COMMENTARY
Pergament: What’s ahead for Homer and Dr. House
Published: August 19, 2009, 12:30 am
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Homer Simpson and Dr. Gregory House are conservatively separated by about 75 IQ points, but the brains behind their hit Fox series are equally inspired this coming season.
Al Jean and David Shore, the executive producers of “The Simpsons” and “House,” respectively, shared some of their plans at parties during the Television Critics Association tour in Pasadena, Calif.
Shore’s series ended last season with Dr. House being dropped off at an institution to deal with his addiction to painkillers and other self-destructive problems. Shore explained that the season will start with a two-hour episode that is unlike any other in the series.
“It really is a movie,” said Shore. “We cast it early, we spent a week rehearsing and it virtually all takes place in that institution. It takes place not over three or four days as most episodes do, but over three or four months. It is not just dealing with the Vicodin addiction but House realizing he’s got deeper issues. He is taking that first step. And one of the mantras of the show is that people don’t change ... But we also can’t just stagnate.”
Hugh Laurie, who plays Dr. House is the only regular cast member in the movie. Robert Sean Leonard, who plays his buddy Wilson, appears via a phone conversation. Andre Braugher (“Homicide”) stars as the doctor who treats House.
“It is about him recognizing that he needs to change and maybe that he wants to,” said Shore. “Whether he’s able to is a completely other question and we sort of explore that.”
Naturally, House has to be rehabilitated or else there would be no series.
“He doesn’t walk out cured, but he’s at a point where his doctor feels he is able to function,” explained Shore, who added House loses his medical license.
“You go into a mental institution, you probably should have to prove yourself again before you start cutting people up,” said Shore. “It is about what happens to the team and whether House wants to get back and how he can get back... He gets back in the medical investigations fairly quickly.”
Of course, there wouldn’t be a series unless House was around to save lives and abuse his team.
“Dr. Cuddy [Lisa Edelstein] says in one of the early episodes. ‘He may not have his license, but we’d be idiots not to listen to him,’ ” said Shore.
Speaking of idiots, Homer Simpson has an interesting year ahead, too. Al Jean, the executive producer of “The Simpsons,” explained the season will include a Sept. 27 episode co-written and starring Seth Rogen (“Funny People,” “Knocked Up”).
Rogen is the voice of a comic book fan who creates an everyday superhero who gets the power of any comic book he touches. “The comic book guy sells the [movie] rights and gets casting approval and decides to cast Homer as the hero of the film,” said Jean.
Rogen plays the personal trainer who gets Homer to lose weight, then quits in the middle of filming. “Homer gains weight right back and the movie makes no sense,” said Jean, who explained Rogen joins Ricky Gervais (“The Office”) as the only celebrity fans of the show who have written an episode.
Jean added that when celebrities say they want to add their voices to an episode, the writers keep it in mind in case they think of something appropriate.
“About 10 years ago, I heard the Smothers Brothers wanted to do a show,” said Jean. “We finally have an episode where Bart is jealous of Lisa because she has a little sister so he wants a little brother. He has a dream where the Smothers Brothers are in the dream. And the Manning brothers including Cooper Manning, the third Manning brother that doesn’t play in the NFL. The Smothers Brothers were great. We had them sing over the closing credits... Tom Smothers says to Homer, ‘I don’t know why they say you’re the dumb one.’ ”
The annual “Treehouse Horror” Halloween episode includes the first-ever musical segment, inspired by “Sweeney Todd.” There also is a black and white Alfred Hitchcock parody inspired by “Strangers on a Train.”
The 20th anniversary special on Jan. 14, 2010, also includes a “3-D on Ice” documentary by filmmaker Morgan Spurlock (“Super Size Me”) that isn’t in 3-D or on ice, Jean explained.
The producers decided to hire an outsider to look for “offbeat things” and look at the show’s worldwide success rather than air a typical “self congratulatory, aren’t we great” episode.
Spurlock interviewed a guy from Seattle who really grew a tomato-tobacco combination inspired by Homer’s creation of the “tomacco.” He also found the person with the most Simpson tattoos.
“He looked for anything that shows how people actually have been touched or affected by ‘The Simpsons,’” explained Jean.
That might have been the easiest job in the world.
Short guest list
Since I reported that Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer) and Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) of NBC’s “The Office” would be married shortly in Niagara Falls, several readers have inquired about attending the filming. Sorry folks, a representative of the show said filming will be on a “closed set.” That is another way of saying it will be a private wedding.
apergament@buffnews.com
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