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"Stark Raving Dad" is the season premiere episode of The Simpsons' third season. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on September 19, 1991.[3] In the episode, Homer is forced to wear a pink shirt to work one day and is mistaken for a "free thinking anarchist" and sent to a mental institution. He shares a room with a large white man who acts as if he were Michael Jackson. Al Jean and Mike Reiss wrote the episode while Rich Moore served as director.[2] It was the final episode produced for the previous season and aired during the third season as a holdover. Michael Jackson guest stars as Leon Kompowsky's speaking voice, while his singing is provided by Kipp Lennon. For contractual reasons, Jackson was credited as John Jay Smith, and his role in the episode was not officially confirmed until later. Kompowsky was originally set to return in a second episode, except voiced by Prince, but the episode was never produced. During the January 30, 1992 rerun of the episode, a short alternate opening aired before the credits. The opening was produced in response to a comment made about The Simpsons by then-President of the United States George H. W. Bush.
[edit] PlotLisa wakes Bart up and reminds him that her birthday is coming up and that he neglects or forgets her birthday every year. Bart promises to get her the best present ever. Meanwhile, Bart washes his red hat with the white laundry, and Homer has no choice but to wear a pink shirt to work. As a result, Mr. Burns suspects Homer of being a "free thinking anarchist" and has him detained. Dr. Marvin Monroe administers a 20-question quiz that Homer has Bart fill out. The results cause Homer to be sent to a mental institution, where he shares a cell with a large white man who acts like he is Michael Jackson. Not knowing who Jackson is, Homer believes him. Marge comes to visit Homer and convinces his doctors that Bart is the primary cause of Homer's problems. Homer gets an official certificate that says he is not insane and Michael reveals that he is only in the hospital voluntarily. Homer calls and tells Bart that he is bringing Michael Jackson to stay for a few days. Against Homer's wishes, Bart lets the word out and all of Springfield turns out to see Michael Jackson. All the town's excitement is deflated when the faux Michael is revealed by Homer. Everyone is upset with Bart and leave just as Lisa comes out and she is upset when she realizes that Bart has yet again failed to acknowledge her birthday, due to finding out that Michael was coming. After hearing Lisa writing an angry letter to Bart, Michael convinces Bart to let him help. Together they write and perform a song specifically for Lisa's birthday called "Happy Birthday Lisa". Lisa is thrilled and hugs her brother, saying that he has given her the best present ever. Suddenly, Michael reveals that he is Leon Kompowsky, a brick-layer from Paterson, New Jersey. He explains that he does his Michael voice due to the fact he felt angry for the majority of his life and that he earned people's respect when he did the vocal impersonation. With his confidence renewed after composing a good song, he soon bids farewell to the Simpsons, singing Lisa's birthday song to himself as he strolls off down the road. [edit] Production "Stark Raving Dad" was the final episode in the season two production run, but aired as part of season three, over a year after it was completed.[4] Michael Jackson performed the speaking voice of Leon Kompowsky under the pseudonym of John Jay Smith. Jackson was a fan of the show,[5] and called Matt Groening one night and offered to do a guest spot.[6] The idea for the episode was pitched by James L. Brooks and the script was written by Al Jean and Mike Reiss.[4] In an early version of script, Homer decided to take Barney Gumble in for rehab, but whilst there Homer began acting crazily so the doctors assumed he was the one to be committed.[6] Jackson pitched several story ideas for the episode, including Bart telling everyone in town that Michael Jackson was coming to his house.[4] He also requested several script changes, including that he wanted to have a scene in which he and Bart wrote a song and asked that a joke about Prince be changed to one about Elvis Presley.[7]  According to executive producer Al Jean, Jackson would not commit to the episode until after a table read of the script was done.[8] The read-through of the script was held at Jackson's manager's house, and Dan Castellaneta was thirty minutes late. Jean recalls that "no one said a word, we just sat there waiting".[9] Following the table read, Jackson stipulated his conditions: he would record his speaking parts but not receive credit, and his singing voice would be performed by a sound-alike.[8][10] Leon Kompowsky's singing voice was performed by Kipp Lennon,[4] because Jackson wanted to play a joke on his brothers and fool them into thinking the impersonator was him.[10] Lennon recorded his lines at the same time as Michael Jackson, who found the impersonations hilarious.[4] Jackson showed up for the recording session alone and did not use the special trailer that was set up for him.[4] He was directed by James L. Brooks.[7] According to Al Jean, Jackson did record versions of the songs, and while there have been rumors that those tracks were the ones used in the final episode, Simpsons music editor Chris Ledesma says the Lennon versions were used.[7] Leon Kompowsky's normal speaking voice was recorded by Hank Azaria.[11] Jackson was a huge fan of Bart and,[12] wanting to give him a number one single, co-wrote the song "Do the Bartman" although he did not receive credit for it.[10] Jackson also wrote the song "Happy Birthday Lisa" for the episode, which was later included in the album Songs in the Key of Springfield.[7] A version of the song was reportedly scheduled to be included on a bonus disk in the October 2001 special edition of Jackson's 1991 album Dangerous. However, the bonus disk was eventually dropped from the album.[13] The producers of the show were legally prevented from confirming Jackson guest starred at the time, although many media sources assumed it was really him.[14][15][16][17] After this episode the producers decided that if a celebrity wished to guest star on the show, they had to be willing to be credited under their real name and not a pseudonym.[18] Michael Jackson died on June 25, 2009 and Fox re-aired the episode on July 5 as a tribute to the singer, replacing a rerun of the season 20 episode "Mypods and Boomsticks".[19] The producers had intended to air the episode on June 28, 2009, three days after Jackson's death, but could not resolve issues with syndication rights in time. The music video for "Do the Bartman" was aired on that date instead.[20] The producers screened the episode first, and the only change made, which was unrelated to Jackson, was the blurring of a phone number.[8] [edit] Alternate openingThe January 30, 1992 rerun of the episode featured a brief alternate opening, which was written in response to a comment made by then-President of the United States George H. W. Bush. The show had previously had a "feud" with Barbara Bush when, in the October 1, 1990 edition of People, she called The Simpsons "the dumbest thing [she] had ever seen".[21] The writers decided to respond by privately sending a polite letter to Bush in which they posed as Marge Simpson. Bush immediately sent a reply in which she apologized. Later, on January 27, 1992 George H. W. Bush made a speech during his re-election campaign which included the statement "we are going to keep on trying to strengthen the American family, to make American families a lot more like the Waltons and a lot less like the Simpsons." At that point, family values were the cornerstone of Bush's campaign platform.[22] The writers decided that they wanted to respond quickly like Barbara Bush had to them, and decided to add a response to the next broadcast of The Simpsons, which was a rerun of "Stark Raving Dad" on January 30. The broadcast included a new tongue-in-cheek opening. The scene begins in the Simpsons' living room. They all stare at the TV, watching Bush's speech. When Bush says "to make American families a lot more like the Waltons and a lot less like the Simpsons", Bart replies, "Hey, we're just like the Waltons. We're praying for an end to the Depression, too."[23][24] This opening can be found on the Season 4 DVD boxset. [edit] Unproduced sequelA year after the episode aired, the writers decided to make a sequel where Leon Kompowsky returns, thinking he is the musician Prince.[4] According to Mike Reiss, the plot of the episode, which was written by some freelance writers and polished by Conan O'Brien,[4] saw Kompowsky/Prince manage to get everyone in the town to "loosen up, become more flamboyant and become more sexually open."[4] The script was sent to Prince who agreed to voice the character and sent back a page of notes about what he would be wearing in various scenes. The writers were confused when the notes did not correspond to the script and they discovered that Prince was referring to a script that was written by someone else.[25] Prince hated the writers' script and demanded the other one be made into an episode, but the writers did not like it.[4] The episode eventually fell through and never made it past written form. It became one of the few completed scripts to never be produced.[4] [edit] Cultural referencesMany of the scenes in the hospital are references to the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, including the character Chief. Floyd from Rain Man also appears at the rest home.[2] Homer watches America's Funniest Home Videos where the three nominated clips are all extremely over the top violent.[4] Kompowsky mentions several things which made Jackson famous, including Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever, Beat it and "Thriller".[7] He also sings portions of the songs "Billie Jean" and "Ben" and performs the moonwalk.[26] When Homer starts mumbling in his sleep, Michael tells his stuffed animal: "Bubbles, it's going to be a long night." Bubbles is the name of Michael Jackson's chimpanzee. Michael says he was upset when his Off the Wall album only received one Grammy Award nomination; the writers had read that the real Jackson was genuinely upset.[7] [edit] ReceptionOn its original airing on the Fox Network, the episode had a 13.9 Nielsen rating and 23% share and finished the week ranked 33rd.[27] It finished second in its timeslot behind The Cosby Show, which finished eighth with an 18.6 rating and 31% share. It was the second highest rated show on Fox behind Married... with Children.[28] Executive producer Al Jean listed the scene where Bart and Michael sing "Happy Birthday Lisa" as one of his five favorite moments from The Simpsons.[29] Mike Reiss, in a secret Easter Egg DVD commentary, noted that Jackson is "not a terrific actor [...] but he did fine."[4] In 2006, Michael Jackson was named the fifth best Simpsons guest star by IGN.[30] Robert Canning of IGN called it "a solid, funny and touching episode" and described Jackson's performance as "heartfelt yet self-parodying."[31] Josh Levin of Slate wrote that "The greatness of 'Stark Raving Dad' has a lot more to do with the The Simpsons' writing staff than with Jackson's voice-over talents. The show's scripters came up with a plot device far more ingenious than simply dropping the singer into Springfield."[32] Tom Ganjamie of Best Week Ever called Jackson's guest appearance the "cleverest [...] ever on The Simpsons."[33] TV Squad's Mike Moody said the episode's "sweetest moment" is at the end when Michael and Bart perform the birthday song for Lisa.[34] David Germain of the Associated Press called Jackson's appearance in the episode one of the "most-memorable performances" of his acting career.[35] The reaction to the song "Happy Birthday Lisa" is mixed. Ben Rayner of the Toronto Star listed "Stark Raving Dad" as one of the three worst episodes of The Simpsons and called the song a "crap tune".[36] Chris Selley of Maclean's magazine called the episode "an unbearably sappy episode, and that birthday song for Lisa is just... bad."[37] Dave Walker of the Times-Picayune listed the episode as one of Michael Jackson's "many memorable TV moments" and called "Happy Birthday Lisa" "unforgettable".[38] [edit] Notes
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