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Sideshow Bob
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Robert Underdunk Terwilliger, better known by his stage name Sideshow Bob, is a recurring character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Kelsey Grammer, and first appeared briefly in the episode "The Telltale Head". His first major appearance was in "Krusty Gets Busted". Sideshow Bob has been described as "Frasier pickled in arsenic", Frasier being Grammer's character on the series of the same name. In 2006, Grammer won an Emmy for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for his portrayal of Bob in the episode "The Italian Bob."
Sideshow Bob was originally the sidekick on Krusty the Clown's television show, but Krusty's continuous abuse led to Bob framing him for armed robbery. Krusty was arrested and Bart Simpson discovered that Bob was behind the crime, leading to Bob's arrest. Since then he has been a villainous homicidal maniac, as well as Bart's mortal enemy, and as a result he has tried to kill Bart on several occasions. Bob has been featured in ten episodes, with the most recent one airing during the nineteenth season.
Role in The SimpsonsBob began his career as Krusty the Clown's non-speaking sidekick. He had only won the job because he proved to be a better comic foil than his younger brother Cecil Terwilliger , who had actually auditioned for the part. As the years went on, the Yale-educated Bob became increasingly angry at being overshadowed by Krusty's "dilapidated vaudeville antics" and continual abuse.
Finally, Bob snapped and framed Krusty for armed robbery at the Kwik-E-Mart. He took over Krusty's television show, introducing elements of higher culture and reading Man in the Iron Mask. Although the program was critically acclaimed, Bob's reign was short-lived, as Bart Simpson exposed his plan and landed him in jail.
Once his true character was revealed, Bob assumed the role of evil genius in The Simpsons. Episodes centered on Sideshow Bob typically involve Bob being released from prison and acting out a cunning revenge plan, which is foiled by Bart and Lisa. Frequently such plans involve attempting to kill someone, usually Bart or, less often, Krusty.
In Bob's first appearance after his failed framing of Krusty, he married Bart's aunt Selma Bouvier as part of a scheme to gain access to her stock shares, and then tried to blow her up on their honeymoon. Once again, Bart foiled Bob's plan, and Sideshow Bob returned to prison. After his second release he targeted Bart, threatening him repeatedly and forcing the Simpsons to move to Terror Lake as part of the Witness Relocation Program. Bob followed them to their new home on a houseboat and, after subduing the rest of the family, attempted to kill Bart. He allowed Bart a final request, and Bart asked him to sing the entire score of H.M.S. Pinafore. The delaying tactic leads to Bob's arrest. In another episode, Bob rigged the Springfield mayoral election, and planned to blow Springfield up with a nuclear bomb unless the city stopped broadcasting television. After this escapade, Bob was genuinely redeemed, and instead his brother Cecil attempted to commit a crime. Cecil harbored resentment because his brother had become Krusty's sidekick instead of him, and tried to frame Bob for embezzlement by sabotaging the Springfield Dam. Bob and Bart together foiled Cecil's plan and saved the town, but both brothers ended up in prison due to Chief Wiggum's stupidity.
Once again, Bob was released from prison, and developed a plot to kill Krusty using Bart as a suicide bomber but he was again foiled Later, someone tries to murder Homer, so Bob is released from prison so he can help Homer find the culprit. After the mystery was solved, he returns to murder Bart, but finds he can not do it. Bob later moved to Italy, looking for a fresh start. There, he was elected mayor of a village in Tuscany and married a local woman named Francesca, with whom he had a son named Gino, who resembles him. The Simpsons visited and Bob welcomed them with hospitality, on the condition that they not reveal his felonious past; however a drunken Lisa did just that, alienating Bob from his citizens. His wife and son did not abandon him though, and the three swore a vendetta on the Simpsons. The entire Terwilliger family returns in a later episode, when Bob fakes his own death and attempts to burn Bart alive at his funeral. Instead, Bob and his entire family were foiled and thrown in prison.
Other appearancesAlongside his appearances in the series, Sideshow Bob has made several appearances in other The Simpsons media. Kelsey Grammer recorded lines for Bob for The Simpsons Movie, but the scene in which he was to appear was cut. In The Simpsons Game, released in November 2007, Bob has a speaking cameo appearance at the end of the "Invasion of the Yokel-Snatchers" chapter. Bob was also included as a level boss in the 1991 video game .
Sideshow Bob plays a large role in The Simpsons Ride, which opened at Universal Studios Florida and Universal Studios Hollywood in May 2008. Voiced by Grammer, he is the main villain in the ride, having escaped from prison to get revenge on Bart and the other Simpsons.
CharacterCreationSideshow Bob first appeared in the background of a scene in the season one episode "The Telltale Head". In that appearance, his design was more simple and his hair was round in shape. His first major appearance was in season one's penultimate episode "Krusty Gets Busted". Bob's design was updated for "Krusty Gets Busted", and the animators tried to redo his scenes in "The Telltale Head" with the re-design, but did not have enough time. The script for "Krusty Gets Busted" called for James Earl Jones to voice Bob, but the producers instead went with Kelsey Grammer, then a cast member on Cheers. Bob did not say anything during the first half of "Krusty Gets Busted" because the character always spoke with a slide whistle and when he finally did speak, it would be a shock to hear Grammer's voice. Grammer used his impression of Ellis Rabb, a man for whom Grammer had once worked, for Bob's voice. For season three's "Black Widower", the writers decided to have Bob return to get revenge on Bart for foiling his plan in "Krusty Gets Busted". They took the idea of the Coyote chasing the Road Runner, and had Bob always inserting himself into Bart's life. However, he did not appear in every season because the writers were not always able to think of reasons to bring Bob back.
Brad Bird first designed Bob for "Krusty Gets Busted". As the episode's animation progressed he made Bob sleeker, more urbane and refined, and worked with Grammer's voice. For "Black Widower", David Silverman updated the model to reflect the animation of Bird. Despite common fan belief that Bob was named after Terwilliger Boulevard in Portland, Oregon, he was actually named after the character Dr. Terwilliker from the film The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T.
DevelopmentKelsey Grammer initially thought that Bob would be a one-time character, and calls him "the most popular character I've ever played." The writers believe that Grammer has a great voice and try to create something for him to sing in each episode he appears. Grammer usually comes in for table readings, although when he cannot, Greg Berger stands in for him. Former Executive producer David Mirkin found Grammer a joy to direct as he was very funny, but noted that he hates doing the evil Sideshow Bob laughs. A rule for the early episodes that featured Bob was that there had to be a recap of his evil deeds in case the viewers did not remember them. The concept was dropped in later episodes.
Sideshow Bob's theme, which is used whenever Bob gets out of prison, was first used in the season five episode "Cape Feare", Bob's third episode. It is based on the score of the movie Cape Fear, which was composed by Bernard Herrmann. The musical score for "Cape Feare" earned composer Alf Clausen an Emmy Award nomination for "Outstanding Dramatic Underscore - Series" in 1994. Bob's prisoner number is often 24601, which is Jean Valjean's prisoner number in Les Miserables. Another trademark for Bob is to step on rakes, a joke that first appeared in "Cape Feare". In that episode, Bob stepped on nine consecutive rakes, which the writers added to fill up time. The sequence has become known as the "rake joke" and has been referred to as being "genius in its repetitive stupidity".
Bob's brother Cecil made his first appearance in the eighth season episode "Brother From Another Series". He is voiced by David Hyde Pierce, who played Frasier Crane's brother Niles in Frasier, and Bob and Cecil's interactions were based on Niles' and Frasier's. Cecil returned in "Funeral for a Fiend" in season 19, along with their previously unseen father, Dr. Robert Terwilliger, who was played by John Mahoney. Mahoney played the father of Grammer and Pierce's characters in the series. Bob also has a wife named Francesca (voiced by Maria Grazia Cucinotta) and a son named Gino, both of whom were introduced in the season 17 episode "The Italian Bob", and both of whom returned for "Funeral for a Fiend".
AnalysisIn Planet Simpson, author Chris Turner writes that Bob is built into a highbrow snob and conservative Republican so that the writers can continually hit him with a rake and bring him down. He represents high culture while Krusty represents low culture, and Bart, stuck in between, always wins out. In the book Leaving Springfield David L. G. Arnold examines how the episodes featuring Sideshow Bob enacts a cultural battle of high and low culture. Bart is a product of a mass-culture upbringing and therefore becomes Bob’s nemesis. The first time we meet Bob, he is merely a sidekick on the Krusty the Clown Show. Frustrated by his role as a stooge in Krusty’s cheap gags, he frames Krusty and takes over the show. He changes the name of the show to "Sideshow Bob’s Cavalcade of Whimsy" and changes the contents of the show to readings of classic literature, Cole Porter tunes, and segments that take a look at social and emotional issue of pre-teens. He believes that by exposing the kids to high culture, he will enhance their lives.
The problem with Bob is that his own conscience and morality is unaffected by the high culture he represents. Over the course of the series, he has been an armed robber, a multiple-attempted-murderer, a terrorist, an election fixer and other things. He tries to manipulate the tastes of the masses by becoming a criminal mastermind. This is most apparent in "Sideshow Bob Roberts", in which he rigs the election to become the mayor of Springfield. When later accused of election fraud he rants "Your guilty consciences force you to vote Democratic, but secretly you yearn for a cold-hearted Republican who’ll cut taxes, brutalize criminals, and rule you like a king! You need me, Springfield!" He considers himself a part of the social elite and has no problem using criminal means to acquire and exercise power.
Bob is clearly more intellectual than most of the residents in Springfield and knows that in order to be understood by the average person he has to dumb himself down. His intelligence can sometimes be a plus. When he was asked by the Parole Board in the same episode why he had a tattoo that said "Die, Bart, Die," he simply replied that it was German for “The, Bart, The”. The Parole Board was impressed by the answer and Bob was released. His love of high culture can sometimes be used against him. In "Cape Feare", Bob asks Bart if he had a final request before Bob killed him. Bart requested that Bob perform the operetta H.M.S. Pinafore in its entirety. Bob could not refuse and Bart was given enough time to be saved by the police.
ReceptionIn a 2006 article, IGN.com ranked Bob in second position on their list of the "Top 25 Simpsons Peripheral Characters", citing that he is "a man of contradictions; his goofy appearance, complete with palm tree like hair, doesn't seem to match up to the well spoken and even musically talented maniac." Wizard Magazine rated Bob as the 66th greatest villain of all time. The production staff on The Simpsons are usually excited about "Sideshow Bob episodes" as the writers consider them a treat to write, and the directors think they are always crazy and fun for them to animate.
Kelsey Grammer has received praise for his voicework and in 2006, he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for his performance as Bob in the episode "The Italian Bob". Grammer had previously won four in the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series category for his portrayal of Frasier Crane on Frasier. In a 2007 interview, Simpsons executive producer Al Jean listed Grammer as his second favorite guest star, saying "his voice is so rich". Mike Bruno of Entertainment Weekly called Kelsey Grammer one of "fourteen guest stars whose standout performances on TV make us wish they'd turn up in a Simpsons Movie 2". David Hyde Pierce was also included in that list. In 2008, Grammer was also included in Entertainment Weekly's list of the sixteen best guest stars. Ben Rayner of the Toronto Star listed "Cape Feare", "Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming" and "Brother From Another Series" as being among the best episodes of the series, saying "Forget Frasier, these are Kelsey Grammer's best roles."
Many episodes featuring Bob have been well received by fans and critics. "Cape Feare", the third episode to feature Sideshow Bob, is generally regarded as one of the best episodes of The Simpsons, and according to Matt Groening, people often include it among their top 10 favorites. In Entertainment Weeklys top 25 The Simpsons episodes ever, it was placed third. IGN also called it the best episode of the fifth season. Vanity Fair called it the show's fourth best episode in 2007, because of its "masterful integration of filmic parody and a recurring character." Grammer's performance of H.M.S. Pinafore was later included on the album Go Simpsonic with The Simpsons. The season seventeen episode "The Italian Bob" and its writer John Frink would win a Writers Guild of America Award in 2007 in the animation category.
MerchandiseBob was made into an action figure, and two different versions were included as part of the World of Springfield toy line. The first shows Bob as he was on the "Krusty the Clown show" and was released in 2001 as part of the Krustylu Studios "Wave three playset". The second, released in 2002, shows in the prison uniform he wore in "Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming" and was a part of "wave nine".
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