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The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace
"The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace" is the second episode of the tenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on September 20, 1998, and was seen in around 7.95 million households during the broadcast. In the episode, Homer, realizing his life is half-over and that he has not accomplished anything, begins to admire Thomas Edison and decides to create inventions to follow in Edison's footsteps and make his life worthwhile.
The idea behind "The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace" came from Dan Greaney, who assigned John Swartzwelder to write the episode. While directing the episode, Mark Kirkland visited the Edison Museum in Llewellyn Park, New Jersey, to receive inspiration for several scenes in the episode that take place in this museum. The episode's title is a play on Edison's nickname, the Wizard of Menlo Park. William Daniels made a guest appearance in the episode as the character KITT from the television series Knight Rider. In general, "The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace" received positive reviews from television critics, with many singling it out as a strong beginning to a season.
Homer becomes depressed after learning he has lived past the halfway point of the average life expectancy for men, without accomplishing anything worthwhile. The Simpson family try to cheer him up by showing him a film of his accomplishments and a special appearance by the character KITT from the Knight Rider television series that Homer is a fan of. When the film projector stops working, Lisa mentions that Thomas Edison invented the projector and many other inventions. Homer decides to learn more about Edison and eventually idolizes him. In an attempt to follow his footsteps, he quits his job at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant to become an inventor.
The family disapproves of his first few inventions, including a make-up shotgun, electric hammer, an "everything's OK" alarm that cannot be turned off but easily breaks, and reclining chair with a built-in toilet, making Homer more depressed. However, they like one particular invention, a chair with two hinged legs on the back, making it impossible to tip over backwards. Homer is encouraged until he notices his poster of Edison shows him sitting in the same type of chair. Bart points out that the chair is not featured on a list of Edison's inventions, meaning he never told anyone of this invention.
Homer and Bart travel to the Edison Museum in Llewellyn Park, New Jersey, with his electric hammer to destroy the chair, but Homer notices a poster of Edison comparing himself to Leonardo da Vinci, much like how Homer compared himself to Edison. Feeling a renewed connection to Edison, he decides not to destroy the chair.
Homer and Bart return to Springfield, unaware they left Homer's electric hammer at the museum. Later when the family watches the news on television, Kent Brockman announces that the chair and electric hammer have been discovered at the Edison Museum and are expected to generate millions for Edison's already wealthy heirs, to the ire of the family.
"The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace" was written by John Swartzwelder, who had a deal with the producers of the show to write five scripts for season ten. Although he was the one who wrote the episode, Dan Greaney was the one who came up with the idea for it. Greaney based Homer's intense obsession with Edison on the fact that when he himself would have an obsession with something in life, he would badger and bore people with details of it. "Homer's relationship to Thomas Edison's achievements is a version of my own experience of trying to communicate the experience of things you love by driving people crazy", Greaney said in a DVD audio commentary for the episode. The untippable chair was also an idea of Greaney's; while working on the episode, he was leaning back in his chair and fell backwards. He casually said it would be great if there were legs on the back of the chair and someone in the writing room said that would be a great invention for Homer. Soon after coming up with the story, Greaney told it to Swartzwelder so that he could turn it into a script. Greaney said "it couldn't in my best dreams have turned out as good as it did if I had written it".
Mark Kirkland was the director of "The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace". He recalls that when he attended the table-read for the episode, the staff thought it was "hilarious" and they could tell it was "going to be a good one". It was the last episode to be produced during the season nine production run and because it takes several months to complete the production of a single episode, it had to air as a hold-over in the upcoming tenth season. It was decided that "The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace" would be the premiere episode of season ten. As a result, the annual premiere party was held at the Museum of Science and Technology in Los Angeles – it was a tradition for the premiere party to be related to the premiere episode.
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The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace
"The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace" is the second episode of the tenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on September 20, 1998, and was seen in around 7.95 million households during the broadcast. In the episode, Homer, realizing his life is half-over and that he has not accomplished anything, begins to admire Thomas Edison and decides to create inventions to follow in Edison's footsteps and make his life worthwhile.
The idea behind "The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace" came from Dan Greaney, who assigned John Swartzwelder to write the episode. While directing the episode, Mark Kirkland visited the Edison Museum in Llewellyn Park, New Jersey, to receive inspiration for several scenes in the episode that take place in this museum. The episode's title is a play on Edison's nickname, the Wizard of Menlo Park. William Daniels made a guest appearance in the episode as the character KITT from the television series Knight Rider. In general, "The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace" received positive reviews from television critics, with many singling it out as a strong beginning to a season.
Homer becomes depressed after learning he has lived past the halfway point of the average life expectancy for men, without accomplishing anything worthwhile. The Simpson family try to cheer him up by showing him a film of his accomplishments and a special appearance by the character KITT from the Knight Rider television series that Homer is a fan of. When the film projector stops working, Lisa mentions that Thomas Edison invented the projector and many other inventions. Homer decides to learn more about Edison and eventually idolizes him. In an attempt to follow his footsteps, he quits his job at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant to become an inventor.
The family disapproves of his first few inventions, including a make-up shotgun, electric hammer, an "everything's OK" alarm that cannot be turned off but easily breaks, and reclining chair with a built-in toilet, making Homer more depressed. However, they like one particular invention, a chair with two hinged legs on the back, making it impossible to tip over backwards. Homer is encouraged until he notices his poster of Edison shows him sitting in the same type of chair. Bart points out that the chair is not featured on a list of Edison's inventions, meaning he never told anyone of this invention.
Homer and Bart travel to the Edison Museum in Llewellyn Park, New Jersey, with his electric hammer to destroy the chair, but Homer notices a poster of Edison comparing himself to Leonardo da Vinci, much like how Homer compared himself to Edison. Feeling a renewed connection to Edison, he decides not to destroy the chair.
Homer and Bart return to Springfield, unaware they left Homer's electric hammer at the museum. Later when the family watches the news on television, Kent Brockman announces that the chair and electric hammer have been discovered at the Edison Museum and are expected to generate millions for Edison's already wealthy heirs, to the ire of the family.
"The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace" was written by John Swartzwelder, who had a deal with the producers of the show to write five scripts for season ten. Although he was the one who wrote the episode, Dan Greaney was the one who came up with the idea for it. Greaney based Homer's intense obsession with Edison on the fact that when he himself would have an obsession with something in life, he would badger and bore people with details of it. "Homer's relationship to Thomas Edison's achievements is a version of my own experience of trying to communicate the experience of things you love by driving people crazy", Greaney said in a DVD audio commentary for the episode. The untippable chair was also an idea of Greaney's; while working on the episode, he was leaning back in his chair and fell backwards. He casually said it would be great if there were legs on the back of the chair and someone in the writing room said that would be a great invention for Homer. Soon after coming up with the story, Greaney told it to Swartzwelder so that he could turn it into a script. Greaney said "it couldn't in my best dreams have turned out as good as it did if I had written it".
Mark Kirkland was the director of "The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace". He recalls that when he attended the table-read for the episode, the staff thought it was "hilarious" and they could tell it was "going to be a good one". It was the last episode to be produced during the season nine production run and because it takes several months to complete the production of a single episode, it had to air as a hold-over in the upcoming tenth season. It was decided that "The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace" would be the premiere episode of season ten. As a result, the annual premiere party was held at the Museum of Science and Technology in Los Angeles – it was a tradition for the premiere party to be related to the premiere episode.