The scene was directed by David Mirkin and was the first time a Simpsons character had been in the real world in the series.

The character's new addiction to coffee was suggested by writer-producer David Mirkin, who has friends who stopped drinking alcohol and became addicted to coffee.

Created by Brown, Charlie Coffey, and director and executive producer David Mirkin, it was a comedy about actress Julie Robbins ( Brown ), who in this initial story, goes to great lengths to land an interview with teen singer Kiki ( played by Kim Walker ) in the hopes of getting hired as a tabloid-TV celebrity journalist.

Mirkin was born and raised in Philadelphia and graduated from Northeast High School in 1975.

Mirkin has described himself as a " nerd " and was often in trouble as a child because he was " in another world ".

" Stand-up comedy was the most profitable and easily accessible route Mirkin found into the comedy industry, but " it wasn't a lifestyle that particularly coveted ," especially due to the traveling required.

Although rejected by the producers of The Ropers, Three's Company creator Bernie West was impressed by the script and Mirkin began pitching ideas for that series instead.

The episodes were commissioned, but Mirkin's agent rejected the Cheers job without telling his client, failing to see why Mirkin would want to work on what was then the lowest-rated comedy on television.

Mirkin " felt was where I belonged.

It was the first nomination the show had received in that category and for the first episode Mirkin wrote as the series ' showrunner.

" A philosophy he carried in to his later work, Mirkin felt that " being the head writer ... was not enough ; you had to see the material through its execution – especially the weirder stuff.

Mirkin created Get a Life alongside Chris Elliott, who was also the show's lead actor

Mirkin had wanted to cast comedian Chris Elliott in the pilot, but was prevented by Fox, which wanted Elliott for another show.

Fox was lukewarm about the idea, but Mirkin convinced them to order a pilot by understating how dark the show would be.

The network executives disliked the pilot after seeing an initial run-through, but Mirkin felt that this was because they " didn't get " the show and opted not to change it.

The show's production process was lengthy ; Mirkin would rise at to film the show, write further episodes from until, and then repeat that the following day.

" A strong cult following subsequently developed, and Mirkin noted that although the show was canceled " ultimately we got the audience I was hoping for and they are super dedicated and passionate to this day.

Mirkin was the executive producer and showrunner for the animated sitcom The Simpsons, during its fifth and sixth seasons ( 1993 – 1995 ).

" Mirkin felt the experience " taught a lot about structure " which greatly aided his later work on character-focused shows.

The show's production company TriStar Television refused, while Mirkin responded: " The thing about these parodies is they don't hurt a show.

According to David Mirkin, this is a joke about how " huge " Carrey's movies were at the time, and how he was not garnering much respect as an actor.

Mirkin came up with the idea while driving home from a rewrite early in the morning and listened to a religious radio station where they were talking about Freemasonry.

Mirkin was a big fan of the film and pushed for a segment about vampires inspired by the movie.

David Mirkin deliberately placed more graphic violence in the episode due to complaints about excessive violence in the show.

This was because Mirkin was angry about complaints by the United States Congress about the amount of violence in the show and their attempting to censor it.

Executive producer David Mirkin " loved " that the whole situation of Bart seeing the waiter injure himself and not telling the truth ties together with the Homer plot in that it causes Homer to get jury duty and then only caring about going to the hotel.

The two approved and offered Mirkin a freelance job writing one of the final nine episodes of show's first season, pending their commissioning by NBC.

Mirkin also said Neill was " really game " and did " a terrific job " on the episode.

The Simpsons creator Matt Groening thought it was a " quintessential " Swartzwelder episode, and executive producer / show runner David Mirkin said it was a " fantastic job by one of the most prolific writers of the show ".

Mirkin pitched to the series ' story editors for several years without success, because they had very limited script buying power.

Mirkin directed several of the Newhart episodes he wrote because he saw directing as " a means of protecting the writing.

In 2004, Mirkin stated that he " really wasn't at all intimidat to join show's writing crew ," because he " had worked with and written with " many of his fellow writers previously and concluded that, " took this show in a direction that is more personal to me.

Mirkin suggested Maggie Simpson as the culprit because he felt it was funnier and wanted the culprit to be a family member.

Mirkin rejected the project three times because he disliked the script.

" Mirkin has said that Patrick Stewart is " one of the best guest performances " because " he was so committed to character.

Show runner David Mirkin thought the Treehouse of Horror episodes were the hardest episodes to do because the staff had to fit in all three stories in only 22 minutes.

Mirkin said he felt the gremlin was well-done because he looked scary and " yet it looks like a completely organic Simpsons character ".

Üter, a character from Germany, also makes his first appearance on the show in this segment ; he was conceived as a one-time joke, but reappeared in later episodes because Mirkin felt he was " such a perfect stereotype ".

Mirkin suggested Maggie because he felt it was funnier and wanted the culprit to be a family member.

It was filmed on Ventura Boulevard in Studio City and directed by David Mirkin, who later said that Fox " couldn't have been less supportive " because they thought it would be too expensive.

David Mirkin, the show runner at the time, supported the episode in part because he had just become a vegetarian himself.

Mirkin also enjoyed the use of Apu in the episode, because Apu shows Lisa that " the way to get people to change is through tolerance and understanding.

Executive producer David Mirkin enjoyed directing Goulet because he was " such a good sport " and had " a great sense of humor ".

" Mirkin said this was a joke the staff enjoyed doing because it pointed out how negative and mean-spirited news broadcasts can be, and how they are seemingly " always trying to scare everybody " by creating panic and depression.

Mirkin said the elephant " never quite bonds because it's a very cantankerous animal, a concept that was very important to this episode ".

Executive producer David Mirkin thought it was difficult to make Abe funny because he is a " boring and tedious " character.

Mirkin felt she was easy to work with because she was versatile and keen to do a lot of different things, and as Mirkin expressed it, " easily evil ".

Mirkin liked the scene where Bart is punched by Nelson at the playground because Bart takes a while to recover, which made the scene more realistic.