Mason
Jackie Mason
Jackie Mason is an American stand-up comedian and movie actor.-Early life:Born Yacov Moshe Maza in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, he grew up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City....

 returns to voice Krusty the Clown's father Rabbi Hyman Krustofski. This is one of Eartha Kitt
Eartha Kitt
Eartha Mae Kitt was an American singer, actress, and cabaret star. She was perhaps best known for her highly distinctive singing style and her 1953 hit recordings of "C'est Si Bon" and the enduring Christmas novelty smash "Santa Baby." Orson Welles once called her the "most exciting woman in the...

's final TV appearances; she recorded her part before her death on December 25, 2008. Due to this, her appearance on the episode showed her on a television screen in which Bart said it was recorded six hours before her death instead of being shown in person. Hathaway said that she grew up watching The Simpsons with her brothers, and said that "it stuck with me...high school, college, post, everything. I always stop whenever it's on."

Cultural references

The opening chalkboard gag makes a reference to the 2012 phenomenon
2012 phenomenon
The 2012 phenomenon comprises a range of eschatological beliefs that cataclysmic or transformative events will occur on December 21, 2012. This date is regarded as the end-date of a 5,125-year-long cycle in the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar...

 in which the world is supposed to end December 21, 2012. Homer, Lenny, and Carl get to see a comic from the comic series The Far Side
The Far Side
The Far Side is a popular single-panel comic created by Gary Larson and syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate, which ran from January 1, 1980, to January 1, 1995. Its surrealistic humor is often based on uncomfortable social situations, improbable events, an anthropomorphic view of the world,...

which includes a lion and an X-ray
X-ray
X-radiation is a form of electromagnetic radiation. X-rays have a wavelength in the range of 0.01 to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 petahertz to 30 exahertz and energies in the range 120 eV to 120 keV. They are shorter in wavelength than UV rays and longer than gamma...

.

Penelope is not a real princess, despite her full name being Penelope Mountbatten
Mountbatten
Mountbatten is the family name originally adopted by a branch of the Battenberg family due to rising anti-German sentiment among the British public during World War I...

 Hapsburg Hohenzollern Mulan
Mulan
Mulan is a 1998 American animated film directed by Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook, with story by Robert D. San Souci and screenplay by Rita Hsiao, Philip LaZebnik, Chris Sanders, Eugenia Bostwick-Singer, and Raymond Singer. It was produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney...

 Pocahontas
Pocahontas (Disney)
Pocahontas is one of the main characters of Disney's 1995, thirty-third animated feature, Pocahontas, and its direct-to-video sequel, Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World...

. Her name includes the names Mulan
Mulan
Mulan is a 1998 American animated film directed by Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook, with story by Robert D. San Souci and screenplay by Rita Hsiao, Philip LaZebnik, Chris Sanders, Eugenia Bostwick-Singer, and Raymond Singer. It was produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney...

 and Pocahantas
Pocahontas (Disney)
Pocahontas is one of the main characters of Disney's 1995, thirty-third animated feature, Pocahontas, and its direct-to-video sequel, Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World...

, which references the fact that the Disney characters Mulan and Pocahontas are not princesses in their films, yet are included in the Disney Princess line.

Reception

In its original American broadcast, "Once Upon a Time in Springfield" earned a 6.8 Nielsen rating in the 18–49 demographic. In all, the show was watched by 21.007 million viewers and an 18–49 rating of 8.8/22. The larger-than-normal viewership was a result of the episode following the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

 playoffs. It was the most watched episode of the show since season 16
The Simpsons (season 16)
The Simpsons 16th season began on Sunday, November 7, 2004 and contained 21 episodes, beginning with Treehouse of Horror XV. The season contains six hold-over episodes from the season 15 production line....

's "Homer and Ned's Hail Mary Pass
Homer and Ned's Hail Mary Pass
"Homer and Ned's Hail Mary Pass" is the eighth episode of Season 16 of The Simpsons. It is a Super Bowl themed episode that was broadcast after Super Bowl XXXIX.-Plot:...

", which aired after Super Bowl XXXIX
Super Bowl XXXIX
Super Bowl XXXIX was an American football game played on February 6, 2005, at Alltel Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida, to decide the National Football League champion following the 2004 regular season...

. The episode ranked 8th in the ratings becoming the second highest viewed show on FOX and top rated scripted show on FOX. The episode also came in 5th for the 18–48 rating becoming the top rated scripted programming of the week with a rating of 9.084 million watching and rating of 6.9.

The episode has received positive reviews from critics. 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...

's Robert Canning wrote that "it may not be turning out classic after classic after classic, but The Simpsons can still deliver smart and solid entertainment" and rated the episode 8/10. Todd VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...

, while saying that the plot was "something the show has done many, many times before", stated that the episode was "funny [...] with a nice amount of heart", and graded it a B. Jason Hughes of TV Squad praised Hathaway's performance, but said that he was "a little disappointed" because the anniversary episode did not focus on the Simpson family.

Tom Maurstad of The Dallas Morning News
The Dallas Morning News
The Dallas Morning News is the major daily newspaper serving the Dallas, Texas area, with a circulation of 264,459 subscribers, the Audit Bureau of Circulations reported in September 2010...

gave the episode a positive review writing "tonight's 450th episode, 'Once Upon a Time in Springfield' is rock solid. Maybe it's not one for the ages, but it's full of quotable lines and casually hilarious moments." TV Fanatic stated "Well, as compared to any other episode, "Once Upon a Time in Springfield," was a fantastic outing by The Simpsons". TV Fanatic gave the episode an A, calling it "An excellent episode, though its flaws won’t allow me to give it an A+. Nevertheless, it rates a solid A from me."

The episode was nominated for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming less than One Hour)
The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program is a Creative Arts Emmy Award which is given annually to an animated series which is judged to have been the best...

 in 2010, and Anne Hathaway
Anne Hathaway (actress)
Anne Jacqueline Hathaway is an American actress. After several stage roles, she appeared in the 1999 television series Get Real. She played Mia Thermopolis in The Princess Diaries...

 was also nominated for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance
The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance is a creative arts Emmy Award given out by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. It is awarded to a performer for an outstanding "continuing or single voice-over performance in a series or a special." Prior to 1992, voice-actors...

 for her role as Princess Penelope running against Simpson
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...

cast members Dan Castellaneta
Dan Castellaneta
Daniel Louis "Dan" Castellaneta is an American actor, voice actor, comedian, singer and screenwriter. Noted for his long-running role as Homer Simpson on the animated television series The Simpsons, he voices many other characters on The Simpsons, including Abraham "Grampa" Simpson, Barney Gumble,...

 for "Thursdays with Abie
Thursdays with Abie
"Thursdays with Abie" is the ninth episode of The Simpsons twenty-first season. It aired on the Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States on January 3, 2010. In the episode, Grampa meets a human interest journalist who writes and publishes Grampa's life stories making Homer jealous and while...

" and Hank Azaria
Hank Azaria
Henry Albert "Hank" Azaria is an American film, television and stage actor, director, voice actor, and comedian. He is noted for being one of the principal voice actors on the animated television series The Simpsons , on which he performs the voices of Moe Szyslak, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, Chief...

 for "Moe Letter Blues
Moe Letter Blues
"Moe Letter Blues" is the twenty-first episode of The Simpsons twenty-first season. It aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 9, 2010. In this episode, Homer, Reverend Lovejoy, and Apu Nahasapeemapetilon receive a letter from Moe stating that he will steal one of their wives...

". Although the episode did not win, on August 21, 2010, it was announced that Hathaway won.

External links

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