of success — clean living, chewing thoroughly, and "a daily dose of vitamin Church!" — they start to pity him for having never, in their view, truly lived at all. Ned reluctantly agrees with this and asks Homer to teach him the secret to his lust for life. Homer takes a nervous Ned on a gambling trip to Las Vegas, Nevada. When they arrive, they see Captain Lance Murdock (from "Bart the Daredevil") doing one of his stunts, and Homer chooses to volunteer, and survives (although Murdock is again badly injured). After, Ned confesses to Homer his feelings of blood lust during the stunt. They wander into a casino called "Nero's Palace" and begin to play roulette. Ned protests against games of chance because of Deuteronomy 7, but Homer ignores him and takes the reference as a lucky number. They win, but immediately lose all they won. They then go to the casino's bar, and Ned gives into temptation and gets drunk on white wine spritzers. Homer and Ned wake up the next morning in their hotel room married to two cocktail waitresses: Homer's new wife is named Amber, and Ned's new wife is Ginger; ironically these were also the two Nero's Palace waitresses who served them their drinks. Homer and Ned, realizing they were drunk and thus not of sound judgement to have such quick weddings while also being married, try to escape from the waitresses, going on a wild rampage through the casino until they are confronted by casino security, Gunter and Ernst (also from "$pringfield"), Drederick Tatum, and The Moody Blues. Homer and Ned attempt to escape in a prize car, but got beaten up in the process and exiled from Nevada, with Amber and Ginger quickly leaving them for Gunter and Ernst. Homer and Ned head back to their real wives in Springfield by hitchhiking, with Homer trying to relate to Ned an outlandish alibi involving alien abduction, only to be attacked by two hungry vultures on their way back. Production and themes "Viva Ned Flanders" was written by writer David M. Stern and directed by director Neil Affleck. It was first broadcast on the Fox network in the United States on January 10, 1999. It was recorded in July 1998. The beginning of the episode shows Mr. Burns' casino being demolished with explosion. In the DVD commentary for the episode, show runner Mike Scully stated