The Simpsons 96-100

Deep Space Homer

This episode premiered on February 24th 1994. It ran in its usual time slot and was followed by a repeat of The Simpsons. It ran opposite a repeat of Matlock (Missing Persons had been cancelled and the replacement show wouldn't start until the next week), The Winter Olympics and Mad About You.

There is no chalkboard gag and the couch gag is a repeat of the really obese guy.

Homer is excited because after waiting until everyone else won the mandatory Worker of the Week he is finally due, but is passed over for an inanimate carbon rod. Bart writes "insert brain here" on the back of Homer's head (this joke will come back around). At home Homer almost watches a space launch but Bart unplugs the TV just in time. As ratings, and funding, falls NASA considers telling the public that the space chimps came back super intelligent but one of the monkeys tells them no. NASA decides to send a blue collar slob into space, they plan on doing an extensive search just as Homer calls them to complain about not being able to get Tang. They show up at Moe's in search of Homer but he claims that it was Barney who made the call. When Homer finds out that they are looking for an astronaut he confesses and NASA decides to take them both, one of the guys knocks out Barney and Homer with a blackjack, shanghaied as it were. When NASA presents Barney and Homer to the press the reporters ask "is this a joke?" Homer answers a question about the dangers of space he says the only real danger is if they get sent to The Planet Of The Apes, and figures out that it was a future Earth, he does the Charlton Heston Damn You dialog, just then Barney passes out and NASA declares the press conference over. Barney sobers up and becomes the best astronaut. The other two astronauts for the mission are Race Banyon and Buzz Aldrin (who does his own voice over work). NASA chooses Barney to go into space but he drinks some non alcoholic champaign, steals a jet pack, crashes into a pillow factory roof and then gets run over by a marshmallow truck, NASA choses Homer by default. Homer starts to worry about the fight but then remembers the time he failed to meet Mr. T and decides to go through with the mission. During the launch when Homer starts to complain the astronauts want to sedate him. Homer opens a bag of chips that start to fly around the ship, he starts to eat them 2001: A Space Odyssey style, but crashes into the ant farm. NASA has James Taylor sing a song to the astronauts (he does his own voice over and singing). Kent Brockman cuts to the ship just as an ant flies by the camera. This is the famous speech "I for one welcome our new insect overlords" quote, complete with a graphic of an ant whipping a guy on the ground. To clear out the ants and chips NASA listens to James Taylor and blows the door sucking all loose things out, however Homer prematurely releases his seat belt and is almost sucked out. Homer breaks off the door handle and Banyon decides to kill him, Homer tries to bash him with a rod but gets it jammed in the doorframe, thus sealing the hatch. The shuttle craft crashes into the News Reporters Convention. The rod Homer used to jamb the door becomes a hero complete with magazine cover photos and a ticker tape parade. the joke goes full circle. Bart writes Hero on the back of Homer's head and then throws the marker in the air, where it becomes the Fox satellite and hits a space baby Homer in the head. 

The show is a spoof on the movies Apollo 11, The Reluctant Astronaut (starring Don Knotts), The Right Stuff, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Star Trek (both original and Next Generation).

There is an x-ray scene that is a spoof on the arriving on Mars scene from Total Recall. Workers are carrying a pistol, an Uzi (couldn't get away with that joke in the modern world), two kids disguised as an adult and Homer with a chimp skeleton.

Burns speaks from the balcony like a South American dictator. 

The space launch is beaten in the ratings by A Connie Chung Christmas. Eye To Eye With Connie Chung ran on an opposite network on the same nights as The Simpsons.

NASA checks out the most popular personalities on TV, Home Improvement (1991-1999) There's a Back To Jail joke referring to when Tim Allen was arrested for drug dealing. Married With Children (1987-1997) The show followed The Simpsons at one point. 

Homer calls NASA and Bill Clinton in the White House looking for Tang. The mix is still available but mostly sold in South America.

The Simpsons arrive in Florida in the Beverly Hillbillies truck complete with Marge in the rocking chair on top. The truck from the original show was a chopped down Buick touring car. 

Cape Canaveral, Formerly Cape Kennedy, Formerly Cape Arbuckle (the last name is a reference to the silent era actor Fatty Arbuckle who's career was destroyed by a false rape allegation) Cape Canaveral was changed to Cape Kennedy in 1963 in honor of the dead President but the locals complained and refused to go along with the name so in 1973 they changed it back.

On the centrifuge Homer turns into Popeye, in the breathing test he drinks the water, then there is the fight scene between Barney and Homer from Star Trek: Amok Time.

Itchy And Scratchy: Scar Trek: The Next Laceration. Scratchy is an astronaut but Itchy bursts out of his stomach (Alien) and tosses him in the air lock (2001: A Space Odyssey). Scratchy catches him with a rover, cuts him in half on the rings of Saturn and then pulls off his helmet so his head explodes in the vacuum of space. His blood spells out The End. "Viewer Advisory: The preceding program contained scenes of extreme violence and should not have been viewed by young children." Homer freaks out after watching it.

Homer and the other two astronauts do the slow motion walk to the ship The Right Stuff style, however when Homer sees it he goes back into normal mode and runs away. 

Homer calls Marge from a payphone, this scene comes from The Reluctant Astronaut. Homer opening the bag of chips, freeing the ants and shorting out the equipment is also a take on the film where Don Knotts gets peanut butter and crackers mixed up in the guidance computer. When the ants short out the navigation system the astronauts are tossed from side to side like in Star Trek.

The shuttle is called The Corvair, the name of the car that was considered Unsafe At Any Speed. 

Mission cargo, IRS surveillance satellite, Experimental Ant Colony, Children's Letters to God "to jettison"

During the launch Homer turns into Nixon. Bart says "go Homer go", Lisa says "How doth the hero, strong and brave, a celestial path in the heavens pave" The family stares at her until she says "go Dad go" (Lisa's poem is original to the show, not a famous quote)

During the reentry the astronauts hum The Battle Hymn Of The Republic while Homer sings the Golden Grahams jingle. This is taken from the scene where John Glenn reenters the atmosphere with a loose heat shield in The Right Stuff.

Self Aware Joke: During the reentry Lisa says "Come on dad, make it" to which Abe replies "Of course he'll make it, it's TV"

Time Magazine: "In Rod We Trust" with a photo of the rod Homer used to jamb the door shut. 

The closing with the marker going into space, turning into a Fox satellite and hitting a space baby Homer in the head is taken from 2001: A Space Odyssey complete with the song.

Homer Loves Flanders

This episode premiered on March 17th 1994. It ran in its usual time slot and was followed by The Sinbad Show. It ran opposite Byrds Of Paradise (a short lived drama), The NCAA basketball tournament and Mad About You. 

The chalkboard gag is "I am not delightfully saucy" and the couch gag is there are two couches so the characters split themselves in half and sit on each one. 

Homer wants to go to the big football game, Bart tricks him into buys a coupon for a free wig with the purchase of a wig. Homer skips 8 days of work to be the second in line to buy tickets, however the guy ahead of him buys 30,000 tickets with the promise to pay the $950,000 for them later. That's almost $32 a ticket. The radio station is giving away two tickets but Flanders wins them. Homer prays for tickets to the game just as Ned shows up, "why do you mock me Lord?" Homer plans on robbing Ned but decides to go with him instead. Mr. Burns tells the team there's a little crippled boy wanting them to win the game, a boy he crippled himself, it turns out to be Milhouse and Burns threatens to come back and finish the job if the team loses. Homer tries to get an autograph from the quarterback but is ignored until Ned calls him over. He's a friend of Ned and offers him the game ball, Ned says Homer is the big fan so the quarterback gives it to him. Ned invites Homer to check out his new pool table but he breaks it and then tries to changes the channel,  Ned has 230 channels but they're all blocked except the religious one. To pay back Ned Homer takes him to Moe's, Ned recognizes Moe as the guy who reads to the children at the hospital. Homer invites himself to dinner at Neds and then joins him in his charity work. At the homeless shelter Homer gets a new set of clothes and then starts hustling the people through the soup line, the paper report see him and puts him on the front page of the paper. Ned suggests Homer goes to Moe's but he says they are always closed on Tuesday, over in the corner of the shelter Moe is reading Little Women to the homeless crowd. Marge says that Homer has been spending too much time with Ned, Homer suggest the Simpsons and the Flanders spend the weekend together. At the lake Bart introduces Rod and Todd to Pixie Sticks, they go sugar crazy and start fighting. When Ned decides to leave early Homer takes his boat out for a spin and manages to crash it into Ned's car. Ned has a dream about shooting Homer. When Ned tries to get away from Homer he gets pulled over by Wiggums, just then the church bus passes by and the Chief says Ned is high on goofballs. During a silent prayer at church Homer is whistling through his nose, Ned freaks out and tells him off. When everyone turns on Ned Homer stands up for his defense. Lisa thinks it's the end of their wacky adventures but the next week Homer inherits a haunted house that they have to spend the weekend in and then Homer tells Ned to go away. 

Continuity error. Homer throws away their wedding photo to put his football on the mantle, Marge isn't pregnant in it. 

Eye On Springfield: An expose on The Army or as Kent Brockman calls them "The Kill-Bot Factory". And The Pigskin Classic between the Shelbyville Sharks and Springfield Atoms.

The radio station plays Two Tickets To Paradise by Eddie Money after giving away the football tickets. 

Helter Shelter: Father James Helter, Founder (a spin on the Beatles song Helter Skelter)

Springfield Shopper headline Big Fat Man Has Big Fat Heart (photo of Homer with soup) Little Thin Man Accused In Robbery.

Homer has a Rappin' Ronnie Reagan tape. (It's just Reagan saying "well" over and over)

Welcome to Lake Springfield: No Mercury Dumping Without A Permit.

Ned's boat is named Thanks For The Boat Lord II

The scene where Ned shoots all the Homers from the tower is a reference to the University Of Texas tower shooting in 1966. (before mass shootings were a daily thing). In the dream a postal worker pulls out an uzi and starts shooting back. (In the days when mass shootings were known as Going Postal)

Homer passes through the hedge and then fades back into them. This will become a popular internet meme in the future. 

Ned tries to escape Homer who comes after him with golf clubs, a take on Terminator II. When Wiggums arrests Ned he says "where's your messiah now?" like Edward G. Robinson in The Ten Commandments (Wiggums voice is based on the actor)

First Church Of Springfield: Loosest Bingo Cards In Town

Self Aware Joke: "The Following Thursday 8:00 PM", the time slot The Simpsons ran in at the time.

Bart Gets An Elephant

This episode premiered on March 31st 1994. It ran in its usual time slot and opposite the regular programming. 

The chalkboard gag is "Organ transplants are best left to the professionals" and the couch gag is a repeat of the eyeballs floating in the dark. 

Marge wakes up to find that the house is a mess. Bart plans on going to the ravine to look for a dead martian. Lia is going to jam with the Little White Girls Blues Quartet. Homer is off to a beer drinking contest. When they go to leave Marge makes them stay to help clean up the house. Bart tries to escape but finds that they are locked in. Homer uses a leaf blower on the basement but just makes a bigger mess. Homer uses the cleaner but has hallucinations from its fumes, the cleaning product mascots attack him. After an entire day the house if finally clean until the mess it up in about two minutes. The radio station calls the police station for their contest but the cops have been taken hostage by Snake who proceeds to shock them with the stun guns. On the next call they get Bart who says the winning phrase "KBBL is going to give me something stupid", they offer him $10,000 in cash or an elephant, he takes the elephant. In order to keep their jobs the DJs bring an elephant to the Simpsons, Snowball and SLH run off and hide. The elephant tries to eat Bart and then rubs on the house. Homer chains him in the back yard so it gets mad and destroys everything. Homer takes the elephant to the bar for free peanuts and then to the arboretum where he strips all the trees. Kids show up wanting to pay to see the elephant so Homer puts up a sign that says "go away", Bart puts up a sign charging a $1 to see the elephant and $2 to ride it. When the money coming in doesn't cover the costs Homer raises the price to $100 and $500 and tries to retroactively collect from Milhouse's parents. Homer tries to sell the elephant, the only one who wants to buy it is an ivory dealer. To save the elephant Bart unchains him and he takes off. Homer follows the path of destruction until a tornado hits. Wiggums gets calls about the elephant but laughs them all out, including one of a liquor store robbery with an officer down. The elephant storms through the Republican convention to cheers and then the Democratic convention to boos. When the elephant arrives at the peanut factory the supervisor tells them to get ready but is so busy pointing out that he was right he gets run over. Homer still plans on selling the elephant until it saves his life from the tar pits so they take him to the animal refuge. 

Bart cleans to the song 16 Tons and Take This Job And Shove it. He wipes off the painting of American Gothic and underneath it says "If you can read this, you scrubbed too hard. Signed Grant Wood. 

Homer reads a TV guide that lists an episode of Gomer Pyle USMC "Gomer upsets Sgt. Carter" "Gomer! Shazam!"

The Aztec head from the episode Blood Feud is still in the basement.

While cleaning Lisa sees the White Girl Jazz Quartet go by with President Clinton playing the sax, which he did in real life. Moe drives by and shouts at him to get back to work to which he replies "make me"

Cleaning products: Terrapin Wax, Bubble Off, Knight Cleaner, Mr. Cleanser "Only use in a well-ventilated area"

Springfield Shopper headline: KBBL Cheats Straight-A Student !!!" (the space is in the headline)

When the elephant arrives Marge looks out the window to see its eyeball. This is a take on the T Rex looking into the car in Jurassic Park. 

The first appearance of Cletus, the slack jawed yokel. 

Self aware joke: the ivory dealer was also a whale hunter, seal clubber and president of the Fox network. 

Patty and Selma are riding rocking chairs in the tornado, a take on the scene in The Wizard Of Oz. 

Two guys are trying to carry window glass across a street in a classic joke from old movies. First they dodge the elephant and then Bart on his skateboard. When they get to the other side of the street they toss it in the dumpster. 

Republican convention banners: We Want What's Worst For Everyone and We're just Plain Evil. Democratic convention banners: We Hate Life And Ourselves and "We Can't Govern!

Bart calls for his elephant with the Lassy song playing in the background.

When Homer shows up at the tar pits he runs into a deer statue and said "D'oh" Lisa says "A Deer!" and Marge "A female deer". This is the song from The Sound Of Music. 

Burns' Heir

This episode premiered on April 14th, 1994. It ran in its usual time slot and opposite Byrds Of Paradise, Christy and Mad About You

The chalkboard gag is "The pledge of allegiance does not end with Hail Satan" and the couch gag is the family comes in shaped like balls and bounces into place on the couch, except for Bart who keeps bouncing until Homer grabs him and makes him sit down.

Homer is complaining that nothing interesting happens at work when he suddenly wins a big prize, industrial chimney sweep. Basically they wrap him up and dunk him in the chimney. Meanwhile Burns is taking a bath but nearly drowns when Smithers leaves a sponge on top of his hat. Burns realizes that he has no heir. At the auditions Burns has a mechanical boot to kick Bart. Bart gets mad and starts throwing rocks through Burns' windows so he's chosen as the heir. At the official signing Homer tries to scare Burns into having a heart attack but Grandpa keels over instead. When Bart agrees to spend the night at Burns' house he asks for pizza delivered by Krusty the Clown, who does it for $400. Burns reveals he has cameras planted in every home in Springfield. At home Bart starts acting up and tosses his meatloaf to SLH, Homer gets mad because it's an end piece. Bart runs away to Burns' house, part of the old guy's plan. When Homer shows up he demands that Bart comes home but they go inside and lock the door on him, to get revenge Homer rings the bell and runs away. The police refuse to do anything so they go to Lionel Hutz, in court the judge rules that Burns is Bart's biological father. To make Bart happy Burns gives him a sports car which he ends up driving through Santa's Village. Homer and Marge hire a deprogrammer who takes someone to a motel, Mayor Quimby pounds on the wall because he's "killing the romance". It turns out the deprogrammer kidnapped Moleman by mistake who now thinks Homer is his father.  When Burns overreacts to a cartoon Bart wants to go home so Burns shows him a hidden camera of the family. However when Homer drops his sandwich he says "B'oh" and Bart becomes suspicious. Burns goes in the next room where a group of actors are playing the part and he gets the Homer character to say D'oh. In order to fully convert Bart Burns wants him to fire Homer. Instead Bart "fires" Burns. Homer tells Bart that the people on TV were just actors, who hung out with them for a week to get their character down. Also Homer brought Moleman home to be Bart's new brother. 

Burns' flashback on his life, Baby Burns doesn't like his milk so he fires the nanny, makes a guy dance by shooting at his feet but it's a one shot flint pistol so he has to stop and reload. He pretends to be part of Greenpeace in order to sink their boat.

On the Greenpeace boat Burns claims to be Wavy Gravy (Hugh Romney), a real person from the 60's best knows as a member of the Hog Farm commune in San Francisco and appearing in the documentary about Woodstock

Siskel and Ebert: The Movie "Two thumbs up Siskel & Ebert"

When the family goes to the movie they have the THX Sound System "The Audience Is Listening" and it's too loud. A common complaint back in the day.

When Burns announces he's looking for an heir in a movie trailer it's a spoof on the trailer for the Robin Williams movie Toys, and it ends with the Let's All Go To The Lobby song.

Burns' Heir Auditions In Lillie Langtry Theater, All Others Go To Hell. (Lillie Langtry was an actress from the late 1800's)

Kids trying out for Burns' money, Milhouse, Nelson, Martin, Lisa and Bart

Marge fantasies about Bart graduating from a fancy college and then she runs off with Lee Majors. 

Burns leans out the window and shouts What Day Is This? and a cockney boy answers "Why it's Christmas Day sir". This is from A Christmas Carol in case you didn't know.

Krusty is suppose to be on the air live when he delivers Bart's pizza, so he puts on a rerun, it just happens to be the episode where he announces the start of the Falkland Islands war. For those who don't know Argentina claimed sovereignty over the Falklands however they had been British territory since 1833. It eventually led to a war in 1982.

While spying on everyone in Springfield Burns sees Moe doing the You Talking To Me? monolog from Taxi Driver and Homer eating tulips in the bathroom. 

Wanted posters on Wiggums board. The Babysitter Bandit and Snake. 

Lionel Hutz Attorney, Also Expert Shoe Repair. His office is in the mall between The Creamatorium (ice cream parlor) and Gum For Less. Across the mall is Shoes For Tots

Bart offers his Bob Mackie original blazer if Milhouse will stick around.

This episode was the first appearance of the foreign little guy (from Estonia) he appears as both an elf in Santa's village and as Lisa in Burns' fake video of the Simpsons. 

Conformco Brain Deprogrammers, A Subsidiary Of Mrs. Fields' Cookies. Before photo of a Hare Krishna 

The Happy Earwig Motel. "Our crawl-space now body-free"

The Itchy And Scratchy Show, The Buck Chops Here. Scratchy goes to the mint but Itchy throws him on the conveyer belt where he gets chopped up into money. Itchy takes him to a rich dog's club where they use Scratchy to light their cigars.

Among the things Burns offers Bart in exchange for firing Homer is a gift certificate to Blockbuster Video.  In the day there were plenty of stores in the chain but today there is only one in Bend Oregon.

Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song

The title of this episode comes from the 1971 movie Sweet Sweetback's Baadassss Song (although the plot of the movie has nothing to do with the plot of this episode)

This episode premiered on April 28th 1994. It ran in its usual time slot and opposite the regular programs.

The chalkboard gag is I Will Not Celebrate Meaningless Milestones (this was the 100th episode) and the couch gag is the Fox logo appears in the corner of the screen. Homer jumps up and tears it off, throws it on the floor and the whole family stomps on it.

Bart is taking old home movies to Show And Tell, they include Homer washing his car and when he comes over to mug for the camera the car rolls away. Then he sets his beard on fire. It finishes with Bart on the toilet so he decides to not take the video. Lisa convinces him to take a geode but everyone else on the bus has one so he brings SLH. Nelson brings an empty can of tomato paste. After Show and Tell Bart puts SLH in the coat closet but he escapes through the vent, Willie goes after him. He gets stuck in the vent in the gym and they have to call the fire department. Just then Chalmers shows up and the fire department crashes into the scoreboard, knocking it into the window and the dog drops down in Chalmers arms. He decides that the dog is too lovable and he can't do anything bad, but then he gets crushed by a greased Willie and fires Skinner. Chalmers names Flanders as the new principal. Bart starts to feel really guilty so he goes to visit Skinner, they have a good laugh at the way Ned is running the school. Skinner decides to reenlist in the army. Bart goes to visit Skinner during live mortar round practice, they have to reaim at the last second and one hits the Kwik-E-Mart's new gas pumps, a K comes crashing down into the military base. Bart and Skinner start planning on getting Ned fired. Chalmers sees the school in shambles and doesn't want to fire Ned until he hears Flanders saying "Lets thank the Lord for this day" and fires him for a school prayer. Skinner gets his job back and things return to normal. 

In the day the networks started putting what were known as "bugs" on their programs, usually the network's logo in the corner. The couch gag is a self aware joke mocking this practice. 

On Homer's birthday he gets a copy of Sebastian Cabot's Beard Book, With Foreword by Willie Nelson, then he sets his beard on fire with the birthday candles. 

Self aware and prediction of the future joke, Marge says she's not comfortable with people laughing at the family's private moments and how would Bart feel if 20 years from now people were laughing at the things he did. 30 years later....

In the cafeteria the lunch lady has a barrel labeled Assorted Horse Parts Now With More Testicles "More testicles mean more iron"

For years people have complained about Disney but when Willie goes after SLH in the air vents you can clearly see his banana sack. 

Willie going after SLH is a spoof on the scene where they track the Xenomorph in Alien. 

This is the first appearance of Leopold. A gruff guy who makes announcements . In this episode Chalmers says he's there to introduce the new principal and has Leopold makes a threatening speech to the students before he names Ned Flanders as the new principal.

Skinner's post principal plans include writing a story about a park with cloned dinosaurs. Apu tells him that is the plot to Jurassic Park. The movie had come out a year earlier. 

Skinner has a photo of him in Vietnam. He was shot in the back during a Bob Hope show when he tried to get Joey Heatherton to put on some pants. For you Century Kids Bob Hope was an actor known for his USO shows from WWII through Vietnam and Joey Heatherton was an actress/pin up girl.

Skinner wears an apron that says Principals do it 9 months a year.

Ned Flanders flashes back to his Beatnik parents.

This is the first appearance of Luigi Risotto, the stereotypical owner of a local Italian restaurant, complete with the accent. 

Introduction of the unibrow baby, Maggies arch nemesis. He isn't named in this episode.

Fort Springfield, Proud Home Of Secret Civilian Mail-Opening Project

This was the 100th episode of The Simpsons. This is a milestone in sitcoms because it means the show will now be eligible for syndication. Nobody at the time realized that the show would still be putting out original content 3 decades later.  btw, I have 650, plus whatever new ones they come out with, and a movie to go.

 The Simpsons 91-95

$pringfield (or, How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Legalized Gambling)

The title is taken from Dr. Stranglove (Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb) and the 1971 film $

This show premiered on December 16th, 1993. It ran in its usual time slot followed by The Sinbad Show. It ran opposite Missing Persons, In The Heat Of The Night and Mad About You.

The chalkboard gag is "I will not say Springfield just to get applause" and the couch gag is the family running into each other and shattering on the floor.

Homer goes to the restroom and finds a pair of glasses in the toilet. When he puts them on he tries to sound smart, it turns out they belonged to Henry Kissinger who didn't want to admit he dropped them, later Kissinger is injured when he walks into a wall. Burns randomly choses to lay off people at the plant but decides to keep Homer since he's wearing glasses and looks like an egghead. The Springfield economy suffers when Fort Springfield closes down, the city holds a meeting where Quimby suggests taking the last of the public funds to go to a better city, run for mayor and then will bring everyone else along. Skinner suggest legalizing gambling, everyone thinks Marge is going to be against it but she supports the idea. Burns builds the Mr. Burns Casino. During the magic act the tiger remembers her days in the wild and attacks the magicians (This is considered one of the times The Simpsons predicted the future after the Siegfried & Roy tiger attack in 2003). Bart wins on a slot machine and is kicked out so he starts his own casino in his treehouse. Marge visits Homer in the casino and plays the slots, she wins a dollar but is tempted to return. At Bart's casino Milhouse tries a magic trick with cats and gets attacked (similar to the casino magicians). Mr. Burns lives in the casino and starts to act like Howard Hughes. Meanwhile Marge is busy playing the slots while Maggie wanders off, Barney saves her from being eaten by one of the casino tigers. Marge has becoming addicted to gambling and the house is falling apart. Lisa has a dream about the Boogie Man and Homer panics, Marge comes home to find Homer with a shotgun. Marge promises to be home. Bart hijacks Robert Goulet for his casino. Lisa needs a Florida shaped costume for the school pageant so Homer makes it for her and it's a disaster, so he goes to the casino to get Marge back, as he rampages through and every game he touches wins. When Burns see Homer he decides to go back to the power plant. Marge realizes she has a gambling problem, Homer doesn't want her to go to a professional because it's too expensive. 

There is a flashback scene to a newsreel at the movies, News On Parade Corporation News: Current Events Atomic bomb test in Nevada, New Gadgets: a tv that causes a family to panic when a train comes at them. Hollywood: Amos, the White actor who did the voice of the racist Black characters. Springfield City On The Grow, Springfield galoshes, Aqua-Car factory, Professor Rubber Mouth (a guy with 5 billiard balls in his mouth) 

Classic Springfield: Movie at the Aztec theater: "Featuring Ray Milland in Tame The Mighty Hudson." Vinegar Parlor, Heinrich's Monocle Shop.

Modern Springfield Movie marquee: XXX Sperms of Endearment, I'll Do Anyone

Homer wearing glasses "The sum of the square root of any two sides of an isosceles triangle is equal to the square root of the remaining side" Guy in toilet stall "That's a right triangle you idiot!" The original quote is by the Scarecrow in The Wizard Of Oz, who got the geometry wrong. 

Mr. Burns says he lived through McKinleynomics. McKinley was President from 1897 to 1901 and caused a depression with his tariff policy.

Scott Christian anchors the news. He made his first appearance in Krusty Gets Busted.

The government closes Fort Springfield the prostitutes are hitchhiking to Fort Bragg.

Burns remembers back to when he was a kid and crippled an Irish workman with a bumper car at the Springfield Boardwalk. 

Casino designs, Britannia, looks like Parliament and the woman are all bucktoothed. Woodstock. The Sea Captain offers to sail around the cape and get spices. 

The Mr. Burns Casino was a spoof on Trump's Taj Mahal in Atlantic City. It would appear in another episode.

Homer's life long dream was to be a contestant on The Gong Show which he did in 1977. 

Gerry Cooney Official Greeter of the Burns Casino. He annoys Otto who punches him once and knocks him out. (This is a reference to his fight with George Forman where he went down in the second round)

Burns Casino Signs: Ticker sign: Blood Bank on Premises. Today: The Flamboyant Magic Of Gunther And Ernst. XXX Krusty's Midnight Show Adults Only. )Yoko Ono in the audience. She is first seen in the episode Homer's Barber Shop Quartet) Tonight Robert Goulet Also Concrete and Asphalt Expo 1993. (that was 30 years ago btw)

First appearance of stereotypical Texan. "Yee Haw" He gives Homer his lucky hat that he was wearing the day Kennedy was shot.

Bart's treehouse casino: Tonight Milhouse. Next Week: An Evening With Jimbo. At the sports book the bets are Krabappel Nervous Breakdown 2-1 Fat Kid Popular 50-1 Bart Gets Own TV Show 1000-1 (self aware joke) Bart accidentally books the real Lisa Minelli instead of an impersonator and has to find a new act, het hijacks Robert Goulet who sings Jingle Bells with the Batman lyrics and hits Milhouse in the eye with his mic. Nelson is in the front row, this will come up in a later episode.

Rainman shows up at Homer's table. 

Burns designs the Spruce Moose to carry 200 passengers from New York to the Congo in 17 minutes. This is a spoof of Howard Hughes's Spruce Goose, a plane that only flew once and became a tourist attraction in the 80's.

Self Aware Joke: Homer says everything is solved just like on TV and then trips over a footstool like Dick Van Dyke in the opening of his show.  

Robert Goulet and Gerry Cooney both do their own voiceovers in this episode. 

This was the last episode of 1993. Only 30 more years to go.

Homer The Vigilante 

This episode premiered on January 6th, 1994. It ran in its usual time slot and ran opposite the regular series.

The chalkboard gag is "I am not authorized to fire substitute teachers" and the couch gag is a repeat of the explosion from the three takes.

While the Simpsons are peacefully sleeping a burglar breaks into the house. When he gets out his tools he finds Homer's keys hanging in the front door. He gives SLH and a sleepwalking Homer sausages to keep them quiet. He steals Lisa's sax, Bart's TV, Marge's pearls and Bart's stamp collection, Nelson calls to laugh at Bart. The burglar steals Neds Shroud Of Turin beach towels, Skinners Stormin' Norman commemorative plates and everything from Barney's apartment. Wiggums recovers the burglars handkerchief but wipes himself with it before letting the dog sniff it, who then attacks him. Professor Frink builds a house designed to run away from the burglar however the model catches on fire. (this is a reference to Back To The Future where Doc Brown demonstrates the model car hitting the wire during the thunder storm which sets it on fire and it crashes into a pile of rags). While walking down the street Bart triggers all the security systems including lasers that shoot a rock he tosses and one of Professor Frink's houses, which runs down the street and bursts into flames. Malloy comes in to Grandpa's room in the middle of the night, Abe things he's being robbed but Malloy just wants to borrow his ointment, Abe tells him to wipe off the applicator when he's done. The Kwik-E-Mart has a sign that says "We're Never Open" and Apu is on the roof with a gun shooting at anyone approaching (20 years before The Purge). Homer replaces Lisa's sax with a jug. Homer becomes the leader of the neighborhood watch, the group all show up with guns and accidentally shoot them in the house, including Bart. The vigilantes catch Jimbo painting Carpe Diem on a wall and so he joins the group. While Homer is on Smartline the cat burglar calls the show to tell Homer that he's going to rob the Springfield Museum and steal the world's largest cubic zirconia diamond. (although they had been around for a while cubic zirconia became a popular diamond replacement in the day).  Homer vows to guard the museum, Grandpa offers to help and Homer tells him to stand off to the side and not steal anything. Homer sees some kids drinking beer without a permit and runs off. The Cat Burglar steals the fake diamond while Homer is chugging beer with the teens. Everyone in town is mad at Homer, Jimbo quits the vigilantes and vows to go to law school. Lisa tries to cheer up Homer by playing the jug. Abe shows up to tell them that Malloy is the burglar, he notices that Malloy wears sneakers and they saw him breaking into the museum and he has the fake diamond in his room. After Malloy offers to return all their possessions they decide to let him go, except for Wiggums who takes him to jail. While Homer mocks Malloy he offers to tell them where he hid the rest of his stolen money, it's buried under a big T. Homer and the cops go running out into the street shouting about the hidden money and cause a city wide panic. The town goes back to Malloy for more information. He says it's buried at 4723 Maple Valley Road, he eventually has to draw them a map. The town rushes to the site in a It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World scene until they discover a tree shaped like a T (in the original movie it was four trees that formed a giant W). They find a briefcase with a note from the cat burglar saying he tricked them so he would have time to escape from jail however the signature is smudged so they decide to dig deeper. When they find themselves at a bottom of a deep hole they decide the only way out is do dig themselves out. Wiggums tells them to "dig up stupid".

When the cat burglar steals Bart's TV he replaces it with a book titled Coping With Loss

Calling Card: You have just been robbed by the Springfield Cat Burglar Est. 1957

Springfield Shopper headline (dated May 26 1993): Cat burglar Strikes 15 Homes! Man Marries Woman in Wedding Ceremony. Burglar Strike Again. Is Nothing Safe? (The Cat Burglar steals the paper and replaces it with his calling card). Zirconia Ztolen!!! Simpson Asleep At Switch (photo of Homer passed out in front of museum surrounded by beer cans)

Ned's home bar sign Seven Days Without A Drink Makes Me Weak. 

Grandpa "I'm filled with piss and vinegar, at first I was just full of vinegar"

Homer goes to Herman's Military Antiques to arm his vigilantes, Herman shows him an A Bomb built to drop on Beatnicks. Homer imagines himself as Major Kong from Dr. Strangelove. He says "Take that Maynard G. Krebs" a character Bob Denver played on the show The Many Loves Of Dobie Gillis in 1959 (pre Gilligan's Island days). Herman has a sign that says "Do Not Ride The Bomb".

While guarding the museum Homer and Skinner do a bit from Dragnet complete with the famous song. 

Homer is 36 in this episode.

Springfield Museum Alarm System Do Not Turn Off (just a switch on the wall) 

Salvador Dali's Persistence Of Memory in the background along with Rockwell's Freedom Of Speech

Abe shows up covered in garbage and says he fell down at the Big Boy. A hamburger chain.

T spots in Springfield: The Big T Building, Big T Burger And Fries, The Tea Factory (with a giant tea cup on the roof), Big T Theater and on the Marquee "Ice-T with Booker-T In Concert

It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World scenes: Marge and Homer on a motorcycle with a side car, Barney flying a biplane with Selma and Patty in the back (they hit  him with their purse after he flies through a Duff billboard), Bart gives Phil Silvers directions leaving him floating down the river. When they arrive at the T shaped tree and start digging we see the characters played by Phil Silvers, Milton Berle and Buddy Hackett among the crowd.

Stormin' Norman was General Norman Schwarzkopf, who was in charge of Operation Desert Storm in 1992. He hated the nickname Stormin' and preferred to be called "The Bear". 

Sam Neil does the voice of Malloy.

The closing theme is a version of the Mad Mad World song. 

This was the first episode of 1994.

Bart Gets Famous

This episode premiered on February 3rd, 1994. It ran in its usual time slot and opposite the regular programs except for I Spy Returns, a movie on CBS.

The chalkboard gag is "My homework was not stolen by a one-armed man" and just like the last episode the couch gag is a repeat of one of the Three Takes, this one is the family turning into a giant blob.

Bart's class is going on a field trip, to the box factory. The tour is boring, the guy takes them to the most interesting room but they took the interesting thing out. Bart decides to escape by jumping in a laundry hamper but gets impatient and goes out the exit and to the TV studio next door. Homer goes to the factory and finds Bart's lucky red hat on a box and thinks he's been turned into one. At the studio Bart steals Kent Brockman's danish and give it to Krusty. Krusty hires Bart as his assistant. Brockman refuses to read the news without his danish so Bumblebee Man rushes on, reads the news and does a prat fall. Bart has to do a bunch of lousy jobs for Krusty and is considering quitting, just as he's leaving Krusty needs him to be on the show since Sideshow Mel is sick. When Bart walks out on stage he trips knocking down the set and the backdrop and says "I didn't do it". Krusty is about to fire him when a crowd is waiting outside to see him, he becomes the I Didn't Do It Boy on the show. Bart records a I Didn't Do It song which is set to the tune of Super Freak by Rick James. MC Hammer is in the sound booth, he used the same track for Can't Touch This. There is a BartChat line, Barney answers it and says "I didn't do nothing". Bart finds out he's an obnoxious fad, he pictures himself on Matchgame 2034, still know as the I Didn't Do It Boy. He appears on Late Night With Conan O'Brien but they only want him to say the line. When he plans to quit Marge reminds him he's making people happy, however the fad is over, he tries to say Woozle Wuzzle and flops. Krusty fires him. 

Homer's horoscope, Today will be a day like every other day. 

Self aware joke, Bart whistles the theme song and Marge calls it annoying. At the end Lisa says Bart will be remembered for more than just a catch-phrases. All the other characters show up to say theirs except for Lisa who doesn't have one. 

Bart wears his Lucky Red Hat, first seen in Bart The General.

Other school's field trips: Norther Haverbrook goes to Toy Town, Capitol City goes to the Fireworks Testing Range, Shelbyville and Spittle County (first seen in Colonel Homer) go to the Slide Factory.

The box factory tour guide has a calendar of boxes on his office wall.

Continuity error: The Bumblebee man is seen at the Channel 6 TV studio even though he appears on Channel Ocho. Also in the Krusty Gets Busted episode Scott Christian says that Krusty runs on a competing station opposite Hobo Hank, in this episode both Krusty and Kent Brockman are on channel 6.

When Bart gets Krusty a danish he tosses him a towel, this is a take on the famous Coke commercial where a kid gives Mean Joe Greene his Coke and Greene tosses the kid his jersey.

Homer remembers his one man band where he plays Tighten Up by Archie Bell and the Drells, even while being attacked by an organ grinder's monkey. (You couldn't get away with that stereotype today)

Krusty calls Bart, he needs fingerprints on a candlestick in the conservatory, a reference to the game Clue. 

Sideshow Mel is lactose intolerant. 

Dated reference, Bart plays back the show on a VCR. Barts biography is mostly about Ross Perot (famous third party candidate) and the Oliver North trial (the Iran/Contra scandal during the Reagan administration). Homer mentions Urkel.

Monstro Mart, Today Meet Krusty. See The "I Didn't Do It" Boy $5. 

The "I Didn't Do It!" Boy In: "The Ming Vase On Ladder Sketch"

The I Didn't Do It Dancers, based on the Fly Girls from In Living Color.

When being robbed Apu sets off the alarm and says I Didn't Do It, he and Snake have a laugh. Mayor Quimby is caught in bed and tells his wife I er Didn't Do It. During a fire started by someone smoking in bed both Patty and Selma say I Didn't Do It. 

Matchgame 2034 guests, Billy Crystal, Farrah Fawcett-Majors-O'Neal-Varney (as in Jim), Ventriloquist Loni Anderson, Spike Lee, the Head of Kitty Carlisle (Futurama with famous heads in jars was still 5 years off). 

In the episode Treehouse of Horror III the Krusty doll says "I didn't do it". 

Bart's chalkboard punishment is a reference to The Fugitive. The movie, based on the TV series, had come out in 1993.

This is the first appearance of Martha Quimby, Mayor Diamond Joe's wife. She looks like Jackie Kennedy. 

Conan O'Brien, former head writer of The Simpsons, does his own voice for the show.

Homer And Apu

This episode premiered on February 10th 1994. It ran in its usual time slot and opposite the regular programs except for the TV movie Gunsmoke: One Man's Justice on CBS. (This is the last time James Arness would play Matt Dillon)

The chalkboard gag is "I will not go near the kindergarten turtle" and the couch gag is the family is hiding behind the couch, they pop up one by one, Maggie pops up from under one of the cushions. 

Apu finds a package of ham that expired on Feb. 6th 1989 (which would be 5 years for the show and 34 years ago now.) he marks out the date and puts it on the 10¢ table next to old fruit and a swollen can of chicken soup. Homer buys it and gets food poisoning. To make up for it Apu gives Homer 10 pounds of shrimp, which gives him food poisoning again. Lisa tells Homer to call the channel 6 investigation show. They send Homer in with a huge hat holding a hidden camera, when Apu suggest the strange noise coming from it is a bee Homer panics, stomps on it and runs out of the store. However the abandon camera catches Apu putting dirty hot dogs back on the rack, which Homer goes inside to purchase. The bosses from the Kwik-E-Mart show up to fire Apu, they tear off his name tag and his "Ask me about our fried pickles" patch. Apu goes to Homer to apologize and offer to work off his Karmic debt. James Woods shows up for the Kwik-E-Mart job, he's researching a part. (This was before everyone hated him). Apu does a musical number Who Needs The Kwik-E-Mart, however he's actually sad about losing his job. Apu decides to head to the main office in India, Homer promises to come along. They have to climb to the top of a mountain to the first convenience store. The head of the Kwik-E-Mart lets them ask three questions. Homer asks if he's really the head of the company three times. Apu returns to the Kwik-E-Mart just as the place is being robbed. The guy tries to shoot James Woods and Apu jumps in front of the gun, an old bullet wound saves his life. Woods gets Apu his job back at the Kwik-E-Mart. 

Prices at the Kwik-E-Mart: a 29¢ stamp is $1.85, $2.00 worth of gas is $4.20 (prior to it becoming a nationwide slang for getting stoned)

The generic ambulance is seen rushing Homer to get his stomach pumped, twice. 

Bite Back With Kent Brockman And His Channel 6 Consumer Watchdog Unit. Their van has Ordinary Van painted on the side. 

The Firing Apu scene is a take on the TV show Branded. Apu is also ordered to turn over his pricing gun and the one he has strapped to his ankle. 

Marge goes to the Monstromart "Where Shopping Is a Baffling Ordeal" The store was first seen in the previous episode. (It was based on the warehouse shopping which had just become a thing in the 90's) Express lane 1000 items or less.

At the Monstromart Barney knocks over a display of giant cranberry juice bottles, there is a wave of red, a spin on the elevator scene from The Shining. 

When the people arrive in India there is a group of Protestants trying to get donations and convert people. This is a spin on the Hare Krishnas who would hang around airports before 9/11.

Homer and Apu are hanging off the side of an India train (could you do this joke in the modern PC world?)

Head of the Kwik-E-Mart sign: The master knows all except combination to the safe.

Kwik-E-Mart do not accept checks list: Chief Wiggums, Reverend Lovejoy, Homer J. Simpson, Homer S. Simpson, H.J. Simpson, Homor Simsons, Homer J. Fong.

Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy

This episode premiered on February 17th, 1994. It was followed by a repeat of The Simpsons. It ran opposite Missing Persons, The 1994 Winter Olympics and Mad About You. 

There was no chalkboard gag and the couch gag is a repeat of the Monty Python foot.

Grandpa goes to the opening of senior's health center to see Matlock. A really old Andy Griffith shows up and is attacked by the crowd. Jasper is talking about swiping his pills just as the ambulance rushes by while the paramedic is doing defibrillations. Abe starts to worry about death so he gives the family their inheritance, a box of 1918 Liberty Head silver dollars. (There were no dollar coins in 1918). Instead of hearing Abe's story about how he got the coins from a J.G. Rockefeller the family heads to the mall. At the store Lisa gets a Talking Malibu Stacy doll. When they get home Homer tells Abe that he's an old crank, in order to try to feel younger he drinks Buzz Cola but it hurts his tongue. When Lisa tries out her new doll all it says is vacuous comments so she throws it out the window, just as Grandpa goes by on a bike, the doll causes him to crash and he flies into a grave. After complaining Marge tells Lisa "lets forget our trouble with a big bowl of strawberry ice cream", the doll repeats the line word for word. Lisa finds out that there is a Malibu Stacy factory tour and insists Marge take her so she can complain in person. Malibu Stacy was first created in 1959 out of onion meal, a year later they started making them out of plastic. Mr. Smithers is the biggest collector. "I'll see you at Stacycon 94". Grandpa gets a job at Krustyburger. Lisa goes to Smithers to find out about Stacy Lavelle, his start up screen is Mr. Burns saying "You're quite good at turning me on". (this was one more proof in my ongoing argument with one of my coworkers about Smithers being Gay). While convincing Lavelle to create a new doll her ex husband Joe shows up "release me from your kung fu grip". When trying to pick out a doll name Bart keeps butting in because nobody is paying attention to him. When they are planning on selling the doll the Malibu Stacy company tries to stop them. Kent Brockman's daughter asks him to talk about the new Lisa Lionheart on the news, he spends the entire broadcast talking about the doll. Meanwhile back at work all the seniors are complaining at Abe and he decides to quit and join the grouchy old crowd. Just as they open the store to sell the Lisa Lionheart doll the rival company reveal a new Stacy doll, with a new hat. At the end Homer dances out the theme song on the floor piano. 

Center For Geriatric Medicine "Grand Opening Meet TV's Matlock"

Grandpa Simpson gives Lisa a telegram from Boris Karloff threatening legal action if he doesn't stop sending letters, dated 1975

Malls stores, Simply Shades, One Size Fits Al Lingerie, House of No Refunds, The Leftorium, Origami Designs, Simply Vinnegar (actual spelling), Kidstown USA "Not Affiliated With Kidstown Juvenile Correctional Farm"

Maggie writes her name on an Etch A Sketch, another hint about her IQ.

Homer picks out a Sgt. Thugs Mountaintop Command Post. Homer stomps on floor piano (a spoof on the scene from the movie Big) The doll section at the toy story is Valley Of The Dolls (Named after the 1967 movie)

Bargain bin Malibu Stacy dolls: Achey Breaky Stacy, Live From The Improv (wearing a Comic Relief t shirt)

Talking Malibu Stacy lines "I wish they taught shopping in school", "Lets bake some cookies of the boys", "Don't ask me, I'm just a girl, he he", "Lets buy makeup so the boys will like us" "Now lets forget our troubles with a big bowl of strawberry ice cream", "Thinking too much gives you wrinkles", "My name is Stacy but you can call me (wolf whistle)"

One girl has a doll with the wrong voice box and it says "My Spidey sense is tingling, anybody call for a web slinger?" This was based on a true event when Mattel issued a Barbie doll that said "Math is hard" so in 1993 a group of activists switched the Barbie and GI Joe voice boxes. 

Lisa made the family march in a Gay Rights parade. Bart's photo appears in the paper under the headline Local Gays Show Their Pride. 

Self Aware Joke. Homer says Lisa won't let them watch Fox because they own chemical weapons plants in Syria. When talking about the sexist doll Lisa says "I'd be mortified if someone made a lousy product with the Simpsons name on it." When Lisa suggest using the various family members hair style for the doll Stacy tells her they all have horrible hair, from a design point. (ever see a Bart doll?)

The Malibu Stacy customer service center: Complaint about appearance or odor press 1, need new head after haircut press 2, factory tour press 3.

Petrochem Petrochemical Corp. Proud Makers Of Caustic Polypropylene and Malibu Stacy. 

Adult joke snuck in: Malibu Stacy, America's favorite 8 1/2 incher. 

Stacy Lavell lives at Recluse Ranch Estates in the Stacy Dream House

Stacy Lavell was married to Ken, Johnny (cowboy), Joe (solider), Dr. Colossus (giant scientist) Steve Austin (The 6 Million Dollar Man)

Lisa's doll has the wisdom of Gertrude Stein (famous writer), and the wit of Cathy Gisewite (creator of the Cathy cartoon strip), the tenacity of Nina Totenberg (NPR reporter), common sense of Elizabeth Cady Stanton (Suffragette) and the looks of Eleanor Roosevelt. "Trust in yourself and you can achieve anything"

Stacy Lavelle was voiced by Cathleen Turner. 

This brings us up through episode 95. We're making quite a dent in The Simpsons. 

  The Simpsons 86-90

Treehouse Of Horror IV (The Simpsons Halloween Special IV)

This episode premiered on October 28th, 1993. It ran in its usual time slot and was followed by The Sinbad Show. It ran opposite Missing Persons, The Heat Of The Night and Mad About You.

The opening sequence is the headstones from the cemetery: Elvis "Accept It" (Both a reference to people claiming Elvis was still alive and the short lived series that ran opposite The Simpsons in their first season), A Balanced Budget (in reference to the U.S. budget fight of 1993), Subtle Political Satire (in reference to the previous headstone), TV Violence (which is shot full of bloody holes). The couch gag is a zombie Simpsons family comes out of a hole and sitting on the couch. In the background is the classic ship painting but now it's sinking and surrounded by sharks.

The show starts with Bart narrating like Rod Serling in the Night Gallery series. Marge shows up and tells him to warn people that the show is not for small children, then she hands him Maggie while she heads to the gift shop to look for earrings. 

The Devil And Homer Simpsons (the title refers to The Devil and Danial Webster) Homer is dreaming about a fashion show however instead of models there are donuts. When he wakes up all the donuts at work are gone including his emergency donut. Homer offers to sell his soul and Satan Flanders shows up and makes him sign a contract for a donut. Homer realizes there is a loophole, if he doesn't eat the last bite the Devil can't take his soul. Later that night Homer goes to the fridge and eats the last of the donut and the Devil shows up. Lisa insists on a fair trial, the Devil offers to hold it the next day but Homer has to spend 24 hours in hell, he then says a familiar hello to Bart. In hell Homer is forced to eat donuts, but it's not a punishment to him. "James Coco went mad in 15 minutes" (James Coco was a character actor who had died in 1987). Marge hires Lionel Hutz to be their attorney, when he realizes he's going to lose he sneaks out the bathroom window. Marge shows the jury her wedding photo where on the back Homer pledged his soul to Marge and the jury decides in her favor. The Devil curses Homer and turns his head into a donut, which he keeps eating. The cops are waiting for him to come out, coffee ready.

When Homer taunts Satan Ned he turns into Chernabog, the character from Disney's Fantasia (Night On Bald Mountain) 

Door in Hell, Hell Labs Ironic Punishment Division

Satan's jury of the damned, Benedict Arnold, Lizzy Borden, Richard Nixon (Nixon points out that he isn't dead yet, however 6 months later he really did die), John Wilkes Booth, Black Beard, John Dillinger, the starting line of the 1976 Philadelphia Flyers (best known for the Red Army game in which they played the Russian military hockey team in a rather brutal game resulting in a lot of penalties, the team then went on to play the rest of the NHL season with a lot of fights and injuries)

Continuity error: In this episode Homer and Marge get married in the emergency room, by Reverend Lovejoy while Dr. Hibbert takes care of Homer, he at the entire wedding cake. However in the episode I Married Marge they get married at Shotgun Pete's Wedding Chapel just across the state line

School Bus aka Terror at 5 1/2 Feet (Based on the classic Twilight Zone episode Nightmare at 30,000 feet)

Bart is on his way to school when the tire falls off and the bus crashes into an on coming truck. However it turns out to just be a nightmare (7 years before the Final Destination movies). On the way to school Bart looks out the window and sees a gremlin on the side of the bus. When Bart warns Otto he looks out and sees Moleman driving an AMC Gremlin, Otto runs the car off the road and when it barely taps a tree it explodes. The aliens see the bus and laugh at earthlings who are afraid of a creature that does not exist, but when they look out the window of their space ship the gremlin is pulling out the wires. Principal Skinner, who is riding on the bus, pulls down Bart's window shade (like in the Twilight Zone) but when Bart peeks out he sees Willie who is catching a ride. Bart sees the gremlin pulling the lug nuts off the tire, like in his dream. Bart manages to hit the gremlin with a road flair, it falls off and gets run over by Flanders, who then takes him home to heal him. Bart is sent off to The New Bedlam Mental Hospital. As the ambulance drives away the gremlin pops up in the back window with Ned's head shouting "Howdly Ho Bart!" (This was a version of the ending of the Twilight Zone movie)

Krusty Trading Cards: Krusty Visits Relatives in Annapolis, Maryland. Krusty Poses For Trading Card Photo.

Martin is wearing a Wang Computer shirt. (After a series of financial problems Wang was bought out by Getronics in 1999, who was bought out by KPN who was then bought out by CompuCom)

This is the first appearance of Uter Zorker, the German foreign exchange student. He offers Milhouse a bite of his Vengelerstrasse bar or some Marzipan JoyJoy "Mit Iodine!" He offers Bart a lick of his Flavor Wax. 

Bart gets sent to the New Bedlam Mental Hospital, first seen in the episode Stark Raving Dad. We also see the ambulance shot (with the mental hospital name on it) from the One Fish Two Fish episode. 

Bart Simpson's Dracula (Based on the movie Bram Stroker's Dracula which had come out the year before) Several people in Springfield turn up dead, drained of their blood, Wiggums thinks it's a mummy so he has the Egyptian wing of the museum destroyed, including a painting of the Mona Lisa. The Simpsons are invited to Burns' house in Pennsylvania. Bart and Lisa nose around and find a lever that opens a trap door, to a washer and dryer. Meanwhile across the hall is a neon sign that says To Secret Vampire Room with No Garlic in flashing green letters. While reading Burns' book the other vampires wake up and attack Bart, who becomes a vampire. The family returns to Burns' lair and drive a stake through his heart but later Grandpa shows up as a vampire, it turns out Marge is the head vampire. The show ends with the family doing A Charlie Brown Christmas.

Book at Burns' vampire lair "Yes I Am A Vampire by Monty Burns, Foreword by Steve Allen. While reading the book all the other vampires come out of their coffin and Bart does a bit from Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein and The Three Stooges. Bart shows up outside of Lisa's window like in the Salem's Lot miniseries. He's joined by Milhouse, Martin, Ralph and Janey. 

Sign on Burns' vampire stairs "Super Fun Happy Slide" with a lever. When Bart pulls it he ends up sliding into the vampires.

The show ends with the family doing the Hark The Herald Angel Sings bit from A Charlie Brown Christmas while Milhouse plays a toy piano and SLH dances like Snoopy. 

Night Gallery paintings: Mystery and Melancholy Of A Street by Giorgio de Chirico (Marge shadow on wall), Self Portrait by Van Gogh (of Homer), Three Musicians by Picasso (Lisa playing the sax) Persistence Of Memory by Dali (Maggie stretched over stilts) Relativity By MC Escher (Homer chasing Bart on the endless stairs) The Scream by Edvard Munch (Lisa), The False Mirror by Marguerite, Death Of Marat by Jacques-Louise David (Homer writing a shopping list for Duff, chips, pork rinds), The Son Of Man by Marguerite (Bart behind the apple), Dogs Playing Poker by Cassius Marcellus Coolidge (No Simpsons characters are in the painting, not even SLH)

The show ends with the family doing the Hark The Herald Angel Sings bit from A Charlie Brown Christmas while Milhouse plays a toy piano and SLH dances like Snoopy. 

The closing credit song is combined with The Addams Family theme song. 

Marge On The Lam

This episode premiered on November 4th, 1993. It ran in its usual time slot and opposite the regular programs. 

There is no chalkboard gag and the couch gag is the family crashing through a fake backdrop that the couch is painted on.

The show starts with Garrison Keillor reading from A Prairie Home Companion on a PBS pledge drive. Marge calls in and pledges $30, they send her two tickets to the ballet. Homer is excited because he thinks it's bears in cars. Ruth Sanders, the next door neighbor, borrows the power sander, that has Ned's name on it. Homer gets his hand stuck in a soda machine, while trying to get home he gets his arm stuck in a candy vending machine. Marge invites Ruth to go to the ballet, which is held in the gymnasium and ends when the ballerina breaks the basket off the backstop. It turns out that if Homer had let go of the can of soda he could have gotten out. Marge tells Homer she's going out again tomorrow night and flashes back to when she tried to make friends but Homer busted into the house, wearing a No Fat Chicks shirt and carrying the skunk that sprayed him, which it does again. Homer is upset that he and Marge won't be able to watch Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman together. (the show ran on Saturday nights from 1993 to 1997 on CBS) Homer is jealous of Marge going out so he calls his friends including Mr. Burns. Everybody is busy so he decides to go out by himself and tells the kids to Home Alone it. Just then Lionel Hutz shows up and agrees to $8 an hour and two popsicles. Homer gets kicked out of the Kwik-E-Mart for reading the magazines "This is not a library" and out of the library for eating a hotdog and drinking a soda "This is not a Kwik-E-Mart". Ruth takes Marge to shoot cans. Lionel Hutz is burning all his papers and changing his name to Miguel Sanchez. Homer goes to the Springfield sign where Wiggums offers him a ride home. Along the way they start chasing Ruth, she stole her ex husband's car. She shuts off the lights and loses Wiggums. In the morning Ruth drops Marge off at a diner but they take off together again when they hear sirens, it turns out to be a kid scaring off the customers. The kids see Marge and Ruth on the news. The episode does the Thelma and Louies ending of driving to the edge of a Grand Chasm but it's Homer and Wiggums that go over the edge, landing in a pile of garbage. They do the Dragnet ending. The charges were dropped against Ruth and she got her back child support (thanks to her ex hiring Lionel Hutz as his attorney) Lionel Hutz was paid $8 for 32 hours of baby sitting. Marge was charged with destruction of antique cans and paid .50¢ for the cans and $2000 dollars in punitive damages. Homer was turned over to the army for medial testing.

This episode was based on the movie Thelma and Louise.

You know Troy McClure from such telethons as Out With Gout in 88 and Let's Save Tony Orlando's House. 

Crystal Buzz Cola, based on Crystal Pepsi which was out at that time. Inside the machine is a severed arm holding Fresca can.

Springfield High School gym sign: Tonight Professional Ballet. Tomorrow Closed to fix gas leak. 

Marge and Ruth go to Jittery Joes Coffee Shop with a neon sign of a shaky hand holding a cup of coffee. They also go to the Shot Kickers bar, but the O is burned out so, you know. The Hate Box, a nuevo punk bar. The Seething Sister gas station and diner. 

Ruth pops a cassette into the car's player and the song is Sunshine, Lollypops by Leslie Gore, she changes the tape to Welcome To The Jungle by Guns N Roses. (the cassette player is a dated reference.)

The people at the country bar are line dancing, which became popular in 1990 with the release of My Achey Breaky Heart by Billy Ray Cyrus. 

Lionel Hutz watches LA Law. A show that ran from 1986 to 1994 on NBC. 

Mayor Quimby is at the punk bar and claims he's there with is nephew. This is the first mention of Fred although not by name. 

Highway sign: Entering Badlands High-Speed chases use Diamond Lanes. 

Lionel Hutz, aka Miguel Sanchez, aka Dr. Nguyen Van Thoc. 

The Springfield Police badge has the LA City hall building in the center with the two nuclear plant cooling towers on the side. 

Bart's Inner Child

This episode premiered on November 11th 1993. It ran in its usual time slot and opposite the regular programs except for Missing Persons on ABC.

There is no chalkboard gag and the couch gag is a really fat guy is sitting on the couch, the whole couch. The family squeezes in next to him.

Homer finds an ad for a free trampoline, he imagines building an amusement park in his back yard. He starts charging people to jump on the trampoline but everyone keeps getting hurt. Homer tries to take it back to Krusty but has a gun pulled on him. In order to get rid of the trampoline Bart puts a chain on it and Snake shows up to steal it. Marge and Homer get into a fight and she finds out that she spends all her time nagging the family. When Marge goes to her sisters for advice they tell her to check out Brad Goodman, a self help guru. Marge and Homer start the talking out all their problems, Homer gets away with eating a pan of brownies. Marge is excited to go to a live seminar by Brad Goodman. Skinner pretends the dummy on stage is his mother and beats it up. Bart mocks Brad and gets called up on stage, he calls himself Rudiger. Brad tells everyone to be like Bart, only Lisa sees the danger in the situation. Kent Brockman curses and eats canned whip cream on the news. Reverend Lovejoy plays The Entertainer on the pipe organ, badly. All the kids at school make joke comments in class. Everyone in town goes to the overpass to spit on passing cars. Bart finds that he's not unique anymore. Springfield holds their first Do What You Feel Festival replacing the Do What We Say Festival started by 1948 German immigrants. During the festival Smithers says he loves Mr. Burns, who isn't listening. Patty and Selma ride a horse thorough town naked. Homer shows up in a robe and bear slippers (seen in the episode Homer The Heretic). James Brown shows up to sing I Feel Good until the band stand collapse. The Ferris wheel breaks loose, crashes into the zoo and sets all the animals free. A huge fight breaks out. Apu claims Bart is responsible for everything that happened. He and Homer try to escape in a parade float. Instead of chasing them the town people decides to go to the old mill and get some cider. 

Other items in the newspaper free column: Flame Thrower Vietnam Era, Orig. takes reg unleaded. Fatboy Bomb call Herman KL9-4327. Grateful Dead Tix Capitol City. Grave digger's lantern. Good News Bible (a modern translation). Homer wants to get free surplus barrels of mayo from Operation Desert Storm. (at this time they were only a year old, today they'd be 30 years old)

Krusty the Clown lives at 534 Center St.

Homerland Admissions $50. Trampoline World, Muckville USA (a mud hole), Fort Adventure (a maze made from old mattresses that the homeless shelter was giving away)

Pop Culture reference: The scene with all the children injured while jumping on the trampoline is a take on the wounded soldiers in the Atlanta scene from Gone With The Wind. When Homer throws the trampoline over a cliff it's a spoof on the Roadrunner and Coyote cartoons. Brad Goodman's guest is Martha Quinn, one of the original MTV VJ's. 

Troy McClure, you might remember me from such self help videos as Smoke Yourself Thin and Get Confident, Stupid.

Inner voices at the Brad Goodman lecture: Ned "Stay the course, Big Ned, you're doing super". Homer "Food goes in here", Moe "Hey Moe. What's matter? You no talks with your accent no more. Mamma Mia (done is a Chico Marx accent)

First Church Of Springfield, Today's Topic: "Be like unto the boy"

No Tell Motel

First mention of McGonigle TV cop. (sounds like Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry)

James Brown did the actual singing in this episode.

Boy Scoutz N the Hood

This episode premiered on November 18th 1993. It ran in it's usual time slot and opposite Matlock, the miniseries Return To Lonesome Dove and Mad About You.

The title of the episode came from the 1991 movie Boyz N The Hood

There is no chalkboard gag and the couch gag is the eyeballs appear in a dark room, when the lights go on they are free floating until the rest of the Simpson's bodies show up and pop them into place. 

 Bart and Milhouse run out of money at the mall arcade, the pimple faced security guards kick them out. At home Homer drops his last peanut under the couch and finds $20 however he falls on his last peanut and the bill blows away, right to Bart and Milhouse. They decide to get a super squishy made out of just syrup. Bart and Milhouse go on a bender, looking at fancy skateboards, playing in the VIP section of the arcade, watching a live stage version of Cats (no buttholes), Bart shoots one of the cats with an ice spitball. They visit the Rub-On Tattoos parlor "Open 24 Hours". The next day Bart wakes up to find he's joined the Jr. Campers. Milhouse shaves a dirty word into his hair and Barney, who drank some of the Squishy wakes up on a ship, basically Shanghaied. Nelson steals Bart's uniform but Bart doesn't care, the bullies threaten Bart unless he plays along. Bart finds out that Jr. Campers attend meetings in the middle of class. Ned is the scout master and they are bathing Jasper, Bart tries to take off but knocks himself out with his kerchief. He plans to quit again until he finds out the campers get to use knives, although he has to start off with a rubber one. Bart quits again but on the way home sees all the fun things you can do with a knife. Bart plans on quitting again until he learns how to make traps. His victim is Homer. Bart finds out that there is a father/son camping trip. Ned gets Ernest Borgnine to be the volunteer dad for the one camper whose father is in prison. Bart wants Homer to say no but he says yes instead. Flanders and Homer wind up on the same raft. Homer loses the map but has one from Krusty Burger. At a fork in the river they go the wrong way and drift out to sea. Homer puts himself in charge of the rations and then eats everything. When they see a seaplane Homer takes the flair gun, shoots the plane down and before the pilot hits the water he's rescued by another plane. Dolphins show up to tell them they are all going to die and then swim away. Homer uses the last cheese doodle to catch a fish but doesn't tie off the line. Homer gives Bart a Swiss Army knife he stole from Borgnine, who is trying to fight off a bear without it. When Homer goes to give Bart the knife he drops it with all the attachments open. It bounces several times but doesn't cause a rupture, however the magnifying lens burns a hole in the raft, just then Homer smells a Krusty Burger and they are saved when they arrive at a restaurant on an oil platform. The other rafters wind up at an old abandon summer camp, just as the Friday The 13th music starts to play. 

Arcade games, Touch of Death, Alien, Terminator. Martin plays My Dinner With Andre, the joystick offer the choice of Trenchant Insight, Tell Me More and Bon Mot. View Master and Panamanian Strongman (the game Bart is playing) In the game the Strongman, in a King Kong building climb, gets shot by planes and then Bush Sr. shows up to kick him and says "Winners Don't Use Drugs" (This is a spoof on Manuel Noreaga, the dictator of Panama)

Milhouse appears in a scout uniform in Lisa The Beauty Queen although he isn't one of the scouts in this episode.

When Bart orders an all syrup squishy Snake is in the background robbing Sanjay. 

Squishy machine settings: Recommended Dosage, Unhealthy Dosage, Experimental. 

Bart and Milhouse sing Springfield Springfield to the tune of New York, New York from the movie On The Town, one of the sailors even makes an appearance. They chew Toothless Joes Gum Flavors Chewing Product. Toothless Joe looks like Gummy Joe from the episode Last Exit To Springfield. During the montage scene we see the Triple G Rated Theater. 

Note on the Junior Campers meeting room: Not Affiliated with the Boy Scouts Of America

Bart reads The 10 Do's and 500 Don'ts of Knife Safety (The only thing I learned was hand it to someone handle first and make sure they've got a grip before letting go) The main character is Donny Don't, like the character Goofus from the Goofus and Gallant comic strip that ran in the Highlights For Children magazine. 

Dr. Hibbert does an emergency appendectomy on the street and when he tosses it away it explodes like a hand grenade. 

Bart's merit badges, Archery, Debt Collecting, Taxidermy, TV Game Shows, Patch Forgery. 

The Itchy and Scratchy Show "AAAHHH! Wilderness" The placard has Itchy roasting a marshmallow on Scratchy's burning tail. While camping it starts to rain so Itchy stakes Scratchy's hands and feel to the ground and put a poll under his stomach in order to use him as a tent, lightning strikes Scratchy. (I thought the title came from Aaahh!! Real Monsters! but that animated series premiered a year after this episode aired)

Self aware joke, when Bart criticizes the choice of knots used in the Itchy and Scratchy cartoon Lisa says "Cartoons don't have to be 100% realistic" Just as Homer walks by the window while also sitting on the couch. 

Homer imagines dancing with candy to Sugar Sugar by the Archies (a cartoon band). When the battery dies on the tape deck (dated reference) he throws it overboard, despite it being Todd's birthday present. Homer says "Water water everywhere so lets all have a drink" a misquote from the poem The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner by Coleridge. Just then a seagull shows up and drops dead. Moe comes at Hanz Moleman with a knife, Hans pulls a bigger one from his cane and says "You call that a knife? This is a knife", a reference to the scene in Crocodile Dundee.

The other rafts are drifting down the river while Dueling Banjos plays and they are stalked by hillbillies in the woods, a take on the movie Deliverance.

Chief Wiggums has wanted posters for The Babysitter Bandit, Johnny Tightlips and Fat Tony on his wall.

Flanders loses control and starts saying Diddly over and over, this will come back in a later episode.

The Krusty Kids Meal comes with a free slide whistle. A reference to the Sideshow characters.

Ernest Borgnine did his own voice over work for the episode including singing and playing the guitar at the end.

The Last Temptation Of Homer

This episode premiered on December 9th, 1993, it ran in its usual time slot and opposite Missing Persons, The Heat Of The Night and Mad About You.

The title is based on the 1988 film The Last Temptation of Christ.

The chalkboard gag is "All Work And No Play Makes Bart A Dull Boy" (It's written in a pattern similar to the movie The Shining). The couch gag is the family runs in and sits down but it's the set for The Late Show with David Letterman (which had premiered on CBS four months earlier, it was also the first time the couch gag took place outside of the Simpson living room)

Bart has painted all the parking space lines at school one foot closer. When the teachers arrive they are all crowded in. Mrs. Krabappal punishes Bart by calling on him first for every question. It turns out Bart has eye problems. Homer pulls a joke on an employee who drops a beaker and floods a chamber with toxic gas. The rest of the crew discover that the safety glass leaks and the emergency exit is only painted on the wall. When one of the employees complains to Burns he gets sucked up in a tube and winds up in the Middle East as a dancer. Burns tries to hire an illegal alien just as the Labor Relations Board comes breaking in and orders Burns to hire a woman. Burns hires Mindy Simmons and Homer falls in love with her. Homer goes to the bar for advice, Barney reads some from a bar napkin. Homer goes to talk to Mindy he finds out they have a lot in common. When he gets home he finds that Marge is sick, Bart is a nerd and Lisa burned dinner. Homer panics and calls the Marital Stress Hotline, Ned Flanders picks up the phone and recognizes Homer's voice. When Homer tries to flee he knocks himself out and sees his guardian angel who appears at Sir Isaac Newton, Homer doesn't recognize him so he turns into Colonel Klink from Hogan's Heroes. His guarding angel shows him his life without Marge (Ala It's a Wonderful Life). Homer lives in a mansion and Marge is the President. Meanwhile Martin introduces Bart to the Nerd secrete hideout. Burns chooses Homer and Mindy to represent the plant at a convention in Capitol City. Mindy wants to get naughty and orders room service and charges it to the plant. After two weeks Bart takes off the shoes and glasses, the bullies still beat him up. At the convention Homer and Mindy win a romantic dinner at Madame Chao's. After dinner Homer's fortune cookie says "You will find happiness with a new love". Meanwhile back in the kitchen they run out of "new love" cookies so they open up the barrel of "stick with your wife" cookies. Mindy and Homer kiss but then Marge comes to join him. 

The Labor Relations Board smashes into the plant like the agents in the James Bond movie You Only Live Twice. They mention finding a Brazilian Soccer team working in the reactor core "that plane crashed on my property!" This is a reference to the Rugby team that crashed in the Andes and had to resort to cannibalism to survive.

Stewart the duck works at the plant.

Hibbert Moneymaking Organization (HMO) When Marge takes in Bart Hibbert asks if she has insurance, he has a tube similar to Burns but turns it off when she says yes.

The optometrist gives Bart a pair of glasses and says that Menachem Begin wore a similar pair. (the Prime Minister of Israel from 1977 to 1983). When Bart goes through all the treatments he looks and sounds like Jerry Lewis.

When Homer sees Mindy for the first time he imagines her as Venus on a clam shell with Carl and Lenny as cherubs. The image is the painting The Birth of Venus by Botticelli. "Homer, what's the matter? Ain't you never seen a naked chick riding a clam before?" When leaving the plant Homer drives in reverse and crashes into a trout hatchery, the fish sing "Homer loves Mindy". Homer gets on the elevator with Mindy and has to think unsexy thoughts, he pictures Selma and Patty shaving their legs and Barney in a bikini singing the theme song to I Dream Of Jeanie. However Barney turn into Mindy. On TV Kent Brockman is looking at the secret affairs of Kennedy, Eisenhower, Bush and Clinton (5 years before the impeachment). Homer sees a commercial with beautiful woman who says Just Do It (Which was the slogan of Nike), in this case it's the National Ringwork Association (the other NRA) telling people to check their scalp. When Homer tries to read a note to Mindy off his hand he smears it and says "oh no, I'm sweating like Roger Ebert. (Well known film critic in the day)

Capitol City, The Windy Apple. 

Homer calls the Marital Stress Hotline from a payphone 

Homer says Mindy probably thinks Ziggy has gotten preachy too. Mr Burns first mentions Ziggy in the episode Brush With Greatness. 

When Burns finds out about Mindy ordering room service he releases his flying monkeys but they all fall and die. (It's a parody of The Wizard Of Oz) When Mindy and Homer both eat a footlong chili dog they end up kissing (A parody of Lady and the Tramp)

Capital City Plaza Hotel "Legionnaires' Disease-Free Since 1990.

Capitol City Convention Center "Welcome National Energy Convention" (the sign is made with lightbulbs that burn out) Booths: Cold Fusion, Oil Power, What About Wind?, Coal Water. There is also a Solar Energy booth, "Cheap, Clean Hope For Tomorrow" Hanz Moleman is running the booth, a group of thugs knock him out and change it to Fossil Fuel "Use us and nobody gets hurt". Springfield Nuclear Power Plant "As seen on 60 Minutes" There is a portrait of Mr. Burns with Joe Fusion on his shoulder and a stack of his book "Will There Ever Be A Rainbow?" first seen in the episode Blood Feud. 

Issac Hays sings Can't Get Enough Of Your Love. He also sang the song in the episode Whacking Day. 

Michelle Pfeiffer does the voice of Mindy, Werner Klemperer (the original actor from Hogan's Heroes) does the voice of Colonel Klink (it was the last time he ever did it)

This was episode 90. There will be one more in 1993 and that means I only have 30 more years of The Simpsons to go.

 The Simpsons 81-85

Krusty Gets Kancelled 

This episode premiered on May 13th, 1993. It ran in its usual time slot, followed by Martin. It ran opposite Matlock, Knots Landing and Cheers.

The chalkboard gag is "I will not charge admission to the bathroom" and the couch gag is a repeat of the snare gag.

After the Springfield Squares gets hit by a title wave Homer and Bart see a commercial for Gabbo, there is a media blitz but nobody knows who or what Gabbo is. He turns out to be a ventriloquist doll operated by Arthur Krandal. The new show runs opposite Krusty. When Krusty's ratings slip he tries to do his own doll but the jaw falls off and then he kicks it into the crowd of the terrified children. Krusty tries to bribe the audience with fake money. Quimby uses Gabbo's catchphrase to distract from his corruption. Itchy and Scratchy go to The Gabbo Show so Krusty has to show a Russian cartoon Worker and Parasite from 1959. Krusty gets cancelled, he goes to Johnny Carson for advice after his retirement. Gabbo does a prank call on Krusty and offer him $2 million to do a camera commercial, but only if he'll hit himself over the head with the phone. Bart sneaks into the studio and turns on the camera, Gabbo calls all the kids in Springfield "SOB's" live on the air. The entire town is mad until Kent Brockman does the same thing and then they turn their anger on him instead. Bart and Lisa find Krusty on a corner offering to drop his pants for food but there's a crazy guy doing it for free. In this episode Luke Perry is Krusty's half brother. Lisa and Bart decide to try to get together all the famous people who know Krusty and get him back on TV. Krusty replaces Sideshow Mel with Sideshow Luke Perry. Gabbo books Ray Jay Johnson to run opposite the Krusty Comeback Special. Krusty fires Luke Perry from a cannon but misses the net, he goes through a series of comical obstacles. Elizabeth Taylor sees the show on TV and plans to fire her agent who turned down the kids. The show is a hit and Krusty's career is saved. 

The Springfield Squares: Host Kent Brockman, The Capitol City Goofball, Princess Kashmir, Barry White,  Rainer Wolfcastle, Lurlene Lumpkin, Troy McClure and Charlie Weaver.  There are two other people but I can't identify them. 

Gabbo's intro song is a parody of the No Strings On Me scene from Disney's Pinocchio.

It was first seen in the episode Itchy And Scratchy: The Movie but this is the first mention of Channel Ocho, Krusty was beaten in the ratings by Bumblebee Man.

Krusty does the riddle "Why is a raven like a writing desk?" This is from Alice In Wonderland and there has never been an answer although people are always trying to come up with one.

Springfrield Variety headline: Gabbo Fabbo! Krusty Rusty

Springfield Shopper headline: Quimby Re-elected By Landslide. Two more bodies surface in Springfield Harbor. Gabbo Still #1 In Springfield, Brockman Fired. Krusty Special Airs Today. Gabbo to have "Real Boy" operation. 

The scene where Gabbo curses on the air is taken from the movie A Face In The Crowd where Marcia Jefferies (Patricia Neil) turns on a camera and exposes Larry "Lonesome" Rhodes (Andy Griffith) for the huckster he really is.

This episode mentions Ray Jay Johnson, real name Bill Saluga, who did a bit "you can call me Ray or you can call me Jay....but you don't have to call me Mr. Johnson". It was funny for about two week in 1977 but by the time he appeared in a Natural Light commercial the joke was worn out. 

Bette Midler sings Wind Beneath My Wings to Krusty the same as her appearance on the final episode of The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson a year before.

Stars on Krusty's comeback special. Bette Midler, Hugh Hefner, Red Hot Chile Peppers, Johnny Carson, Luke Perry and Sideshow Mel. 

Sideshow Mel working at the Gulp and Blow, Homer worked there in the I Married Marge episode.

Luke Perry cannon obstacles, Museum Of Sandpaper, Half Price Acid at the Kwik-E-Mart, crashes into Pillow Factory that is being imploded. 

At the post Comeback Special party Hugh Hefner tries the love tester at Moe's. It was first seen in the Flamin' Moes episode.

This was the last episode of the 92-93 season. The next episode would be the premier of the 93-94 season.

Homer's Barbershop Quartet

This episode premiered on September 30th 1993. It ran in its usual time slot and was followed by The Sinbad Show (Starring the comedian Sinbad). It ran opposite Missing Persons, The Heat Of The Night and Mad About You. 

The chalkboard gag is "I will never win an Emmy" (The Simpsons had been nominated for 4 and won 2 by that time) and the couch gag is a three parter, first they crash into each other and shatter like glass, then they do a take two with a clapboard where they run into each other and end up an amorphous blob on the couch, on take three they explode and only Maggy's pacifier survives.

The Simpsons go to the Springfield Swap Meet. While there the kids discover a Be Sharps album featuring Homer, Apu, Skinner and Barney. Flash back 8 years to 1985, Joe Piscopo is leaving Saturday Night Live, People Express, the rural airline. (It was taken over by United in 1987). The original barber shop quartet was Homer, Skinner, Apu, and Wiggums. Homer is approached by an agent, Nigel, he offers to represent the group. When Homer has to replace Wiggums in the group (Too Village People) he drives him to the middle of nowhere and leaves him on the side of the road. After a search they discover Barney can sing when they hear him in the restroom. Meanwhile in the present day Bart buys a pencil holder at the swap meet, it's really a water pipe. The car has a flat and Homer sold off the spare, so Marge has to walk to the next gas station which is 12 miles away (this is a continuity error since the swap meet was in Springfield). Homer continues the story while they are waiting. Homer needs to come up with a new song just as Marge shows him her new Baby On Board window sign, Homer is inspired and writes their first hit song. The agent wants to keep Marge a secret so women will think Homer is single and available, she's not happy about it. The Be Sharps perform at the Statue of Liberty Centennial and Reagan shows up. The Be Sharps win the Grammy for the best Soul, Spoken Word Or Barber Shop song of the year". At the Grammy after party Homer meets George Harrison but is more interested in the plate of brownies. Back at the hotel Homer sees a billboard for Happy Family brand Bourbon and misses the family. Homer has nothing to tip the bellboy so he gives him the Grammy but the guy throws it over the balcony, someone from below throws it back and hits Homer in the head. The second Be Sharps album was called Bigger Than Jesus with the band walking on water like The Beatles on the Abby Road album. Barney's new girlfriend, A Yoko Ono character, wants to do a conceptual album. This was based on three albums put out by John Lennon and Yoko Ono. US magazine ranks the Be Sharps as not hot so the band breaks up. When they return to their regular jobs Homer finds out a chicken replaced him, which he took home and ate. The kids ask follow up questions but Homer says "that will have to wait for another night" (A self aware joke) The Be Sharps get together on the roof of Moe's for a live show. George Harrison shows up and says "eh, it's been done". Homer makes the "I hope we passed the audition" joke, the last thing John Lennon said when the police shut down their rooftop concert. 

Although the story is suppose to take place in 1985 several of the events described by Homer happened in 1986, Al Capone's Vault, Joan Rivers' talk show, The Statue of Liberty Centennial celebration. Also Dexys Midnight Runners hit song Come On Eileen came out in 1982 so it wouldn't be up for a Grammy in 1985.

Mayor Quimby says "Ich bin ein Springfield Swap Meet Patron", a take on the JFK speech. He used this line before in the episode Burns Verkaufen de Kraftwerk

At the swap meet: Handicr fts by Moe (Missing A part of the sign) Selling shells painted to look like Lucille Ball. Ned Flanders giving away free Bible cards. Herman selling military stuff where Skinner finds the helmet he had to wear as a prisoner of the Vietcong, he was Prisoner 24601. (Confederate flag in the background, couldn't show that today). Marge is selling wishbone necklaces and her paintings of Ringo. 

Homer going through little old ladies 5¢ box, finds original copy of the Constitution, Action Comics #1, a sheet of the Inverted Jenny stamps, a Stradivarius violin. 

Records sold by Comic Book Guy: S'wonderful S'marvelous S'Krusty, Melvin and The Squirrels, Bleeding Gums Murphy. Meet the B Sharps.

First Church Of Springfield sign Today "What A F iend we have in God" also: The Be Sharps (this is a continuity error since the band hadn't chosen it's name at this point in the story)

When Marge makes a fake Homer SLH ends up burying the head in the yard. This is a continuity error since Homer won't bring him home for another 5 years. 

Management By Nigel *Stars Discovered *Fortunes Made *Hats Blocked

People who audition for the group, Grandpa, Willie, Jasper, Wiggums in disguise, he takes off in Batman's Penguin fashion.

Homer tries to write a song "There was nothing in Al Capone's vault, but it wasn't Geraldo's fault". This is based on the disastrous live special in April of 1986. Millions of people tuned in to see a crew tear out a wall in a Chicago basement that contained nothing but dirt.

The Dapper Dans, the barbershop quartet act from Main Street USA in Disneyland sang the song Baby On Board for the episode. The Baby On Board sign was a fad in 1985 that rapidly came and went. The market was flooded with other novelty signs that weren't about safety. 

Grandpa changes the radio channel just in time to catch the last of The Rest Of The Story with Paul Harvey, a popular radio program of the day.

Johnny Carson joke on The Tonight Show "The skipper, Gilligan and Chief Wiggums, Name three castaways" Wiggums tries to shoot the TV but misses. A reference to an Elvis incident that was also a joke in the episode The Front. Joan Rivers is also seen on her short lived talk show.

David Crosby appears as a Grammy Presenter. He was Lionel Hutz's AA sponsor in the episode Marge in Chains. 

Spinal Tap are in the background of the Grammy party. They were on the episode The Otto Show.

George Harrison voices himself in the show, the second Beatle to do so.

Lisa comments that Homer beat Dexys Midnight Runners however they've never been nominated for a Grammy. Homer comments "you haven't heard the last of them" however they became a one hit wonder in the U.S.

Homer writes a song about C. Everett Coop, the surgeon general of the US from 1982 to 1989. Koop was best known for defying the Republicans on claims about Abortion, the dangers of smoking and the AIDS crisis.

Apu mentions the Be Sharps reunion on a Dame Edna special. Dame Edna was a popular Australian character created by comedian Barry Humphries. She became a popular stage presence in the 80's and 90's and went on to do a series of TV specials. She wouldn't be allowed in modern day Florida since it's a Drag performance. 

Beatles References: The Be Sharps Album looks like The Beatles With The Beatles album. The second album Bigger Than Jesus gets its name from the infamous Lennon comment and the cover has the group walking on water in a parody of the Abby Road album cover. Marge is kept a secret like Cynthia Lennon so women will think Homer is available. In 1985 Moe's Tavern is called Moe's Cavern, after the Cavern Club where the Beatles got their start. They do a parody of the Beatles arriving in New York in 1964 and the press conference, a reporter asks Skinner if he's the funny one and he replies "Yes". This is based on the Beatles '64 interview and Lennons response to the same question. Barney's girlfriend is basically Yoko Ono. The Rooftop Concert at Moe's just like the Let It Be concert in London and Homer says Lennon's last comment of the day.

Cape Feare

This episode first aired on October 7th, 1993 in its usual time slot and opposite the regular programs. 

The chalkboard gag is "The cafeteria deep fryer is not a toy" and the couch gag is a repeat of the dance number. 

Bart gets a letter from an unknown individual, "I'm going to kill you" written in blood. Someone requests Whipeout, Surfaris version, with the dedication to Bart "I'm going to kill you slowly and painfully". Marge scares Bart with scissors while cutting out coupons and Ned is wearing Freddy style finger knives to trim his hedges. Mrs Krabappal says Bart will be her victim, in the school production of Lizzy Borden. The kids suspect Moe since they harass him with phone calls, when they call and say they know he's the one behind it he rushes to the back room and turns smuggled pandas loose. We then learn that the letters are coming from Sideshow Bob, who passes out since he writes everything in his own blood, including a letter to Readers Digest. The parole board sets both Snake and Bob free. The Simpsons go to see Ernest Goes Somewhere Cheap. Bob tries to annoy them by smoking a cigar and laughing loudly but Homer smokes an even bigger cheaper cigar and laughs louder. Wiggums tells Homer that anything you do to someone who comes into your home is nice and legal, when Homer calls Ned over Wiggums says it doesn't count if you invite them in. Homer hires a private detective to talk to Bob but all he does is beg him to leave. Bob drives through the neighborhood in an ice cream truck and uses the PA to announce everyone he isn't going to kill, he leaves Bart off the list. The FBI changes the families name to the Thompsons at Terror Lake. Homer can't remember that his name is suppose to be Mr. Thompson. Bob straps himself to the bottom of the car however Homer races over speed bumps, dumps hot coffee on him and then drives through cactus. The Simpsons (Thompsons) move to a houseboat and Homer says the great thing is if you don't like your neighbors you just lift up your anchor and move some place else, all the other houseboats leave. When Bob crawls out from under the car he steps on a series of rakes, this will become a running gag in the series. Homer says he tied up all the loose ends but they forgot Grandpa. Bob shows up strapped under another car, while laying in the street he gets stomped on by a marching band and 6 elephants. While Bart is trying to sleep Homer comes rushing in with a knife, and a pan of brownies. Then he burst in with a chainsaw while wearing a hockey mask. Bob shows up and steps on a rake. He cuts the boat loose, ties up the family and goes after Bart. when Bart reaches the front of the boat there are alligators and the back has electric eels. When Bob offers Bart a last request he asks for The HMS Pinafore score. The boat floats down stream and winds up back in Springfield where the cops arrest Bob. (the boat crashes into the bank right by a brothel where the cops are all standing around in their robes). The family returns home to find Grandpa turned into a woman because he didn't have his pills. (That wouldn't fly with the modern Republicans.)

This episode is based on the movie Cape Fear. Both the original 1962 release and the 1991 remake. The scene where Bob straps himself to the bottom of the car is based on the '91 versions.

The family watches Up Late With McBain (continuity error since McBain is a character from a movie and the actor is Ranier Wolfcastle)

Self aware joke, Lisa says the Fox Network has sunk to a new low with the McBain talk show. Bart calls himself "this century's Dennis The Menace". Although they are both from the 20th century.

The Itchy And Scratchy Show: Spay Anything. The Itchy Hospital sign "We pay your pet $75" however Itchy's ear is covering the S in spay, Scratchy runs in and Itchy turn a laser on him. (From the James Bond movie Goldfinger complete with a Bond-esque song) Scratchy manages to pull the plug with his tongue but Itchy runs back in plugs it in and Scratchy is cut into pieces. 

Grandpa says they should call Matlock, he says the person sending Bart the threatening letters could be Gavin McCleod (Mary Tyler Moore Show, Love Boat) or that George Goober Lindsay, (The Andy Griffith Show)

Wiggums finds out sending threatening letters is illegal, so is putting squirrels down your pants for gambling, he yells back at the other cops to knock it off. 

Bart mentions making crank calls to Linda Lavin, (Alice)

Springfield Penitentiary "America's Fastest Growing Prison"

When Selma testifies about Bob trying to kill her the lawyer asks who in the courtroom are considering killing her right now.  Patty raises her hand because Selma leaves the toilet seat up. 

Bob's Tattoos: Die Bart, Die (The Bart, The) "Nobody who speaks German could be an evil person" Bart's severed head on a skateboard saying "Ouch Man!" Bart's skull with crossbones.

Homer's cigar is from the Knoxville World's Fair 1983

Bob stays at The Aristocrat Hotel, seen in the background of several episodes.

Dated references: there is a payphone and a cigarette machine in the background of the bar Bob is hanging around in. The FBI has a portrait of President Clinton on the wall. When the FBI tells The Simpsons they'll have new identities Homer says he wants to be John Elway, in his fantasy the Broncos lose the Super Bowl to the 49ers 7-56, in 1992 the Broncos went 8-8 and had lost three Super Bowls, two to San Francisco.

FBI safe places Cape Fear, Terror Lake, New Horrorfield, Screamville.

The Simpsons sing The Mikado on their way to their new home. Later Bart tricks Bob into singing the entire score from The HMS Pinafore. 

The show does an alternate opening with The Thompsons. There's a billboard that says Welcome To Terror Lake. Then the family rushes into the house boat to sit on the couch while a load of fish is dumped on them. 

Homer wears a shirt that says "Witness Relocation Program" and a hat with WRP on it. 

Terror Lake Shop: Ma and Pa's. Elephants wearing banners that say Terror Lake Salutes Hannibal Crossing the Alps. 

Bob stays at The Bates Motel complete with stuffed birds on the walls.

When Jasper wants to date Grandpa he says he has Steve and Eydie tickets. Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme were a popular singing duo back in the day. (again, this joke would rile up the modern Republicans)

Homer Goes To College

This episode premiered on October 14th 1993. It ran in it's usual time slot and opposite the regular programs.

There is no chalkboard gag and the couch gag is a giant Monty Python foot crushing the family. 

It's nap time at the power plant however the Nuclear Regulatory Commission shows up. Burns claims they aren't a nuclear power plant but make cookies so the inspectors chop their way in. Smithers has Homer and two other dumb guys watch a bee in the sub basement. Homer breaks the jar and chases the bee. Just as Burns lies about Homer not being there he shows up with a bee sting. The inspectors put Homer in a simulator and he pokes buttons until he causes a meltdown in the truck. Burns runs to his escape pod, Smithers wants to join him but Burns says he likes to put his feet up on the spare chair. When Homer comes out of the meltdown hole he's glowing green and saying "Must destroy mankind" but his alarm goes off for lunchtime so he shakes it off. Burns bribes Quimby to drop the investigation. Burns tells Homer that he has to go to college and pass nuclear physics 101, and he must find the jade monkey before the next full moon. Smithers reminds him that they already found the monkey in the glove box. Homer flashes back to when he almost went to college but ended up chasing a dog carrying a ham. Homer watches a sex comedy about college to prepare for school. All the schools reject Homer so Burns forces Springfield University to accept him. When Homer gets his acceptance letter he sets his high school GED on fire, along with the rest of the house. At his first day of college Homer yells NERD at a passing student (This will become a popular internet meme). At the Freshman Mixer Homer spikes the punch and everyone is shocked, Homer blames the Dean (Bobby Peterson, who claims he was the base player for the Pretenders, the band has had 15 members and Chrissie Hynde) Instead of sticking around for the class review session Homer goes outside to chase squirrels. At home he converts the bedroom into a campus apartment with cinderblock shelves and a poster of Einstein. Because Homer stole the cinder blocks from a Children's Hospital construction site they have to shut down the work and cancel the building. Homer tries to show off how a proton accelerator works and causes a meltdown, the Dean sends him to a group of nerds to extra help. Homer tries to take the nerds on a beer fueled college road trip, but they have to bring Bart and Lisa along and wind up at the Springfield Petting Zoo. Bart plans to steal the mascot "Sir Oinks Alot" from Springfield A&M.  Homer gets the pig drunk and the Dean finds out, he has to expel the nerds since the pig was friends with Nixon. After they leave college Snake steals their wallets and they wind up living at the Simpsons house. After annoying the family Homer comes up with a scheme to get the nerds back in college. While they are discussing how to push the Dean out of the way Homer runs him over with his car. The Dean readmits the nerds while in the hospital. It turns out Homer was so busy with the nerds he forgot to study. The nerds try to teach homer everything he needs to know in a matter of days but he fails. The nerds alter his grade in the computer and he keeps his job. The show ends with Louie Louie by the Kingsman with scenes of the college hijinks including Homer on waterskis while wearing a toga, a food fight, a naked Homer wearing a freshman beanie and being paddles in a Fraternity initiation, cramming the nerds into a phone booth, Homer playing football but being chased by a tank operated by the nerds, Nixon with a bra on his head while Homer and the dean jam in the background, Homer pushing the dean into a pool and Homer wearing a cap and gown, and nothing else while flashing the other students at graduation.

The nuclear inspectors look at Homer in the simulator like the nurse looks at the test astronauts in A Few Good Men.  

Burn's escape pod looks like the one from the original Star Wars. 

When Burns bribes the inspector he does it Lets Make A Deal style with a washer/dryer set or the mystery box. 

Homer writes "It was the most I ever threw up and it changed my life forever" on his college application. His photo is a picture of him shoving a whole cake, including candles, into his mouth.

There is an ad for Worcestershire sauce soft drink. (I'm surprised Pepsi hasn't tried that one)

Homer watches the School of Hard Knockers starring Corey Masterson. Corey was first seen on one of Lisa's magazines in the episode Bart's Dog Gets An F and later she calls the Corey hotline in the episode Brother From The Same Planet.

Burns does the Al Capone baseball team speech from The Untouchables but is too weak to hit the admission officer.

Springfield University Est. 1952. Ask about our latin motto contest.  (I never realized my alma mater has a motto)

The music from the show The Paper Chase plays when Homer goes to see the nerds, they are in room 222,  Room 222 was a tv show about a high school. The nerds have a poster for Space Mutants 5 (the fictional movie series that is routinely showing at the Aztec theater in Springfield) and Devo. 

When they're planning their prank Bart draws a pig on a chalkboard and scrapes his nails across it like Captain Quint in Jaws.

Dated references: the nerds are using the internet to argue with MIT over who the better captain is, Picard or Kirk, they use dial up and large monitor computers. Marge can't use the phone because of it.

Itchy And Scratchy: Burning Down The Mouse, Scratchy ties up Itchy and covers him with explosive and bombs. Scratchy hops in a cab and drives off, just before the bombs go off the nerds unplug the tv to plug in their rock tumbler. The kids miss the end of the show and Krusty says that cartoon will never be shown on TV again. 

This was the last episode that Conan O'Brian was the head writer on. He left the series to star in his own  talk show, Late Night With Conan O'Brian. 

Rosebud

This episode premiered on October 21st, 1993. It was followed by The Sinbad Show. It ran opposite Missing Persons, Eye To Eye With Connie Chung and Mad About You.

There is no chalkboard gag for this episode and the couch gag is the family runs into the living room to find themselves already sitting on the couch.

This episode was based on the movie Citizen Kane.

Mr Burn's, aka Happy, remembers back to when he was taken from his family to live with a millionaire. When planning for his birthday Mr. Burns sees the employees laughing at Homer and wants him to tell jokes at his upcoming birthday party. Homer plans a series of roasts of Burns despite Marge's warning. The Ramones appear to sing happy birthday to Burns, he orders Smithers to have The Rolling Stones killed. Mr. Smithers announces a dog was run over in the parking lot, and then introduces Homer who flop, so he drops his pants with a face drawn on his butt.  Mr Burns has the crowd attacked by riot police. Mr. Burns is missing his childhood stuffed bear we see it's journey through time, washing into a river, ending up with Charles Lindberg on his flight to Paris, Lindberg tosses it out the window where Hitler catches it, in the bunker during the Russians invasion Hitler blames the bear for the collapse of the Third Reich. Bobo ends up on the USS Nautilus, the first subs to sail under the polar ice cap. Fast forward to the modern world where a team is bagging North Pole ice to sell at the Kwik-E-Mart. Bart happens to buy the bag with the frozen Bobo inside. When Bart complain Apu tells him "It's chock full of heady goodness". Bart gives the bear to Maggie who instantly falls in love with it. Smithers shows up in a bear costume for Mr. Burns (just another hint at his sexuality and a reference to a ghost scene in The Shining). Professor Frink creates a robot bear that becomes self aware and runs amok. Homer finally realizes that the bear is Bobo and imagines that Burns gives him a recording studio as a reward, he sing the Big Mac song with a full orchestra. Burns claims he can't pay much of a reward just as the floor above gives away and he's buried in cash. Homer rejects the first offer, a drink but almost cracks although he's held back by the family. When Burns shows up Homer tells him he wants a million dollars and three Hawaiian islands, good ones not the leper ones. (Hawaiian leper colonies were first mentioned on the Mr. Plow episode) Maggie refuses to give up Bobo so Homer turns down the offer. Burns and Smithers try to ninja into the Simpson's house (three years before Mission Impossible). Mr Burns takes over all the TV networks including Channel Ocho, where he shoves Bumblebee Man out of the way. Burns also blocks all beer deliveries to Springfield. Barney tries to shoot Homer, the bullies are going to beat up Bart but then Martin shows them the first snap dragon of the year so they attack him instead. Burns and Smithers appear on their own sitcom. When a mob charges into the house they take the bear but then see a sad Maggie and give it back. Burns is forced to talk to Maggie in her sandbox. Mr. Burns can't steal the bear back and tells her to hang on to Bobo but she gives it to him. The Simpsons don't get anything in return. Burns dreams about the year 1 Million A.D. where on a planet of the apes he appears with his head in a jar on a robot body, followed by Smithers who has a robot dog body. (The heads in jars bit will be used on another Matt Groening series Futurama 6 years later)

Pop culture references: Guards at Burns Manor "All we own, we owe", spoof on the guards at the Wicked Witch of the West's castle, Mr. Burns pops out of a window like the guard gate at Oz. Mr. Burn's younger brother is George Burns (he was 97 when this episode aired, this is a continuity error because in the episode Simpson and Delilah Burns said he was 81). Burns drops a snowglobe like in the opening of Citizen Kane. Burns claims he was calling out for the show Sheriff Lobo, Homer has an actual dream about the show. (Sheriff Lobo was mentioned on the episode Marge In Chains). Mr Smithers imagines Mr. Burns popping out of a cake and singing Happy Birthday like Marlyn Monroe did to JFK. At Burn's birthday party Reagan and Nixon show up. Bush sr. is kicked out since no one term Presidents are allowed. Jimmy Carter offers to take him out for yogurt. The drawing of Mr. Burns on the curtain of his birthday show is an Al Hirshfield sketch similar to one of Jerry Lewis. Homer watches a Barney type of show.

Nev-R-Break Snow Globes. Similar to the Nev-R-Break dog collar and the Self-M-Break hose in the monorail.

Burns Manor warning signs: Warning Keep Out, Danger Electrified Fence, Trespassers Will Be Shot, Free Kittens Inquire Within.

Mr. Burns's birthday is September 15th. 

Mr. Smithers says he's going to get Homer to work up some snappy Sinbad-esque material for the birthday party. At the time, and as previously mentioned, The Simpsons were the lead in to The Sinbad Show starring the comedian.

Springfield Shopper headline: Burns' Birthday Today, Credits Long Life To Satan. There's a photo of Burns giving Satan a check for One Billion Dollars. The check number is 667.

Photos of Burns' life, Riding a bike. planting the flag on Iwo Jima, Knocking out Sonny Liston, Marlyn Monroe subway grate in The Seven Year Itch, with Bobo his lost stuffed bear. 

Perhaps one of the weirdest background images of The Simpsons is a dead German in Hitler's bunker. Was he killed? Did he shoot himself? Unknown.

Milhouse's image appears on a series of milk cartons but is covered over with a photo of Bobo by Mr. Smithers. This is in reference to the missing children's photos that were on milk cartons, a practice that ended the 1990's when such programs as Amber Alerts took over.

Homer watches The Soul Mass Transit System dance show, a spoof on Soul Train. The show was first seen in the Radio Bart episode but the name of the program wasn't mentioned.

Springfield cable gets 78 channels. 

I've made it through 85 episodes. Only 665 more to go, plus whatever other shows they create before I finish.