a message, but a majority of the information turned out "not to be as hilarious [as the writers] had hoped", and so was dropped. Steven Dean Moore, the episode's director, researched the design of every aspect of Indian culture shown in the episode. The events of the wedding, as well as many of the items present, were all taken from traditional Hindu marriage ceremonies. Cultural references The instrumental accompanying Barney in the bachelor raffle is "My Guy" by Mary Wells. The Foreigner song "Hot Blooded" plays over Apu's bachelor binge, and he dances in a manner similar to Riverdance. An Indian version of The Carpenters' song "(They Long to Be) Close to You" is sung at the wedding; an Indian vocal group was hired to sing, while Alf Clausen wrote the instrumental part. During Apu's bachelor binge, he gets a haircut at the barbershop "Hairy Shearers", a reference to cast member Harry Shearer. The scene where Moe walks on and off the stage without breaking his stride was loosely based on a moment that occurred during a stand up show of comedian Redd Foxx. During a show in Las Vegas, Foxx came on stage to the Sanford and Son theme song, only to find that there were only a few people in the audience. Foxx reacted angrily, and refused to do a show for such a small audience. He then walked off stage. The house orchestra, puzzled by Foxx leaving, simply played him off with the Sanford and Son theme song again. This incident was also referenced in the later episode "Trash of the Titans", when Ray Patterson is reinstated, although the reference is more similar to the real event. Reception In its original broadcast, "The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons" finished 22nd in ratings for the week of November 10–16, 1997, with a Nielsen rating of 11.6, equivalent to approximately 11.4 million viewing households. It was the third highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, following The X-Files and King of the Hill. Todd Gilchrist of IGN named the episode one of his favorites of the ninth season in his review of the DVD boxset, while Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, the authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, called it "a good fun episode". References External links The Simpsons (season 9) episodes 1997 American television episodes Television episodes about weddings