PRODUCTION/CULTURAL REFERENCES (written on 5/22/15)
-The episode was originally meant to be aired on May 17, but at the time, I was on the Jaylynn story and I was trying to put something together for the night after. Then I decided on Wednesday, then Friday. This was one of the hardest episodes to write all season. Still not the worst experience because I actually enjoyed it at times, but this was an idea I somewhat thought about throwing out completely. This episode was something I had to commit myself to, and its kind is a lot tougher to write than the average episode. It can be more fun, but it can also be more draining. At the end of the day, I saw it through and was able to get it done.
-When we were in English class a few weeks back, we were given a book to read by playwright August Wilson entitled Fences. It was part of his Pittsburgh Cycle. The cycle involved Wilson writing a play set in every decade in the 20th century, meant to take a look at the African-American experience in each one. All except one play (Ma Rainey's Black Bottom) were based in Pittsburgh's Hill District. Wilson was able to complete the cycle before his death in 2005. The idea of the Pittsburgh Cycle interested me, and I thought about applying it to Thank You, Heavenly. One day while heading to school, I came up with an outline in my head about the RK story. At the time, I was not exactly sure how it would work but then I thought up the idea for an episode based off of Wilson's cycle. It grew arms and legs and eventually, I had an entire episode ready for writing.
-There is a key difference between Wilson's Pittsburgh Cycle and this episode. This was instrumental in making the idea work for Thank You, Heavenly. Wilson's period plays were meant to explore the social and economical landscape of the decades they were based in. "The Seattle Cycle" was meant to play to the show's strengths and satirize the pop-culture of the three decades I was most familiar with. Let me break it down further.
-RK's story was inspired by the cultural values of the 1980s and Public Enemy's reputation at the time. The organization known as the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) started during this period, and was meant to regulate objectionable content in music. Several artists saw this organization as promoting censorship, and even spoke in front of Congress about the situation, such as Twisted Sister's Dee Snider. Hip-hop in general was seen as having absolutely no value, compared to today where the product sounds closer to the perception.
-Jaylynn's story was the one that I enjoyed working on the most, because it fit her character perfectly. It was inspired by the grunge movement in the 1990s, with several bands coming out of Seattle and achieving success. Even if your band was not Nirvana or Alice in Chains, you still had underground success as well. It got to the point where grunge artists not based in Seattle were seen as imitators, and the media started painting the grunge community as something it never was. The reason why the story ended so abruptly is because I plan on making an entire episode dedicated to it. I feel like this one was too good to relegate to a couple minutes, as there are many other aspects of fame and 90s culture that the Apathy Coalition could target. Plus, I do not have to worry too much about how realistic it is (like everybody in the Masters of the Universe having musical talent) because this is all Jaylynn's imagination. If things go smoothly, it should air on June 7.
-Sparky and Buster's story took a few turns. They were meant to watch a Full House-type animated sitcom that had a 90s mindset in the 2000s. However, after 9/11, cartoons in general would become more cynical and less idealistic, making Sparky and Buster's favorite show outdated. This was inspired by the discussions on the Girl Meets World board on IMDb regarding the show's quality, especially when compared to other Disney Channel shows. This ended up falling through and I felt like it would be more interesting to have Sparky and Buster watch an actual show. The story mocked the trends in 2000s animation, specifically CGI movies with a cast full of celebrities. I was going to go further in, but the episode was stuffed enough as it was.
-Near the end of the episode, a retrospective clip of August Wilson's life was going to play (with the instrumental to Nas' "Undying Love" in the background) as a tribute to him, but it started feeling out-of-place so I decided not to write it.
-RK references MLB shortstop Jose Reyes hitting for the cycle on June 21, 2006. At the time, he was playing for the New York Mets and became the ninth Met in history to reach the cycle (hitting a single, double, triple, and home run in the same game).
-I was starting to wonder if RK's attitude towards Wilson was coming off as disrespectful, but then I realized he was acting more like an actual kid.
-The original title for "Jennings v. The Man" was "Mr. Jennings Goes to Washington" where RK speaks in front of Congress like the actual musicians did. The title then changed to "Jennings v. Gore" where RK writes an angry letter to the PMRC as a last resort. That idea was also scrapped and now you have this.
-A running gag throughout the episode involved naming the school after television shows based in Seattle, depending on the most popular show at the time. Almost Live! was a local sketch comedy show in the city, runnning from 1984-1999 on NBC's Seattle affiliate KING-TV. The biggest sketch of them all was Bill Nye the Science Guy, which ended up becoming a popular children's television show on PBS in the 90s.
-KG was meant to resemble the edgy liberal having a bone to pick with whoever was in charge, that being Ronald Reagan.
-A scene that never made RK's story but was meant to showed him watching TV one night. A commercial appears for peanut butter and jelly Pop-Tarts, involving a guy playing on the piano with a top hat and funny glasses. A staircase is behind him showcasing background singers and a guitarist performing a pop rock-styled riff. The song in the commercial was called "A Brand New Taste Experience," and at the end RK is absolutely confused about what he just saw. It was meant to be a parody of a weird 1980s commercial for peanut butter and jelly Pop-Tarts that I saw a few years ago. We, um...we definitely improved our commercials at some point.
-RK's line about The Simpsons was meant to reference a point where people were now crusading against edgy television instead of edgy music. When The Simpsons debuted in 1989-1990, it was seen as inappropriate, offensive, and strange compared to other sitcoms at the time. Bart was seen as a bad role model for children (to the point where schools banned Bart T-shirts with catchphrases like "Underachiever, and proud of it, man!"), and First Lady Barbara Bush insulted it in a People interview.
-The title of Jaylynn's story is a reference to the 1980s New York-based hardcore punk band Murphy's Law.
-"We Are Infinite" was titled after the popular line in The Perks of Being a Wallflower near the end of the book ("And in that moment, I swear we were infiniite."). Coincidentally, the book was also based in the 1990s.
-Buster's peanut butter cup speech was just something I made up on the spot without even thinking about it too much. One thing that was also important in this episode was keeping the characterization consistent for all three stories.
-Buster poked fun at the large amount of guest stars that have showed up on The Simpsons over the years, especially in recent seasons when their increased appearances have become a criticism towards the show. As of October 10, 2014, The Simpsons has had 657 different guest stars (662 if The Simpsons Movie is included).
-Sparky and Buster's feelings towards Hey Arnold!: The Movie were meant to resemble the general opinion at the time, that being the movie was formulaic and lacked the charm of the show itself.
-Sparky's dream sequence was a parody of the movie Boyz n the Hood, particularly the scene where Ricky gets shot and killed.
-Craig Bartlett makes a joke about him and Simpsons creator Matt Groening looking alike, referencing the fact that Bartlett is married to Groening's sister.
-There was never an actual petition to save Oswald as it was never in danger of being canceled. Buster also makes a reference to the Beyonce song "Partition" and The Simpsons' Apu Nahasapeemapetilon.
-Originally, Buster was supposed to just respond to what Sparky said, but when I typed in "How about yours?" as his line by accident, I ran with it.
-The song for the white text sequence was originally "Boy from School" by Hot Chip, but since I had already used it in "The Roommate from Hell," it just came off as redundant. I decided to use "Complicated" to further enhance the 2000s story, especially because it has nothing to do with the plot at all.
-The Hey Arnold! sequel being retooled due to focus groups is a reference to The Simpsons Movie suffering from the same fate. Several lines and scenes were altered or scrapped completely based on the reactions of test audiences. For instance, Milhouse was originally supposed to be Lisa's love interest and Hank Scorpio (the main antagonist in the episode "You Only Move Twice") was considered as the film's villain, but both ideas were thrown out the window when the writers did not think that fans would be familiar with either situation.
-The look into life in 2025 was a bit planned well in advance, but not particularly for this episode. It was meant to poke fun at shows that often came up with crazy ideas for life in the future (unicorn clams, flying cars in 2015, etc.). It was also meant to parody what would happen if Thank You, Heavenly ended up lasting that long. Hopefully, by 2025, this show will actually be on TV. :)