Half-Decent Proposal

Plot

Marge becomes irritated by Homer's loud snoring, which keeps her awake at night. Dr. Hibbert recommends an expensive surgery, but refuses when Homer asks for it free of charge. While staying with Patty and Selma to sleep, Marge hears that her old high school boyfriend Artie Ziff is now the fifth-richest man in the United States. She drunkenly dictates an email to congratulate him, but Patty and Selma alter it into a sexually provocative message.

Artie, still obsessed with Marge, offers the Simpsons $1 million for a weekend with her to show what life would be like if they had married. Marge accepts to pay for Homer's surgery. She initially enjoys Artie's company, but during a prom re-enactment he tricks her into kissing him against her will. Homer, spying, sees them and believes they are making out.

He leaves Springfield with Lenny, who is similarly despondent over his relationship with Carl, to work on an oil rig. While on the rig, Homer and Lenny accidentally set fire to an ant, causing the entire rig to blaze. Bart tracks Homer's location, worrying the family because West Springfield is dangerous. Marge calls Artie for help; he flies her to the rig in his helicopter.

Homer initially refuses rescue, but Artie admits he cannot win Marge's love. Lenny is surprised to see Carl aboard the helicopter. They are saved just before the rig collapses. Instead of the $1 million, Artie gives Homer a mask that converts his snoring into soothing music, but it also contains a hidden camera and delivers subliminal messages to persuade Marge to leave Homer.

Production

The episode was written by consulting producer Tim Long and directed by Lauren MacMullan. Raymond Persi served as assistant director and later became, according to show-runner Al Jean, one of the series' best regular directors. The idea was pitched by James L. Brooks, who suggested Artie Ziff return and offer Homer a million dollars for a weekend with Marge, parodying the film Indecent Proposal. Ziff's wealth had been established in the season 4 episode "The Front".

The setpiece of Homer's snoring keeping Marge awake was pitched by Long's ex-girlfriend. Originally, a sequence would have shown Homer traveling to Silicon Valley in a jet's wheel well, based on a news story the writers were obsessed with. The episode was one of the first to suggest an intimate relationship between Lenny and Carl, which garnered scrutiny from fans who were very angry over it.

Cultural references

The title and premise are based on the 1993 drama film Indecent Proposal. The channel BHO references HBO. Moe's line "He is like a spy in the house Moe" is based on the Anaïs Nin novel A Spy in the House of Love. The ball in Ziff's manor references a scene from the season 2 episode "The Way We Was".

Homer's line about never being born if Marge marries Ziff mirrors a problem faced by Marty McFly in Back to the Future. Comic Book Guy's room contains Star Wars merchandise including a Jar Jar Binks doll. During breakfast, Lisa pulls a syrup-covered Time magazine with "AOL Rules" on the cover, referencing the AOL-Time Warner merger. The TV show Nookie in New York spoofs Sex and the City.

Homer spells "Keep Your Clothes On" in reference to the M*A*S*H series finale. Homer holds a Funzo toy, which first appeared in the season 11 episode "Grift of the Magi". West Springfield is modeled after Texas, though Lisa states it is three times the size of Texas.

Homer and Lenny's travel to West Springfield references the final scene of Midnight Cowboy, with music resembling that film's theme. The oil rig scene references Five Easy Pieces. The song produced by Artie's invention is "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)" by Eurythmics.

Release

When it first aired on February 10, 2002, "Half-Decent Proposal" pulled in a 7.1 Nielsen rating, which meant about 7.5 million people watched it. For the week of February 4–10, 2002, it ranked 36th. The episode later came out on DVD and Blu-ray as part of The Simpsons: The Complete Thirteenth Season on August 24, 2010, with commentary from Al Jean, Ian Maxtone-Graham, Matt Selman, Tim Long, Dan Castellaneta, Lauren MacMullan, Matt Warburton, and James Lipton.

Six years after it aired, IGN's Robert Canning gave it a 9/10, calling it amazing and praising Jon Lovitz's turn as Artie Ziff as pitch-perfect. IGN later named it the best episode of season 13. Both Slice of SciFi and Total Film ranked it among the season's best, with Total Film calling it a stand-out. Blu-ray.com's Casey Broadwater described it as a strong character-focused episode.

Not everyone was thrilled: Colin Jacobson of DVD Movie Guide gave a mixed review, calling it mediocre and lacking spark despite liking Lovitz. Ron Martin of 411Mania dismissed it as a yearly episode with different tempters. Adam Rayner of Obsessed with Film panned it as a rip-off of the film Indecent Proposal, saying the episode was even worse than that movie.

Did You Know?

• The episode's complicated animation process was so strenuous that the animators started calling director Lauren MacMullan "Lauren MacMultiplane".
• Jon Lovitz had not voiced Artie Ziff since the season 2 episode "The Way We Was"; Dan Castellaneta voiced Ziff in the season 4 episode "The Front" because Lovitz was unavailable.
• The character Baron von Kissalot, who appears only in this episode, was series animation director Jim Reardon's favorite joke of the entire season.