The Way We Was

"The Way We Was" is the twelfth episode of "The Simpsons" second season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on January 31, 1991. In the episode, Marge tells the story of how she and Homer first met and fell in love. Flashing back to 1974, it is shown how Homer falls in love with Marge in high school and tries to get close to her by enlisting her as his French tutor. After several hours of verb conjugation, Marge falls for Homer too, only to become enraged when he admits he is not a French student. Marge rejects Homer's invitation to the prom and goes with Artie Ziff. Artie turns out to be a terrible date and Marge realizes that it is Homer she really wants.
The episode was written by Al Jean, Mike Reiss, and Sam Simon, and directed by David Silverman. It was the first flashback episode of "The Simpsons". Jon Lovitz guest-starred in it as Artie Ziff. The episode features cultural references to songs such as "The Joker" and "(They Long to Be) Close to You", and the television series "Siskel & Ebert & the Movies". The title itself is a reference to the 1973 film The Way We Were.
Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. It acquired a Nielsen rating of 15.6, and was the highest rated show on Fox the week it aired.
Plot.
When the Simpsons' television set breaks, Marge tells her children how she and Homer met in a flashback. Marge and Homer were both high school seniors in 1974. Homer and his close friend Barney earned detention for smoking in the boys' restroom. Unlike Homer, Marge was studious, but she was also sent to detention for burning a bra at a feminist rally. Homer instantly fell in love with Marge the first time he saw her in the detention room. Despite his father Abe's warning that he was aiming too high, Homer was determined to win Marge's heart.
To impress Marge, Homer joined her debate team, where he learned she was romantically interested in the more articulate Artie Ziff. Homer asked Marge to tutor him in French and she accepted his invitation to the senior prom. When Homer confessed that he was not enrolled in French class and was only using the ruse to spend time with her, Marge scolded him for making her needlessly stay awake late the night before a debate tournament. She lost the debate to Artie, who asked her to be his prom date. Homer was unaware Marge accepted Artie's invitation and unexpectedly arrived at her house on prom night. When Artie arrived moments later, Homer despondently left her house and attended the prom alone.
Artie and Marge were crowned prom king and queen and shared the first dance. Marge found a heartbroken Homer crying in the hallway. He confessed his feelings for her and although she was sympathetic, she urged him to accept her love for Artie. At Inspiration Point after the prom, Artie tried to make out with Marge in the back seat of his car; when he tore her dress in a fit of passion, Marge slapped him and demanded to be taken home, passing by Homer walking alone after he ran out of money to pay for his limousine rental. Realizing she was in love with Homer, Marge returned in her car to pick him up and apologized for wounding his heart. Homer fixed the torn strap of her dress with the corsage he had bought for her. As Marge ends her flashback, Lisa and Maggie are touched, but Bart makes gagging sounds of disgust.
Production.
The episode was written by Al Jean, Mike Reiss, and Sam Simon, and directed by David Silverman. Jon Lovitz guest starred as Artie. It was his first guest appearance on "The Simpsons", but he has appeared many times since. Artie's departing line to Marge after he drops her off was supposed to be "Good night. I'm Artie Ziff!", but short on time, the editors shortened it to just "Good night?".
Characters making their first appearance on the show in this episode are Wiseguy, Artie, Rainier Wolfcastle (as the fictional action hero McBain), Principal Dondelinger, and Marge's father. Artie's appearance and body language is based on a man Silverman went to high school with named Mark Eisenberg. Silverman said that when he directed the episode, he went through his own high school yearbook for character ideas and designs because he also had attended high school in the seventies. Wolfcastle's voice and design was based on actor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The writers actually invented Wolfcastle for the episode "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?", before "The Way We Was" went into production, but since "The Way We Was" aired before it is still considered his first appearance. The character was originally named McBain, after the film franchise he stars in. When the film "McBain" was released in 1991, after the episode had aired, the films' producers refused to allow the show to use the name in future episodes, so the name Rainier Wolfcastle, to represent the actor's real name, was created to use instead. Later, the use of the name McBain returned to the show.
"The Way We Was" originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on January 31, 1991. The episode was, together with "Homer vs. Lisa and the 8th Commandment", selected for release in a video collection titled "The Best of The Simpsons", which was released May 26, 1998. The episode was also included on "The Simpsons" season two DVD set, which was released on August 6, 2002. Jean, Reiss, Silverman, Matt Groening, and James L. Brooks participated in the DVD's audio commentary. An action figure set based on the episode was released by Winning Moves. It featured the characters Homer, Marge, Artie, Barney, Grampa, Patty, and Selma, all in their flashback designs. In April 2002, as part of an EB Games exclusive, action figures of Marge and Homer in their prom outfits were released by Playmates Toys. An action figure of Artie was also released in June 2004 as part of the wave sixteen release of the World of Springfield series of action figures by Playmates Toys.
Cultural references.
The television show that the Simpson family watches at the beginning of the episode, in which the two reviewers discuss the latest "McBain" film, is a parody of the American television series "Siskel & Ebert & the Movies". In the flashback sequence, Homer is seen singing along to the 1973 song "The Joker" by the Steve Miller Band while driving to school. Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin posters hang on the wall of Homer's 1974 bedroom. The 1970 song "(They Long to Be) Close to You" by The Carpenters is heard when Homer sees Marge for the first time. Homer eats a bucket of Shakespeare Fried Chicken when he reveals his feelings towards Marge to Grampa. At the debate, Homer disagrees about the idea of lowering the United States national speed limit to , arguing that "Sure, it'll save a few lives, but millions will be late!" This is a reference to the National Maximum Speed Law provision of the 1974 "Emergency Highway Energy Conservation Act", which (at the time) prohibited speed limits higher than 55 everywhere. Barney asks a girl named Estelle if she wants to go to the prom with him, but she tells him she would not go to the prom with him even if he were American actor Elliott Gould. Artie says he can think of a dozen highly cogent arguments to why Marge should accept his prom offer, one of which is from a "Time" magazine titled "America's Love Affair with the Prom: Even wallflowers can look forward to one date a year," a reference to the American magazine "Time". Songs played in the episode include "The Streak" by Ray Stevens , "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" by Elton John, "Colour My World" by Chicago, "Pick Up the Pieces" by Average White Band, and "The Hustle" by Van McCoy.
Reception.
In its original broadcast, "The Way We Was" finished sixteenth in the ratings for the week of January 28 – February 3, 1991, with a Nielsen rating of 15.6, equivalent to 14.5 million viewing households. It was the highest-rated show on Fox that week. 
Since airing, the episode has received positive reviews from television critics. In 1998, "TV Guide" listed it in its list of top twelve "Simpsons" episodes, calling it "a superbly observant, hilarious, perfect time capsule that tells how Homer Simpson wooed and somehow won Marge Bouvier". The authors of the book "I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide", Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, wrote: "A superb episode. Some colorful background for Homer and Marge (and a glimpse of Homer and Barney's schooldays) plus our introduction to the world of the McBain films. Excellent." 
DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson thought the episode was a "fine program", and added that Lovitz made Artie "amusingly annoying". Jacobson thought the episode captured the "tone of the mid-seventies with warmth and insight", and the courtship "seemed charming but not sappy, and the show worked well overall". Jacobson's favorite line of the episode was Grampa's advice to Homer about Marge, "Oh, son, don't overreach! Go for the dented car, the dead-end job, the less attractive girl!" 
Dawn Taylor of The DVD Journal thought the best lines of the episode were when Homer arrives at the Bouvier house to pick up Marge for the prom, Selma tells Patty "Marge's dates get homelier all the time," to which Patty replies "That's what you get when you don't put out." IGN ranked Lovitz as the eighth-best guest star in the show's history. In his book "Drawn to Television – Prime-time Animation from the Flintstones to Family Guy", Keith Booker wrote: "The episode details in a rather sentimental fashion the early struggles of the irresponsible Homer to support his new family [...] Such background episodes add an extra dimension to the portrayal of the animated Simpson family, making them seem oddly real and adding weight to their status as a family with a long history together."