It seems “Bridgerton” has reached a new audience beyond its home at Netflix.
The animated comedy “The Simpsons” is known for its hilarious parodies over the years, and now it seems that even “Bridgerton” has gotten the Simpsons treatment. In the episode, titled “Poorhouse Rock,” the ladies of Springfield are watching a show called “Tunnelton,” which parodies the famous wet shirt scene in season 2.
WATCH ‘The Simpsons’ Parody ‘Bridgerton’ In ‘Tunnelton’ Clip
In the clip of the scene above, the narrator says, “The Springfield ladies had a marvelous time journeying back to an era when England was filled with eligible young ladies in corsets courted by hot multi-racial dudes with rock-hard abs” as the ladies of Springfield watch the trailer for “Tunnelton.”
“The writing on this show is amazing,” Marge says before she sees a man take off his shirt. “Ooh… men can have muscles on their chest now?”
One fan commented on the video, saying, “I’d binge that.”
Believe it or not, a lot more detail went into that wet shirt scene than one might expect! Entertainment Weekly spoke to showrunner Chris Van Dusen about the scene and how much work went into finding a shirt that was clingy enough to suit the show’s needs.
Everything Fans Need To Know About That Wet Shirt Scene!
In season 2, Viscount Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey) becomes smitten with Kate Sharma (Simone Ashley). Although Anthony courts and almost marries her sister, Edwina, he eventually proposes to Kate in the final moments of the season 2 finale.
In the fifth episode of the second season, Anthony trips over Kate’s pet Corgi named Newton. He falls backward, knocking both himself and Mr. Dorset (Sam Frenchum) into the lake. Although he falls into the lake with his full waistcoat on, he strips down to his shirt as he emerges from the lake, his wet shirt clinging to his chest.
Fans can watch the full scene in the clip below!
Season one and two showrunner, Chris Van Dusen, revealed that a lot of thought went into creating that wet shirt look.
“We tested that white shirt to make sure it was just the right amount of see-through and clingy enough,” Van Dusen revealed. “We worked really hard to make that moment magical and memorable.”
Jonathan Bailey also talked to EW about the scene in question after he had read about it in the script. “I read it and I thought it was absolutely brilliant and hilarious,” he shared. “This is why the show is so brilliant because it’s self-aware enough to be able to raid the romance genre. It’s tongue in cheek.”
Bailey revealed that they actually performed the fall in one take. Climbing out of the lake actually took two takes, but only because the full Regency outfit was very heavy and difficult to remove when it was wet.
“The jacket was really heavy,” he recalled. “You can literally see that it’s really hard to get off my shoulder; it’s so heavy. It didn’t feel as sexy as it read on the page. But much like with everything in Bridgerton, the brilliant post team have done a really good job.”
However, interestingly enough, the shot where she and Edwina (Charithra Chandran) are staring at him emerging from the lake was filmed on an entirely different day!
“We weren’t actually looking at Jonny in the lake,” she admitted. “Sorry to spoil it for people! He was away doing something. We were pretending we were looking at him, and then, actually, I missed him falling into the lake. I was off riding my horse filming another scene with the second unit. That whole scene is all movie magic and cut together.”
Production on season 3 of “Bridgerton” is expected to start in London this summer. Earlier this month, Nicola Coughlan, who plays Penelope Featherington on the Netflix period drama, revealed that Penelope will actually be courting Colin Bridgerton next season. This diverges from the order of the books, as many fans had expected Benedict Bridgerton’s love story to be next up.
It remains to be seen if Benedict will finally meet his love match in season 4.
