Simpsons – Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore (s17e17)

“Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore” is the seventeenth episode of the seventeenth season of The Simpsons, that originally aired on April 9, 2006. It saw Richard Dean Anderson guest star. It is written by Dan Castellaneta and Deb Lacusta, meaning this is only the fourth time Dan has written an episode. Dan Castellaneta is the voice of Homer Simpson.

Couch gag:A pair of animated hands deals five cards onto the couch; the jack (Bart), queen (Marge), king (Homer), an ace of diamonds (Lisa), and a joker (Maggie)
Chalk board: none
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Synopsis

Homer learns that the nuclear power plant is being shut down and outsourced to India. After Homer is sent to train the new employees, he becomes power hungry in his new position of authority. Meanwhile, Selma and Patty meet their Hollywood heartthrob, Richard Dean Anderson, who plays MacGyver, only to find that he is totally uninterested in MacGyver.

Meanwhile, Homer realizes to his horror that he has come to India (which he previously mistook for Indiana and Illinois, simultaneously). After a brief standoff with a sacred cow, Homer looks for a relative of Apu named Kavi, who should be around here somewhere. After randomly asking people (for three seconds), he (”Finally!“) gets the right man on the second try.

Back in Springfield, Patty and Selma kidnap Richard Dean Anderson from his Stargate SG-1 convention and tie him to a chair. From there, he manages to escape… only to discover that he loves escaping, and starts having Patty and Selma put him through increasingly complex MacGyver-esque kidnapping trials.

In India, Homer is coming to love the concept of outsourcing. With “help” from a book Marge gave him to read on the plane trip, The Cereal is the Prize, Homer is able to spur the natives into a working frenzy. Or so it appears; actually they assume that if they cheer, they will be allowed to go back to work. Homer, Smithers and Mr. Burns get a positive (if inaccurate) impression from this, and Homer is put in total charge of the power plant while Mr. Burns takes time off to have fun floating down the Ganges. Homer, left in charge of a slightly-overgrown nuclear power plant on a river in the middle of nowhere, appraises the Hindu deities and decides he might be a god.

Soon, Mr. Burns and the rest of the Simpson family travel upriver on a PBR boat in an Apocalypse Now manner, and find that Homer is ruling the plant like a god. Horrified, Marge and the kids tell the plant workers that Homer is not a god. They cheerfully explain that they know about that, and are worshiping him instead for the American workplace routines he has installed, like coffee breaks. It is revealed the Homer is treating the workers as good human beings, much to Marge’s relief. Mr. Burns calls this ‘madness’, fires everyone and decides to move the plant back to Springfield. This makes the workers happy due to the various firing clauses Homer has written into their contracts. The episode ends with the Simpsons, Lenny, Carl, Patty, Selma, Richard Dean Anderson and Mr. Smithers joining native dancers in a Hindi musical party in the plant, for which the audio continues into the credits.

Cultural references

• The title is a nod to the film Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang. When this episode was named, Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang hadn’t been released to theaters yet. “Mr. Kiss-Kiss, Bang-Bang” was also the name given to James Bond in Japan, as well as being a nickname dubbed by an Italian journalist in 1962. The title was later recorded as a song by Dionne Warwick, intended to be included in the Bond film, Thunderball (1965), but was omitted from the final cut in favor of Tom Jones’ “Thunderball”.
• Homer pretends a cardboard cutout of Mac Tonight is a thermostat repairman and also leaves it to look after the kids.
• Burns mentions being served dinner in a “scooped-out monkey’s head”, a reference to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
• Homer also dresses like the character Mola Ram from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom when the Simpsons and Mr. Burns find him in India.
• Homer refers to Brahma, a Hindu god as “Papa Smurf“, Ganesh as “The Elephant Man” and Shiva as “Johnny Sixarms“.
• The boat ride at this episode’s climax parodies Apocalypse Now, itself based on Heart of Darkness.
• The song that plays as the Simpsons sail through India is “The End” by The Doors, which was also used in the film Apocalypse Now. It was previously used in Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder when Homer contemplates suicide.
• The song that plays at the end of the episode is ‘Pal Bhar Ke Liye’ written by Kalyanji-Anandji and performed by Kishore Kumar and Usha Khanna, two famous Indian playback singers. The track is from the 1970 Bollywood movie Johny Mera Naam starring Dev Anand and Hema Malini. Simpsons creator Matt Groening is said to be a fan of Bollywood movies.^{[citation needed]}
• The conversation about choosing a door which may contain a tiger references the short story “The Lady or the Tiger“, in which a young man must choose a door, knowing it will either house a beautiful lady who is not the woman he fell in love with, or a man-eating tiger.
• When Richard Dean Anderson stated “it was just a paycheck,” it is reminiscent of the Saturday Night Live skit where William Shatner told fans at a Star Trek convention to “get a life” and “it was just a TV show.” There also might be some authenticity to Richard’s claim in the show; according to John de Lancie, Richard had wanted to take a break from playing leading men and instead play a character when he starred in Legend.
• “MacGyver lives! And not just at 2 am on the USA Channel!”: In the late 80s – before they started making original TV movies and shows, USA was known for buying reruns of shows such as MacGyver, Murder She Wrote, and Miami Vice and filling their schedule by running them practically 24 hours a day.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiss_Kiss%2C_Bang_Bangalore

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