'Scuse Me While I Miss the Sky

January 2025 September 2023 14 16 Steven Dean Moore Dan Greaney Allen Glazier EABF11 2003 03 30 Eric Idle as Declan Desmond Joe Mantegna as Fat Tony Marcia Wallace as Edna Krabappel The living room is in an ocean. Homer is on water skis, with the others on him, as he ski-jumps over sharks; everybody lands on the couch, but Homer's legs are in the mouth of the shark. Al Jean Dan Greaney Allen Glazier Carolyn Omine Kevin Curran J. Stewart Burns Joe Mantegna Steven Dean Moore David Silverman C.E.D'oh Three Gays of the Condo "Scuse Me While I Miss the Sky" is the sixteenth episode of the fourteenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 30, 2003.http://www.tv.com/the-simpsons/scuse-me-while-i-miss-the-sky/episode/193390/summary.html 'Scuse Me While I Miss the Sky TV.com 5 January 2010 31 March 2009 https://web.archive.org/web/20090331093903/http://www.tv.com/the-simpsons/scuse-me-while-i-miss-the-sky/episode/193390/summary.html dead The episode was written by Dan Greaney and Allen Glazier and was directed by Steven Dean Moore. In this episode, Lisa tries to reduce the town's light pollution, so she can see the stars at night. Meanwhile Bart tries to steal the hood ornament from Fat Tony's car to regain his reputation after he is humiliated. Eric Idle guest starred as Declan Desmond. The episode received mixed reviews. Plot Declan Desmond, an opinionated British documentary film producer, films a documentary at Springfield Elementary School on the students' lives. He interviews Bart as he gets hit by a ball of dirt thrown by Nelson and breaks down in tears. Later, Declan belittles Lisa as she talks about the multiplicity of her interests, insinuating that she could neither be happy nor successful juggling too many hobbies or passions. Hurt by his criticism, Lisa resolves to find a single passion to which she can devote herself; astronomy. She convinces Homer to buy her a telescope, but discovers that light pollution from the city is blocking her view of the sky. After a discussion with Professor Frink, Lisa starts a petition to reduce the city's light pollution. After gaining enough signatures, Mayor Quimby agrees to turn off the streetlights, leading to a clear view of the stars, at which many people from Springfield marvel. Meanwhile, Bart is looking for a way to regain his popularity after being humiliated. After seeing Nelson parading around with stolen car hood ornaments, he decides to steal one off Fat Tony's car. Milhouse and Bart are caught by Fat Tony and his henchmen, and try to escape on a passing streetcar, only for it to stop in front of Tony and his henchmen, which was the line's terminus. As a result, their first attempt failed because Quimby is pressured to switch the lights back on due to rising crime. Yet the light level is set too high which means that no one can sleep so Lisa, still wanting to see the light pollution reduced, and Bart, still wanting to steal Fat Tony's hood ornament, take a now sleep-deprived Homer to the power plant and overload the generators causing a power outage, which ends the light pollution, but before the angry citizens can attack, Lisa points out a meteor shower and the town looks on in wonderment while Bart sneaks off and steals Fat Tony's hood ornament, with Don McLean's song "Vincent" playing in the background. The show ends with a montage of clips from Declan's documentary. Production By this time in the show's history, there had been an "ever-present fear that as the show ages it risks 'jumping the shark. The Simpsons writers satirized the term's namesake (an episode of Happy Days in which Fonzie jumps over a shark on water skis) in the episode, which has a couch gag where the Simpson family jump over a tank full of sharks in a similar fashion (the gag had previously been used in the episode "How I Spent My Strummer Vacation"). Executive producer Al Jean said, "We figured that if we said it first, then they couldn't say it".Life imitating bart https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/life-imitating-bart-20040817-gdjk90.html The Sydney Morning Herald August 17, 2004 January 28, 2022 The writers included a line where Carl Carlson mentions his Icelandic heritage, as well as the fact that Homer, Moe and Lenny show absolutely no interest in what he's saying. This would later become both the basis and an explicit reference point in the episode "The Saga of Carl", where Carl steals the winnings from a lottery ticket he jointly purchased with the gang before returning to Iceland; then when they track him down, he says that he is not sorry for what he did because they are not friends, as "friends care that their friends are from Iceland!" Cultural references The episode's title references the lyric "scuse me while I kiss the sky" from Jimi Hendrix's song "Purple Haze". Reception Viewing figures The episode was watched by 12.56 million viewers, which was the 16th most-watched show that week.https://www.newspapers.com/article/41425843/the-los-angeles-times/ National Nielsen Viewership (March 24–30) April 2, 2003 Los Angeles Times June 10, 2023 Newspapers.com June 5, 2023 https://web.archive.org/web/20230605113122/https://www.newspapers.com/article/41425843/the-los-angeles-times/ live Critical response Colin Jacobson of DVD Movie Guide wrote, "[l]ike most Lisa-based stories, this one tends to be lackluster." He enjoyed the subplot involving Bart and Fat Tony.Colin Jacobson December 16, 2011 The Simpsons: The Complete Fourteenth Season [Blu-Ray] (2002) http://www.dvdmg.com/simpsonsseasonfourteen.shtml DVD Movie Guide November 10, 2024 August 23, 2012 https://web.archive.org/web/20120823020618/http://www.dvdmg.com/simpsonsseasonfourteen.shtml live On Four Finger Discount, Brendan Dando liked both Lisa and Bart's stories while Guy Davis felt the episode was pieced together from many different writers' ideas.Guy Davis Brendan Dando 'Scuse Me While I Miss The Sky (S14E16) Four Finger Discount (Simpsons Podcast) November 18, 2021 https://fourfingerdiscount.podbean.com/e/scuse-me-while-i-miss-the-sky-simpsons-podcast-review/ 2:40 November 10, 2024 November 11, 2024 https://web.archive.org/web/20241111014053/https://fourfingerdiscount.podbean.com/e/scuse-me-while-i-miss-the-sky-simpsons-podcast-review/ live English musician Jake Bugg credits hearing Don McLean's "Vincent" in this episode as his formative musical moment.della Cava Marco On the Verge: Jake Bugg is straight outta Nottingham https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2013/09/08/on-the-verge-jake-bugg/2597581/ 4 December 2013 USA Today 10 September 2013 October 14, 2017 https://web.archive.org/web/20171014185214/https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2013/09/08/on-the-verge-jake-bugg/2597581/ live Awards and nominations Director Steven Dean Moore won the Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement for Directing in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production for this episode.31ST ANNUAL ANNIE AWARD NOMINEES AND WINNERS (2003) http://annieawards.org/31st-annie-awards ASIFA-Hollywood 21 July 2016 https://web.archive.org/web/20160701220856/http://annieawards.org/31st-annie-awards 1 July 2016 The episode was also nominated for an Environmental Media Award for Best Television Episodic Comedy.Cam Shea THE SIMPSONS: GUNNING FOR 60 SEASONS http://www.ign.com/articles/2011/11/21/the-simpsons-gunning-for-60-seasons IGN 21 July 2016 https://web.archive.org/web/20160322073405/http://www.ign.com/articles/2011/11/21/the-simpsons-gunning-for-60-seasons 22 March 2016 20 November 201113th Annual Environmental Media Awards http://ema-online.org/awards_13th_annual.php Environmental Media Association November 10, 2024 October 14, 2007 https://web.archive.org/web/20071014120621/http://ema-online.org/awards_13th_annual.php dead References External links The_Simpsons/Season_14#.27Scuse_Me_While_I_Miss_the_Sky Scuse Me While I Miss the Sky" The Simpsons 0701042 14 Category:The Simpsons season 14 episodes Category:2003 American television episodes Category:Light pollution Category:Television episodes written by Dan Greaney Category:Television episodes directed by Steven Dean Moore