The Man in the Blue Flannel Pants
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Episode 7
| "The Man in the Blue Flannel Pants" | |
|---|---|
| The Simpsons episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 23 Episode 7 |
| Directed by | Steven Dean Moore |
| Written by | Jeff Westbrook |
| Production code | PABF01 |
| Original air date | November 27, 2011 |
| Guest appearances | |
| Kevin Michael Richardson as a party person John Slattery as Robert Marlowe Matthew Weiner as Businessman | |
"The Man in the Blue Flannel Pants" is the seventh episode of the twenty-third season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 27, 2011, and was seen by around 5.6 million people during this broadcast. In the episode, Homer becomes an account manager for Mr. Burns after successfully hosting a viral marketing event for Krusty the Clown. Meanwhile, Lisa is teaching Bart how to read classic novels like Little Women. Homer's new job affects his family as he becomes more distant and in the end he has to choose between his family or his new job. The episode's title references The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit.
The episode was written by Jeff Westbrook and directed by Steven Dean Moore. It functions mainly as a parody of the television show Mad Men, and features the guest voices of Mad Men actor John Slattery and creator Matthew Weiner. Critics found the episode to be average in quality, receiving criticism for the wasted opportunities with the Mad Men parody.
Krusty the Clown is about to perform a stunt when his agents mention that there is trouble with Krusty's own brand of vodka, Absolut Krusty. To make it popular, the agents insist that Krusty hold a tastemaker party at the home of a Springfield trendsetter. At the party, the adults are having a fantastic time until Mr. Burns arrives and frightens the guests. Homer ends up saving the party by singing karaoke with Burns. Based on the party's success, Burns promotes Homer to "Accounts Man" for the Springfield Nuclear Plant.
Robert Marlow, a seasoned account veteran, takes Homer under his wing and shows Homer what the high life is like in the corner office. The job changes Homer into a sad individual, who drinks in the dark and complains about the meaninglessness of his job. When Homer's long hours at the office become the norm and Homer becomes distant from his family, a family vacation with Marge and the children help him realize that family always comes before work. Meanwhile, Lisa introduces Bart to a new literary world, which sparks his interest in reading classic novels. In the beginning, Bart struggles with reading and suggests that he should just get a job where he does not have to read. Lisa insists and Bart eventually learns to read properly. When the bullies watch him reading a classic novel at school, they force him to read Little Women to them.
Meanwhile, both Marge and Burns want Homer to go on the same rafting trip. Homer starts with being on his family's raft, and then swims back and forth between that and Burns' raft. Marge discovers that he has double-booked the weekend while both rafts float near a waterfall, and is upset that he chose to do work on a family outing. Homer can only save one raft, and he saves the one containing his family. As Burns and the nuclear regulators are about to go over the waterfall, Marlow rides up on a jetski and carries Burns to safety, while the regulators fall over the edge. Though he is annoyed at the incident, for cutting expenses by six percent, Burns calls it even with Homer, who then decides to spend the rest of the trip with his family, but trips and goes over the waterfall by himself, though he is completely unharmed and finds gold. Later, at their house, Homer tells Marge that he is a safety inspector again. Fireworks go off outside, and it is revealed that they were caused by a fire at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, presumably because Homer failed at his job.
Production
"The Man in the Blue Flannel Pants" was written by Jeff Westbrook and directed by Steven Dean Moore.[1] It featured John Slattery, Matthew Weiner, and Kevin Michael Richardson as guest voices.[2] Weiner is the creator, writer, and showrunner of the television show Mad Men, in which Slattery portrays the character Roger Sterling.[3] The entire A-Plot of the episode was a parody of Mad Men. Homer transforms into the lead character from Mad Men, Don Draper, and Slattery's character Robert Marlowe shares similarities with Roger Sterling.[4] Weiner's role in the episode was a brief cameo as one of the businessmen on the rafting trip with Mr. Burns.[5] The lead actor of Mad Men, Jon Hamm, did not appear in the episode, but previously appeared in the season 22 episode "Donnie Fatso" as a different character.[6] "The Man in the Blue Flannel Pants" even recreated a scene from Mad Men, in which a lawnmower runs loose in an office.[4] In an interview with IGN in 2011, the showrunner of the episode, Al Jean, named Mad Men as one of the two television shows he always makes time to watch.[7]
The music in the episode was edited by Chris Ledesma. In his own blog, he explains that this episode required very little musical scoring. In some cases, the musical score is used to take away focus from the scenes that did not work as well as planned.[8] If the episode on the other side is well-scripted and features strong performances from the voice cast, then the music becomes a distraction. Ledesma thought that the "episode offers a nice balance of dialogue and music."[8] Of the music that was used, the theme from the 1965 film Moment to Moment, which was scored by Henry Mancini, was featured during the montage of Homer working at his new job. The episode ends with a piece of music, which is the music composer Alf Clausen's version of the Mancini theme.[5] In total five minutes of music was used for the episode.[8]
The episode featured several references to the character Mr. Burns's old age. When Burns is requesting a song from the discjockey, he asks for "anything by Prince... Wilhelm, of Prussia?".[9] Prince Wilhelm of Prussia was second in line to the German throne and lived from 1906 to 1940.[10] Instead, the discjockey plays "Come Josephine in My Flying Machine" from 1910.[4] Other Mr. Burns quotes include "How ironic. I survived the Titanic by making a raft out of steerage passengers... and now this."[9] and the RMS Titanic sank in 1912.[11]
