Production
The episode was written by Nell Scovell and directed by Wes Archer. In the episode, Bart and Lisa sneak into the sushi bar's karaoke room and sing the theme song to the 1971 film Shaft, "Theme from Shaft". The Fox network censors originally did not want the staff to use the song because they thought the lyrics were too obscene to appear on television. In order to prove the censors wrong and show that it could appear on television, the staff dug up footage from an old Academy Awards ceremony at which the song was performed by Isaac Hayes. When the chef of the sushi bar finds out that Homer has been poisoned, he yells at his apprentices in Japanese. The staff wanted the language they spoke to be actual Japanese, so they hired a Japanese actor who translated the lines for them. The episode introduced the character Akira, who has appeared many times later on the show. American actor George Takei provided the voice of Akira. The episode featured many other guest appearances; Larry King as himself; Sab Shimono as the sushi bar chef; Joey Miyashima as Toshiro, the apprentice chef who slices up the fugu; and Diane Tanaka as hostess of the bar. King's role was first offered to American singer Bruce Springsteen, but he turned it down. According to showrunner Sam Simon, actor William Shatner also rejected the part.
"One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish" originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on January 24, 1991. The episode was selected for release in a video collection of selected episodes, titled The Last Temptation of Homer, that was released on November 9, 1998. Other episodes included in the collection set were "Colonel Homer", "Homer Alone", and "Simpson and Delilah". The episode was again included in the 2005 DVD release of the Last Temptation of Homer set. It was also released in May 1998 on the seventh volume of the Best of The Simpsons video collection, together with "Bart Gets Hit by a Car". The episode was later included on The Simpsons season two DVD set; released on August 6, 2002. Scovell, Matt Groening, Al Jean, and Mike Reiss participated in the DVD's audio commentary.
Read more about this topic: One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish
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