Wes Archer decided when Sara Gilbert — guest-starring as Laura Powers — got her spitting phonetics right.
Almost thirty-two years later, those phonetics — or something like them — took the viral form of Hawk Tuah. And the key scene from The Simpsons’ “New Kid on the Block” (Season 4, Episode 8) gained new life in the Twittersphere.
It started in June with Hailey Welch’s suggestion that spitting on a male is a surefire way to win him over. Welch was speaking in a more salacious context than the general concept of the sound and action in question. But that didn’t stymie the comparisons to Laura’s relatively PG act of planting a pool on the map she envisions on Bart Simpson’s palm.
This week, both Hollie Beale of Daily Express US and Emma Saletta of The Daily Mail picked up on social media’s subsequent rash of observations suggesting the latest Simpsons real-world foreshadow was fulfilled.
Whether Welch — whose sudden, single-reason name recognition also drew comparisons to Season 5’s “Bart Gets Famous” — garners much concurrence with her philosophy, the tactic in its tamer form worked well enough on Bart. That’s why the Hawk Tuah phenomenon evokes the midway point of Archer’s seven-year tenure in The Simpsons’ directing rotation.
But the truth is a hefty slab of Archer’s output on the series is teeming with potential dos and don’ts in the name of love. That is if you are inclined to take cues from a groundbreaking animation series, which Archer effectively launched alongside his career by directing the first interstitial short on the Tracey Ullman Show, followed by enough full-fledged episodes to fill a season.
“New Kid on the Block” — which follows the series’ title family’s son’s feelings for a one-off character — was Archer’s eighth dual assignment as director and storyboarder. In terms of directing the series, it was his thirteenth episode out of twenty-six, the first in his fourth of seven seasons, and the first of several packaged and called back upon in “Another Simpsons Clip Show.”
That sixth-season compilation is framed by a family meeting geared toward airing everyone’s troubled history with romance. Besides running a slew of quick-hit clips from other teleplays, it recounts six storylines in depth.
Archer directed half of the sextet in question, beginning with “New Kid on the Block.” In the clip show, Bart recalls the barely figurative feeling of Laura ripping his heart out by virtue of disclosing her relationship with school bully Jimbo Jones.
Ned’s delicate turned desperate attempts to keep Homer’s excessive friendship gestures at bay are not unlike Lisa’s effort to dodge Ralph’s relentless wooing.
With that downer, Bart amplifies the sullen mood around the kitchen table on the heels of Lisa retelling Archer’s other Season 4 directing shift.
On February 11, 1993 — three months after “New Kid on the Block” — “I Love Lisa” emerged as a classic joint Valentine’s Day/President’s Day special. Besides recounting the core plot of Lisa facing the unenviable task of letting down her admirer, the clip show replays the episode’s side snippet of Ned Flanders singing for his wife.
When the immediate Simpson family tries turning their spirits around with stories centering on extended relatives, Lisa brings up Grampa Abe’s derby against Monty Burns for Jacqueline Bouvier’s affections. With that, every key highlight from Archer’s eighteenth episode — “Lady Bouvier’s Lover” — is replayed.
It is the most recent teleplay recounted in the clip show, and one of only three contributors from Season 5. One of the others — “Homer Loves Flanders” — is another Archer credit. Though hardly a romance storyline (despite Carl Carlson’s mistaken assumption that Homer’s proclamation of befriending Ned is “something about being gay”), one could label it a one-way bromance tale. Ned’s delicate turned desperate attempts to keep Homer’s excessive amiable gestures at bay are not unlike Lisa’s effort to dodge Ralph Wiggum’s relentless wooing.
Even Archer’s two other Season 5 directing turns mention or depict love by another definition. “Rosebud” — for which Archer also drew up Simpsonized renderings of The Ramones — follows the aging Mr. Burns’ yearning to reunite with a lost childhood toy. And then there’s the self-explanatory title of “$pringfield (Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling).”
One year later, romance (and then some) found its way back into Archer’s repertoire for one more round. “Grampa vs. Sexual Inadequacy” — Season 6’s tenth teleplay — witnesses a widespread uptick in spousal pleasure via Abe Simpson’s patented potion.
That was Archer’s twentieth directing job in the series. He added six more, culminating in Season 7’s “Homerpalooza” before moving across the Fox animation lot to join the startup series King of the Hill. There he directed the pilot (debuted January 12, 1997) and went on to serve as supervising director for 155 episodes over the franchise’s first thirteen seasons.
Along the way, he earned his first three of six career Emmy nominations (the others were for Rick and Morty). His second nod yielded his first win alongside the rest of the crew in 1999.
The victorious episode: “And They Call It Bobby Love,” which follows the series’ title family’s son’s feelings for a one-off character.
