Tim Long (born June 14, 1969) is a comedy writer born in Brandon, Manitoba , Canada. Long calls Exeter, Ontario , his home town and has written for The Simpsons , Politically Incorrect , Spy magazine and the Late Show with David Letterman . Currently credited as a consulting producer on The Simpsons , Long was - until Season 20 - credited as an executive producer . His work has also recently appeared in The New York Times and The New Yorker . He also wrote the episode "Mr Roboto" for YTV's Mr. Young .
26-407: " New Kids on the Blecch " is the fourteenth episode of the twelfth season of the American television series The Simpsons . It first aired on Fox in the United States on February 25, 2001. In the episode, a music producer selects Bart , Nelson , Milhouse and Ralph to be members of the next hit boy band , who record songs containing subliminal messages about joining the Navy . The episode
52-408: A Board of Directors Ongoing Commitment Award. The show also won at the 2002 Kids' Choice Awards . The season ranked 21st in the seasonal ratings with an average of 14.7 million viewers an episode, rising 6% from last season. As of 2023, season 12's Nielsen ranking of #21 remains the highest in the show's history. When Homer refuses to pay a five dollar airport tax to fly to Delaware , the family
78-460: A Party Posse concert aboard an aircraft carrier , in which the band performs a song full of subliminal lyrics, Smash's superior officer informs him that the boy band project is being shut down because Party Posse is due to be satirized in an upcoming issue of Mad , sabotaging their recruiting power. The officer turns off Party Posse's voice enhancers, exposing the boys' lack of singing talent and destroying their popularity. Enraged, Smash commandeers
104-452: A joke the editing team reused the one take where he said "Word" after nearly every line. Footage of the band recording their lines for the episode was featured over the end credits. On the top of the building of Classified Records, where the band first records their music, the sheet music for " The Star-Spangled Banner " can be seen. In its original American broadcast, "New Kids on the Blecch"
130-464: A lot like the real thing. Still, the show works pretty well until it gets to the Navy side of things. Then it just becomes dopey and lacks the moderate bite of the earlier scenes. The show also becomes unintentionally eerie when it features an attack on New York" (something that would happen in real life just over six months after this episode was first broadcast). Judge Mac McEntire said the best moment of
156-660: A special limited edition "embossed head case" package was also released. Tim Long Long was also a consulting writer on The Simpsons Movie . He attended high school at South Huron District High School in Exeter, Ontario , Canada . Long graduated from University College at the University of Toronto with a major in English Literature and pursued graduate studies in English at Columbia University . He
182-712: Is actually the Independence flag . The resemblance was cited by some supporters of the Syrian government and media in the Middle East as evidence that the Syrian rebellion was a foreign plot. The Simpsons season 12 The twelfth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons originally aired between November 2000 and May 2001. It began on Wednesday, November 1, 2000 with " Treehouse of Horror XI ". The season contains four hold-over episodes from
208-622: Is forced to ride in a livestock car of a train instead. There they meet a singing hobo who tells three tall tales: The DVD boxset for season twelve was released by 20th Century Fox in the United States and Canada on Tuesday, August 18, 2009, eight years after it had completed broadcast on television. As well as every episode from the season, the DVD release feature bonus material including deleted scenes , animatics , and commentaries for every episode. The boxart features Comic Book Guy , and
234-540: The Springfield marathon to prove to Marge that he is fit. Bart dons a stereotypical Italian disguise and wins the marathon by cheating, but a bird pulls off his fake mustache during the trophy presentation. To escape from the outraged crowd, Bart accepts a ride from a stranger, who introduces himself as music producer L.T. Smash. He offers Bart a chance to join a boy band he is assembling called Party Posse, including Nelson , Ralph and Milhouse . Bart accepts
260-584: The season 11 (BABF) production line. The showrunner for the twelfth production season was Mike Scully . The season won and was nominated for numerous awards including two Primetime Emmy Awards wins and an Annie Award . Season 12 was released on DVD in Region 1 on August 18, 2009, Region 2 on September 28, 2009, and Region 4 on September 2, 2009. The season's executive producer was once again Mike Scully , in his last season as executive producer, while it
286-486: The Menace " became the second episode of the series to be animated using digital ink and paint , which had not been used since the season seven episode " Radioactive Man " and would not be used again (this time on a permanent basis) until the 14th season . The season would also have five episodes that would air the following season . The twelfth season has received mostly positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes ,
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#1732790601551312-521: The building. The employees survive unharmed and Smash is arrested; Bart and his friends are disappointed at not having a chance to appear in Mad , but take comfort in reading the planned parody of them. The episode ends with praise for the Navy by NSYNC, who suggest that viewers enlist. JC Chasez is surprised and dismayed to learn that his bandmates have signed him up without his knowledge, and two military police officers drag him away screaming. The episode
338-416: The carrier, sending his superior officer overboard, and taking it out to sea as the terrified audience jumps overboard and swims back to the docks. Smash sails the carrier to New York City with the band and Homer (who was in the lavatory at the time) still onboard, and declares his intention to destroy the Mad headquarters. Despite the sudden arrival of boy band NSYNC , Smash fires the missiles and destroys
364-609: The chorus is simply "JOIN THE NAVY" sung backwards . Seeing that the single's hidden message is beginning to affect the Springfield populace, after watching Otto Mann board a navy bus right in front of the Simpsons' house, Lisa confronts Smash, who reveals himself as a Navy lieutenant and explains that popular music has long been used as a recruiting tool by the military . After Lisa confronts Homer and Marge, they dismiss her claims as stemming from jealousy of Bart's fame. During
390-702: The completion of this season. Rob LaZebnik received his first sole writing credit for the episode " Homer vs. Dignity ". LaZebnik would not get a writing credit for another episode until the 20th season, where he was credited for writing " Father Knows Worst ". Shaun Cashman received his sole directing credit on the series this season (for the 250th episode " A Tale of Two Springfields "), while Neil Affleck received his final directorial credit (also for "Homer vs. Dignity"). Tom Gammill and Max Pross have been promoted to produce this season. As of 2009, Gammill & Pross are still credited as such, along with David Mirkin . Mike Reiss (Al Jean's former writing partner) returned to
416-650: The episode was the irate choreographer. Corey Deiterman of the Houston Press listed NSYNC as one of the top five worst musical guests in Simpsons history. At one point in the episode, a flag is depicted on the side of a technical employed by military fighters in Middle Eastern dress. The flag in the episode resembles the flag adopted by the Syrian opposition in the Syrian Civil War , but
442-569: The episode, the cast ad-libbed the lyrics and music. During production, it was decided that the kids would not do their own singing, to get a boy band sound and to help Nancy Cartwright (who otherwise voices three of the four), so the producers hired the band Natural for the "Studio Magic" voices, and recorded them in Orlando. NSYNC instantly said yes to being asked to guest star, although Justin Timberlake had to record his lines separately from
468-560: The former. " HOMR " was nominated for various awards. Al Jean received a nomination for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour) the eleventh win for the series. Another Primetime Emmy Award nomination is for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series . Another win for "HOMR" is an Annie Award for Outstanding Writing in an Animated Television Production. Other Primetime Emmy Awards nominations include Hank Azaria for " Worst Episode Ever ". Lisa Simpson also won
494-502: The opportunity, and the four boys quickly rise to stardom, secretly using voice-enhancing software developed by NASA to improve their singing abilities. Party Posse releases a single "Drop Da Bomb" whose accompanying music video includes the strange line "YVAN EHT NIOJ" in its chorus. Puzzled, Lisa analyzes the video and finds a subliminal recruiting message for the United States Navy within it; she also realizes that
520-402: The rest of the band due to a family death. During the recording session, the staff brought their kids along to meet the band. Tom Hanks , who was filming Cast Away in the same studio, wanted to meet them and came by. The song that introduces NSYNC every time they walk in is " No Strings Attached ". Timberlake was reluctant to say "Word" since he swore it was something he would never say, so as
546-440: The twelfth season of The Simpsons has an 80% approval rating based on 5 critical reviews. Matt Haigh of Den of Geek said that "The bad episodes are never really terrible, it's more that they're a bit boring and will most likely have you yawning 10 minutes in. With this in mind, season 12 ends up being very much a 50/50 affair". Nancy Basile gave a list of "Must See TV" episodes and "Not So Must See TV" episodes — with more of
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#1732790601551572-564: The writing staff as a producer. The season began with the annual Treehouse of Horror episode, beginning a practice of starting the season with the episodes, as well as airing the episodes shortly after Halloween in November, due to Fox 's coverage of the World Series . This season brought back Sideshow Bob , who had not been seen since the eighth-season episode " Brother from Another Series ". Ian Maxtone-Graham's episode " Tennis
598-434: Was produced by Gracie Films and 20th Century Fox Television . He later returned to the series in season fourteen as a writer and executive producer for the episode " How I Spent My Strummer Vacation ". Mike Scully has stated his goal during his tenure was to "not wreck the show". Don Payne , John Frink and Bob Bendetson began writing for the series, while Larry Doyle , Julie Thacker and Tom Martin left following
624-535: Was viewed by 18.1 million viewers with a 9.7 rating/15 share making it the top rated animated show of the week. Annie Alleman of The Herald News named the episode her fourth favorite Simpsons episode. Colin Jacobson of DVD Movie Guide said "When it parodies boy bands, 'Blecch' has its moments. Granted, it's tough to really mock boy bands, as they always bordered on self-parody; the Party Posse tunes sound
650-413: Was written by Tim Long and directed by Steven Dean Moore . Mike Scully was frustrated that they had not pitched enough story ideas, so he pitched this episode, along with " Trilogy of Error ". During the pitch session, he suggested that NSYNC guest star on one of the pitched episodes. The decision to add a government conspiracy came late, an idea which was pitched by George Meyer . At the table read for
676-462: Was written by Tim Long and directed by Steven Dean Moore . The episode's title is a play on the boy band New Kids on the Block and Mad Magazine 's tendency to use the word "blecch" in their parodic titles. The episode has received positive reviews from critics and was watched by over 18 million viewers. After watching an Olympic Games documentary on TV, Homer decides to participate in
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