The Mansion Family

Last updated

"The Mansion Family"
The Simpsons episode
Episode no.Season 11
Episode 12
Directed byMike Frank Polcino
Written by John Swartzwelder
Production codeBABF08
Original air dateJanuary 23, 2000 (2000-01-23)
Guest appearance
Episode features
Chalkboard gag "Class clown is not a paid position"
Couch gag Marge and Homer are children while Bart and Lisa are adults (and Maggie is a baby doll in Homer’s arms). Homer reaches for the remote control, but Lisa slaps it away from him.
Commentary Mike Scully
George Meyer
Ron Hauge
Matt Selman
Tim Long
Mike Frank Polcino
Donick Cary
Pete Michels
Episode chronology
← Previous
"Faith Off"		Next →
"Saddlesore Galactica"
The Simpsons season 11
List of episodes

"The Mansion Family" is the twelfth episode of the eleventh season of the American animated television series The Simpsons . It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on January 23, 2000, and was watched in around 11.3 million homes during the broadcast. In the episode, Mr. Burns goes to the Mayo Clinic for a check-up after being declared the oldest man in Springfield at an awards ceremony. He leaves the Simpson family to house-sit his mansion for him. When Homer throws a party on Burns' private yacht in international waters, the party goers are captured by Chinese pirates.

Contents

American pop singer Britney Spears guest starred in "The Mansion Family" as herself. She appears as the host of the awards ceremony. The episode, which was written by John Swartzwelder and directed by Mike Frank Polcino, features several cultural references. Many parts of the story were inspired by real-life events experienced by some of the staff members of the series.

Since airing, the episode has received generally mixed reviews from critics. It was released on the DVD collection The Simpsons Gone Wild in 2004, and The Simpsons – The Complete Eleventh Season in 2008.

Plot

Kent Brockman and Britney Spears host the annual Springfield Pride Awards, given to prominent Springfield citizens for their achievements. The award for the oldest man in town goes to 108-year-old Cornelius Chapman, but Spears' congratulatory kiss on the cheek causes him to die of a heart attack. The award therefore goes to the oldest Springfieldian now present, Mr. Burns. Suddenly, Burns realizes he is not young anymore, so he and his assistant Smithers go to the Mayo Clinic for a check-up. Burns engages the Simpson family to house sit his private mansion.

After enjoying life as a billionaire for a few days, Homer decides to throw a party before Burns returns. He heads to Moe's Tavern to buy beer and invite his friends to the party. However, Moe informs Homer that he can not sell him alcohol before 2:00 pm as it is Sunday. When Homer is told the only way he could buy alcohol would be to sail 12 miles out to international waters where there are no laws, he and his friends (including his son Bart) set sail in Burns' private yacht to throw the party there. Once out in international waters, Bart spots a Coast Guard ship on the other side of the boundary line but the Coast Guard sailor on board says he can't stop them because it's out of his jurisdiction saying that he just wants to party and begins playing The Doobie Brothers song "China Grove".

Back at the Mayo Clinic, Burns discovers that he not only has all previously discovered diseases, but numerous new diseases the doctors have just discovered in him. However, the sheer number of diseases prevents any one disease from actually doing harm to him. This leads Burns to conclude that he is indestructible, even though the doctors protest that even a slight breeze could disrupt the balance in his body.

Meanwhile, the party continues and the partygoers force Burns' monkeys into a knife fight. The yacht is eventually boarded by Chinese pirates who take the ship hostage. The pirates rob everyone on board and tie them up in a big net which they then toss overboard. Luckily, however, the net floats, stopping Homer, Bart and most of the partygoers above the water from drowning. After Marge and Lisa have scrubbed all the rooms clean, the family return the mansion to Burns.

Back home, the family is glad to live a normal life again, with the exception of Homer, who regrets that he does not live the lifestyle of rich people. As the closing credits roll, Homer wails about how rich nearly all the people are and threatens to report them to the Internal Revenue Service, before Gracie Films logo lady says "Shh!", making Homer say "Don't shush me, you rich bastard!".

Production

Singer Britney Spears appears in the episode. Britney Spears 2013 (Straighten Crop).jpg
Singer Britney Spears appears in the episode.

"The Mansion Family" was written by John Swartzwelder and directed by Mike Frank Polcino as part of the eleventh season of The Simpsons (1999–2000). [1] [2] It was the first of many episodes of the series that Polcino directed. [3] Executive producer Mike Scully was the one who received the idea for the first part of the story. He explained on a DVD audio commentary for the episode that his grandmother was the oldest citizen of his hometown West Springfield, Massachusetts, and "they had a ceremony where she was awarded a cane that had a golden head on it. And the weird thing of the ceremony is her name wasn't on the cane, and the mayor of the town stood up and he says: 'And now, of course as soon as Hazel passes away, her name will be engraved on the cane.' So she would never live to see it happen. But nonetheless, she was given the cane." [3]

The subplot of "The Mansion Family", where Mr. Burns gets a medical examination, was inspired by Swartzwelder's own visit to a Mayo Clinic. [4] George Meyer, an executive producer on the series, has said that "John, I don't think he is a guy who goes to the doctor very often. And every 20 or 30 years, he decides he needs to get a tune up. So he went to the Mayo Clinic, had they give him an entire battery of tests. And as John [jokingly] tells it, they said that his constant smoking had done no harm to him whatsoever. Might even be benefiting him." [4] While writing the parts of the episode that involve international waters, the writers did research and found that the actual laws of international waters are more complex and ambiguous compared to what they had already written in the story, but they decided to ignore that. [5]

American pop singer Britney Spears guest starred in the episode as herself. [6] [7] According to Scully, she was seventeen to eighteen years old when she recorded her lines, and "She was a lot of fun to work with. She was a fan of the show, and she was willing to do all the lines. It was all the people around her that were crazy, the management and all that. We originally had her introduce herself [in the episode] as 'I'm teenage songbird Britney Spears.' And she recorded a few takes and they were fine. And suddenly, all these guys come rushing in [saying] 'She can't say songbird.' [We asked] what's wrong with songbird? And they were somehow convinced that it was some sort of slam or an insult." [3] The staff members were therefore forced to change her opening line to "I'm teen sensation Britney Spears." [3]

Many scenes in "The Mansion Family" were inspired by popular culture. For example, there is a painting hanging on one of the walls in Burns' mansion that depicts Burns playing poker with dogs, referencing the oil paintings series Dogs Playing Poker . [8] Another painting, showing a nude Burns, is a callback to a previous episode of the series, "Brush with Greatness" (1991), in which Marge produced the painting for Burns. [8] Featured in the episode is also a joke that makes fun of the Grammy Awards. [3] During the awards ceremony, Homer complains, "Why won't anyone give me an award?" When Lisa points out that "You won a Grammy," Homer says "I mean an award that's worth winning." At this point the screen freezes and a message scrolls across the bottom of the screen reading "LEGAL DISCLAIMER: Mr. Simpson's opinions do not reflect those of the producers, who don't consider the Grammy an award at all." [3]

Release

The episode originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on January 23, 2000. [9] [10] [11] It was viewed in approximately 11.3 million households that night. With a Nielsen rating of 11.2, the episode tied Becker (CBS) for the 14th place (compared the season average of 37) in the ratings for the week of January 17–23, 2000. [12] The episode was the third highest-rated broadcast on Fox that week, following a NFC Championship post-game show and Malcolm in the Middle . [12]

Home media

On September 14, 2004, the episode was released in the United States on a DVD collection titled The Simpsons Gone Wild, along with "Homer's Night Out" (season 1), "Sunday, Cruddy Sunday" (season 10) and "Homer the Moe" (season 13). [13] On October 7, 2008, "The Mansion Family" was released on DVD again as part of the box set The Simpsons – The Complete Eleventh Season. Crew members Mike Scully, George Meyer, Ron Hauge, Matt Selman, Tim Long, Mike Frank Polcino, Donick Cary and Pete Michels participated in the audio commentary. Deleted scenes were also included on the box set. [14]

Critical reception

"The Mansion Family" has received generally mixed reception from critics.

Susan Dunne of The Hartford Courant described it as "debauched but hilarious." [15]

While reviewing the eleventh season of The Simpsons, DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson commented on "The Mansion Family", writing that "Although The Simpsons started out as moderately reality based, pretty much any grounding was gone by [the point this episode aired]. That doesn't mean the show fails to depict funny bits, especially during the dark humor of Burns’ hospital visit. Nonetheless, [the episode] occasionally goes too far to the side of silliness; those gags are hit or miss." [16]

In a review of the episodes featured on the Gone Wild DVD, PopMatters critic Stephen Haag wrote that "none of these episodes will end up in the Simpsons Hall of Fame", and that "The Mansion Family" is "hardly a classic episode, but Lord knows there are plenty worse from season 11." [13] He further commented that "if anything, this episode should be included in the 'batshit-crazy endings' DVD," referring to the ending scenes with the Chinese pirates. [13]

David Packard of DVD Verdict was more positive in his review of Gone Wild, writing that "The Mansion Family" is "another all-around hilarious episode, with a nice swipe at the Grammy Awards, the Simpsons family running amok in the mansion and enjoying all it has to offer, and Burns' various tests at the Mayo Clinic (my favorite gag is when Burns is slid into an MRI machine, only to hear the thing grind to a halt with an error message reading 'Clear body jam in Area 1.')" [17]

Related Research Articles

Marjorie Jacqueline "Marge" Simpson (née Bouvier) is a character in the American animated sitcom The Simpsons and part of the eponymous family. Voiced by Julie Kavner, she first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Marge was created and designed by cartoonist Matt Groening while he was waiting in the lobby of James L. Brooks' office. Groening had been called to pitch a series of shorts based on Life in Hell but instead decided to create a new set of characters. He based the character on his mother Margaret Groening. After appearing on The Tracey Ullman Show for three seasons, the Simpson family received their own series on Fox, which debuted December 17, 1989.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mr. Burns</span> Fictional character from The Simpsons franchise

Charles Montgomery Plantagenet Schicklgruber "Monty" Burns, usually referred to as Mr. Burns or C. Montgomery Burns, is a recurring character and antagonist in the animated television series The Simpsons, voiced initially by Christopher Collins and since by Harry Shearer. He is the mostly evil, devious, greedy, and wealthy owner of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant and, by extension, Homer Simpson's boss. He is assisted at almost all times by Waylon Smithers, his loyal and sycophantic aide, adviser, confidant, and secret admirer. He is between 81 and 120 years old, though sometimes it is implied he is much older.

“The Computer Wore Menace Shoes" is the sixth episode of the twelfth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on December 3, 2000. In the episode, Homer buys a computer and creates his own website to spread gossip and fake news. However, when Homer starts writing conspiracy theories about flu shots, he is sent to an island where people who know too much are imprisoned.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Swartzwelder</span> American comedy writer and novelist (born 1949)

John Joseph Swartzwelder Jr. is an American comedy writer and novelist, best known for his work on the animated television series The Simpsons. Born in Seattle, Washington, Swartzwelder began his career working in advertising. He was later hired to work on comedy series Saturday Night Live in the mid-1980s as a writer. He later contributed to fellow writer George Meyer's short-lived Army Man magazine, which led him to join the original writing team of The Simpsons, beginning in 1989.

"The Great Money Caper" is the seventh episode of the twelfth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on December 10, 2000. In the episode, Homer, along with his son Bart, con people out of their money in order to pay for Homer's broken car. However, after having paid for the repairs, the two decide to continue grifting, which leads to some troublesome situations.

"Kill the Alligator and Run" is the nineteenth episode of the eleventh season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on April 30, 2000. In the episode, Homer has a nervous breakdown after taking a quiz that suggests he only has three years left to live. To calm himself down, he and the rest of the Simpson family go to Florida for vacation. There, they end up in the middle of a raucous spring break. Homer joins in on the party and ends up getting himself and his family in trouble for killing the state's beloved mascot, an alligator named Captain Jack. The Simpsons run from the law and take jobs at a small restaurant while hiding from the police.

"Homer Simpson in: 'Kidney Trouble'", or simply "Kidney Trouble", is the eighth episode of the tenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on Fox in the United States on December 6, 1998. In the episode Grampa's kidneys explode, leaving him in urgent need of a donor. His son Homer initially agrees to donate one of his kidneys, but after hearing of side effects of only having one kidney, he begins to have second thoughts about the operation.

"Monty Can't Buy Me Love" is the twenty-first episode of the tenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on Fox in the United States on May 2, 1999. In the episode, Mr. Burns is jealous of megastore owner Arthur Fortune, who is beloved by the people of Springfield. In order to win the people's love, Burns gathers the help of Homer Simpson, Professor Frink and Groundskeeper Willie to capture the Loch Ness monster.

"Take My Wife, Sleaze" is the eighth episode of the eleventh season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 28, 1999. In the episode, Homer wins a Harley-Davidson motorcycle and starts his own outlaw motorcycle club, naming it "Hell's Satans". However, this attracts the real club called "Hell's Satans" to crash at their house. After a while, they begin to appreciate Marge, who takes care of them, and kidnap her. Homer tracks them down and scuffles with Meathook, the leader of the gang. The episode was written by John Swartzwelder and directed by Neil Affleck, and features several guest appearances.

"It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Marge" is the twenty-first and penultimate episode of the eleventh season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired in the United States on the Fox network on May 14, 2000. After a failed marriage attempt with Otto, Becky stays with the Simpson family. However, Marge begins to get paranoid at her family's newfound love of Becky, and begins to think that she is seducing Homer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Cartridge Family</span> 5th episode of the 9th season of The Simpsons

"The Cartridge Family" is the fifth episode of the ninth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on November 2, 1997. It was written by John Swartzwelder and directed by Pete Michels. In the episode, Homer purchases a gun to protect his family, of which Marge disapproves. Homer begins to show extremely careless gun usage, which causes Marge to leave him when she catches Bart using the gun without their permission. The episode was intended to portray guns in an unbiased manner, and faced some problems with censors because of the subject matter. Critical reaction was mostly positive.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Homer the Moe</span> 3rd episode of the 13th season of The Simpsons

"Homer the Moe" is the third episode of the thirteenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on the Fox Network in the United States on November 18, 2001. In the episode, Moe, following the advice of his former bartending professor, decides to modernize his bar. The bar's new image attracts several customers, but leaves Moe's four regular customers, Homer, Lenny, Carl, and Barney, feeling alienated, which in turn prompts Homer to open his private bar, disguising it as a hunting club to avoid liquor license restrictions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A Hunka Hunka Burns in Love</span> 4th episode of the 13th season of The Simpsons

"A Hunka Hunka Burns in Love" is the fourth episode of the thirteenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. 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 Frying Game" is the twenty-first and penultimate episode of the thirteenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 19, 2002. In the episode, after accidentally injuring an endangered caterpillar, Homer is sentenced to two weeks of community service. As part of his sentence, Homer delivers Meals on Wheels to an old woman called Mrs. Bellamy, who subtly guilt trips him, and later Marge, into becoming her personal servants. One day, the two find Mrs. Bellamy dead in her house, having been stabbed by a man with braces who quickly escapes the murder scene. Being the only ones present when the police arrive, Homer and Marge are soon suspected for the murder. The episode also features a "Snuh cascade", an homage to a group of Simpsons fans on Usenet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dumbbell Indemnity</span> 16th episode of the 9th season of The Simpsons

"Dumbbell Indemnity" is the sixteenth episode of the ninth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on March 1, 1998. It was written by Ron Hauge and directed by Dominic Polcino. The episode sees Moe trying to keep his new girlfriend by using a large amount of money, but when it runs out, he decides to commit insurance fraud. Homer helps him, but is caught and sent to jail, and attempts to take revenge on Moe when he does not bail him out. Helen Hunt makes a guest appearance as Moe's girlfriend, Renee. The episode contains several cultural references and was generally well received.

"Homer the Smithers" is the seventeenth episode of the seventh season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on February 25, 1996. In the episode, Smithers takes a vacation and hires Homer to temporarily replace him as Mr. Burns' assistant, reasoning he will do such a poor job as to not risk Smithers being replaced, only for this to lead to Mr. Burns becoming so self-reliant that Smithers is fired on his return.

"Bart After Dark" is the fifth episode of the eighth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 24, 1996. After accidentally breaking a stone gargoyle at a local house, Bart is forced to work there as punishment. He assumes it will be boring work, but is surprised when he learns that it is actually a burlesque house. Marge is horrified when she learns of the burlesque house, and resolves to have it shut down. The episode was directed by Dominic Polcino and written by Richard Appel.

"Bart Star" is the sixth episode of the ninth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on November 9, 1997. Written by Donick Cary and directed by Dominic Polcino, the episode guest starred Joe Namath, Roy Firestone, and Mike Judge. In the episode, Homer becomes the coach of a pee-wee football team and makes Bart the quarterback, to the displeasure of the rest of the team and Bart himself.

<i>The Simpsons</i> season 11 Season of television series

The eleventh season of the American animated television series The Simpsons originally aired on the Fox Network in the United States between September 26, 1999 and May 21, 2000, starting with "Beyond Blunderdome" and ending with "Behind the Laughter". With Mike Scully as the showrunner for the eleventh season, it has twenty-two episodes, including four hold-over episodes from the season 10 production line. Season 11 was released on DVD in Region 1 on October 7, 2008 with both a standard box and Krusty-molded plastic cover.

References

  1. ↑ "Simpsons - The Mansion Family". Yahoo! . Retrieved October 2, 2011.
  2. ↑ Polcino, Michael. (2008). Commentary for "The Mansion Family", in The Simpsons: The Complete Eleventh Season [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Scully, Mike. (2008). Commentary for "The Mansion Family", in The Simpsons: The Complete Eleventh Season [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  4. 1 2 Meyer, George. (2008). Commentary for "The Mansion Family", in The Simpsons: The Complete Eleventh Season [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  5. ↑ Long, Tim. (2008). Commentary for "The Mansion Family", in The Simpsons: The Complete Eleventh Season [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  6. ↑ "Christina Aguilera, con 'Los Simpsons'" (in Spanish). Esmas.com. October 25, 2004. Archived from the original on February 11, 2009. Retrieved October 2, 2011.
  7. ↑ "Guide Thursday". El Universal (in Spanish). August 28, 2008. Archived from the original on October 5, 2008. Retrieved October 2, 2011.
  8. 1 2 "The fine art hidden in The Simpsons". Toronto Star . October 30, 2005. p. C06.
  9. ↑ "The Simpsons Episode: 'The Mansion Family'". TV Guide . Archived from the original on October 11, 2011. Retrieved October 2, 2011.
  10. ↑ "The Simpsons: The Mansion Family". Zap2it. Archived from the original on September 16, 2016. Retrieved October 2, 2011.
  11. ↑ "The Mansion Family". IGN. Archived from the original on July 23, 2012. Retrieved October 2, 2011.
  12. 1 2 "Weekly Nielsen Ratings". The Stuart News . Associated Press. February 6, 2000. p. P10.
  13. 1 2 3 Haag, Stephen (October 5, 2004). "The Simpsons Gone Wild". PopMatters. Archived from the original on January 23, 2022. Retrieved January 23, 2022.
  14. ↑ Jane, Ian (November 1, 2008). "The Simpsons - The Complete Eleventh Season". DVD Talk. Archived from the original on July 20, 2011. Retrieved October 2, 2011.
  15. ↑ Dunne, Susan (September 16, 2004). "Short takes". The Hartford Courant . p. 24.
  16. ↑ Jacobson, Colin (November 19, 2008). "The Simpsons: The Complete Eleventh Season (1999)". DVD Movie Guide. Archived from the original on July 20, 2011. Retrieved October 2, 2011.
  17. ↑ Packard, David (December 8, 2004). "The Simpsons Gone Wild". DVD Verdict. Archived from the original on May 17, 2011. Retrieved October 2, 2011.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.