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The Simpsons episode
"When You Dish Upon a Star"
Episode no.	208
Prod. code	5F19
Orig. Airdate	November 8, 1998
Show Runner(s)	Mike Scully
Written by	Richard Appel
Directed by	Pete Michels
Chalkboard	"butt.com is not my e-mail address"
Couch gag	Marge, carrying a laundry basket, hangs the rest of the family up to dry.
Guest star	Alec Baldwin as himself Kim Basinger as herself Ron Howard as himself Brian Grazer as himself
Season 10 August 23, 1998 – May 16, 1999
Lard of the Dance The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace Bart the Mother Treehouse of Horror IX When You Dish upon a Star D'oh-in in the Wind Lisa Gets an "A" Homer Simpson in: "Kidney Trouble" Mayored to the Mob Viva Ned Flanders Wild Barts Can't Be Broken Sunday, Cruddy Sunday Homer to the Max I'm with Cupid Marge Simpson in: "Screaming Yellow Honkers" Make Room for Lisa Maximum Homerdrive Simpsons Bible Stories Mom and Pop Art The Old Man and the "C" Student Monty Can't Buy Me Love They Saved Lisa's Brain Thirty Minutes over Tokyo
List of all Simpsons episodes...

"When You Dish Upon a Star" is the fifth episode of The Simpsons' tenth season. It aired on November 8, 1998.

Contents 1 Synopsis 2 Cultural references 3 External links

The Simpson family decide to spend a day out on Lake Springfield, where Homer soon gets involved in a paragliding accident. Crash landing in the bedroom of Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger's vacation house, he convinces them that he should work for them as a personal assistant, while keeping a secret that they are in Springfield.

Eventually Homer becomes good friends with the celebrity couple, though he creeps the visiting Ron Howard out and tries unsuccessfully to pitch a script about a killer robot driving-instructor that travels back in time and a talking pie.

Eventually Homer's inability to keep a secret sees him get fired, and he starts a mobile museum of "Hollywood Jerks" to get back at them. Predictably, the celebrities aren't impressed by this and angrily confront him, even though they wanted to give him a second chance at first. Homer escapes but is stopped by Basinger, though not before injuring Ron Howard.

Ultimately Homer is court-ordered to keep away from any celebrity while Ron Howard successfully pitches Homer's script to Brian Grazer and 20th Century Fox.

• Homer's rant about deceased celebrities "appearing in commercials dancing with vacuum cleaners" is a reference to a 1997 TV advertisement that depicted the late Fred Astaire dancing with a Dirt Devil vacuum cleaner.
• Homer: "We can't even pay our bills, and they're drinking Royal Crown Cola!" Royal Crown Cola is a cheaper brand than Pepsi or Coke, so Homer is really just being irritated for no good reason.
• Apu's sandcastle is a very detailed replica of India's famous Taj Mahal.
• PETA is an animal-rights group whose name stands for People For The Ethical Treatment of Animals. They have several celebrity members.
• Homer's dream is a spoof of Hanna-Barbera's Yogi Bear. When he falls asleep again he starts thinking he's Magilla Gorilla.
• Homer angrily addresses Ron Howard as "Potsie" (another Happy Days character) and "Horshack" (a character from Welcome Back, Kotter).
• The ripples in the pink lemonade when the crowd of people come is a reference to Jurassic Park.

• In one of Homer's sketches of the time machine for his movie, the Flux Capacitor from Back to the Future can be seen as part of his time machine.
• homer says he cant read, though a few seconds later he reads a grocery list in the kwik e mart

• "When You Dish upon a Star" episode capsule at The Simpsons Archive
• "When You Dish upon a Star" at the Internet Movie Database