Al Pacino in "Kramer vs. Kramer"—a role that Pacino had declined. During the 1970s, Pacino had four Oscar nominations for Best Actor, for his performances in "Serpico", "The Godfather Part II", "Dog Day Afternoon", and "...And Justice for All". Pacino's career slumped in the early 1980s; his appearances in the controversial "Cruising", a film that provoked protests from New York's gay community, and the comedy-drama "Author! Author!", were critically panned. However, his performance in "Scarface" (1983), directed by Brian De Palma, proved to be a career highlight and a defining role. Upon its initial release, the film was critically panned due to
Say Hello to My Little Friend (Awake) before the episode's original broadcast. In the United Kingdom, the episode obtained 275,000 viewers, making it the third most-viewed program for the channel behind "Alan Partridges: Mid Morning Matters" and "The Newsroom". Shortly after this episode was broadcast, NBC announced their decision to cancel "Awake", due to declining ratings. Despite the series' cancellation, NBC still decided to air the remaining two episodes. Before its original airing, "Say Hello to My Little Friend" was highly anticipated by commentators. In a review for "Slack Water", "The A.V. Club" claimed that "Say Hello to My Little Friend" would be "very cool" because Michael