The Falcon and the D'ohman
Encyclopedia
"The Falcon and the D'ohman" is the season premiere of the twenty-third season
of the animated sitcom The Simpsons
. It originally aired on the Fox network
in the United States on September 25, 2011. In the episode, the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant hires a new security guard named Wayne and Homer
soon becomes friends with him. "The Falcon and the D'ohman" also reveals the fate of the relationship between the characters Ned Flanders
and Edna Krabappel
that was initiated in the previous episode of the series, "The Ned-Liest Catch
", that aired in May 2011.
Canadian actor Kiefer Sutherland
guest starred in the episode as the voice of Wayne. This was the third time he appeared on The Simpsons. The episode also features a guest appearance by American chef and Top Chef
judge Tom Colicchio
as himself in a segment in which Marge
dreams about being a contestant in a show similar to Top Chef. "The Falcon and the D'ohman" has received mixed reviews from television critics, with criticism directed at the plot and the cultural references featured. However, a reference in the episode to the computer animated re-enactments of news stories done by the Taiwan-based Next Media Animation
has been particularly praised.
finale "The Ned-Liest Catch
" that aired on May 22, 2011. In that episode, the characters Ned Flanders
and Edna Krabappel
start dating. The episode ends with Homer
and Marge Simpson
giving viewers a link to the official The Simpsons website, TheSimpsons.com, and encouraging them to go on the website and vote over the 2011 summer on whether Ned and Edna should stay together. The result of the poll was revealed in "The Falcon and the D'ohman"—a majority had voted for the couple to remain in a relationship. According to executive producer Al Jean
, the poll was "very strong in one direction." In an interview before the result was presented, Jean guaranteed that the poll was authentic and that the writers would not undo the viewers' decision, adding "What our fans have joined together, let no writer tear asunder."
opens the season premiere by telling the viewers that there will be hints in the episode as to the conclusion of the romance between Ned and Edna. After the revised introduction, where Homer sneaks late into work and marks up his time card to make it seem like he was on time and had put in some overtime hours, Homer is surprised to find that a new security guard named Wayne has been hired at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. He repeatedly tries to befriend Wayne, only to be coldly shunned at every attempt. Meanwhile, while making crackers for Bart
and Lisa
, Marge daydreams that she has become a contestant on a cooking show called Master Chef. The show is judged by Tom Colicchio
and he praises her crackers, awarding her the prize of a new kitchen. However, when Marge stops daydreaming and gives the crackers to her children, they tell her they do not like them because they do not like change.
One day while Wayne is walking home in the rain and hail, Homer sees Wayne and he reluctantly agrees to let Homer drive him to Moe's Tavern for a drink. While Wayne is in the bathroom, Snake Jailbird dramatically crashes through the door on his motorcycle to rob everyone. As soon as Wayne comes out, he soundly beats up Snake. The story spreads quickly and a news segment that features an interview with Wayne by Kent Brockman
and a computer animated Taiwanese dramatization of the incident soon airs on television. It is discovered that Wayne is a highly-trained former CIA
black ops agent, who decided to go into hiding in Springfield. He is plagued by recurring flashbacks from his previous missions, which cause him to act or shout them out, as evidenced when he unintentionally attacks Mr. Burns, the boss of the power plant, which results in Wayne being fired.
Homer allows Wayne to stay in Bart's treehouse because Wayne can no longer afford his apartment. One night, Wayne speaks loudly about a past mission in his sleep, causing the couples in the nearby houses to lose sleep. Ned and Edna are one of these couples, and they are shown holding each other in bed. News of what happened to Mr. Burns is leaked onto YouTube
and is seen by one of Wayne's gangster enemies, Viktor, in Kiev, Ukraine. Apparently, Wayne accidentally killed Viktor's wife with a stray bullet on a previous mission. Thus, the Ukrainian gangster and his henchmen kidnap and torture Homer as bait to lure Wayne. Wayne tracks Homer down through tracking devices he unknowingly ate, frees him and kills all of the Ukrainian gangsters. Afterwards, Wayne decides to leave Springfield, but not before giving Homer the fist pound
Homer wanted when they first met. However, Marge suggests that Wayne get a job at the Springfield Department of Motor Vehicles
(DMV), and he does. At the DMV, he has a flashback to the time he was a prisoner in North Korea
and was forced to write a ridiculous musical play paying tribute to Kim Jong-il
. During the closing credits of the episode, Ned and Edna thank the fans for voting for their relationship to continue.
"The Falcon and the D'ohman" was written by Justin Hurwitz and directed by Matthew Nastuk
. The storyline of the episode resembles David Cronenberg
's film A History of Violence
. "The Falcon and the D'ohman" features several references to popular culture
. For example, in a sequence at the beginning of the episode, Homer sings about working at the power plant to the melody of The Police
's song "Walking On The Moon
". According to Chris Ledesma, music editor on The Simpsons, the staff was "very fortunate to have obtained the original master tracks from The Police without vocals. This is a rare instance. When we need to do our own lyrics to an established hit song, [composer Alf Clausen
] usually arranges and records a 'sound-alike' that tries to capture all the spirit and nuance of the original so that the audience immediately identifies the track, but allows us to add our own vocals." The episode also made frequent use of the sequence "Dance of the Knights" from the ballet Romeo and Juliet
by Serge Prokofiev. The sequence had to be licensed, as it was under copyright in most parts of the world.
Another cultural reference appears in one of Wayne's flashbacks, in which he is seen receiving special training against enemies such as Chucky of the Child's Play
film series and basketball player Kobe Bryant
. The Taiwanese dramatization of Wayne's fight with Snake at Moe's Tavern parodies the humorous computer animated re-enactments of news stories done by the Taiwan-based Next Media Animation
. One YouTube clip that Viktor sees is a reference to The Gregory Brothers
, the creators of the popular online Auto-Tune the News series, in that a news segment featuring a lady who has lost her cat has been autotuned into a song. Marge's dream of becoming a contestant in a cooking competition parodies the American reality competition series Top Chef
. American chef Tom Colicchio
, who is a judge on that show, guest starred in "The Falcon and the D'ohman" as himself.
Canadian actor Kiefer Sutherland
guest starred in "The Falcon and the D'ohman" as the security guard Wayne. This was the third episode of The Simpsons that he appeared in, the first being the 2006 episode "G.I. (Annoyed Grunt)
" (playing a colonel) and the second being the 2007 episode "24 Minutes
" (playing his character Jack Bauer
from the television series 24
). As noted by Rick Porter of the website Zap2it
, Sutherland's appearance in "The Falcon and the D'ohman" makes him "one of the relatively few Simpsons guest stars who've appeared more than once and voiced different characters rather than recurring residents of Springfield." Other guest stars to have done this are Albert Brooks
, Jon Lovitz
, and Phil Hartman
, all of whom have played one-time characters and recurring parts. The character Wayne is partly based on Sutherland's 24 character Jack Bauer, who, according to Christopher Hooton of Metro, is also a "po-faced anti-terrorism agent constantly finding his loved ones kidnapped by megalomaniacs." After the episode had aired in the United States, the Ukrainian press reported that the mafioso Viktor bears a resemblance to the Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych
.
of The Simpsons. It was watched by approximately 8.08 million people during this broadcast. It received a 3.9 Nielsen rating in the demographic for adults aged 18–49 (up three percent from the last season's premiere), and a ten percent share. The Simpsons became the second highest-rated program in the 18–49 demographic in Fox's Animation Domination lineup that night, finishing with a higher rating than The Cleveland Show
and American Dad!
but a lower rating than Family Guy
. The Simpsons was, however, the most-watched show in the lineup in terms of total viewers.
gave the episode a three out of ten rating, concluding that "this new episode is rarely grounded in any kind of reality. The best examples of The Simpsons center the situational humor in somewhat plausible scenarios within the town. I guess after so many years, they've completely run out of ideas." Similarly, Television Blend
's Jesse Carp wrote that the plot shows "essentially what is wrong with the show and why I stopped watching. Because of the endless amount of material needed to keep a series running for twenty three years, they have to resort to outlandish plots and endless cameos to stay interesting. The best episodes, ... definitely have some absurd elements but they're all firmly grounded in a fairly real world of Springfield, USA and its colorful cast of characters. I'd like to see more of that. I miss them."
The cultural references featured in the episode have attracted both criticism and praise. The parody of Next Media Animation has been commended by several reviewers. Hayden Childs of The A.V. Club
commented that the episode "features a couple of quite funny sight gags, like the fresco
on Moe's ceiling and the delightful Taiwanese dramatization of certain events", but further wrote that the "rest of the jokes and references clang away without being too funny or too insulting, and that is probably the best that any viewers can ask of The Simpsons in its advanced age." Television Blend's Steve West commented that the episode was the worst of the Animation Domination lineup that week and further elaborated that the cultural references "are always a year behind, and the smart writers who used classic American culture to bring wit to the series have been replaced by those who want to mimic South Park
and Family Guy. They fail miserably, and it's gotten so bad that I now no longer care about the relationship between Marge and Homer."
Matt Roush of TV Guide
wrote more positively about the episode, noting that "Fox's eternal The Simpsons kicks off a night of all-new animation, welcoming Kiefer Sutherland in a very clever guest role as a security guard trying without much success to escape his violent past. A nod to Taiwanese animation is just one of the highlights in this homage to 24-style mayhem." Similarly, Umika Pidaparthy of CNN
's The Marquee Blog commented that "there were a lot of light laughs in this episode, like when Wayne walks through the Ukrainian part of Springfield (Tsarbucks, anyone?). Pop culture references like the Taiwanese animation of the robbery were hilarious. I was disappointed, though, to see that Marge's daydream about being on Top Chef didn't become a side story." Mike Hughes of the Lansing State Journal
commented that the episode was "inconsistent, but [had] great moments", and that it was "much better than Fox's other season-openers" that premiered on the same day.
The Simpsons (season 23)
The Simpsons twenty-third season is the current season of The Simpsons. It premiered on September 25, 2011. It will include the 500th episode which is expected to air February 19, 2012. Due to financial difficulties, the network was unable to produce the show under its current contract and unless...
of the animated sitcom 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
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...
in the United States on September 25, 2011. In the episode, the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant hires a new security guard named Wayne and 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...
soon becomes friends with him. "The Falcon and the D'ohman" also reveals the fate of the relationship between the characters 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...
and Edna Krabappel
Edna Krabappel
Edna Krabappel is a fictional character from the animated TV series The Simpsons, voiced by Marcia Wallace. She is a 4th grade teacher at Springfield Elementary School. Krabappel is the only character Wallace voices on a regular basis.- Profile :...
that was initiated in the previous episode of the series, "The Ned-Liest Catch
The Ned-Liest Catch
"The Ned-Liest Catch" is the twenty-second episode and season finale of the twenty-second season of The Simpsons. It aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 22, 2011. This is the second season finale to end on a cliffhanger, with the first being "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" from the sixth...
", that aired in May 2011.
Canadian actor Kiefer Sutherland
Kiefer Sutherland
Kiefer Sutherland is an English-born Canadian actor, producer and director, best known for his portrayal of Jack Bauer on the Fox thriller drama series 24 for which he has won an Emmy Award , a Golden Globe award , two Screen Actors Guild Awards and two Satellite...
guest starred in the episode as the voice of Wayne. This was the third time he appeared on The Simpsons. The episode also features a guest appearance by American chef and Top Chef
Top Chef
Top Chef is an American reality competition show that airs on the cable television network Bravo, in which chefs compete against each other in culinary challenges. They are judged by a panel of professional chefs and other notables from the food and wine industry with one or more contestants...
judge Tom Colicchio
Tom Colicchio
Thomas Patrick "Tom" Colicchio is an American celebrity chef. He co-founded the Gramercy Tavern in New York City, and formerly served as a co-owner and as the executive chef. He is also the founder of Craft and Colicchio & Sons restaurants...
as himself in a segment in which 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...
dreams about being a contestant in a show similar to Top Chef. "The Falcon and the D'ohman" has received mixed reviews from television critics, with criticism directed at the plot and the cultural references featured. However, a reference in the episode to the computer animated re-enactments of news stories done by the Taiwan-based Next Media Animation
Next Media Animation
Next Media Animation is a Taiwan-based subsidiary of Next Media, a Hong Kong media conglomerate, which is purposed toward creating CGI-animated, humorous re-enactments of recent news stories...
has been particularly praised.
Background
"The Falcon and the D'ohman" features a reference to the previous episode of the series, the twenty-second seasonThe Simpsons (season 22)
The Simpsons twenty-second season began airing on Fox on September 26, 2010 and ended on May 22, 2011. The Simpsons was renewed for at least two additional seasons during the twentieth season leading up to this season. The cast is currently signed through the 25th season. On November 11, 2010, the...
finale "The Ned-Liest Catch
The Ned-Liest Catch
"The Ned-Liest Catch" is the twenty-second episode and season finale of the twenty-second season of The Simpsons. It aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 22, 2011. This is the second season finale to end on a cliffhanger, with the first being "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" from the sixth...
" that aired on May 22, 2011. In that episode, the characters 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...
and Edna Krabappel
Edna Krabappel
Edna Krabappel is a fictional character from the animated TV series The Simpsons, voiced by Marcia Wallace. She is a 4th grade teacher at Springfield Elementary School. Krabappel is the only character Wallace voices on a regular basis.- Profile :...
start dating. The episode ends with 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...
and Marge Simpson
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...
giving viewers a link to the official The Simpsons website, TheSimpsons.com, and encouraging them to go on the website and vote over the 2011 summer on whether Ned and Edna should stay together. The result of the poll was revealed in "The Falcon and the D'ohman"—a majority had voted for the couple to remain in a relationship. According to executive producer Al Jean
Al Jean
Al Jean is an award-winning American screenwriter and producer, best known for his work on The Simpsons. He was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan and graduated from Harvard University in 1981. Jean began his writing career in the 1980s with fellow Harvard alum Mike Reiss...
, the poll was "very strong in one direction." In an interview before the result was presented, Jean guaranteed that the poll was authentic and that the writers would not undo the viewers' decision, adding "What our fans have joined together, let no writer tear asunder."
Plot
Comic Book GuyComic 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...
opens the season premiere by telling the viewers that there will be hints in the episode as to the conclusion of the romance between Ned and Edna. After the revised introduction, where Homer sneaks late into work and marks up his time card to make it seem like he was on time and had put in some overtime hours, Homer is surprised to find that a new security guard named Wayne has been hired at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. He repeatedly tries to befriend Wayne, only to be coldly shunned at every attempt. Meanwhile, while making crackers for Bart
Bart Simpson
Bartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by actress Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
and Lisa
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...
, Marge daydreams that she has become a contestant on a cooking show called Master Chef. The show is judged by Tom Colicchio
Tom Colicchio
Thomas Patrick "Tom" Colicchio is an American celebrity chef. He co-founded the Gramercy Tavern in New York City, and formerly served as a co-owner and as the executive chef. He is also the founder of Craft and Colicchio & Sons restaurants...
and he praises her crackers, awarding her the prize of a new kitchen. However, when Marge stops daydreaming and gives the crackers to her children, they tell her they do not like them because they do not like change.
One day while Wayne is walking home in the rain and hail, Homer sees Wayne and he reluctantly agrees to let Homer drive him to Moe's Tavern for a drink. While Wayne is in the bathroom, Snake Jailbird dramatically crashes through the door on his motorcycle to rob everyone. As soon as Wayne comes out, he soundly beats up Snake. The story spreads quickly and a news segment that features an interview with Wayne by 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"...
and a computer animated Taiwanese dramatization of the incident soon airs on television. It is discovered that Wayne is a highly-trained former CIA
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
black ops agent, who decided to go into hiding in Springfield. He is plagued by recurring flashbacks from his previous missions, which cause him to act or shout them out, as evidenced when he unintentionally attacks Mr. Burns, the boss of the power plant, which results in Wayne being fired.
Homer allows Wayne to stay in Bart's treehouse because Wayne can no longer afford his apartment. One night, Wayne speaks loudly about a past mission in his sleep, causing the couples in the nearby houses to lose sleep. Ned and Edna are one of these couples, and they are shown holding each other in bed. News of what happened to Mr. Burns is leaked onto YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
and is seen by one of Wayne's gangster enemies, Viktor, in Kiev, Ukraine. Apparently, Wayne accidentally killed Viktor's wife with a stray bullet on a previous mission. Thus, the Ukrainian gangster and his henchmen kidnap and torture Homer as bait to lure Wayne. Wayne tracks Homer down through tracking devices he unknowingly ate, frees him and kills all of the Ukrainian gangsters. Afterwards, Wayne decides to leave Springfield, but not before giving Homer the fist pound
Fist pound
The fist bump is a gesture similar in meaning to a handshake or high five. A fist bump can also be a symbol of giving respect. It can be followed by various other hand and body gestures and may be part of a dap greeting...
Homer wanted when they first met. However, Marge suggests that Wayne get a job at the Springfield Department of Motor Vehicles
Department of Motor Vehicles
In the United States of America, a Department of Motor Vehicles is a state-level government agency that administers vehicle registration and driver licensing. Similar departments exist in Canada...
(DMV), and he does. At the DMV, he has a flashback to the time he was a prisoner in North Korea
North Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...
and was forced to write a ridiculous musical play paying tribute to Kim Jong-il
Kim Jong-il
Kim Jong-il, also written as Kim Jong Il, birth name Yuri Irsenovich Kim born 16 February 1941 or 16 February 1942 , is the Supreme Leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea...
. During the closing credits of the episode, Ned and Edna thank the fans for voting for their relationship to continue.
Production
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 storyline of the episode resembles David Cronenberg
David Cronenberg
David Paul Cronenberg, OC, FRSC is a Canadian filmmaker, screenwriter and actor. He is one of the principal originators of what is commonly known as the body horror or venereal horror genre. This style of filmmaking explores people's fears of bodily transformation and infection. In his films, the...
's film A History of Violence
A History of Violence
A History of Violence is a graphic novel written by John Wagner and illustrated by Vince Locke, originally published in 1997 by Paradox Press and later by Vertigo, both imprints of DC Comics....
. "The Falcon and the D'ohman" features several references to popular culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
. For example, in a sequence at the beginning of the episode, Homer sings about working at the power plant to the melody of The Police
The Police
The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For the vast majority of their history, the band consisted of Sting , Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland...
's song "Walking On The Moon
Walking on the Moon
"Walking on the Moon" is a 1979 song by The Police, from their second album, Reggatta de Blanc. The song was The Police's second number-one hit single in the United Kingdom. It reached number nine in Australia but did not chart in the United States...
". According to Chris Ledesma, music editor on The Simpsons, the staff was "very fortunate to have obtained the original master tracks from The Police without vocals. This is a rare instance. When we need to do our own lyrics to an established hit song, [composer Alf Clausen
Alf Clausen
Alf Clausen is an American film and television composer. He is best known for his work scoring many episodes of The Simpsons, of which he has been the sole composer since 1990...
] usually arranges and records a 'sound-alike' that tries to capture all the spirit and nuance of the original so that the audience immediately identifies the track, but allows us to add our own vocals." The episode also made frequent use of the sequence "Dance of the Knights" from the ballet Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet (Prokofiev)
Romeo and Juliet is a ballet by Sergei Prokofiev based on William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. It is one of the most enduringly popular ballets...
by Serge Prokofiev. The sequence had to be licensed, as it was under copyright in most parts of the world.
Another cultural reference appears in one of Wayne's flashbacks, in which he is seen receiving special training against enemies such as Chucky of the Child's Play
Child's Play (film series)
Child's Play is a horror film franchise created by Don Mancini, with its first installment, Child's Play, being released on November 9, 1988. The film has so far spawned four sequels and has gone into other media, such as comic books. The films all feature Chucky, a killer Good Guys doll with the...
film series and basketball player Kobe Bryant
Kobe Bryant
Kobe Bean Bryant is an American professional basketball player who plays shooting guard for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association . Bryant enjoyed a successful high school basketball career at Lower Merion High School, where he was recognized as the top high school...
. The Taiwanese dramatization of Wayne's fight with Snake at Moe's Tavern parodies the humorous computer animated re-enactments of news stories done by the Taiwan-based Next Media Animation
Next Media Animation
Next Media Animation is a Taiwan-based subsidiary of Next Media, a Hong Kong media conglomerate, which is purposed toward creating CGI-animated, humorous re-enactments of recent news stories...
. One YouTube clip that Viktor sees is a reference to The Gregory Brothers
The Gregory Brothers
The Gregory Brothers are an American musical group who characterize their music as "Country & Soul, Folk & Roll". Members include Michael Gregory on drums and vocals, Andrew Rose Gregory on guitar and vocals, Evan Gregory on keys and vocals, and Sarah Fullen Gregory on bass and vocals...
, the creators of the popular online Auto-Tune the News series, in that a news segment featuring a lady who has lost her cat has been autotuned into a song. Marge's dream of becoming a contestant in a cooking competition parodies the American reality competition series Top Chef
Top Chef
Top Chef is an American reality competition show that airs on the cable television network Bravo, in which chefs compete against each other in culinary challenges. They are judged by a panel of professional chefs and other notables from the food and wine industry with one or more contestants...
. American chef Tom Colicchio
Tom Colicchio
Thomas Patrick "Tom" Colicchio is an American celebrity chef. He co-founded the Gramercy Tavern in New York City, and formerly served as a co-owner and as the executive chef. He is also the founder of Craft and Colicchio & Sons restaurants...
, who is a judge on that show, guest starred in "The Falcon and the D'ohman" as himself.
Canadian actor Kiefer Sutherland
Kiefer Sutherland
Kiefer Sutherland is an English-born Canadian actor, producer and director, best known for his portrayal of Jack Bauer on the Fox thriller drama series 24 for which he has won an Emmy Award , a Golden Globe award , two Screen Actors Guild Awards and two Satellite...
guest starred in "The Falcon and the D'ohman" as the security guard Wayne. This was the third episode of The Simpsons that he appeared in, the first being the 2006 episode "G.I. (Annoyed Grunt)
G.I. (Annoyed Grunt)
"G.I. ", or "G.I. D'oh!", is the fifth episode of The Simpsons eighteenth season and first aired November 12, 2006. It was written by Daniel Chun and directed by Nancy Kruse, while Kiefer Sutherland makes his first of two guest appearances this season. Maurice LaMarche does additional voices...
" (playing a colonel) and the second being the 2007 episode "24 Minutes
24 Minutes
"24 Minutes" is the twenty-first episode of The Simpsons eighteenth season and was broadcast on May 20, 2007 as part of the one hour season finale, alongside the episode "You Kent Always Say What You Want". It was originally promoted as being the 400th episode, but was broadcast as the 399th. It...
" (playing his character Jack Bauer
Jack Bauer
Jack Bauer is the main protagonist of the American television series 24. His character has worked in various capacities on the show, often as a member of the fictional Counter Terrorist Unit based in Los Angeles, and working with the FBI in Washington, D.C...
from the television series 24
24 (TV series)
24 is an American television series produced for the Fox Network and syndicated worldwide, starring Kiefer Sutherland as Counter Terrorist Unit agent Jack Bauer. Each 24-episode season covers 24 hours in the life of Bauer, using the real time method of narration...
). As noted by Rick Porter of the website Zap2it
Zap2it
Zap2it is an American website and affiliate network that provides news, photos and video, local TV listings and movie showtimes. The site is produced by Tribune Media Services , part of the publishing division of the Chicago-based Tribune Company...
, Sutherland's appearance in "The Falcon and the D'ohman" makes him "one of the relatively few Simpsons guest stars who've appeared more than once and voiced different characters rather than recurring residents of Springfield." Other guest stars to have done this are Albert Brooks
Albert Brooks
Albert Lawrence Brooks is an American actor, voice actor, writer, comedian and director. He received an Academy Award nomination in 1987 for his role in Broadcast News...
, Jon Lovitz
Jon Lovitz
Jonathan "Jon" Lovitz is an American comedian, actor, and singer. He is best known as a cast member of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live from 1985 to 1990.-Early life:...
, 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...
, all of whom have played one-time characters and recurring parts. The character Wayne is partly based on Sutherland's 24 character Jack Bauer, who, according to Christopher Hooton of Metro, is also a "po-faced anti-terrorism agent constantly finding his loved ones kidnapped by megalomaniacs." After the episode had aired in the United States, the Ukrainian press reported that the mafioso Viktor bears a resemblance to the Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych
Viktor Yanukovych
Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych is a Ukrainian politician who has been the President of Ukraine since February 2010.Yanukovych served as the Governor of Donetsk Oblast from 1997 to 2002...
.
Release
The episode originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on September 25, 2011, as the premiere of the twenty-third seasonThe Simpsons (season 23)
The Simpsons twenty-third season is the current season of The Simpsons. It premiered on September 25, 2011. It will include the 500th episode which is expected to air February 19, 2012. Due to financial difficulties, the network was unable to produce the show under its current contract and unless...
of The Simpsons. It was watched by approximately 8.08 million people during this broadcast. It received a 3.9 Nielsen rating in the demographic for adults aged 18–49 (up three percent from the last season's premiere), and a ten percent share. The Simpsons became the second highest-rated program in the 18–49 demographic in Fox's Animation Domination lineup that night, finishing with a higher rating than The Cleveland Show
The Cleveland Show
The Cleveland Show is an American animated television series that premiered on September 27, 2009, as a part of the "Animation Domination" lineup on Fox in the United States...
and American Dad!
American Dad!
American Dad! is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane and owned by Underdog Productions and Fuzzy Door Productions. It is produced in association with 20th Century Fox Television...
but a lower rating than Family Guy
Family Guy
Family Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...
. The Simpsons was, however, the most-watched show in the lineup in terms of total viewers.
Critical reception
Since airing, "The Falcon and the D'ohman" has received mixed reviews from critics. The plot of the episode has been criticized by some reviewers. Kyle Lemmon of Under the RadarUnder the Radar (magazine)
Under the Radar is an American magazine that bills itself as "The solution to music pollution" and features interviews with accompanying photo-shoots. Each issue includes opinion and commentary of the Indie music scene as well as reviews on books, DVDs and albums.Items are reviewed based on a...
gave the episode a three out of ten rating, concluding that "this new episode is rarely grounded in any kind of reality. The best examples of The Simpsons center the situational humor in somewhat plausible scenarios within the town. I guess after so many years, they've completely run out of ideas." Similarly, Television Blend
Cinema Blend
Cinema Blend is a website founded and run by Josh Tyler dedicated to news and reviews of upcoming and currently playing films, movie projects, Television Shows, and a newly founded Music section which covers album reviews, band interviews and daily news from the industry. It combines gossip from...
's Jesse Carp wrote that the plot shows "essentially what is wrong with the show and why I stopped watching. Because of the endless amount of material needed to keep a series running for twenty three years, they have to resort to outlandish plots and endless cameos to stay interesting. The best episodes, ... definitely have some absurd elements but they're all firmly grounded in a fairly real world of Springfield, USA and its colorful cast of characters. I'd like to see more of that. I miss them."
The cultural references featured in the episode have attracted both criticism and praise. The parody of Next Media Animation has been commended by several reviewers. Hayden Childs 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...
commented that the episode "features a couple of quite funny sight gags, like the fresco
Fresco
Fresco is any of several related mural painting types, executed on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Greek word affresca which derives from the Latin word for "fresh". Frescoes first developed in the ancient world and continued to be popular through the Renaissance...
on Moe's ceiling and the delightful Taiwanese dramatization of certain events", but further wrote that the "rest of the jokes and references clang away without being too funny or too insulting, and that is probably the best that any viewers can ask of The Simpsons in its advanced age." Television Blend's Steve West commented that the episode was the worst of the Animation Domination lineup that week and further elaborated that the cultural references "are always a year behind, and the smart writers who used classic American culture to bring wit to the series have been replaced by those who want to mimic South Park
South Park
South Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become famous for its crude language, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...
and Family Guy. They fail miserably, and it's gotten so bad that I now no longer care about the relationship between Marge and Homer."
Matt Roush of TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
wrote more positively about the episode, noting that "Fox's eternal The Simpsons kicks off a night of all-new animation, welcoming Kiefer Sutherland in a very clever guest role as a security guard trying without much success to escape his violent past. A nod to Taiwanese animation is just one of the highlights in this homage to 24-style mayhem." Similarly, Umika Pidaparthy of CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
's The Marquee Blog commented that "there were a lot of light laughs in this episode, like when Wayne walks through the Ukrainian part of Springfield (Tsarbucks, anyone?). Pop culture references like the Taiwanese animation of the robbery were hilarious. I was disappointed, though, to see that Marge's daydream about being on Top Chef didn't become a side story." Mike Hughes of the Lansing State Journal
Lansing State Journal
The Lansing State Journal is a daily newspaper published in Lansing, Michigan owned by Gannett.-Overview:The Lansing State Journal is the sole daily newspaper published in metropolitan Lansing...
commented that the episode was "inconsistent, but [had] great moments", and that it was "much better than Fox's other season-openers" that premiered on the same day.