The Parent Rap - Production and Cultural References

Production and Cultural References

“The Parent Rap” was co-written by George Meyer and Mike Scully, and Mark Kirkland served as the director for the episode. It was first broadcast on the Fox network in the United States on November 11, 2001. Even though "Treehouse of Horror XII" - the first episode of the thirteenth season - had aired the previous week, "The Parent Rap" was considered the official premiere of the season. “The Parent Rap” was the last episode written in its production line. “As I recall, we got toward the end of the season and we had to write another episode in a hurry”, said Meyer in a DVD audio commentary for the episode. The writing staff contributed a rough outline for the episode, and Meyer and Scully went into one of the writer's room and “basically, kind of locked in for five days” writing the episode. Meyer and Scully both thoroughly enjoyed the writing process of the episode; “It really came together easily”, stated Meyer, “...because we had known each other so long and were comfortable with each other's style”. Ian Maxtone-Graham, one of the writers for The Simpsons, commented that the draft Meyer and Scully had written was “awfully good”.

The episode was based on “a couple of incidents” that the writers had heard about in which troublesome children, through alternative sentencing, were tethered to their parents. The scene in which Homer and Marge get spanked by Springfield's citizens as part of their punishment was also based on an alternative sentencing, in which the sentenced had to wear certain shirts or signs that indicated whether they, for example, had not paid taxes. The scene in which Bart accidentally drives away with police chief Chief Wiggum's police car was based on one of Scully's friends in high school, who stole a still running police car parked at a Dunkin Donuts while the police was in the store. The episode featured the first appearance of judge Constance Harm, portrayed by American actress Jane Kaczmarek. The character's name was conceived by Meyer, who had always thought that Constance was a scary name. The episode makes a reference to Blue Öyster Cult's hit song “Don't Fear the Reaper”, which also plays during the episode's end credits, and inspired the title of a later episode. Meyer later got to meet the band, who said that they were “stoked” to be referenced in a Simpsons episode.