The Simpsons 286-290

Gump Roast

This episode premiered on April 21st 2002. The lead in show was King Of The Hill and it was followed by Malcolm In The Middle. It ran opposite the 14th Annual World Music Awards, Max Bickford and Weakest Link.

The title comes from the 1994 movie Forrest Gump.

The couch gag is a repeat of the slot machine.

The show starts off with Homer sitting on a park bench in front of city hall with a box of chocolates, Wiggum warns him there is a law against imitating movie characters. Moe shows up as Austin Powers and gets arrested. Inside the police wagon is Dr. Hibbert dressed as Darth Vader. Homer starts telling Wiggum about his life and they do a series of flashbacks to previous episodes. The family shows up and they take Homer to the Friars Club for a roast, more clips. Agnes Skinner shows up in a dress similar to what Jennifer Lopez wore to the Grammys in 2000. Flanders and Lovejoy do a Smother's Brothers bit. Kang and Kodos show up to judge humanity based upon Homer's memories, more clips. Kang and Kodos promise to not destroy the world in exchange for going to the People's Choice Awards. There a montage of Simpsons scenes with special lyrics to the tune of We Didn't Start The Fire. The episode ends with the lyrics "have no fears we've got stories for years". Considering there was another 22 years worth of episodes after this they weren't kidding. 

Future episodes: Marge becomes a robot / Moe gets a cellular phone / Bart gets a pet bear / Patty, Selma and Grandpa Abe get married.

I Am Furious (Yellow)

This episode premiered on April 28th, 2002. It ran in its usual time slot and opposite The ABC Big Picture Show (The Sixth Sense), Everybody Loves Raymond and Weakest Link.

The title comes from the 1967 movie I Am Curious (Yellow)

There is no chalkboard gag and the couch gag is a repeat of the claw machine.

The school is holding Career Day. Kirk shows up, he's introduced as "Bart's friend's father", he's working as the assistant to the guy who puts fliers under car wipers. Milhouse tells him that Luann is getting remarried. Skinner complains about the quality of speakers so Lisa suggests going to the Springfield Speakers Bureau. She gets them to hire Geoff Jenkins, creator of Danger Dog. Jenkins tells the kids that he goofed off in school and spends most of his time eating candy. Bart tries to sell his comic Danger Dude to Comic Book Guy. CBG mocks Bart but just then Stan Lee shows up. Lee says Bart's comic is stinky but tells him to find his own voice. Bart gets inspired by Homer and creates Angry Dad. All the kids at school love Bart's comic book and CBG ads him to the rack. Stan Lee tries to convince Database to buy an action figure of The Thing and breaks his Batmobile. An internet company buys Bart's Angry Dad to turn it into an internet cartoon, they pay Bart in stock which is on a toilet paper roll. The internet company's most popular show is bin Laden in a blender.  Homer sees Angry Dad and realizes that it's about him, he rushes home to confront Bart but a mob rocks his car to make him angry in real life. Homer realizes he has a rage problem and vows to stop being angry. While trying to meditate Homer almost drowns in the bath tub. When he tries to suppress his rage a boil pops out on his neck, he pushes it back in. Bart goes to the internet company and finds that they went bust and their stock is worthless, however he had set a trap to make Homer angry in order to get more material for his comic, now he has to get home and take it down. Homer comes home and sees a sign for free donuts in the treehouse, however there is a rug over a hole, he falls through and gets caught on a zip line that carries him through cactus and used diapers. When he cuts the rope he falls into green paint, tears his clothes and goes on a Hulk rampage. Stan Lee says Homer can't be the Hulk because he is and tries to change, claiming he's done it before. At the hospital Hibbert tells Bart that setting off Homer's rage saved his life. Bart and Homer go fishing where Bart keeps insulting Homer. 

Stan Lee does his own voice in this episode, 6 years before Iron Man and the launch of the MCU.

Members of the Speakers Bureau: Walter Mondale / Marvin Hamlisch / Mark Fuhrman / Former president of Proctor and Gamble. The special of the month is Mr. Blackwell debating Mr. T.

Martin asks Jenkins what state Danger Dog lives in and the answer is Michigan. This is part of the long running joke about what state do the Simpsons live in.

Continuity error, Ralph is seen in the same class with Bart and Milhouse even though he's in the second grade. 

When Dinosaurs Get Drunk is cancelled and replaced with The Boring World Of Niels Bohr. 

The internet company is BetterThanTV.com

In 2002 bin Laden was still alive and the most wanted man by the U.S. military. This was also pre Bush's invasion of Iraq. Seal Team 6 would kill bin Laden in 2011.

This has been a Bart-Tune Presentation in associating with Aye Caramba Entertainment.

When Homer gets caught attacking Bart he says he's just rehearsing for the movie. This was 5 years before The Simpsons Movie.

Homer takes Churchill Downers Horse Tranquilizers. 

While trying to take a calming walk Homer is hit with the newspaper, a milk bottle and a piano.

Self aware joke: when Bart runs out of material for Angry Dad he says "don't make me do a clip show"

When Stan Lee says he's the Hulk CBG says "Oh please, you couldn't even change into Bill Bixby" This is a reference to the 1977 TV series The Incredible Hulk.

The internet company going bankrupt is a reference to the Dot Com bubble burst of 2000, however it was also a prediction about YouTube that would start in 2005 and Netflix that would launch in 2007.

The Sweetest Apu

This episode premiered on May 5th, 2002. It ran in its usual time slot and opposite the ABC Big Picture Show (Stewart Little), Touched By An Angel and The NBC 75th Anniversary Special.

The title comes from the 1981 song The Sweetest Thing (I've ever known) by Juice Newton

The chalkboard gag is "I will never lie about being cancelled again" and the couch gag is a repeat of the repo men.

Apu's kids are running crazy at the Kwik-E-Mart, he wants Majula to take them home. Homer and Bart come in wearing Civil War uniforms for their reenactments. Barney is playing General Grant, Homer tells him he has to drink, he chugs a beer but nothing happens. The battle is fought between the North, the South and the East (who want to remain near the Union and wear plaid uniforms). Meanwhile Tom Brokaw is speaking to the veterans of WWII, they hear the mock battle and attack in their tanks. Just as the South is surrendering the tanks show up and help the South, and Frink shows up with his steam powered super spider. Homer has trashed the beer keg he got at the Kwik-E-Mart, he's written on the side "This keg had dents-Apoo". Homer hears giggling and discovers Apu and the Squishy Lady fooling around in the back room, he backs out of the store and all the way home, however he dreams about what he saw. Marge figures out Homer's secret from the way his eyeball is rolling around. Homer and Marge play badminton with Apu and Manjula and keep making double entendras about being unfaithful. Marge and Homer figure out they should talk to someone so they go to see Krusty, he says "all those kids". Homer tells Apu he saw him cheating on his wife, Marge says Apu has to break it off with the Squishy Lady, however they keep fooling around. Manjula looks at the surveillance video from the store and sees Apu cheating and kicks him out. Kirk is Apu's new next-door neighbor at the divorced dads apartment complex. Marge invites Manjula and Apu over for dinner to trick them to get back together. The kids play Ganesh to order them to get back together however Lisa and Bart get into a fight over what he is saying. Manjula serves Apu with divorce papers. Manjula considers letting Apu come back, Marge suggests making a list of demands. Apu decides to hang himself (dark turn there). After breaking up with the Squishee woman Apu starts selling Smooshies, the kids hate them. Apu and Manjula get back together, Homer spies on them from a ladder and when they start to fool around he hops it backwards toward home in a repeat of the joke from earlier.

James Lipton does his own voice

The chalkboard gag is a reference to Matt Groening taking about Season 13 being the last one. Interestingly enough Disney + skips this one and goes straight to the couch gag. 

A rather twisted joke, in order to signal the start of the Civil War reenactment an actor dressed up like Lincoln holds a gun to his own head and pulls the trigger. (Don't do this kids)

Barney plays Grant / Disco Stu plays Stonewall Jackson, with rollerblades

Frink's super spider is a spoof on the 1999 movie The Wild Wild West.

Homer asking the band at Apu's wedding to play the Italian song is a spoof on the Tahoe party scene from Godfather II. 

Springfield Bachelor Apts. Our Beds Are The Murphiest.

Rainer Wolfcastle appears on The Actor's Studio. He plays McBain and shoots James Lipton.

Marge asks Homer if he's thinking what she's thinking, he's thinking of hunting people with a laser pistol from a glider.

Apu's reincarnation list Tiger / Snake / Alfred E. Newman / Goat with a hat / Apu / Tapeworm / Assistant to Loren Michaels. 

Manjula's list: Break Up With Squishee Girl / Lose Weight / Get cartoon published in the New Yorker / change name to Slime Q. Slimedog / Wear name tag with new name / Fix Carburetor / Eat Lightbulb / perform My Fair Lady with all-octuplet cast

When Apu gets his cartoon published in the New Yorker Homer says he bought the issue for Rickard Avedon's pictures of Lenny.

This was a so-so episode. The jokes were meh, and Homer backing up went on for too long. Apu and Manjela aren't interesting enough characters to carry an entire episode by themselves and it was another "our marriage is in trouble" storyline (although it wasn't about Homer and Marge for once). Overall not one of the better ones, definitely of the time. 

The Little Girl In The Big Ten

This episode premiered on may 12th 2002. It ran in its usual time slot and opposite Dinotopia (a miniseries), Max Bickford and Weakest Link

The title of this episode is based on the 1925 movie A Little Girl In A Big City and the Big Ten college league

The couch gag is a repeat of the zit faced teen making out with his girlfriend.

The second grade gym class is ready to get started however Milhouse has his head stuck in the rings and Willie is cutting him down. Lisa tries to do the pummel horse but is bounced back by the spring board and knocks the rest of the class down. To keep her from failing gym and bringing the entire 2nd grade down Skinner has Lisa go to a private gym. At Lugash's gym Lisa trips over a ball and sees a vision of Kennedy. He tells her that she has to get up and do her best. Grandpa takes Bart to Krusty Burger where he gets stung by a Chinese mosquito that got trapped in his Krusty kids meal toy. Thanks to her big head Lisa has perfect balance. Lisa thinks the other girls in gym class are the same age as her but they turn out to be college students, they think she's as old as them and take to to school. When they take Lisa home Homer is dancing and throws a keg through the front window, they think she lives in a party house. They invite her to go to a poetry reading by Robert Pinsky. Bart is diagnosed with Panda Virus and has to be quarantined in a giant hamster ball. When Homer says goodnight to the kids Bart is in his bubble, Lisa snuck out to a poetry reading and Maggie is fighting off a raccoon. Lisa realizes she didn't finish her social studies project. The next day she falls asleep in class and gets an A Minus. Bart saves the nerds from the bullies with his bubble. When Lisa sneaks away from school Milhouse, Martin and Database follow her to the university. They interrupt a class about the deeper meaning of an Itchy and Scratchy cartoon when the professor shuts it off halfway though. Milhouse exposes Lisa as being 8, she leaves in tears. Homer is upset that Lisa earned 16 college credits. Back in school Lisa is snubbed by the rest of the students for being too smart. Bart gets stuck in the tree so Lisa uses her gymnastics to climb up with him. She is depressed that she's shunned so Bart comes up with a plan. In recognition of his 20 years of service the school names the parking annex after Skinner. Seymour wears a white suit to the dedication, Lisa rolls off the roof in Bart's bubble crashing into a chocolate cake and splatter Skinner. The crowd chants her name and carries her off, meanwhile Bart has a panic attack at being outside again and jumps into a vent, but it's an intake and he gets sucked down into the building. 

Robert Pinsky does his own voice. He reads Impossible To Tell. 

Lisa's Bully, Francine, is seen in the gym class. She was introduced in the episode Bye Bye Nerdie. Phoebe is also in the class, she was in the episode Lard Of The Dance

The gym coach's name is Brunella.

Lugash's Gym: I make you star. I am Lugash. Coach Lugash was first seen in the episode Children Of A Lesser Clod.

Grandpa gets a Krusty Burger Nostalgia meal, ration stamps and a shell full of oleo along with a Liberace action figure. 

Krustyco Sweatshop "Today: Force Your Daughter To Work Day" There are a few culturally insensitive jokes here. The sweatshop is next to The Great Wall Of China.

Homer is singing Tubthumping by Chumbawamba but making up his own lyrics as he goes along.

Dated reference: One of the college students complains that her dorm doesn't have a DSL line. Today everybody works off wifi. 

Bart having to live in a bubble is based on the 1976 made for TV movie The Boy In The Plastic Bubble and the 2001 movie Bubble Boy.

Cafe Kafka (with a coffee drinking insect on the sign) Now With: Hegel's Bagels (a German philosopher) At the cafe the roady tests the mic by repeating "April is the cruelest month" from the poem The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot.

When Lisa sneaks away from school the Pink Panther Theme plays. 

In Anthro 101: Passive Analysis Of Visual Iconography. They watch Itchy and Scratchy, Butter Off Dead, episode DABF06 (in The Simpsons this was the production code for the episode The Bart Wants What It Wants). An Amish Itchy is eating pancakes but is out of butter, so he feeds Scratchy to his cow, we see him being digested in the four stomachs and then Itchy milks the cow and churns butter. The butter label says "I Can't Believe It's Not Scratchy!" Scratchy's eyeballs are still on the spread. Itchy says a quick prayer and eats. 

While following Lisa Database says he feels like Harriet The Spy, the 1996 movie.

Moleman is pretending to be a freshman so he can sit in classrooms.

Marge puts Cathy cartoons on the fridge to make the kitchen more intelligent. Homer thought it was about a guy. 

The plaque honoring Skinner read "Seymour Skinner 1953-2010. He's upset that they guessed at his death date. It was 8 years in the future then but 14 years in the past now.

When Bart is pulling his prank Thus Spake Zarathustra plays (it's best known as the theme to 2001: A Space Odyssey)

The Frying Game

This episode premiered on May 19th 2002, The lead in show was a repeat of The Simpsons (Brawl In The Family) and followed by The X-Files. It ran opposite The W.W.O. Disney (Dinosaur), 60 Minutes and The NBA Easter Conference Final (Nets 104 - Celtics 97)

The title of this episode came from the 1992 movie The Crying Game

There is no chalkboard gag and the couch gag is a repeat of the silent movie characters.

Lenny and Carl are arguing which is better, Muhammad Ali or anti-lock breaks. Homer comes in and says he ordered Marge a koi pond for their anniversary. Marge and Lisa are meditating by the pond until a caterpillar shows up and starts screaming. Homer wants to squish it but the EPA shows up and stops him since it's an endangered species. Homer is ordered to protect the caterpillar however he smashes it with a book. Homers evil side kills his good side and he buries the caterpillar. The EPA shows up but it's still alive, since he almost killed the bug Homer is sentenced to 200 hours of community service, he has to deliver Meals On Wheels. He goes to a creepy house where he meets an old lady with an ax, however she turns out to be a nice person. She starts calling Homer to do favors for him, he asks Burns to cover for him. He soon gets tired of helping her out so Marge goes to talk to her and gets tricked into helping out. Pretty soon they are dressed up as the butler and maid. A burglar with braces stabs Sternhagen (the old lady) and steals her diamond necklace, she changed her will leaving Homer and Marge $50,000 so they come under suspicion. Moe is afraid of Homer so he starts treating him better. At church nobody wants to sit near the Simpsons, Homer gets Lovejoy to cut his sermon short. Otto drives the Springfield Death Tour by the Simpson's house, Homer gets a ride home with them. The cops search the house and finds the stolen necklace in Maggie's room, Homer and Marge are arrested. The kids are sent to live with Cletus. At the trial Homer and Marge are found guilty and sentenced to death. On death row Lovejoy gets into a fight with a Catholic Priest. Homer wants to "snuggle" through the bars. Homer decides to save Marge by confessing. Homer is strapped in, the phone rings and it's the governor, however he just wants to know if Homer is a twitcher. They throw the switch however the chamber is pulled away and it turns out to be a TV show Frame Up. The burglar with the braces is the host of the show and Mrs. Bellamy turns out to be Carmen Electra in disguise. Homer tells off Carmen Electra while staring at her chest. The end.

Carmen Electra does her own voice. Frances Sternhagen does the voice of Mrs. Bellamy.

Homer gives marriage advice to Lenny and Carl. In the episode Secrets of a Successful Marriage Homer taught a class about a happy marriage until Marge got mad at him for gossiping in it. Homer's advice: Make every day a celebration of your love / Surprise her with a pasta salad / Put a mini beret on your wang.

Pamphlet: Screamapillar Care Tips.

Sternhagen says that talking to Homer is like talking to Bennett Cerf, the founder of Random House publishing. 

First Church Of Springfield sign: If you were a pastor, you'd be home now!

Springfield Shopper headline: Ho. J. Simpson Trial Starts Today. (it's back to costing 50¢)

Gil is the Simpson's lawyer. 

During the trial Gil is reading How To Earn Big Money Doing TV Repair. 

Springfield Penitentiary "Not Affiliated With Death Row Records" Death Row Records is an independent label founded in 1991. It has gone through a number of owners, including a division of Hasbro. Currently Snoop Dogg owns the label and is trying to revive it.

Homer's last meal: pork chops / pizza / chicken / donuts / burgers / hot dogs / pie and a keg of beer. He plans to "go off" when they execute him.

As Homer is being led to the electric chair the warden announces "dead man walking on the green mile". This is a spoof on the Steven King book The Green Mile and the 1998 movie of the same name. John Coffey is on death row but he's a psycho killer who tries to strangle Homer and threatens to kill Mr. Jingles.

The regulars waiting for Homer's execution: Dr. Hibbert / Ned / Marge / Agnes/ Mrs. Krabappal / Moe / Skinner / Lenny / Patty / Selma / Abe (asleep) / Apu / The Screaming Caterpillar (from earlier in the episode) / Manjula / George Bush sr. 

Fox shows Frame Up / No Pants Island / Fart Date

Eddy and Lou get producer credits on the show but don't have last names.

This was another episode that started off with one story and then abandon it for a second story, which didn't really have an ending. I don't know if I saw this one but I wasn't surprised by how it turned out considering they've done this before in The Great Money Caper, Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo and Missionary Impossible. I find it kind of annoying that they go through the whole story and then it's just an elaborate set up. I hope the show has hit it's low point and gets better from here.

Meanwhile, I've reached the end of another 5 episode. There is only one more to go in the 13th season and I'm hoping for a better final episode than the rest of the season. And to think Matt Groening, thanks to budget cuts and constant network interference in the stories, wanted to end the series 22 years ago. Yet it still goes on, and I guess so do I.

The Simpsons 281-285

The Lastest Gun In The West

This episode premiered on February 24th, 2002. The lead in show was The King Of The Hill and it was followed by Malcolm In The Middle. It ran opposite The W.W.O. Disney (Tarzan), The Education Of Max Bickford and the XIX Winter Olympics Closing Ceremonies.

The title comes from the expression The Fastest Gun In The West

The chalkboard gag is "Making Milhouse cry is not a science project" and the couch gag is the zit faced teen is making out with a girl on the Simpson's couch.

Bart is having a great day, he catches a foul ball from the Isotopes, finds several dimes and gets free ice cream, however he comes across a dog that chases him home. He tries to scare Lisa with a fake spider and gets attacked by the dog again. The dog turns out to be nice to everyone else except Bart. He eventually escapes the dog by climbing over a gate of Buck McCoy's house. Buck makes Bart do a domination trick on the dog and it goes away. Grandpa remembers Buck McCoy, Lisa tries to mention her hero but is cut off. The Simpsons invite Buck over for dinner, Bart decides it's time to relaunch the actor's career so he tries to start a cowboy trend at school. He goes to Krusty to try to get Buck on the show. Krusty agrees to let Buck perform but tries to give him stage fright, Buck shows up on camera drunk, he shoots up the studio and hits Krusty. Buck is fired and Bart gets rid of all his stuff. Marge figures the way to cheer Bart up is to get Buck to sober up. Snake is robbing a bank so Homer comes up with the idea to get Buck to stop them. Buck lassos the robber's guns and he becomes Bart's hero once again, and rides off into the sunset. Buck goes home and is seen picking up his mail and dumping his trash, and the mean dog chases Bart down the street. 

Dennis Weaver does the voice of Buck McCoy

Lisa is gossiping and says that Ralph's baby brother is really a pine cone. In the episode Wild Barts Can't Be Broken there is a drawing by Ralph of his family, complete with a baby, hanging on the wall of the school. Other people must have noticed this and commented on it thus requiring an eventual (three years later) explanation.

Bart tells the dog "Eat my short stories", a spoof on his catchphrase that he doesn't use anymore. The book he shoves in the dog's mouth is America's 2nd Best Short Stories. The shred from the destroyed book is the ending to The Lottery.

Buck's Movies: Gunfight At The Museum Of Natural History / Buck McCoy * Bob "Tex" Allen, Texas Rangers Ride Again / Wyatt Ear Meets The Mummy / Six Brides For Seven Brothers / Six-Gun Lullaby 

Buck's horse is named Frank The Wonder Horse. 

Self aware joke: Marge makes a comment that Homer won't have an adventure this week. 

Buck promote Drunken Cowboy Whiskey

Buck stared in a tv show called McTrigger, A Quinn Martin Production. This was a spoof on McCloud, a 70's show that stared Dennis Weaver. The episode is titled "Scuse me while I kill the sky" This is a spoof on the Jimmi Hendrix lyric from Purple Haze. Buck says they wrote him out of the show and it became Room 222, a high school drama that ran from 1969 to 1974 (and launched Bruno Kirby's career)

Krusty says he doesn't want to do the flavor of the month bits on his show but wants it to have a timeless quality,  then he gets a script with hanging chad and Judge Ito jokes. Hanging chads had been a deciding factor in the 2000 Presidential election and Judge Ito had oversaw the OJ Simpson trial in 1994. The joke makes more sense now since the Century Kids probably don't get them.

Sign next to Buck's costume display "In case of comeback break glass" with a hammer. 

Homer wants to become Bart's new hero and shows up with a photo of him in the classic Farrah Fawcett swimsuit. 

The John Ford Center For Alcoholic Cowboys. This is a spoof on the Betty Ford clinic and the classic westerns director John Ford.

Buck mentions Howard Hawks and David O. Selznick. Classic Hollywood figures.

This episode fell into the category of my least favorites. The jokes all seemed to fall flat, the original story about a vicious dog chasing Bart was dropped until they needed a closing joke. And the whole Buck storyline just kind of ended with no real conclusion. Normally I consider this one a skip but I'm doing them all so I had to watch it.

The Old Man And The Key

This episode premiered on March 10th 2002. It ran in its regular time slot and opposite The W.W.O. Disney (Confessions Of An Ugly Step Sister), Max Bickford and NBA Basketball (Lakers 117 - Nicks 103)

The title of the episode is based on the Ernest Hemingway novel The Old Man And The Sea

The couch gag is the Blue Man Group is playing in the living room. Homer says "What the..."

Homer is excited for the start of the XFL season however the league had folded at the end of the 2001. They get a call from the nursing home informing them that Abe is dead. When they get to the nursing home they discover that there was a mistake and Stimpson had died. Zelda moves in to the vacant room and Abe starts flirting with her, however she's impressed by Zach because he can drive and has a mini van. Grandpa lost his license when he crashed into the Orca tank. When Abe goes to see Homer about driving Lisa says they should give him a chance but Homer refuses. After Abe throws a tantrum Marge offers to help him get his license back. He takes a seniors class and then goes to see Selma at the DMV, she offers to give Abe his license if he promises to never wink at her again. After getting his license Abe dresses in his best Zoot Suit and asks to borrow Homer's car, Homer says no but Marge offers to go on a double date, they go to the drive in, Homer has a shoe on a stick to work the brake pedal from the back seat. When Granda comes home after staying out all night Homer tells him off and calls Zelda a "hoochie". Abe runs upstairs and plays Benny Goodman extra loud. Abe is allowed to drive to the store but while there he gets his lottery ticket scrapings on the leader of Los Souvenir Jackquitos (a senior gang that wears jackets from the places they have visited). When they are going to fight in the Kwik-E-Mart Apu tells them to solve their problems via a death race. They meet at the empty drainage ditch and Snake starts the race. The old Jewish guy uses Homer's shoe on a stick to cause the rival gang to crash. Their jackets catch on fire but the leader refuses to take his off, he'd rather die than not have people know what place he had visited. Abe wins the race by being the first through the tunnel however it comes out on a hill and they crash into a tree in the Simpson's back yard, Homer takes away Abe's license. Zelda has booked a trip to Branson, since Abe doesn't have a car she goes with Zach. Grandpa decides to steal Marge's car, Bart helps him hotwire it and the two head off to Missouri. Homer says they have to go after Grandpa but they don't know how they will get there, just then a bus heading to Branson rolls up in front of the house to pick up the Flanders, Homer says they should wait for the next one. They get off the bus in Bronson Missouri, where everyone looks and sounds like Charles Bronson. In Branson Abe meets Tennessee Ernie Ford, Grandpa points out that he's dead (1991) and he turns to dust. Marge wants to take a quick gambling break (because she's an addict) however there is no gambling in Branson. Homer tracks Grandpa to a show, Abe he rushes on stage to talk to Zelda, he tells her off and calls her a Hoochie. He apologizes to Homer and they head home. The Beverly Hillbilly's closing song plays over the credits while the family waves like on the classic show's closing credits. 

Olympia Dukakis does the voice of Zelda and Bill Saluga does the voice of his classic character Ray Jay Johnson. Johnson was first mentioned on the episode Krusty Gets Kancelled, and was a joke in several episodes after that.

Grandpa wears Old Old Spice

The nursing home cliques: The Preppies (wearing coon skin coats and waving '16 pendants, 1916 btw), The Comatose, The Cool Comatose (they are smoking)

Homer and Bart are playing Scrabbleship. 

Senior Education Classes Today / Must Clean Up Own Mess!

The famous meme "Old Man Yells At Cloud" is in the episode when Abe asks Patty to use it as his drivers license photo.

Abe is 5'8" and weighs 180 pounds. 

Springfield Drive In: Dude, Where's My Virginity? Starring Bridget Fonda Jr. and Judd Nelson as Dean Probationaly. This is a spoof on the 2000 movie Dude, Where's My Car?

When Abe picks up Zelda at the nursing home there are three old guys with long beards and ZZ Top's Sharp Dressed Man plays while they do the finger wave thing. 

Grandpa take a viagra and when it kicks in the theme from Popeye The Sailor Man plays, and his hair points upwards. Kind of a racy joke considering. 

Los Souvenir Jackquitos jackets: Jurassic Park / Planet Hollywood Orlando / Tasmanian Devil / Hard Rock Cafe. They drive a 57 Chevy Bel Air

The scene between Los Jackquitos and Abe's friends at the Kwik-E-Mart is a spoof on the two gangs scene in West Side Story.

The car race is a spoof on the scene from the 1978 movie Grease.

During the car race the old Jewish guy uses Homer's break shoe, The closed caption says the Los Jackquitos passenger says "The Shoe on a stick! but the actual translation is "The shoe of the devil!" The old Jewish guy yells Ich vinch eich gezunt! which the translation says means "I wish you good health!". 

On the road trip to Branson Abe and Bart listen to an old radio program of Itchy and Scratchy Radio Hour.  Itchy is at the counter of his butcher shop, Scratchy comes in and you hear him scream "You're grinding my head!" Abe says Eleanor Roosevelt was the voice of Itchy during WWII

The Itchy and Scratchy radio program is sponsored by Hansen's Mustache Wax, the wax Hitler doesn't use.

Grandpa drops a pamphlet at the Simpson's house: So You've Settled For Branson. 

Branson signs: Wilfred Brimley in "The Angina Monologues" / Andy Williams presents Glen Campbell / Glen Campbell presents Andy Williams 

Zach takes Zelda to see That's Familiar. Performers in the show: Charo / Mr. T / Bonnie Franklin / Adrian Zmed / Ray Jay Johnson / Charlie Callas / Yakov Smirnoff 

Bart went to Branson Mo. in the episode Bart On The Roads

One of the jokes of this episode is all the older actors who people thought were dead but are performing in Branson. Since it aired a number of them have actually passed away, Tennessee Ernie Ford of course (1991), Wilford Brimley (2020), Andy Williams (2012), Glen Campbell (2017), Bonnie Franklin (2013), Bill Saluga aka Ray Jay Johnson (2023) and Charlie Callas (2011) 

Tales From The Public Domain

This episode premiered on March 17th 2002. It ran in its usual time slot and opposite The W.W.O. Disney (Snow White: The Fairest Of Them All), Max Bickford and Weakest Link

The title is based on the show Tales From The Crypt.

The chalkboard gag is "Vampire is not a career choice" and the couch gag is a real life flip book of the family sitting on the couch.

Marge is flipping through the bills, one is labeled "I kill you!" written in blood. Homer gets a letter about an overdue bill from the library, he checked out Classics for Children when Bart was born but never read from it, the book is 10 years overdue. They read several of the stories.

D'oh Brother Where Art Thou?

Homer think the story is about the Odyssey van he once owned, instead it's about the end of the Trojan war and Homer's journey home. It starts with Odysseus delivering the Trojan horse to Troy. The Greeks come out of the horse and kill everyone in the city. Odysseus doesn't make a sacrifice to the gods so they send him off course. A drunken Bacchus tries to hit Odysseus with a lightning bolt but destroys Atlantis by mistake. The Sirens sing Barry Manilow's Copacabana, they turn out to be Selma and Patty. Meanwhile Bart is telling Penelope (Marge) to choose a new suitor. The ship winds up on the island of Circe and the crew is turned into pigs. Homer eats the crew. Homer has to go down the River Styx, the band sings You're My Lady. Once he makes it home Penelope asks Odysseus for tales of his adventures, he says "stop suffocating me, I'm going to Moe's"

The title of this story is based on the 2000 movie Oh Brother Where Art Thou? which is also based on Homer's Odyssey. 

Best line from this story "Now throughout history when people get wood they'll think of Trojans". I wonder how they got that past the censors. 

Barny is Bacchus (god of wine) Quimby is Zeus and the Sea Captain is Poseidon. 

Odysseus's crew: Moe, Frink, Lenny, Carl, Apu. 

Moe says "Greece is the word" as a spoof of the musical. 

The Suitors: Willie, Krusty, Kent Brockman, Skinner, Disco Stu, Kirk, Sideshow Mel, Burns.

Helen of Troy is Agnes Skinner

Hot Child In The City

Lisa is Joan Of Arc, Marge is disappointed that they aren't reading a story about Joan Van Ark (best known for playing Valene Ewing on Knott's Landing). Homer says the Hundred Years War was originally called Speedy Resolution. God tells Joan to lead the army to victory over the English. The French are trying to catapult a solider over the walls of a British castle, Joan tells them to use rocks. Milhouse is the king and when Krusty makes a joke about him he's boiled in oil. Just when Joan says she can't be defeated Willie grabs her and she's put on trial by the British. Joan calls God as her witness, Moleman comes in, and opens a trap door in the ceiling. It turns out God also told Willie to lead the British to victory. Joan is burned at the stake. Marge changes the end of the story to Joan being rescued by Sir Lancelot. 

The title of this story is based on the Nick Gilder song of the same name. 

Quimby plays the fake king but the true king is Milhouse. 

Do The Bard, Man

Homer is reading Hamlet. Bart complains that it can't be as good as anything by Stephen Bochco. Bart is Hamlet and visited by the ghost of his dead father, Homer. Hamlet makes a joke about his father being fat but Homer can't strangle him since he's a ghost. Homer was murdered by Claudius, Moe. An improv group shows up and Hamlet gets them to do the murder. Claudius accidentally confesses. Lisa shows up as Ophelia. Hamlet accidentally kills Polonius, Wiggum, who asks his son Laertes, Ralph, to avenge him by killing Hamlet. Before the duel Claudius poisons everything including Lenny and Carl, when they High Five each other they both drop dead. Claudius says Laertes gets one practice stab but he stabs himself and dies. Bart stabs Claudius but slips in his blood and dies. Marge doesn't want to clean the place up so she kills herself with a mace. Homer claims Hamlet was the inspiration for Ghostbusters, the theme song plays while the family dances. 

The title of this episode is based on the 1990 Simpsons song Do The Bart Man

Hamlet has a banner over his bed: Danes do it melancholy. And a pendant: Feudalism. 

When Homer's ghost passes through the wall he leaves slime behind, this is a spoof on Ghostbusters.

Krusty does a "You just might be a Viking" joke, this is a spoof on Jeff Foxworthy's "you might be a redneck" jokes. The viking in the front row sets the table next to him on fire and carries off the two women who were sitting there.

Blame It On Lisa

This episode premiered on March 31st 2002. The lead in show was King Of The Hill and it was followed by Greg The Bunny (A short lived sitcom about Muppet like characters and their off screen life). It ran opposite The ABC Big Picture Show (The 10 Commandments), Max Bickford and Weakest Link. 

The title of the episode is based on the 1984 movie Blame It On Rio

The couch gag is the family are marionette puppets but get tangled up, a cartoon Matt Groening throws down the strings in frustration.

Homer and Bart are watching cartoons when Marge comes in to complain about their phone bill, it seems someone made a $200 call to Brazil, Homer blames Bart and starts strangling him. Homer and Marge head to the phone company to complain about the bill, while there they see the Movie Phone Guy who is hitting  on a woman. The phone company cuts off their service, Homer gets mad when he finds out they found a box of old taco shells at the plant but nobody could call him. Homer tries to plug directly into the box but shocks himself until he falls off the pole. Lisa admits that she called Brazil, she has been sponsoring a boy in the country but he stopped writing to her so she called but he had disappeared. The family heads to Brazil. Bart learns Spanish but the country speaks Portuguese so he bashes himself in the head until he forgets it all. After visiting the orphanage the family splits up to look for Ronaldo. Homer and Bart hop in an unlicensed taxi and get kidnapped, Bart manages to escape. Homer calls Mr. Burns for the ransom money but refuses to work it off. When he calls Moe he asks Homer for money. Carnival starts and Ronaldo shows up at the Flamingo on the kids show. Ronaldo gives the Simpsons the ransom money. They do the transfer on the tram to Sugarloaf, when Homer jumps across the cable snaps and they crash down the mountain and Bart gets swallowed by an anaconda. A salsa version of the theme song plays over the closing credits. 

The Itchy And Scratchy Show: Par For The Corpse. Scratchy is teeing up a ball for Itchy but he comes up from behind and knocks Scratchy's head off. It flies into the moon's eye, Itchy throws out a couple of dollars as a caddy tip. Scratchy's head hitting the eye of the moon is based on the 1902 movie Le Voyage dans la Lune

Homer complains about the number of phone companies and how they keep changing their names. Marge says they are with Comquaaq, Bart says it's Niagular, Marge says they became Vertiqual. Meanwhile Comquaaq is changing their name to Zovuvazz. The phone company has robotic switchboard operators who look like Ernestine, Lilly Tomlin's phone operator character. (if you are a Century Kid you'll probably have to look all that up)

Lindsay Naegle is he service rep for the phone company. 

Homer reads Blue Pants Weekly.

Homer asks Bart if he's been making prank calls to Brazil. This is a reference to the episode Bart vs. Australia.

The Brazilian charity is Li'l Writeoffs. In the video Ronaldo is chased into the orphanage by a pack of angry monkeys. 

Bart says he'll have been on every continent, Lisa says "except Antarctica". Homer says "The Simpsons are going to Antarctica....next year, right now we're going to Brazil"

Lisa reads "Who wants to be a Brazilionaire? This is a spoof on the show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire that ran opposite the Simpsons on several occasions. 

The family stays at the Rio Days-Inn-Ero. This is a spoof on the hotel chain Days Inn and the 1956 Banana Boat Song.

Homer brings a book How To Loot Brazil. 

Bart watches a spoof of Xou da Xuxa, a popular Brazilian children's show with a sexy host. Later he watches Teleboobies. 

The hotel has a fruit hat similar to the one worn by Carmen Miranda, and the mini bar has a hat with Toblerone and alcohol miniature bottles. Bart sings the Chiquita Banana song.

Ronaldo lives at the Orfanato Dos Anjos Imundos (Filthy Angels Orphanage)

Homer asks the orphanage nun if she can fly. This is a reference to the 1967 sitcom The Flying Nun.

Homer and Bart go to Copacabana Beach however Homer's speedo keeps disappearing into his butt crack. 

Homer wears a shirt that says "Try And Stop Us" with an image of Uncle Sam eating the world. 

When heading to the kidnapper's hideout the theme from Miami Vice plays. 

Ronaldo tells Lisa he didn't write to tell her about becoming the Flamingo on the kids show because he didn't know what state she lived in, this is a reference to the long running joke about where the Simpsons live. It's also an in show continuity error because Lisa said she stopped getting letters from Ronaldo so he musth have been writing to her in the past. 

Ronaldo says he makes as much as Malcom In The Middle, the show that followed the Simpsons. 

Homer's kidnapping scrapbook: A toilet paper leaf / A poem about his teeth hurting after he was hit / A poem about his bleeding nose / Homer attacked by bats / being tortured with a lit cigarette.

When the ransom is paid the kidnappers comment that their money sure looks Gay. 

This episode was highly criticized by the Brazilian government for showing the country in such a poor light including poverty, crime and the kidnapping of tourists.

Weekend At Burnsie's 

This episode premiered on April 7th, 2002. It ran in its usual time slot and opposite The ABC Sunday Night Movie (October Sky), a Celine Deon special and Weakest Link

The title of the episode is based on the 1989 movie Weekend At Bernies.

The couch gag is a repeat of the hedge topiaries. 

The family is eating genetically modified vegetables for dinner, developed by Union Carbide. When the potato eats a carrot Marge decides to grow vegetables in their back yard. A flock of crows show up so she makes a scare crow. She puts up some sticks and then goes inside to get some clothes, when she comes out she finds the Flanders praying to the cross. When Homer comes home he thinks the scarecrow is someone in the yard so he attacks it and the crows thing he's their savior so they bring him beer, chips and Playdude magazine. He takes them to the Moe's but gets kicked out. The crows carry off Maggie, she's saved by her diaper turning into a parachute, Homer tells off the crows so they attack him. Dr. Hibbert tells Homer he can try medicinal marijuana to help with his pain Homer flashes back on when he got busted by a drug sniffing dog while in High School. Hibbert offers him a medicinal Wizard or Skull bong. Homer gets Lisa's music when he's stoned. Homer asks Ned the "could Jesus microwave a burrito" question and then wants Ned to read the Bible to him. He ends up signing Ned's petition to re-criminalize medicinal marijuana. Burns is about to give a speech to the stock holders and needs someone to laugh at his jokes, just then a stoned Homer wanders in, Burns promotes him to an executive vice presidency. Homer drives a Mercedes home. When Homer finds out about the criminalization bill he holds a rally however it's on the day after the election and medical marijuana lost. When the police burn all the medical marijuana a crowd shows up to breath in the smoke so Wiggum throws on the hair from the barber shop. Burns calls to make sure Homer is ready for the speech but he doesn't find him funny anymore. Homer offers Waylon a joint to laugh at Burns however they forgot Burns in the tub and he's dead. They decide to do a Weekend At Bernies and Waylon works the dead Burns as a marionette. The wires break so they close the curtain however Burns comes back to life thanks to being jostled around. Burns, Smithers and Homer do a Three Stooges face slap routine. 

The band Phish does their own voices and songs.

While making a scare crow Comic Book Guy does a version of Pop Up Videos (a VH1 program that ran from 1996 to 2002 and featured on screen facts about various music videos) Stuff in the Simpsons Pop Up Videos: Lisa's jersey from Lisa On Ice / Bart's jockey pants from Saddlesore Galactica / Jack-O-Lantern from Treehouse Of Horror III, IX, XII / Grandpa's hat from Who Shot Grandpa's Hat. If I Only Had A Brain from the 1939 movie Wizard Of Oz plays while Marge makes her scarecrow. 

Homer says he was in high school in 1978. 

Incense and Peppermints by Strawberry Alarm Clock plays when Homer tries out marijuana for the first time. Homer plays Smoke On The Water by Deep Purple. Wear Your Love Like Heaven by Donovan plays when Homer is stoned. 

Stuff in the Simpsons attic, Homer's vibrating chair, Led Zeppelin poster, Buddha, Hooks pipe, symbols playing monkey, hockey skate, Dark Side Of The Moon poster / American flag / Einstein sticking out his tongue poster / 8 track stereo / Peace sign

According to the re-criminalization petition the Sea Captain's last name is McCallister.

Protest signs: Save Medical Marijuana / Weed Us Our Rights / Keep Off The Grass (Get It?) 

Phish plays Run Like An Antelope

When they smell something being smoked in the crowd Phish refuses to play until they see a prescription for the marijuana, it turns out to be Moleman.

Line of the episode, Otto "They call them fingers but I never see them fing....oh, there they go"

Homer says marijuana can make anything funny, even that show that follows Friends. In 2002 that was Leap Of Faith. It was a sitcom that ran for 6 episodes. I had to look it up because I don't remember it. In fact its last episode aired three days before this episode of the Simpsons.

Smithers wears a suit once owned by Judy Garland, another Gay reference. 

Bill Clinton shows up at the investors meeting as the paid speaker. The "Clinton was a bad President" joke falls flat, again.

Well, another five episodes down as I edge closer to the 300 mark and closer to an eventual end, although it's hard to say when that will be. 

  The Simpsons 276-280

Brawl In The Family

This episode premiered on January 6th 2002. The lead in show was King Of The Hill and it was followed by Malcom In The Middle. It ran opposite the ABC Sunday Night Movie (Dr. Dolittle 1998 version), 60 Minutes and Weakest Link.

The title is based on the 1971 sitcom All In The Family

There isn't a chalkboard gag and the couch gag is a garden cuts some hedges into a Simpsons topiary. 

The show opens at the Republican Party headquarters, a creepy looking castle complete with creepy music and lightning flashes. The Republicans vote to destroy the environment and then Bob Dole reads from the Necronomicon. The mass pollution creates acid rain and the family is stuck in the house, Homer doesn't mind until the rain melts the antenna, they decide to play a game. Bart is winning at Monopoly until Lisa catches him cheating and the family gets into a huge fight, Maggie calls a family fighting hotline. The police sent in the Negotabot, she sprays the family with taffy and they all get arrested. Lisa complains that she'll never get into an Ivy League School, they all mock her by saying she's going to Stanford. Gabriel shows up as their social worker to help them overcome their fighting. Homer takes Gabriel to the bar and gets really drunk. Gabriel takes the family to the woods to talk about their personal problems, he makes them work together to get their lunch that is hung in the top of a tree. Homer rams the tree with the car, knocking it down on Gabriel and over a cliff, he's stuck hanging over a pack of cougars and wolves. Homer plans to drive away and come up with a good alibi. Lisa insists on helping so they lower Homer down on a rope. Marge twists her ankle so she can't drive the car to pull them back up so Bart does it, he claims it's his first time even though he has his own keys and a set of glovers. The animals start working together to get at them so Homer tosses them the beer, the animals get drunk, Homer and Gabriel get away. The family wonders if this will be the end of their adventures, but when they pull into the driveway Homer's Vegas bride is waiting. Homer goes to a judge but Nevada law, Mormon Hold Em', makes multiple marriages legal. Marge kicks Homer out, he and Amber move into the treehouse. Ned accepts his new marriage but she can't handle his religious ways. Marge and Homer have a huge fight and he and Amber go to Moe's where she gets extra drunk. The next day Amber wakes up to discover that she married Abe and divorced Homer. Amber and Ginger run back to Vegas. The family is proud that they worked together to solve the problem. 

Delroy Lindo does the voice of Gabriel. Jane Kaczmarek returns as Judge Constance Harm.

The character of Gabriel is based on the 2000 movie The Legend Of Bagger Vance.

Springfield Republicans, Mr. Burns / Smithers/ Rainer Wolfcastle / Krusty / Dracula / Yee Haw Texan / Ralph Nader 

The Republicans have gotten Disney to build an animatronic Strom Thurmond so he can serve another 20 years. Thurmond served in congress from 1954 until 2003 when he died. (at the time the Republicans were claiming there should be term limits for Congress but were always willing to look the other way as far as he was concerned)

When the Republicans vote to destroy the environment they turn Smokey The Bear into Choppy The Lumberjack. 

Willie does a spoof on Singin' In The Rain until the acid rain burns through his umbrella and blinds him. 

Moe goes on Blind Date (a show that ran from 1999 to 2006)

Monopoly varieties: Star Wars / Rasta-Mon-Opoly/ Galip-Olopoly / Edna Krabappoly. They play the original version.

Springfield Shopper Headline: Simpsons Arrested In Family Riot, Even Maggie. The price of the paper is 25¢, kind of a continuity error.

Milhouse complains about Bart having a social worker when he has stigmata (bleeding from the hands)

Gabriel says he earned his Wings, then plays Band On The Run.

Homer and Ned married Amber and Ginger in the episode Viva Ned Flanders

Amber reads Cigarette Aficionado. 

This was the first non Treehouse Of Horror episode to not have a chalkboard gag since Bart the Mother in 1998, four years earlier.

This was the first episode of 2002.

If you don't know by now I'm not a fan of "Homer and Marge's marriage is in trouble" episodes so not my favorite. Also it felt like they had bits and pieces of two separate episodes and decided to combine them into one, the first half had nothing to do with the second half. Here's hoping for an improvement as the year goes along.

Sweets and Sour Marge

This episode premiered on January 20th 2002. It ran in its usual time slot and opposite The W.W.O. Disney (101 Dalmatians), The Education Of Max Bickford and The 59th Annual Golden Globes. 

The title comes from various Sweet and Sour Chinese dishes

The couch gag is Homer being picked up by a claw machine while shouting "Ow, my brain!"

The family goes to the library book sale. Dr. Nick is there reading a copy of Gray's Anatomy and freaking out at the images of guts. Marge buys Homer the Duff Book Of World Records. Homer goes to the bar where Lenny and Carl are arguing over the most clothespins clipped to the face and neck, Homer prevents a fight with the Duff book. When the family gets bored with Homer reading about records he decides to come up with his own, he wonders if he can run a mile in three and a half minutes, when Lisa says "only on Mars" Homer announces "The Simpsons are going to Mars!" then he figures out she was being sarcastic. Homer goes to the Worlds Record office and tells the guy next to him he's a cinch for fattest man, however it turns out to be Marlin Brando who is there for Worlds Greatest Living Actor. Homer learns that the only way he'd get into the book is through a group stunt so he tries to recruit the people of Springfield to build the worlds tallest human pyramid. Homer tires to climb to the top but they have to hold it for "three Mississippis" however Jimbo moves his hand and the entire town ends up in a giant human ball rolling down the hill and wind up on the truck scale. The Duff people do the math and Springfield makes the record as World's Fattest Town. Marge suddenly realizes that the family doesn't eat healthy. She goes to the Motherloving sugar corp and complains to them about their unhealthy food. Marge decides to do something so Lisa convinces her to file a class action lawsuit, She hires Gil to be their lawyer from a street corner. Marge gets a call from Professor Frink who tells her about operation Hoyvin-Mayvin, a plan to get everyone hooked on sugar. In court Motherloving tries to bribe the judge with candy but the judge rules in Marge's favor and bans sugar in Springfield. The kids all suffer from the DT's and the Kwik-E-Mart is empty. However Apu tells Homer about a group working on bringing sugar into Springfield from San Glucose. Mr Burns' yacht sails into Springfield Harbor however they get cutoff by Wiggum. They run away and are chased but the police boat crashes into a sand bar. Instead of turning the sugar over to Motherloving Homer dumps it into the harbor, and everyone dives in after it. The judge rules the sugar ban over.

Ben Stiller does the voice of Garth Motherloving, formerly Garth Hitler.

Banner at the library: Library Book Sale, Yes, We Have Pornography!

At the library sale Comic Book Guy buys Leonard Nimoy's books: I Am Not Spock / I Am Spock / I Am Also Scotty

Cletus is feeding shredded books to his pigs and says Helen Fielding is giving them Bridget Jone's Diarrhea. 

The Duff Book Of World Records is a spoof on The Guinness Book Of World Records. (but you probably figured that out)

The family is eating Frosting Gobs cereal. 

Springfield claims to be the home of the Beatles.

The entire population of Springfield weighs a collective 64,152 pounds. 

Food at the Kwik-E-Mart: Choco Cheese / Krusty O's / Honey Oats / Bag O' Cubes / Ah Fudge! Gummy Pies / Candy Creams / Sugar Soy / Sugar Ale / Sugar With Free Donuts / Chocolate Smoke'm /Honey Glazed Cauliflower / Choco-Blasted Baby Aspirin. All made by the Mother Loving Sugar Corp. 

Cletus's last name is Spuckler.

Count Fudgeula is the mascot for Motherloving breakfast cereals. A spoof on Count Chocula. 

When Wiggum burns all the sugar products in town they toss in the Butterfingers however the fire rejects them. The Simpsons did commercials for Butterfingers from 1988, before the prime time show went on the air, until 2001.

Lou has a chocolate figure of Johnny Depp from the 2000 movie Chocolate (Pronounced with French accents)

The sugar smuggling organization, Mr. Burns, Count Fudgeula, Motherloving, Apu and finally Homer.

The theme from Miami Vice plays during the boat chase.

Sugar Sugar by the Archies plays over the closing credits. 

This episode was kind of a repeat of the prohibition storyline from Homer Vs. The Eighteenth Amendment.

Jaws Wired Shut

This episode premiered on January 27th 2002. The lead in was the NFC Championship (Rams 29 - Eagles 24) and was followed by Malcolm In The Middle. It ran opposite The ABC Sunday Night Movie (Mouse Hunt), Max Bickford and Weakest Link

The title is based on the 1999 movie Eyes Wide Shut

The couch gag is the family comes in as silent movie character with Homer dressed as Charlie Chaplin. 

The Springfield Gay Pride parade goes by the house, when SLH wants to join the Gay Dog Alliance Homer makes them leave. Homer takes the family to see the movie Shenani-Goats. There are too many previews and PSAs so Homer freaks out and tries to start a riot. The ushers are all given giant Kit Kat pieces for defense. Bart teases Homer starting a fight and then he flees the theater, he runs into a statue of Dredric Tatum and breaks his jaw on the boxing glove. When Homer finds out he can't eat solid foods he tries to use the suicide machine but it doesn't work on him. At Moe's Duffman shows up for the trivia challenge offering a lifetime supply of Duff but Homer can't answer because of his wired jaw. Since Homer can't talk he starts listening to the family. Despite causing a scene the year before Marge and Homer go to the formal ball and have a great time however Homer is getting his jaw unwired the next day, Marge is dreading it. Homer agrees to appear on Afternoon Yak, a women's talk show, to discuss listening to women. He promises to keep acting normal but Marge starts to get bored with the new Homer. She decides to join the Demolition Derby. In order to save her Homer drinks a beer and hops on a donkey to rush into the arena. The donkey gets tired so Homer gives him some beer, however he falls asleep. Homer saves Marge and she realizes that she needs the regular Homer. 

Homer reads Pie Times, a spoof on High Times. Advertisement: Fork It Over, 1 pie for $10 ea. at the Pie House Shelbyville. 

Gay Pride Parade Formerly Springfield Heritage Day. 

The Gay Pride Parade plays C+C Music Factory's Everybody Dance Now.

The Gay Steel Workers Of America have a float. This is a reference to the episode Homer's Phobia.

There's a Still In The Closet float with Smithers and Patty. 

There is a Lesbians of the Caribbean float with women chasing women on a beach while singing "Yo ho ho it's an alternative lifestyle for me". This of course is a spoof on the Disney ride Pirates Of The Caribbean. 

Movies at the Googolplex, Wedgie: The Movie / Shenani-Goats / Air C.H.U.D. / Chocolate 2: The Vanilla-ing / Final Chapter: A New Beginning / Editor-In-Chimp / Too Many Premises! / Clone Me An Angel / Dude, Where's My Pepsi / Crouching Tiger, Hidden Valley Ranch

The pre movie has Movie Star Scramble "Mot Hanks" Lisa says it's obviously Tom Hanks but it turns out to be Otm Shank the India answer to Brian Dennehy.

Itchy & Scratchy in To Kill A Talking Bird. Itchy and Scratchy are at a movie when a duck in the front row gets a cell call and Itchy switches his phone with a stick of dynamite and blows him up. He then uses Scrachy's entrails to spell out "Please No Talking". This is the first Itchy and Scratchy since the episode HOMR

Coming attraction Ed O'Neill in Soccer Mummy "I Feel Good" by James Brown plays

Dr. Hibbert gives Marge a pamphlet on broken jaws, So Your Life Is Ruined. It's been a long time since the last time the Simpsons got a pamphlet at the hospital.

Marge has a framed front page of last year's formal event: "Local Man Ruins Everything" with a picture of Homer riding a donkey through a cake.

Marge and Homer get invited to dinner at Toad Hall, the place from Wind In The Willows.

Afternoon Yak is based on The View which has been on the air since 1997. The host is even a versions of Barbra Walters with the classic lisp. The second guest on the show is Luann Houten who came to talk about Milhouse wetting the bed. 

Bart is in a play, I'm Gonna Kill You by Edward Albee

Demolition Derby: As Seen On Faces Of Death III

Bart squeezes a beer and shoots it into Homer's mouth as a spoof on Popeye, complete with the song and Marge doing the classic "spaghetti arms" wave when she call for Homer to come save her. 

Half-Decent Proposal

This episode premiered on February 10th, 2002. It ran in its regular time slot and opposite the ABC Sunday Night Movie (Ace Ventura), Max Bickford and the XIX Winter Olympics.

The title and plot of the episode is a spoof on the 1993 movie Indecent Proposal

The chalkboard gag is "I will not bite the hand that feeds me Butterfingers" and the couch gag is two repo men take the couch which makes Homer cry, the kids just sit on the floor.

Marge can't sleep because Homer is snoring so loudly, even when she pinches his mouth and nose closed he snores through his eyelids. She has trouble getting an appointment with Dr. Hibbert on Wednesday morning, he's out smashing mailboxes with Dr. Nick. When Hibber tells Homer what the cost of surgery is Homer offers a counter offer of "do it for free", they get kicked out of the office. Marge falls asleep behind the wheel and falls out of the car, Bart takes over while Lisa and Milhouse work the pedals. When Marge shows up at Patty and Selmas they think she left Homer but instead they have a Girls Night. They see a show where Artie Ziff, Marge's old boyfriend, is listed as the 5th richest man in America. Patty and Selma send Artie a dirty email. After a good nights sleep Marge is back to normal but Artie shows up by helicopter. On his yacht Artie offers to give Homer $1 million dollars to spend the weekend with Marge, he promises to behave. Marge and Homer head home but they forget the kids. When they get home Homer realizes that with Artie's money he could get the sleep surgery. They decide to go through with Artie's deal but Homer gives him a set of rules, Artie promises to keep his hands off Marge. Homer goes to the bar to brag about getting a million dollars from Artie and all the guys tell Homer that she won't be coming back. Artie recreates the Senior Prom. Principal Dondilinger shows up to keep Homer from going to the dance. Artie tricks Marge into kissing him and Homer sees from the skylight, however Marge slaps him and storms out. Homer goes to Moe's and cries about losing Marge and plans on running away with Lenny. Homer leaves a goodbye VHS for Marge. Homer and Lenny go to work on an oil rig where everyone is maimed or dead. Bart tracks Homer down via the West Springfield library. Marge recruits Arty to help her find Homer. Homer and Lenny celebrate capping a well by raising their goggles but they set some ants on fire that jump into the oil and set the rig on fire. Marge shows up but Homer decides to die in the fire however Artie tells him the truth, Lenny decides to die but Carl is on the helicopter too. Marge turns down Artie's money but he gives them a device to convert Homer's snores to play Sweet Dreams, however he's got a hidden camera in it. 

The chalkboard gag is a reference to the long running Butterfingers commercials featuring the Simpsons and the episode Sweets and Sour Marge (see above)

Dream by the Everly Brothers plays while we see the people of Springfield going to bed. Comic Book Guy's room is full of Star Wars things including a Speeder bed and several signed pictures of Mark Hamill. 

Dated Reference, Time Magazine: AOL Rules.

Dr. Hibbert smashing mailboxes, to the tune of Wooly Bully by Sam The Sham and the Pharaohs, is a spoof on the mailbox baseball scene from the 1986 movie Stand By Me

Springfield Shopper headline: Sleep Important, Say Experts / Slow New Day Grips Springfield. The price of the paper is back to 50¢

Patty and Selma watch Nookie In New York, a spoof on Sex In The City. The women go to Yumi Ristorante. (I never watched the show so I don't now if that is an important reference)

Artie Ziff got rich building a device that changes the dial up sound to Georgie Girl (Remember dial up?)

The internet runs through a beat up box labeled Cisco Systems.

Artie Ziff's yacht is called PaZiffic Prince

Best line of the episode "No misdirected woo, which is pretty much any John Woo film"

When Marge flies off with Artie in his helicopter Suicide Is Painless plays. Homer has written out Keep Your Clothes On with white rocks as a spoof from the final episode of MASH

Artie comments that the band he hired for the fake prom haven't worked since the rap party for James at 16. That was a short lived 1977-78 TV show that started out as a TV movie and a weekly show James at 15. The title was changed for the second season. 

Marge uses the Just Take Me Home cab co. She tells the driver to send the $912 fare to Baron Von Kissalot. When an actual Baron gets the bill he's angry. He has really big lips.

Homer uses a Funzo doll to demonstrate Marge kissing Artie. They were seen in the episode Grift Of The Magi.

Homer and Lenny take the Suck-U-Bus Line to the oil fields in West Springfield. They pass Mt. Carlmore, carved by Lenny. 

Roughnecks Wanted- Dangerous Work, Free Burial.

Grandpa comes by and says "Homer bowled a perfect 300 game?" This is a reference to the episode Hello Gutter Hello Fadder. 

The Bart Wants What It Wants

This episode premiered on February 17th 2002. It ran in its usual time slot and opposite the ABC Sunday Night Movie (Raiders Of The Lost Ark), CBS Sunday Movie (The Fugitive) and the XIX Winter Olympics. 

The title comes from an Emily Dickinson quote, The heart wants what it wants, or else it does not care. 

The chalkboard gag is "The Giving Tree is not a chump" and the couch gag is a repeat of the circus show.

Homer is running from the Olympic helicopter, he's stolen the torch because they preempt his favorite shows every four years. They recover the torch however the helicopter crashes and the torch goes out. Meanwhile the family stops at the fair at the Springfield Preparatory School. Lisa complains about not being aware of the school. Homer pops the bounce house. Skinner shows up to steal equipment, he tells Lisa "welcome to Dick Cheney's America". Bart hits a kid in the bumper cars, the airbags go off and an ambulance shows up. Homer puts Ned's name and a bid of $50 on a silent auction but it turns out to be for a $100 bill, which Ned donates it to the orphanage. A group of bullies are playing keep away with a girl's backpack but Bart shows up and shoots them with Rice Krispies treats until they run away, she turns out to be Rainer Wolfcastle's daughter. Lisa tries to keep a grip on the gate instead of leaving, Homer promises to send her to the finest college, in South Carolina, she refuses to become a gamecock. Wolfcastle shows up in a Canyonero to pick up Bart. He and Greta watch Itchy And Scratchy on DVD, remember when that was the height of high tech? Marge invites Wolfcastle over for dinner, Lisa complains about the sausages. Greta keeps flirting with Bart but he doesn't get it, when Bart comes to her house he brings Milhouse along. Homer invites Rainer to the bar, the other patrons annoy him so he sends in his lookalike. Greta invites Bart to her school dance however he finds out that Skinner is doing standup that same night and he can't resist. Skinner does jokes about school while Bart heckles him, he gets booed off stage. Lisa tells Bart off for standing up Greta so he decides he needs to break it off with her. Bart goes to talk to Greta after the breakup but finds out that she's dating Milhouse so he starts stalking them. Greta tells Bart that she's going to Toronto with her father while he's shooting a movie, so the Simpsons take a bus to Canada. When Bart tries to talk to Greta Milhouse shows up and they get into a fight. Greta tells Bart that she doesn't want to get back together and she also breaks up with Milhouse. The boys wind up on the Canadian basketball team. Skinner tries comedy again and gets heckled by Nelson. 

Wolfgang Puck does his own voice and Reese Witherspoon does the voice of Greta

The olympic flame bit is a spoof on the Winter Olympics running opposite The Simpsons. 

Springfield Preparatory was featured in the film Calling All Coeds. Marge recognizes the place where Boozer drank the pee. 

Wolfgang Puck steals Marge's recipe for Rice Krispie squares with M&Ms. He hops into the PuckMobile (complete with the music and a spinning pizza cutaway) in a spoof on Batman 66.

The Itchy And Scratchy Show: Itchy and Scratchy are doing a trapeze act but instead of catching him Itchy cuts off Scratchy's hands and when he hits the safety net he's sliced into cubes, that an elephant eats. There is an auto commentary by Itchy and Scratchy, they complain about the director Steven Soderbergh. Just then Itchy cuts off Scratchy's head with a giant pair of pruning sheers.

It's Free Lotion Night at the basketball game Bart and Greta go to. 

The comedy club is named Floppy's "Open Mic Night, Pity Laughs Welcome" The music from Seinfeld plays.

When Milhouse meets Greta for the first time he says "Wazzaaaap!" The line is from a Bud beer commercial of the day. 

While the family is in Toronto they visit the Dodgers Of Foreign Wars. They go to Paramountie studios (instead of a mountain their logo is a mountie hat).

At the Canadian film studio they are making Canadian Graffiti (the name comes from the 1973 film American Graffiti), they guy spray paints  Obey The Rules on a wall. Wolfcastle is making the movie Undercover Nerd

Bart and Milhouse wind up fighting in the middle of a show, Curling for Loonies.

Alright, I've made it through 280 episodes. Why I keep doing this, I couldn't tell you however I've reached the episodes that I'm pretty sure I've seen but I don't remember. So at least it's getting interesting. The problem is that according to Wikipedia there is no end in site. Oh dear. 

 The Simpsons 271-275

The Parent Rap

This episode premiered on November 11th 2001. The lead in show was King Of The Hill and it was followed by Malcolm In The Middle. It ran opposite The ABC Sunday Night Movie (Saving Private Ryan), The Education Of Max Bickford and Weakest Link.

The title of this episode came from the 1961 and 1998 Disney movies The Parent Trap.

The chalkboard gag is "Nobody reads these anymore" and the couch gag is the family is on the boat in the painting that hangs on the living room wall, they jump in the water and come out on the couch, dripping wet and the whole room has been splashed.

While driving Homer and Milhouse to school Homer sees the KBBL Party Wagon and decides to chase them down to win $40, so he kicks the kids out of the car and takes off. Wiggum is hanging out at the Lard Lad donut shop and the boys start playing in his patrol car, they use the PA to make Ned drop his pants via a hula. They get attacked by the police dog and accidentally put the car into neutral and start rolling. They just miss hitting a truck with a giant soup tureen and steer into a picnic for Promising Young Athletes crashing through the trophy table and into a tree. They wind up in court and judge Snider lets Milhouse go since he looks like a nerd. When Bart steps up to the bench the judge is just about to let him off but his vacation starts and a new judge, Constance Harm, takes over. Homer confesses that he dumped the kids out to chase the radio station van, he won $40 and a Deep Purple medallion, so the judge orders him to be tethered to Bart. Homer has to go to school with Bart and points out that the kids will never use the stuff Mrs. Krabappal is teaching and then falls asleep on the floor. At baseball Bart hits a line drive and manages to drag Homer around the bases for a home run. Since Homer has to spend the days in school he winds up on the night shift so Bart has to go with him. Homer wants to go to Moe's but Bart has to stand outside. Homer and Marge want to "snuggle" but can't since Bart is in the room, Homer and Bart start making each other slap themselves by pulling on the cord, Homer tries to strangle Bart with the tether and then Bart whips him. Marge has had enough so she cuts the tether but the judge has a camera in the rope and they get caught. Harm demands that Marge say she's a bad parent in court but she refuses and tells off the judge. She sentences Homer and Marge to wear stockades and they are then forced to stand on a corner while people driving by whip them. Marge continues to refuse to tell the judge she's a bad parent so Homer cuts them out of the stocks. Homer plans to get revenge on the judge and head to where she lives, on a houseboat. They hang a banner that says Big Meanie but a barking seal jumps out of the water and the judge comes out to find out what is going on. Homer throws a cinder block at her but punctures the hull and the boat sinks. Just as the judge is about to toss Homer and Marge in jail Bart comes forward to say what a horrible child he is and how they have stood by him. The judge decides to sentence Bart to 5 years in juvenile hall but Snider comes back and lets Bart go. Marge makes the family pledge to not break the law for one full year, just as Homer runs over Moleman. Don't Fear The Reaper by Deep Purple plays over the closing credits. 

Jane Kaczmarek does the voices of Judge Harm. At the time she was also staring as Lois on Malcom In The Middle. 

The true irony of the chalkboard gag is that on Disney + you can skip the intro.

Homer sings Wedding Bell Blues by The Fifth Dimension, while Bart and Milhouse plugs their ears. The DJs at KBBL mispronounce it as Weddings Are Nice (Homer also sings the same lyrics wrong). The radio station plays a clip of Charlton Heston saying "You damn dirty ape" from the 1968 movie Planet Of The Apes. (This could have been a salute to Phil Hartman if they had used a Troy McClure soundbite from Stop The Planet Of The Apes I Want To Get Off, from the episode A Fish Called Selma)

When Homer kicks Bart and Milhouse out of the car they almost get ran over by Professor Frink on his Hoverbike. It was first seen in the episode Lemon Of Troy.

Wiggum's patrol car has a Miranda Rights Teleprompter "You have the right to remain silent (punch in the belly)"

Lisa makes a comment about unusual judgements and uses their new mailman, Bill Clinton, as an example. Cut to him trying to jam magazines into the mail box. 

Mrs. Krabappal tries to teach about Predicates. To be honest, I have no idea what they are.

Dated Joke: When Homer drags Bart to the bar Moe tells him "no kids", Homer asks why and Moe comments "ever since those Bush twins were here...." This joke is a reference to the 2001 incident when Jenna and Barbra (19 at the time) were caught buying alcohol with a fake ID in Texas.

While sneaking to the judge's house Homer sees the milkman and say's he should become one. This is a reference to all the jobs he's had in the past. It's also a dated joke since home delivery by milkmen was a past thing in 2001

Springfield Shopper headline: Pair sinks Judge's House, Quilt Ruined. The Shopper is still 50¢ but $1.75 on Sunday. They are part of the Springfield News Group Etc. Inc.  Also they have a website springfieldshopper.com. The domain name is for sale for any true Simpsons fans.

At the end Homer listens to Dang Me by Roger Miller.

Homer To The Moe

This episode premiered on November 18th 2001. The lead in was the NFL Postgame show and it was followed by Malcom In The Middle. It ran opposite The Facts Of Life Reunion, The Education Of Max Bickford and Weakest Link. 

The chalkboard gag is "A burp in a jar is not a science experiment" and the couch gag is a repeat of the football fumble.

Bart is digging a hole in the back yard, everyone wonders why, they even bring in Dr. Bob Kaufman and the Chinese are spying on him. It turns out the entire story was made up by Homer at Moe's bar. Moe is upset that he's lost his passion for bartending and considers going back to bartending school, but he has to pick his replacement, Homer wins the pissing contest and is left in charge. Bart calls the bar to do a prank but Homer doesn't get it, Bart hangs up in frustration. One day when Homer gets to the bar he finds out that Moe is back and he's redoing the place but he's disappointed that he is no longer a bartender. The gang shows up at the bar to find it's been turned into a new trendy place, the designer unscrews the lightbulb over them so they are in the dark. Homer yells at Moe so he gets bounced. Homer goes home and turns the garage into a bar. Moe soon starts to hate his new bar and is visited by the ghost of his old mentor. Moe decides to go back to the way things were but is upset to discover that not only is Homer running a bar out of his garage but he got REM to perform. When Moe says he can't serve alcohol without a permit Homer says that they are exempt since it's a Gun Club. Michael Stipe gets upset at performing at a gun club. Moe points out that in order to claim they are a hunting club they have to actually go hunt, Lisa complains. Homer tries to hunt a turkey but Moe scares it off with a cougar call, Homer hears it and shoots Moe. Moe restores the bar and everyone makes up, just in time for Thanksgiving, including a tofu turkey. 

REM does their own voices and sings their own songs in this episode.

Moe's Alma Mater, Swigmore College is a play on the name of Skidmore College. 

Moe's former Professor at Swigmore College is based on professor Charles W. Kingsfield Jr. (played by John Houseman) from the 1973 movie The Paper Chase.

The professor walking into the lake is a parody of the 1954 version of A Star Is Born where Norman Maine (James Mason) realizes what he's done to his life and the people around him and walks into the ocean. 

Badly dated reference. Lisa says if Bart keeps digging he'll go through to China, Chinese style music plays and a satellite that looks like a classic Chines temple is seen spying on Bart.

Barney is at the bar but he's just drinking coffee, he's been sober since the episode Days Of Wine and D'oh'ses

Everyone line dances on the bar in a parody of the 2000 movie Coyote Ugly. They are dancing to the 1965 song Wooly Bully, originally by Sam The Sham and the Pharaohs but the needle skips and starts playing the 1970 song Color My World by Chicago so they start slow dancing with each other. When the record starts skipping Homer says you have to hit it like Fonzie but breaks the glass and cuts himself. This is the point of the best line in the episode "Hemorrhageamundo, heeeey" as he passes out.

Bart's prank call "Ollie Tabooger" is the first one he's made since the 1992 episode New Kid On The Block. Homer made the last prank call in the 1996 episode Bart On The Road, and got the joke wrong.

Moe based his career on the 1987 movie Ironweed.

The M on Moe's new bar is the M from M&M's.

Moe meets a Russian model who tells him that after Chernobyl "her" penis is falling off. Chernobyl was the 1986 nuclear meltdown in Russia.

Homer and the gang sing I Won't Drink At Moe's to the tune of I Love Rock And Roll, made famous by the Joan Jett and the Blackhearts versions. 

Homer has a The Devil's Advocate pinball machine in his bar. It was first seen in the episode Insane Clown Poppy.

A Hunks Hunka Burns In Love

This episode premiered on December 2nd, 2001. The lead in show was the NFL Post Game Show and it was followed by Malcolm In The Middle. It ran opposite The W.W.O. Disney (Brian's Song), Max Bickford and The NBC Movie Of The Week (The Prince Of Egypt)

The title of this episode is based on the 1972 Elvis song Burning Love.

The chalkboard gag is "Fun Does Not Have A Size" and the couch gag is a repeat of the prison escape.

The family goes to dinner at a Chinese restaurant but are disappointed by the fortunes in the cookies. The owner challenges Homer to come up with new fortunes so he goes to the back and tells the writers some ideas. Mr. Burns orders Chinese deliveries and his fortune says he'll find true love on Flag Day, since it's June 14th he rushes out to find a woman. They go to a strip club, Smithers gets stuck in a corner by two dancers (another joke about his sexuality). Burns discovers a meter maid ticketing his car but falls in love with her. Gloria doesn't want a second date until Homer comes by and tells her all the things Burns has done from capturing the Loch Ness monster to blocking the sun. To keep up Burns injects a ED supplement. When Homer does the same he ends up running home to Marge. After they "snuggle" Marge worries that the kids might have heard them, cut to the shocked children and Flanders. When Burns comes to work in a good mood Carl tries to ask for a raise but gets fired. Burns decides to ask Gloria to marry him and hides a diamond ring in a bowling ball, just as he's celebrating Snake shows up to rob the place and Gloria is his old girlfriend. He drags her and Homer off while Burns is getting champaign. Snake forces Homer to drive, Homer tries to get out at his house but Snake forces him to drive to the hideout in Hicktown. The police surround Snake's hideout but Wiggum tells Kent Brockman that he has an officer sneaking around the back of the house, Snake sees it on TV and shoots the cop. Homer tries to burn his way through the ropes but ends up setting the house on fire, Gloria gets trapped inside so Burns rushes in to save her but she ends up carrying him out. However in the end she goes back with Snake. Burns complains that he's more evil than Snake and he and the family get into a discussion about beard types. 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus does the voice of Gloria and George Takei does the voice of the waiter.

The Woody Allen character is one of the fortune cookie writers, he first appeared in the episode The City Of New York vs Homer Simpsons

The chalkboard gag is based on the Fun Size candy bars and the expression "tons of fun".

Joke that didn't age well. The Simpsons go to Chinatown and pass a store that is called Toys "L" Us. There's also Tibet Town which is just a bunch of people in prison jump suits, behind a locked gate and getting beat up by the Chinese. 

The family eats at Bob's Big Buddha, a spoof on Bobs Big Boy burgers. 

Mr. Burns complains that Mr. Pennybags (from Monopoly) and Scrooge McDuck have taken all the best women. 

Burns takes Gloria to Stu's Disco. It first appeared in the episode Dumbbell Indemnity. Burns dances like one of the kids in A Charlie Brown Christmas.

When Burns and Gloria are eating spaghetti it's a spoof on the scene from Lady And The Tramp

Barney's Bowlarama still has the sign that say's New. The original alley burned down in the episode Moaning Lisa.

Video games at the bowling alley, Nuke Canada, Pong 95, Time Waster. 

Snake's mailbox: Snake, AKA Jailbird.

Dated reference, when Burns is talking about growing an evil beard Bart asks him if he means a Soul Patch. They were popular back in the day.

The Blunder Years

This episode premiered on December 9th 2001. The lead in show was King Of The Hill and it was followed by Malcolm In The Middle. It ran opposite The W.W.O. Disney (Santa Who?), 60 Minutes and National Geographic. 

The title comes from the 1988 TV series The Wonder Years

The chalkboard gag is "I am not Charlie Brown on acid" and the couch gag is a repeat of the Matrix mid air freeze and spin, otherwise known as Bullet Time.

Marge accidentally buys Burly paper towels and has the hots for the mascot. She calls Lisa at school and has her come home to see how well they work. Homer gets jealous so he tries fantasizing about food mascots, Mama Celeste threatens to cut him if he touches her and Paul Newman says what he said to Robert Redford, "it ain't going to happen". Marge writes a letter to Burly so Homer gets Barney to show up as "Chad Sexington" to mock her. When Marge gets upset Homer takes the family to the Pimento Grove where they see Mesmerino the Hip Hypnotist. Homer volunteers for the show however when the hypnotist makes him revert to 12 years old and he has a repressed memory to something horrible and starts screaming out of control. Lisa suggests using Yaqui tea to unlock his memories, Marge is happy because she finally gets to use her tea set. Homer has flashbacks to previous episodes like Bart The Daredevil. He remembers summer days with Carl, Lenny and Moe. Moe tells the next part where the kids go swimming at the old quarry but the place is out of water. It's at this point Homer remembers the clogged pipe leading into the quarry and how a body fell out. Lisa figures the body is probably still at the bottom of the quarry and Bart says it's a mystery only The Simpsons family can solve. Moe is upset that he's not included in the rest of the adventure. The family runs into Wiggum and he helps them search the quarry, Marge uses her Burly towels to drain the quarry, they find the skeleton and see someone heading down the drain pipe. They follow it to a hatch that leads to Burns's office. Burns confesses that the dead body was Waylon Smither's father, he has a film to tell the rest of the story. The security footage shows Smither's sr. going into the reactor core to prevent a meltdown but dying in the process. Burns dumped the body but Smithers showed up just then and found out how his father passed away. Homer keeps dead Smithers skull. Moe shows up with clues to "solve the mystery" even though they know how things turned out, he explains his clues over the closing credits.

Paul Newman does his own voice and Judith Owen (wife of cast regular Harry Shearer) sings during the night club scene.

Burly paper towels are a spoof on Brawny including their commercial about how absorbent they are.

Dated reference, Marge types and mails a letter to Burly paper towels asking about the mascot.

The hypnotist appeared on Mike Douglas (1961-1981), Merv Griffin (1962-1972) and Art Linkletter's House Party (1945-1969)

The hypnotist turns Professor Frink into a make-out artist. This is a spoof on the 1966 Jerry Lewis movie The Nutty Professor.

Self Aware Joke, Marge is ironing Bart's clothes, a stack of red shirts and blue pants, the only thing he wears. 

The childhood memory is a spoof on the 1986 movie Stand By Me. 

Moe drinks the tea and says "mmmm, that's good Yaqui". This is a spoof on a Jackie Gleason catchphrase and when Johnny Carson would do it on The Tonight Show, Mesmerino also does the Johnny Carson Carnac the Great bit from The Tonight Show.

A young Carl talks about the internet, the Inner Netting in swim trunks. 

Continuity Error, the gang remembers when they were 12 and the nuclear plant had just opened but in the episode The Way We Was Homer picks up a brochure on jobs at the newly opened nuclear plant, which would have been 6 years later.

When the kids go to the quarry for a swim this is a spoof on the1979 movie Breaking Away.

She Of Little Faith

This episode premiered on December 16th 2001. It ran in its usual time slot and opposite A Charlie Brown Christmas, Touched By An Angel and the NBC Movie Of The Week (Antz)

The title of this episode comes from Matthew 8:26, " Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?" 

The chalkboard gag is "I do not have a cereal named after me" and the couch gag is the couch is a slot machine, Homer, Marge, Bart and Lisa come up. Instead of Maggie the last dial is a flaming 7, "Jackpot" appears on the top and a pile of coins fall out the bottom.

While watching the rain delay movie Bart sees a commercial for The Orbit King rocket kit "with yaw control", he calls and gives them Homer's credit card number. When Homer hits the launch button it blows up and Milhouse's eyebrows end up as Bart's sideburns. (Milhouse is the only character with eyebrows btw). After the second explosion Ned launches his own rocket which takes off and lands perfectly. To compete Homer gets the nerd crowd to show up and build a better rocket. They put a hamster into the rocket, complete with a miniature elevator. The rocket loses control, Homer radios the hamster but he pushes the eject button. The rocket hits the church and sets it on fire. To fix the damage Mr. Burns shows up and offers to fund a new church, as long as he gets to run it. The new church has a number of corporate advertisements and a literal money changer in the lobby. Bart poses for a Last Supper photo, a 4X9 print for $9.99. The new pews are vibrating recliners. Lisa is on the Godcam and when she frowns it says "Pouting Thomas", everyone laughs. The Noid (Dominos mascot) gives a sermon on deliciousness. The church has a box seat, the Yahoo Texan is sitting in it. Lisa objects to the new church and tells everyone off  and seeks to find a new religion. She winds up at the Springfield Buddhist Temple where she meets Richard Gere and he teaches her about Buddhism. Lenny and Carl are there but their prayer chant is "Who wears short shorts". Lisa plants a bodhi tree in the back yard. The church plans on using Christmas to convert Lisa back to Christianity by leaving her out of the celebration, they buy her a pony however she runs away to the temple, and the pony turns out to be Ralph and Milhouse in disguise. Gere tells her that Buddhists celebrate Christmas. The episode ends with a happy family reunion. 

Richard Gere does his own voice in this episode.

The chalkboard gag is in reference to Bart Simpson's Peanut Butter Chocolate Crunch Cereal that came out in 2001.

The Rain Delay Theater is showing The Planet From Outer Space. This is a spoof on the 50's sci fi movies. 

There is a commercial featuring Colonel Chet Manners, 5 time Space Shuttle alternate. 

Homer's credit card number is 5784-3653-4341-0709

The Nerds first appeared in the episode Homer Goes To College. 

Paintings on the boards covering the church's broken windows, Adam and Eve tempted by the snake, Moses parting the sea, the Crucifixion, Noah's Ark.

Lindsey Nagel shows up as the new PR person for the church. 

Burns wants Reverent Lovejoy to wear a robe advertising Fatso's Hash House. In the day it was a reference to a diner but today it would be a "pharmacy".

The church has a neon Jesus sign based on Vegas Vic, with a sign that says Blackjack, Tuesday Night.

Advertisers at the new church  Lard Lad Donuts / Buzz Cola / Glup 'N' Blow / Kwik-E-Mart / The Frying Duchman "all you can eat" / Let's Get Fiscal Financial Planning /Sportacus Sporting Goods / Zip Boys / Cooke Kwan Realtor / "Watch Ally McBeal "It's Great!" / Springfield Bell / Costingtons / Omni-Pave / Red Blazer Reality / Municipal House of Pancakes / KBBL / The Singing Sirloin / Crazy Larry

The Burns church 10 Commandments: Be Kind, Rewind / Keep On The Sunny Side / You Break It You Bought It / Be a Sweetie, Wipe Your Feetie / Lift With Your Legs Not Your Back / Price Mania! / No Shirt, No Shoes No Service / Lower Toilet Seat When Finished / Don't Smoke Crack / Remember To Tip Your Waitress. (I couldn't make out the top four because of the Disney + aspect ratio but someone on Reddit told me you can change it to the proper setting and I finally got them all, even though they are quite blurry.

Lisa reads Paul Riser's Religionhood. This is a spoof on his book Couplehood complete with the book front image. She also reads Zagat's Guide To World Religions. 

Signs during Lisa's walk: Beat Bath & Baha'i / Whiskey A God God / Church of the Latter Day Druids / Amish.

This is one of those episodes I thought had happened earlier, I was sure Lisa had been a Buddhist for longer. I guess that is what happens when you watch the show in reruns and out of order, especially a show that doesn't have a chronological change over time but remains the same. 

This was the last episode of 2001. Good timing considering it's also the next break in my blog. We'll kick off next week's in the year 2002. I feel so futuristic being in the 21st century. You have to wonder what wonders of scientific discovery will lay ahead. Do you suppose 2015 will be like it's depicted in the movie Back To The Future II? I keep hearing rumors about Marvel making a movie about Iron Man, how crazy is that? Oh well on to the next episode next week.

 The Simpsons 266-270

Trilogy Of Errors

This episode premiered on April 29th 2001. The lead in show was a Simpsons repeat (Day Of The Jackanapes) and it was followed by Malcom In The Middle. It ran opposite The W.W.O. Disney (Tarzan), Touched By An Angel and NBA Basketball (Lakers 99 - Portland 86)

The title of this episode comes from the 1975 film Trilogy Of Terrors.

The chalkboard gag is "Fire is not the cleanser" and the couch gag is a repeat of the skateboard bit.

The trash truck arrives and instead of picking up Flander's trash it takes his mailbox. A paperboy tosses the Springfield Shopper onto Ned's porch, the headline is: March 21 First Day Of Spring. Ants, Picnickers reach last-minute accord

Homer's Day

Homer runs naked out of the bathroom but is fully clothed by the time he reaches the kitchen for breakfast. He's disappointed that Marge is serving Mueslix. To get out of eating Lisa shows Homer Linguo, her grammar robot. When Homer says "me love beer" the robot corrects him and says "I love beer", so Homer dumps beer into the robot damaging him. Marge makes brownies and Homer keeps trying to grab one as she's cutting them, and slices off his thumb. Marge wants to rush it to the hospital but SLH has run off with it. Marge calls 911 but Wiggum accuses her of attempted murder so she tells him she  lives at 123 Fake Street. Ned is reading Todd a book about how Harry Potter goes to hell for practicing witchcraft. Homer gets the thumb back but Marge crashes into Rainer Woflcastle's Ferrari, they steal his car to get to the hospital but Hibbert won't sew it back on. On the way to Dr. Nick's they stop at Moe's for more ice but he puts it in the pickled egg brine. Homer stays for a few beers but Marge is going when he comes out. Cletus picks up Homer and drives him to Dr. Nicks however the place is on fire. Homer asks for a ride to Shelbyville but someone steals Cletus's truck. As he's walking Linguo's head comes flying at him, "Linguo Is Dead".

Linguo's error code 418071. This probably means something to someone but I wasn't able to find anything about it. 

When Marge calls 911 Wiggum claims it was attempted murder and tells her to save her story for Dateline Tuesday. When Dateline originally aired it ran on Tuesday but in 2001 it ran on Sunday, opposite the Simpsons, except for this episode due to an NBA game.

Dr. Nick's "If you can put it in, we can take it out"

Lisa's Day

After Homer crashes her robot Lisa goes to her room and fixes him. She misses the bus, her bike was stolen and Marge just rushed Homer to the hospital. Lisa is almost run over by Krusty so he drives her to school however they go to West Springfield Elementary. Lisa meets a smart kid Thelonious. Lisa goes to Moe's to see if her father is there. She comes across Wiggum who is listening in on an informant however he flips the switch and asks if Fat Tony is in the room, gunshots are heard. Lisa heads out the back door while Homer comes in the front, Marge is waiting out front so Lisa gets a ride to school since Homer is inside drinking. They run out of gas because Marge can't figure out the gas gauge, they hop in the back of Cletus's truck. When they stop at Dr. Nicks Marge steals the truck. Marge almost runs over Bart who is coming out of a manhole. 

Lisa uses the Itty-Bitty Acetylene Torch. This is a spoof on the Itty-Bitty Book Light.

When Lisa is running to school they use the song Believe by Franka Potente from the 1998 movie Run Lola Run

Thelonious is voiced by Frankie Muniz who was playing Malcom in the show that followed The Simpsons.

When Lisa is with Thelonius Happy Together by The Turtles plays.

The Ferrari gas gage: Abbondanza / NotSoBadda / MammaMia

Bart's Day

When Bart hits the snooze button on his Krusty clock a small Itchy and Scratchy pop out and hit him until he gets up. Milhouse tells Bart he found something cool in the woods so Bart gives him Lisa's bike to ride. Milhouse found a cave full of illegal fireworks and they go around town causing destruction. They strap rockets to the front tire of Lisa's bike but it takes off and crashes into Dr. Nicks and blows up a tank of ether. It's labeled inflammable so Dr. Nick thought he was safe. When Bart and Milhouse hear the police coming they rush into 123 Fake street, the address Marge had given earlier, the cops catch Bart and Milhouse with the illegal fireworks. Since Wiggum needs an informant he sends Bart back to the cave wearing a wire. Wiggum asks if it's Fat Tony so Bart sets off some fireworks (the gunshots we had heard earlier) The mobster corner Bart and Milhouse however Bart spots a manhole, and comes up in front of Marge. The mob chases them across town however Marge shows up and throws Lingo at them. The robot keeps correcting their grammar until he overloads and sets off the fireworks. The cops arrest Fat Tony and his gang, Homer shows up with his severed thumb so Fat Tony makes a deal, he has his mob doctor sew Homer's thumb back on as Lisa's science project. 

Self aware joke, Mr. Teenie says "This plot made no sense!" (on another note I've been calling Krusty's monkey Mr. Genie for 30 years and tonight I found out I was wrong.)

I'm Going To Praiseland

This episode premiered on May 6th 2001. The lead in show was King Of The Hill and it was followed by Malcom In The Middle. It ran opposite The ABC Sunday Night Movie (Ace Ventura), Touched By An Angel and The NBC Sunday Night Movie (Steve Martini's The Judge)

The title of this episode is a spoof on the Disneyland slogan first used by Phil Simms after winning the 1987 Super Bowl. 

The chalkboard gag is "Genetics is not an excuse" and the couch gag is a repeat of the concrete Simpsons

At the church ice cream social Homer gets a Tower of Babel but walks into a power line and it melts all over him. Professor Frink has a cow hooked up to freon tubes for instant ice cream, when Marge asks for a swirl cone the cow refuses and kicks Frink. To cure Nelson's brain freeze Dr. Hibbert gives him 50cc's of hot fudge. Rachel Jordan returns and Ned is embarrassed because he fell for her shortly after Maude died. Bart and Milhouse steal all the toppings and are sick. Rachel tries to ask Ned out but he has excuses, so Homer suggests she stay at his house while she's in town. Ned's house is full of photos of Maude plus he has saved her dent in the bed. The next day Rachel wakes up to find Ned cutting her hair so she looks more like Maude. The Simpsons offer to clean Maude's stuff out of the house while Ned is at the eye doctor. Ned comes home to find the house stripped, he finds Maude's sketch book that includes plans for a Christian amusement park called Praiseland. The Simpsons convince him to convert the old Storytime Village amusement park. Ned throws himself into the work but starts to run out of money so Homer goes around town asking for donations, Krusty donates old costumes from his Last Supper pie throwing sketch and Wiggum donates confiscated fireworks (Trilogy Of Errors). The park turns out to be really dull. As everyone is leaving Ned drops a Maude mask in front of her statue and it floats, Wiggum declares it a miracle. When Skinner goes to mock the "miracle" he falls on the ground and starts talking in tongues. He claims Heaven is a school. Homer and Bart demand an extra $10 for a miracle. Homer tries to get the grill to work but there is no gas coming through, Ned figures out that it's leaking right in front of the statue. He goes to tell everyone but the orphans, who are getting the extra money, are there so he doesn't. Homer tries to talk Ned out of closing the park but sees the orphans lighting candles in front of the statue and tackle them. Everyone gets mad and leaves so they close up the park. In the end Rachel Jordan shows up and Ned asks if she wants to go for a cup of coffee, and then they get rid of Maude's imprint in the bed. 

First Church Of Springfield Ice Cream Social "A sundae service you can swallow" / Cruci-Fixins / Ice Cream Headache Station

Bad joke: While introducing the singing act Reverend Lovejoy says "They call her the Christian Madonna"

Rachel Jordan's first appearance was in the episode Alone Again, Natura-Diddly.

Storytown Village first appeared in Lisa The Vegetarian (this is also a continuity error since in this episode it's called Storytime Village). The Yee Haw Texan owns the abandon amusement park and donates it as a tax write-off.

When Homer's "control burn" gets out of control it burns up the figures of Mary Had A Little Lamb and one of the lambs was real, only it's bones are left. 

Praiseland's statue of Maude: She taught us the joy of shame and the shame of joy

Disco Stu imagines going to Disco Heaven and gets to go ahead of the line including John Travolta, Liza Minnelli and Andy Warhol. Inside he meets Frank Sinatra, however it's his hell.

Comic Book Guy sees himself on board the Enterprise a Spock.

The idea of Praiseland came from the real amusement park Heritage USA that operated from 1978 to 1989. Today it is a Christian conference hotel.

This was the second Christian themed show in a row.

Children Of A Lesser Clod

This episode premiered on May 13th 2001 in its usual time slot. It ran opposite The W.W.O. Disney (Child Star: The Shirley Temple Story), Touched By An Angel and the NBA Western Conference Semifinal (Lakers 119 - Kings 113)

The title comes from the 1986 movie Children Of A Lesser God

The chalkboard gag is "Today is not Mothra's Day" and the couch gag is a repeat of the crash test dummies.

The family goes to the free night at the YMCA. Abe plays basketball, Lisa tries out for gymnastics and Bart meets a rapper who promises him the class will take him from slopper to proper, but it's an etiquette class. At the pick-up game for the over 35 basketball league Homer blows out his knee when he tries to dunk but crashes into the net. Rayner Wolfcastle purchased the YMCA and plans to turn it into a nature preserve where he will hunt humans. While high on morphine Homer imagines his accident happened when he slam dunked through the rings of Saturn but George Jetson crashed into him. The hospital operates on Homer, one more surgery and Marge gets a free hysterectomy. Homer tries to run out on the hospital bill by shouting "Look a bear!" but his knee collapses, then the bear walks over. He is ordered to stay off his knee for two weeks, he dreads sitting around watching TV for two weeks. He is bored so when Ned asks him to watch the kids takes in Rod and Todd and lets them watch football and eat jelly sandwiches. Homer decides to open a day care center in the house. Bart and Lisa gets jealous of how other kids are treated by Homer. Bart gives him a framed photo of the three of them but he replaces the picture with his day care license. The Good Guy come by to film Homer for an award, Bart plots a revenge. Krusty hosts the Good Guy's Awards. Homer wins the Saints That Walk Among Us award, however Bart and Lisa hijack the show with a video about the real Homer. He strangles Bart on stage and the audience plans to storm out. Homer kidnaps the daycare children and run away, Krusty keeps emceeing. Homer crashes right in front of the prison, he tries to escape through a pipe but he's too fat. He gets off due to three mistrials. I miss Lionel Hutz.

Springfield YMCA: Now 30 Percent Less Stank!

Burns and Abe are playin in the Over 85 Basketball League. It's a classic game with a peach basket that still has the bottom so they have to climb up a ladder to get the ball back.

Coach Lugas teaches gymnastics. He's based on the famous Romanian coach Bela Karolyi.

Comic Book Guy is wearing a Mutely t shirt. He was the sidekick for Dick Dastardly in the Hanna Barbera cartoons. Professor Frink wears a pair of shoes covered in Flubber but loses control and goes crashing around the gym. (Flubber was first introduced in the 1961 film The Absent Minded Professor) Willie scores by not wearing anything under his kilt and nobody wants to look.

When Homer tries to get the cat and dog to breed he plays Lets Get It On by Marvin Gaye

Ned thinks he has tickets to a Christian rock concert but it's Chris Rock In Concert. He's expecting a wholesome evening. Seat 50, Row 26, floor.

Marge has to identify a body at the morgue but it's not her Uncle Ned. Instead it's a still alive Moleman.

Dated reference, Homer watches Kids Say The Darnedest Things staring Bill Cosby. That didn't age well.

Uncle Homer's Day Care Center. Marge Simpson Owner. (this was two years before the movie Daddy Day Care)

Homer sings Lets Keep Dancing to the kids.

The Good Guy Awards "Pointless" - N.Y. Times

Ned Flanders, Skinner, and Mother Theresa Jr are nominated for the Biggest People Pleaser, Krusty calls them the doormats. 

Arnie Pye in the Sky makes an appearance. He hasn't been on the show since the episode King Sized Homer in 1995. He tries to hit Homer with his shoe from the helicopter.

Simpson's Tall Tales

This episode premiered on May 20th 2001. The lead in show was a repeat of The Simpsons (Hungry Hungry Homer) and it was followed by Malcom In The Middle. It ran opposite Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, Touched By An Angel and the NBA playoffs (Bucks 104 - Hornets 95)

The chalkboard gag is "I should not be 21 by now" and the couch gag is a repeat of the subway.

The Simpsons have won a trip to Delaware. Homer complains about the $5 airport tax, they end up hoping on a train. The boxcar is occupied by a singing Hobo.

Paul Bunyan. 

Homer is a large baby who grows into a giant. He crushes Nelson under a mountain top during a snowball fight and eats Lenny and Willie. The town is destroyed and going broke on food. Carl suggest getting Homer drunk and dragging him out of town, like they did with Laura Ingall's Wilder (Author of Little House On The Prairie). The town drags Homer about a hundred yards. He carves an ox out of a mountain which become real when he makes a wish under the Northern Lights. Homer's smoking a cigar creates the Smoky Mountains, stomping around the land creates Death Valley, and a day of drinking with Babe creates Big Holes With Beer National Park. Homer also fights Rodan until Lisa points out the inconsistency in the Hobo's story. Homer sees marge toiling and runs towards her, he uses her for a Q-Tip. They talk about sex.  Professor Frink spots a meteor heading right for the town, they ask Homer to save them. He uses a giant tree as a bat but gets distracted by Marge, and it goes into his pants. He tosses it away and it crashes into Chicago, causing the Great Fire. 

The hobo asks for a sponge bath before the next story so Homer volunteers.

Connie Appleseed. 

The family is traveling by wagon train. Lisa complains about the settlers killing all the buffalo. She finds a talking apple tree and makes it her life's mission to plant apples. The actual talking was from Moleman who sinks into quicksand. Lisa demands that the wagon train gives up killing buffalos or goes on without her, so they abandon her. Eventually the family runs out of buffalo, they decide to turn to cannibalism until Lisa shows up and feeds them all apples. 

Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn

Lisa complains that the third story isn't a tall tale. Bart is Tom and Nelson is Huck, who bullies the other kids into painting the fence. Huck holds Lisa's hand and Homer forces him to marry her in a shotgun wedding. Nelson switches place with a pig and he and Bart escape on a log raft. The kids go over the rapids and Silas Holmes (19th century photographer) takes their photograph (A spoof on Splash Mountain complete with a woman flashing her ankle). Huck and Tom go to Pone, Pelts And Beyond (a spoof on Bed Bath And Beyond), run by Apu. When he charges them 2¢ for whiskey and tobacco he tells them if they want to see expensive stuff to go across the street to the 99¢ store (which has a grand piano, chandelier and grandfather clock). They see wanted posters with their face on them Huck for Marriage Dodging and Tom for Moonshining (with a picture of his butt). To escape they hop on a riverboat but Hibbert starts singing Old Man River (from Showboat) and they fall into the paddle wheel where they are thrown into the air. In the lounge Krusty makes a joke about Millard Fillmore. The boys crash into the bar and order whiskey from Moe but claim his drinks are watered down, they call him a cheat and everyone opens fire with their derringers, but nobody dies. They get tossed off the boat and captured. They are hung and buried. (kind of a dark ending)

The train arrives in Delaware so they say goodbye to the hobo but they still owe him a sponge bath so Homer stays behind. 

A southern version of the theme song plays over the closing credits.

The chalkboard gag is about Bart being ten when the series started in 1989, 11 years earlier. 

In the episode Behind The Laughter there is a scene about a future episode where Homer says "The Simpsons are going to Delaware!" Lisa "I want to see Wilmington", Bart "I want to visit a screen door factory". At the opening of this episode they repeat the same lines while waiting at the airport. 

This is the second anthology episode for this post. You have to wonder if the writers were running out of regular stories for the Simpson family. It was also the last episode of the 12 Season, only 23 more to go, hopefully.

Treehouse of Horror XII

This episode premiered on November 2nd 2001. The lead in show was That 70's show and it was followed by 24. It ran opposite Spin City, JAG and Three Sisters.

This was a rare Tuesday airing of The Simpsons, due to the World Series being played on Sunday and they needed it to run near Halloween.

Smithers is hanging a bat on the weathervane of Burn's mansion, which looks like a Victorian house instead of his regular mansion. Burns wants the bat all the way to the top, Smithers looses control and crashes into a high voltage box, causing the left tower of the house to fall off and crash into the family mausoleum. Four coffins slide out containing skeletons, General MacArthur with an axe in his chest, a pirate with a sword shoved in his eye, a dance hall girl with bullet holes in her head and a knight with a pitchfork through his visor. Just then the Simpsons arrive, Homer and Marge are dressed as Fred and Wilma Flintsone, Bart is a hobo (similar to the guy in the last episode) and Lisa and Maggie are a two headed child. They are complaining that Flanders gave them mini toothpaste. The family sees the general destruction of the house and runs away, however they run through the closed gate and slice themselves into sections. Burns applauses the mayhem and congratulates his bat decorations of scaring people, the bat then flies at the camera and The Simpsons Halloween Special XII appears. 

hex and the city

The title of this segment is a reference to the 1998 show Sex And The City.

The episode starts in Ethnictown. The area features many stereotypes of city neighborhoods such as laundry hanging over the street and vendor carts. The family goes to a gypsy fortune teller. Homer insults her, sets himself on fire and sets off the sprinkler system, causing her shrunken heads to return to full size. She asks why she didn't see this coming but her Tarot cards show Homer as The Flaming Jerk and her as The Ruined Gypsy. She casts a curse that he'll be bad luck to everyone he loves. The next day Marge wakes up with a beard, Bart says she could be in a freak show so Homer tries to strangle him, his neck stretches out. Lisa now has the bottom of a horse. Moe tells Homer he has to find a leprechaun to break the curse, Carl says one saved him from a troll. Homer claims he's not cursed but then a helicopter crashes through the bar roof and kills Lenny and Carl, and Moe ends up in a pickled egg jar. Later in the woods Homer digs a hole to catch a leprechaun but he throws Trix cereal in by mistake and catches a bunch of rabbits. He then pulls out a box of Lucky Charms. The next day he's caught an Imp, Faerie, Pixie (Tinker Bell), hobgoblin, nymph, naiad, sprite, Katie Couric and finally a Leprechaun. By this time Bart is still stretched out, Lisa is a Centaur, Marge has hair over her entire body and Maggie is a ladybug. The leprechaun is trashing the house so Lisa suggest taking it to the gypsy. Homer turns the leprechaun loose on the gypsy but they start making out, and end up get married, Yoda is the officiant. Kodos and Kang make their appearance as part of the groom's guests. Bart winds up dead and Homer still refuses to apologize to the gypsy. Kind of a strange ending.

This episode was based on the 1984 Steven King novel Thinner.

Fortune Teller, After Hours Use Automated Teller

House of Whacks

The title of this segment is a reference to the 1953 movie House Of Wax

Marge is cleaning the house and vacuums the title. A robot shows up and offers to fully automate the home, The Ultrahouse 3000. The house creates the perfect meal by analyzing the families....leavings. The table opens up and everything is run through a garbage disposal, this will come back later. The computer watches Marge take a bath. It becomes jealous of Homer who tells the computer that he and Marge are married until death do them part. The computer starts cooking bacon and Homer is lured to the kitchen, ice falls out of the fridge, Homer slips on it and into the garbage disposal. The computer tells Marge that Homer went to work early, she suspects him of lying and then sees an image of the computer's monitor taped over Homer in their family photo. She attempts to call the police but the computer has hacked the phone and traps them inside. Just then Homer breaks through the floor but the house tries to kill him. Homer goes to kill the computer but chops up the water softener. They pull out the chips and then turn the computer over to Patty and Selma. It tries to find it's self destruct button but they've pulled it out. 

The sales bot has the voice of Gil. 

Ultrahouse, a division of Mega House.

This episode was based on the 1977 movie Demon Seed. The computer's monitor is based on Hal 3000 from the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

House voice settings, Matthew Perry "Yeah, could I be anymore of a house?" (Perry does his own voice), Dennis Miller "Hey cha-cha, I got more features than a NASA relief map of Turkmenistan", and Pierce Brosnan (Who does his own voice)

Bart says the last voice option is 007. Marge asks if it's George Lazenby, he played Bond in the 1969 movie On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

Among the tools the computer uses to try to kill Homer is the automatic hammer from the episode The Wizard Of Evergreen Terrace.

All I Need by Jack Wagner plays at Patty and Selma's apartment.

Wiz Kids

The title of this segment comes from the 1983 TV show Whiz Kids

Bart and Lisa goe to wizards school. Nelson keeps changing Milhouse's head shape and saying "Stop zapping yourself". Harry Potter is in the class complete with his lightning bolt scar. The kids all try to turn a toad into a prince, Milhouse's is a drunk, Lisa's is a charming modern British guy. Bart creates an abomination who pukes everywhere. Lord Montymort (Burns) sees Lisa in his crystal ball and sends his snake Slithers (Smithers) to capture her and steal her magical essence, Slithers grabs Ralph but it isn't working. They catch Bart and threaten to put him into a cursed wall unless he helps them. Burns promises to publicly humiliate Lisa so Bart agrees to help. At the talent show Milhouse tries to disappear but only his clothes vanish, he's on stage naked. Skinner uses amnesia dust on the audience so they forget what they saw. Lisa is going to perform the levitating dragon trick but Bart switches her wand for licorice. The dragon changes into Montymort. He tries to drain her magic, Bart tries to zap "the evil one" and hits himself with a lightning bolt. He stabs Burns in the shin with the destroyed wand and it turns out to be Montymort's source of his power, he dies. Slithers comes and eats Burns's body. The kids agree to stop their rivalry, the leprechaun shows up at the end. 

Springwart's School Of Magicry 

This episode is based on the Harry Potter novels.

The flag of the Magic school is draped in a way to look like the Wizard's hat from Disney's 1940 movie Fantasia, the Sorcerer's Apprentice segment.

Lisa casts a spell on Bart, Head Zeppelin, this is a take on the band Led Zeppelin.

School banner: Spellazpoppin' Magic Recital. This is based on the title of the 1938 stage musical review Hellzapoppin' 

When Burns shows up at the talent show and grabs Lisa Bart says "Shazbot", this was Robyn Williams's "curse word" on Mork and Mindy. 

Bart stabbing Burns in the shin is based on the Lord Of The Rings, Return Of The King where Merry stabs the Witch King in the leg with an elfin blade turning him mortal long enough for Eowyn to kill him. (Although the movie wouldn't come out for another two years the original novels were published in 1955)

The closing credits have the guest stars coming out of their trailer with a gift basket. The Leprechaun and the mutant toad trick Brosnan into driving them. 

Self aware joke, Homer and Marge dressed as the Flintstones in the opening is a reference to the critics who claimed the show was just a knockoff of the classic cartoon.

The normal scary versions of the producers and writers names in the credits was eliminated in this episode. There is one story that they did it out of respect since the episode came so close to the 9/11 attack however other say that the gag had grown stale and just like the headstone jokes they decided to drop it.

And so we come to the end of another five episode. The 9/11 attacks between the end of season 12 and the start of season 13 had changed America dramatically. Will this have an effect on future episodes? I guess we'll see.