Springfield Up

Eric Idle as Declan Desmond

"Springfield Up" is the thirteenth episode of the eighteenth season of The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 18, 2007. In the episode, filmmaker Declan Desmond (Eric Idle) returns to Springfield to film the continuation of his documentary series Growing Up Springfield, which chronicles the lives of several Springfield residents. He visits the town with a film crew every eight years to see how the lives of these people have changed, a plot which parodies Up Series in Britain. "Springfield Up" has received generally positive reviews from critics.

Eccentric documentary filmmaker Declan Desmond offers an inside look at his work chronicling some of Springfield's finest for his documentary. Titled Growing Up Springfield, his film follows the lives of several Springfield residents, returning to them after eight-year intervals to examine how their lives have changed. Clips from the film show a young Homer dreaming of growing up to live in a mansion, have a pinball machine with "infinity quarters," and eight pairs of peanut-butter-and-jelly pajamas. Sixteen years later, Homer is working as a manure salesman, infomercial question-asker, and open-casket caricaturist, but dreaming of being a rock star. In an interview with him and Marge, he says they plan to have no children. After the next eight-year interval, Homer has given up on his dreams of fame and fortune to support his growing family. However, when Declan Desmond returns in the present day, he discovers that Homer has become extraordinarily wealthy, and the family is living in a mansion.

Homer explains that his newfound wealth is due to an invention called the condiment pen, which dispenses condiments in the same manner as a writing pen dispenses ink. Declan interviews Marge about her family's unexpected success, but she is unable to explain why the mansion's medicine cabinet is filled with "old man ointments." Suddenly, Mr. Burns bursts into the house, demanding to know what the Simpsons are doing in his summer home.