PRODUCTION/CULTURAL REFERENCES (written on 10/16/15, 10/18/15)
-This episode was originally supposed to air on October 11. However, the script was not done yet so I postponed it for a week. I considered posting this episode on Columbus Day or today, but I decided it would make more sense to just wait until Sunday since the episode that picks up where this one leaves off ("Fake It") will not be ready until November 1. The annual Halloween episode airs next week.
-This episode was initially produced for the second season. In fact, it was meant to be the premiere. The main plot saw Buster enter the National Burp Competition and win. He would then be seen as a role model to kids despite not knowing what he is being recognized for. The subplot with RK and KG is exactly the same as it would have been two years ago, except for Uncle Carmine's death which was added specifically for this episode. There was even a C-plot which revolved around Sparky trying to get used to Jaylynn moving to Seattle and hoping to be a part of the group. I started writing it, then I just gave up and moved on to "Sparky's Big Hit" before writing a new season premiere. I was still interested in the plot so I gave it another shot and wrote the episode for season four. All I know is had this episode been completed in season two, it would have turned out a lot differently.
-This episode marks Sarah's second appearance on the show after "The Karma Machine" last season. I knew I wanted her to return and I chose this episode since it centered around Jaylynn. Because of that, I decided to expand her role a little bit. She will make at least one more appearance this season as well.
-For a while, I had been interested in dealing with death on the show. Although "The Life and Times of Diana Katanova" had two characters get killed off, neither of them were important to the show and they served their purpose as antagonists to Buster. This situation is different since Uncle Carmine was a Jennings family member and meant a lot to the boys. I wanted to see how his death would impact RK and KG's characters going forward. On a side note, it is very unlikely that any of the main or recurring characters will get killed off, unless I see that they are no longer contributing anything of the value to the show and there is no better way to write them off. During season two, I thought that if any of the main characters would get killed off, it would be Jaylynn. But that was more than a year ago. Since then, she has become one of the most important parts of the series so there is no point in messing with the formula until I see fit.
-Jaylynn interacting with as many characters as she did was part of the plan to get them all into the episode in some capacity. I could not decide on an official confidante so I used several, however in previous episodes, that role would have been filled by Sparky.
-The episode title is a reference to the iconic soliloquy in William Shakespeare's Hamlet ("To be or not to be - that is the question...).
-The Adventures of Strawman was a bit that I came up with during season three but I was never able to put it into an actual episode for some reason, until now. The straw is meant to mock people who use arguments based on fallacies while believing them to be legitimate.
-Originally, RK's character was supposed to be a lot more unlikable, almost antagonistic in the vein of Eric Cartman. However, as the episodes went on, I felt like it would have made him too much of a copy of Cartman and less like an original character. The result ended up being the eccentric goofball you see today.
-I was considering leaving the bit with KG and the banana out, but decided to keep it, mostly because of RK's reaction and how much KG struggles to pull it off.
-The Saturday Night Live scene was me trying to come up with the stupidest parody possible.
-Jaylynn's radio interview was a parody of the Cara Delevingne interview a few months back where the morning show hosts criticized her for the way she was answering questions. Then, when she was no longer being interviewed, they proceeded to trash her further on live television. However, this parody was meant to show Jaylynn in the wrong.
-Buster being wired and needing to remember his codephrase was a reference to the pilot episode of Kenan & Kel, where the police gave Kenan and Kel a codephrase to remember so they could catch a car thief: "The chipmunk has pneumonia." That was originally going to be RK's first suggestion for a codephrase, but I felt like that would have made the reference too blatant.
-Wade's codephrase was a reference to a line from "The Blacker the Berry" by Kendrick Lamar, where Lamar says "Or tell Georgia State 'Marcus Garvey got all the answers.'"
-I wanted Jaylynn to lose her fame by doing the one thing nobody ever recovers from: Defaming the Pope. Look up Sinead O'Connor. There was irony in the fact that Jaylynn didn't want the fame, but once she started embracing it, she lost it by doing the one thing she values above everything else: Speaking her mind.
-When I heard "Role Model" for the first time, I knew it would be perfect for this episode. Originally, "Role Model" was going to be used in a montage bringing the two plots together, but it was cut. Had I went through with the montage, "White America" (another Eminem song relating to his role in society) would have been played in the end credits.
