The Simpsons episodes 6 through 10

 Moaning Lisa

The 6th episode of The Simpsons ran on February 11th, 1990. It was still between America's Most Wanted and Married With Children. It ran opposite Elvis (a show about the early years of Elvis Presley), Murder She Wrote and Unsolved Mysteries.

The story is about Lisa who is sad for unknown reasons. She doesn't care about her home life or school and nothing seems to work, until she meets Bleeding Gums Murphy, a Blues Saxophone player. There she learns about the music and even writes a song about her feelings. Later Marge tells Lisa the same advice her mother had taught her, suppress your true feelings and fake being happy. When Marge sees the outcome of her advice she changes her mind and tells Lisa she can feel however she wants to, this actually makes Lisa happy. In the end they go to the Blues Hole club to see Murphy perform Lisa's song.

The show also had it's first sub plot. In it Homer and Bart are playing a versions of Punch Out!!! which Bart always wins, Homer even has a nightmare about being beaten up by Bart. He decides to get professional help and heads to the nearest arcade where the local champ teaches him some tips and tricks. The next time the two pay Homer is on the verge of winning when Marge unplugs the TV. Bart decides to retire undefeated and Homer is crushed. 

The chalkboard gag for this week is "I will not instigate revolution." and in the couch gag, Maggie gets popped out of the overcrowded couch but Marge catches her on the way down. Bart's phone gag is to call Moe and ask for a Jacque Strap, Moe calls out for a "Jock Strap".

One of the site gags is that Lisa is using Glum toothpaste, to go along with her sadness. And one of the continuity errors is when Homer bangs on bathroom door even though there is a bathroom off the master bedroom.

The music teacher, Mr. Largo has been seen in the opening credits but has a speaking roll in this episode. Janey Powell talks to Lisa during food fight but isn't directly named. There is a gym teacher in this show but she isn't named and later will be replace by the character of Mrs. Pommelhorst. As previously mentioned this is Bleeding Guns Murphy's first appearance on the show. And although they don't show it, Barney's Bowlorama is mentioned on the news, the report is the place burned down however in classic cartoon logic it will become one of the regular spots in Springfield. Of course Lisa plays the saxophone as part of the regular show, not just in the opening credits.

We're moving right along through the early years of The Simpsons.

The Call Of The Simpsons

The next episode premiered on February 16th, 1990 in it's usual spot. It ran opposite Elvis, 60 Minutes and The Goonies, a movie special. (It actually got better ratings than the classic movie or the King of Rock and Roll)

In this episode Bart is mowing the lawn with a manual push mower while Todd Flanders is using a riding mower complete with an umbrella. Homer warns Bart about the dangers of trying to keep up with the Flanderses but when Ned shows up in a top of the line RV Homer becomes jealous and sets off to the car lot to buy one of his own. 

At the lot Homer wants the ultra deluxe RV but finds out that he has lousy credit and has to settle for a small used one. The family then sets off to the woods for weekend camping trip, however Homer drives right to the edge of a cliff, when they all jump out it plunges to the bottom and explodes in a ball of flames. Homer and Bart set off to get help while Marge and Lisa remain behind, Maggie tries to follow Homer but ends up getting lost and winds up with a family of bears. Homer leads Bart over a cliff, into a running river and over a waterfall where they lose all their clothes. They make coverings out of plant life but when they get hungry Homer tries to get honey from the bees. He winds up with a stung mouth and jumps in a mud puddle, where a hiker videos him and mistakes him for Bigfoot. The story gets out and people swarm on the woods in hopes of capturing him and claiming a reward.

When Marge is found by the rangers she sees the photos and recognizes Homer, As she is answering questions tabloid headlines keep popping up such as "I Married Bigfoot" "His Name Is Homer" and "The Bigfoot Pork Chop Diet". A hungry Homer smells food and follows it to the source, the bear's cave where he finds Maggie. The three set out and stumble across the crow searching for Bigfoot.  Homer is shot with a tranquilizer dart and taken to a research center. After he is set free he worries about what the guys at work will say. The end.

This was probably the best Simpsons episode since the Christmas Special. The story was tight and all the different parts kept it rolling forward. They weren't afraid to be a little silly with the Bigfoot bit and it established both the nature of Homer, well meaning but not as prepared as he claimed to be, and the Flanders, who although they have it better don't really lord it over the Simpsons, it just turns out that way. Of course Ned would later change but at this point he was just an average guy. This show really laid the groundwork for future episodes and explains why the ratings started to go up.

The chalkboard gag is "I will not draw naked ladies in class", there is no couch gag, they just run in and start watching tv. 

We aren't introduced to any regular main characters in this episode but it is the first time Ned says "Yes in deedle doodly" and Bart says "don't have a cow man" this would become one of his catchphrases for the early years. 

For the Then and Now the RV costs $350 a month, even though they don't say how many months, adjusted for inflation that would be $825 a month.

The Telltale Head

This episode premiered on February 25th, 1990 in it's usual spot. It aired opposite Challenger (a movie about the shuttle disaster), Murder She Wrote and A Family For Joe (a TV movie that would later be run as a sitcom)

The plot of this episode has to do with the statue of Jebediah Springfield, the founder of the town. Bart hangs out with the bad kids, sneaking into a movie and shoplifting at the Kwik-E-Mart. When they are in the park Bart makes a comment about a cloud that looks like the statue with it's head cut off. The bad kids say that would be cool but then tell Bart that he isn't cool and chase him off. In order to prove himself he sneaks out in the middle of the night and beheads the statue, however the next day he finds out everyone is angry, including the bad kids. When he finally confesses he and Homer attempt to return the head but are attacked by an angry mob. Bart explains that most people didn't care about the statue until he cut the head off and what he had learned from the whole incident so they let him go.

The show is a flashback episode starting off with Homer and Bart being chased by an angry mob and telling the story of how everything lead up to that point.

The title and plot of the show comes from Edgar Allen Poe's story The Telltale Heart. During the show Bart hears the voice of Jedediah Springfield telling him to do the right thing.

The chalkboard gag is "I did not see Elvis, perhaps referring to the short lived show that ran opposite The Simpsons for a while. The couch gag is a repeat of the first one where Bart pops up into the air, however this time he drops back down when the view changes to the writing credits being seen on the Simpson's TV. 

This episode will have the first appearance of Reverend Lovejoy and the bad kids Kearney, Jimbo and Dolph. Barney, whose first appearance was in the Christmas special is now seen with brown hair instead of blond. The show features the Aztec Theater and the Kwik-E-Mart with Apu behind the counter. Krusty The Clown had appeared in the Ullman shorts and in the background of the regular series but this is his first appearance on the regular show, Sideshow Bob also makes an appearance but not in a speaking roll.  We also see the statue of Jebediah Springfield in the town square and hear the story of his founding the town for the first time. There is also a hint to the background story of Mr. Burns and Mr. Smithers when at the conclusion of Bart's town pride speech Mr. Burns says "I love you Smithers" to which Mr. Smithers replies "The feeling is more than mutual sir".

This was a good foundation episode and Jebediah will be featured in a lot of future episodes and even the plot line from this episode in the revamped opening credits later on.

Life On The Fast Lane

This episode first ran on March 18th 1990 in it's usual slot. It was opposite Elvis, Murder She Wrote and The Gifted One (a made for TV Science Fiction movie)

It's Marge's birthday and Homer gives her a bowling ball as a present, however he meant for her to not like it and keep it for himself. Instead Marge decides to go bowling where she meets Jacque, a bowling instructor and hustler. They start bowling together on a regular basis and Marge really starts to like the attention, meanwhile Homer and the kids start to worry that the marriage is in trouble. Jacque invites Marge to meet him at his apartment but in the end she goes back to Homer. The plot line of the show was taking from the movie Diary of a Mad Housewife.

There is no chalkboard or couch gag in this episode. 

We learn that Marge is 34 years old. It would mean that both her and Homer were 24 when they got married and Bart was born.

The restaurant they celebrate Marge's birthday at is The Singing Sirloin and each song matches the events at the table. Anniversary, pregnancy and funeral. 

In pop culture references Lisa makes macaroni art for Marge, it looks like Whistler's Mother. When Marge's sisters are complaining that Homer only gets gifts for himself they talk about the Connie Chung calendar, she was a popular reporter of the day and later married Maury, "You're not the father", Povich. The episode ends with the Officer And A Gentleman ending, complete with the Love Lift Us Up song and Marge taking Homer's hard hat off his head and putting on her own.

This was the first episode where Homer and Marge's marriage was in serious trouble. Unfortunately it would be used a lot in the future. 

The episode mentions the Rusty Barnacle that would appear in the next episode. Marge goes bowling at the New Barney's Bowlarama, since it burned down in a previous episode. An interesting note is a scene in which the Moon in the background looks like a bowling ball.

Characters introduced in this episode are  Helen Lovejoy, the reverend's gossipy wife who sees Marge and Jacque at brunch, and Lenny, although he isn't named directly.

There was a three week gap between this episode and the previous one. Fox ran reruns of the series during that time.

Homer's Night Out

This episode appeared on March 25th 1990 in it's usual time slot. It ran opposite America's Funniest Home Videos, Murder She Wrote and The Wonderful World Of Disney which featured the movie The Rescue. 

In this episode Homer is talking about his assistant Eugene Fisk getting drunk at an office birthday party and hitting on one of the women from the valve maintenance division. Jump 6 months ahead and Homer is going to the bachelor party for Eugene, his supervisor. Meanwhile Bart has sent away for a spy camera and after bugging the postal carrier it finally shows up. He takes a series of embarrassing photos, including one of his butt. Because Homer is at the stag party Marge decides to take the kids out to dinner at the Rusty Barnacle. Bart orders squid with extra tentacles but when it arrives it makes him ill, when he goes to the restroom he spies on the party and sees Homer dancing with Princess Kashmir, a local stripper. Bart takes a photo with his spy camera and when he develops it all the kids ask for a copy, which then gets spread all over town. When Marge sees the photo she orders Homer to teach Bart that women aren't objects and insists he goes and finds the woman. After a tour of the various "Gentlemen Clubs" Homer finally finds the woman but accidentally winds up on stage where he then gives a speech about respecting women. 

The chalkboard gag is I will not call my teacher "hot cakes" which is a hint about the plot of the episode. The couch gag is a repeat from the third episode where it collapses when the whole family jumps on it. 

At the restaurant Bart changes the special on the board to Cold Pet Rat. Homer hops on the scale and weights 239 pounds and vows to go on a diet and exercise. 6 months later when he jumps on the scale again he still weighs the same and again vows to give up snack foods

The only new character is Princess Jasmine, the stripper. She won't appear again for a long time.

This is the second episode in which Homer and Marge's marriage is in trouble. I should keep a running count to see how often they go back to this plot line.

So that completes 10 Simpsons episodes, 740 to go.