Homer Simpson, This Is Your Wife

Infobox Simpsons episode
episode_name = Homer Simpson, This is Your Wife
episode_no = 371
prod_code = HABF08
airdate = March 26, 2006
writer = Ricky Gervais
director = Matthew Nastuk
blackboard = Original Airing: I will not eat things for money (done in live action).
Repeats:I will not laminate dog doo.
couch_gag = Original Airing: The Simpsons (played by live-action actors and actresses to coincide with the entire opening done in live-action) sit on the couch just as the animated opening comes on TV.
Repeats: The Simpsons sit down on the couch. A roasting spit pierces through the couch and the floor below pulls back to reveal a fiery pit. The Simpsons are then spun around over the heat.
guest_star = Ricky Gervais as Charles


image_caption = Promotional Artwork for this episode.
season = 17

"Homer Simpson, This is Your Wife" is an episode of "The Simpsons", that aired on March 26, 2006. It is the fifteenth episode of the show's seventeenth season. Ricky Gervais wrote the episode, making him the first guest star to ever be credited with writing an episode of "The Simpsons".

Plot

Lenny invites practically everyone in town to a party at his apartment, where he tells them that he is dying to tell them that he has adopted a new faith in the form of a brand new plasma screen TV. Homer immediately falls in love with its high-definition picture, and begins to spend all his time at Lenny's house watching TV; Marge sends over the kids to bring him back, but they too become enthralled. Eventually, Homer is kicked out of Lenny's, and when he gets back home, he no longer enjoys watching his usual CRT TV. Marge tells him that she entered them into a contest where first prize is a plasma screen TV. Later, they get a call and learn that, instead of first prize ("No. No one wins that."), they won third prize — a trip to the Fox Studio Network (no expenses paid). While there, Homer learns of a reality show called "Mother Flippers" (similar to "Wife Swap" and "Trading Spouses"), the grand prize of which just happens to be enough money to buy a new plasma screen TV. The show's executives ask Homer if he is all right with them filming his intimate moments; he agrees immediately, showing them a DVD for "Homer Gone Wild" with his chest crossed out with a black line. Marge also agrees, though reluctantly, and is filmed doing several takes of "I'll do it!".

When they get back to Springfield, the show begins. Marge is traded to a nice, easygoing man named Charles Heathbar and his perfect son, while Homer gets Charles' very strict wife, Verity. Charles seems to be the classic hen-pecked husband, and is surprised to see that Marge is extremely understanding and nice. Marge enjoys her time with Charles, while he begins to develop a crush on her. Meanwhile, Homer, Bart, and Lisa are having major troubles with Verity, who continues to discipline them and object to everything they do. She makes homework out of "Itchy and Scratchy" for Bart after Bart didn't do the washing-up - actually it is done by Santa's Little Helper by licking the dishes and then dishes are given to Maggie, who then throws dishes out on stairs, breaking them. Verity didn't call this a "washing-up". Bart also tell her that "it's no reason to teach him, because Marge says that Bart wouldn't learn of his errors". Verity also asks Homer for his "synopsis" of "", but Homer was sleeping and when he woke up, the TV was showing "Alias".

Charles writes a love song for Marge (with guitar accompaniment), who seems completely oblivious to him until he comes out and tells her that he is in love with her. She explains to him that she loves Homer, and she tells him that he should tell his wife how he feels. He agrees, and decides to take her back to Homer and then get rid of Verity. When they get back to Springfield, Homer and the kids are ecstatic to see Marge. However, Verity has decided to leave him first, and she has already found a new partner: Patty (thinking that she is a man). They were brought together by their hatred for Homer. Homer threatens to vote No on Proposition 38 (for adoption by same-sex couples), but a little arm-twisting by Patty brings him in line and makes him admit that he does not vote because the booth is up a slope.

In the end, Homer plays on the guitar, expressing his undying love for his new plasma TV and (to a lesser extent) Marge.

Cultural references

*When Homer is watching a shark on the TV he says, "What a picture. You can see the soulless emptiness in that shark's eyes." The channel changes to "Two and a Half Men" and he says, "Ooh, 'Two and a Half Men.' You can see the soulless emptiness in Charlie Sheen's eyes.", a reference to Sheen's deadpan look.
*The title is most likelyFact|date=May 2008 a reference to the television series "This Is Your Life". Also derived from this older series, the song The Diary of Horace Wimp by Electric Light Orchestra has a repeated phrase, "Horace Wimp, this is your life". In the last verse of the song, it is changed to "Horace Wimp, this is your "wife".
*When Lisa tells Marge the swap is over, Charles says he wants to tell his wife that "You're Fired" like Donald Trump does on his show "The Apprentice."
*The character Charles, voiced by Ricky Gervais, is based on Gervais' character David Brent from "The Office". He says he is an office manager (apparently an inept one like Brent), constantly fidgets with his tie, tells Marge an offensive joke, and plays guitar.
*Homer reveals he has collected all 40 years of the comic strip "The Family Circus" in a scrapbook, but, nonplussed by the humor, throws it in the fire.
*The shot of Charles standing in front of the fire while singing about Princess Diana echoes the famous and controversial photo of her by John Minihan where she is standing in a school garden with the sun behind her, revealing the outline of her legs through her skirt.
*Charles thanks Marge for calling him a "natural born storyteller" and not a natural born killer.
*In the live action opening credits, everything seemed American (left hand drive car), but actually the background is British (driving on the left hand side, British style safety stickers, Chief Wiggum in British police uniform and single yellow parking restriction line). The reasoning for this is that the open was originally a promo for "The Simpsons" on Sky One, a channel in the United Kingdom who have exclusive rights to new Simpsons episodes. Like the Fox network, Sky One is owned by News Corporation.
*While the Simpsons are at the FOX studios, Homer spots Dan Castellaneta, who voices Homer in real life, Homer leans out the side of the bus and screams "Hey funny man, say something funny!" to Dan who tells him not to lean out of the side of the bus, which Homer ignores and bumps his head into a golden statue of The O.C.'s former actress Mischa Barton.
*Homer's "Homer gone Wild" is a parody of "Girls Gone Wild"

Reception

This episode received the highest ratings a "Simpsons" episode has ever received in the UK, as it topped 2.3 million viewers on Sky One and became the second highest rated show in the network's history. [cite news |url=http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/a32060/gervais-wins-highest-simpsons-audience.html |title=Gervais wins highest 'Simpsons' audience |publisher=Digital Spy|author=Dave West|date=2006-04-25 |accessdate=2008-05-01] In a 2008 article, "Entertainment Weekly" named Gervais one of the sixteen best "Simpsons" guest stars. [cite news | title = Springfield of Dreams: 16 great 'Simpsons' guest stars | publisher = Entertainment Weekly | date = 2008-05-11 author=Wook Kim | url =http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20049408_16,00.html | accessdate =2008-05-11]

References

External links

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/4120569.stm Gervais writing Simpsons episode] , a December 2004 BBC article
* [http://www.rickygervais.com/simpsons.php Storyboard images] from the writer's official website