"A Star Is Burns" is the eighteenth episode of the sixth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on Fox in the United States on March 5, 1995. Jon Lovitz, who had previously guest starred in several episodes of The Simpsons, starred as Jay Sherman, and it also featured the voices of Simpsons regulars Nancy Cartwright, Doris Grau, and Russi Taylor. However, the series did not catch on with viewers and it was put on hiatus after six weeks. It returned in June 1994 and completed airing its initial production run.

For the second season of The Critic, James L. Brooks cut a deal with the Fox network to have the series switch over. The episode was pitched by Brooks, who had wanted a crossover that would help launch The Critic on Fox, and he thought having a film festival in Springfield would be a good way to introduce Sherman. After Brooks pitched the episode, the script was written by Ken Keeler. Although David Mirkin was executive producer for most of the sixth season, the episode was executive produced by Al Jean and Mike Reiss.

The episode contains a meta-reference to the fact that it is a crossover episode in a conversation Bart has with Sherman:

Cultural references

"The Imperial March" from The Empire Strikes Back is played as Mr. Burns is introduced. Burns says he wants Señor Spielbergo to do for him what Steven Spielberg did for Oskar Schindler, a reference to Spielberg's 1993 film Schindler's List. During the film festival, Spielberg's E.T. is parodied, with Burns in the role of the alien. Another movie Burns recreates is Ben-Hur. The character of Jay Sherman was based on Roger Ebert. The actors who attempt to impersonate Mr. Burns are intended to caricature Anthony Hopkins and William Shatner.

The song the "Rappin' Rabbis" play in the opening moments of the episode is a parody of "U Can't Touch This" by MC Hammer.

During the town meeting organized to come up with ideas to increase Springfield's popularity, Selma proposes changing the name from "Springfield" to "Seinfeld", after which a bass riff is played, mimicking the theme music to the eponymous show composed by Jonathan Wolff.

Outside the Aztec Theater where the film festival is being hosted, Dr. Hibbert arrives dressed liked Frank-N-Furter, believing that they would be showing The Rocky Horror Picture Show that night.

Reception

In its original broadcast, "A Star Is Burns" finished 57th in the ratings for the week of February 27 to March 5, 1995. The episode was the third highest rated show on the Fox network that week, beaten only by Melrose Place and Beverly Hills, 90210. The Critic, which premiered on Fox just after this episode, finished 64th. wrote, "Jay Sherman perhaps proves here, even more so than in The Critic, just why that show failed. He's too flawed to be likeable." They added, "Barney's film is magnificent, but it's easy to see why Homer wants Hans Moleman to be the winner."

Todd Gilchrist of IGN listed Barney's film as one of the best moments of the sixth season.

In 2014, The A.V. Club named Hans Moleman's line "I was saying 'Boo-urns'" and Mr. Burns' line "Then get me his <nowiki>[</nowiki>Steven Spielberg's] non-union, Mexican equivalent!" as two Simpsons quotes that can be used in everyday situations. In 2020, English filmmaker Rob Savage named his new production company BOO-URNS after the episode.

IGN ranked Jon Lovitz as the eighth best guest star in the show's history.

Controversy

Matt Groening was critical of the episode when it first released. He felt that the crossover was a thirty-minute advertisement and blamed James L. Brooks, calling it an attempt to get attention for one of his unsuccessful shows. After he was unable to get the episode pulled, he decided to go public with his concerns shortly before the episode aired. He stated that his reasons for doing so were that he hoped Brooks would have a change of heart and pull the episode, and that "articles began to appear in several newspapers around the country saying that [Groening] created The Critic."

Al Jean and Mike Reiss, creators of The Critic, had previously worked on The Simpsons and had executive produced the third and fourth seasons. Brooks said, "for years, Al and Mike were two guys who worked their hearts out on this show, staying up until 4 in the morning to get it right. The point is, Matt's name has been on Mike's and Al's scripts and he has taken plenty of credit for a lot of their great work. In fact, he is the direct beneficiary of their work. The Critic is their shot and he should be giving them his support." Reiss stated that he was a "little upset" by Groening's actions and that "this taints everything at the last minute. [...] This episode doesn't say 'Watch The Critic all over it."

Additionally, Groening was also absent from the episode's commentary for The Complete Sixth Season DVD boxset.

Legacy

The Critic was ultimately short-lived, broadcasting ten episodes on Fox before its cancellation. A total of 23 episodes were produced, and it returned briefly in 2000 with a series of ten webisodes. The series has since developed a cult following as a result of reruns on Comedy Central and its complete series release on DVD.

Jay Sherman appeared and spoke briefly in two subsequent episodes of The Simpsons, "Hurricane Neddy" and "The Ziff Who Came to Dinner".

Idiomatic use of the phrase "say the quiet part loud" gained wide currency in the 2010s, chiefly in political discourse, to mean revealing an opinion usually expected to be kept from the public. It is derived from Krusty's line, "I said the quiet part loud and the loud part quiet", after unwittingly admitting to being bribed by Mr. Burns into choosing A Burns for All Seasons as the winning film. Additionally, television critics Alan Sepinwall and Matt Zoller Seitz have often quoted Homer's line, "Barney's movie had heart, but Football in the Groin had a football in the groin."

References

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it:Episodi de I Simpson (sesta stagione)#Il Film Festival di Springfield