Fear of Flying (The Simpsons)

"Fear of Flying"
The Simpsons episode
Episode no. 114
Directed by Mark Kirkland[1]
Written by David Sacks[1]
Showrunner(s) David Mirkin
Production code 2F08
Original air date December 18, 1994[2]
Chalkboard gag "Ralph won't 'morph' if you squeeze him hard enough"[1]
Couch gag The Simpsons join a kickline as the living room turns into a showbiz extravaganza.
Guest actors Anne Bancroft as Dr. Zweig
Ted Danson as Sam
Woody Harrelson as Woody
Rhea Perlman as Carla
John Ratzenberger as Cliff
George Wendt as Norm
Commentary Matt Groening
David Mirkin
Mark Kirkland

"Fear of Flying" is the eleventh episode of The Simpsons' sixth season. It was first broadcast on the Fox network in the United States on December 18, 1994. In the episode, Homer is banned from Moe's Tavern and struggles to find a new bar. When he destroys a plane after being mistaken for a pilot at a pilots-only bar, the airline buys the Simpsons' silence with free tickets. The family discovers that Marge is afraid of flying.

The episode was directed by Mark Kirkland, and written by David Sacks. It features numerous guest stars, including Anne Bancroft as Dr. Zweig. Additionally, Ted Danson, Woody Harrelson, Rhea Perlman, John Ratzenberger, and George Wendt appear as their characters from Cheers. It received positive reception from television critics, and acquired a Nielsen rating of 9.6. The authors of I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide commented positively on the episode, as did reviews from DVD Verdict and DVD Movie Guide.

Plot

After pulling a harmless prank on Moe, Homer is banned from His Tavern, ironically after Moe laughed off life-threatening ones that Lenny, Carl and Barney pulled on him. Looking for another place to drink (including the Cheers bar), Homer eventually settles for an airline pilots' bar, but is mistaken for a pilot (despite confessing that he's not really a pilot) and is put in the cockpit of an airplane, which he promptly wrecks after raising the stationary plane's landing gear. In exchange for his silence of the mistake they've made, the airline gives the Simpson family free tickets to anywhere they desire in the continental United States. However, the idea of plane travel fills Marge with anxiety as she has a fear of flying, and after numerous failed attempts to get out of the trip, she eventually has a panic attack on the plane, following which the trip is postponed.

Marge does not want to talk to anybody about her fear, and Lisa worries that Marge's decision to keep her feelings bottled up will cause them to "come out in other ways". When Marge begins to show signs of her lingering flight-related trauma by insisting the cat and the dog are living in sin, cooking giant feasts, and shingling the roof in the middle of the night, Lisa convinces Marge to undergo treatment with therapist Dr. Zweig. Homer, however, grows increasingly paranoid about Marge's therapy, believing that Zweig will blame Marge's trauma on him, and encourage her to leave him.

Zweig uncovers the roots of Marge's fear: the moment she realized her father was not a pilot, but an apron-wearing flight attendant, a job that was mostly reserved for women at the time. Her shame is eased when Zweig assures her that male flight attendants are now very common and that her father could be considered a pioneer. Marge also brings up memories of her grandmother poking her in the eye as a baby while playing airplane, a toy plane catching fire, and having a plane fire at her and her mother, but Zweig just ignores them. Before the therapist begins to question Marge's marriage, Homer immediately takes Marge away and Marge manages to thank Zweig for helping her. Marge is finally cured of her fears, but when she and Homer attempt to fly on a plane again, the plane crashes into a lake.

Production

Anne Bancroft guest starred as Zweig.

"Fear of Flying" was directed by Mark Kirkland, and written by David Sacks.[3] The story of the episode came about when Sacks came into the writers' room with an idea for an episode where Marge goes to a therapist "for one reason or another". Sacks and the other writers then structured the rest of the plot around that storyline.[3] Anne Bancroft was called in to voice Zweig. Before Bancroft recorded her part, the animators based Zweig's design on a temp track from cast member Tress MacNeille as the therapist.[4] After Bancroft had recorded her part, Zweig was redesigned to fit with Bancroft's voice.[4] They added split glasses and a streak of silver in her hair to give her a more mature look.[4]

After Homer was kicked out of Moe's Tavern, it was originally planned for a cat to come to Homer, and then have it enter the bar. The result is the barflies loving the cat, and depressing Homer even more. According to David Silverman, the fact that it looked depressing was the reason why it was deleted, and replaced with an more humorous approach with him chasing a poodle.

The staff was able to get the central cast of the American sitcom Cheers, with the exception of Kelsey Grammer, to reunite and guest star in the episode.[3] The staff could not arrange the script to allow time in the episode for Grammer, who already had a recurring role on The Simpsons as Sideshow Bob, to voice Frasier Crane.[3] Ted Danson guest starred as Sam, Woody Harrelson as Woody, Rhea Perlman as Carla, John Ratzenberger as Cliff, and George Wendt as Norm.[1][5]

Cultural references

Homer enters the Cheers bar in a scene which is a parody of a typical episode of the comedy series Cheers.[6] All of the speaking characters are voiced by the actors who played them in Cheers. Ironically, Frasier Crane remains silent despite being played by Simpsons veteran Kelsey Grammer, the voice of Sideshow Bob.[1] Marge's dream sees her in the role of Mrs. Robinson from Lost in Space, while Homer plays Dr. Smith.[6] The scene where Marge and Jacqueline Bouvier duck down when a biplane shoots at them in a cornfield is a parody of Alfred Hitchcock's film North by Northwest.[3]

Homer's Mount Lushmore caricature resembles Eustace Tilley, the mascot of The New Yorker.[1] Homer's line about getting out of Springfield is lifted from It's a Wonderful Life, while Homer's all-time favorite song is revealed to be "It's Raining Men" by The Weather Girls.[6] When Abe Simpson is left behind on the plane, his slapping his hands on his face and yelling is a reference to Home Alone. This is the second time Home Alone has been parodied on The Simpsons. The first was "Homer Alone", a reference to the title.

As Homer is looking for a place to drink, he tries a lesbian bar, the She She Lounge. However, he soon realizes that "this lesbian bar doesn't have a fire exit". He then leaves, saying "Enjoy your deathtrap, ladies!". This is a reference to a famous Greenwich Village gay bar, the Stonewall Inn. This mafia-owned and -run bar "had no rear exit, so if there had been a fire on a weekend night, hundreds of customers would have had to escape through a single narrow passage leading to the front door."[7] The films Homer rents are Hero, Fearless, and Alive, the latter of which Marge watches. All of them involve plane crashes.

When Marge leaves Dr. Zweig's office, she says, "Whenever the wind whistles through the leaves, I'll think, Lowenstein, Lowenstein…". This is a reference to The Prince of Tides; the psychiatrist is Dr. Lowenstein.

Reception

In its original American broadcast, "Fear of Flying" finished 48th (tied with Dateline NBC) in the ratings for the week of December 12 to December 18, 1994, with a Nielsen rating of 9.6.[8] The episode was the third highest rated show on the Fox network that week, beaten only by Beverly Hills, 90210, and Married... with Children.[8] Since airing, the episode has received many positive reviews from fans and television critics. In July 2007, Simon Crerar of The Times listed the Cheers cast's performance as one of the thirty-three funniest cameos in the history of the show.[9]

Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, the authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, said it was "a good Marge-centric episode with plenty of clever set pieces – the tributes to Cheers and Lost in Space are fantastic", and noted that "Marge's father looks suspiciously like Moe".[6] Ryan Keefer at DVD Verdict said that "with the cast of Cheers appearing (except for Grammer, ironically) and a funny spoof of North by Northwest, the episode is much better than you would expect", and gave it a B+.[10]

Colin Jacobson at DVD Movie Guide said in a review of the sixth season DVD that it was "another show I didn’t recall fondly but that works exceedingly well. I hadn’t realized how many quotes I’ve stolen from this one: the name 'Guy Incognito', the dog with the puffy tail, 'a burden coupled with a hassle'. The show makes little sense in regard to continuity since Marge has flown during prior shows, but it’s consistently very funny and entertaining."[11] The Phoenix named Anne Bancroft one of the twenty best guest stars to appear on the show.[12]

Merchandise

The episode was selected for release in a 1999 video collection of selected episodes titled: The Simpsons Go To Hollywood.[13] Other episodes included in the collection set were "Flaming Moe's", "Krusty Gets Kancelled", and "Homer to the Max".[13] "Fear of Flying" was again included in the 2003 DVD release of the same set.[14] It was included in The Simpsons season 6 DVD set, which was released on August 16, 2005, as The Simpsons – The Complete Sixth Season.[15]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Groening, Matt (1997). Richmond, Ray; Coffman, Antonia, eds. The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to Our Favorite Family (1st ed.). New York: HarperPerennial. p. 161. ISBN 978-0-06-095252-5. LCCN 98141857. OCLC 37796735. OL 433519M..
  2. ↑ "Fear of Flying". The Simpsons.com. Archived from the original on 2008-06-11. Retrieved 2008-11-08.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Mirkin, David (2005). The Simpsons season 6 DVD commentary for the episode "Fear of Flying" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
  4. 1 2 3 Kirkland, Mark (2005). The Simpsons season 6 DVD commentary for the episode "Fear of Flying" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
  5. ↑ Groening, Matt (2005). The Simpsons season 6 DVD commentary for the episode "Fear of Flying" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Martyn, Warren; Wood, Adrian (2000). "Fear of Flying". BBC. Retrieved 2008-03-27.
  7. ↑ Eisenbach, David (2006). Gay Power: An American Revolution. Carroll & Graf Publishers. p. 85. ISBN 0-7867-1633-9.
  8. 1 2 Elbert, Lynn (December 23, 1994). "Nielsen Ratings". Rocky Mountain News. p. 40D. Retrieved on October 29, 2008.
  9. ↑ Crerar, Simon (2007-07-05). "The 33 funniest Simpsons cameos ever". The Times. Retrieved 2010-08-09.
  10. ↑ Keefer, Ryan (August 29, 2005). "DVD Verdict Review – The Simpsons: The Complete Sixth Season". DVD Verdict. Retrieved 2008-09-26.
  11. ↑ Jacobson, Colin (2003). "The Simpsons: The Complete Sixth Season (1994)". DVD Movie Guide. Retrieved 2008-10-08.
  12. ↑ "The Simpsons 20 best guest voices of all time". The Phoenix.com. 2006-03-29. Retrieved 2008-11-20.
  13. 1 2 "The Simpsons Go To Hollywood (VHS)". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2008-10-17.
  14. ↑ "The Simpsons Go To Hollywood (DVD)". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2008-10-17.
  15. ↑ "The Simpsons – The Complete Sixth Season". The Simpsons (20th Century Fox). August 16, 2005.

External links

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