"The Simpsons" "The Simpsons"

"The Simpsons" get a dose of "Portlandia" this weekend as Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein give voice to animated characters on the Fox comedy (8 p.m. Sunday, KPTV/12) that was created by Portland native Matt Groening.

But it wasn't Groening who came up with this "Simpsons" episode that evolved on its way to Fox's prime-time schedule.

Matt Selman, a "Simpsons" writer and executive producer, said he initially conceived of a Portland-centric episode after former "Simpsons" writer Bill Oakley, now a writer on "Portlandia," moved to Oregon.

"The Simpsons"

When:

8 p.m. Sunday

Channel:

KPTV/12

Website:

/

"He saw it as this place that can solve all his problems: 'It's a cool city I can live in, not an uncool city like L.A.' And now he tweets all day about the weirdos there who make him irritated," said Selman, who never visited Portland until earlier this year. "Lisa was going to go through the journey of Bill Oakley."

That initial idea for an episode had the Simpsons moving to Portland with liberal Lisa Simpson expecting to embrace Portland as her kind of progressive, artistic and eclectic town.

"She thought, 'It's my kind of utopia.' Once they get there all the other Simpsons like Portland, but Lisa didn't like it. The lesson was that sometimes your problems are inside of you and cannot be solved externally," Selman said. "As I was working on the episode, 'Portlandia' (first) aired, and it was such an amazing, smart, funny and well-observed portrait of Portland that I immediately became depressed and thought, so much for that idea."

He reworked the concept and decided to have the Portland vibe come to Springfield. Sunday's episode, titled "The Day the Earth Stood Cool," is more of an homage to Portland/"Portlandia" than it is a crossover. Armisen and Brownstein play new characters, not characters they created for "Portlandia."

Homer Simpson wants a younger, hipper image, so he starts hanging out with Terrence (Armisen) and Emily (Brownstein), new neighbors from Portland. Marge Simpson disapproves of the newcomers' trendy parenting methods, and Bart tags their son, T-Rex (voiced by Patton Oswalt, a guest star in the upcoming third season of "Portlandia"), as pretentious.

The reworked plot required a new theme: Being a parent means it's time to give up trying to be cool.

"Homer is feeling kind of old, and he meets a cool couple -- and I know dads who make me feel not cool, who take their kids to art galleries and rock shows and haven't made any sacrifices (that a lot of parents do) -- played by Fred and Carrie," he said. "It's about Homer trying to be that kind of parent that can have it all. But the Simpsons aren't really up to it."

Homer and Terrence bond over famous Portland doughnuts, an homage to Voodoo Doughnut but called Devil Doughnuts in the "Simpsons" episode.

"It makes so much sense that that's what Homer connected to right away," Armisen said. "I think the doughnut Homer gets is a beer keg doughnut."

In addition to Armisen and Brownstein, Selman said the Portland-based band the Decemberists composed an original orchestral score for a portion of Sunday's episode, which also includes references to hipster culture. But Selman's goal is to connect with viewers in a broader way.

"Parents feeling old and seeing other parents acting young -- hopefully that's a universal thing and not just specific to jokes about skinny jeans," he said. "We were really trying to find fresh areas and trying not to do things they'd done (on 'Portlandia'). We're not putting birds on it. They had an indoor hide-and-seek league; we have a reference to an adult kickball league. So it was sort of finding areas they hadn't covered yet and trying to make a harmonious rip-off."

Armisen said he's fine with that because Oakley brings a "Simpsons" vibe to "Portlandia," most notably in the second season "Brunch Village" episode, which Armisen sees as similar to Springfield depicted as "its own little planet."

Brownstein said she and Armisen were thrilled to be asked to provide voices for "The Simpsons," which they recorded about a year ago.

"We were very excited and flattered," she said. "Everything was hyperbole and ecstasy. We were honored and humbled and star-struck by getting to be in the same room as Dan (Castellaneta, the voice of Homer Simpson). And I have a scene with Marge. It's very surreal."

Selman said he's eager for "Simpsons" viewers to see the show's ode to Portland/"Portlandia."

"I can't wait till Sunday when the Internet hates it," Selman said, noting the fervently opinionated online reactions of "Simpsons" fans.

"Or love-hates it," Armisen said, reassuringly. "It's all the same thing."

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