| "When You Dish Upon a Star" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| The Simpsons episode | |||
| Episodeno. | Season 10 Episode 5 | ||
| Directed by | Pete Michels | ||
| Written by | Richard Appel | ||
| Production code | 5F19 | ||
| Original air date | November 8, 1998 (1998-11-08) | ||
| Guest appearances | |||
| |||
| Episode features | |||
| Chalkboard gag | "butt.butt is not mye-mail address"[1] | ||
| Couch gag | Marge carries a laundry basket and hangs wet sheet versions ofHomer,Bart,Lisa, andMaggie on a clothesline in the living room.[2] | ||
| Commentary | Mike Scully Ron Hauge Matt Selman Richard Appel Pete Michels | ||
| Episode chronology | |||
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| The Simpsonsseason 10 | |||
| List of episodes | |||
"When You Dish Upon a Star" is the fifth episode of thetenth season of the American animated television seriesThe Simpsons. It originally aired onFox in the United States on November 8, 1998. When the family spends the day at Lake Springfield,Homer meetsAlec Baldwin andKim Basinger (voicing themselves), who are hiding from the media in their secluded summer home. Homer starts to work for them, developing a good friendship, but he soon reveals their secrets to the public, damaging his new friendship with them. It was the lastSimpsons episode written byRichard Appel, and was directed byPete Michels.[2]
Bart andLisa persuade their parents to spend the day at Lake Springfield. While there,Homer attemptsparasailing and is involved in an accident when he tellsMarge to send him up far too high; as a result, his rope detaches. He crashes through askylight and into the bedroom ofAlec Baldwin andKim Basinger's secluded summer home. The couple and Homer become acquainted. Homer convinces the couple to allow him to be their assistant, while keeping it secret that the celebrity couple are inSpringfield. Homer, at first, works well with the couple, and they all become good friends. Homer also befriendsRon Howard when he visits the couple, and soon attempts to pitch a screenplay for a movie starring Baldwin and Basinger with Howard to direct, much to his chagrin, about a "killer robot driving instructor that travels back in time for some reason," as well as a talking pie, the robot's best friend.
Due to his inability to keep a secret, Homer eventually releases the information that Baldwin and Basinger are in Springfield, and the couple's house is discovered by Springfield citizens and the media. Baldwin and Basinger are furious at Homer for breaking their trust, and immediately end their friendship with him and kick him out of their house. Homer sadly walks to the gate while being pelted with rocks by the citizens. Bitter about losing his celebrity friends and once again feeling like a nobody, Homer begins a mobile museum, entitled "Museum of Hollywood Jerks", which displays the couple's personal belongings in an attempt to expose them as being selfish and uncaring. Basinger, Baldwin, and Howard discover the museum while intending to apologize to Homer. A high-speed chase quickly ensues between Homer, in his mobile museum, and the celebrities in their Hummer. Homer agrees to stop after Howard is injured during the chase. Homer is ordered by a court of law to remain 500 miles away from any celebrity, both living or dead. One month later, Howard pitches Homer's screenplay from earlier toBrian Grazer of20th Century Fox.
During the opening sequence,Bart originally wrote "butt.com" on the chalkboard, however, it was modified to butt.butt, due to butt.com being a real website.[3] The storyline of famous celebrities moving toSpringfield was pitched by Mike Scully;[4] Scully originally pitchedBruce Springsteen as the celebrity to move to town, however, Springsteen turned down the opportunity to appear. Richard Appel then offered the guest appearance opportunity toBruce Willis andDemi Moore, but they too turned down the offer. Appel then offeredAlec Baldwin andKim Basinger the opportunity to provide their voices, and they agreed to guest star in the episode.[4] The episode was originally intended to be directed byMike B. Anderson, but it was held over fromseason 9 andPete Michels directed it.[5]
In December 2008, in an interview,Ron Howard commented that guest voicing himself "was an honour. Probably, from my kids' perspective, my coolest turn."[6] Howard once again guest starred onThe Simpsons as himself in the season eleven episode "Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder" (1999).[7] Howard was set to appear in "Children of a Lesser Clod" (2001), but dropped out for unknown reasons.[8]
The author of the 2003 bookRon Howard: From Mayberry to the Moon… and Beyond, Beverly Gray, noted that by playing himself in these episodes, "Howard showed once again that he could laugh at his own public persona. His appearances onThe Simpsons also suggest how much he remains an American icon, long after the end of his acting career. It's rare indeed for a director or producer to be as instantly recognizable as most Hollywood stars."[7]
One gag near the end of the episode had a sign with the 20th Century Fox logo on it with the line "A Division ofWalt Disney Co" under it. Predictably, on December 14, 2017, Disney announced its intention topurchase 20th Century Fox's parent company,21st Century Fox. It also included several franchises from 20th Century Fox (now20th Century Studios) that Disney purchased such asThe Simpsons,[9] alongsideX-Men,Deadpool, andFantastic Four;[10] the acquisition was completed on March 20, 2019.[11]
The episode title is a reference to the 1940 filmPinocchio, which features the song "When You Wish Upon a Star". At the beginning of the episode, Homer has a dream that is a spoof ofHanna-Barbera's seriesThe Yogi Bear Show (1961),[4] with Homer asYogi Bear,Bart asBoo Boo andNed asRanger Smith.[4] He then dreams he isMagilla Gorilla and mauls Mr. Peebles after he takes his banana. The episode contains multiple references to the seriesHappy Days, in which Ron Howard playedRichie Cunningham. Homer mistakenly refers to Howard as "Potsie" (anotherHappy Days character) and "Horshack" (a character fromWelcome Back, Kotter played byRon Palillo). When Howard secures the movie deal with Homer's screenplay, a snippet of theHappy Days theme song is played. The time machine drawing in Homer's screenplay contains aFlux capacitor, the device from the filmBack to the Future (1985).[4] The drinks wobbling as the townspeople approach Kim Basinger and Alec Baldwin's house is a reference to the filmJurassic Park (1993).[2] Posters for9½ Weeks (1986) andL.A. Confidential (1997), both starring Basinger, are seen in Homer's museum.[1] At the end of the episode,Brian Grazer has a poster of the movieTitanic (1997) in his office.[5]
"When You Dish Upon a Star" finished 32nd in the weekly ratings for the week of November 2–8, 1998 with a Nielsen rating of 9.2.[12] In his review ofThe Simpsons' tenth season, James Plath of Dvdtown.com noted "When You Dish upon a Star" was written to be "one of the funnier episodes".[13] In aSimpsons flashback review, Robert Canning ofIGN reviewed the episode positively, commenting "I'm not saying this episode is one of the greatest the series has ever produced, but it is very, very funny, and it features one of my all-time favorite guest performances."[14] The authors of the bookI Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, wrote in a negative review: "Despite three very high-profile guest actors, this episode is really rather dull and uninspired. The only real moment of interest is the car chase at the end, and Kim Basinger's delightfully self-deprecating quips about her constant adoration of her Oscars, Alec Baldwin apparently not having one himself."[2] IGN rated Ron Howard as the twelfth-greatest guest appearance onThe Simpsons.[15]Total Film's Nathan Ditum ranked Baldwin and Basinger's performances as the second-best guest appearances in the show's history.[16]
