PRODUCTION/CULTURAL REFERENCES (written 5/1/19-5/2/19)

-A while back, I came up with the idea of an episode centered around Sparky, but I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do with it. I knew that I wanted the episode to come late in the season, but that was it. My first idea was just following Sparky through an average day, with him having all these things that he has to do and getting into trouble through no fault of his own. At this point, it was called "Sparky's Modern Life." Later on, I realized this episode wasn't a fully formed idea and decided to go with something else. This is when I briefly considered Sparky going on a time travel adventure with RK and Wade, but that didn't go anywhere either.

-In February, I finally came up with an idea that I could work with involving Sparky losing his homework and then being considered a liar because of his outrageous story. The episode was meant to showcase some of Sparky's best qualities, like staying true to himself and taking pride in being honest. This episode is like a combination of two Hey Arnold! episodes: "Full Moon" and "Bag of Money." In "Full Moon," Arnold sees Harold, Sid, and Stinky moon Principal Wartz. Because the guys were wearing masks, Wartz didn't recognize them but he knew that Arnold did. Arnold refuses to tell on the guys, so Wartz sends him to detention every day, with the possibility of it being on his permanent record if he doesn't snitch. In "Bag of Money," Arnold, Gerald, and Sid find a bag containing $3,937 in the trash. They decide to let Arnold keep the money until the next day when they all go to turn it in to the police, but when Arnold's on the bus, the bag of money is mixed up with a bag of birdseed belonging to a woman with a pink beehive, a peg leg, and one eyebrow. Nobody believes the story, especially Sid, and even Gerald has a hard time believing it until near the end of the episode. Despite Sparky's story being ridiculous, despite people not believing him, and despite him being stuck in detention for days, the thing he values the most is the truth, no matter what.

-The idea for this episode was also inspired by real-life events. Back when I was in elementary school, I was working on an assignment at home when it ended up flying out the window. I tried seeing how I could get out of it, but in the end, I had to come clean. Honestly, I don't think my teacher believed what happened, but it did inspire a game among my friends where you had to try catching an imaginary paper in the sky.

-Believe it or not, I came up with the subplot because of "Mathematics," I didn't just decide that "Mathematics" would go great with the subplot. It did, but after listening to "Mathematics" a few times, I wanted to use it on the show. That's when I came up with the subplot of RK tutoring Jaylynn in math class. This is one of those cases where a song inspires something in an episode to happen.

-It actually took me some time to come up with a good title for this episode. I knew it had to start with the "Sparky the...," but I needed a strong adjective, like how The Simpsons would have episode titles such as "Homer the Heretic" or "Lisa the Iconoclast." That's when I found the word "fabulist." It stands out a lot more than just calling the episode "Sparky the Liar" or "Sparky the Storyteller."

-When I was writing this episode, it felt like a spiritual sequel to season three's "Sparky Inflates the Grade." Both episodes deal with similar issues, because with "Sparky Inflates the Grade," Sparky ends up getting negative attention in school due to a controversial event, and his relationship with one of his teachers is strained as a result. However, that one was different because Sparky actually cheated on a math test and had to redeem himself. With this episode, Sparky didn't do anything wrong. It's just that nobody believed him.

-Bitch Clock references the longstanding feud between Janet Hubert and Will Smith, which started after Hubert was fired from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in 1993.

-Bitch Clock references the character Frank White (played by Christopher Walken) from the 1990 film King of New York, specifically the scene where White tells some muggers to ask for him at the Plaza Hotel so he can give them work.

-I got the entire word problem from the Arthur episode "The Boy with His Head in the Clouds." However, in the original problem, Prudence and Hope bought licorice lozenges, Chastity bought two pulls of huckleberry taffy, and Chance bought a bag of ginger sours.

-Buster references the extensive number of rewrites that a Simpsons script goes through before it gets turned into an episode, especially during the early seasons.

-Buster references the episode "No Taxation Without Retaliation" from earlier this season, where he and Sparky started an underground soda business in Sparky's basement after soda was banned from iCarly Elementary.

-Originally, scene 19 was not a conversation between Sparky and Principal MacGregor. It was actually a parody of the R. Kelly interview with Gayle King that aired in March on CBS. In a dream sequence, Sparky imagines himself as R. Kelly and Mrs. Bernstein as King, referencing direct quotes from the interview and talking about his current situation in the same way that R. Kelly talked about his. I thought the interview was hilarious and wanted to parody it, but I was just waiting for the right episode. However, I decided to delete the scene and later replace it because despite it being funny, it didn't add anything to the episode. Plus, it has been two months since the interview, so the parody might have come off as dated. I'm strongly considering adding the scene to one of the upcoming episodes.

-In the scene with MacGregor, Sparky references the episode "Goodbye 2018, Hello 2019," also from earlier this season. In the B-plot, Sparky and Halley are convinced that Bitch Clock has plans to commit a terrorist attack in New York City on New Year's Eve, so they follow him to Times Square to stop him.

-RK references the episode "RK's Play," another one from season seven. In this episode, RK is chosen to write the annual school play, becoming the first fourth grader in the history of the school to get the job. Wade becomes jealous due to having wanted to write the play for a long time, and eventually tries to sabotage the play by putting up several fliers around the school calling for the play's cancellation.

-The "Second Round K.O." montage was just something I thought of to make the subplot funnier, but when I was writing it, I decided to incorporate the main plot so it had more of a purpose.

-The hardest part of this episode to write was the ending. I'm fine with it, but in the back of my mind, it was really just me needing to wrap things up because Sparky had to be seen as telling the truth.

-Originally, the joke to end the episode was Buster deciding to kiss the back of his hand and realizing that it still smells like old gum. However, after rewriting it to include Ashley, I went back to the initial scene with Buster complaining about the gum and added the detail of it being watermelon lime gum that he swallowed. That way, the joke could tie in with his disgust at the end.

-I chose "This Time Around" as the end credits song because its subject matter was similar to this episode, dealing with false accusations, paranoia, and frustrations over being taken advantage of.