Production
Even though this episode aired as the last episode of the first season, it was the first episode in production and was intended to be the first episode to air from the half-hour show. The series is a spin-off from The Tracey Ullman Show in which the family already appeared in a series of animated one-minute shorts. The characters were already created, but had to be further developed in order to carry a half-hour show. The episode was therefore meant as an introduction to the characters.[3] The Simpsons creator Matt Groening and writer/producer Sam Simon (of such television series as Cheers) wrote the script for the episode. Both Groening and Simon are credited with developing the series, along with executive producer James L. Brooks. The name "Ms. Botz" was based on a real person who had once babysat Groening.[4]
The episode was first directed by Kent Butterworth. Klasky Csupo, the animation studio that produced the earlier Simpsons shorts, was in charge of the animation, with one exception. During the years of producing the shorts, everything was created in-house. As a budgetary consideration, production was subcontracted to South Korean animation studio AKOM.[5] While character and background layout was done in Los Angeles, inbetweening, coloring and filming is done by the overseas studio.[5] A debacle erupted when this episode, the first to return from Korea, was screened in front of the production staff at the Gracie Films bungalow.[4] Brooks' initial reaction to the animation was "This is shit."[4] Afterward the room almost cleared.[4] A heated argument ensued between Brooks and Klasky-Csupo animation studio head Gábor Csupó, who denied there was anything wrong with the animation and suggested that the real problem was the quality of the show's writing.[6]
The producers felt the animation did not exhibit a distinct style envisioned for the show. At the time, there were only a few choices for animation style; usually, animators would follow the styles of Disney, Warner Bros., or Hanna-Barbera. Disney and Warner Bros. cartoons tended to be set in pliable universes in which the characters and environments seemed to be made of rubber.[4] By contrast, the showrunners wanted a realistic environment in which the characters and objects could not do anything that was not possible in the real world, but one example of AKOM's early work was their animation of doors with the rubber effect that they wanted to avoid. Meanwhile, Hanna-Barbera's style relied on exaggerated sound effects, which they did not want to use either.[4]
The producers considered aborting the series if the next episode, "Bart the Genius", turned out as this episode, but fortunately it turned out to suffer only a few easily fixed problems.[6] Afterward, they entreated Fox to postpone the series premiere for several months. The premiere then switched to "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" which had to be aired in December being a Christmas special.[7] This ensured more time could be spent fixing the animation problems and rewriting much of this episode. Directorial retakes were handled by David Silverman, who already had considerable experience directing the shorts.[4] Silverman estimates that about 70% of everything had to be redone. Most of these retakes consisted of changing the backgrounds. The result is an episode where the animation is uneven because it shifts between the early animation and the retakes.[3] It is still possible to see the doors slam like they were made of rubber.[4] The Fox censors wanted to replace the sentence "the blue thing with the things", which they believed to be too sexual.[4] Due to the fledgling position of the Fox network, Brooks had obtained an unusual contractual provision that ensured the network could not interfere with the creative process by providing show notes,[8] so the showrunners simply ignored the censors.[4]
The episode featured several early character designs; Moe Szyslak has black hair in this episode, which was later changed to gray, while Barney Gumble has yellow hair, which was later changed to brown in order to differentiate the character's hair color from that of his skin.[3] Because of the delayed broadcast, there are also a few continuity errors. Santa's Little Helper, for example, does not appear in this episode, despite being introduced in "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire".[3] Hank Azaria was at the time credited as a guest star for portraying Maître d'.[9] In this episode, Moe Szyslak was originally voiced by Christopher Collins, but when Hank Azaria came up with his version; they decided to have Hank Azaria replace Christopher Collins as the voice of Moe in all later appearances.[3] Azaria became a regular cast member in the second season.
Ms. Botz's pursuit of Bart into the cellar is reminiscent of Robert Mitchum's pursuit of a young boy in the film The Night of the Hunter.[4] Moe's Tavern plays "The Man That Got Away" from the 1954 remake of A Star Is Born directed by George Cukor and starring Judy Garland and James Mason.[2] Before the episode aired, Ms. Botz voice-over Penny Marshall had worked with Brooks on some shows he made in the 1970s.[10][11] This relationship included her being a regular cast member on Friends and Lovers and having three guest appearances on The Mary Tyler Moore Show.[10][11]
