#OnThisDay #OTD #25YearsAgo May 19, 1996, "Summer of 4 Ft. 2" (S07E25) first aired on the Fox network. Dir: @markk1914. Wr: @dangreaney. EP: @thatbilloakley & @Joshstrangehill. Guest-starring Christina Ricci as Erin. #TheSimpsons
It was Dan Greaney's second episode on The Simpsons. The staff of the show wanted to do a summer episode because there was "so much stuff" about summer vacations that they felt had to be covered in an episode.
The area in which the Flanders family's beach house is located in is based on the Cape Cod peninsula. Many of the Simpsons writers spent time on Cape Cod so they decided to model the new locations on it. One of the show's background designers, Lance Wilder, grew up in that area.
Actress Christina Ricci guest starred in the episode as Erin, one of Lisa's new friends. Ricci was not able to come to the recording studio, so she recorded all of her lines over the phone.
Homer replicates a scene from the 1973 film American Graffiti when he nonchalantly buys some stereotypically embarrassing products at the store in order to get some illegal fireworks. (Video: Onikorp)
"Summer of 4 Ft. 2" contains the origin of the popular "You Got the Dud" Internet meme.
A bunch of "You Got The Dud" memes (aka "Dudposting") were created by Leigh Piper, of the Compu-Global-Hyper-Mega-Net group on Facebook. Someone put them to music and posted it on Youtube.
Bill Oakley loves the Dud animation! “It’s the subtle way Homer smiles,” he wrote. “Episode director Mark Kirkland said his dad smiled that way. So great and a little uncanny.” vulture.com/2019/06/former…
The beach house is based on then-show runner Josh Weinstein's parents' house in New Hampshire, which the writers had visited. They played several board games when they were there, which gave them the idea to have to the Simpsons play the Mystery Date board game in the episode.
When Matt Groening received a Peabody Award on May 6, 1996, the audience received a preview of the heartwarming ending to "Summer of 4 Ft. 2."
Here are deleted scenes from "Summer of 4 Ft. 2", available on the Season 7 DVD set.
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