Angry Dad: The Movie
Encyclopedia
"Angry Dad: The Movie" is the fourteenth episode of The Simpsons
' twenty-second season
. It aired on the Fox network
in the United States on February 20, 2011. The plot of the episode involves Bart
winning many awards for his new short film based on his web cartoon series Angry Dad, which was first introduced in "I Am Furious (Yellow)", while Homer
takes credit for the film during acceptance speeches.
"Angry Dad: The Movie" was written by John Frink
and directed by Matthew Nastuk
, with Ricky Gervais
, Halle Berry
, Russell Brand
, Maurice LaMarche
, Nick Park
and J. B. Smoove
guest starring. Cultural references in the episode include Pixar Animation Studios
, Toy Story
, Wallace and Gromit
, and the 68th Golden Globe Award ceremony
.
The episode was viewed in an estimated 6.35 million households, with a 2.8 Nielsen rating, marking a slight rise in audience from the previous episode
, while the episode was the twenty-fifth most viewed show for the week of broadcast among adults aged 18–49. Critical reception of the episode was generally positive, with critics praising the episode's use of visual gags and cultural references.
of the web cartoon Angry Dad. Bart accepts, and Millwood takes him to film studio animators. Homer is soon offered the opportunity to voice Angry Dad, as the voice actor
from the original Angry Dad series has dropped out of frustration of never being paid. The film is test screened
to a horrible reception. Lisa
convinces Bart to remove all of the parts the audience did not like, thus making the Angry Dad a short film. The film is shortly thereafter nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Animated Short.
At the Golden Globe ceremony, Angry Dad wins, and Homer takes credit in his acceptance speech for creating the film, to the dismay of Bart. Homer takes credit at many other awards ceremonies. Angry Dad soon receives an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Short Film. Out of frustration against Homer for taking the credit, Bart attempts to distract Homer from going by making him and Marge
go on an attraction tour in Los Angeles while he and Lisa attend the awards. However, Homer gets recognized by others who take him to the ceremony. Homer arrives in time to see Angry Dad win the Oscar. Bart goes up to accept the Oscar and thanks Lisa for having the idea to make the film into a short film, the animation studio, and Homer. Touched by this, Homer gets up on stage with Bart and apologizes to him for taking all the credit, and the two agree to cut up the Oscar and give a piece to everyone on the animation team. Bart asks if Homer had gotten a replacement for the Academy
, but Homer confides to him that the Award is only five dollars on eBay
, while Maggie
is sucking on the replacement.
episode "I Am Furious Yellow
". In the show, it is a comic book and web series that Bart created based on Homer's constant fits of rage. In this episode, Bart and Homer make a short film about the character, which wins a number of awards. Executive producer Al Jean said it is "a bit of a satire of the different Oscar acceptances where two people clearly race to the stage to get there first, and Homer and Bart are fighting to be the one that accepts."
Academy Award winner Halle Berry
guest starred as herself. She was designed to be wearing a similar dress to the one she wore at the 74th Academy Awards
in 2002. Ricky Gervais
appeared as himself, his second guest appearance on the show after season 17
's "Homer Simpson, This Is Your Wife
". The episode aired a month after Gervais hosted the 68th Golden Globe Awards
, which was criticized by some as being mean-spirited.
Comedian Russell Brand
guest starred as himself. He told The Sun
that, "I was having an amazing birthday party and found out I was going into space. Then my agent says, 'Oh, The Simpsons want you in an episode.' Once you've gone yellow, you've made it. My ideal show would be where I have a cartoon relapse with Barney and Homer and get smashed out of my mind with them."
is referenced in the episode as "Mixar". The short film Condiments serves as a parody of the Pixar film Toy Story
, and the song "You've Got an Enemy" references "You've Got a Friend in Me
". Willis and Crumble parodies Wallace and Gromit
, and uses the same style of stop-motion animation. Nick Park
, the creator of Wallace and Gromit, has a voice cameo as himself. Multiple other short film fragments further lampooned other movies including The Triplets of Belleville and Persepolis
. The episode also references Ricky Gervais
's controversial hosting stunt at the 68th Golden Globe Awards
, with a sign featuring a picture of him alongside a caption reading "Do Not Allow This Man To Host".
". "Angry Dad: The Movie" was the twenty-fifth most viewed show for the week of broadcast among adults aged 18–49.
"Angry Dad: The Movie" received mostly positive reviews from critics, with many of them praising the "visual gags" featured in the episode. TV Squad writer Brad Trechak praised the episode's use of Hollywood references writing that "that's what good episodes of 'The Simpsons' are made of". He also praised Gervais's performance calling his two monologues "classic". The A.V. Club
s Rowan Kaiser praised the multiple references layered in the episode commenting that they saved the episode from being "mediocre". Despite this, he criticized the plot commenting that it did not come "from the heart of the show". He ultimately gave the episode a B-, being beaten only by Bob's Burgers
episode "Hamburger Dinner Theater". Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly
mostly praised the short films competing against "Angry Dad" calling them "the truly amusing stuff" and adding that Condiments was a "very accomplished replication of Pixar". However, he was critical of the guest stars, noting that, "None of them were very funny, but that was the joke — they were parodying the toadying tone of awards patter. Well, Brand and Berry were; Gervais seemed to have improvised a lot of Gervais-y stream-of-jokiness blather that he may well have intended to be funny". Aly Semigran of MTV
praised the episode for its animation parodies, writing, "Sure, Toy Story and Wallace and Gromit might enjoy more Oscar love than their animated brethren, but The Simpsons send-ups were nothing if not a brilliant tip-of-the-hat to all of those films".
The episode was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour)
at the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards
.
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
The Simpsons (season 22)
The Simpsons twenty-second season began airing on Fox on September 26, 2010 and ended on May 22, 2011. The Simpsons was renewed for at least two additional seasons during the twentieth season leading up to this season. The cast is currently signed through the 25th season. On November 11, 2010, the...
. It aired on the Fox network
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
in the United States on February 20, 2011. The plot of the episode involves Bart
Bart Simpson
Bartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by actress Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
winning many awards for his new short film based on his web cartoon series Angry Dad, which was first introduced in "I Am Furious (Yellow)", while Homer
Homer Simpson
Homer Jay Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons and the patriarch of the eponymous family. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared on television, along with the rest of his family, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
takes credit for the film during acceptance speeches.
"Angry Dad: The Movie" was written by John Frink
John Frink
John Frink is an American television writer and producer. He has written several episodes of the American animated sitcom The Simpsons, many of which he co-wrote with his former writing partner Don Payne. Frink and Payne started their career in television writing for the short-lived sitcom Hope...
and directed by Matthew Nastuk
Matthew Nastuk
Matthew Nastuk is an animation director on The Simpsons. He started directing during the tenth season, and has since directed over a dozen episodes and continues to direct today.-Season Ten:...
, with Ricky Gervais
Ricky Gervais
Ricky Dene Gervais is an English comedian, actor, director, radio presenter, producer, musician, and writer.Gervais achieved mainstream fame with his television series The Office and the subsequent series Extras, both of which he co-wrote and co-directed with friend and frequent collaborator...
, Halle Berry
Halle Berry
Halle Berry is an American actress and a former fashion model. Berry received an Emmy, Golden Globe, SAG, and an NAACP Image Award for Introducing Dorothy Dandridge and won an Academy Award for Best Actress and was nominated for a BAFTA Award in 2001 for her performance in Monster's Ball, becoming...
, Russell Brand
Russell Brand
Russell Edward Brand is an English comedian, actor, columnist, singer, author and radio/television presenter.Brand achieved mainstream fame in the UK in 2004 for his role as host of Big Brother spin-off, Big Brother's Big Mouth. His first major film role was in the 2007 film St Trinians...
, Maurice LaMarche
Maurice LaMarche
Maurice LaMarche is an Emmy Award winning Canadian-American voice actor and former stand up comedian. He is best known for his voicework in Futurama as Kif Kroker, as Egon Spengler in The Real Ghostbusters, Verminous Skumm and Duke Nukem in Captain Planet and the Planeteers, Big Bob Pataki in Hey...
, Nick Park
Nick Park
Nicholas Wulstan "Nick" Park, CBE is an English filmmaker of stop motion animation best known as the creator of Wallace and Gromit and Shaun the Sheep....
and J. B. Smoove
J. B. Smoove
Jerry Brooks , better known by his stage name J.B. Smoove, is an American actor, writer and stand-up comedian, who began his TV career on Russell Simmons Def Comedy Jam in the early '90's...
guest starring. Cultural references in the episode include Pixar Animation Studios
Pixar
Pixar Animation Studios, pronounced , is an American computer animation film studio based in Emeryville, California. The studio has earned 26 Academy Awards, seven Golden Globes, and three Grammy Awards, among many other awards and acknowledgments. Its films have made over $6.3 billion worldwide...
, Toy Story
Toy Story
Toy Story is a 1995 American computer-animated film released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is Pixar's first feature film as well as the first ever feature film to be made entirely with CGI. The film was directed by John Lasseter and featuring the voices of Tom Hanks and Tim Allen...
, Wallace and Gromit
Wallace and Gromit
Wallace and Gromit are the main characters in a series consisting of four British animated short films and a feature-length film by Nick Park of Aardman Animations...
, and the 68th Golden Globe Award ceremony
68th Golden Globe Awards
The 68th Golden Globe Awards was broadcast live from the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California on January 16, 2011, by NBC. The host was Ricky Gervais....
.
The episode was viewed in an estimated 6.35 million households, with a 2.8 Nielsen rating, marking a slight rise in audience from the previous episode
The Blue and the Gray (The Simpsons)
"The Blue and the Gray" is the thirteenth episode of the twenty-second season of the animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 13, 2011.-Plot:...
, while the episode was the twenty-fifth most viewed show for the week of broadcast among adults aged 18–49. Critical reception of the episode was generally positive, with critics praising the episode's use of visual gags and cultural references.
Plot
Bart is visited by Ermon Millwood, whose company makes films out of web cartoon series. Millwood offers Bart a chance to make a film adaptationFilm adaptation
Film adaptation is the transfer of a written work to a feature film. It is a type of derivative work.A common form of film adaptation is the use of a novel as the basis of a feature film, but film adaptation includes the use of non-fiction , autobiography, comic book, scripture, plays, and even...
of the web cartoon Angry Dad. Bart accepts, and Millwood takes him to film studio animators. Homer is soon offered the opportunity to voice Angry Dad, as the voice actor
Dan Castellaneta
Daniel Louis "Dan" Castellaneta is an American actor, voice actor, comedian, singer and screenwriter. Noted for his long-running role as Homer Simpson on the animated television series The Simpsons, he voices many other characters on The Simpsons, including Abraham "Grampa" Simpson, Barney Gumble,...
from the original Angry Dad series has dropped out of frustration of never being paid. The film is test screened
Test screening
A test screening is a preview screening of a movie or television show before its general release in order to gauge audience reaction. Preview audiences are selected from a cross-section of the population, and are usually asked to complete a questionnaire or provide feedback in some form. Harold...
to a horrible reception. Lisa
Lisa Simpson
Lisa Marie Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons. She is the middle child of the Simpson family. Voiced by Yeardley Smith, Lisa first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Cartoonist Matt Groening...
convinces Bart to remove all of the parts the audience did not like, thus making the Angry Dad a short film. The film is shortly thereafter nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Animated Short.
At the Golden Globe ceremony, Angry Dad wins, and Homer takes credit in his acceptance speech for creating the film, to the dismay of Bart. Homer takes credit at many other awards ceremonies. Angry Dad soon receives an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Short Film. Out of frustration against Homer for taking the credit, Bart attempts to distract Homer from going by making him and Marge
Marge Simpson
Marjorie "Marge" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the eponymous family. She is voiced by actress Julie Kavner and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
go on an attraction tour in Los Angeles while he and Lisa attend the awards. However, Homer gets recognized by others who take him to the ceremony. Homer arrives in time to see Angry Dad win the Oscar. Bart goes up to accept the Oscar and thanks Lisa for having the idea to make the film into a short film, the animation studio, and Homer. Touched by this, Homer gets up on stage with Bart and apologizes to him for taking all the credit, and the two agree to cut up the Oscar and give a piece to everyone on the animation team. Bart asks if Homer had gotten a replacement for the Academy
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of motion pictures...
, but Homer confides to him that the Award is only five dollars on eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
, while Maggie
Maggie Simpson
Margaret "Maggie" Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons. She first appeared on television in the Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Maggie was created and designed by cartoonist Matt Groening while he was waiting in the lobby of James...
is sucking on the replacement.
Production
Angry Dad first appeared in the season 13The Simpsons (season 13)
The Simpsons thirteenth season originally aired on the Fox network between November 6, 2001 and May 22, 2002 and consists of 22 episodes. The show runner for the thirteenth production season was Al Jean who executive-produced 17 episodes...
episode "I Am Furious Yellow
I Am Furious Yellow
"I Am Furious " is the eighteenth episode of The Simpsons thirteenth season. It first aired in the United States on the Fox network on April 28, 2002. In the episode, Bart creates a comic book series based on his father Homer's anger problems, which turns into a popular Internet cartoon series...
". In the show, it is a comic book and web series that Bart created based on Homer's constant fits of rage. In this episode, Bart and Homer make a short film about the character, which wins a number of awards. Executive producer Al Jean said it is "a bit of a satire of the different Oscar acceptances where two people clearly race to the stage to get there first, and Homer and Bart are fighting to be the one that accepts."
Academy Award winner Halle Berry
Halle Berry
Halle Berry is an American actress and a former fashion model. Berry received an Emmy, Golden Globe, SAG, and an NAACP Image Award for Introducing Dorothy Dandridge and won an Academy Award for Best Actress and was nominated for a BAFTA Award in 2001 for her performance in Monster's Ball, becoming...
guest starred as herself. She was designed to be wearing a similar dress to the one she wore at the 74th Academy Awards
74th Academy Awards
The 74th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , honored the best films of 2001 and took place March 24, 2002, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST / 8:30 p.m. EST. It was the first ceremony to take place...
in 2002. Ricky Gervais
Ricky Gervais
Ricky Dene Gervais is an English comedian, actor, director, radio presenter, producer, musician, and writer.Gervais achieved mainstream fame with his television series The Office and the subsequent series Extras, both of which he co-wrote and co-directed with friend and frequent collaborator...
appeared as himself, his second guest appearance on the show after season 17
The Simpsons (season 17)
The Simpsons' seventeenth season originally aired between September 2005 and May 2006, beginning on Sunday, September 11, 2005. It broke Fox's tradition of pushing its shows' season premieres back to November to accommodate the Major League Baseball games airing on the network during September...
's "Homer Simpson, This Is Your Wife
Homer Simpson, This Is Your Wife
"Homer Simpson, This Is Your Wife" is the fifteenth episode of the seventeenth season of The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 26, 2006, and was watched by around ten million viewers during that broadcast. In the episode, Homer signs the Simpson family...
". The episode aired a month after Gervais hosted the 68th Golden Globe Awards
68th Golden Globe Awards
The 68th Golden Globe Awards was broadcast live from the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California on January 16, 2011, by NBC. The host was Ricky Gervais....
, which was criticized by some as being mean-spirited.
Comedian Russell Brand
Russell Brand
Russell Edward Brand is an English comedian, actor, columnist, singer, author and radio/television presenter.Brand achieved mainstream fame in the UK in 2004 for his role as host of Big Brother spin-off, Big Brother's Big Mouth. His first major film role was in the 2007 film St Trinians...
guest starred as himself. He told The Sun
The Sun (newspaper)
The Sun is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation. Sister editions are published in Glasgow and Dublin...
that, "I was having an amazing birthday party and found out I was going into space. Then my agent says, 'Oh, The Simpsons want you in an episode.' Once you've gone yellow, you've made it. My ideal show would be where I have a cartoon relapse with Barney and Homer and get smashed out of my mind with them."
Cultural references
This episode of The Simpsons featured multiple references to animation and Hollywood. PixarPixar
Pixar Animation Studios, pronounced , is an American computer animation film studio based in Emeryville, California. The studio has earned 26 Academy Awards, seven Golden Globes, and three Grammy Awards, among many other awards and acknowledgments. Its films have made over $6.3 billion worldwide...
is referenced in the episode as "Mixar". The short film Condiments serves as a parody of the Pixar film Toy Story
Toy Story
Toy Story is a 1995 American computer-animated film released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is Pixar's first feature film as well as the first ever feature film to be made entirely with CGI. The film was directed by John Lasseter and featuring the voices of Tom Hanks and Tim Allen...
, and the song "You've Got an Enemy" references "You've Got a Friend in Me
You've Got a Friend in Me
"You've Got a Friend in Me" is a song written and first recorded by Randy Newman. Originally written as the theme song for the 1995 Disney·Pixar animated film Toy Story, it has since become the theme song for its sequels, Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3...
". Willis and Crumble parodies Wallace and Gromit
Wallace and Gromit
Wallace and Gromit are the main characters in a series consisting of four British animated short films and a feature-length film by Nick Park of Aardman Animations...
, and uses the same style of stop-motion animation. Nick Park
Nick Park
Nicholas Wulstan "Nick" Park, CBE is an English filmmaker of stop motion animation best known as the creator of Wallace and Gromit and Shaun the Sheep....
, the creator of Wallace and Gromit, has a voice cameo as himself. Multiple other short film fragments further lampooned other movies including The Triplets of Belleville and Persepolis
Persepolis (film)
Persepolis is a 2007 French animated film based on Marjane Satrapi's autobiographical graphic novel of the same name. The film was written and directed by Satrapi with Vincent Paronnaud. The story follows a young girl as she comes of age against the backdrop of the Iranian Revolution. The story...
. The episode also references Ricky Gervais
Ricky Gervais
Ricky Dene Gervais is an English comedian, actor, director, radio presenter, producer, musician, and writer.Gervais achieved mainstream fame with his television series The Office and the subsequent series Extras, both of which he co-wrote and co-directed with friend and frequent collaborator...
's controversial hosting stunt at the 68th Golden Globe Awards
68th Golden Globe Awards
The 68th Golden Globe Awards was broadcast live from the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California on January 16, 2011, by NBC. The host was Ricky Gervais....
, with a sign featuring a picture of him alongside a caption reading "Do Not Allow This Man To Host".
Reception
In its original American broadcast, "Angry Dad: The Movie" was viewed by an estimated 6.35 million households, with a 2.8 Nielsen rating and 8% share of the audience among adults between the ages of 18 and 49. The episode marked a slight rise in the ratings from the previous episode, "The Blue and the GrayThe Blue and the Gray (The Simpsons)
"The Blue and the Gray" is the thirteenth episode of the twenty-second season of the animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 13, 2011.-Plot:...
". "Angry Dad: The Movie" was the twenty-fifth most viewed show for the week of broadcast among adults aged 18–49.
"Angry Dad: The Movie" received mostly positive reviews from critics, with many of them praising the "visual gags" featured in the episode. TV Squad writer Brad Trechak praised the episode's use of Hollywood references writing that "that's what good episodes of 'The Simpsons' are made of". He also praised Gervais's performance calling his two monologues "classic". The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
s Rowan Kaiser praised the multiple references layered in the episode commenting that they saved the episode from being "mediocre". Despite this, he criticized the plot commenting that it did not come "from the heart of the show". He ultimately gave the episode a B-, being beaten only by Bob's Burgers
Bob's Burgers
Bob's Burgers is an American animated television sitcom, which premiered on January 9, 2011 on the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series was created by Loren Bouchard and focuses on the Belcher family, who runs a hamburger restaurant. On April 7, 2011, Bob's Burgers was renewed for a second season...
episode "Hamburger Dinner Theater". Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
mostly praised the short films competing against "Angry Dad" calling them "the truly amusing stuff" and adding that Condiments was a "very accomplished replication of Pixar". However, he was critical of the guest stars, noting that, "None of them were very funny, but that was the joke — they were parodying the toadying tone of awards patter. Well, Brand and Berry were; Gervais seemed to have improvised a lot of Gervais-y stream-of-jokiness blather that he may well have intended to be funny". Aly Semigran of MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
praised the episode for its animation parodies, writing, "Sure, Toy Story and Wallace and Gromit might enjoy more Oscar love than their animated brethren, but The Simpsons send-ups were nothing if not a brilliant tip-of-the-hat to all of those films".
The episode was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour)
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming less than One Hour)
The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program is a Creative Arts Emmy Award which is given annually to an animated series which is judged to have been the best...
at the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards
63rd Primetime Emmy Awards
The 63rd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, honoring the best in primetime television programming from June 1, 2010 until May 31, 2011, was held on September 18, 2011, at the Nokia Theatre in Downtown Los Angeles, California. Fox televised the ceremony within the United States. Actress Jane Lynch hosted...
.