The Simpsons 161-165

Hurricane Neddy

This episode premiered on December 29th, 1996. The lead in show was The X-Files and it was followed by Ned And Stacey. It ran opposite the NBA, Heat vs. the Bucks (95-94), Touched By An Angel and Third Rock From The Sun

There wasn't a chalkboard gag and the couch gag was the family runs into the living room where there is a coin slot with a sign Vend-A Couch, Homer drops in a coin but nothing happens so he pounds on the wall and the couch drops on him. "D'oh!"

Homer is asleep in his hammock when the wind picks up. Lisa checks her window frame weather station and all readings point to a hurricane. Homer he says there is no record of a hurricane ever hitting Springfield, she points out that the records only go back to 1978 when the hall of records was mysteriously blown away. Once SLH warns him he goes into action. Marge goes to the Kwik-E-Mart while Homer secures the house, poorly. Ned has his house fully secured complete with a tarp tied down over the roof. Just as the prison is about to execute a man in the electric chair the storm carries him off, he shouts back "so long suckers" and hits a high power line. While hiding in the basement Marge finds a Rubik's cube but they all shout instructions at her "use your main finger", she tosses it. The storm hits the harmonica shop and it plays a jaunty sea tune, when it hits the harpsichord store is just sound like someone mashing on all the keys at once. The storm calms down so Homer goes outside despite being warned that it's the eye, he sees Barney's Bowl-O-Rama go flying by and the second half of the storm hits (the Bowl-O-Rama lands on top of a steep hill). The storm is over and the Simpson's house survived with no damage, however the Flanders' house is completely destroyed. The Flanders don't have insurance since Ned considers it a form of gambling. Meanwhile a mob hits the mall but the only store they loot is the Leftorium. When Ned asks if God is punishing him Reverend Lovejoy tells him he has pamphlet by Art Linkletter somewhere in his office. Ned goes to read the Bible but gives himself a paper cut. The next day Marge tells Ned that a miracle has happened, when he gets home he discovers the town turned out to rebuild his house. The people installed a toilet in the kitchen next to the refrigerator because they didn't want to lug it up the stairs. The door frames are all crooked, part of the floor is painted dirt, one room has an excess of electricity, one of the halls is an optical illusion. When they go back outside the whole place collapses. Ned starts talking in gibberish and then yells at them. Krusty is writing down all the insults and Ned tells him he's the only one that doesn't make him laugh. Ned hops in the car and drives to the Calmwood Mental Hospital. (This is a different place than where Homer went, New Bedlam Rest Home). Ned commits himself, one of the nurses recognizes him and calls Dr. Foster. The doctor had treated Ned for his childhood aggression and when he finished Ned would express his anger by saying nonsense like Doodly. The doctor wants to bring in the person who most makes Ned angry so they call Homer, he claims to not know Ned. The doctor has Homer read some insulting cards but they don't work. Homer tells Ned that he's too nice and he finally admits he hates his beatnik parents. They let Ned go and he promises to not suppress his rage and will tell people off, or run them over with his car. 

Lisa consults The How, Why, and Huh? Book of Weather.

Continuity error, Lisa says the hall of records mysteriously blew away in 1978 but in two separate episodes they visited the hall of records (not the good kind). In the episode Mother Simpson they have all of Homer's records including that his mother is still alive which goes further back than 78.

Springfield is hit by Hurricane Barbara. 

Apu crosses out Cat on the Cat Chow and writes in Hurricane. All that's left on the shelf are cans of creamed ell and wadded beef and a carton of corn nog. 

They do an opening but with The Hurricane instead of The Simpsons. 

Stuff in the Simpson's basement, Homer's golf clubs (Scenes from a class struggle in Springfield), stacks of old newspapers (Home Sweet Homediddly-Dum-Doodly), Christmas lights and Homer's Santa suit (Simpsons Roasting On An Open Fire), the Aztec head (Blood Feud), two barrels of toxic waste.

First Church Of Springfield "God Welcomes His Victims." The only people there are the Flanders. The boys get clothes from the donation bin, Todd is wearing a Butthole Surfers shirt and Rod has an I'm With Stupid shirt. 

Dr. Foster shows Ned the films they made of him as a boy, Juvenile Aggression Study Sponsored by Swanson's Angry Man Dinners (a spoof on Hungry Man Dinners) The Doctor uses the University Of Minnesota's Spankalogical Protocol, he spanks Ned for eight months.

According to the doctor Ned was treated 30 years earlier so that puts him somewhere between 35 and 42.

Characters at the Mental Hospital, Lucille Botzcowski (The Baby Sitter Bandit), John Swartzwelder, Jay Sherman (aka The Critic who appeared in the episode A Star Is Burns)

In the episode Boy Scouts In The Hood Ned gets angry at Homer and starts blathering saying Diddly repeatedly. Was this foreshadowing? In Seymour Skinner's Badasssss Song Ned first mentions his beatnik parents. 

This was the last episode of 1996. Only 27 more years to go. (28 now that they've started a new season)

El Viaje de Nuestro Homer (The Mysterious Voyage Of Homer)

This episode premiered on January 5th, 1997. The lead in show was RSVP: Funniest Party Disasters and it was followed by Ned and Stacey. It ran opposite America's Funniest Home Videos, Touched By An Angel and Third Rock From The Sun.

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

Marge tries to hide the annual chili cookoff, she cuts a section out of the paper, unplugs the phone when Lenny calls and smokes so Homer can't smell the chili, she doesn't want Homer to get drunk and make a fool of himself like last year. After Homer promises to not drink they go to the cook off, Homer goes to each of the booths and tests the chili, criticizing them along the way. When he tries Wiggum's chili he burns his tongue on the insanity pepper. In order to beat Wiggum Homer coats his mouth in wax and returns. Homer swallows multiple peppers whole and walks off however it starts to cause him stomach problems. He starts hallucinating and runs off, Helen Lovejoy tells Marge that Homer made a fool of himself. In Homer's hallucination he sees a tortoise and follows it to a pyramid. He sees a faceless Marge, then a coyote shows up to tell him to go on a spiritual journey to find his soul mate. Homer wakes up in a sand trap at the golf course, the pyramid was the pro shop and the coyote was a talking dog. After a fight with Marge Homer deicides he needs to go out and find his soulmate. Homer calls an ad in the personal column from G.B.M., the guy describes what he likes to do so Homer hangs up on him. After wandering around Homer heads to the lighthouse to find Earl, however Earl stands for Electronic Automatic Robotic Lighthouse. He sees a ship coming so he breaks the light so they'll crash into the rocks and he'll have friends, that's when Marge shows up. She finds him because she knows him so well. Homer realizes that he and Marge have a deeper connection. Even though Marge replaces the bulb the ship still crashes into the shore dumping out its cargo of hot pants. Everyone shows up and starts singing Who Wears Short Shorts by the Royal Teens. 

Johnny Cash does the voice of the coyote spirit guide. 

The Springfield Shopper Sunday edition: Kickin' Back, Fifty Ways to Waste Your Weekend.

When Homer is digging his chili boots out of the closet you can see Marge's bowling ball (Life On The Fast Lane) and Homer's fishing hat (The Call Of The Simpsons). 

Springfield Chili Cook-Off "Please Lick Spoons Clean After Each Use." 

Lenny is running a booth, A Little Bit Of Lenny.

Continuity error, Marge is confused by the 8 spices on Lenny's spice rack even though in the episode Itchy And Scratchy And Marge she uses most of them to make pork chops. 

Ferl Dixon and the Second Helping Boys play the cook-off. They first appeared in the episode Bart On The Road at Branson MO. 

Chili booths: Muntz Family Chili "It Takes Weeks To Make Muntz", Old Elihu's Yale Style Saltpeter Chili (run by Burns), Professor Frink's Virtual Chili, Firehouse Ned's Five Alarm Chili (Ned admits his chili is really 2 alarm), Moe's Chili Bar, Wiggum adds the merciless peppers of Quetzlzacatenango to his chili. Joe's Spoons "Hand Carved"

Smithers shows up at the dance in a flashy cowboy costume complete with a light up "Hot Nashville Nights" on the back. 

Homer's hallucinations are done in the Ralph Bakshi style combining real and cartoon images. The hallucination sequence is based on the writings of Carlos Castaneda. 

Between the floors of the Simpson's house are mic bugs from the NSA, FBI, ATF, CIA, KGB and MCI. 

The record shelf in the Simpson house is a DisCabineTion 2000. Homer's record collection includes Jim Nabors, Glen Campbell and The Dootletown Pipers. 

Homer goes to Bob's All-Night Furniture Store. 

"Your Best Friend In Government, Re-Elect Mayor Quimby" 

Homer says it's like Marge is from Venus and she says Homer is from Mars "Sure, give me the one with all the monsters". This is from the 1992 book Women are from Venus, Men are from Mars. 

The Lighthouse uses a Sylvania 40,000 Watt Energy-Miser Lighthouse Bulb.

Just after the light house goes back on the Sea Captain shouts Jonathan Livingston Seagull! This is from the 1970 book of the same name.

When Homer enters the chili cook-off the opening notes from The Good The Bad and The Ugly play, later as he is wandering around looking for a soul mate At Seventeen by Janis Ian plays. Short Shorts by The Royal Teens play over the closing credits.

In the episode Homer The Heretic, Homer dances to Short Shorts as a spoof of the 1983 movie Risky Business. 

This was another "Marge and Homer's marriage is in trouble" episode, I'm not a big fan of them. It also felt like something was off in this episode, and I wasn't sure what it was. Perhaps it was the way they just kind of came to an end or that half the episode seemed to be Homer running around and didn't involve a lot of the other characters or building on the overall story. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the hallucination stuff but everything else felt like someone said "Now what?" and nobody had an answer. Plus we knew the conclusion would be "Marge is Homer's soulmate". Either way I was glad it was a rare miss and not a sign of things to come....

The Springfield Files

This episode premiered on January 12th, 1997. The lead in show was The World's Greatest Animal Outtakes and it was followed by the pilot episode of King Of The Hill. It ran opposite the regular programs.

The title of the episode came from The X Files which ran on the same network and had been the lead in or followed The Simpsons on several occasions.

The chalkboard gag is "The Truth Is Not Out There" and the couch gag is the family flies in on jet packs

Leonard Nimoy introduces the story. To take off early on Friday Homer puts an old tape in the security camera and it loops the same scene over and over. When Burns sees it he realizes it's Friday and asks Smithers if he'll be doing something gay for the weekend, Smithers gets flustered because "you know". Jasper takes the wrong pills because he thinks it's Wednesday and turns into a goat man. Homer goes to Moe's and gets drunk but he fails a Breathalyzer test and has to walk home. X Files Music starts to play and Homer gets scared, he sees a billboard that says Die and screams but then the wind blows revealing that it really says Diet and he screams even louder. Homer hears the music from Psycho but it turns out to be the Springfield Philharmonic bus dropping off musicians on their way home. Homer runs into the woods where he finds Grandpa who has been lost however Homer leaves him there. While in the woods Homer encounters a glowing figure who tells him to not be afraid so he runs off. Marge doesn't believe Homer since he came home drunk. Bart comes in wearing a helmet with antenna taped to it, googly eye glasses and a squirt gun, he claims to be The Thing From Uranus. Homer tells the story of being on a cold metal table while they probed him but then remembers that it was his plant physical. Homer goes to the police but Wiggum mocks him, the next guy is an arsonist who is also mocked. Mulder and Skully show up to talk to Homer about seeing a UFO. The agents want Homer to recreate his night so he claims he was at the gentleman's club discussing Wittgenstein over a game of backgammon. They tell him it's a felony to lie to the FBI so he tells the true story. When Moe finds out Mulder and Skully are from the FBI he goes to the back room and tells a group of guys to return Shamu to SeaWorld. Mulder and Skully get tired of waiting and take off. Marge begs Homer to let it go. Homer and Bart camp out in the woods, when the alien shows up Homer goes to greet it but sets his shoe on fire and scares it off. However Bart was recording it. Leonard Nimoy wraps up the story but then finds out he has 10 minutes left so he runs off. Homer's video appears on the news, pessimist Lisa says the people aren't going to be won over by three seconds of video tape but just then the doorbell rings and a mob has formed to ask Homer questions. Nimoy shows up on the next Friday night to see the alien. When it shows up the mob is about to attack the alien but Lisa pulls out a flashlight and shows them that its Burns. After he explains why he looks like an alien Dr Nick shows up to give him an injection of pain killer and everyone sings Good Morning Starshine The pimple faced kid finishes out Nimoy's narration by saying Keep Watching The Skies!

This episode had a rare full introduction including a chalkboard gag, Homer and Marge driving, Bart on his skateboard and an overall shot of the people in Springfield. They would do this when the episode came up a little short of the run time.

The chalkboard gag is a take on the X Files slogan The Truth Is Out There.

Leonard Nimoy's opening is a take on his In Search Of series. He does his own voice acting, he also appeared in the episode Marge vs. The Monorail

David Duchovney and Gillian Anderson do their own voices playing their characters from The X Files, Fox Mulder and Dana Scully. 

Homer changes out the security tape like in that movie about a bus that has to "speed" all over town, he thinks the name is "The Bus That Couldn't Slow Down". The video has Homer wearing a Sit On It t shirt (a catchphrase from Happy Days), Lenny in a disco outfit and Carl has a large afro and peace symbol necklace. (this is a continuity error since Homer has worked for the power plant for 10 years and the pop culture references are from the late 70's, at least 20 years before this episode aired)

Noiseland Arcade: Friday Meet Donkey Kong In Person. A tired looking ape is sitting outside smoking a cigarette, he throws a barrel at his handler. Milhouse plays Kevin Costner's Water World, it takes 40 quarters or $10 dollars. The character moves a few inches and the machine announces Game Over.

Dr. Hibbert leaves his office for the weekend even though Moleman is still in the x-ray machine. 

Marge is reading Better Homes Than Yours magazine. 

Dated reference, Lisa is excited about the ABC TGIF lineup. Bart tells her it's just another day between NBC's Must See Thursday and CBS's Saturday Night Craparama. 

Red Tick Beer "Suck One Dry". The secret ingredient is they let dogs swim around in the vat. 

Brethalyzer test levels: Tipsy, Soused, Stinkin', Boris Yeltsin (Boris Yeltsin was the President of the new Russian Republic). When Homer hits the top level it plays The Song Of The Volga Boatman, creator unknown.

This episode has one of the best visual gags, Homer runs through a field spelling out Yahhh! he even goes back to dot the exclamation point. This is a take on crop circles.

Lisa reads Junior Skeptic Magazine (of course)

Homer says the alien appears every Friday night, like Urkel. (a character on the show Family Matters for all the Century Kids out there)

FBI Divising of Paranormal Activities Washington D.C.

On his office wall Muller has a photo of J. Edgar Hoover in a dress. The story about Hoover came out in 1993.

Springfield Shopper headline: Human Blimp Sees Flying Saucer, with a photo of Homer. 

When Mulder shows Marge his FBI badge it contains a centerfold photo of him.

FBI Springfield Branch, Invading Your Privacy For 60 Years.

Aliens at the FBI lineup, Marvin The Martian, Gort (The Day The Earth Stood Still), Chewbacca, ALF, Kodos. 

The Cigarette Smoking Man from The X Files is in the background at the FBI office. 

Moe's Bar, 3:02 PM, temperature 72, All Work And No Play Makes Jack A Dull Boy (repeated)

When Homer gets drunk he says "Blue M&M, Red M&M, they all wind up the same color in the end". In 1995 M&Ms was retiring the tan color and had a contest to replace it with either Blue, Pink or Purple. They had also brought back the red M&Ms after they stopped production during the Red Dye #2 cancer scare.

Self aware joke, Homer plans to go back to the woods and find the alien and if he doesn't he'll fake it and sell it to the Fox Network, Bart says they'll buy anything. Homer says they do a lot of quality programming too and they both break into laughter.

In the woods three frogs say Bud Wise Err and then an alligator comes along, eats them and says Coors. The Frog Budweiser commercial was a big hit during the 1995 Super Bowl.

All of Homer's camping gear is labeled "Property Of Ned Flanders"

A guy who has been in a coma for 23 years wakes up, he asks if Sonny and Cher still have that stupid show, when Kent Brockman tells him Sonny is in congress and Cher won the Oscar the guy drops dead. 

The news file photo of Homer is him with his tongue stuck to a frozen lamppost. 

Lovejoy mentions ET in his sermon. The school band plays the 5 notes from Close Encounters. 

Jimbo shows up with a sign that says "Alien-Dude: Need Two Tickets To Pearl Jam"

T shirts at the alien waiting party: Homer Was Right, No Fat Alien Chicks. Homer tells Lisa "You don't see any 'Homer is a dope' T shirts", the guy running the stand says they sold out of those in 5 minutes. Marge bought one for herself and Maggie. 

Burns weekly medical treatment, chiropractors, eye drops, pain killers and a vocal cord scraping (from Dr. Nick). The glow comes from being exposed to a nuclear reactor for his whole life. 

At the end when Dr. Nick gives Burns another injection of pain killers and everyone sing Good Morning Starshine (from the musical Hair)

The phrase "Keep watching the skies" comes from the 1951 movie The Thing From Another World. Martin also used it in his class president speech in the episode Lisa's Substitute.

After the last episode this one came off as really good and a classic Simpsons. I figured the previous one was just a temporary stumble and the show was going to continue to produce quality stories for years to come. 

The Twisted World Of Marge Simpson

This episode premiered on January 19th, 1997. The lead in show was World's Funniest Outtakes and it was followed by King Of The Hill. It ran opposite America's Funniest Videos, Touched By An Angel and The Golden Globes. 

The chalkboard gag is "I am not licensed to do anything" and the couch gag is the family is a Whack-A-Mole game and Homer gets hit on the head. "D'ho!"

Marge is a member of an investors group but she complains that they are getting too risky for her so they decide to kick her out. She goes to a franchise expo but isn't sure about buying into a business until she runs into her former investment group. When they buy into Pita franchise she decides to invest in a pretzel company. To spread around fliers the Simpsons hold a fake parade with Lisa posing as an astronaut, Wiggum says "welcome back Space Girl". Marge goes to the power plant and Homer convinces everyone to go buy a pretzel but then the Investorettes show up in their Pita wagon and steals all her customers. Marge gets waved over by Cleetus who happened to have 300 coupons for free pretzels (from the parade) and uses them to feed his family. She gives away free pretzels at the ball game however Mr. Burns wins the 1997 Pontiac Astrowagon and the crowd pelts him with the pretzels instead of eating them. Whitey Ford tries to calm down the crowd and gets buried by the pretzels. Marge decides to give up so Homer goes to see the owner of the pretzel franchise company, however Frank Ormond is dead. Homer then turns to his last hope, Fat Tony. The next morning Marge starts getting large orders for pretzels, the first one is from the Meat Packers Union Hall in Batavia NY.  The mob goes around knocking over rival businesses such as Moleman's hot dog cart. They go to Luigi's and squash a delivery pizza spraying sauce on a nearby table. The mob forces the cookie selling Girl Scouts out of town. Skinner is forced to buy pretzels for the school lunch. Wiggum holds up a shipment of pita fixings for the Investorettes, as they are complaining the mob blows up their Pita wagon. Fat Tony shows up at Moe's and asks Homer for the pretzel money. Tony then lures Marge out to 11905 Dead Weasel Road, he tells her that he wants the profits from the pretzels business and she has 12 hours to come up with it. The next day there is a knock on the door and it's grandpa, but they shut it in his face, then Fat Tony shows up. However the Investorettes show up with their new partners, the Yakuza. A mob war breaks out on the Simpsons lawn. Homer wants to watch because the little guy hasn't done anything yet but Marge insists they go inside to breakfast. The little guy crashes through the window, asks for forgiveness and then goes back out to the fight. 

Jack Lemon does the voice of Frank Ormand.

Municipal House of Pancakes (A spoof of IHOP). Meeting: Springfield Investorettes 9:00 AM. The investor members, Mrs. Krabappal, Maude Flanders, Agnes Skinner, Helen Lovejoy and Luanne Van Houten. They have invested in Dynaflux Unimatics. The Invesorettes give Marge a $500 check, the date is 12-01-96 

Franchise Expo: Where you can make your nonsexual dreams come true. Franchise companies: Picture Perfect (picture straightening company). Disco Stu's Can't Stop The Learnin' Disco Academies. (Disco Stu first appeared in the episode Two Bad Neighbors) Fleet-A-PIta (the Investorettes buy into this one) Pretzel Wagon. 

When explaining where Marge's territory is Frank Ormand does a version of the "I'll be there" speech from The Grapes Of Wrath. 

Homer drives a 1952 Chrysler Imperial in the phony parade. This is a take on the parade held for the crew of Apollo 11 after their return from the Moon.

Springfield War Memorial Stadium "Free Pretzel Day.

There wasn't a Pontiac Astrowagon, this was made up for the show. Also Pontiac ended production in 2010.

First Church Of Springfield "Open"

The squashed pizza sauce hitting the customers at Luigi's is a take on Michale shooting Sollozzo and the Captain McCluskey in The Godfather.

When the mob is eliminating competition for the pretzel business Man, Go Man (The Lineman) by Ralph Dollimore plays.

Best line of the episode: Moe "Ahh Homer, you know your moneys no good here. Wait a minute, this is real money!"

Mountain Of Madness (The Most Excellent Snowy Mountain Adventure)

This episode premiered on February 2nd 1997. The lead in program was World's Scariest Police Chases and it was followed by King Of The Hill. It ran opposite the regular programs. 

The title of the Episode comes from the novel At The Mountains Of Madness by HP Lovecraft and the movie Bill And Ted's Excellent Adventure.

There isn't a chalkboard gag and the couch gag is Grandpa is asleep on the hide away bed, they fold him into the couch and sit on it.

Mr Burns is bored at work so he holds a fire drill. When the alarm goes off Carl thinks it microwave popcorn is done and Lenny won't leave the building until his coffee is ready. Homer saves his photo of himself as an Old Timey Cowboy, he is the first one out of the building and blocks the door so nobody else can escape. After the disaster Burns decides to hold a teamwork retreat, Homer is the only one to bring his family. Burns tells the employees that they will form into two man teams and have to work their way to a cabin that can only be found on a map. The second to last time to arrive will win a "Worlds Worst Employee" cup and the last team will be fired. Lenny and Carl get teamed up. Homer gets teamed up with Burns, at first he'd disappointed but then realized Burns can't be fired. Smithers ends up solo. After everyone else runs off Burns reveals that he has a hidden snowmobile. Bart hits Smithers with snow, the kids offer to help him find the cabin, Bart says he has a watch with a minute hand and the time is 12:80. When Marge can't find the kids the ranger suggests they take the chair lift however they have to go all the way to the top of the mountain. Bart and Burns reach the cabin first so they start eating and drinking however the clinking of their glasses causes an avalanche. The cabin has a telegraph but it's attached to the Springfield Museum display. Burns and Homer dig their way out but their loud celebration results in another avalanche. Everyone else shows up at the wrong cabin. To fend off boredom Homer and Burns build snowmen but they start to get cabin fever, they soon turn on each other. Burn's tries to hit Homer with with a poker but manages to rupture the propane tank that launches them like a rocket. The house stops right next to the rangers station, Burns announces that the competition is still on and since Lenny is the last one in Burns fires him, but changes his mind, just then Lenny falls down a crevasse. 

Power plant drills: Meltdown Alert, Mad Dog Drill, Blimp Attack, Fire Drill.

Mr. Burns mentions The Ritz Brothers. They made movies from the 30's to the 50's and had a regular stage show. They were overshadowed by The Marx Brothers and The Three Stooges.

Mt. Useful Strategic Granite Reserve.

The last team will be fired is a take on the Glengary Glen Ross competition.

Smithers calls Bart and Lisa The Bobbsey Twins. These were a series of popular adventure books written for children and published between 1904 to 1979.

Homer's imaginary army: Mao, Lincoln, Roosevelt, King Tut, Gandhi. 

This episode was good but felt like it was missing something. The pop culture references were few and pretty direct. To me it felt like a slight bump but hopefully there are better episodes coming. 

We've reached episode 165. There were three good episodes, one questionable (Mountain Of Madness) and one that had a great first act and the didn't have anything for the second act or conclusion (Voyage Of Homer). Without realizing it at the time we had started to slip into the dark years of The Simpsons. 

 The Simpsons 156-160

The Homer They Fall

This episode premiered on November 10th 1996. The lead in program was a repeat of The Simpsons and it was followed by The X Files. It ran opposite Lois and Clark, Touched By An Angel and Boston Common.

The title and plot of this episode is based on the 1956 movie The Harder They Fall.

The chalkboard gag is "I am not my long-lost twin" and the couch gag is the family is in a western setting and the couch tries to buck them off. 

The episode starts with the family going to see the Memories of Bonanza: The Mall Show. Two actors who played Native American on the series show up and say that they were always trying to kill the Cartwrights but Father Time took care of it for them, the crowd boos. Marge comments that there were three Indians last year. Comic Book Guy is at the electronic store trying to return an utility belt that he got at a convention, it's a medium and really doesn't fit him. Bart buys it from him for $4 however the school bullies steal it from him. When Homer finds out he calls the bullie's fathers who meet him at the bar, they try to beat him up but he keeps taking hits including a pool cue across the skull. Moe chases them off because they don't want to pay for the two drink minimum. Moe gets Homer involved in the underground fighting circuit. Marge insists Homer go to a doctor and then adds "competent doctor". Dr. Hibbert diagnoses Homer with Homer Simpson Syndrome in which his brain is protected by a layer of fluid. Moe's strategy is to let the other fighters punch Homer until they get tired and then he can just push them over. Lucius shows up at Moe's office and wants to set up a fight to celebrate Drederick Tatum's release, he went to prison for pushing his mother down a flight of stairs. Lucius wants Homer to survive three rounds, so the fans can get drunk before the fight is over. The night of the fight Marge insists that Moe throw in the towel the minute Homer is in danger, instead he throws it in the trash can. When Moe tells Homer to visualizing winning the fight he sees a fantasy where Tatum drops dead from a congenital heart defect. When the fight gets brutal Moe runs away. Just as Tatum goes to knock Homer out Moe swoops in with the Fan Man's flying rig and saves him. Lucius pays Moe $100,000 for the fight, Moe says "I don't need your stinkin' money" then fold up the check and puts it in his pocket. Moe flies off and we see a montage of him saving people, a flood in India, A guy in a volcano, spraying a fire extinguisher on a forest fire and dropping care packages. People Who Need People by Barbara Streisand is played during the closing credits instead of The Simpsons theme.

The movie The Harder They Fall was Humphrey Bogart's last film. It also featured professional boxer Max Baer, father of Max Baer jr. who played Jethro on The Beverly Hillbillies.

Michael Buffer does his own voice as the ringside announcer. 

This is the first episode to mention Lucius Sweet by name. They describe him as looking like Don King and is just as rich. He first appeared in the background of the episode Homer vs. Lisa and the 8th Commandment.

The chalkboard gag comes just two episodes after the Treehouse Of Horror episode where Bart had a conjoined twin named Hugo. The couch gag is only the second to take place outside of the living room, the first was the David Letterman set.

Mall Stores: Simply Shoes, And Athletic Equipment, And Activewear / Miscellaneous, Etc. / Phineas Q. Butterfat's 5600 Flavors of Ice Cream Parlor / One Size Fits All Lingerie. 

Moe's boxing names, Kid Gorgeous, Kid Presentable, Kid Gruesome and finally Kid Moe. 

Banner at Moe's: Boxing Tonight "Cruelest Of Sports"-Newsday. 

Boxers Homer fights: Boxcar Bob, Boxcar Fred, Switchyard Sullivan, Boxcar Fritz, Sunffy, Manny The Mooch, Soupcan Sam, Boxcar Ira.

In one of the fighting scenes a guy falls through the ropes while Homer stands there. This is based on the painting Dempsey Through The Ropes by George Bellows.

Association of Springfield Semi-Pro Boxers, AssBox.

Millionaire Boxing Magazine "Drederick Tatum: Why Such Rage?

Continuity Error, Homer doesn't know who Drederick is even though he's been featured regularly throughout the series.

Springfield Shopper headline, Champ To Whale On Local Man

The fight is titled Tatum vs. Simpson, The Payback.

Signs at the boxing venue: Championship Boxing Tasteful Attire Prohibited / Lost Entourage Members Report To Room 31

Stars at the fight: Rainer Wolfcastle, Kent Brockman, Fat Tony, The Fan Man (a notorious individual who use to fly into various events but mostly boxing matches), Krusty, Charlie Sheen. The fight doctor is Dr. Nick.

Tatum's entrance music is Time 4 Sum Aksion by Redman, Homer's is Why Can't We Be Friends by War. 

Homer's boxing nickname is The Brick Hithouse, referencing a vulgar slang term. 

Advertiser banners at the fight, Krustyburger, Kwik-E-Mart, Assassin Shoes, Buzz Cola, Laramie Cigarettes, Duff beer. 

Tatum's robe says Mr. Armageddon, Homer's says Opponent. 

"Due to popular demand we'll forgo our National Anthem"

Moe mentions that he's wearing Farah slacks. You can still buy them.

Burns, Baby Burns

This episode premiered on November 17th, 1996. The lead in show was Married With Children and the follow up was Ned And Stacey. It ran opposite Lois And Clark, Touched By An Angel and Third Rock From The Sun. 

The title of the episode originated when disk jockey Magnificent Montague used it to describe popular records. During 1965, known as The Long Hot Summer,  people at the Watts Riot chanted Burn Baby Burn as buildings were torched.

There isn't a chalkboard gag and the couch gag is the Simpsons float in as soap bubbles and then pop one by one. 

The Simpsons go to the old Cider Mill, during the seventh game of the World Series. Homer tries to sneak off but gets caught by the Flanders. Ned starts taking about cider and Homer's brain sneaks out, he collapses on the floor. Meanwhile in New Haven Burns is coming back from the Yale/Harvard game (Harvard barely even won). Burns is riding in his private antique car attached to the back of a Amtrak train. They get delayed because there is a couch on the track at Waynesport. Larry is running a roadside souvenir stand and tries to sell stuff to the people on the train, there he spots Burns and recognizes him from an old photo, he asks the conductor where the train is going and starts hitching. The Simpsons pass him, Marge and Homer get into an argument about picking him up and get all the way home before Homer decides to do it and turns around to go back and get him. Larry asks if they know Burns and they all tell him about their various encounters, and then drop him off at Burns' house. Burns takes in Larry and puts him to work with Homer at the nuclear plant. Burns tries to get Larry into Yale but the admission officer tells him that he'd have to donate an airport. Larry invites Homer to dinner so Burns asks him about Bart, Homer tells Burns how Bart always drags Milhouse over (self aware joke). Larry is upset that Burns doesn't like him so Homer convinces him to do a phony kidnapping. Marge finds the family in the basement and sees the news report about the kidnapping, she insists that Homer take him back. Meanwhile the Channel 6 helicopter just happens to be over the Simpson's house and spots them. Homer and Larry run into a costume shop, a guy dressed as an ape and an organ grinder come out, then the shop owner goes to the restroom where Homer and Larry are hiding and kicks them out. They go to the movie theater to hide out. They harass Moleman, the only other guy in the theater, he calls the cops. The news shows Homer being shot in front of the theater, but it's a computer simulation, then they show Homer dying in a baseball barrage. Larry and Homer run to the roof but get caught on the marquee. Larry confesses that the kidnapping was fake. Homer gives a speech about his annoying kids. Burns admits he can't be the father Larry wants, however Larry realizes that he should go home to his own family and then a party breaks out. 

Rodney Dangerfield does a guest voice as Larry Burns. During the show he says he gets no regard or esteem. This is a spoof on his famous catchphrase "I get no respect"

Mt. Swartzwelder Historic Cider Mill "Now 40% Quainter!" John Swartzwelder is a writer for The Simpsons. The old cider mill was first mentioned in the episode Bart's Inner Child.

Marge mentions the seventh game of the World Series however in 1996 the series was wrapped up in 6 with the Yankees beating the Braves 4 to 2.

When Larry tries to find out where the train is going the conductor shouts "Springfield", Larry asks what state and as the conductor is answering the train whistle blows. 

Burns has a painting of Angus Burns in his library. 

Burns graduated from Yale in 1914 which would mean he was born in 1890 thus making him 106 in this episode. Larry would be 57. 

Larry's mother is Lily Bancroft. 

Burns and Lilly go to see Gone With The Wind and then sneak into the Peabody Museum Of Natural History, Larry was conceived at the Eskimo exhibit, with the janitor watching. Larry was left in an orphanage until he was 18 and then got a job at the souvenir stand. The Peabody Museum is a real place at Yale University.

Burns has a "Play room" where they are putting on Death Of A Salesman. He yells at the actors that the show was suppose to close a week ago.

When Marge gets tired of hearing about Larry Homer says "why, it's not like anything interesting happened to anyone else today" Cut to Bart holding a diamond, Lisa with her arm in a cast and Maggie wearing a Cutest Baby sash.

The Aztec head is still in the basement along with Homer's Santa suit from the episode Simpsons Roasting On An Open Fire

While fleeing the cops Homer attempts to hide in an abandon warehouse but it's full of people working, he says "stupid economic recovery". 1996 was the height of the Clinton economy.

Name of the costume shop, Springfield Costume Shop, the writers had really given up on the clever signs. Costumes in the shop window, Krusty, Ballerina, Spaceman. 

Movie at the Aztec Theater: Olympia Dukakis * Bo Derek In Too Many Grandmas!

The party scene at the end of the movie is a spoof on Caddyshack. 

Bart After Dark

This episode premiered on November 24th 1996. It ran in its usual time slot and opposite the regular programs.

The title of the episode comes from the 1961 movie Hollywood After Dark aka Walk The Angry Beach.

There is no chalkboard gag and the couch gag is a take on The Beatles album cover for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band with the main characters making up the background (For a full list check out Wikipedia, on a quick side note they have the jello from the episode There's No Disgrace Like Homer but it's not listed on Wikipedia.)

The kids are watching Itchy And Scratchy when they cut to a special report about an oil tanker running aground on Baby Seal Beach, the captain was drunk. Lisa bugs Marge to go to help with the cleanup so  Homer and Bart are left home alone. At the beach Lisa finds out that the animals have all been reserved for celebrities and all that is left is rock scrubbing. The house is such a mess that Homer and Bart make garbage angels. Bart decides to go to the park where he finds Milhouse flying his model plane, Nelson takes control and forces Martin and Ralph to jump off their paddle boat, almost crashes into Burns but is deflected by Smithers and it lands on the roof of a creepy house. Bart climbs a tree up onto the roof but nearly falls off, breaking a gargoyle in the process. A woman catches him and drags him home, she is greeted by Homer wearing a paper bag. The woman threatens to talk to Marge if Homer won't do anything so he takes Bart back and makes him do chores until the gargoyle is paid for. Bart finds out that the house is really a burlesque theater and casino. Bart ends up working the door, first Grandpa shows up, turns around and go back out but then comes back in. When Marge finds out that the beach cleaners are having kelp burgers and watching Johnny Arvik the Eskimo comedian she takes off. Mel Zetz, the burlesque comedian, can't show up so Bart has to take his place on stage, he doesn't really get the dirty jokes. When Homer realizes Bart's dinner is getting cold, and eaten, he goes to find him and discovers what the Mason Derriere is really all about. Skinner shows up to see Roxanne and is greeted by Bart, he claims he was looking for the Air and Space Museum. He tips off the religious crowd so the Lovejoys and Flanders show up to tell Homer about Bart, just as Marge shows up. When Marge gets mad at Homer he says he was just doing what she would have done and it's really her fault. Marge goes to the Mason to ask them to shut down and move away. She then goes to the town meeting to complain about the Burlesque House. The town forms a mob to go tear the place down. When they start to destroy the house Homer starts giving a speech that turns into a musical number. Everyone decides to leave the House but Marge shows up with a bulldozer and accidentally crashes into it. Bart makes Marge pay off the damage by doing a ventriloquist act, when her joke flops Homer shouts "take it off" and Bart bounces him. 

This episode was a take on the stage musical and movie The Best Little Whore House In Texas.

While watching TV it goes off because the V Chip blocks Itchy And Scratchy. Homer grabs the remote and turns it back on for the kids. V Chips were a parental tool to keep kids from watching adult content shows. 

The Itchy And Scratchy Show Good Cats Bad Choices. Scratchy is on a talkshow about how Itchy mistreats him, the subtitles say Scratchy is about to be slashed when Itchy walks out with a broken bottle, however the channel cuts to a special report.

The oil tanker running aground story was a take on the Exxon Valdez Alaskan disaster in 1989 . Joe Hazelwood, the captain of that ship, was accused of being drunk. In the episode The Sea Captain is steering the ship and is clearly drunk.

The celebrities doing cleanup at Baby Seal Beach, Rainer Wolfcastle and Xoxchitla (she was seen in the episode Marge Be Not Proud)

Bart and Homer watch the World Series Of Bumper Cars from the Hapsburg Imperial Palace, aka the Hofburg in Vienna.

The house is called the Mason Derriere. That translates to the Butt House or House of Butt if you want it to be a little more classy. 

At the beach the man in charge is driving a Begley 2000, this is a spoof on Ed Begley jr. and his push for electric cars. 

The TV has a commercial that says "It's 11:00 o'clock, do you know where your children are?" Homer says no. This is a take from the 60's when cities started imposing strict curfews and New York late night talk show host Tom Gregory would start his program by asking "It's 10 PM, do you know where your children are?" This became a popular PSA slogan.

At the burlesque Princess Cashmere is doing a fan dance. The act was created by dancer Faith Bacon in Paris in the 1920's. 

Springfield Town Hall sign Tonight: Town Meeting. Tomorrow: Town Meeting Bloopers

Marge has a slideshow of men coming out of the Burlesque House, Dr. Hibbert, Wiggum, Skinner (Chalmers shouts "Skinner!"), Patty (hints of things to come), Cleetus, Barney (When nobody shouts out his name in shock Moe does it), Smithers (although he doesn't look happy because his parents made him do it), Quimby. 

When Homer convinces the mob to spare the house Reverend Lovejoy calls it a Very Very Very Nice House. This is from the Crosby Stills And Nash song Our House.

We Put The Spring In Springfield is probably one of the top Simpson Original songs. 

A Milhouse Divided

This episode premiered on December 1st 1996. It ran in its usual time slot and opposite the regular programming except for Vanessa Williams and Friends: Christmas in New York on ABC.

The title is from the Book of Matthew in the Bible, "a house divided against itself will not stand". Lincoln paraphrased the quote for his speech about the pending Civil War.

There is no chalkboard gag and the couch gag is Bart is in green so Homer adjusts the TV set, Bart is then red so Homer smacks him and he returns to his normal yellow color.

Marge is unhappy that they eat while watching TV so she decides to throw a proper dinner party. Everyone dresses up nicely for the party except for Homer who is in his underwear and playing with his slot cars. The party is ruined when the Van Houtens make snide comments at each other. They then play Pictionary and the Van Houtens get into a fight. Luanne asks for a divorce in front of everyone. Marge blames it on the North Korean fortune cookies, "You are a coward". Luanne packs up all of Kirk's stuff and sets it on fire. Kirk gets fired from the cracker family because a single guy is bad for their family oriented business, and his father in law owns the place. Luanne starts dating Chase from American Glaiators, aka Pyro. Marge goes out with Luanne but Homer doesn't want to go. He goes to Moe's and runs into Kirk and the woman he's dating, who steals Kirk's car. Kirk tells Homer how he missed all the signs which makes Homer start worrying about his own marriage, when he gets home he finds hot dogs defrosting in the sink. Homer overcompensates by getting season tickets to the theater, trying to make ocean sounds while Marge is sleeping and sneaking into the beauty salon to cut her hair. Marge gets mad and tells Homer to go away so he heads to the courthouse. Homer surprises Marge with a second wedding with all their friends and family, and to make sure it's done right he got a divorce. Marge and Homer get married again, Kirk sings his song to Luanne and tries to get her to take him back but she refuses and Chase kicks him out. A lounge version of the theme song plays over the credits. 

The couch gag is based on the original reason the Simpsons were yellow. When the show premiered you could still adjust the color on your set manually, Groening imagined people seeing the characters were yellow would try to adjust their sets to get them to a more pinkish color. 

Homer is reading Hot Lotto Picks Weekly magazine. He imagined his married life would be driving around in a van solving mysteries like Scooby Doo.

The Simpsons go to Stoner's Pot Palace to buy new cookware, Otto comes out and claims the sign is false advertising. 

Marge washes the toilet seats in the dish washer. Ewww.

Homer mentions the comic strip Love Is..., "about two naked 8 year olds who are married." The comics were created by Kim Casali about her relationship with her husband Roberto. 

Kirk moves in to Casa Nova, A Transitional Place For Singles. 

Marge serves Southern Cracker "The dryyyyy cracker"

The original American Gladiator ran from 1989 to 1996. 

Luanne and Chase want to take Homer and Marge to see Spaulding Gray. He told stories about what it was like to be a stage actor. He passes away in 2004.

Kirk tries to become a singer with his original song "Can I Borrow A Feeling".

Homer flashes back on their marriage, this time its the original story about going to Shotgun Pete's. 

Homer takes Marge to Carvel's Ice Cream for her wedding reception and gets her a Whale of a Wife cake. 

Homer gets tickets to the theater's entire season, Mostly Madrigal (14th century a cappella songs). An evening with Phillip Glass (piano composer). Voices Of The Elderly Poor. 

The hair salon Marge goes to is The Perm Bank. 

Homer's last fling at single life involves scratching his butt and belching. 

The Larry Davis Experience play at the second wedding, complete with the Doobie Brothers saxophone player. 

Lisa's Date With Destiny

This episode premiered on December 15th, 1996. It ran in its usual time slot except the lead in program was The Tick. It ran opposite the usual programs.

There is no chalkboard gag (at the opening) and the couch gag is the living room is upside down and the family falls off the couch and onto the ceiling. 

Chalmers shows up at the Springfield Grade School to show off his new 1979 Honda Accord. He's shocked to discover someone has stolen the H off the front of the car. He and Skinner try to steal the H off a Hyundai but get caught by Kerney. Homer buys a donut with sprinkles but instead he's covered it with candy, Apu kicks him out. As he's leaving the Kwik-E-Mart he sees the cops busting up a telemarking scam and throwing out the auto dialer. Skinner does a locker search but can't find the H until the back of Nelson's locker falls out and they find all his stolen stuff. Nelson is sentenced to do a week of janitorial work. While watching Nelson spray Willie with the hose Lisa gets caught and is sent to detention. Nelson sees Lisa doing a chalkboard punishment, he tells her to use the staff liner, five chalks in a holder, to get done quicker. Lisa starts to develop a crush on Nelson, she confesses to Milhouse, who gets stuck in the friend zone. Lisa asks Milhouse to pass a note to Nelson, it says "guess who likes you" and Nelson beats up Milhouse. The only money Homer gets from his phone scam is from Grandpa and Jasper. Lisa invites Nelson over to the house, Bart warns her about dating a bully. Homer's auto dialer calls Professor Frink who recognizes the AT-5000 Auto Dialer, he punches in a code to have it return to him but Homer catches it and breaks off the wheels. Lisa goes to Nelson's house, when she finds a guitar she asks him to sing a song so he sings "Joy to the world, the teachers dead". Lisa realizes that Nelson is trouble but Marge tells her that you have to change a man. Lisa makes Nelson change his clothes and they go to the observatory. Lisa starts talking about the stars and Nelson kisses her to shut her up. They get caught by the other bullies who make fun of him. The thugs invite him to go throw rancid coleslaw at Skinner's house, but he decides to stay with Lisa. Homer's auto dialer is keeping the Flanders awake. Nelson shows up to help throw coleslaw at Skinner's house but the cops show up so they run off. Nelson goes to Lisa to hide out, he claims he wasn't there and is being framed. The cops bust into the Simpsons house and Wiggum opens fire, he shoots the auto dialer but tells Homer to bring the machine with him or they wouldn't have any evidence. Nelson lets it slip that he "did something in the birdbath" at Skinner's house. Lisa decides to break up with him since he lied. Lisa runs into Milhouse as she is walking home, when he finds out that they broke up he's extra happy. The show ends with the autodialer calling people to apologize for Homer's scam and asks them to send him a dollar if they accept his apology. 

Continuity error, Skinner says he plans to buy a car as soon as he finishes paying off his mother for all the food he ate as a child, however there have been several episodes where he shows up in a car including Bart's Comet where the kids pelt his car with rocks.

Burns' office number is 555-0001

The grade school band play list: Mary Had A Little Lamb, Pop Goes The Weasel and Jimmy Crack Corn. If there is a call for an encore they'll play Pop Goes The Weasel again. This is a continuity error because in the episode The PTA Has Disbanded Pop Goes The Weasel was the forbidden song. 

Lisa's detention is writing "I will not be a snickerpuss" on the chalkboard, a take on the chalkboard gag. In a self aware joke she says "how does Bart do this every week?" even though there hadn't been a chalkboard gag in a while. 

Lisa calls Nelson a riddle wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a vest. This is a paraphrase of the line from the movie JFK. 

Signs on Nelson's wall: Bomb the Arabs and take their oil. Bomb the Indians and take their casinos, Nuke the Whales. Nuke The Whales was a 1979 song by a punk group called The Fleshapoids. 

When Lisa and Nelson go to the observatory it is based on the Griffith Observatory complete with an LA style view of Springfield. This is a take on the movie Rebel Without A Cause.

Krusty Burger Inc. Coleslaw. 144 Individual Servings. Best before Feb 1994. This was two years after this episode aired and 29 years ago from now. 

Yea! I've made it to episode 160. The end is in site, well the end of season 8, well not the end of season 8 but the end of the 1996 episodes. I've still got a long way to go to get through the whole series. 

 The Simpsons 151-155

Much Apu About Nothing.

This episode premiered on May 5th, 1996. The lead in show was Rudy Coby: Ridiculously Dangerous (a special featuring the magician/escape artist) and was followed by a repeat of The Simpsons. It ran opposite Lois and Clark, Murder, She Wrote and Mad About You.

The title of the episode comes from Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare. 

There is no chalkboard gag and the couch gag is a repeat of the big game hunter.

A bear is seen walking down the street in Evergreen Terrace. Ned panics and crashes into a tree, Maude can't open the front door so he jumps through a window, even though all the bear is doing is sitting in the middle of the street. Kent Brockman does an on the spot report from the news helicopter. Homer isn't worried until he finds out he's out of beer, he tries to crawl on a wire to his car but it breaks and he falls in front of the bear, which doesn't do anything. Wiggum shows up and accidentally shoots a dart into Barney, who likes the tranquilizer. They then tranq the bear which is loaded up into a Game And Fish truck, Barney is loaded into Moe's panel van. Homer forms a mob and marches to city hall to demand the mayor does something about the bear attacks. Quimby creates the bear patrol, the streets are swarming with vans and helicopters. Homer gets his paycheck and finds out that the city is charging him a $5 bear patrol tax. Everyone protests the new tax so Quimby blames immigrants, at school they start picking on Uter. Homer blames Bart's poor education on schools being packed with immigrants (is this episode in 1996 or 2023?)  It turns out Apu is an illegal immigrant, Homer tells him he's going to be missed after he's deported. Apu tells the story about how he came to America to study technology, his professor is Frink who built the Frinkiac 7 computer. Apu's Ph.D thesis is 200,000 computer punch cards that make up the first computerized tic-tac-toe game. Bart pulls one out screwing the whole thing up so Apu throws it away. Apu stayed in America after his student visa ran out so he could pay off his student loans (Some things never change). Kearney tries to buy beer using a fake ID, instead of getting mad at him Apu asks where he got it. Kearney sends Apu to Fat Tony who sells him everything he needs from birth to death certificates. Apu starts acting American by wearing a cowboy hat and Mets jersey. When Homer makes comments about his change Apu breaks down crying so Homer decides to change his position on Prop 24. Homer tries to convince Selma to marry Apu but she says her name is already Selma Bouvier Terwilliger Hutz McClure. She doesn't want to add Nahasapeemapetilon. Lisa points out that there was an amnesty act and Apu falls under the grandfather clause. (a bill signed by Ronald Reagan). Homer tutors Apu for the test, Lisa tells him to forget everything he learned. Apu passes his citizenship test and the Simpsons throw him a party. Homer asks all the party guests to vote no on Prop 24. The proposition passes by a 95% margin. Now that he is a citizen Apu gets jury duty, and tosses the letter in the trash. Meanwhile Groundskeeper Willie is deported. 

The house the Bushs moved into in the episode Two Bad Neighbors can be seen across the street.

At city hall Quimby is whiting out laws. 

Helen Lovejoy says her catchphrase "think of the children" for the first time. This was based on the Republicans claiming that American children were in danger from whatever the Democrats supported during the 1996 election. Well, some things never change. Quimby blames the "illegal immigrants" for high taxes. Like I said, some things never change. 

Homer's paycheck 40 hours, Fed. W/H 56.25, FICA 36.34, State W/H 10.45, Municipal Tax 9.37 Bear Patrol Tax 5.00 Net Pay 362.19. Homer makes $11.99 an hour.

Springfield Shopper headline Quimby's Proposition 24 On Ballot, Quimby Propositions 24 at Ballet. The Springfield Shopper is now 35¢. Police Prepare For Deportations. Bear Patrol Steps Up Bombing Campaign (in case you forgot the premise of this episode)

According to Abe the Simpsons came to America in 1929, the year after sliced bread had been invented.

Protest signs: United States for United Statesians /  The Only Good Foreigner is Rod Stewart (this joke would have been better if they had used the name of a member of the band Foreigner like Lou Gramm), Buy American / Get Eurass Back To Eurasia. Outside the Immigration office Mrs. Glick is holding the sign Homer made that says "Get Out". 

This episode features Manjula, Apu's arranged marriage bride, she is just a small child at the time.

Apu attends the Springfield Heights Institute of Technology. (SHIT) The 2006 movie Accepted will steal this joke. 

Frink's prediction about future computers, in 100 years they will be twice as powerful, 10,000 times larger and so expensive only the 5 richest kings of Europe could afford them. Look at us now. Frink uses a computer to try to figure out the ingredients in the Flaming Moe's episode. 

According to his fake passport Apu was born on Jan. 9th, 1962 in Green Bay Wisconsin. 

The magazine on the counter at the Kwik-E-Mart is Entertainment Weekly with Tom Cruise and Nichole Kidman. They were divorced in 2001.

Selma's marriages, Bob Terwilliger (Black Widower) Lionel Hutz (There wasn't an episode about the Hutz marriage) Troy McClure (A Fish Called Selma). 

Apu is asked to point out Springfield on the US map. When Lisa goes to do it Bart gets in the viewers way, this was a running joke about where Springfield was located. 

Sign in front of the Immigration office, The United States 131 Years Without A Civil War. (lets hope it stays that way)

Immigrants taking the citizenship test Bumblebee Man, Luigi, Apu, Dr. Nick, Yoko Ono (from the episode Homer's Barbershop Quartet), Akira (the sushi waiter from the episode One Fish, Two Fish) The British Guy (who tried to steal Homer's sugar in the episode Lisa's Rival), Moe wearing a fake mustache. 

Wiggum says the order of deportation is the tired, then the poor, then the huddle masses yearning to breath free. This is from the poem New Colossus by Emma Lazarus that is inscribed on the Statue of Liberty.

Although this episode was made in 1996 it's still an accurate reflection of the politics of America today, which is kind of sad.

Homerpalooza

This episode premiered on May 19th 1996. The lead in show was World's Funniest Outtakes and it was followed by a new episode of The Simpsons. The show ran opposite The ABC Sunday Night Movie (The Firm), Murder, She Wrote And Mad About You. 

The name of the episode comes from the music festival Lollapalooza. 

There is no chalkboard gag and the couch gag is a repeat of the black light. 

Otto is accepting the award for the districts safest school bus driver but it's all a dream, while he's driving. He misses Jasper and crashes into the car crusher in the junk yard which crushes the school bus into a cube while the children bail out. The school sends a notice to the parents that bus service has been suspended for two weeks. Homer is happy because every day will be like a road trip, however the kids hate his music. Homer goes to the record store where he and the clerk get into an argument about the US Festival vs Hullabalooza. Homer flashes back to 1974, a cool guy calls his van the Second Base Machine and plays Frankenstein by Edgar Winters Group. Homer tries to move in when they turn on the strobe light, getting closer with each flash, but when they give him the evil eye he is back where he started. The next day Homer takes the kids to Hullabalooza at the Capitol City Amphitheater instead of school. The first band is Cypress Hill (they did their own voices and song). The kids freak out when Homer buys a Rastafarian hat. He sticks a Too Cool For This Planet sticker on it, everybody calls him a narc. The second band is Smashing Pumpkins (also did their own voices and songs). Homer gets upset about not fitting in and kicks an air cannon that shoots him in the stomach with the inflatable pig that Peter Frampton picked up at the Pink Floyd yard sale. The freak show director hires Homer to get shot in the stomach. While on tour he drinks a beer and his stomach makes an odd sound so the freak show manager sends him to a vet. The vet warns Homer that his stomach is a mess and he has to stop getting shot by cannonballs. Bart writes an essay about Homer, The Person I Admire Most, Homer now has to wonder if he should go through with the next show. Marge says the last time she got to go back stage was when Bart ripped his pants at the Christmas pageant, B-Real of Cypress Hill does the Nelson "ha ha". The London Symphony Orchestra shows up but nobody knows who they are playing with, they end up performing with Cypress Hill even though they were suppose to be with Peter Frampton. Mr. Burns laughs about people who thought he was crazy for investing in Ticketmaster and their "service charge". Peter Frampton (does his own voice and song) performs Do You Feel? Meanwhile Sonic Youth (they do their own voices) are breaking into his cooler. Homer goes on stage to do the cannon act even though it may kill him, when the cannon goes off he jumps to the side. All the Gen X are disillusioned, like normal. On the way home the kids tell their parents that they aren't cool. There is a techno version of the closing theme song.

Homer talks about rainbow suspenders and saying Jive Turkey. He listens to KFSL 103, the oldies station. Shining On by Grand Funk Railroad. Mississippi Queen by Mountain are playing. In the flashback Homer and Barney sings You Make Me Feel Like Dancing by Leo Sayer while Grandpa is complaining about those kids and their music, just like Homer is doing in the modern world

Carpool kids, Bart, Lisa, Nelson, Milhouse and Janie.

The record store is called Suicide Notes, Formerly Good Vibrations. Record selections, Reggae, Classical, Rhythm & Blues New Releases, Industrial, Hip-Hop, Rap, Oldies. The clerk is reading Mondo Frowno. There are Nine Inch Nails, Sonic Youth and a 1996 Hullabalooza posters on the wall. Records in the oldies rack, Boston, Styx, 

Homer says he just heard Styx on the King Biscuit Flour Hour. The show ran from 1973 to 1993, then broadcast repeats of classic episodes until 2005.

The US Festival was a music festival created by Steve Wozniak to counter the "Me Generation". It was held in September of 1982 and May of 1983. The two festivals were commercial flops and lost millions of dollars.

Stores at Springfield: Pizza, Discount Fashion, Thrift Shop. (they just aren't putting the effort into the backgrounds anymore)

Teenage Homer has a Led Zeppelin 1 and Pink Floyd Dark Side Of The Moon poster on his wall.

Best quote of the episode,  Homer: "I use to rock and roll all night and party ev-e-ry day, then it was every other day. Now I'm lucky if I can find half hour a week in which to get funky". The lyrics from the Kiss song of course. 

Hullabalooza is sponsored by Clark Bars and Josten's class rings.

Hullabalooza signs: Free Nose Piercing with Every Admission. Duff. Buzz Cola. Laramie High Tars. Krusty Burgers. Register Not To Vote. Bungee Jump Against Racism. There is an announcement for a lost child, if not claimed she becomes the property of Blockbuster. A guy in the crowd is wearing a The Great Gazoo shirt (character from The Flintstones). Homer joins The pageant of the Transmundane (The Freak Show). The festival goes to the Raleigh-Durham Skoal Bowl. Guy in the crowd is wearing a Dr. Zaius shirt. Springfield billboard: Homer Simpsons The Pride of Springfield with an image of him getting hit by a cannonball. 

Homer getting shot by the cannon is a take on Frank "Cannonball" Richards. They even duplicate the famous video.

Animal Hospital "Cat Detailing While You Wait" Jimmi Hendrix left his dog, Rover Hendrix. 

Sumer of 4"2'

This episode premiered on May 19th 1996, right after the previous episode. It was followed by Married With Children and ran opposite the same programs as the previous episode. (Mad About You also ran two back to back episodes that week as their season finale)

The title of this episode came from the 1971 movie The Summer of '42.

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

It's the last day of school, Milhouse is describing his favorite kind of sprinklers while outside the ice cream trucks are lined up. When the bell goes off Mihouse shouts "Up yours Krabappal" and runs out the door, however it's the start of the day. The cops bring him back, they mention that they knew he would take off because they have someone on the inside, everyone looks at Martin. Lisa is in charge of the yearbook, the rest of the staff think she's going to be the most popular girl in school. When Lisa tells everyone they need the colored ticket they were issued at the first of the year Nelson asks who died and made her boss, she answers "Mr. Estes", Nelson jumps on the table and tosses the books out to the students. Lisa asks a group of kids to sign her yearbook, they pass it around the circle but nobody signed it. Meanwhile Bart has a line and Milhouse is making sure everyone moves at a proper pace. Seymour stands in line to get Bart's autograph but claims it's for his daughter, Seymour. Ned gets called into Jury Duty and offers his beach house to Homer. Marge tells Bart he can invite Milhouse and Lisa can invite a friend too, she doesn't have any. Lisa decides to reinvent herself for the summer so she leaves her suitcase empty, including the microscope she packed. Ned leaves post-it note instructions all over the beach house. Rod and Todd have a piggybank with a note that says "Please don't steal from me" so naturally Bart cleans it out. Homer forgot his swimsuit so he duct tapes the welcome mat to himself, the cops show up instantly. After getting new clothes Lisa heads out to find some kids, she goes to the library where Pippie Longstockings and The New Yorker guy try to convince her to come inside. When Alice tells her to run the Mad Hatter pulls a gun. Lisa heads to the boardwalk and hears the kids hanging out underneath it. She tells them about a place to skate, the library, so they think she's cool. Lisa clams she knows the place because of her dorky older brother. Bart tries to show off but the kids think he's overworking it. Bart ends up playing Mystery Date with Homer and Marge. Bart gets the dud, who looks like Milhouse. Lisa takes the kids to the tide pool, she starts to talk smart and has to fake being stupid again by claiming she learned it on Baywatch. When the kids complain about their parents bugging them over the 4th Of July Lisa suggests a beach party. Homer wants to light off his firecracker however Bart is out of matches so he uses the stove, but burns the fuse halfway. He quickly stuffs it into the dish washer and blows up the plumbing, brown water back flows into the kitchen (later Marge is seen cleaning up the mess). Bart is jealous of Lisa's new friends so he shows up at their party with her yearbook, Lisa runs off crying. The family goes to the fair and on the Gravitron ride Bart and Lisa try spitting on each other but just hit Milhouse. Lisa's bumper car doesn't work and Bart knocks her through the wall. Lisa leaves and when she gets back to the house she discovers the kids covered the family car in shells and spelled out Lisa Rules. Since they didn't clean the shells the seagulls follow them home. Bart got all the kids to sign Lisa's yearbook. The episode ends with The Beach Boys singing All Summer Long.

The character of Erin is voiced by Christina Ricci.

Yearbook Office "Immortalizing your awkward phase" Retrospecticus Springfield Elementary School.

Bart Simpson Yearbook Signing "No Personalized Greetings". 

Lisa's Yearbook Stats. Junior Over-Achievement 1-2 / Record for most hand raised in a semester (763) / Most Popular Student's Sister / Spelling Bee Queen 2 / Camera Club Head Shutterbug 1,2 / Tidiest Locker (Unopposed) 1,2 / State Champion Fraction Follies / Voted "Student you'd most likely copy off of" 1,2 / Miss Perfect Attendance / Grammar Rodeo Head Buckaroo (In the episode Bart's Road Trip he claimed he was going to the Grammar Rodeo in Alberta Canada) / The French and German Table / Teachers Pet. She also says she was the bathroom timer. (we didn't have yearbooks in grade school. They didn't start until Jr. High, aka Middle School)

Lisa reads Tome, a novel by Gore Vidal. She says he has kissed more boys than she will. 

Ned served on the jury in the episode The Boy Who Knew Too Much

Ned's beach house is at Little Pwagmattasquarmsettport, America's Scrod Basket. Springfield is America's Crud Bucket. Places at the beach, The Sherbert Shoppe, The Candle District, Big Sue's Tap Water Taffy. Tern For The Wurst Deli, Beachcombers Barber Shop. Gull Things Considered news stand (a spoof on the show All Things Considered) L'il Valu-Mart, there is an Apu guy working the counter.

Teejay's Zaymart "Dressing Rooms across street in Gorham bldg." 

Milhouse says that Lisa looks like Blossom, the show ran from 1991 to 1995.

When Homer tries to buy illegal fireworks he asks for a bunch of random stuff. This is a take on the American Graffiti scene where Terry tries to buy a bottle of whiskey, Homer even asks for a bottle of Old Harper. He also gets a copy of American Breast Enthusiast. The illegal fireworks: Sparkling Joy Bazooka, Mailbox Grenades. Yang Tse Doodle Fireworks, Whistling Menace, Play More With Claymore, Bright Color Assailant, Flaming Stinkers, Bang Time Fun Bomb, L'il Military, M-320 (this is what Homer buys).

Self aware joke, to impress her new friends Lisa says "Don't have a cow man" and Bart gets mad because it's his catchphrase. Marge points out that he hasn't said it in four years. 

This is the second time Bart passes the Fourth Grade, the first time was in the episode Kamp Krusty.

This was the final episode of the 1995-96, 7th season. Only 28 more seasons to go.

Treehouse of Horror VII

This episode premiered on October 27th, 1996. Both the lead in and following shows were repeats of Simpsons episodes. It ran opposite Lois and Clark, Touched By An Angel and Third Rock From The Sun.

Homer tries to light a candle in the pumpkin and sets himself on fire. The family goes into the living room but The Grim Reaper is on their couch and they all drop dead, he puts his feet up on the pile of corpses.

The Thing And I

The title of this episode is based upon the musical The King And I

Bart and Lisa hear strange sounds coming from the attic, Homer and Marge tell them to ignore it but Homer then takes a bucket of fish heads up the ladder. During a dark and stormy night the kids break into the attic where they see someone creepy. It manages to get out so Marge calls Dr. Hibbert to tell him Hugo has escaped. Marge confesses that Bart has a twin brother. Hibbert shows up and says he remembers Bart's Siamese twin (Lisa corrects him and says the proper term is Conjoined twins). Hibbert tells the story of how he found out Hugo was pure evil so they chained him in the attic. The family goes in search of Hugo and leaves Bart home alone to record the hockey game. It turns out Hugo never left and he plans to sew himself back to Bart. Hibbert comes back to catch Hugo but discovers that he was the good twin and Bart is really the evil twin. Bart says "Don't look so shocked". In the end they let Hugo out and lock Bart in the attic.

When Homer goes to the attic he sings Fish Head, Fish Heads. This was a 1978 song written by the comedy team Barnes and Barnes. It became well known after the video played on MTV in the early years when they were trying to fill content.

Stuff in the attic, Homer's fishing hat (The Call Of The Simpsons), skis, unsold bottles of tonic (Grandpa vs. Sexual Inadequacy) painting of Ringo (Brush With Greatness), Mary Worth phone (Lady Bouvier's Lover), Bart's guitar (The Otto Show), Golf clubs (Scenes From A Class Struggle In Springfield), Be Sharps album (Homer's Barbershop Quartet), Lisa Lionheart dolls (Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy), Homer's massage chair (Brother Can You Spare Two Dimes?) , I Didn't Do It shirt (Bart Gets Famous), Homer's biography "Homer, I Hardly Knew Me" by Homer Simpson.

When Homer says they have to search out every place a sick twisted solitary misfit might run to Lisa says she'll start with Radio Shack. In the early 2000's Radio Shack started a restructuring, closing most of it's local stores. By 2015 it was in bankruptcy. It was eventually bought by HobbyTown which kept the trademark name and sold products through their stores.

In the episode The Boy Who Knew Too Much Dr. Hibbert talked about the Evil Gene. In this episode he says that the left side of conjoined twins are always evil. He also treated conjoined twins in the episode Marge vs. The Monorail.

Hugo gets his name from Victor Hugo, author of the 1831 novel The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, which the character is based on. 

The Genesis Tub

Lisa loses a tooth so she begins an experiment on the effects of cola on teeth. When Bart shocks her with static electricity it sends a jolt into the tooth and the soda. The next day Lisa finds mold and a small civilization in the tooth. They evolve at a rapid rate from cave dwellers to a futuristic city overnight. Bart starts squishing part of the micro city. That night they build rockets and set off to attack him, he vows his revenge by flushing them. A micro Frink shrink Lisa and they worship her as a god. They ask her for protection but they can't unshrink her. Bart comes back but instead of flushing the Petri dish he enters it as his own project. Since she's stuck there she starts ordering the people around.

The plot is based on the Twilight Zone episode The Little People and The Genesis Wave from the 1982 movie Star Trek II, Wrath Of Khan.

Rick And Morty used a similar plot line in the episode The Ricks Must Be Crazy.

Citizen Kang

The title of this episode came from Citizen Kane. 

Homer is out fishing when the aliens abduct him. The aliens want to go to the Earth's leader but Homer says there is an election between Clinton and "mumbly Joe", aka Dole. The aliens abduct Clinton and Dole and put them in suspension tubes, and then change their forms to duplicate the two politicians. To discredit Homer they spray him with rum and throw him back in his boat. When Homer gets home nobody believes him. He tries to warn people at a debate but they throw him out. Later he finds the alien ship and tries to bring Clinton and Dole back, but accidentally jettisons them into space. He then crashes into the Capitol building. When Homer exposes the aliens they say "what are you going to do about it, it's a two party system".  Kang wins the election, enslaves Earth and they are put to work building a giant ray gun. Homer says "Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos". The episode ends with a spacey Simpsons theme. 

When the aliens copy Clinton and Dole Homer says "OMG, Lyndon Larouche was right!" He was the perineal candidate of the Libertarian party. 

When alien Clinton says all will bow before him Marge comments "that's Slick Willie for you, always with the smooth talk". "Slick Willie" was a nickname the Republicans tried to brand Clinton with. 

Alien Dole says Abortions for all" and the crowd boos, so he says "Abortions for none" and they boo again, he then says "Abortions for some, minature flags for others" and they all cheer. 23 years later and some things never change. 

George Stephanopoulos shows up to warn alien Clinton about holding hands with alien Dole. He was the White House chief of staff during Clinton's first term. He would later go on to host This Week on ABC.

When someone in the crowd says they'll vote for a third party candidate the alien says "go ahead, throw your vote away". They then pan to Ross Perot who punches his straw hat. Ross Perot ran an unsuccessful campaign for the Reform Party. It dissolved after the 2000 election when they were responsible for the Florida disaster and Bush was appointed President. 

Homer crashing into the Capitol was a take on the 1956 movie Earth vs. The Flying Saucers.

You Only Move Twice

This episode premiered on November 3rd 1996. The lead in show was a repeat of The Simpsons and it was followed by The X Files. It ran opposite The Wonderful World Of Disney (The Lion King), Touched By An Angel and Boston Common.

The chalkboard gag is "I did not learn everything I need to know in kindergarten" and the couch gag is the family parachutes into the living room but Homer's chute doesn't open and he crashes into the floor. 

The title of this episode is a spoof on the 1967 James Bond movie You Only Live Twice.

Mr. Smithers comes out of his house but he's followed by a strange limo, a woman from Globex offers him a job. He turns them down so they offer it to Homer which he takes. The family has to move to Cypress Creek, they aren't happy about it but Homer talks them into going. He says it's an opportunity to fulfill his lifelong dream of owning the Dallas Cowboys, the family laughs at him. Since the Simpsons won't get enough from selling the house to pay off the mortgage they just pack up and put an abandon sign across the front door. Three seconds after arriving at their new house Homer's boss, Hank Scorpio, shows up to welcome them. The new house is self cleaning so Marge has nothing to do. Scorpio has Homer do a trust exercise but turns to answer the phone and Homer falls on the floor. At school Bart shows off his armpit sounds and a Milhouse kid wants to be his new best friend. Bart can't read cursive, doesn't know the multiplication table or long division so they put him in the remedial class. Lisa discovers that she has allergies. Homer's team says they are tired so he plans to buy them hammocks. Homer goes to meet with Scorpio, who is holding a video conference with the UN demanding gold and blows up the 59th Street Bridge as a show of force. Homer is looking for sugar and walks in on Hank testing out his death ray. While trying to get a snack Homer prevents Bont (not a typo, they were avoiding a copyright fight) from escaping. The family hates Cypress Creek so they moves back to Springfield. When they get home they find that Otto has been squatting in their house. After seizing the East Coast Scorpio sends Homer the Denver Broncos to thank him for the help. Homer is depressed by the gift and tells Marge that she doesn't understand football. The show ends with a Bond style song about Scorpio. 

The chalkboard gag is a take on the 1988 book All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten by Robert Fulghum. This is the first chalkboard gag since January 7th. 

Globex offers Smithers health benefits for himself and his "life partner", I guess they did their research. 

The video Homer uses to convince the family to move is titled Cypress Creek, A Tale Of One City. The title is a spoof on A Tale Of Two Cities. The video features a town with multiple coffee bars. Looks like The Simpsons predicted Starbucks on every corner. 

Among the stuff the Simpsons pack to take to Cypress Creek is a claw footed bathtub. It's one of the things Homer borrowed from Ned. 

Series regulars that wave goodbye to the Simpsons, Ned "By-diddily-eye", The opposing lawyer in all their trials, Reverend Lovejoy "God bless you", Professor Frink, Apu, Moe, Barney, Sam, Lenny (the regulars at the bar), Bumblebee Man "Adios", Kent Brockman, Krusty the Clown, Sideshow Mel, The Sea Captain, The Comic Book Guy, Mayor Quimby, Smithers, Burns, Dr. Nick, Dr. Hibbert, Snake, Wiggum, all the grade school including Willie, Agnes, Milhouse, Otto, Smithers, Chalmers and finally Nelson who points and "ha-ha's" at them. 

Lisa reads a brochure from Cypress Creek, one giant redwood tree, at the city, can provide enough sawdust to cover an entire day's worth of vomit at Disneyland. 

Cypress Creek Elementary School http://www.studynet.edu 

The new Simpsons address 15201 Maple Systems Road. 

When the teacher asks Bart if he knows cursive he says "I know damn and hell and bit--", (not knowing cursive is another Simpsons prediction about kids in the future). In the episode Bart's Comet the chalkboard gag was "Cursive doesn't mean what I think it does"

The sports memorabilia shop is called The Spend Zone. They have a baseball made out of Secretariat and Tom Landry's hat (Homer buys it). 

When Homer wants to buy hammocks Hank suggests The Hammock Hut, Hammocks-R-Us, Put Your Butt There, Swing Low Sweet Chariot and Mary Ann's Hammocks (Mary Ann will crawl up in the hammock with you), all in the Hammock District. 

Homer says his nuclear team is way ahead of the weather machine and germ warfare division. 

Springfield Shopper headline: Supervillain Seizes East Coast. 

Hank's plan was called Project Arcturus. Arcturus is the brightest star in the Bootis constellation and translates as Guardian Of The Bear.

When Scorpio gives Homer the Denver Broncos instead of the Dallas Cowboys he's disappointed and Marge doesn't understand. At the time Denver was 0-4 in Super Bowl appearances. However the next year they would win and now are 3-5.

Bond references: Bont strapped to a table while a laser burns towards him is a scene from Goldfinger. The attack scene is from You Only Live Twice, A bikini clad woman kills Norman Schwartzkopf with her legs like the assassins in Thunderball and Goldeneye and also Kissy Suzuki in You Only Live Twice (who shows up at the attack in a bikini). 

We've reached episode 155, getting closer to the end.... This is probably one of my top 5 favorite episodes. I loved how it started off with a normal work thing but then introduced the Bond elements and finally ended with Scorpio taking over the east coast. Lets hope the show keeps up this level of quality for years and years to come.

 The Simpsons 146-150

The Day The Violence Died

This episode premiered on March 17th 1996. The lead in show was a repeat of The Simpsons and it was followed by The Show, a short lived sitcom. It ran opposite Lois and Clark, Cybill and Mad About You.

The name of this episode is a reference to the lyrics in the song American Pie, The Day The Music Died, a song about the Buddy Holly plane crash. The Simpsons have used this reference in the past.

There isn't a chalkboard gag. The couch gag is a repeat of the primer Simpsons being painted.

Bart and Lisa are watching the 75th anniversary of Itchy and Scratchy, the 48 hour Diamond Jubilee Marathon. When they find out people are already staking out places for the parade they decide to go get their spot, however it's 11:00 PM so Marge sends Homer with them. The comic book shop is still open and Bart sees an Itchy drawing worth $750. When the family wakes up the next day they find that bleachers have been constructed in front of them and they're missing the parade. Bart gets mad and joins the parade, someone shouts "Hey, Bart!" When the parade hits BumTown they take off and leave Bart behind, that is where he meets Chester J. Lampwick, the inventor of cartoon violence. In order to prove he created Itchy he needs a 90 year old projector to show his film, so they head to the school. After proving his film is real it catches on fire and the evidence is burned up. Bart invites Chester to stay in the basement until the studio reopens on Tuesday, it's closed on Monday for AA meetings. Roger Meyers Jr. tosses them out of the studio. Grandpa recognizes Chester, he was suppose to paint a chicken coop in 1947 in exchange for corn muffins. Homer agrees to play Hutz's $1000 retainer and they go to trial. Krusty is a witness but he identifies Chester as the guy he gave blintzes to in exchange for painting his fence and the job wasn't done. Chester accuse Meyers of stealing all his characters and only creating a stick figure called Manic Mailman. Just as the trial is going bad Bart remembers the drawing in the Comic Book shop and gets $750 from Homer to buy it. Bart breaks open the frame and finds Chester's signature along with the date 1919. The judge rules in favor of Chester and awards him $800 billion dollars, but he figures that amount will be reduced in the appeals. Bart finds out that he killed Itchy and Scratchy. Krusty replaces Itchy and Scratchy with a version of School House Rock, Bart and Lisa comment that we need another Vietnam to thin out the ranks of Gen Xers. Lisa punches Bart and claims some cartoons do encourage violence. After searching Bart and Lisa come up with a plan to save Itchy and Scratchy but when they arrive at the studio they find that another brother and sister, Lester and Eliza discovered that Mr. Zip, the Post Office mascot, is a copy of Manic Mailman, the Post Office had to pay Roger Meyers Jr. and he used the money to reopen the studio. Lester and Eliza also got Apu out of jail and reunites Krusty with his estranged wife. Bart has an unsettled feeling about this.

This episode is based on the story of Walt Disney and Ubbe Iwerks. After finding out that the studio had lost the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Disney came up with the idea for Mickey Mouse. The actual image of Mickey that we all know and love was created by Iwerks. The two has a major falling out and Iwerks set off to do his own thing, but found he lacked the imagination of Walt and came back, but their creative partnership was never the same. 

The Itchy And Scratchy Show: Remembrance of Things Slashed (from the novel series Remembrance Of Things Past by Marcel Proust), Newspaper headline "Scratchy Dead! Peace after long illness." Scratchy's ghost shows up at Itchy's house to haunt him but gets sucked up in the vacuums and put in the freezer. Itchy chips out his eyes to put in his drink. Comic Book Guy is showing Itchy And Scratchy Meet Fritz The Cat. Chester's movie is Itchy the Lucky Mouse (the title is based on Oswalt The Lucky Rabbit) in Manhattan Madness: "Itchy runs afoul of an Irishman" Itchy has a lightbulb pop up over his head when he has an idea, he grabs it and smashes it over the Irishman's head and then feeds his beard into a ringer washer squishing him flat. "A Chance For More Mischief!!!" Teddy Roosevelt shows up "Ah, Manhattan Town. An agreeable sight for an Old Kinckerbocker such as myself" Itchy chops his head off. "Creator, Director, Cellu-Lamino Artist, Electrocity Engineer, Ethnographer Chester J. Lampwick C 1919 Lampwick Studios." Roger Meyers Jr's lawyer shows Steamboat Itchy dated 1928. (First seen in the episode Itchy And Scratchy: The Movie) Written, Directed and Created by Roger Meyers, Music by Roger Meyers and George Gershwin, Produced by Roger Meyers and Joseph P. Kennedy. The Itchy And Scratchy Show after the studio is saved: Itchy is chasing Scratchy with a jackhammer but he's wearing rocket shoes. Itchy says a quick prayer and a giant sandal covered foot drops down and squishes Scratchy into hell. God turns out to be a mouse. The show is dedicated to Lester and Eliza for making all this possible. 

News report: A stowaway bear is terrorizing Shuttle astronauts. The Shuttle program ran from 1972 to 2011. (When I went to Florida I saw the Atlantas Shuttle)

David Brinkley and Susan Somers (she does her own voice) are the tv hosts of the parade.

The parade enters BumTown, Charlie Chapin is standing on the corner. They pass the boarded up 4-H club that Skinner visits while searching for Bart in the episode The Boy Who Knew Too Much.

Chester J. Lampwick (voiced by Kirk Douglass) was named after the character of Lampwick from Pinocchio. (This is part of the theme about animation studios stealing other studio's property)

Self aware joke, "Animators have AA on Monday"

The Aztec head is still in the Simpson's basement. 

The mall view of Lionel Hutz's office is a repeat. 

Lionel Hutz's ad: Works on contingency, No Money Down, he adds punctuation Works on contingency? No, Money Down! He wants a $1000 deposit to take the case. 

Springfield Shopper headline: Bum Sues Cartoon King, Got legal fee from some family. 

Other members of the Itchy And Scratchy family: Brown Nose Bear, Disgruntled Goat (first seen in the episode Itchy and Scratchy Land), Flatulent Fox (according to Meyers Jr. the character is based on a true story), Rich Uncle Skeleton and Dinner Dog, also the stick figure of Manic Mailman who was actually created by Roger Meyers Sr.

Hutz's surprise witnesses, a ventriloquist, a Santa in a cast, John Swartzwelder (Simpsons writer), Ralph, the Guinness Fat Twins.

On the back of the Itchy drawing is the inscription: To Roger Meyers. Keep drawing-your moxie more than makes up for your lack of talent. Your Pal Chester J. Lampwick, Sept. 3 1919

Roger Meyers Jr. lists the cartoon shows that were plagiarized, The Flintstone copied The Honeymooners, Top Cat copied Sgt. Bilko, Huckleberry Hound is Andy Griffith, Chief Wiggum is Edward G. Robinson (self aware joke and he looks over when he hears his name), Yogi Bear is Art Carney. 

During his rant Meyers Jr. asks, "Where are ideas going to come from? Her?" and points at Marge. This is a reference to the episode Itchy and Scratchy and Marge. She says "How about...Ghost Mutt?"

Krusty replaces Itchy and Scratchy with version of School House Rock. It's a musical number about an Amendment trying to ban flag burning. The Flag Protection Amendment has been floating around congress since 1995. The song mentions Ted Kennedy, he was a popular joke on The Simpsons. After the Flag Burning amendment is passed it says "Doors Open" and all the crazy gun nut laws come streaming in. Jack Sheldon (who sang the original I'm Just A Bill) does the Amendment version in this episode.

Bart and Lisa go to visit Roger Meyers Jr. at the Worst Western motel "Ask about our sheet rental" (A play on Best Western, obviously)

Roger Meyer's Jr. has he dad's frozen head in a styrofoam cooler. This is a spoof on the urban myth that Disney was cryogenically frozen. 

Bart reads Animation Legal Precedents. Lisa reads Copyright Law 1918-1923. When they can't find anything they go back to trying to get Apu out of jail and read Public Nudity: Codes and Statues.

Lester and Eliza are versions of Bart and Lisa from the Tracy Ullman shorts. Bart has an uneasy feeling about the two characters. This is a take on the Twilight Zone episode Mirror Image where people find they are being replaced by their doppelgängers from an alternate reality. 

Alex Rocco retunrs to do the voice of Roger Meyers Jr. 

Fritz The Cat was a 1972 movie by Ralph Bakshi. It is best known as the first X-rated full length animated film. 

Mr Zip, the Post Office mascot, was created in 1962 to encourage postal customers to include the new zip code that was being used nation wide to sort the mail faster. 

A Fish Called Selma

This episode premiered on March 24th 1996. The lead in program was Space: Above And Beyond and was followed by The Show.  It ran opposite the regular programs.

The title of this episode came from the 1988 movie A Fish Called Wanda

There isn't a chalkboard gag in this episode. The couch gag is a repeat of the wind up toys.

Bart and Lisa don't know what The Muppets are or who Troy McClure is. Troy McClure gets pulled over for driving without wearing his glasses, Wiggum tells him to go to the DMV to get a new license without the corrective lenses requirement, he goes to Selma's window and flirts with her and asks her out on a date. When their photo appears in the paper Troy gets a call from his agent who he hasn't spoken to in 8 years. In order to boost his career he asks Selma out for a second date. Selma light a cigarette and the whole restaurant freaks out "I said I wanted a Zima not emphysema". Selma leaves but Troy meets her in the parking lot. Troy takes Selma to the drive-in to ask her to get married, his proposal is the same as the scene from the Muppet movie playing on the screen. With his engagement Troy gets a part in the new Plant Of The Apes musical. Later Homer takes him out and they get drunk, Troy confesses that the marriage is a scam. At the marriage they ask if anyone wants to object, Homer hears Rock And Roll by Gary Glitter (who would be arrested in 1997 on pedophile charges). After the ceremony Homer tells Marge that the marriage is a scam. Parker (the agent) meets with Troy on his wedding night to tell him he has a chance to play McBain's sidekick in a new movie, however to clench the deal he has to have a kid. Marge tells Selma the truth but when she confronts Troy he convinces her to stay in the marriage. In order to secure a roll Troy needs to have a baby so he tries to get romantic with Selma, which he can't do. Troy offers to adopt a baby but Selma decides she can't be in a loveless marriage and leaves him. 

Movie for a rained-out ballgame presents. The Muppets Go Medieval staring Diane Canon, Troy McClure and The Muppets. (the title of the movie is a spoof on the line "I'm going to get medieval on your ass" from the 1994 movie Pulp Fiction)

Troy McClure's house is based on the Chemosphere, a house in Los Angeles designed by John Lautner in 1960.

Continuity error, at the first of the episode Bart and Lisa don't know who Troy McClure is but later Lisa says she remembers Troy from an educational film. 

When Homer mentions Troy McClure's fish kink Marge says he's a perfect gentleman like Bing Crosby (His kids claimed he was abusive) or JFK (who is rumored to have had numerous affairs with famous and not so famous women)

Troy McClure drives a DeLorean with a bumper sticker "Follow me to Springfield Aquarium!"

Troy McClure movies: The Greatest Story Ever Hulaed and They Came To Burgle Carnage Hall. Meet Joe Blow and Give My Remains To Broadway. The Verdict was Mail Fraud and Leper In The Backfield (there is a scene of a player catching a ball but his arm falls off). Astro Blast in Gemini 3, Incident At Noon, My Darling Beefeater. Locker room towel fight, the blinding of Larry Driscoll. Make Out King Of Montana and The Electric Gigolo (this is a reference to the 1980 Richard Gere film American Gigolo and the rumors about the gerbil). the Contrabulous Fabtraption Of Professor Horatio Hufnagel. 

McBain IV: Fatal Discharge

Fat Tony, "no, what I said was (Troy McClure) sleeps with the fishes." This is a joke about the rumors of McClure's fish kink and the line from The Godfather.

Troy takes Selma to the Pimento Grove (this is a play on The Olive Garden and Coconut Grove). Celebrity photos on the wall, Tito Puentes, Birch Barlow, Krusty, Kent Brockman, Elizabeth Taylor, Rainer Wolfcastle (although he's signed it McBain), Bette Middler, an older Frank Sinatra, Leonard Nimoy, Brad Goodman, Tom Cruise, Adam West, Dennis Franz, Barry White, Dr. Joyce Brothers, Sting, John Swartzwelder, James Woods, Diana Ross, Brooke Shields, Conan O'Brien and finally Troy McClure as the doggy door. For their second date they go to UGLI. 

Troy McClure kisses Patty on the cheek while telling the paparazzi "here's something for Page One", The next day in the Springfield Shopper on Page Ten, Troy a little Tenderness. Also "Look Who's Drunk" with a photo of Rainer Wolfcastle. 

After the wedding Troy is on the front page of the Springfield Shopper: Troy Weds. McClure ankles Obscurity.

Troy is reading Bean Bag Furniture Repair while sewing up his bean bag.

Troy's agent is MacArthur Parker (voiced by Jeff Goldblum), a spoof on the song MacArthur Park. He works at Representations "A talent agency". Troy "You haven't gotten me work in 12 years" Parker "Jury duty is work"

Route 18 Flea Market and Drive-In "Muppets go Medieval. Sat: closed for Demolition. They are the only car in the lot.

When Selma runs out of cigarettes Troy lights one of his cigars for her. This is a take on when Paul Henreid lights up two cigarettes and hands one to Bette Davis in Now Voyager.

Troy and Selma's marriage is announced on an Entertainment Tonight type of program with a John Tesh and Mary Hart characters.

When Selma moves in Troy says Jub Jub is fantastic "He's everywhere you want to be", this was a pitch line from a Visa commercial, "It's everywhere you want to be".

The musical Troy is in: Stop The Planet Of the Apes, I Want To Get Off. (the title is based on the 1968 movie Planet Of The Apes and the 1961 musical Stop The World I Want To Get Off) This episode features one of the best Simpsons songs, I hate every chimp I see, from chimpan-a to chimpan-z, and also Dr. Zaius to the tune of Rock Me Amadeus by Falco.

Springfield Botanical Gardens, McClure-Bouvier Wedding. Selma's name is Selma Bouvier Terwilliger Bouvier. In case you forgot she married Sideshow Bob.

Series regular guests at the wedding Mayor Quimby, Apu, Princess Cashmier, MacArthur Parker, Mr. Teenie (Krusty's chimp), Kent Brockman, Bumblebee Man, Krusty.

Aphrodite Inn, Welcome: Mr & Mrs Troy McClure, Cher & Contest Winner. (a joke about Cher's dating history)

Park says Troy may have a shot at a film with Hugh Grant and Rob Lowe, Troy replies "Those sick freaks?" In 1995 Grant was arrested with Divine Brown, a well known LA prostitute. The story was they were having "back door" sex. In 1988 a sex tape was leaked with Rob Lowe and a 16 year old girl.

To celebrate his potential roll in the McBain movie Troy says "I'm going to Sea World. This is both a play on the rumors about his fish fetish and the classic Super Bowl commercials where the winning quarterback says "I'm going to Disney World!"

When they put Troy's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame they pry up Buster Keaton's, Troy says Selma will have her own star next to his so  "Look out Laszlo Panaflex". This is a fictional name and the actual Panaflex camera was invented by Albert Mayer. (Albert Mayer doesn't have a star on the walk of fame btw)

Bart On The Road

This episode premiered on March 31st 1996. It ran in its usual time slot but with the lead in show, Miracles And Visions: Fact Or Fiction. A special investigating religious encounters. It ran opposite the regular programs.

The title of this episode came from the series of On The Road movies staring Bob Hope and Bing Crosby.

There is no chalkboard gag. The couch gag is a repeat of the pin setter.

When Skinner is checking his travel reservations to Hong Kong he discovers they made a mistake on his plane ticket. He can't afford to pay the change fee so he plans a Go To Work With Your Parents day for Friday. Lisa is going with Homer while Bart plans on staying home with Marge. Lisa convinces Marge to send Bart to the DMV to hang out with Patty and Selma. Milhouse goes to the cracker factory with his dad, he has a great time. Lisa is bored at the power plant. Martin goes with his dad to the futures market, his dad gives him $10 to invest, he buys soy futures and makes a million dollars and then loses $999,400 in two seconds. However he makes a profit of $590. Bart is bored but Selma leaves the license maker on so he makes a fake ID. With the fake ID they go to see an R rated film, Naked Lunch. When they come out Nelson says "I can think of two things wrong with that title." They go to Moe's for three beers but seeing the depressed crowd they decide to go do something else. Nelson suggests they rent a carpet shampooer. They run into Martin and his money, they decide to rent a car. Bart creates a fake Grammar Rodeo in Canada as an excuse for them being out of town for a week, Nelson just tells someone he's going away. Bart goes to the back seat while the car is on Cruise Control, they end up in a corn field. Homer is bored at work and calls home to talk to Lisa. He invites her to come to work with him. After they get out of the corn field Martin thinks they are getting near the Grammar Rodeo, this is when they realize they don't have any real plans. Martin wants to visit the bridges of Madison County. Nelson wants to go to Macon Georgia. Milhouse reads about the Worlds Fare in Knoxville TN and they decide to head there. Homer gets Lisa to help him steal from the candy machine, they get caught by Smithers but bribe him with free candy. Homer has to work the night shift and they plan to have a sleepover. When the boys get to Branson Nelson insists they go see Andy Williams and gets excited when he does Moon River for an encore. During their power plant sleepover Homer and Lisa play Truth or Dare and she confesses that she has a crush on Langdon Alger. Marge is bored so she wakes up Maggie. When the kids arrive at the World's Fair they find it's been shut down for a decade and is now the home of the Knoxville Wig Outlet. Martin spends their last $10 on an Al Gore doll "You are hearing me talk". Nelson throws a rock at the Sun Sphere and knocks it over, it crashes into their car destroying it. Martin wants to call their parents. Nelson sells Milhouse's glasses for $600 but he knocks over a stack of antique Coke bottles and the owner takes back the money. They throw their suitcases on a train in hopes of hopping on but it speeds up and leaves them behind. Bart calls home and talks to Lisa, he confesses all and asks her to help him get home. She tells him to get a job as a courier. His first job is taking eyeballs to Hong Kong where Skinner is eating at the airport. The second job is taking 500 Big Macs to Marlin Brandow's island. In order to find something to send to Springfield Lisa tells Homer what is going on so he orders a new control panel for the power plant under the name Langdon Auger. When Bart gets home he lies about the Grammar Rodeo, Homer and Lisa are mad but Marge is happy the full family is back together. That night Marge gets a call from Skinner who wants to know if Bart has ever been to Hong Kong, then from the Tennessee state police calling about the rental car, and then from the courier service who needs a kidney delivered to Amsterdam. Homer tries to keep from laughing out loud. 

Skinner is flying SkyAmeriWestica airlines. He wanted a center seat, no Kosher meal, and his flight is booked for Friday the 12th instead of Saturday the 13th. (This happened to me once but my boss gave me the extra day off, turns out it was a good thing because a freak snowstorm shut down the airport on Saturday.) To make the changes he requests will cost him $7830

The address of Springfield Elementary is 19 Plympton Street. 

The calendar on the wall of Skinner's office has the actual dates for April of 1996. Spring Break is the 15th through the 19th.

The form Skinner send home says Homemaker is not allowed since you don't get paid for it and it's not considered real work. 

When Milhouse and his dad go to see where they make the peanut butter cracker sandwiches at the cracker factory they hop on fire poles and the Batman cutaway song plays.

At the DMV they have a Minit-License machine, it only takes a minute to make a license but 3 to 6 weeks before they send it to you. Just like in real life. 

Bart's drivers license: B47U89RE243, Birthdate 02-11-70, Male, 4'0 blue eyes, 85 pounds. This would have made him 26 although Milhouse says he's 25.

Bart listens to Radar Love by Golden Erring, Milhouse starts playing with the dials until Nelson hits him. 

When Homer is putting lights in the map of power plants around the country Diablo Canyon II keeps burning out. The second reactor was built wrong and is at risk from an earthquake but the regulatory commission let them go on line anyhow. It was the center focus for anti nuclear protestors. 

The Knoxville World's Fair ran from May to October of 1982. The Sun Sphere is still standing and is a tourist attraction, you can go to the top. 

Branson shows: Waylong Jennings and Madam (a spoof of Waylon Flowers and Madam the ventriloquist act), Up With White People, Ferl Dixon and the Second Helping Boys, Phantom of the Opry, Minnie Pearl Jam (a combination of Minnie Pearl and Pearl Jam), Lurleen Lumpkin & Pip Diddler (Both seen in the episode Colonel Homer), Alabamamania (The band Alabama), Andy Williams "Wow! He's Still Got It" -Look Magazine

In the episode $pringfield Nelson is excited to see Robert Goulet and in this one it's Andy Williams.

During their sleepover Homer makes a prank call to Moe's asking for Mr. Ura Snotball but he gets confused and thinks Moe is prank calling him. 

Entering Tennessee "Tennesseein' is Tennebelievin'"

The kids go to the pawn shop Hocksville Tennessee. 

Knoxville Bonded Courier Service (Wait, there's nothing funny about that name, never mind)

Homer operates T-437 Safety Command Console. When Oak Ridge tells him their computer shows his operating normally he dumps cola all over it shorting it out. They panic and send him an emergency one. 

In the episode Cape Feare Homer smokes an oversized cigar from the Knoxville World's Fair.

22 Short Films About Springfield

This episode premiered on April 14th, 1996. The lead in show was The Clio Awards (advertising awards)and followed by The Show. It ran opposite Lois And Clark, 60 Minutes and Mad About You.

The title of this episode came from the movie 32 Short Films About Glenn Gould and the plot is based on the anthology movies like New York Stores and Pulp Fiction.

There is no chalkboard gag and the couch gag is a repeat of the Sea Monkeys.

Story One, Bart and Milhouse are spitting on cars from an overpass and they start taking about the various stories going in in Springfield. 

Story Two, Apu in "The Jolly Bengali." Apu goes to his brother's party. He eats a raw tofu dog, chugs a beer, dances, has sex, falls in the pool and then rushes back to the store, all within 5 minutes. He locked Moleman in the store. 

Delicious Gum Chew Some Today

Apron at Hindu party. "In my next life you're cooking me. He's making tofu dogs.

Story Three, Bart throws gum, that he bought from Apu, in Lisa's hair, Marge tries peanut butter and mayo and has Lisa sit in the sun where she attracts bees. Part Two: Ned comes by and suggests trying to freeze the gum and knocking it out with a hammer, then Willie shows up and says it has to be chewed out. The Sea Captain suggests a Baltic squid. Otto takes a photo for Fangoria Magazine, Dr. Hibbert offers the name of a good Gum And Hair man. Sideshow Mel says don't use a bone (he always has a bone in his hair), Lionel Hutz shows up and suggests suing Bazooka Joe. Uter says his father is the foreman of the Dusseldorf gum works. The Central City Goofball honks his horn. Other characters that show up, Kent Brockman, Leopold, Dr. Colossus. Dancing Pete, Mayor Quimby, Airline Pilot, Lenny. Part Three: Lisa goes to Snippy Longstockings, after getting the gum cut out and her hair styled she leaves, but Nelson laughs at her. 

There is a radio commercial for Gorman Ear Guards, "GUARD YOUR EARS!"

Story Five, One of the bees from Lisa's hair goes flying around Springfield and ends up in Mr. Smithers's glasses.

Story Six, Mr. Burns and Smithers are out for a bike ride, Smithers is doing all the peddling. He gets stung by a bee and has an allergic reaction. Burns forces Smithers to pedal himself to the hospital by insulting and yelling at him. When the get tot he hospital they rush Burns inside and leave Smithers on the pavement. Dr. Nick comes by and diagnoses him as needing booze and throws money at him.

Burns is ready Auto-Gyro Enthusiast magazine.

Story Seven, Dr. Nick is up in front of the medical review board. There are 160 charges against him. Grandpa goes nuts in the emergency room and has a scalpel. Dr. Nick diagnoses him as having Boneus Eruptus where your skeleton tries to jump out of your body. He orders a trans-dental electromicide, he needs a golf cart engine with 1000 volt capacity but instead just breaks off two wires from a lamp and electrocutes Grandpa. The medical board drops the charges so he offers free nose jobs for everyone. Jasper wants a Van Heflin (a 1940's movie actor).

Story Eight, Moe has NASA tabulate Barney's bar tab. It comes to $14 billion, all Barney has is $2000 cash so Moe takes it, just then Snake busts in and robs the place. Snake tells Moe if he moves a muscle he'll blow Barney's head off, so Moe crawls into his panic room. However Snake just opens the register and takes the cash, Moe starts to run out of air. 

Moe says Barney owes him $70 billion but then says "that's for the Voyage space craft", a pair of deep space probes that flew by Jupiter and eventually Pluto. 

When Snake gets the money he says "goodbye student loan payments". This joke is still relevant.

Story Nine. Chalmers has lunch at Skinner's house. Skinner burns the roast and when Chalmers asks about the smoke Skinner claims he's making steamed clams, but instead runs across the street to Krusty Burgers. Chalmers asks about the steamed clams and Skinner claims he said "steamed hams" which is regional upstate New York expression for hamburgers. Chalmers says he's from Utica and never heard it, Skinner claims it's more of an Albany thing. Meanwhile the kitchen is in flames and Skinner claims it's the Aurora Borealis. (the plot of this story comes from the 1981 film My Dinner With Andre)

"steam a good ham" has become slang for a job well done.

Story Ten. Homer goes to buy a paper but accidentally leaves Maggie in the newspaper rack. He can't get her out because he put all his change on the railroad track to flatten it. He tries to pull her out but rips off her onesie. Homer writes a note and pins it to SLH's collar but it's written in squeeze cheese so the dog eats it instead. "Follow me to trapped baby". Homer gives up and brings the paper machine home with him.

Springfield Shopper headline "Helms Calls For Donut Tax". Jesse Helms was a conservative senator from North Carolina.  "Deadbeat Dad Beat Dead" (Seen after Homer leaves Maggie in the paper machine)

The spray cheese is called Cheesey Does It.

Story Eleven. Wiggum and the other cops are eating at Krusty Burger. They have a Pulp Fiction type of discussion about McDonalds in Shelbyville, none of them had heard of the place before. Part Two, Wiggum goes out for donuts but sees Snake who runs him over, they crash into Herman's basement, he pulls a gun on them. Part Three, Herman thinks that Zed is buzzing in but it's Kirk and Milhouse, who is now desperate to use the restroom. Kirk sees Snake and Wiggums tied up and tries to make small talk about when the place was a pet store. Herman points his gun at Kirk but just then Milhouse comes out swinging a mace and accidentally knocks out Herman. Wiggum, still tied up, flees the store. (The plot of this story is taken from the 1994 movie Pulp Fiction)

Story Fourteen, Bumblebee Man goes home but it's just like an episode of his show. On his show he disguises himself as a tree to spy on the nude beach but is attacked by a woodpecker, then a guy plugs his spaghetti into a wall socket and electrocutes him. Then he gets hit by a giant baseball. At home he opens a cabinet and oranges rain down on him, causing him to fall backwards, land on the ironing board which springs him into the hanging lights. The whole house collapses and his wife demands a divorce. 

Story Fifteen, Reverend Lovejoy is letting his dog poop on Ned's lawn and gets caught, he condemns the dog loudly, while quietly encouraging it. Ned heads next door, which leads to part two of Lisa's story.

Story Sixteen, Cletus The Slack-Jawed Yokel. He has a theme song. He finds some boots for Brandien off the power lines but she doesn't want them because they'll scuff up the strip club dance floor. 

Story Seventeen, Milhouse needs to use the restroom but Comic Book Guy won't let him unless he buys something. He buys a Hamburgerler Adventure Comic for 75¢ but then his father comes in and drags him out before he uses the bathroom. This leads to part three of Wiggum's story.

Story Eighteen. Nelson laughs at Lisa, part three of her story, and then goes around laughing at people so a big man makes him pull down his pants and walk down the street while everyone else laughs at him. In the crows are Disco Stu, Barney, Jasper, Martin, Mrs. Glick, Chief Wiggum, Eddie and Lou, Lunch Lady Doris, Chalmers, Ms. Hoover and then Bart and Milhouse throw condiments on him. 

Story Nineteen, It's suppose to be about Professor Frink but he shows up late due to the monkeys. "The Tomfoolery Of Professor John Frink. He also makes up his own theme song.  This is the first time we see his first name.

At then end of the episode Bart makes the comment "I guess there isn't enough time to hear them all". I revised my count, splitting up the various parts of the stories and can only come up with 19, if you count Bart and Milhouse talking at the end it's still only 20.

Continuity error, the Milhouse story is occurring at the same time Bart and Milhouse are spitting off the overpass.

Raging Abe Simpsons and His Grumbling Grandson in 'The Curse Of The Flying Hellfish'

This episode premiered on April 28th 1996. The lead in show was When Animals Attack and it was followed by a repeat of The Simpsons. It ran opposite Lois and Clark, Murder, She Wrote and Mad About You. 

The title of this episode comes from Saturday Morning Serial movies and the Marvel comics Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos. (This gives The Simpsons a link to the Marvel universe)

There is no chalkboard gag and the couch gag is a repeat of the floor drain.

It's Grandparents' day at school, Milhouse's grandfather travels around in his RV. Nelson's grandfather is a judge who just sentenced his 47th man to death. Abe starts telling one of his wild stories. "In nineteen dickity two". Grandpa embarrass Bart with his wild stories. At the home Abe gets a letter from the Fighting Hellfish telling him Asa Phillips has died, the fortune is almost his. Abe Simpson and Montgomery Burns are the last two surviving members. Burns tells Smithers to have Abe killed. The hired assassin puts poison in Abe's denture glass and sets his clock ahead but Abe knocks them over and shoves the clock in his mouth. The assassin dressed up as Homer and Burns as Marge, when the assassin misses with the knife he says "d'oh, not again" Smithers walks by dressed as Bart and says "I'll be in the car dudes". The assassin finally busts into the nursing home and starts shooting the place up, the desk nurse returns fire with a shotgun. Abe heads to Homer's house, nobody believes his story. Grandpa shows Bart his tattoo and the story of his service in WWII, the Hellfish find a catch of art and Burns wants to steal them.  Burns proposes a Tontine, an agreement that the last man standing gets the paintings. Bart doesn't believe Abe until Burns cuts his way into the house and demands the key, grandpa turns it over. Bart tries to go along but Burns shoves him off and then crashes through Lisa's wall. Bart stole the keys from Burns and they set off to find the treasure. At the Hellfish memorial Abe turns all the keys and a light shines out into the harbor, Abe steals Ned's boat. Bart dives down and finds the treasure crate but just then the Hellfish light goes out and Burns shows up with a gun. When he gets the paintings he shoves Bart in the crate and pushes him overboard, Able has to dive down and save him. When Abe starts to gain on Burns he makes Smithers jump overboard to lighten the load. Abe shoots a harpoon into Burns' boat and waterskis up on to it, they crash onto the beach. Abe kicks him out of the Tontine but just then the State Department shows up and seizes the paintings. The show ends with a military style version of the closing theme.

This show has the longest title of a Simpsons episode, to date. 

Springfield Elementary Banner "Grandparents' Day A Low-Cost Outing For Seniors"

Burns hires Fernando Vidal, the world's most devious assassin. When Burns calls the assassin he says "It's MB", the assassin thinks it's Marion Barry, the disgraced mayor of Washington D.C. He asks if it's time for another shipment, Barry was caught snorting coke off hookers.

In the ever changing Simpsons back yard fence this time there is an alley, stairs leading an incline and a dumpster. Bart has suggested letting Abe stay in the dumpster.

The Fighting Hellfish, Abe Simpson, Iggy Wiggum, Sheldon Skinner, Arnie Gumble, Griff, Asa, Ox and Etch, and Montgomery Burns. Ox died from a hernia moving the crate of paintings out of the castle, 5 more died in the Veteran's float disaster of '79, Asa died of old age.

Dirty joke, Burns got busted to private when he "obstructed a probe from J. Edgar Hoover". It was revealed that Hoover was a crossdresser so the "probe" was probably....well you get it.

Grandpa is working as a sniper about to shoot Hitler and says "now they'll never save your brain". This is a reference to the 1968 movie They Saved Hitler's Brain (Madmen of Mandoras).

The things Bart passes when he dives for the treasure, a number of sunken life preservers, a school of three eyed fish, a skeleton in an upside-down kayak, an old Fotomat with "Class of '78 Rules" graffiti. For the century kids in the crowd, Fotomats were drive up kiosk booths where you would drop off your photography film and then come back the next day for your developed prints.

The paintings are returned to Baron von Wortzenburger. The paintings seen in the episode, according to the internet, are Portrait of a Young Man by Raphael, Madonna and Child by Botticelli. And Burns also mentions Monet and Botticelli.

Woo Hoo! We've reached episode 150. Yeah, there are 600+ to go but I like hitting even numbers.