A Fish Called Selma

Chief Wiggum stops Troy McClure for reckless driving and notices his driver's license requires him to wear corrective lenses. Because of his vanity, Troy dislikes wearing his glasses. He visits Selma Bouvier at the DMV and offers to take her to dinner if she lets him pass the eye test. After dinner, paparazzi photographers see Troy leaving with Selma and the story hits the news. After winning for him the role of George Taylor in a musical stage adaptation of Planet of the Apes, Troy's agent, MacArthur Parker, says that Troy can stage a career comeback if he continues seeing Selma. On his agent's advice, Troy asks Selma to marry him and she agrees. The night before the wedding, a drunken Troy tells Homer that he does not love Selma and is only using her as a sham wife to further his career, with Homer only casually informing Marge after the fact (despite ample opportunity at the wedding to declare it). Marge and Patty try convincing Selma her marriage is a sham, but she accuses them of jealousy. She confronts Troy, who shamelessly admits that their marriage is a sham but claims she has everything she could want and will be "the envy of every other sham wife in town". Selma has her doubts but agrees to remain married to Troy because she fears being alone. Parker thinks he can get Troy the part of McBain's sidekick in McBain IV: Fatal Discharge if he sires children. Troy and Selma prepare to conceive a child, but Troy is uncomfortable sleeping with her; rumors of his unconventional sexuality once squelched his career and prevented his comeback. Selma decides that bringing a child into a loveless marriage is wrong and leaves Troy. A tabloid TV show confirms that Troy has turned down the role of McBain's sidekick to direct and star in his own film, The Contrabulous Fabtraption of Professor Horatio Hufnagel, produced by 20th Century Fox. ==Production==

had to rerecord his dialogue as agent MacArthur Parker because the episode ran too long. Show runners Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein were fans of actor Phil Hartman, who had been a recurring guest star in The Simpsons since the second season. They decided to produce an episode entirely about his character Troy McClure to give Hartman as much to do as possible. Oakley wanted to explore Troy's character because he had never interacted with the show's other characters before, only appearing on television. The writers chose the plot idea of Troy's marriage to Selma Bouvier because she was "always marrying people".—pitched it in the writers' room as "Rock Me Dr. Zaius", in parody of the 1985 song "Rock Me Amadeus" by Falco. It expanded into a full song primarily concocted by George Meyer, who included "corny" aspects of vaudeville. Due to the slow talking speed of Troy and Selma, the episode's audio track was 28 minutes long, which meant that multiple scenes had to be cut, including Troy's bachelor party. guest star Jeff Goldblum rerecorded his dialogue as MacArthur Parker at a faster speed to further shorten it. His character's design was loosely modeled on him, as well as a real-life "sleazy Hollywood agent". The animators watched several of Goldblum's films, including The Tall Guy, in order to get a better representation of his performance. Throughout "A Fish Called Selma", it is hinted that Troy engages in paraphilia. The writers initially did not know what the "unsavory" sexual preference would be, but eventually decided on a fish fetish, a suggestion from executive producer James L. Brooks, since it was "so perverted and strange that it was over the top". At the episode's table reading, an attendee exclaimed that the line, "from now on, she's smoking for two" has "got to go" from the script; however, her request was denied. On the walls of the Pimento Grove restaurant, the animators placed caricatures of every single guest star who had appeared on the show up to that point, as well as pictures of the fictional celebrities of the show. ==Cultural references==

The episode's title is a reference to the film A Fish Called Wanda, while the opening scene features a parody of The Muppets. Troy's star on the Hollywood walk of fame replaces Buster Keaton's. ==Reception==

In its original broadcast, "A Fish Called Selma" finished tied for 66th place in the ratings for the week of March 18–March 24, 1996, with a Nielsen rating of 7.8. It was the sixth-highest-rated show on the Fox network that week. In 2021, Entertainment Weekly placed the episode fifth on their list of the top 25 The Simpsons episodes. Empire, in 2004, called the episode the "high point" of the show's "long-standing love affair with The Planet of the Apes", and cited it as McClure's "finest hour". In 2006, IGN named the episode the best of the seventh season, stating that it seemed the "obvious pick". They called the musical the best moment of the episode and "maybe even the whole show". In a 2008 review, IGN's Robert Canning praised Phil Hartman's performance as "simply the best of any guest appearance on The Simpsons". He concluded by saying: "Sure, [the episode's] writing is smart and the jokes are funny, but without Phil Hartman as Troy McClure, 'A Fish Called Selma' would only be good. With Hartman, it's fantastic!" Also in 2006, Kimberly Potts of AOL Television named the episode the 14th best episode of the series. Dave Foster of DVD Times praised the episode in his 2006 review, as well as Jeff Goldblum's participation on the audio commentary. He stated: "for those yet to witness Troy McClure's musical take on Planet of the Apes, well, you might say you haven't lived! Musical parody at its very best, the visuals and aural delights in this one brief sequence guarantee this season a recommendation being one of the most inspired moments of The Simpsons many seasons." In 2012, Johnny Dee of The Guardian listed it as one of his five favorite episodes in the history of The Simpsons, writing: "Key to The Simpsons longevity is the minor characters who only crop up every season or so. And none more so than Troy McClure." Gary Russell and Gareth Roberts, the authors of the book ''I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide'', were pleased that "Troy McClure gets a starring role at last". ==References==