Editing Waylon Smithers (section)

==Character==
[[File:Waylon Smithers (first appearance).jpg|thumb|Smithers's initial (and only) appearance with a dark complexion, as seen in "[[Homer's Odyssey (The Simpsons)|Homer's Odyssey]]"]]
Mr. Smithers was partly based on how numerous [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] executives and staff members acted towards [[Barry Diller]].<ref name=tvguide>{{cite news|first=Joe|last=Rhodes|title=Flash! 24 Simpsons Stars Reveal Themselves|work=[[TV Guide]]|publisher=NTVB Media|location=New York City|date=October 21, 2000}}</ref> The idea for Smithers's orientation was pitched by [[Sam Simon]], who proposed that Smithers should be gay, but the writers should never draw too much attention to it and should try to keep it in the back of their heads.<ref name="ReissTTH">{{cite video | people=[[Al Jean|Jean, Al]]|date=2001|title=The Simpsons season 1 DVD commentary for the episode 'The Telltale Head'| medium=DVD|publisher=20th Century Fox|location=Los Angeles, California}}</ref> Jay Kogen said "Originally he was gay and black...But we thought it was too much so we just kept him gay."<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1012l4/jay_kogen_here_long_past_simpsons_writer_i/ | title=Jay Kogen Here. Long past SIMPSONS writer. I created many of your favorite and least favorite characters with the help of the original Simpson writers. | website=[[Reddit]] | date=2012 | access-date=February 19, 2013 | author=JayKogen}}</ref><ref name="sprcon"/> The script for "[[Blood Feud (The Simpsons)|Blood Feud]]" originally featured Smithers saying "Just leave me enough to get home to my wife and kids", but the line had to be cut for time.<ref name=tvguide/> Smithers is voiced by [[Harry Shearer]], who is also the voice of Mr. Burns.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.foxflash.com/div.php/main/page?aID=1z2z2z175z13z4&bioid=1675 |title=Harry Shearer |access-date=October 27, 2007 |publisher=[[Fox Broadcasting Company]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090429083513/http://www.foxflash.com/div.php/main/page?aID=1z2z2z175z13z4&bioid=1675 |archive-date=April 29, 2009 }}</ref> Shearer is often able to perform dialogue between the two characters in one take.<ref name="JeanBF"/> [[Dan Castellaneta]] occasionally fills in for Shearer at table reads and voices Smithers.<ref name="JeanBF"/> The name Waylon, coined by [[Mike Reiss]], was first used in "[[I Married Marge]]" and comes from the puppeteer [[Wayland Flowers]].<ref name="Jeff Martin" /><ref>{{cite video | people=[[Mike Reiss|Reiss, Mike]]|date=2003|title=The Simpsons season 3 DVD commentary for the episode 'I Married Marge'| medium=DVD|publisher=20th Century Fox|location=Los Angeles, California}}</ref><ref name="sprcon"/>

Smithers made his first appearance in "[[Homer's Odyssey (The Simpsons)|Homer's Odyssey]]", which was the third episode of the [[The Simpsons season 1|first season]], although he can be heard over a speaker in ''The Simpsons'' series premiere "[[Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire]]".<ref name="bbc">[https://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/simpsons/episodeguide/season1/page1.shtml Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire] BBC. Retrieved March 2, 2007</ref> In his first visual appearance in "Homer's Odyssey", Smithers was mistakenly animated with the wrong color and was made darker than most characters by Gyorgyi Peluce, the color stylist. [[David Silverman (animator)|David Silverman]] has claimed that Smithers was always intended to be "Mr Burns' white sycophant",<ref name=background>{{cite web|first=Charles A.L.|last=McKenzie|url=http://www.hurtwoodmedia.com/mckenzie/pdf/simpsons.pdf |title=Background Guide to The Simpsons |access-date=October 25, 2007 |date=September 2002 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050126165556/http://www.hurtwoodmedia.com/mckenzie/pdf/simpsons.pdf |archive-date=January 26, 2005 }}</ref> and the staff thought it "would be a bad idea to have a black subservient character" and so switched him to his intended color for his next episode.<ref name=tvguide/><ref name="sprcon">{{cite book |last1=Reiss |first1=Mike |last2=Klickstein |first2=Mathew |title=Springfield confidential: jokes, secrets, and outright lies from a lifetime writing for the Simpsons |date=2018 |publisher=Dey Street Books |isbn=978-0062748034 |page=103|location=New York City}}</ref> Silverman [[retcon]]ned this error by saying that Smithers had a tan from a recent holiday in the Caribbean.<ref name=background/> The first appearance of a yellow Smithers was "[[There's No Disgrace Like Home]]", the fourth episode of the first season.