Homerazzi

Infobox Simpsons episode
episode_name = Homerazzi
episode_no = 394
prod_code = JABF06
airdate = March 25, 2007
show runner = Al Jean
writer = J. Stewart Burns
director = Matthew Nastuk
guest_star = J.K. Simmons as Tabloid editor
Betty White as Herself
Jon Lovitz as Enrico Irritazio
blackboard = Global Warming did not eat my homework.
couch_gag = Homer goes from prehistory to modern history as he starts out as a unicellular being and evolves into many creatures (a jellyfish, a common fish, a lizard, a rat, several monkey-type creatures, a Neanderthal, a Cro-Magnon, and an upright walking caveman) while Moe devolves into a rat-like mammal. After the Ice Age, Homer travels through many periods of history (Middle Ages, Spanish exploration, Puritan settlement, and Victorian Era) until he finally reaches the modern day and evolves into the present Homer. When he comes in the house, Marge asks Homer, "what took you so long?” and Homer sighs in exhaustion.


image_caption = Promotional artwork for "Homerazzi."
season = 18

"Homerazzi" is the sixteenth episode of the eighteenth season of "The Simpsons", which was originally broadcast on March 25, 2007. It was written by J. Stewart Burns, directed by Matthew Nastuk, and guest starred J.K. Simmons as the tabloid editor, Betty White as Herself, and Jon Lovitz as Enrico Irritazio. The full-length opening sequence and couch gag ran for over 2 minutes and 20 seconds, making it one of the longest in the history of the show. [Citation |title=The Evolution of Homer Simpson |date=27 March, 2007|magazine=Entertainment Weekly |last=Susman |first= Gary |url=http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2007/03/simpsons_evolut.html |accessdate=18 August, 2007]

Plot

After failing to blow out all the candles on his birthday cake, an exhausted Homer falls asleep, igniting his party hat on the flames. The burning house is saved by the Springfield fire department who inspire Marge to purchase a fire-proof safe to protect the family's valuables. Each family member puts one special item inside the safe, Marge choosing the family photo album; Homer, an old bottle of cologne called "Scent of a Wookie"; Lisa, an electric Malibu Stacy car (though not the one Ralph gave to Lisa as a gift); Bart, his Catch-A-Rising Krusty doll, a talking Krusty doll that performs stand-up. When they lock the safe, Bart's doll is switched on, which walks into the car, turning on its headlights which heat the cologne and cause the safe to explode, destroying everything inside (which apparently, was what Homer naturally assumed had happened). Refusing to accept the loss of all their memories, Marge decides to re-stage all of the family's photographs, and when the family spot a celebrity dating scandal (Duffman dating Boobarella, despite Duffman being in a committed relationship with a homosexual man) captured in the background of one of their photos, the Simpsons strike tabloid gold. Tasting success and seeing money to be made, Homer takes to the streets as one of the paparazzi.

Overnight, Homer becomes Springfield's most valued tabloid photographer, staging incriminating photographs of, amongst others, Rich Texan's daughter, Paris Texan (a parody of Paris Hilton) beating Bart with a bottle then kissing them after he insulted her ("Hey, Paaaris! I saw a disgusting part of your body on the Internet--your face"), and Drederick Tatum punching Homer's cameras away while he keeps taking out more cameras and taking more pictures. After Homer gatecrashes Rainier Wolfcastle's wedding, the town's celebrities decide to seek revenge against Homer by having top paparazzo Enrico Irritazio follow him around taking humiliating pictures, such as Homer hanging Maggie on the car mirror then making her drive the car as he tries to grab Enrico, and him having a shower in the middle of the street with a fire hydrant. After seeing his own behavior published in a tabloid magazine, Homer gives up the paparazzi business temporarily. However, Moe re-inspires him to continue and lends Homer a camera he had used in the ladies' bathroom to videotape them secretly, explaining that no women ever enter his bar. Homer leaves for the celebrity nightspot across the street, shortly after which two women enter the bar asking for a bathroom to switch bras in, which infuriates Moe for having lent away his camera for just that moment.

Bursting the decadent celebrity nightspot, Homer takes a slew of compromising photos, like Paris Texan making out with Milhouse, Sideshow Mel eating an American flag, and Mayor Quimby and Kent Brockman barely dressed in skimpy costumes and involved in a bizarre sexual roleplaying game. Defeated, Rainier Wolfcastle meekly asks him what he is going to do with the photos. Homer replies "Nothing," providing that the celebrities start treating the public with more respect and not taking their fans for granted. Rainier agrees to Homer's conditions and, as a gesture of good faith, invites the Simpsons to a barbecue party on his "offshore party platform". Marge asks Rainier to look at a screenplay she wrote called "Mrs. Mom". Rainier says that he does not read unsolicited scripts, though his eyes dash back and forth suspiciously. In the next shot, however, Marge and Homer see a theatre marquee advertising the film, crediting Rainier Wolfcastle as the writer. Marge sighs, "Well, at least it got made" and walks off with Homer.

Casting

In the original Fox press release, Peter Wolf and Harry Hamlin were announced as guest stars for this episode. [citation |title=Press Release from the Futon Critic |url=http://www.thefutoncritic.com/listings.aspx?id=20070302fox17 |accessdate=18 August, 2007] However, neither of them made an appearance in the broadcast version. This episode marks the return of several guest stars; it is the ninth appearance of Jon Lovitz and the second of J.K. Simmons and Betty White. J.K. Simmons had previously guest-starred in "Moe'N'a Lisa", playing another editor. In both episodes his character was a parody of his J. Jonah Jameson character from the "Spider-Man" films, though the one in this episode bears less of a physical resemblance to Jameson.

Cultural references

* The title is a portmanteau of Homer and paparazzi.
* The couch gag shows Homer as the subject of human evolution. The scenes beginning from the organisms until the extinction of the dinosaurs parody "The Rite of Spring" segment in the Disney movie "Fantasia".
**This is so far, the longest running couch gag. The whole opening sequence totals to over 2 min 20 sec.
**This couch gag was repeated on the season 19 episode The Homer of Seville, but instead of Marge saying "What took you so long?" after Homer comes home, she says "Did you bring the milk?" (the season 19 episode Mona Leaves-a has the original line, "What took you so long?").
* The Krusty doll references The Kinks, The Stones, iPods and iTunes
* The "Happy 1987" restaged picture shows Homer, Lisa and Bart as they were from the "Tracey Ullman Show".
* The song playing in the nightclub is Kylie Minogue's "Can't Get You Out of My Head". The song during the photo restaging montage is, appropriately, Freeze Frame by J. Geils Band.
* When the family re-enact the "" series finale party, Lenny is dressed as Seven of Nine and Dr. Hibbert is dressed as Tuvok. If listened closely, music from can be heard.
* Paris Texan, with her blond hair, long nose, flirtatious behavior, and pet chihuahua, is a parody of Paris Hilton.
* The title of Marge's script "Mrs. Mom" is a reference to the film "Mr. Mom". When the script is turned into a movie, there is a poster where Rainier Wolfcastle is dressed as a nanny (a reference to "Mrs. Doubtfire").
*At the wedding scene, Pachelbel's Canon in D can be heard on the background.
*Homer's arrival by helicopter to the island where Rainier Wolfcastle's wedding is being held references "Jurassic Park", even having similar music.

Reception

Robert Canning praised this episode, calling it clever, ingenious, and one of the most memorable of the season. [Citation |last=Canning |first=Robert |title=The Simpsons: "Homerazzi" Review|url=http://tv.ign.com/articles/775/775729p1.html |date=26 March, 2007 |accessdate=2007-08-23 ] The episode scored a 9.0 on TV.com, an equivalent to a "superb" rating.

References

External links

* [http://www.tv.com/the-simpsons/homerazzi/episode/914682/summary.html "Homerazzi"] at TV.com