"Flaming Moe's" is the tenth episode of The Simpsons' third season. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 21, 1991.[3]
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Plot
Homer visits Moe's Tavern one night, where he finds Moe is in serious financial trouble. After he runs out of beer, Homer decides to tell him about a drink recipe that he accidentally invented one night, called the "Flaming Homer". He explains that after Patty and Selma made the Simpson family watch slides from their latest vacation, he was unable to find a beer (after Patty took the last can). He decided to mix together drops of liquor from near-empty bottles and accidentally included a bottle of Krusty Brand non-narcotic cough syrup. When Patty dropped cigarette ash in the drink and set it on fire, Homer discovered that fire greatly enhanced the flavor of the drink.
Moe steals Homer's recipe and begins serving the "Flaming Moe" as his own concoction. Moe sees his business boom, and his tavern soon becomes one of the trendiest nightspots in Springfield and Aerosmith's official hangout. Homer becomes angry with Moe and vows never to return to the tavern. He subsequently becomes obsessed with Moe and his betrayal.
A restaurant chain becomes interested in purchasing the recipe for the drink, of which they have managed to identify all but the secret ingredient. They offer Moe $1,000,000, but he refuses. After the waitress Moe has hired discovers that Moe stole the recipe from Homer, she convinces him to sell the drink and give half of the money to him.
Moe is about to accept the deal — and share half of the money with Homer — when Homer, unhinged by resentment, arrives at the tavern and climbs on top of Aerosmith's set. He gets his revenge on Moe by revealing to everyone in the bar that the secret ingredient is ordinary cough syrup.
Within one week, nearly all restaurants in Springfield are serving Flaming Moes (under slightly altered names, such as Flaming Meaux and Famous Moe's), and Moe's business has greatly decreased. Homer stops in and finds that Moe now understands what he did wrong and is not angry at Homer. He even gives Homer a "Flaming Homer" on the house.
Cultural references
The basic premise of the episode is similar to the film Cocktail.[2] Several references are made to the sitcom Cheers. Collette the waitress is a parody of Cheers character Diane Chambers, and the "theme sequence" for Flaming Moe's, is a direct parody of the famous Cheers theme. Barney Gumble is given a Norm Peterson entrance.[1][2] Aerosmith sings "Walk This Way" in Moe's Tavern and "Young Lust" during the closing credits.[2] When a seemingly crazy Homer reveals the secret of the Flaming Moe, the scene has many parallels to The Phantom of the Opera including Homer standing high up in the roof, and having half his face covered.[2] The scene in which Frink analyzes a Flaming Moe is an homage to The Nutty Professor.[2] The scene where Bart runs away from Lisa and her friends references the Alfred Hitchcock film North by Northwest.[4] Lionel Hutz says that a drink can not be copyrighted, citing the "Frank Wallbanger case of '78". This references the Harvey Wallbanger cocktail.[4] Near the end of the episode, several bars with names similar to "Flaming Moe's" can be seen. This parodies Ray's Pizza in New York City where dozens of individual establishments have similar names.[4]
Production
| We were elated because it's a you-know-you've-made-it-when moment. You're this lowlife rock-and-roll band, [...] a rock band that's throwing parties for twenty thousand people a night, and then you see yourself on television on the biggest cartoon of its time. It was the height of the insanity of the cartoon era, for me the equivalent of when we did "Walk This Way" with Run-DMC during the beginning of that era of rap. We always tried to get in on the ground floor of these things, and we were blown away that we were asked to do it. |
The main plot of the episode in which Moe's Tavern gets famous because of a drink is loosely based on the Los Angeles establishment Coconut Teaszer.[4] According to IGN, "Flaming Moe's" was "one of the first [episodes] to really give Moe the spotlight."[6] There was originally a joke in the episode in which a gay couple walked into "Flaming Moe's", assuming that it was a gay bar because of the name.[4] Matt Groening feels that it was a good thing the joke was cut because he did not feel the writers should bring attention to the name.[7]
Catherine O'Hara originally agreed to provide the voice of Collette the waitress, and actually went into the studio and recorded her part for the character.[8] According to Mike Reiss, "Something about her did not animate correctly. The voice did not work for our purposes."[9] Jo Ann Harris, a regular voice actor in the show, had recorded a temporary track using an impression of Shelley Long's character Diane Chambers from Cheers. The producers thought it fit the role better and used it instead of O'Hara.[4] Sam Simon had previously wrote for Cheers, and contributed much of Collette's dialogue as he was skilled at writing dialogue for Diane.[4] Originally, there was more to the B story featuring Moe and Colette, but it was cut because the writers felt it did not work.[7] The third act opens with a parody of "Where Everybody Knows Your Name", the theme song from Cheers. The parody was written by Jeff Martin,[9] and the sequence was designed by future Simpsons director Nancy Kruse.[10]
American rock band Aerosmith appears in the episode. They were the first band to make a guest appearance on the show.[6] The writers had heard that the band had wanted to appear on the show, so they wrote the guest spot for them.[4] According to Al Jean, they later found out that the band had not wanted to appear, but part of what had convinced them to appear was the drink being called the "Flaming Moe".[4] The band was recorded in Boston, and Hank Azaria, the voice of Moe, flew over to record his part with them and help them with their lines.[4] In the original version, Moe tempted the band to play by offering them free beer, but the band members asked that the joke be changed. The writers changed the line to "free pickled eggs."[4] The band is shown sitting at a table with a bearded man, who is modeled after their then-manager John Kalodner. One of the stipulations from the band was to include him in the episode. Kalodner also received a "special thanks to" credit at the end of the episode.[9] Aerosmith's song "Young Lust" from the album Pump plays over the end credits. According to Al Jean, the band recorded a special shortened version of the song just for the episode.[4]
The episode was directed by Rich Moore and Alan Smart. Moore's daughter was born during the production of the episode, and he missed several weeks of layout, which Smart oversaw.[10]
Reception
In 2006, IGN named "Flaming Moe's" the best episode of the third season. They wrote, "This episode has tons of standout moments, from the appearance by Aerosmith (the first time a musical act of that caliber appeared as themselves on the series); a funny payoff for all of Bart's prank calls to Moe's, when a man named Hugh Jass actually does turn out to be a customer; a deftly done Cheers parody at the height of Moe's success; and Homer turning into a Phantom of the Opera type lunatic."[6] In Entertainment Weekly's 2003 list of the top 25 The Simpsons episodes ever, it was placed sixteenth.[11] In 2003, executive producer Al Jean listed the episode as one of his favorites.[12] Niel Harvey of The Roanoke Times called "Flaming Moe's" a "classic bit of Simpsonia."[13]
In 2006, the members of Aerosmith were collectively named the 24th best Simpsons guest stars by IGN.[14]
The song "Flaming Moe's", which parodies "Where Everybody Knows Your Name" from Cheers, was well received. Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly named the song the "Best Theme Song Parody" of 1991.[15] It was later included in the 1997 album Songs in the Key of Springfield, a compilation of songs from the first seven seasons of the show.[16]
References
- ^ a b Richmond, Ray; Antonia Coffman (1997). The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to our Favorite Family. Harper Collins Publishers. pp. 72–73. ISBN 0-00-638898-1.
- ^ a b c d e f Martyn, Warren; Wood, Adrian (2000). "Flaming Moe's". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/simpsons/episodeguide/season3/page10.shtml. Retrieved 2008-04-12.
- ^ "Flaming Moe's". The Simpsons.com. http://www.thesimpsons.com/episode_guide/0310.htm. Retrieved 2009-01-03.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Jean, Al. (2003). Commentary for "Flaming Moe's", in The Simpsons: The Complete Third Season [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
- ^ Ortved, John (2009). The Simpsons: An Uncensored, Unauthorized History. Greystone Books. p. 251. ISBN 978-1-55365-503-9.
- ^ a b c Goldman, Eric; Dan Iverson, Brian Zoromski (2006-09-08). "The Simpsons: 17 Seasons, 17 Episodes". IGN. http://tv.ign.com/articles/731/731095p1.html. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
- ^ a b Groening, Matt. (2003). Commentary for "Flaming Moe's", in The Simpsons: The Complete Third Season [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
- ^ Castellaneta, Dan. (2003). Commentary for "Flaming Moe's", in The Simpsons: The Complete Third Season [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
- ^ a b c Reiss, Mike. (2003). Commentary for "Flaming Moe's", in The Simpsons: The Complete Third Season [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
- ^ a b Moore, Rich. (2003). Commentary for "Flaming Moe's", in The Simpsons: The Complete Third Season [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
- ^ "The Family Dynamic". Entertainment Weekly. 2003-01-29. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,417748_4,00.html. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
- ^ "15 writer favorites". USA Today. 2003-02-06. http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2003-02-06-favorites_x.htm. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
- ^ Harvey, Niel (September 4, 2003). "'The Simpsons' Is A Consistent Slam Dunk". The Roanoke Times: p. 8.
- ^ Goldman, Eric; Iverson, Dan; Zoromski, Brian. "Top 25 Simpsons Guest Appearances". IGN. http://uk.tv.ign.com/articles/730/730566p5.html. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
- ^ Tucker, Ken (1991-12-27). "The Best & Worst Television". Entertainment Weekly. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,316618,00.html.
- ^ Weitz, Matt (1997-04-03). "Out There". Dallas Observer. http://www.dallasobserver.com/1997-04-03/music/out-there/. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
External links
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