PRODUCTION/CULTURAL REFERENCES (written on 4/5/15 - 4/6/15)
-This episode finally gave me the chance to address my feelings towards the show right now. While I do have a desire to continue it and give it a proper ending, something scary is happening along the way: My creativity is being dried up by the minute. I have an idea for an episode that I either give up on or get frustrated with because I cannot write anything that balances actual human emotion with genuine comedy. Honestly, ever since "The Field Day from Hell", maintaining the quality of Thank You, Heavenly has felt more like a job than a creative endeavor or something fun. And when this show started becoming a job, it really started bothering me. I have been questioning myself for weeks over the future of this show and if this was going to be the last season. Then yesterday, I had this beautiful dream idea of continuing Thank You, Heavenly until I graduated college. Honestly, I have no idea what I plan to do with this show once season three is over. I definitely do not want to keep it going to the point where it declines and the characters begin to go through the same things and become intolerable. I know the horror stories of shows that run for too long and become unwatchable because the writers/producers had no idea when to quit. Even the greatest animated series of all-time went through this and actually started this problem.
-If you wonder why I take this so seriously, it is largely because in ten years, I want to develop this show for television and I have to make sure I have actual ambition. These are the building blocks towards major success later on.
-I may or may not do a movie, and if I do, it will most likely not be in the feature film format because that would involve a lot of time and preparation and rewriting. Best-case scenario at this point: A made-for-television film adaptation in August. It will probably revolve around summer vacation.
-The last episode that aired before this was "Sparky Inflates the Grade," which was supposed to be the midseason premiere. During the time where episodes were supposed to air, I was not just slacking off and deciding to take a break. This season has been a very big piece of work. I went through a couple of episode ideas and tried developing them but nothing ever came of it. Now, because of all those dry weeks, season three is slated to end on June 21/28. And that can only happen if I complete the task of writing every remaining episode in the season without missing a week. Otherwise, the season could potentially stretch into July.
-Since RK is my author avatar (The character that the creator is represented by), he was the perfect choice for this episode. Actually, he was my first choice. The episode was originally a lot different than it ended up being. The working title was "Live from Atlantic City" and it was a two-part episode meant to air tonight. RK was supposed to take Harold to New Jersey with him alongside Buster, Wade, and Anna. Sparky and Jaylynn were meant to retrieve the boys after Sparky and RK had an argument about Harold. Buster would end up meeting a girl named Jay Frederickson (voiced by the girl of the same name) with Wade helping him snare her. But, could you guess? I ended up procrastinating and there was not enough time to complete the episode in the original way. The episode was always meant to deal with RK's inner struggle but not in the same fashion as originally intended.
-This episode was meant to acknowledge the show's history up to this point, and having RK realize for the first time how incredible this history is. Thank You, Heavenly was always meant to have continuity and be serialized to an extent, but episodes like "Chicka Chicka Cheese" never really get brought up again unless it is in the form of a joke. "RK's Last Stand" is the first episode that referenced these things and made them a bigger part of the story. When RK says his greatest adventure has never happened before, it speaks to the mentality of the show: Every episode, every season is, at its core, a new adventure to go on.
-Harold's character was based entirely off of Robert "Granddad" Freeman from The Boondocks, who was also voiced by John Witherspoon. Evidence includes:
-Harold claims his grandsons placed him in St. Joseph's and was a member of the Civil Rights Movement. On The Boondocks, Robert had two grandsons (Huey and Riley) and claimed to be a civil rights legend several times throughout the series.
-Harold is a womanizer, much like Robert was (to the point where his nickname was "Mr. Bitches").
-Harold makes a reference to the 1995 comedy movie Friday which RK acknowledges. On The Boondocks, a running gag was that Robert would reference a situation from the movie that the other characters would annoyingly remind him never actually happened. This was, in turn, a reference to Witherspoon's role in Friday.
-Harold gets a heart attack from eating a pork chop. In the episode "Early Bird Special", Robert mentions that his biggest weakness is pork chops during a job interview.
-One of RK's things on his list was to slap Mike Scully at his house. Scully was a former writer for The Simpsons and eventually became showrunner for seasons nine through twelve (1997-2001). During Scully's run as showrunner, many fans and critics were vocal against him for presumably causing the show to decline in quality.
-The candy shop is named after Biff and Happy Loman, Willy Loman's two sons in Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller.
-RK's hatred/disgust for Twizzlers is a real-life reference to my own hatred/disgust for them.
-When the kids see a "One to Grow On" task on RK's list, Buster says that nobody will get the reference, which is not what RK was intending. Buster was referencing One to Grow On, a segment that aired on NBC back in the day intending to educate younger audiences (Michael J. Fox warning kids not to play with matches, for example). One to Grow On has actually been parodied on the show before ("Buster's All-Star Birthday Bonanza (Part II)" in season one).
-Anthony Pellicano was a lawyer who is apparently known for covering up Michael Jackson's alleged child molestation cases.
-The Japanese Chopping Sword is a reference to infomercials that promote revolutionary new products capable of amazing things.
-RK references Bailey Quarters, who was Jan Smithers' character on WKRP in Cincinnati.
-This episode could be compared to "A Totally Fun Thing That Bart Will Never Do Again", a season twenty-three episode of The Simpsons where Bart is worried about the greatest vacation of his life ending and being forced to return to his boring life.
-There was debate over killing Harold off, but I decided to have him survive the pork chop incident since killing him would have been too dramatic.
-Originally, the Segway Segment was a Classic Music Video ("Nas is Like" by Nas) but I decided to scrap the segment and save "Nas is Like" for another time.
-Buster's last joke is a reference to the Pizza Hut commercials that have been running on television lately starring NBA legend David Robinson, who first endorsed the pizza chain's stuffed crust pizza in 1995 alongside Dennis Rodman.
-This episode was dedicated to Sam Simon, who died on March 8 in his Los Angeles home due to complications from colorectal cancer. Simon was the driving force behind the first four seasons of The Simpsons (1989-1993), not only developing the characters created by Matt Groening but also created the show's very first writing team himself (Al Jean, Mike Reiss, Swartzwelder, Jon Vitti, etc.). After several disagreements with Groening, Richard Sakai (a producer on the show), and Gracie Films, Simon left the show after the fourth season and never returned. However, he cut a deal before his departure that allowed him to still profit off of the show. His name still appears on the credits to this day, and he was also showrunner for the first two seasons of The Simpsons alongside Groening and James L. Brooks. Simon was also a well-known animal rights activist and professional poker player.