| "Brush with Greatness" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| The Simpsons episode | |||
| Episodeno. | Season 2 Episode 18 | ||
| Directed by | Jim Reardon | ||
| Written by | Brian K. Roberts | ||
| Production code | 7F18 | ||
| Original air date | April 11, 1991 (1991-04-11) | ||
| Guest appearances | |||
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| Episode features | |||
| Chalkboard gag | "I will not hide behind theFifth Amendment"[1] | ||
| Couch gag | The couch tips over with the family sitting on it andMaggie sits in its place.[2] | ||
| Commentary | Matt Groening Brian K. Roberts Al Jean Jim Reardon | ||
| Episode chronology | |||
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| The Simpsonsseason 2 | |||
| List of episodes | |||
"Brush with Greatness" is the eighteenth episode of thesecond season of the American animated television seriesThe Simpsons. It originally aired onFox in the United States on April 11, 1991. In the episode,Marge enrolls in anart class afterLisa encourages her to revive her former interest inpainting. When she wins first prize in a local art competition for a portrait ofHomer on the couch in his underwear,Mr. Burns commissions her to paint his portrait. In the subplot, Homer is determined to lose weight after getting stuck in a water slide at an amusement park.
The episode was written byBrian K. Roberts and directed byJim Reardon.Beatles memberRingo Starr guest starred as himself, whileJon Lovitz starred as Marge's art teacher, Professor Lombardo. The episode features cultural references to films such asRocky andGone with the Wind.
Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics, who praised its central focus on Marge, as well as Starr's role. It acquired aNielsen rating of 12.0 and was the second highest-rated show on Fox the week it aired.
After being pestered by Bart and Lisa, Homer reluctantly takesthe Simpsons to the Mount Splashmore water park. The park's rescue crew is forced to close the water slide ride afterHomer gets stuck inside, where the blocked section is craned off to be rescued. That night, the news media poke fun at Homer's massive size during their coverage of his mishap at the water park.
After learning that he weighs 260 pounds (120 kg), Homer vows to go on a diet and get more exercise. While Homer is looking for his weights in the attic,Bart stumbles upon several old paintings of the drummerRingo Starr thatMarge had made as a high school student. Marge reveals she was scolded by her art teacher for painting Starr, on whom she had a crush. She sent a painting to Starr for his "honest opinion", but she never got a response back. AfterLisa suggests that Marge take a painting class atSpringfield Community College, she paints Homer asleep on the couch in his underwear, earning praise from her teacher, Professor Lombardo. The painting wins the college art show, earning Marge fame and newspaper headlines.
Mr. Burns asks Marge to paint his portrait for a new wing of the Springfield Art Museum. Marge agrees, although she resists Homer's plea to paint Burns as a beautiful man. While Burns is taking a shower at the Simpsons' house, Marge inadvertently sees him naked. Homer finds he has lost 21 pounds from his exercise regimen and now weighs 239 pounds (108 kg). After Burns disparages Homer's weight and his daughters, Lisa andMaggie, Marge throws Burns out of the house. She is ready to quit until she receives a response from Starr, who, though decades late, praises her portrait of him. Homer encourages Marge to finish the painting.
Marge's painting of a naked, frail and weak Burns is unveiled at the opening of the museum wing, much to the shock of both Burns and the crowd, causingSmithers to faint. She explains that the portrait shows that behind all of Burns' evil, he is a frail and vulnerable human being who is by extension just as beautiful as any other living creature in the world. With that in mind, the crowd praises Marge's portrait; even an impressed Burns does the same before thanking Marge for a job well done.
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Al Jean andMike Reiss originally pitched the idea of Marge taking an art class and churning out depressing paintings, with the family realizing she was secretly unhappy.[3]James L. Brooks took that pitch and came up with the Burns commission plot as well as the idea she would paint him as frail and naked.[3] The script was written byBrian K. Roberts and directed byJim Reardon. Prior to writing the episode, Roberts had been an audio and visual editor on the show.[4] Musician Ringo Starr made a guest appearance in the episode as himself. He was the firstBeatle to appear on the show; bothGeorge Harrison andPaul McCartney would later guest star in the season five episode "Homer's Barbershop Quartet" and the season seven episode "Lisa the Vegetarian" respectively. When the story of Marge's having a crush on Starr was pitched out, Roberts took the opportunity to write Starr into the script because he had always wanted to meet a Beatle. He then sent the script to Starr, who was then in southern France. Starr agreed to do the guest appearance after reading only two lines, and he told Roberts he would be able to do it when he visited Los Angeles a few weeks later. The staff was thrilled, and they immediately decided to expand his role.[4][5] When Ringo arrived to record and saw the part was longer, he told the staff, “you’ve written me a bloody novel.”[6]The Simpsons creatorMatt Groening said of the guest appearance: "We were so excited that we got Ringo Starr coming in to do the show and we recorded him over at the Complex in West Los Angeles. We were given a list of rules about what we couldn't do to Ringo, such as 'Don't touch him', 'Don't approach him', and 'Don't ask for his autograph'. But of course when he shows up in this big limo, Brian brings out a big poster and asks him to sign it!"[7] Roberts explained that he had not received the memo with the rules so he showed up with a copy of the script cover and asked Starr to sign it.[4] Groening asked Starr if he wanted to be animated the way he was inYellow Submarine or the way he was in the cartoon seriesThe Beatles. Starr choseYellow Submarine because he did not like his appearance in the cartoon.[7] In addition to Starr, the episode features a guest appearance byJon Lovitz as Lombardo and the doughnut delivery man who delivers doughnuts to the nuclear power plant. Lombardo's physical appearance was based on an art teacher Reardon had in art school.[8]
The line for the H2WHOA! ride reproduces the staircases in thelithographAscending and Descending byM. C. Escher.[1] The way Krusty removes the clown make-up from his face resembles the wayThe Joker removes his make-up in the 1989 filmBatman.[2] When Homer announces he is going on a diet, he says: "As God is my witness, I'll always be hungry again!", a reference to the famous line "As God is my witness ... I'll never be hungry again!" from the filmGone with the Wind.[1] Homer exercises in a way similar to how Rocky exercises in the 1976 filmRocky.[2] The music that plays as Homer approaches the scale is themain theme from the filmThe Good, the Bad and the Ugly.[5] A copy ofAndy Warhol's paintingCampbell's Soup Cans is visible at the art gallery.[1]
In its original broadcast, "Brush with Greatness" finished thirty-seventh in the ratings for the week of April 8–14, 1991, with aNielsen rating of 12.0, equivalent to approximately eleven million viewing households. It was the second highest-rated show on Fox that week, followingMarried... with Children.[9]
The episode received positive reviews from television critics. Many lauded the use of Starr; for instance,IGN ranked his performance in the episode, along with Paul McCartney's performance in "Lisa the Vegetarian" and George Harrison's performance in "Homer's Barbershop Quartet", as the tenth best guest appearance inThe Simpsons' history. They added that "Although none of these appearances were really large, the fact that the most popular band of all time appeared onThe Simpsons is a large statement on the popularity and importance of the show."[10]
Doug Pratt, a DVD reviewer andRolling Stone contributor, wrote that "Brush with Greatness" has a "well thought-out" plot and he enjoyed the use of Starr and Marge's previously undiscovered talents.[11] Paul A. Cantor, author of the bookGilligan Unbound: Pop Culture in the Age of Globalization, said that "once again Brian K. Roberts proves his genius with 'Brush with Greatness' in a superb work where Marge cultivates her wonderful artistic side".[12] DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson wrote: "From the opening at Mt. Splashmore through Homer's diet and the unveiling of Mr. Burns' controversial portrait, the episode packed a lot of great material. It also expanded Marge's character in a pleasing way, as it avoided any semblance of sappiness; we needed a break from sentiment after 'Old Money'. Overall, 'Brush with Greatness' provided a terrific episode."[13]
The authors of the bookI Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide,Gary Russell andGareth Roberts,[14] wrote: "A superb episode, with Marge rightfully centre stage. Despite his general unpleasantness, Mr. Burns' gratitude to Marge is both welcome and unexpected. And the dig at Water Parks is spot on."[2] In October 2008, Ringo Starr posted a video on his website in which he said he was too busy to answer fan mail and that all mail sent to him after October 20 would be thrown out.[15] Although Starr did not mention "Brush with Greatness" in the video, several media sources compared his announcement to his portrayal in the episode.[16][17]
I've just done my first non-fiction book, Oh No It's A Completely Unofficial Simpsons Guide for Virgin, co-authored with Gareth Roberts which has, to be frank, been more of a nightmare than it needed to be [the book was published as I Can't Believe It's An Unofficial Simpsons Guide, with Gary and Gareth writing under the pseudonyms Warren Martyn & Adrian Wood].
