"22 Short Films About Springfield" is the twenty-first episode of The Simpsons' seventh season, which originally aired on April 14, 1996. It was written by Richard Appel, David S. Cohen, Jonathan Collier, Jennifer Crittenden, Greg Daniels, Brent Forrester, Rachel Pulido, Steve Tompkins, Josh Weinstein, Bill Oakley and Matt Groening, with the writing being supervised by Greg Daniels. The episode was directed by Jim Reardon. Phil Hartman guest starred as Lionel Hutz and the hospital board chairman. The episode looks into the lives of other Springfield residents in a series of linked stories and originated from the end segment of the earlier episode "The Front". The episode is a loose parody of Pulp Fiction, and gave the staff the idea of a possible spin-off from The Simpsons.