Although I’m sure many of us (myself included) have seen it many times and may even own it on DVD, I thought you might like to know: tonight’s national Simpsons rerun on Fox (8pm Eastern) will be “Stark Raving Dad,” a classic episode from 1991 featuring Michael Jackson (under an assumed name and speaking voice only) providing the voice of a mental patient who believes he is the famous pop star. Jackson also wrote an original song for the episode (although the official songwriting credit reads “Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart”). The epsiode was meant to be aired last week in Jackson’s memory but was unable to be cleared by airtime- instead, the Simpsons rerun that week (“Wedding for Disaster”) opened with “Do the Bartman,” a 1990 song co-written by an (uncredited but namechecked) Jackson.
it’s pretty amazing how that video still holds up amazingly well. It was nice seeing that short last week (and I’ll be sure to tune in today, too).
Coincidentally, “It’s Your Birthday, Lisa!” isn’t too far off–Yeardley Smith’s birthday is actually July 3.
Thank you, mobo. I was going crazy trying to find it online that Sunday but I couldn’t…none of the sites I tried worked. Then I got it on DVD and saw it this week but I’ll probably see it again.
I prefer the line by Bart
“Milhouse there’s no such thing as a soul. That’s just something they made up to scare little kids, like the boogie man or Michael Jackson.”
It’s here, also.
And then there was this (sung to All in the Family’s “Those Were the Days”):
Wow, I can’t believe it’s been that long since the show first aired. BTW, I was just reading the Wikipedia article on the episode and it mentioned something amusing. During the presidential campaign, George H. W. Bush made a speech in which he said, “We are going to keep on trying to strengthen the American family, to make American families a lot more like the Waltons and a lot less like the Simpsons.” In response, the rerun of the episode aired with the Simpsons watching that speech and Bart replying, “Hey, we’re just like the Waltons. We’re praying for an end to the Depression, too.”
Also, the time Bart and Homer became con men and got freaked out by the Jackson 5 impersonator down at the pier.
Only one of them is real. But which one!?!?
I was wondering if/when they would do that.
And I’m very mad cuz my DVR cut out A LOT of the “Bartman” song…I’ve never seen it before and would love to in it’s entirety. Is it online anywhere??
Try YouTube.
“Bubbles, it’s going to be a long night.”
Woo-hoo!
I read somewhere that Jackson specifically requested a scene with him and Bart. Hmmmm…
The voice of Bart is played by a middle aged woman, so, still eeeeew!
This just highlights the remarkable longevity of “The Simpsons”. Not many prime time shows could mix in an 18 year old episode.
Who went down on the Titantic…