This was the first episode directed by Steven Dean Moore. Joshua Sternin and Jeffrey Ventimilia, who were writers on "The Critic" and were big fans of "The Simpsons", were happy to be able to write an episode.The original story was based on a story idea by Al Jean and Mike Reiss. The main story of the episode's first act sees Bart get appendicitis from eating a jagged metal Krusty-O. Mike Reiss's father, being a doctor, "sort of" acted as the medical consultant on this episode. He stated that "you can't get" appendicitis from eating a piece of metal, but the writers decided to do it anyway. In his flashback, Murphy is shown as having a "$1,500 a day Fabergé egg habit"; Jean "didn't realize just how expensive" Fabergé eggs actually were, so the joke does not make much sense.
This episode was the first to have a recurring character killed off on the show. The writers and production team felt that it would be a good, emotional storyline, which, through Lisa, could focus on the theme of sadness. They decided that it could not be one of the main characters; Jean joked that "we wouldn't want it to be someone like Mr. Burns, that we'd obviously want to see in the show again". But later Jean decided on Bleeding Gums Murphy, a character introduced in "Moaning Lisa", an episode of season 1; a flashback to "Moaning Lisa" is featured in the episode.
Murphy was a fairly minor character, only appearing in 2 episodes of the show, but he appeared in the show's opening sequence and remained there after this episode, until the opening was re-designed in season 20. Moore's first-ever job on the show was in the animation department for "Moaning Lisa" so he "appreciated" being able to direct this episode. Reiss stated "I had been polling for years to kill Marge's mom but this was a better idea". Actor Ron Taylor returned to guest star as Murphy in the episode. Comedian Steve Allen also made his second guest appearance on the show, who had also appeared in the episode "Separate Vocations" before.
"'Round Springfield" finished 60th on its American broadcast in the ratings for the week of April 24 to 30, 1995. It received a Nielsen rating of 8.2. The episode was the fourth highest-rated show on the Fox network that week. Mike Reiss and Al Jean thought that the episode would "get a ton of awards", and joked that this was why they opted to receive a story credit, which they usually would not. Ultimately it did not win any awards.
Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, who were the authors of the book "I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide" found that it was "a real tear-jerker" and praised Grampa believing everything he saw was death. Ryan Keefer of DVD Verdict rated the episode a "B". Adam Finley of "TV Squad" liked the episode. He liked its many "great moments" including "Steve Allen pimping his books on TV: "How to Make Love to Steve Allen"; "Happiness is a Naked Steve Allen"; "Journey to the Center of Steve Allen"; "The Joy of Cooking Steve Allen"" and "Moe running a "retox" clinic right next to a detox clinic".
On the bad review side, Colin Jacobson of DVD Movie Guide called the episode "dull" stating that "some of the moments connected to Bart's illness are funny," but that he "really hate[s] that "Jazzman" song" and dislikes "the Bleeding Gums parts."
In the episode, budget cuts at Springfield Elementary School force the janitor Groundskeeper Willie to be used as a French teacher. Expressing his disdain for French people, he exclaims to his class: "Bonjour, you cheese-eatin' surrender monkeys." This quote, particularly the phrase "cheese-eating surrender monkeys", has since been more widely used. It was used particularly in the run-up to the war in Iraq, having been popularized by the right-wing "National Review" journalist Jonah Goldberg, to describe European and especially French opposition to military action. It was once noted that the phrase was "made acceptable in official diplomatic channels around the globe". Ben Macintyre has written that the phrase is "perhaps the most famous" of the show's coinages and since Goldberg's usage it "has gone on to become a journalistic cliché."
It has subsequently been used by the "New York Post" (as "Surrender Monkeys") as the headline for its December 7, 2006, front page, referring to the Iraq Study Group and its recommendation that U.S. soldiers be withdrawn from Iraq by early 2008. Articles in the "Daily Mail" have used the phrase in reference the French's "attitude problem", and the "muted" European reaction to the death of Osama Bin Laden, while "The Daily Telegraph" has cited it in relation to Anglo-French military cooperation. The term has been used in books by commentator Laura Ingraham, and academics Stuart Croft, Stephen Chan, and Paul L. Moorcraft and Philip M. Taylor. Ned Sherrin included the quote in the "Oxford Dictionary of Humorous Quotations"; it was introduced in the third edition in 2005. It is also included in the "Oxford Dictionary of Modern Quotations". Douglas Coupland's 2009 novel "Generation A" refers to Groundskeeper Willie's use of the phrase.
The line was "probably" written by Ken Keeler during one of the episode's re-write sessions, although none of those present on the episode's DVD audio commentary could remember for sure. The writers were surprised it became as widely used as it did and never meant it as a political statement, merely as an "obnoxious" joke for Willie. The French dub of the show uses the line "singes mangeurs de fromage", eliding the word "surrender".
List of counties in Hawaii
There are five counties of Hawaii on the Hawaiian Islands in the United States. Counties are the only lower governments in the State of Hawaii. This is unusual in the United States. Most states include city governments, township governments, or other local authorities. The Hawaii State Department of Education is in charge of Hawaii's public education, because there are no local school boards to operate schools. People in Hawaii pay property taxes and user fees to the county they live in to help pay for road maintenance, community activities, parks, garbage disposal, police, ambulances, and fire departments. All the counties in Hawaii were formed in 1905 from unorganized territory, seven years after the Territory of Hawaii was created. The county of Kalawao is very small because it used to be a leper colony, so it does not as have many elected officials as the other counties do.
The Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) code below is a code which is used by the United States government to keep track of all the counties. It can be used to find more information on that county. The FIPS code for each county links to census data for that county. The county seat is the city, town or village where the county government is actually located.
List of counties in Vermont
There are 14 counties in the U.S. state of Vermont. These counties together contain 255 political units, or places, including 237 towns, 9 cities, 5 unincorporated areas, and 4 gores. Each county has a county seat, known in Vermont as "shire town". In 1779, Vermont had two counties. The western side of the state was called Bennington County and the eastern was called Cumberland County. In 1781, Cumberland County was made into three counties in Vermont plus another county named Washington (not the same as the modern Washington County) that then became part of New Hampshire. Today's Washington County was known as Jefferson County from its start in 1810 until it was renamed in 1814. Essex County, Orleans County, and Caledonia County are commonly called the "Northeast Kingdom".
Wounded Knee Massacre