" $ pringfield ", also known as " $ pringfield ", is the tenth episode of The Simpsons ' fifth season. It was originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on December 16, 1993. In the episode, Springfield decided to legalize gambling to revitalize its economy. A casino belongs to Mr. Burns made and Homer got a job as a blackjack dealer. Meanwhile, Marge develops gambling addiction, Bart starts his own casino, and Burns develops a strange personality in Howard Hughes parody.
This episode was written by Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein, and directed by Wes Archer. Gerry Cooney and Robert Goulet became guest stars as themselves. This episode features cultural references for films Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Anxiety and Bomb Love, The Wizard of Oz , Rain Man , and 2001: A Space Odyssey . Since airing, this episode received mostly positive reviews from television critics. It earned Nielsen 11.7 rating, and was the highest show on the Fox network that week aired.
Video $pringfield (or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling)
Plot
The Springfield economy is declining, so Mayor Quimby listens to citizens' suggestions on how to improve it. Principal Skinner states that legalized gambling has helped to rejuvenate a damaged economy, and that can work for Springfield as well. Everyone, even Marge, liked the idea. Mr. Burns and Mayor Quimby worked together to build a casino, where Homer got a job as a blackjack dealer. The casino was designed by Mr. Burns himself, because the proposal he received was not what he wanted. While Marge waited for Homer's turn to end up in the casino, he found a quarter on the floor and used it to play the slot machine. He wins and soon becomes gambling addiction. Meanwhile, because Bart is too young to gamble at Mr. Casino. Burns, he started his own casino for his friends playing in his tree house, and cut Robert Goulet to perform there. Mr. Burns also grew even richer, but in the process became a hermit Howard Hughes, developed a deep fear of microscopic germs, urinated in jars, and used tissue boxes instead of shoes.
Because of his addiction, Marge spends every moment in the casino and ignores his family. For example, he forgot to help Lisa create a costume for her geography contest. Angry, Homer bursts into the casino and barges around looking for Marge. Security cameras captured the rage of Homer, and when Mr. Burns saw it, he dropped it back to his old job at the power station. After realizing how much he missed the plant, Mr. Burns decided to return. Homer confronts Marge with his behavior, and he finally realizes that he has a problem. Lisa won a special prize in the geography contest, because of Homer's poor costume design gave Lisa the appearance that she was doing the job alone. Ralph received the same prize, because his costume was just a note taped to his shirt that read "Idaho".
Maps $pringfield (or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling)
Production
This episode was written by Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein, and directed by Wes Archer. The story of this episode comes from a newspaper article that Oakley and Weinstein found out about a town in Mississippi that introduced river gambling. Oakley says another inspiration for it is that there are not many episodes about Springfield as a whole and how "crummy" the city is, so they fill the entire first half with scenes that show how "lousy" and "bleak" Springfield is. Oakley really likes the animation lights inside the casino on the slot machine and the lights on the ceiling. "The way they shine out" always surprised him. Archer, who directed the animated episodes, also thought the results were good. The lights were very difficult for them to animate at the time because the show was traditionally animated on cels, so Archer was happy with the results. The deleted scene of the episode shows cards related to Homer to James Bond. The staff liked the scene, so they decided to include it in the episode of "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular" episode.
There was a brief period when the episode had a different subplot that revolved around the Planet Hollywood restaurant chain. Groening has been told by a spokesman that if he puts Planet Hollywood on The Simpsons, the creators of the restaurant, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, and Sylvester Stallone, would agree to make guest appearances on the show. The authors of The Simpsons are so excited about this that they are writing a new subplot for an episode featuring Planet Hollywood and three actors. However, for unknown reasons, they can not appear in the episode. Instead, Gerry Cooney and Robert Goulet became guest stars as themselves. Executive producer David Mirkin enjoys directing Goulet because he's "a good sport" and has a "great sense of humor". Oakley thinks it's good that Goulet is willing to make fun of her in the episode, which at the time was rare for guest stars on The Simpsons. This episode featured the first appearances of Gunter and Ernst, the Siegfried and Roy-esque casino wizards who were attacked by their white tiger, Anastasia. Ten years after this episode first aired, Roy Horn was attacked by one of the duo's white tigers. The Simpsons production team dismissed the novelty of predictions by saying that it "is bound to happen" sooner or later. The Rich Texan also made his debut appearance in this episode, referred to as "Senator" by Homer.
Cultural reference
The title is a reference to the 1964 film Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Anxiety and Love Bombs, music composed by Laurie Johnson. Two songs, Happy-go-lively and Rue de la park can be heard in the News on Parade segment at the beginning of the episode. Burns' bed looks similar to that occupied by Keir Dullea character, Dave Bowman at the end of the 1968 film, 2001: A Space Odyssey . Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise appeared in the casino to re-enact their role from the 1988 movie Rain Man . Homer was impressed with the card counting ability of a man who resembled Raymond Babbitt, a Hoffman character in the film. The Krusty show at midnight was similar to Bill Cosby's 1971 album For Adults Only , which was recorded in a casino at midnight. Marge reminds Homer that his lifelong dream is to be a contestant on The Gong Show.
Paranoid Obsession Burns with germs and cleanliness, and his refusal to leave the room when the casino opens, parody of the American character Howard Hughes, who has obsessive-compulsive disorder, and has been involved in the casino business in his final years. "Spruce Moose", a very small wooden plane crafted by Burns in the episode, is a parody of the impractical Hughal wood field, which is roughly nicknamed "Spruce Goose". Homer parodied the scene in the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz when the Scarecrow showed his newly acquired intelligence by (wrongly) reciting the law governing the lengths of the equilateral triangle sides. Unlike in the film, one correctly indicates that the Pythagoras theorem that is read only applies to right triangles, not all triangles are same as legs.
Reception
In the original American broadcast, "$ pringfield" was ranked 35th for the week of December 13th to December 19th, 1993, with Nielsen Rating 11.7, which translates to 11 million households. The episode was the highest rated event on the Fox network that week.
Since airing, this episode received mostly positive reviews from television critics. Colin Jacobson of the DVD Movie Guide commented that "this remarkable episode includes a number of surprising concurrent plots, Homer also works in casinos and tries to care for families without Marge, which balances them deftly and gives great laughter along the way." Adam Suraf from Dunkirkma.net named it the third best episode of the season. He also praised the cultural references of the episode. The authors of this book Can I Believe It Is The New, Greater, Better Official Simpsons Guide Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, writes: "There is a beautiful nod to the previous episode in which Marge protested the citizens rough ideas at council meetings. A series of weird moments rather than a story - we especially liked the memory of Homer's photography and Mr. Burns' down into the madness - but very enjoyable. "Patrick Bromley from DVD Verdict gave this episode an A, and Bill Gibron of DVD Talk gave it a score of 4 out of 5. This episode is Sarah Culp from Quindecim's eleventh favorite episode of the show, and one of Les Winan's favorite episodes Box Office Prophets A scene from the episode where former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger met Burns was included in the 2002 documentary The Trials of Henry Kissinger.
References
External links
- "$ pringfield (Or, How I Learned Stop Worrying and Loving Official Gambling)" at The Simpsons.com
- "epsode capsule pringfield". Simpsons Archive .
- "$ pringfield" on TV.com
- "$ pringfield" in IMDb
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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