'The Old Man and the Lisa' is the twenty-first episode of The Simpsons' eighth season. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 20, 1997.^[2] In the episode, Mr. Burns goes bankrupt and asks Lisa to help him get rich again. She agrees on the condition that he change his evil ways. They earn money by recycling cans and soon Burns has enough money to start his own recycling plant. Lisa is aghast when she learns the plant makes a slurry from liquefied sea creatures. When Burns sells the plant to a company which makes fish sticks, he offers Lisa 10 percent of his profits, but she declines for ethical reasons.

Burns Manor has 137 rooms and at least three floors visible from the exterior (not including the basement or attic). Game Appearances. In The Simpsons: Hit and Run, the mansion's size is exaggerated and out of proportion, with the only room accessible is Mr. Burns' office only in Level 4. However, in both Level 1 and 4, the back of the mansion.

The episode was directed by Mark Kirkland and written by John Swartzwelder. The writing staff had thought about an episode in which Mr. Burns would lose his money and would have to interact with the outside world. In DVD commentary, the writers explained that while Mr. Burns tried to change, he 'couldn't help being himself'.^[3] Professional wrestler Bret Hart made a cameo as himself, animated in his pink wrestling outfit. 'The Old Man and the Lisa' contains cultural references to the television series That Girl and the film Invasion of the Body Snatchers. It was positively received by critics and won the Environmental Media Award for 'TV Episodic Comedy'.

Plot[edit]

Lisa collects recyclables to earn money for the Junior Achievers Club school trip to Albany. Mr. Burns speaks to the club at Springfield Elementary School, scoffing when Lisa suggests his nuclear power plant start a recycling program. When Burns boasts that he would not be filthy rich if he listened to nature lovers like her, Lisa counters that his net worth is only half what he claims. When pressed, Smithers reluctantly tells Burns he has even considerably less money than that.

Burns soon realizes he is nearly broke because his sycophantic advisers tell him only what he wants to hear. He is oblivious to the 1929 stock market crash, neglecting to check his stock ticker since September 1929. He aggressively invests in blue chip stocks, but makes bad investments and goes bankrupt. The bank forecloses on the plant — putting Lenny in charge — and sells his mansion to pro wrestler Bret Hart.^[1]

Burns moves in with Smithers and insists on doing his grocery shopping. At the supermarket he is confused by the difference between ketchup and catsup, so the grocer commits him to the Springfield Retirement Castle. He sees Lisa again at the nursing home and begs her to help rebuild his empire. She agrees to help him earn money by recycling after he promises to change his evil ways.

Burns grabs every can he finds, eventually earning enough money to open his own recycling plant. He gives Lisa a tour of the plant, showing her the Burns Omni-Net — millions of six-pack holders fastened together to catch fish and sea creatures to make Li'l Lisa's Patented Animal Slurry. Lisa, a vegetarian and animal rights supporter, realizes he has not changed; when he tries to be good, he is even more evil. Lisa runs through the streets, trying to stop seemingly brainwashed citizens from recycling.

Later Burns tells Lisa that he has sold the recycling plant to a fish stick company for US$120 million, 10 percent of which is hers. Lisa refuses the money and rips up the check. This causes Homer to have four simultaneous heart attacks. At the hospital, Lisa apologizes to her dad for forfeiting the money. When he tells her that $12,000 would have been a godsend, Lisa tells him 10 percent of $120 million is actually $12 million. The hospital's public address system announces a code blue, indicating Homer has suffered cardiac arrest.^[4][5][6]

Production[edit]

The episode was based on a story idea pitched by David X. Cohen,^[7] although it was written by John Swartzwelder, who had written many of the Simpsons episodes that have environmental themes.^[3] This habit led to him being called the 'conscience of the staff'^[8] despite being a 'self declared anti-environmentalist.'^[9] It was because of this that he was given such episodes, because the staff felt that he would give them just the right amount of sarcasm.^[7] In the original script for the episode, he described the recycling center as 'a couple of hippies surrounded by garbage'.^[8] Two alternate original titles for the episode were Cohen's 'Lisa and Burns' and Swartzwelder's 'Burns Goes Broke'.^[7]

The writers had wanted an episode where Burns becomes bankrupt and shows what Burns would be like as a person in the real world.^[3] The idea with the recycling plant was that Burns did not have any sort of evil plan, he just could not help being himself.^[3] Burns really was trying to change and this was reflected in the end when he tried to give Lisa her share of the profits, with Lisa refusing.^[10] Burns was drawn without his trademark scowl for this episode.^[10] The staff joked about this being a suitable series finale, due to the episode ending with Homer suffering from another heart attack after Lisa tells Homer what 10% of Burns' $120,000,000 ('��')check really is.^[9]

Professional wrestlerBret Hart guest starred in the episode as himself, and he was very insistent that he be shown wearing his pink wrestling outfit.^[10] He explained that 'It's so cool to be part of a show that makes people laugh really, really hard.'^[11] The media, aware that the animated Hart would want to purchase Mr. Burns' home, mistakenly anticipated that 'Bret offers to wrestle him [Mr. Burns] for the place.'^[12] In a 2009 interview with the A.V. Club's Dave Hofer, Hart explained that the reason why his animated counterpart sounds nothing like him was that initially, he was brought in to voice a generic wrestler. When Mark Kirkland realised how famous Hart actually was, he told Hart that if the artwork had not been started yet, he would be drawn in as himself.^[13] Later, Hart moved on to do voice work on the animated television series Jacob Two-Two. The press noted that at that time Hart was 'no stranger to cartoon-land,' having been 'immortalized' by 'The Old Man and the Lisa'.^[14]

Cultural references[edit]

Mr. Burns's walk through the supermarket was based on a false rumor that George H. W. Bush visited a store and was confused by the scanner and, in the original draft for the episode, Burns met Bush while shopping there.^[3] When bidding farewell to the hippie, Mr. Burns says 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond', a reference to the Pink Floyd song of the same name. The hippie responds by saying that Burns needs to stop living in the past. The voice of the hippie is based on the character played by Dennis Hopper in Apocalypse Now.^[15] 'Achy Breaky Heart', a song by Billy Ray Cyrus, is played at the old folks' home.^[1] The scene where Mr. Burns chases Lisa through the town is a spoof of the opening to the television series That Girl.^[3] The scene where Lisa runs through the streets proclaiming recycling as evil, spoofs the finales of Soylent Green and the original version of The Invasion of the Body Snatchers.^[6]

Reception[edit]

In its original broadcast, 'The Old Man and the Lisa' finished 38th in ratings for the week of April 14–20, 1997, with a Nielsen rating of 8.3, equivalent to approximately 8.1 million viewing households. It was tied along with King of the Hill as the third highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, following The X-files and Melrose Place.^[16]

'The Old Man and the Lisa' received the 1997 Environmental Media Award in the 'TV Episodic Comedy' category.^[17][18]

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 odd episode with a not-too-unexpected outcome. The best bits are undoubtedly Burns learning his way around a supermarket and Lisa's realisation of what Burns has been up to.'^[1]

References[edit]

1. ^ ^abcdef'The Old Man and the Lisa'. BBC.co.uk. Retrieved 2007-04-13.
2. ^ ^abc'The Old Man and the Lisa'. The Simpsons.com. Retrieved 2011-09-21.
3. ^ ^abcdefWeinstein, Josh (2006). The Simpsons season 8 DVD commentary for the episode 'The Old Man and the Lisa' (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
4. ^Haig, Scott (2006-06-08). 'The Mystery of the Double Cardiac Arrest'. Time. Retrieved 2011-09-02.
5. ^Martyn, Warren; Adrian Wood (2000). I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide. Virgin Books. ISBN0-7535-0495-2.
6. ^ ^abGroening, Matt (1997). Richmond, Ray; Coffman, Antonia (eds.). The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to Our Favorite Family (1st ed.). New York: HarperPerennial. p. 236. ISBN978-0-06-095252-5. LCCN98141857. OCLC37796735. OL433519M..
7. ^ ^abcCohen, David X. (2006). The Simpsons season 8 DVD commentary for the episode 'The Old Man and the Lisa' (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
8. ^ ^abMeyer, George (2006). The Simpsons season 8 DVD commentary for the episode 'The Old Man and the Lisa' (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
9. ^ ^abGroening, Matt (2006). The Simpsons season 8 DVD commentary for the episode 'The Old Man and the Lisa' (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
10. ^ ^abcKirkland, Mark (2006). The Simpsons season 8 DVD commentary for the episode 'The Old Man and the Lisa' (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
11. ^Cam Hutchinson, 'Doran Johnson given brushoff again,' Star-Phoenix, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan: April 19, 1997, p. B.4.
12. ^James Muretich, 'Worth Watching,' Calgary Herald, August 31, 1998, p. B.8.
13. ^Hofer, Dave (September 19, 2009). 'Bret 'The Hitman' Hart sounds off on wrestling's bad rap'. The A.V. Club. Retrieved May 30, 2017.
14. ^Heath McCoy, 'Former wrestler Bret Hart to play the Hooded Fang,' National Post, August 28, 2003, p. AL.5.
15. ^Castellaneta, Dan (2006). The Simpsons season 8 DVD commentary for the episode 'The Old Man and the Lisa' (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
16. ^Associated Press (April 24, 1997). 'NBC lands on top of a hill of reruns'. Sun-Sentinel. p. 4E.
17. ^Harris, Dana (1997-11-04). 'EMA honors for Home, Travolta'. The Hollywood Reporter.
18. ^Martinez, Judy (1997-09-30). 'Environmental Media Award Nominations In; Home Improvement Singled Out'. City News Service.

External links[edit]

• 'The Old Man and the Lisa' at The Simpsons.com
• 'The Old Man and the Lisa episode capsule'. The Simpsons Archive.
• 'The Old Man and the Lisa' on IMDb
• 'The Old Man and the Lisa' at TV.com

'A Hunka Hunka Burns in Love' is the fourth episode of The Simpsons’ thirteenth season. It first aired on the Fox network on December 2, 2001. In the episode, Mr. Burns falls in love with Gloria, a woman who is much younger than he is and who turns out to be Snake Jailbird's ex-girlfriend.

The episode was written by John Swartzwelder, directed by Lance Kramer and dedicated to the memory of George Harrison. The episode featured, along with George Takei as a waiter and Karl Wiedergott as a delivery boy, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who appeared as Mr Burns' love interest Gloria.

The episode received positive reviews from critics following the thirteenth season's release on DVD and Blu-ray.

Plot[edit]

The Simpsons visit a Chinese restaurant, where Homer is hired to write Chinese fortune cookies after complaining that the current fortunes are unimaginative. One of his fortunes says 'You will find true love on Flag Day'. This cookie makes its way to Mr. Burns on, coincidentally, Flag Day. Eager for true love at last, Burns and a reluctant Smithers spend the evening womanising at a wealthy social gathering and a strip club. With mere minutes left in the day, Burns finds a cop ticketing his car, which he had parked in the middle of the road. After discovering the cop is a beautiful woman named Gloria (voiced by Julia Louis-Dreyfus), Burns asks her out on a date. Gloria warily accepts, much to Burns' delight and Smithers' chagrin.

After a pleasant first date at the carnival, Burns asks about another date but Gloria is about to turn him down when Homer runs by. Burns asks Homer to vouch for him to Gloria, so Homer regales her by listing Burns' many exploits. After Gloria agrees to a second date, Burns enlists Homer to be his 'youthful advisor', accompanying the couple on their next date at the disco hall, and even carrying Burns and Gloria up the stairs when they go to have sex. In these cases, Burns overcomes his weakness and extreme age by means of a powerful aphrodisiac (made from an extract of the 'pocket fox', a species which only existed for three weeks in the 16th century).

Eventually, during a date at the bowling alley, Burns decides to ask Gloria to marry him. She says yes. As Burns goes off to get some champagne to celebrate, Snake comes to rob the bowling alley, and is surprised to see Gloria, who turns out to be his ex-girlfriend. Despite Gloria's protests, Snake kidnaps her and Homer. When Burns finds Gloria's ring, dropped in the commotion, he assumes she ran off with Homer. Snake takes Gloria and Homer to his hideout. Though Gloria says she loves Burns, Snake vows he can change. The police arrive and confront Snake. Homer tries to escape but instead sets Snake's house on fire. Snake and Homer get out and Burns runs in to save Gloria, however he is soon overcome by the smoke and Gloria is then seen carrying him to safety. Although initially grateful, Gloria begins to reminisce about Snake, causing her to break up with Burns and become Snake's girl again.

Production[edit]

'A Hunka Hunka Burns in Love' was written by John Swartzwelder while Lance Kramer served as director.^[1] It first aired in the United States on December 2, 2001 on the Fox network.^[1]

Writing[edit]

Mike Scully, who worked as an executive producer and show runner for the episode, stated in the episode's DVD audio commentary that the first thing the writers tried to think of while writing the episode was how the Simpson family would fit into the story.^[1] In the episode's first draft, Gloria worked as a food truck driver; however, this was later changed so that she instead worked as a police lady.^[2] Scully also stated that, in the scene after Homer carries Burns and Gloria up the stairs, there were originally a lot of jokes about Homer 'taking care of business' for Burns; however, the staff decided to leave it out since it would make Homer 'unlikable.'^[1] In the episode, Snake Jailbird's mailbox reads 'Snake (Jailbird)' which is a reference to a debate that the writers had over whether Snake's mailbox would read 'Snake' or 'Jailbird'.^[3] Originally, the episode would end with Burns taking the 'pocket fox' extract, however when seeing the animatic, the writers felt that that ending would be 'too slow', so they changed it into Gloria falling in love with Snake again.^[3]

Animation[edit]

On the DVD audio commentary for the episode, Kramer stated that there was an issue over which color to paint the fortunes with.^[4] Kramer wanted the fortunes to be white while one of his co-workers suggested they should be pink.^[4] Kramer stated that the co-worker had been to a Chinese restaurant close to the studio that had pink fortunes, and that 'that's why she [colored the fortunes pink].'^[4] The animators also found it difficult to draw Mr Burns happy.^[4] Kramer stated that Burns was 'designed to look like a vulture' and look 'evil all the time', so in order to make Burns look happy and more sympathetic, the animators had to change some things in Burns' regular model.^[4] For example, Burns' eyebrows are not visible through the majority of the episode.^[4] The scene with Mr Burns and Gloria on the Ferris wheel was difficult to animate as well, since the animators had to 'keep everything moving to sell it.'^[4] In the scene in which Snake's house is burning down, the animators chose to color the sky red, in order to reflect the fire as well as make the scene 'a little more exciting.'^[4]

Casting[edit]

Julia Louis-Dreyfus guest-starred as Gloria in the episode.^[3] In the DVD audio commentary for the episode, current show runner Al Jean stated that working with Louis-Dreyfus was 'an absolute pleasure', stating that 'not only was she funny but you'd give her, like, one suggestion, and she'd do three great things with it.'^[3] The waiter in the Chinese restaurant was portrayed by actor George Takei.^[1]Dan Castellaneta, who plays Homer among several characters on the show, supplied the voice for Woody Allen, who is seen in a writing room for fortune cookies, wondering what he's doing there.^[5] The delivery boy was portrayed by Karl Wiedergott, a voice actor who usually fill in for the male actors on The Simpsons when they are not available for the table read.^[3] Jean described him as 'versatile' and 'very talented'.^[3]

Release[edit]

Following the release of thirteenth season of The Simpsons on DVD and Blu-ray on August 24, 2010, 'A Hunka Hunka Burns in Love' received positive reviews from critics.

Writing for Project:Blu, Nate Boss was favorable, describing it as 'A hilarious episode, with some fantastic one liners', and went on to say that the episode was 'so far the best in the season.'^[6]

Ron Martin of 411Mania was also positive towards the episode, writing 'The antics of Mr. Burns and Homer trying to woo a young police officer are at worst amusing, at most hilarious.'^[7] He wrote that Snake Jailbird was 'a welcome side character', and went on to write that the episode was the best of the first disc of The Simpsons' thirteenth season on DVD.^[7]

Jennifer Malkowski of DVD Verdict gave the episode a B+ rating, and wrote that the episodes highlights were 'Burns' reaction walking into a strip club' [sic] and 'a fortune cookie Homer writes, 'You will be aroused by a shampoo commercial'.'^[8]

Colin Jacobsson, writing for DVD Movie Guide, stated that, while it was not as good as the previous episode, 'Homer the Moe', 'A Hunka Hunka Burns in Love' still 'offers a reasonably solid episode'.^[9] He liked the parts related to the fortune cookies, and stated that “Burns' attempts to woo a much younger woman fare pretty well”.^[9] He concluded his review by saying that “enough smiles and snickers emerge to make this an enjoyable show”.^[9]

Obsessed With Film's Adam Rayner, in his review of The Simpsons' thirteenth season, wrote that Julia Louis Dreyfus's appearance in the episode was 'arguably the best [cameo] of the season'.^[10]

References[edit]

1. ^ ^abcdeScully, Mike (2010). The Simpsons season 13 DVD commentary for the episode 'A Hunka Hunka Burns in Love' (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
2. ^Selman, Matt (2010). The Simpsons season 13 DVD commentary for the episode 'A Hunka Hunka Burns in Love' (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
3. ^ ^abcdefJean, Al (2010). The Simpsons season 13 DVD commentary for the episode 'A Hunka Hunka Burns in Love' (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
4. ^ ^abcdefghKramer, Lance (2010). The Simpsons season 13 DVD commentary for the episode 'A Hunka Hunka Burns in Love' (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
5. ^Maxtone-Graham, Ian (2010). The Simpsons season 13 DVD commentary for the episode 'A Hunka Hunka Burns in Love' (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
6. ^Boss, Nate (September 8, 2010). 'The Simpsons: The Thirteenth Season'. Project-Blu. Archived from the original on June 22, 2011. Retrieved December 25, 2010.
7. ^ ^abMartin, Ron (September 15, 2010). 'The Simpsons Season 13 DVD Review'. 411Mania. Retrieved December 25, 2010.
8. ^Malkowski, Jennifer (September 6, 2010). 'The Simpsons: The Complete Thirteenth Season (Blu-Ray)'. DVD Verdict. Archived from the original on December 9, 2011. Retrieved December 25, 2010.
9. ^ ^abcJacobson, Colin (September 2, 2010). 'The Simpsons: The Complete Thirteenth Season [Blu-Ray] (2001)'. DVD Movie Guide. Archived from the original on 15 December 2010. Retrieved December 25, 2010.
10. ^Rayner, Adam (September 20, 2010). 'DVD Review: THE SIMPSONS SEASON 13'. Obsessed With Film. Archived from the original on November 26, 2010. Retrieved December 25, 2010.

External links[edit]

Simpsons Wrestling Mr Burns Movie

• 'A Hunka Hunka Burns in Love' at The Simpsons.com
• 'A Hunka Hunka Burns in Love' on IMDb
• 'A Hunka Hunka Burns in Love' at TV.com
• 'A Hunka Hunka Burns in Love episode capsule'. The Simpsons Archive.

Simpsons Wrestling Mr Burns Video