PRODUCTION/CULTURAL REFERENCES (written 11/27/16; 12/20/16; 12/30/16; 1/1/17)

-I would just like to say right off the bat that I can't express enough how I feel about making it to 100 episodes. This really wasn't supposed to happen. At one point, I was going to end the show after three seasons and try pitching it years later. But instead, I just kept on working and have tried as hard as I can to make each season better than the last. This is one of the very few things I have going for me right now, so the fact that I got this far is amazing. I said the best was yet to come because I always want the show to get better. The next 90 or so episodes will be all about one thing: To be as entertaining as they possibly can be. (11/27/16)

12/20/16:

-I delayed the Backstage Pass because the past month has been frustrating, painful, and has forced me to reflect on a few things. The night I started writing this, which should have been a night to celebrate, I started having a toothache. I figured it would go away and I would pick up where I left off the next day, but it ended up getting worse and I had to go to the dentist to get it checked out as soon as I could. I'm getting it taken care of at the moment, and I just recently had a tooth removed, but I'm still far from okay since this has been a problem for months. The night the toothache got worse, I was threatened to change Jaylynn's middle and last name by someone who knows the person I based the character off of. I already went through a similar situation at the end of season three with Anja's name, but this was constant for at least a week. I had to edit every episode from 2014 onward, and I later blocked the person sending me the threats when I was done. They complained about the description for "Heterosexuality 101" without actually looking at the episode, making it seem like I was promoting kids having sex. The whole thing creeped me out, annoyed me to no end, and angers me every time I think about it.

-I later tried once again to promote the show, this time on FanFiction's Reddit page. But after two comments telling me that what I write doesn't even belong on the site and violates Terms of Service, I deleted the thread and gave up. I also started wondering why the show has been on FanFiction this long and it has only gotten me into trouble. There was one person who consistently left comments on episodes for the first two seasons, but she stopped early on in season three and I haven't heard from her in a long time. The show has really only gotten negative attention, some of it undeserved. The most popular episode so far is "Sparky's Big Hit," a cover episode from season two that I don't even like anymore. I have been thinking it over for a while, and I know it's time to move on. I still have to get some of the pieces together, but I decided that season five will be the last season on FanFiction. Season six onward will be done on another site. For a while, I might still write episodes here and rewrite them on the new site so I can post them there instead. But after the season finale in May, I'm done posting new episodes here. I don't think it makes sense anymore to do all this work and get little to no feedback.

-There has been something positive to take from what I went through this month. Editing all those episodes, and uploading every one from seasons 2-5 on Google Docs allowed me to see how much this show has changed for the better. I was on my way to high school when I first started back in 2012, and now I'm a college freshman working on my first degree. The show had potential, but there was a lot of randomness, stolen bits/jokes from other shows, episodes were a lot shorter, and I wasn't very original most of the time. Then in season three, the show started realizing more of its potential and I started developing this special world. The characters were going through more struggles and becoming deeper, the jokes got a lot tighter, the dialogue improved, and episodes started feeling more important. The changed names are a reflection of that. I'm not saying it's a completely different show now, because some of that 2012 mentality will always be there. But I have a more sophisticated and thoughtful approach to writing now. I take things a lot more seriously. It's not just about coming up with a story anymore. It's more about how I can make that story fit the character in a believable way and find something new about that character. I'm taking advantage of the world I created, and I'm coming up with more original, interesting ideas that can't just be done on any show. I'm really proud of what I have been able to do with Thank You, Heavenly, and after 100 episodes, I hope to discover new things about this world and continue improving as a writer/storyteller. There's no ceiling for this show yet, and I better not find it anytime soon.

-Because this was the 100th episode, I knew I needed something big. I needed a really great idea that represented everything that Thank You, Heavenly was. At its core, the show really is about five friends trying to make it through life together and take on whatever the world throws at them. No matter what absurd or unique situation they end up in, they deal with it. I came up with about five ideas for the 100th episode, and the first one I made ended up being the one I went with: An episode about the guys having to take on people who use their personalities for evil. I did consider the other ones, but I fell in love with this idea and knew it would be the 100th episode for months.

12/30/16:

-I felt like this idea captured the show better than any other one I came up with. Just the thought of the guys having these clones that were supposed to help them, and they end up highlighting all of their flaws instead. Then they have to end up conquering themselves. I wasn't trying to say anything about society with that kind of concept, but it is fun to think about.

-For several months, I wanted the 100th episode to be a two-parter. However, this summer, I watched American Dad's 200th episode and I saw how they were able to pack so much humor and so much story into 22 minutes. I felt like even if it was a milestone, I shouldn't try to force a two-part episode so I kept it at one.

-It was a somewhat hard episode to write. It wasn't as difficult as the Christmas episode, but I had to make sure the story was really solid and make sure each character had their time to shine. I know that I started in October, took some time off, and then worked on the last few scenes at a later time.

-The opening sequence was set for months. I knew I was going to use "Ladies and Gentlemen" since at least the beginning of this year and visualized how it would come out. What I got wasn't what I wanted initially. I never found the first voiceover guy I wanted to make a guest appearance, but I know his voice and he's done work in WWE for several years. I considered just having any old celebrity do it, but I knew I needed an actual voiceover artist for it. The next best thing was Corey Burton, and he is definitely great at what he does, but I'm still frustrated that I couldn't get my first choice.

-I was seriously considering changing the name of the school, but I couldn't find anything in particular that I liked so I just kept it as is. Plus, I never had any problems with the name so I just started wondering if I was changing it for the sake of changing it.

-One of my favorite jokes in this episode was Buster believing that Sparky forgot what his name was. I love writing simple jokes like that because those are the ones that will always get a good laugh.

-At lunch, Buster makes a reference to the Jerry Sandusky child molestation scandal in 2011. I had Jaylynn question it because I was seriously wondering if that joke was taking it too far.

-I absolutely loved writing for Buster's clone because all I had to do was exaggerate Buster's stupidity. Plus, he was so stupid it forced Buster to deal with someone dumber than him for the first time ever.

-Buster's clone's use of "cowinky dinkery doo dah dillie pillie" is a reference to the season two episode "Quadruple Date" where Buster used the same line on Diana.

-When Wade's clone tells Buster's clone he never mentioned anything about shoo fly pie, Buster's clone references the Boy Meets World episode "Brotherly Shove."

1/1/17:

-I had the idea of the guys just being criticized by their clones for a while. It was a little hard to write the speeches because I'm pretty much going after my own characters, but I feel like it came out exactly the way I wanted and it was what some people feel when they have to deal with their own shortcomings. It was also somewhat of a self-criticism, thinking about what would happen if people in the real world had to deal with the kids for an extended period of time.

-I was considering doing an extended version of this episode where the clones do heinous things while no one knows that it's not actually the guys. Scenes like RK's clone wanting to do scumbag activities with KG, and Jaylynn's clone trying to have her way with Anja (which would lead to a cameo by Lynne). I don't know if I'm still doing that.

-The making of 100 clones represented every episode of the show up to that point.

-The idea of having Russell Wilson was just something I came up with when I was writing the episode. I felt like it wouldn't hurt to have a celebrity appearance. It's also hilarious because Russell's comments are a major contrast from his real life persona. This is also big because Wilson is the first Seattle athlete to guest star on the show.

-Wade references the Saltalamacchia Snow Buster from season two's "No Snow Job's Chance in Hell."

-As a way to cap off the episode, I had "Another Me" play in the end credits. It was the show's theme song for the first two episodes before I switched to "Let It Roll" and never looked back.