PRODUCTION/CULTURAL REFERENCES (written on 5/29/15)
-This was an episode that has actually been on the shelf for a couple of months. This was originally supposed to be done around the time of Valentine's Day, but it came during a period where I was getting burned out and questioning the future of the show. Therefore, it was never completed. I got started on the script, then at some point, I left it aside. I decided to update both plots to take away the Valentine's Day theme, and started working on it again. Of course, it was meant for the 24th, but I took some extra time with it and just finished it up today. From now on, whenever an episode does not come out on Sunday, I will put it out on Friday instead. "Papa Crazy" was a different case since I had already done 90% of the episode by the time Monday came around.
-The main plot here was inspired by the season five Simpsons episode "The Last Temptation of Homer," where Homer falls in love with the new female coworker at the power plant. I thought about fixing it up to put a Thank You, Heavenly spin on it and came up with the idea of Buster developing feelings for Halley. It was important for Buster to constantly question himself because at this point, the thought of him giving into temptation and hurting Sparky was just impossible. I came up with the updated subplot around the same time.
-A while back, I realized something important about RK and Wade's friendship: Their chemistry is flawed. Unlike Sparky/Buster and Jaylynn/Asil, they constantly butt heads because of their different personalities and have rarely ever been shown as cheery, upbeat people. RK is wild and outspoken while Wade is cynical and snarky, which makes them perfect for conflict. I hope to focus more on their friendship in the future, because they are interesting to write about together.
-The subplot was actually supposed to be extended, but the Buster story was behind on development so I decided to end it early. Because of this, two scenes never made the episode. In one, RK and Wade realize that switching bodies means they can date each other's girlfriends. Then we see Wade kissing Anna and RK kissing Adriana. In another one, in an attempt to push their newfound closeness to Jaylynn, RK and Wade take a bath together in RK's house and scrub each other. Buster walks in openly disturbed and tries asking for advice about Halley, but the situation and RK and Wade's attitude creep him out so he leaves.
-Originally, this episode was supposed to mark the "one night only" return of everyone's favorite pop culture debate show RoundTable. This particular segment was supposed to address Harry Shearer's departure from The Simpsons and whether or not it was time to end the show. However, I started wondering if it was dated to talk about and decided not to go through with it. One thing I try to avoid now when writing episodes is not to make so many jokes and references to today's news so the show can stay relevant in a couple of years. "The RK Feline Fiasco," the pilot episode, explicitly mentioned the NBA Finals when it took place just a few days ago. That is not Thank You, Heavenly, that is South Park.
-I like writing Sparky as an anal-retentive nerd sometimes. I try not to do it all the time, but it is a side of him that just fits with his personality. An influence for Sparky is Danny Tanner from Full House, just not as strange.
-One bit I kept from the original script in February was RK pushing and shoving several people out of the way with a bored look on his face. The bored expression is one of my favorite visual gags to work on.
-The studio audience clapping for Bitch Clock was meant to be a parody of shows where studio audiences go nuts whenever certain characters appear. Plus, it was perfect to use Bitch Clock since he is a recurring character.
-When "Big Time Theme Song" played the second time, Buster was supposed to acknowledge it by saying, "Really, guys?" or something along those lines. But the scene was meant to be serious so I left it out to avoid any clashing.
-One thing I never realized until now is that Buster and Halley would make great friends, especially since a majority of her personality is taken from the girl I based her off of.
-I was getting into a groove writing the episode when RK visited Wade. From there, I was coming up with dialogue in a flash and letting the whole thing flow. Buster pretending he is Captain Popcorn and doing an impression just seems like such a natural thing for him to do, or anyone else to make their friends laugh. Then came one of my favorite scenes: Scene 7 with Jaylynn trying to help RK and Wade come together. This is what I like to call the equivalent of the runner's high. You start coming up with line after line after line and it feels like everything you write is funny enough.
-It was actually somewhat hard to write lines for RK and Wade after they switched bodies. To make it easier, I just wrote as if they had never switched because the personalities of both were still there. This would be just fine if they had switched voices, but here is the thing: I watched a video that The Mysterious Mr. Enter made about writing good body swap episodes, and one thing that bothered him about them was that characters switched voices as well. Because vocal cords have no connection to the brain, this is actually impossible in real-life. This is why live-action shows tend to do body swap episodes better because the characters do not need to switch voices.
-Another scene I originally came up with but never actually wrote was that Sparky and Buster have an argument at school. Buster had been ignoring Halley to prevent his feelings for her from getting stronger, and Sparky confronted him because Halley was sad about it. Buster was about to tell him why he started avoiding Halley, but relented and agreed to go mini golfing with her that night. However, at some point, the episode became overstuffed with...well, everything else.
-When I first came up with Lynne's character, I decided that certain people should know about her hating Jaylynn, like RK and Wade. However, I never did anything with that so I kept it to a personal situation between the two, since Asil chooses to ignore it.
-As of this episode, The Talking Dumpster is officially dead. I will not miss him. I mentioned this before, but him being killed off is because his character is pretty much useless beyond being comic relief and he does not fit the show's current style. Plus, he was funny at one point, but I started getting sick of him when I realized how stupid his shtick was. I was able to humanize Bitch Clock, but I would never be able to give depth to a dumpster. I hinted at this in "Slice of Fantastica (Part II)" when RK asks The Talking Dumpster why he always gives advice that has nothing to do with the actual problem, and when the characters acknowledge something, you kinda have to do something about it. So I decided to make it as stupid as possible. The Talking Dumpster changing the topic again mid-sentence, Buster pulling a gun out of nowhere, and his complete lack of emotion towards the whole thing. The dumpster will still make future appearances, but he will have no more humanity and the bullet holes will remain in him.
-I loved writing Buster's dream about telling Sparky that he likes Halley. I had to keep it funny, so I added in the bits with Sparky pulling out his own hair and whipping Buster with his shirt.
-I was starting to get stuck near the end because I still had to tell jokes, so I made the scenario where Buster can no longer take it as absurd as I could.
-Buster talking to Siri was a parody of the iPhone commercials in 2012 starring Zooey Deschanel.
-Mentioning Diana made me realize how long ago it was that "The Life and Times of Diana Katanova" was being written. That was almost a year ago, and it did not even air for another two months after that.
-The ending with RK and Wade beating each other was supposed to represent how different their friendship is from every other one on the show. They love each other while solving their problems not through communication, but by being a pair of stupid little kids.