"Some Enchanted Evening" is the thirteenth and final episode of Season 1. This episode was given the production code 7G01 which mean the first episode of the series to be produced.
Synopsis[]
After Marge calls a radio station psychiatrist and spills her guts on how uncaring Homer is, Homer makes up for it by taking Marge out on the town and leaving the kids with the only babysitter who isn't afraid of caring for the Simpson kids...who turns out to be a wanted fugitive.
Behind the Laughter[]
Production[]
A work print of the episode was the first to come back from Korea as episodes of The Simpsons are often animated overseas to a South Korean animation studio AKOM due to the overload of episodes and saving costs in Korea. The Simpsons Shorts where everything was produced in-house in Klasky-Csupo although the domestic studio produces only the character and background layout of episodes. The original, rough version of "Some Enchanted Evening" is incomplete as it ends when Bart and Lisa just find out Miss Botz is America's Most Wanted and sound effects and a soundtrack are absent and would have been inserted had there been a final version. The work print was not well received in the Gracie Films bungalow, with James L. Brooks giving a response with profanity. Some Enchanted Evening was the first one produced, explaining why it's 7G01
The producers wanted a realistic environment for The Simpsons as other studios had unrealistic styles for animation such as Disney, Warner Bros, Hanna-Barbera, etc. The former two had a universe where the universe was bendy and characters seemed to be made out of rubber. Hanna-Barbera used cartoon sounds which were also declined. While the shorts lacked much realism in animation, the half-hour series had been intended to be as realistic as possible despite the unrealistic animation.
70% of the episodes had to be redone. The episode was worked on during the course of the first season until finally being aired on May 13, 1990 as the season finale. The producers considered aborting production of the series if the next episode, "Bart the Genius" has similar production difficulties although fortunately had several fixable animation problems. They convinced FOX to postpone the season premiere for several months. Although "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", the eighth episode in production order, had to be aired as it was a Christmas special in December of 1989, becoming the first episode of the first season and the first episode of The Simpsons overall.
Also, at the end of this episode, originally Marge would reveal that under her blue hair contained a pair of rabbit ears. This is a clear reference to Matt Groening's comic, ¨Life in Hell¨. But this ending was scraped for unknown reasons. This theory made it into ¨The Simpsons Arcade Game¨. When Marge gets electrified in the game, you can see rabbit ears in her hair.
Although the episode was the first produced of Season 1 and the series, with its production code being 7G01 as opposed to later codes such as 7G08 from the first episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", production was delayed and overhauled after a workprint had been poorly received and covered 70% of the episode. This share of the episode had to be remade and rewritten, while airing "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" for it being a Christmas special, having to air it in Christmas 1989 and becoming the first episode during this hiatus, the first episode in broadcasting order and the first episode of the series instead.
