Viva Ned Flanders - Production and Themes

Production and Themes

"Viva Ned Flanders" was written by writer David M. Stern and directed by director Neil Affleck. It was first broadcast on the Fox network in the United States on January 10, 1999. It was recorded in July 1998.

The beginning of the episode shows Mr Burns' casino being demolished with implosion. In the DVD commentary for the episode, show runner Mike Scully stated that there was "a lot of talk" and news reports about implosions at the time. Only directly after the implosion do the on-lookers realize the amount of dust that is unleashed. This is based on an observation by the writers, who noted that, when an implosion takes place, "everybody wants to be right next to them", not realising that dust and asbestos will "fly in the air." In the DVD audio commentary for the episode, director Affleck stated that the scene was very complicated to animate, and took about "four or five takes" to get right. Scully thought that the implosion looked "fantastic."

The revelation of Ned's age was much discussed among the writers, and Scully stated that they argued over "how old they could get away with," since Ned had "lived such a pure life" and had "taken such good care of himself." The writers kept pitching for him to be older and older, eventually debating whether his age would be 57 or 58. They then decided on 60, an idea that could have come from Ron Hauge, one of the Simpsons writers. A few weeks before the discussions, after having found out that he was slightly older than the next oldest writer in the staff, Hauge had told one of the writers, in "the most serious reasonable" voice, that he was 60 years old. At the time, Hauge was "around 40" years old.

The morning after having drunk extensively, Homer and Ned are seen sleeping, clothed, in a jacuzzi. The staff discussed whether or not the two should wake up naked or clothed; series creator Matt Groening, for example, wanted them to wake up naked, since it would "raise some question." During production, Affleck had drawn an alternate version of the scene, which would be based on his "extensive experience in the field of alcohol abuse" in his younger years. The scene would be in Ned's point of view, and would show Homer's open mouth half submerged in the jacuzzi. Affleck described the alternate scene as being "a little bit Fellini-esque" and therefore did not fit with The Simpsons style. Scully had also suggested that Ned would throw up on screen at the end of the scene, however the idea never came to fruition.

The song used during the chase scene in the casino is "Viva Las Vegas", performed by Elvis Presley. Although he admitted that he has "nothing against Elvis," Scully originally wanted to use a "hard to find" version of the song performed by Bruce Springsteen. However, Scully could not clear the version in time, and therefore had to resort to using Elvis' version of the song. The episode features The Moody Blues as themselves. Scully commented that they were "very good actors" and "did a great job." The episode also features the first appearance of Amber and Ginger, who were voiced by Pamela Hayden and Tress MacNeille respectively. Real-life commentator Don Rickles and fictional character Lance Murdock were both portrayed by series regular voice actor Dan Castellaneta, who plays Homer among many others in the series.

Affleck described the plot of the episode to have a "grotesque" and "burlesque," yet "plausible" quality to it. In a scene in the episode, Homer, not knowing of Ned's age, accuses Ned of defrauding a carwash salesman. Affleck commented that the scene has "a touch of music-hall" in it, as it turns, from a scene in church, to a "courtroom scene." He also noted that Ned's journey to Las Vegas can be compared to a Christian's travel to the temple of Mammon, a figure that in the Bible is characterized as the personification of wealth and greed.