A Tale of Two Springfields - Production

Production

The episode was pitched by John Frink and Don Payne. The episode was inspired Don Payne's mother's neighborhood where one side would spread rumors of the other side. Larry Doyle then pitched that the sides split apart to be started by different area codes. During production the staff did not want one side to be slobs (e.g. Homer, Barney, Moe) and the other snobs (e.g. Mr. Burns, Smithers, Skinner), but this ended happening in the final product. The writers later opened a website about what badgers eat.

The phone from the educational cartoon was voiced by Dan Castellaneta. Pete Townshend did not guest in the episode as he did not know he would be providing his own voice and assumed someone else would like in Yellow Submarine. Roger Daltrey, John Entwistle and Pete's brother, Paul Townshend provided guest voices in the episode. After a number of calls were made by the show's casting director in Los Angeles to The Who's managers in London, the group agreed to appear on the show. The animated versions of the band members included Daltrey in his trademark tight t-shirt and long curls, even though Daltrey cut his curls in the mid-1980s, as they wanted to use the image The Who are best known for. The Who recorded their lines in England, but still weighed in on script details. During the production the staff decided to animate Keith Moon instead of the current drummer in honor of him since he died in 1978.