Two new Promotional Images for the upcoming 1 hour special episode of season 28, split in two parts, titled “The Great Phatsby: Part One” and “The Great Phatsby: Part Two“, have been released. The episodes airs on January 15, 2017.
Stay tuned for more
Promotional Images
Everything's coming up Milhouse… and @Common! Catch the one-hour episode of #TheSimpsons this Sunday. pic.twitter.com/E7kidIrTC1
— The Simpsons (@TheSimpsons) January 11, 2017
Prepare to laugh — @keeganmkey is joining us this Sunday for our special one-hour episode! #TheSimpsons pic.twitter.com/wKqIeiMUeH
— The Simpsons (@TheSimpsons) January 13, 2017
Matt Selman talked to TVLine about the episode: “I wanted to avoid any of the Simpsons rapping, to be honest. I hope real hip-hop fans watch and recognize that we did our best and don’t think it’s lame.”
He also adds that it’s “not a hip-hop musical — more like an episode of Empire. We’re going to play up the crazy melodrama with revenge, betrayal and explosions. There’s an epic quality to it, in addition to it being very literary.”
In an interview with USA Today, Matt Selman says: “The episode feels a little different tonally. There’s more wall-to-wall music. It feels more like Empire.”
Keegan-Michael Key adds about Jazzy James. “He’s given a second chance to be the artist he was when he was younger. I’ve been watching The Simpsons since they were on The Tracey Ullman Show.”
Dan Greaney continues: “The idea was that the hip-hop artist and Mr. Burns would relate to each other around this idea of opulence and old-fashioned style, wealth and power. It turned out the hip-hop/Gatsby connection was a very rich vein.”
And concludes how hip-hop “is a major cultural phenomenon we’ve barely touched. For me, the starting point was wanting to do something that embraced black America more. The Simpsons is a little light on that.”