Homer Simpson, This Is Your Wife
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"Homer Simpson, This is Your Wife" is an episode of The Simpsons, that aired on March 26, 2006. It is the fifteenth episode of the show's seventeenth season. Ricky Gervais wrote the episode, making him the first guest star to ever be credited with writing an episode of The Simpsons.
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[edit] Synopsis
Lenny invites practically everyone in town to a party at his apartment, where he tells them that he is dying to tell them that he has adopted a new faith in the form of a brand new plasma screen TV, and Homer immediately falls in love with its high-definition picture. He begins to spend all his time at Lenny's house, watching TV. Marge sends over the kids to bring him back, but they too get enthralled by the TV. Eventually, Lenny kicks him out. When he gets back home, he just doesn't enjoy watching his usual TV anymore. Marge tells him that she entered them into a contest where the prize is a plasma screen TV. Later, they get a call, and they learn that they won third place as opposed to first ("No. No one wins that."), and the prize is a trip to the Fox Studio Network (no expenses paid). While there, Homer learns of a reality show called "Mother Flippers" (similar to Wife Swap and Trading Spouses), and the grand prize just happens to be enough money to buy a new plasma screen TV. Marge agrees, although with reluctance, and they enter.
When they get back to Springfield, the show begins. Marge is traded to a nice, easy going man named Charles Heathbar and his perfect son, while Homer gets Charles' very strict wife, Verity. Charles seems to be the classic hen-pecked husband, and is surprised to see that Marge is extremely understanding and nice. Marge enjoys her time with Charles, while he begins to develop a crush on her. Meanwhile, Homer, Bart, and Lisa are having troubles with Verity, who continues to discipline them and object to everything they do. She makes homework out of "Itchy and Scratchy" for Bart and asks Homer for his "synopsis" of CSI: Miami.
Back at Charles' house, he writes a love song for Marge (with guitar accompaniment), who seems completely oblivious to him until he comes out and tells her that he's in love with her. She explains to him that she loves Homer, and she tells him that he should tell his wife how he feels. He agrees, and decides to take her back to Homer and then get rid of Verity. When they get back to Springfield, Homer and the kids are ecstatic to see Marge. However, Verity has decided to leave him first, and she has already found a new partner: Patty. Apparently, they both hate Homer equally. Homer threatens to vote No on Proposition 38 (for adoption by same-sex couples), but a little arm-twisting by Patty brings him in line and makes him admit that he doesn't vote because the booth is up a slope.
In the end, Homer plays on the guitar, serenading his true love, his new plasma TV (and Marge, too).
[edit] Trivia
- In a December 2004 BBC article, Gervais called writing The Simpsons episode "the most intimidating project of my career", describing The Simpsons as "the greatest TV show of all time." Later, in a joint interview for Dazed and Confused magazine with Christopher Guest (January 2006), he revealed the extent of his script input: "No, all I did was put a down a load of observations on an email and they made it look like a Simpsons script. I'm going to get the credit, but I think everyone in the industry knows it was a joint effort."
- This episode featured a live-action opening sequence. The live-action couch gag was not shown on some channels in Canada with the original airing for unspecified reasons. This was taken directly from a Sky One promotion, with the only alteration (in right-driving countries) being a mirrored flip of the scene where Marge and Maggie are driving the car, to show Marge driving on the left side, unlike in the UK. The original can be seen here. It was filmed in Orpington, Kent, near London. A previous live action sequence took place in the Homer3 segment of Treehouse of Horror VI.
- A theatrical version of The Phantom of the Opera is playing on Lenny's plasma TV during his party.
- Possibly due to the episode's storyline, Sky's high-definition service SkyHD was promoted twice during the first UK transmission, before the episode started and before the 'apology' mentioned above. The first advert in the commercial break was also for a high-definition television. Private Eye magazine in particular criticised this as an example of product placement on the part of Sky, and speculated as to how much Gervais was paid for writing it into the storyline.
- This episode was promoted heavily in the UK, even making the cover of the Radio Times. According to highly-biased sources, it apparently holds the record for the highest rated Simpsons episode ever shown on Sky One, getting 2.301 million viewers, beating the previous record of 1.65 million set by "Skinner's Sense of Snow" in 2001.
- Despite the publicity angle (Gervais as sole writer), the episode is filled with references that UK audiences will not automatically be familiar with, such as Ryan Seacrest, Notre Dame football, and ABC.
- Network Ten had not obtained the rights to air the live action opening, therefore the animated opening was used when the episode premiered on Australian television in July.
[edit] Cultural references
- The title is most likely a reference to the television series This Is Your Life. Also derived from this older series, the song The Diary of Horace Wimp by Electric Light Orchestra has a repeated phrase, "Horace Wimp, this is your life". In the last verse of the song, it is changed to "Horace Wimp, this is your wife".
- The character Charles appears to be based on Gervais' character David Brent from the British version of The Office. He is constantly fidgeting with his tie, says that he is the manager of an office, and like Brent, appears to be a very inept one. Charles also tells an offensive joke to Marge and plays guitar. He is, however, somewhat more likeable than Brent.
- Homer collects all 40 years of the comic strip The Family Circus, and then throws it in the fire.
- The shot of Charles standing in front of the fire while singing about Princess Di echoes the famous and controversial photo of her by John Minihan where she is standing in a school garden with the sun behind her, revealing the outline of her legs through her skirt.
- After he has told to Marge a story, Charles is said to be a natural born storyteller. He thanks Marge for having been called in that way and for having not been called a natural born killer. This is a reference to the 1994 film Natural Born Killers by Oliver Stone.
[edit] External links
- Gervais writing Simpsons episode, a December 2004 BBC article
- Storyboard images from the writer's official website
