The Simpsons 256-260

Skinner's Sense Of Snow

This episode premiered on December 17th 2000. The lead in show was King Of The Hill and it was followed by Malcolm In The Middle. It ran opposite The W.W.O. Disney (George Of The Jungle), Touched By An Angel and the NBC Sunday Night Movie (The Sound Of Music)

The title is based on the 1997 movie Smila's Sense Of Snow.

The chalkboard gag is "Science class should not end in tragedy" (kind of dark there) and the couch gag is a football is tossed into the living room, the family, all in uniform, jump on it but Maggie pops out with the ball and spikes it in victory.

Homer is watching a sports talk show, they are joking about their wardrobe until the "very Gay" costumer comes out and quits. Marge come in announcing they are going to the circus, The Cirque de Puree. A storm hits and shuts down the show. The next day the blizzard shuts down the town except for Springfield Elementary. None of the teachers show up because of an emergency caucus, drinking at the ski lodge. When the kids go to leave school they discover that they are snowed in, on the day before Christmas vacation. The city has sold their snowplows to Burns, who uses them for car soccer. Homer and Ned try to go to the school to rescue the kids. The kids turn on Skinner so he hides in his office, has a Vietnam flashback in which he tries to prevent the rest of the prisoners form escaping, they get eating by elephants. Skinner puts on his old uniform and starts treating the kids like soldiers. Homer hits a fire hydrant and freezes up the car. Bart tries to tunnel out but gets caught and Skinner gets stuck when he tries to close off the tunnel, the kids run amok. Skinner gets tied up in a dodge ball bag. The car fills with co2 and Homer and Ned have hallucinations. Skinner is forced to write on the chalkboard and climb a rope. Milhouse finds the keycard to the permanent records, he tries to destroy them but they self repair. They find Skinner's financial records. Skinner puts the hamster in a ball with a note but it sinks into the snow. Homer has a dream about being a sultan with a Ned camel. The hamster smashes through the car window and they break free from the ice. Homer tries to turn on the cruise control and crashes into the salt tower at the cracker factory, it melts the snow around the school just as Homer and Ned show up. Chalmers shows up on a snowmobile but leaves when Bart tells him there is a good explanation, but doesn't say any details. On the way home Homer is once again gassed and sees Lisa as a camel, who wishes everyone a Merry Christmas. 

Cirque de Puree is a spoof on Cirque du Soleil. (Puree in French means mashed.) "The Eighty Dollar Circus"

Skinner shows the kids the move The Christmas That Almost Wasn't But Then Was. Consolidated Pictures 1938 When the hobgoblin come into Santa's workshop to destroy Christmas you can see the stage lights in the background. The film catches on fire despite being on a DVD. 

Bart forces Skinner to write "I ain't not a dorkus" on the chalkboard as a bonus joke. 

Homer can't remember owning a snow plow even though he's wearing his Mr. Plow jacket. From the episode Mr. Plow. 

This, this is my least favorite episode (out of all that I saw). Homer cuts a chunk off Ned's roof to build a snowplow and spend the entire night trying to drive to the school, nobody else goes to save the kids, not even their parents. Some of the jokes are repeats and most feel like they were rejected from other episodes and just mashed together with the thinnest of plot lines. And once again there is no real conclusion, just the camel Lisa wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. I wasn't looking forward to watching it and now I'm glad I'm past it.

This was the last episode of 2000, only 24 more years to go.

HOMЯ

This episode premiered on January 7th 2001 (according to Neil DeGrasse Tyson it would make it the first episode of the 21st century, since there was no Year Zero). It ran in its usual time slot and opposite The W.W.O. Disney (The Mask), Touched By An Angel and Dateline NBC

The chalkboard gag is "Network TV is not dead" and the couch gag is the family arrives on the couch via pneumatic tubes, except Bart is replaced by Fry from Futurama. However he is sucked back into the tube and replaced by Bart. (Fry is the same yellow color as the rest of the characters on The Simpsons)

The family goes to an animation convention. While there Homer sees a demonstration for a motion capture suit. He invests the families life savings in the company however it goes bankrupt losing him all his money. Homer suggests they get out of their financial problems by renting out Marge for surrogate pregnancy. Barney suggests that Homer try out medical experiments to make money. Homer tries perfume but it makes his skin burn, so they call it Desert Breeze. When he tries the diet pills he goes blind. Homer keeps trying to hit a light up button but a mouse is faster than him (Reference to Flowers For Algernon), the mouse wasn't part of the experiment. While checking out Homer's MRI they discover that he has a crayon lodged in his brain. Hibbert shows up to explain that in past he must have covered the crayon with his thumb while looking at the x rays. When Homer was 6 he jammed all his crayons up his nose but one got permanently stuck. The doctors remove the crayon and Homer gets smarter. Homer scientifically proves there is no God so Flanders burns his work. Homer finally does his job and inspects the plant, sending his report to the nuclear commission, they show up and close the plant. When Homer goes to the bar he finds them burning him in effigy. Homer is upset that he has become an outcast and talks to Lisa, she suggests he take a walk. Homer goes to a movie but criticizes the thin and cliched plot line and the audience gets mad at him. Homer goes back to the medical research lab and asks them to turn him back into an idiot, they send him to Moe. Lisa is drawing with her crayons and finds that one is missing. Moe jams the crayon in Homer's nose until he says "Extended warranty? How can I lose?" Homer crashes through the front window with a hand full of lottery tickets. He drops a note from his smarter self to Lisa to let her know that he appreciates her for being smart. 

The plot of this episode is based on the story Flowers for Algernon and the 1968 film Charley, the backwards R in the episode title is from the movie poster. 

Totally Sick, Twisted, F***ed-Up Animation Festival. Children Half-Price (the censoring is on the sign)

Cartoons at the convention: My Neighbor Totoro / Itchy And Scratchy / Happy Little Elves / Kids Zone / Lance Murdock Cartoon Show / The sorcerer hat from Fantasia / A Cyborg from the original Battlestar Galactica / Poochie / GI Joe / The Yellow Submarine / Radioactive Man / Cel-Out / Veggie Tales / History Of Animation / Trek Toons / Wallace And Grommet / Malibu Stacey

Ned lets Rod and Todd watch The New Adventures of Gravy and Jobriath (a spoof on Davey and Goliath) Gravey is building a pipe bomb to blow up Planned Parenthood and when Jobriath complains Gravey blows him up instead. 

Self aware joke, Marge says animated show are everywhere, or were, last year. A lot of animated shows came and went during the Simpsons era. When Lisa complains about a Japanamation showing a wolf shooting webs Bart says cartoons don't have to make sense, Ozmodiar (a spoof on The Great Gazoo and first appeared in The Simpsons Spinoff Showcase) shows up to say he's right. Homer calls an automated service to check on his stock, when it's up he yells Yahoo and gets the quote for the search website then says "what is this crap?" and gets a quote for Fox Broadcasting. 

Itchy and Scratchy Show, From Here To Infirmary. In a spoof on From Here To Eternity Itchy and Scratchy are kissing on the beach, Itchy switches out with a shark. It then turns into a commercial for Laramie Cigarettes. 

Homer goes to I.P.O Friday's at the mall to buy stock. The ticker lists out Lard Lad donuts / Laramie / Buzz Cola / Ah Fudge / Duff 

When buying stock Homer pictures being on stage with 1930's dancers and King Kong wearing a top hat. 

Homer goes to the Screaming Monkey Medical Research Center

When the scientists are checking out Homer's MRI they do a spoof on the zoom and enhance scene from Bladerunner. 

Old Springfield Library. Home of Bookworms and Silverfish.

Moe gets upset when he finds out Dame Edna is a man. Dame Edna was mentioned in the episode Homer's Barber Shop Quartet

Homer goes to see Love Is Nice staring Julia Roberts

Signs that go by as Homer is walking: Smart People Not Welcome / Dum-Dum Club / Lunkheadz, a place for drooling / Disney Store

The Great Gazoo is from the final season of The Flintstones. 

Pokey Mom

This episode premiered on January 14th, 2001. It ran in its usual time slot and opposite The W.W.O Disney (Jungle 2 Jungle), 60 Minutes and Dateline NBC

The title is a spoof on Pokemon.

The chalkboard gag is "I will not 'Let The Dogs Out' and the couch gag is a repeat of the spinning wall

Marge tries to wake Homer by pushing the bed remote, it crushes him and red liquid starts flowing out, except it's just his juice box. He promised to take Marge to the apron expo but doesn't want to get up. Everyone has a fun time except for Marge. On the way home they stop at a prison rodeo. When Jack gets tossed by the bull Homer uses Lisa to distract itand then tries to use Bart but he's not wearing his blue shirt, the bull rams the stadium, Homer falls in and the guards fire teargas into the crowd. In the prison hospital Marge tells Homer to look at a painting of Jimmi Hendrix to distract him from his hurt back, it turns out that Jack did the painting. Marge and Homer take off but leave Bart and Lisa at the prison. Marge decides to volunteer at the prison in order to help Jack out. Marge give cookies to the parole board to get Jack released and then brings him home. While raking the yard Homer falls over the trash can and it fixes his back, he decides to go into business. Dr. Steve, the chiropractor, shows up and threatens Homer. Marge gets Skinner to hire Jack to paint a mural on the side of the gym. Jack does a Frazetta style painting and Skinner gets mad at him for not doing it the way he drew out. Jack gets mad but paints what Skinner wants. A couple of chiropractors show up and destroy Homer's trash can. At the painting unveiling everyone criticizes the painting so Skinner blames Jack, they almost get into a fight but Marge stops them. A fire breaks out on the painting and reveals the original painting, everyone praises it but it burns up too. Jack claims he didn't start the fire and Marge believes him however he then sets Skinner's car on fire and goes back to jail. 

Michael Keaton does the voice of Jack, Charles Napier does the voice of The Warden, Bruce Vilanch does his own voice.

The warden says Bob Dylan wrote a song to keep Jack in prison. This is a spoof on Dylan's The Hurricane, a song about a boxer who was actually innocent.

Instead of saving Jack the rodeo clowns are checking their makeup, it's a Gay joke you couldn't make in the modern world. 

At the prison infirmary Sideshow Bob is fully bandaged up but recognizable by his hair, which is also bandaged. 

They haven't done an "behind the Simpson House" bit in a while but from the kitchen window Marge can see the Waterville Prison and Springfield Elementary. 

Homer goes to a chiropractor, Dr. Steve.

Homer calls his trash can the Spine-O-Cylinder

When the chiropractors destroy Homer trash can Moe tells him "forget it Homer, it's Chiro town" this is a reference to the 1974 movie Chinatown.

Skinner tells a bad joke about Chalmer's sister and when it bombs he says "Thanks Bob Vilanch", Vilanch is in the audience and says "Whoopi would have made it work".

Jack's painting is a reference to Frank Frazetta's Conan the Conquerer, best know as the cover of Molly Hatchet's album Beatin' The Odds.

Worst Episode Ever

This episode premiered on February 4th 2001. It ran in it's usual time slot and opposite the NFL Pro Bowl (AFC 38 NFC 17), Touched By An Angel and the The NBC Sunday Night Movie (The Fugitive)

The title comes from Comic Book Guy's catch phrase Worst _____ Ever.

The chalkboard gag is "I will not hide the teacher's medication" and the couch gag is there is a Valet waiting in the living room, Homer gives him a claim ticket and he comes back with the couch. Homer stiffs him on the tip.

Lisa finds an old box of Baking Soda in the back of the fridge, Bart bets Homer $5 he can't eat the whole thing, he raises the bet to $50. Lisa calls poison control in advance and says Homer is having an antacid trip. With the $50 Bart and Milhouse go on a spending spree, first to the Kwik-E-Mart to overindulge on snacks and then the Laundromat to wash Milhouse's clothes with fabric softener. While at the comic book shop Martin's mother comes in with a box of his stuff to sell. Comic Book Guy offers Mrs. Prince $5 for the entire box but Bart and Milhouse tell her the stuff is worth thousands so she takes it back. Comic Book Guy puts the boys photo on his Banned For Life wall. Homer flashes back to his first lifetime ban, He's at a Gallagher show where he eats the watermelon and gets kicked out. Bart finds out that Tom Savini, special effects master and actor, is going to be at the comic book shop. Homer comes up with a plan to smuggle the kids in by having them carry him on their shoulders, it turn out Homer had ratted them out to Comic Book Guy. When Savini makes fun of Comic Book Guy he has a heart attack. Bart and Milhouse call 911 and saves his life, Dr. Hibbert tells him he needs to take a break from the stress of the shop and recommends he get a friend to run the place. CBG doesn't have any friends so Bart and Milhouse take over for him. Ralph goes in the adult section and says "Everybody's Hugging". To help out CBG Homer takes him to Moe's, he insults Duff and everyone gets mad and kicks him out. Milhouse orders 2000 comic books about a superhero with glasses like his, published by Lens Crafters. CBG goes to a community college class on How To Make Friends and meets Agnes Skinner. Bart and Milhouse get into a fight over the comic book purchase and crash through a She Hulk poster, finding a secret room full of bootleg tapes. Milhouse comes up with the idea to hold a midnight screening of the videos and charge a $5 admission. The police raid the midnight showing and seize all the tapes. Just as CBG and Agnes are getting frisky the cops bust in and arrest him for his bootleg tapes. The show ends with Ned driving around with the radioactive baboon that Homer had turned loose in his house (it was on one of the video tapes)

Tom Savini does his own voice in this episode.

At breakfast Lisa gets some Ms. Butterworths for the pancakes. In 2020 the company changed the bottle to look "less ethnic" and more generic.

Homer's baking soda flashbacks: Johnny Cocran's You must acquit closing argument / Nixon resigning / Neil Armstrong's moon landing speech.

Milhouse is wearing My Little Pony underwear.

Martin's stuff: A hand written script of the original Star Wars / Princess Leia's anti-jiggle tape / film reel of alternate ending "Luke's Father is Chewbacca" 

Comic Book Guy's Banned For Life wall: Sideshow Bob / Nelson / George Lucas / Bart and Milhouse. 

Gallagher the comedian was known for his bit of smashing watermelons with a big wooden mallet. 

Lisa is reading The Daily Set-Up

When Dr. Hibbert tells Comic Book Guy he had a cardiac episode CBG says "Worst...Episode...Ever"

CBG's rival store is Frodo's of Shelbyville. A Tolkien reference.

There's a display of Poochie merchandise, Milhouse is marking it down in price. 

A guy from Plan 9 Comics comes to the shop. This is a reference to the 1957 movie Plan Nine From Outer  Space. (considered to be the worst movie ever made)

CBG tells Agnes "Now I know whatever happened to Baby Jane" a reference to the 1962 movie.

Bart and Milhouse falling through the She Hulk poster is a reference to the 1994 movie The Shawshank Redemption. 

At Skinner's house there are framed silhouettes around the living room. This is a reference to the episode The Principal and The Pauper. (Considered to be the "worst episode ever" by long time fans of the series)

CBG is wearing a shirt that says "My Other Shirt Is Clean"

Restaurants at the Squidport food court: Mussolini & Frank's / Have It Uruguay / What They Eat In Iceland / The Karachi Hibachi / the London Broil. All the food comes from the same kitchen. 

The kids watch Secret Nuclear Defense Plan. U.S. Govt. Film #1612. In case of a nuclear war Springfield is to be booed first to make sure all allied missiles are on target. 

Dated Jokes: Wiggum says "this place has more pirated tapes then a...." Lou fills in the comment with "A Chinese K-Mart". Wiggum then says "The owner is in more hot water than..." and Lou says "A Japanese tea bag". Ooooo, Wiggum does say "Why don't you lay off the Asians Lou".

CBG and Agnes "Snuggle" while Baby I'm-a Want You by Bread plays.

Tennis The Menace

This episode premiered on February 11th 2001. It ran in its usual time slot and opposite The ABC Sunday Night Movie (Dr. Doolittle, the 1998 version), Touched By An Angel and The NBA All Star Game (East 111 - West 110)

The title of the episode is based on Dennis the Menace, who has been used as a plot in several episodes.

The chalkboard gag is "I will not publish the Principal's credit report" and the couch gag is the family ice skates in and sits on the couch, however the ice breaks under Homer and he falls in the water. 

Homer is taking a shower when Bart starts playing with the kitchen sink going from hot to cold, Homer screeches out Mary Had A Little Lamb. Marge catches him and tells him to wash up so they can go to the Senior talent show, he makes Homer screech Beethoven's 5th Symphony while washing his hands. Jasper's talent is spinning denture plates. Abe sings What's New Pussycat and wins a free autopsy. At the funeral home Bart gets stuck in a coffin but it has a built in camera so they can see him scratching on the lid. Abe wants to be buried in the deluxe cemetery where you get a virgin grave and a hired weeping widow. However the cost is $17,000 Homer decides to just toss Abe into the woods. When the funeral home operator says the Mauso-Palooza contains as much cement as a tennis court, Homer builds a tennis court in the back yard. He gets upset when he finds out it's not a Foxy Boxing ring. Everyone comes over to play but Homer is terrible at the game. Marge overhears people insulting their tennis playing. Homer promises to try harder but all he does it blow up the ball server. Homer signs him and Marge up for a doubles tournament however she swaps Homer out for Bart and they win plus get invited to play in the Krusty Kharity Klassic (another KKK joke). Homer has a dream that Bart wants to kill him and marry Marge and decides to recruit Lisa to be his partner. When Homer finds out that the Williams sisters are in the stands he gets Venus to be his partner. Marge complains so Wiggum, the line judge, lets her swap out Bart for Serena. Serena trades out Marge for Sampras and Agassi shows up to replace Homer. The family makes up and plans to go out to dinner when the tournament is over. 

Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Venus and Serena Williams all do their own voices.

The funeral home banners: Sales From The Crypt. A reference to Tales From The Crypt. The place has a selection of anti stink spray: County Mourn / Mrs. Rotewell's / Stank Off!

When Marge complains about Homer screwing around instead of winning he mentions John Rocker (baseball player who made a lot of racist and homophobic statements), OJ Simpson (we all know about that) and Dorf (the character Tim Conway played on his videos). Lou calls the Simpsons the LA Clippers of tennis. (to date the LA Clippers haven't won a championship in 51 years)

And the tennis court is never mentioned again. (that I know of because there are a lot of episodes I never saw)

We've made it through another 5 episodes and passes the one I dreaded the most. So far I remember these episodes although I'm pretty sure there were a couple that I had only seen once, and wasn't paying close attention to. So for myself I'm heading further into unfamiliar territory. At this point I only have 500 more to go, although they are still making them so I can't really say how far along I am. Wish me continued luck. 

 The Simpsons 251-255

Insane Clown Poppy

This episode premiered on November 12th, 2000. The lead in show was King Of The Hill and it was followed by Malcom In The Middle. It ran opposite The W.W.O. Disney (The Miracle Worker, 2000 version), Touched By An Angel and Ed.

The title is based on the band Insane Clown Posse

The chalkboard gag is "I will not surprise the incontinent" and the couch gag is a Matrix style freeze frame with the family midair as they jump on the couch. 

Homer and Bart are packing a watermelon with explosives, Marge tells them to get to their chores. Homer has to get a drawer unstuck so Bart gives him an M-80 and they blast it loose. They then blow up SNL's old doghouse. Lisa has a video jammed in her VCR so Homer tries to blast it out and destroys her room. It turns out to be her birthday so Homer offers to do whatever she wants, they end up going to the book festival. Krusty is doing a book signing and his daughter Sophie shows up. Krusty had a fling with solider during the Gulf War and the next day he prevented her from killing Saddam because "he's half the act", instead she shoots down a crate of Duff being parachuted into the troops. Krusty takes his daughter to the beach but just wants to lay out. He decides to ask Homer how to be a better father. While playing poker Krusty gets a winning hand of four aces and a king but is out of money so he bets Sophie's violin, and loses to Fat Tony who has a straight flush. Homer suggests breaking in to Fat Tony's house to steal the violin back. They find a bed covered with violin cases but they are full of machine guns. While trying to escape they set off one of the guns and spark a mass shooting. Krusty manages to escape with the violin but when Sophie opens it there is a bunch of money hidden inside too. The show ends with the mob chasing Homer down the street while shooting at him. 

Drew Barrymore does the voice of Sophie. Jay Mohr does the voice of Christopher Walken. Stephen King, Amy Wong and John Updike do their own voices.

After blowing up SNL's doghouse Homer shows him the architectural plans and says the target construction date is Jan. 2007. That was 7 years in the future for them and 17 years in the past for us.

Festival Of Books: This Banner Available On Audio Tape.

Reverend Lovejoy has written a cookbook Someone's In The Kitchen With Jesus. Homer gets chocolate on Thomas Wolfe's white suit, he just rips it off and has another suit on underneath (I bet if I knew more about him I'd get this joke). Stephen King is writing a biography on Ben Franklin and how he used electricity to torture people and small animals, and his key on his kite was the Key To Hell!

Professor Frink has an InfoCram 6000, a device that puts the books in your mind instantly, however he suffers an overload of Tolstoy.

Dr. Nick has written a diet book, The Stuff Yourself Sick Diet. Marge asks "Will you lose weight?" Dr. Nick replies "You might, it's a free country"

Bart wanders into the For Dummies section, he picks up Moby Dick "Call me Ishmael dummy"

This episode features one of the best scenes, Christopher Walken reading Goodnight Moon, the kids keep trying to get away and he keeps warning them to scooch closer.

Lisa tells Amy Tan that she enjoyed the Mother/Daughter bond in The Joy Luck Club but Tan tells her that she got the message of the book all wrong. 

Krusty The Klown has written Your Shoes' Too Big To Kickbox God. John Updike ghostwrote the book for Krusty. 

In 2000 Saddam Hussein was still the president of Iraq, it was three years before the Second Gulf War. He was executed in 2006.

When visiting the apartment of Sophie's mother Krusty sees it is full of dead clown art, he says he'd rather go some place safer, like downtown Grozny. Chechnya was attacked by the Russians in 1994 and Grozny was mostly destroyed.

Series regulars at the poker game: Krusty, Moe, Snake, Homer, Fat Tony. 

Bumblebee Man appears on Dawson's Creek as the new foreign exchange student. The show ran on the WB from 1998 to 2003

Homer asks if he can play Devils Advocate and then heads to the Kwik-E-Mart where it is a pinball machine. 

Mob licence plates: Bagman2 / Mob Mom / Killer (Just Made is written on the trunk)

Mob families at the big meeting, The Cuomos / The Travoltas / The Lasordas / The Boyardees

Lisa The Treehugger

This episode premiered on November 19th 2000. It ran in its usual time slot and opposite The W.W.O. Disney (Santa Who?), Touched By An Angel and Dateline NBC

The chalkboard gag is "I am not the acting President" and the couch gag is the family comes in to the living room dressed as the Teletubbies, while Maggie claps. 

Bart sees a commercial for the new GameStation 256 (It's slightly faster To The MAX!) and is mad because he only has the 252 so he tosses it in the fireplace. Marge and Homer won't buy him a new gaming system so he gets a job sweeping up at the barber shop but gets paid in hair. He then gets a job putting out menus for a Thai restaurant and becomes a ninja at hanging them on door knobs. Lisa complains about the environmental damaged caused by all the menus Bart is spreading around town. Bart takes the family out to Krusty Burger but protesters in cow suits are blocking the entrance with a banner that reads "Krusty Burger = Earth Death". Lisa instantly falls in love with the leader of the protest, Jessy. The protesters find out that Mayor Quimby secretly sold the largest Redwood in Springfield to the YeeHaw Texan, Lisa volunteers to live in the tree. During the night She decides to sneak away for an hour but falls asleep at home in front of the fire. The next day she wakes up in a panic and rushes back to the tree only to discover it has fallen, she blames herself for letting them kill it. However it turns out the tree was struck by lightning and the police believe she is dead. The Texan says he's turning the forest into the Lisa Simpsons Preserve. The school offers Bart straight A's to help him with the tragedy. Homer gets a "My child is a Dead Honor Student" bumper sticker. He takes a recorder to Moe's with a tape of Lisa asking  him to tear up the bar tab, and pour cocktail onions down his pants. Branford Marsalis is about to play a tribute to Lisa with her sax but Milhouse grabs it and runs off in order to preserve her spit in hopes of cloning her. Omni-Pave announces they are turning the forest into the an amusement park, Lisa Land. Lisa shows up to complain. The protest leader cuts the support wires of the downed redwood that is being used as the park sign, it takes off down the hill, it smashes through Omin-Pave headquarters, the hippies cheer, then Kentucky Fried Panda (Finger Ling-Ling Good), then Hemp City, everyone else cheers. Jessy goes to jail.

Joshua Jackson does the voice of Jesse Grass

The plot of the episodes was based on Julia Butterfly Hill who lived in a tree for two years to prevent it from being cut down.

Marge is cutting out headlines for Jay Leno "Ketchup Truck Hits Hamburger Stand (the rest of the story says Six Dead). Jay Leno was the host of The Tonight Show from 1992 to 2006 and one of his regular bits was reading funny headlines. A reporter I knew had a story on the show when the local post office lost their paychecks, in the mail. 

The Asian restaurant is You Thai Now

The menu training montage of Bart is a spoof on The Karate Kid. The placing of door hanger menus is a spoof on Crouching Tiger / Hidden Dragon

Bart reads Itchy and Veronica. Archie's head is in the middle of the table and they are drinking from it. 

This episode contains a line I use when I beat a tough level on Candy Crush "Take that Lisa's beliefs!"

The protesters are members of the group "Dirt First", this was a spoof on the Earth First crowd. They were a pro environment movement but soon became radicalized and started attack places with sabotage and a car bomb. After 9/11 the group went silent.

Places Lisa can see from the Redwood: Shelbyville / The St. Louis Arch / the Hollywood sign / Mt. Fugi / The Eiffel Tower / NCY (the Twin Towers and Statue of Liberty) This is all part of the running joke about the location of Springfield. (This episode was a year before the 9/11 attack)

Homer says the lead protester has Bobby Sherman good looks. Sherman was the teen idol of the early 70's and even sang a song about a tree. 

When Lisa spies on the family, from up in the tree, she sees them making popcorn, hanging Christmas stockings and dying Easter eggs. 

Businesses in Springfield: Merry Widow Insurance Co. / Zip Brothers (auto parts) / Red Blazer Realty (Realty Bites)

Springfield Shopper headline: Lisa Alive! Hemp City Reduced To Stem And Seeds

The log goes on a cross country journey while a version of This Land Is Your Land plays. There is a techno version of the theme song over the closing credits. 

Homer Vs. Dignity

This episode premiered on November 26th 2000. It ran in its regular time slot and opposite The W.W.O. Disney (The Santa Clause), Touched By An Angel and The NBC Sunday Night Movie (Titanic)

The chalkboard gag is "I was not the Sixth Beatle" and the couch gag is the family rides into the living room on skateboards doing a jump off a ramp and landing on the couch, except for Homer who crashes and gets hit with the board.

The family goes out to celebrate Bart's first A, Lisa is jealous. Bart was messing around in the classroom when Skinner and Krabappel come in to fool around so he memorizes the planet chart to distract himself. Homer's credit card is rejected, the family tries to flee but get caught and end up having to be the restaurants mariachi band. Homer sells the back seat for gas money but buys a novelty horn that plays "Charge". They go to a financial planner that shows them a graphic of a future Nelson kicking over their gravestones while laughing Ha Ha and then coughing. Smithers goes to Albuquerque to put on his show about Malibu Stacey. Homer asks Mr. Burns for a raise, he demands Homer throw pudding at Lenny. Burns pays Homer to be his prank monkey. Homer buys Spiderman #1 from Comicbook Guy for $20,000 and then eats it in front of him. Burns throws money at him and laughs as Homer picks it up out of the street. At the Albuquerque Theater Smithers sings Sold Separately in his Malibu Stacy The Musical show. Homer goes in the men's room at the stadium wearing a diaper and rolls around on the floor saying "baby made a boom boom". Since Homer has money the kids get all their shots updated. At the zoo Homer dressed up like a panda and does the Lindy Hop but then a male panda is released into the cage and Homer is, well, lets say the show becomes very adult at this point. Homer escapes but gets sprayed by skunks and is caught by Lisa. Homer stands up to Burns, Lisa convinces Homer to spend the money on toys for the children. The president of Costington decides to hire Homer to play Santa at the Thanksgiving day parade. Burns shows up with his own float wishing a Happy Pranksgiving. Burns offers Homer $1 million to prank Springfield. Santa starts throwing fish guts on the crowd and then the sea gulls attack. It turns out Homer gave his costume to Burns who is attacking the crowd. 

Leeza Gibbons does her own voice as one of the parade announcers.

The plot of this episode is based on the 1969 movie The Magic Christian. (Yeah, I never heard of it either)

The family goes to The Singing Sirloin to celebrate Homer "raise". The restaurant was first featured in the episode Life On The Fast Lane.

Lets get Fiscal Financial Planner.

According to Carl's Word A Day calendar it's Nov. 10th.

Cultural error, outside the Albuquerque Theater there are saguaro cactus however they are indigenous to Arizona. This is a common mistake made by Hollywood even though they are practically next door to the two states. 

Smither's musical about Malibu Stacy came out 23 years before the Barbie movie. 

The panda exhibit is called Panda-Monium

The parade features balloons Rusty The Clown, Funky Winkerbean (a comic strip that ran from 1972 to 2022) and The Noid (mascot of Dominos pizza in the 80's). 

Chief Wahoo, the former mascot of the Cleveland Indians shows up at the Thanksgiving parade representing Native Americans. The paper mache is made from broken treaties.

The seagull attack scene is based on the 1952 film The Birds.

This is one of my least favorite episodes, Burns is seen as extra cruel, Homer as extra pathetic and there is a scene with a panda bear rape (stolen from the 1983 movie  Trading Places btw). Also several of the jokes are recycled. Furthermore there is no real redemption arc, instead Homer walks away and let Mr. Burns throw fish guts on the Thanksgiving parade crowd, who then receives no punishment for his actions, the show just ends with the family getting pelted with fish guts. When I call these the Dark Years of the Simpsons this is one of my examples.

The Computer Wore Menace Shoes

This episode premiered on December 3rd, 2000. It ran in its usual time slot and opposite Tangerine Bear, Touched By An Angel and Dateline NBC.

The title comes from the 1969 Disney movie The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes

The chalkboard gag is "I will only provide a urine sample when asked" and the couch gag is the family comes in and finds SLH doing the Snoopy dance. 

Homer finds out the plant is closed for the day and everyone was notified via an email, however he doesn't have a computer. At the store the guy sells him an expensive computer for $5000, that he drags home behind his car. Homer hits a pothole, this will become important later. Homer asks the computer to kill Flanders but nothing happens so he throws it away, Lisa sets it up for him, he throws it away again. He finds Dancing Jesus, then the Springfield Police Department that gives him the option of pleading guilty or not. Homer builds his own website that is just graphics from other pages. Bart confesses to a series of crimes and always being angry, and everyone ignores him. Homer decides to set up his page Mr. X, when a car hits the pothole and a tire comes flying through the window Bart says that Quimby spent the street repair money on a pool, as told by Nelson and confirmed by Jimbo, Homer posts the story on the internet. Comic Book Guy is looking for porn and decides to check out Mr. X and is shocked by the story about the pool. Soon the whole town is upset by the story and the mayor gets caught. When the city fills in the pothole Lisa tells Homer to quit while he's ahead, however he overhears Apu saying his bagels are just week old donuts and Krusty ran over someone and buried the body at a golf course, Homer posts the donut story. The police confiscate all the donuts, however the press conference ends when the reporters start asking questions about the police racing prisoners and using the electric chair to cook chicken. Homer goes to the bar and Lenny figures out he's Mr. X but he says it's not him. Homer overhears Burns and Smithers talking about supplying terrorists with plutonium. They want to give Mr. X the Pulitzer Prize and a cash award, so Homer exposes himself. Moe doesn't want Homer hanging around anymore and the rest of the town won't talk in front of him anymore. Lisa tells Homer that he can't post news if he doesn't have any, so he starts making up stories and spreading conspiracy theories, Nelson offers Homer a story about the school using dead hobos in science class but Homer turns him down since his fake stories are more popular. Homer goes to the Kwik-E-Mart but it's a fake building and he's hauled off in a truck. When Homer comes to he's at a strange island with birds in costume and everyone is dressed up like the 1800's. Homer tries to make a call but gets gassed. Wiggum goes searching for Homer with a dog, it swims out into the ocean and almost drowns. It turns out Homer's story on the flu shots being used for mind control is true so he got taken to the island which sends a German act to take Homer's place. Prisoner Number 6 builds a boat so Homer steals it and tries to escape, an orb comes after him and he pops it with a fork and gets home. Homer goes on line and starts telling the world about the island but the German attacks him. Homer beats him and the family comes home however the family is gassed and taken to the island. And that's where it ends. 

The plot of this episode is based on the 1967 British TV show The Prisoner. Patrick McGoohan, star of The Prisoner does the voice of Number 6.

The computer salesman tells Homer the model is the one astronauts use to do their taxes. Homer comments that he was an astronaut and the guy scoffs. (Deep Space Homer)

On Homer's page he has the image of himself with a bag over his head, however when you first open it you can see his face before the digital bag covers him. 

Springfield Shopper headline: Web Snoop Exposes Pool Hustle / Mr. X Makes Headlines 

Mr. X: All The Muck That's Fit To Rake. This is a spoof on The NY Times slogan All The News That's Fit To Print. 

Springfield Forest: Witch-Free since 1998

Homer dragging the computer behind his car is another example of why I call these the Dark Years, he become extra stupid about everyday stuff and we're suppose to laugh at this. It's like Flowers For Algernon part II. And this was another episode where they didn't really have an ending so they just said "Well, that's the story" and left it where it was, no real conclusion, no explanation of how they got back to Springfield for the next episode. In fact the entire thing was just forgotten the next week. Truly we are in The Dark Years.

The Great Money Caper

This episode premiered on December 10th, 2000. It ran in its usual time slot and opposite The W.W.O Disney (Annie), Touched By An Angel and Dateline

The title comes from the 1981 movie The Great Muppet Caper

The chalkboard gag is "The Nurse is not dealing" and the couch gag is the family is in a fish bowl in diving outfits.

The family goes to the Magic Place for dinner, the waiter gives Marge a Long Island Iced Tea and after several she gets drunk and volunteers to go on stage. Marge keeps interrupting the magician so he puts her in the Kill-O-Teen where she's turned into monkeys, when she pops out of a banana the monkeys attack her. Bart buys a magic kit at the gift shop. On the way home a sturgeon drops out of the sky and lands on their car, it came from the Russian space station. The mechanic tells Homer that it will cost $6500 to fix the car so Homer and Bart take his magic act to the Squidport to earn some money, but they get chased off by the Michael Jackson impersonator. They get into a fight and Homer takes off without Bart, everyone feels sorry for him so they give him money, Homer gets the idea to start hustling. Bart pretends to be blind and tricks Kent Brockman into knocking a fake cake out of his hands. Brockman pays them off. The next con is the lost dog scam, they fake the dog getting eaten by a shark and then Homer comes by with SLH for sale. They then move on to the Bible scam from Paper Moon, Flanders recognizes it and they run away. Grandpa shows up and tells them he was a grifter during the depression. He convinces them to scam the retirement home using a fake oversized check. When Homer shows up with a grand prize Abe pretends to drop dead and they offer to give it to the seniors if they pay the "wealth transfer" fee. However one of the seniors turns out to be an under cover FBI agent's and arrests them. The FBI agent tells Homer he'll let them turn themselves in so Homer goes into the police station and says they want to see what a jail cell looks like, the FBI agent turns out to be fake and steals the money and the car. Homer tells Marge they were carjacked. Homer describes the guy and the next day the police arrest Willie. At a trial Willie is found guilty and sentenced to 10 years in prison, he grabs Quimby's gun and shoots Skinner, so Homer confesses. It turns out the whole thing was a set up to teach Homer a lesson. Just before Lisa explains how they put the whole thing together Otto busts into the court room to announce Surfs Up! Everyone heads to the beach including the Russian cosmonauts, the magician and the sturgeon. 

Ed Norton does the voice of Devon Bradly, the actor and fake FBI agent.

Magic Palace: The Great Linguini $5.99

Pipeline by The Ventures plays over the closing credits.

Self Aware Joke: Homer questions why everyone was in on it including the police and TV station and points out that it makes no sense. 

This episode is based on the 1973 movies The Sting and Paper Moon, and the 1976 TV movie One Of My Wives Is Missing. 

And so we come to the end of another 5 episodes. These were a slog. The jokes fell flat, they didn't really have an ending for most so they just tacked on some weird twist and most of it felt like a series of individual jokes in a loose plot line. Well, onward and upward I guess.

The Simpsons 246-250

AAAAARRRRRRGGGGGG! I did two episodes and was starting on the third when I hit something on my keyboard and erased everything I had typed, EVERYTHING! I have no idea how I did it, but it was all gone. I'm going to have to start over and since I can't remember the details of what happened in the shows I'm going to have to rewatch them. I'm not going to do it tonight because it's 10 PM where I live. So tomorrow I'll start over with Last Tap Dance In Springfield. You never know, I may catch more stuff since I have to do it twice but I hope I can be a little objective. I guess we'll see. 

Last Tap Dance In Springfield

This episode premiered on May 7th 2000. The lead in show was King Of The Hill and was followed by Malcom In The Middle. It ran opposite The W.W.O. Disney (Geppetto), Touched By An Angel and Dateline NBC. 

The title of the episode is based on the 1972 movie Last Tango In Paris. Ewww...

The chalkboard gag is "I will not dance on anyone's grave" and the couch gag is the family swings into the living room on vines while wearing Tarzan loincloths but Homer misses the couch and crashes into the wall.

Homer is watching The Cyborganizer, a high tech Cyborg designed to do the paperwork for the NYPD. Marge complains that he is sitting too close to the tv and should get his eyes checked. He says he'll do it but he wants to see the show before the network "retools", however by the time he looks back the Cyborganizer is now working at a modeling agency and raising his cyborg child. Marge is going to the mall to buy Bart camping gear, he throws a temper tantrum so she goes to the store without him. When the doctor asks Homer to read the chart Bart has written I 8 PP and is in the middle of writing UR/, Homer starts strangling Bart so the optometrist tries different settings until he can see his hands around Bart's throat. When Homer rejects all the frame choices she suggests laser surgery. He won't pay for the drops to keep his eyes from crusting which results in temporary blindness and the bullies tricking him into buying them Jack Danials and cigarettes. Since they got their shopping done Marge and Lisa go to see Tango de la Muerte, the woman in the movie is just like Lisa and the guy she rejects is the Mexican version of Milhouse (now he has to sugar his own churro), after the movie Lisa wants to take up dancing. Bart and Milhouse are on their way to camp but they find out Nelson is also going and planning on beating them up the entire week, so they sneak off the bus and head to the mall. All the kids in the tap class pick up dancing fast, even Ralph, but Lisa keeps falling over or crashing into things. Bart and Milhouse spend the night in the mall and trash the place so the manager calls the police, Wiggum says there must be a giant rat. He wants to shut the place down but the manager says "On President's Day Weekend, are you crazy?" Lisa is cut out of the big recital and is assigned the job Curtain Puller. Professor Frink helps her out by giving her a pair of shoes that are rigged to react to rhythmic sound, it makes her a great dancer. Wiggum turns a cougar loose in the mall, when Milhouse sees it he freaks out but they escape by tossing it a ball of yarn. When Wiggum sees the yarn hanging out of the cougar's mouth he figures the rat is dead. At the recital the dance instructor, Lil' Vicki, takes over for Ralph when he tries to eat the plastic candy, they do a version of Good Ship Lollypop with a Mars theme. Lisa starts dancing but when Vicki starts showing off the shoes match her moves, when the audience start applauding they go out of control. Lisa is finally stopped when Homer trips her. Frink says that the shoes had been in the off position the whole time however Homer points out that the chip was clearly on. Lisa is upset because she'll never be a Broadway Baby, Homer points out she can always write a depressing play. Frink's Wiggle Weasel toy gets loose, when Homer goes to pick it up he's electrocuted. The closing credits are done in a classic 1930's Black And White style with Lil' Vicki music.

The couch gag of Homer crashing into the wall is based on the 1967 animated series George Of The Jungle.

The Cyborganizer is based on the 1987 movie Robocop. 

The mall glasses shop is called Eye Caramba. This was Bart's catchphrase but he doesn't say anymore.

Homer thinks he is playing with Maggie but it turns out to be Baby Gerald, her rival. 

Marge goes to Tommy Hillclimber, she buys Blair Witch Repellant (a spoof on the 1999 movie), antler saw and Deep Woods Scrabble. 

Tango de las Muerte (The Death Dance) is based on the 1990's movies The Forbidden Dance and Lambada. The sign outside the dance contest: Tonight: Contest de la Dance, Tomorrow: ¡Revolucion!

Lil' Vicki is based on Shirley Temple and pretty much any dance instructor in the modern world. 

Lil' Vicki Valentine's School Of Dance. Movie posters at Lil' Vicki's: Little Vicki For President / Little Vicki vs. Big Rhonda / Hell Hath No Little Vicki. To get inspiration Lisa watches a Little Vicki movie based on the 1935 Shirley Temple / Bill "Bojangle" Robinson movie The Little Colonel.

Bart and Milhouse are going to Camp Franks 'N' Pranks.

The mall manager not wanting to shut the mall down on President's Day is a spoof on the Jaws mayor not wanting to close the beaches on the 4th of July. Note, President's day is in February so why would Bart and Milhouse have gone to a camp? 

When the senior mall walkers show up it's a spoof on the 1978 film Dawn Of The Dead.

To catch the rat Wiggum sets an Acme trap with a piece of cheese and an anvil. This is based on the Warner Brothers cartoons. 

Line of the episode "Self tapping shoes? I'm ever so pissed!" When I'm mildly annoyed I like to say "I'm ever so pissed".

It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Marge

This episode premiered on May 14th 2000. It ran in its usual time slot and opposite The W.W.O. Disney (Mulan), Touched By An Angel and NBA Basketball (Lakers 98 - Suns 117)

The title is based on the 1963 movie It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

The chalkboard gag is "I cannot hire a substitute student" and the couch gag is a repeat of the paint by numbers.

Skinner gives the kids cameras in order to shoot a videos for a class project. To pay for the cameras he had to cancel geography class and puts a locked chain on the globe. Otto is on the way to ask his girlfriend to marry him, they met at Woodstock 99 when he was on fire and refused to pay $8 for a bottle of water, she put him out with her bottle. He asks her through the drive thru window while blasting Every Rose Has a Thorn by Poison. Marge is shocked to discover that Otto's wedding is scheduled for their back yard. Bart told them they could hold it there and points out that most of the stuff from Apu's wedding is still set up, including the elephant. Lisa complains about throwing rice at weddings, Bart plans on experimenting to see if birds really will explode. Marge starts talking to Becky but finds out she doesn't like heavy metal music. Marge tells her to change Otto, so when he wants Becky to walk down the aisle to the tune of Nothing But A Good Time by the band Cyanide (a Poison tribute band) she tells him it's either her or the music, he takes off leaving her behind. Bart tells her she can stay with them. Becky starts helping around the house and cooking, and everyone likes her, Marge becomes jealous and starts to suspect that Becky is trying to get rid of her. While on the way to the store Marge's "Breaks Cut" light comes on and she almost crashes. When she goes to the police they tell her they can't do anything until there is an actual murder. The family goes to the ice cream parlor, without Marge and Becky tells them that she's moving out, when the The Ark, a giant bowl of ice cream shows up Homer passes out and Becky gives him mouth to mouth, Marge shows up and attacks Becky with a giant fake cone,  the police show up and arrest her. In court they ask Marge about her obsession with Ringo Starr and talking to her invisible friend "God" so they decide to commit her, but she escapes. Marge tries to hide out in a marching band but they're from the mental asylum and she has to escape again. She goes to the library to find information on Becky but she turns out to be a wonderful person. Marge goes home and finds the family chained to the wall and Becky about to stab Homer, however it turns out to be for Bart's video project. Homer confesses that he accidentally drained Marge's break fluid when he changed her oil. Becky then confesses that she was going to kill Marge but she needed a shovel and there were too many choices at the hardware store. The doctors from the mental asylum show up and shoot Marge with darts but she says she has too much to do, she tells Homer that she wants to do some S&M with him, Scrubbing And Mopping so he shoots her with another dart and she passes out. The end.

Parker Posey does the voice of Becky.

Skinner says he doesn't want to see 30 Blair Witch knockoffs for the video projects, the kids all groan. The Blair Witch Project was a 1999 horror movie that claimed it was made up of real found footage. People still believed it actually happened even after the cast showed up at the MTV Movie Awards.

The plot of this episode is based on the 1992 movie The Hand That Rocks The Cradle. Patty and Selma mention the film when warning Marge about Becky's intentions.

Woodstock 99 turned into a full blown riot due to price gouging, lack of facilities, excessive heat, angry performers who stirred up the crowd and a heavy handed security force. In the end there was mass destruction, arson and violence, mostly playing live on MTV.

Becky works at Der Krazy Kraut hot dog restaurant. This is a spoof on Der Weinerschnitzle

Otto proposing while holding a boom box over his head is a spoof on the 1989 movie Say Anything.

Instead of tissue paper Otto's wedding invitations include a Zig Zag rolling paper.

Apu's wedding at the Simpson's house was in the episode The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons.

Kent Brockman does his report on Marge's escape from Juggernauts, where it's Wet T-Shirt Month. This is a spoof on Hooters. 

Krusty does a bit on TV with Marge's photo and Sideshow Mel's lips on a monitor, this is based on a bit Conan O'Brien did on his show. They also do the Mad Marge Dancers which is based on The Dancing Ito's (the judges in the OJ murder trial) that were featured on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

Old Springfield Library "We have books about TV"

This episode just kind of came to an end with no real conclusion. Marge is still an escaped mental patient and Becky still lives with the family, and we never find out what happens to the video projects. They just kind of say "well, here's the end" and that's that. It was another reason I call these "The Dark Years". 

So this was as far as I got when the computer disaster struck and erased everything I had typed up until now. I may have reworded a few things, I may have left out an observation I caught the first time around. I know I saw something new with this viewing. Oh well, hopefully I can do the next episode without incident. 

Behind The Laughter

This episode premiered on May 21st, 2000. It ran in its usual time slot and opposite The W.W.O. Disney (The Mask), Touched By An Angel and The NBC Movie Of The Week (Beverly Hills Ninja)

The title and plot is based on the VH1 program Behind The Music.

The chalkboard gag is "I will not obey the voices in my head" and the couch gag is the family sits on the couch, on the edge is a Magic Fingers box and when Bart drops a quarter in it starts to vibrate and the couch shakes out of the living room.

The show opens with a repeat of The Simpsons logo and the narrator talks about the program. The family does an interview about being famous including Lisa hosting the Oscars and Meryl Streep spitting on her. The Simpsons wound up on TV because Homer made a show called My Funny Family. After multiple attempts to sell it to a network they went to Marge's hairdresser who was the President Of Fox and he bought the show. The family records an album that includes a song Simpson's Boogie, it's a spoof on the Brady Bunch music like Sunshine Day and Good Time Music. Ozzy Osborn gives the Simpsons the Grammy for best Hardcore Thrash Metal. They do a clip of Homer jumping the gorge from Bart The Daredevil as if it wasn't suppose to happen. Homer winds up in the hospital and becomes a drug addict and they do more clips of him crashing through stuff. Lisa buys a copy of Susan B Anthony Man with a bad check. Marge lost the family money on birth control products like a diaphragm with her picture on it. Apu turns the family into the IRS for tax evasion because Homer never leaves a penny in the "take a penny" tray. Bart gets arrested for causing a fight on a flight from Hawaii and his part is played by Richy Rich in the episode Disorder In The Court "Don't have a cow mother" At the Iowa State Fair the family gets into a real on stage fight over what kind of song they should sing. After the fight Fox replaces The Simpsons with Peepin' It Real, a live camera footage from the dressing room at Ann Taylor show. Homer goes on stage in Rent II: Condo Fever!, he plays a melodrama landlord. Bart replaces Lorenzo Lamas on Renegade, Marge does a Lofland Nevada casino show Just Marge (And Friends) She sings I Shot The Sheriff by Bob Marley. Lisa writes a book "Where Are My Residuals?" Willy Nelson asks the various members of the family to be presenters at the "New Awareness Awards", this is just a trick to get them back together. The Simpsons are asked to present the award for Most Violent Rap Group. Willy says he's also trying to patch things up between Van Halen and Sammy Hagar. (Sammy Hagar had left the band in 1996) In the editing booth the family is watching a clip where they win a trip to Delaware, Homer tells the editor that this will be their last season. Behind The Laughter does a preview of their next show. Huckleberry Hound. "I was so Gay, but I couldn't tell anyone". The show ends with clips of Homer being hurt while Simpson's Boogie plays. 

Willie Nelson and Jim Forbes (the narrator for Behind The Music) do their own voices for this episode.

Magazines featuring The Simpsons TV Guide / Rolling Stones / Coin Laundry News / Short Hair Ideas / Parade

There is an image of the Simpsons on a beach in a Woody, this is a take on The Beach Boys album cover for Surfin' Safari.

The Behind The Laughter intro features clips from The Springfield Connection / Homer's Phobia / Lard Of The Dance / Bart's Friend Falls In Love / Radio Bart / A Streetcar Named Marge 

Shows the Simpsons watched before Homer writes his own script: Hollywood Hogwash / The Dreck Squad / The Malarkey's / Dumbin' It Down / Sheriff Lowbrow / Home Improvement

Homer is seen signing a Perpetual Service Agreement with Rupert Murdock.

Bart Simpsons t shirts: Good Grief, Man (Charly Brown) / You Bet Your Sweep Bippy Man (Rowan and Martin's Laugh In) / Life Begins At Conception Man (the "pro lifers")

Newspaper headlines: Variety "Yellow Fever" / The Hollywood Reporter "Bumptious Brood Boffo" 

Simpsons merchandise: Homer strangling Bart dolls / Simpson Gin in Homer shaped bottle 

The Simpsons buy M.C. Hammer's house. In 1997 MC Hammer had a string of financial problems including back taxes and had to sell his Hollywood mansion. Homer uses a sledge and pounds the letters into the word Homer.

Program Regulars interviewed by the show: Krusty the Klown: "Embittered Comedy Legend" (He has an album Krustophenia) / Moe Szyslak: Local Hothead / Comic Book Guy: Comic Book Guy / Clancy Wiggum: Interim Police Chief / Anonymous Tipster: Apu / Abe Simpson: Coot / Gloria Allred: Shrill Feminist Attorney / Dr. Julius Hibbert: Meddler

Simpsons albums: Simpson Boogie / Lovely to Love Your Lovin' / Simpsons Christmas Boogie

When the Simpson win the Grammy for Best Hardcore Thrash Metal Album this is a spoof on when Jethro Tull won for Best Metal Album in 1989.

Ozzy bites the top off the Grammy. This is a spoof on when he bit the head off a live dove. 

Homer getting addicted to pain killers after falling down Springfield Gorge is based on Chevy Chase who became a prescription drug addict after his many falls in the first season of Saturday Night Live. 

Encyclopedia Self Destructica

Hollywood Walk of Fame stars: Milton Berle (TV) / Joan Jett (Typewriter) / Nelson Mandela (Race Car) / The Simpsons (TV, Grammy, Olympics) / Cheerios Honey Bee

Springfield Shopper headline: Feds to Simps: Pay Up! / That's All, Folks!

Couch gag II, the family runs in wearing cowboy costumes but Bart is on the phone negotiating to do Teen Wolf III. 

Self aware joke: The narrator says when the show was in trouble they resorted to nonsensical plots, and show clips from the episode The Principal And The Pauper.

Iowa State Fair Presents The Simpsons Live, Opening Act Jimmy Carter's Habitat For Hilarity. This is a spoof on the cast of the Beverly Hillbillies having to do live shows because they got screwed over in their contracts. 

At the fake award show Taco does a tribute to Falco

Woody Allen is upset when he finds out The New Awareness awards are a sham to get The Simpsons back together, he has a lap full of awards. 

This was the last episode of Season 11. It was the third time the family was seen as TV characters. Even though the overall show had declined in quality this was actually a really good episode, perhaps the only highlight of the season. Sadly it wouldn't last. Now on to Season 12.

Treehouse of Horror XI

This episode premiered on November 1st 2000 (A rare Wednesday scheduling) It was the lead in show for the night and was followed by Normal Ohio. It ran opposite Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, Bette and Titans.

The show opens with a spoof on The Munsters, Homer is Herman, Marge is Lily (carrying a 6 pack of Duff), Bart is Eddie (with an oversized slingshot), Lisa is Marylin (carrying a book that says Copyright Law), Grandpa Abe is Grandpa. They all run back to the house because a mob of locals show up, Homer is set on fire, Marge and Grandpa are staked through the heart and Bart is killed with a wolf trap, only Lisa walks away. 

G-G-Ghost D-D-Dad

The episode starts with Marge cutting Beetle Bailey out of the newspaper because Homer ogles Miss Buxley. She suggests he reads Cathy but instead he reads his horoscope "Today you will die, and you may get a compliment from an attractive coworker". When Marge checks her's it says "Today your husband will die". Homer gets a paper cut from the newspaper, lightning strikes a tree and it just misses him, the globe from a defunct Planet Hollywood crushes the passenger side of his car, a pick hits him in the head, a rattlesnake bites him, and the testicle thing. In the end he's poisoned by broccoli. Homer's spirit goes to heaven however St. Peter sends him back because he never did a good deed. His spirit eats the broccoli and he ends up back in heaven. He appears to Marge, she suggest he do some of the chores he promised. He carries Agnes across the street but accidentally drops her. At the Kwik-E-Mart he gets a Squishy but it falls through him causing everyone to slip. He tries to help Bart but Nelson gets him in a headlock and gives him nuggies. A woman lets go of her stroller and the crying child is headed towards the street when Homer grabs the baby, the stroller is hit by a car, a bus and bursts into flame. When Homer gets back to heaven St. Peter wasn't watching so Homer is sent to Hell, the Devil starts giving him nuggies and they wake up John Wayne. 

The title of this episode came from the 1990 movie Ghost Dad but nobody talks about that since it stared Bill Cosby. 

Beatle Bailey has been running in newspapers since 1950. A little side trivia, Beatle is Blondie Bumstead's brother. Cathy ran from 1976 to 2010. "AACK!"

The crying child rolling down the stairs is based on a scene from the 1925 movie Battleship Potemkin. 

Scary Tales Can Come True

The Simpsons are living in a slowly rotting pumpkin. Homer is the local oaf but lost his job. In order to keep the children from starving he tosses them into the Deep Dark Woods. They almost get grabbed by Moe the troll under the bridge but Lisa is reading Grimm's Fairy Tales and is warned of potential dangers. They come across the Three Bears house and manage to escape just as the bears come home, but the bears attack Goldie Locks because Bart barred the door. Marge is upset that Homer dumped the kids in the woods instead of selling them, they are offering Maggie for two chickens or best offer. Homer wants to make more kids, Marge sends him out to the woods. He comes across Rapunzle but is so heavy that he rips her hair out. When the kids come across the witch in the candy house Bart decides to trust his gut and go inside. Lisa ends up chained to the stove while Bart is fattened up. When the witch goes to throw Lisa into the fireplace Homer shows up and starts eating her house, she zaps him to having broom arms, fish head, donkey ears and chicken body. She tries to stuff him in the fireplace but the doorbell rings and he tosses her into the fire instead, and is turned back, mostly. The family is reunited and will never go hungry because Homer retained his chicken body and lays eggs for them. 

The title of this episode is based on the lyrics of the 1954 song Young At Heart from the movie of the same name.

Moe looks like a Troll Doll.

The Three Bears are humming Teddy Bear Picnic when they come home. 

When the witch claims she has a boyfriend the kids challenge her to come up with a name so she says George Cauldron after looking at the fire. This is based on the Brady Bunch episode where Jan claimed she had a boyfriend named George Glass. However George Cauldron actually shows up with concert tickets.

Night Of The Dolphin

The Simpsons go to Marine World where they watch the dolphin show. When the trainer asks for a volunteer the dolphin is mobbed and Lisa feels sorry for him. The dolphin, Snorky leads Lisa to the gate and she sets it free. It turns out Snorky is the king of the dolphins and plans to get revenge on the humans. First they kill Lenny, Wiggum thinks it's the result of rowdy teens and cancels the prom. The dolphins head to shore where they attack the humans. Kent Brockman is reporting on the killings but the dolphins take control of the studio. Snorky shows up at the town hall and tells everyone that dolphins once lived on the land and now they are taking it back and forcing humans into the sea. Homer reminds the people of everything they invented, the people fight back but they end up in the ocean. 

The title of the episode is based on the movie The Day Of The Dolphin. The plot is based on the 1972 film The Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes.

Marine World: No Longer Educational. 

The dolphin escape scene is based on the 1993 film Free Willy. 

Lenny being killed during a night swim, Wiggum's conclusion about how he died and Grandpa getting eaten by a dolphin are all based on scenes from Jaws. 

The scene where the people walk out of the town hall and are surrounded by the dolphins is based on the 1963 movie The Birds

Kang and Kodos show up at the end to complain that they were left out of the Halloween special. They get a call offering them a commercial for Old Navy. "Work is Work".

The closing credits have a Munsters version of the Simpsons theme song.

A Tale Of Two Springfields

This episode premiered on November 5th 2000. The lead in show was King Of The Hill and it was followed by Malcolm In The Middle. It ran opposite The Growing Pains Movie, 60 Minutes and Ed

The title comes from the Charles Dickens novel A Tale Of Two Cities

The chalkboard gag is "I will not plant subliminAL messaGOREs" (the capitalized letters are in green) and the couch gag is Bart puts a whoopee cushion under Homer's seat, he looks embarrassed, Marge, Lisa and Maggie are shocked and Bart laughs out loud. 

Bart goes to feed SLH but there is a badger living in his dog house. Homer doesn't believe there is a badger but it attack him. He calls animal control but can't get through because of a new area code, the rich side of town keeps the 636 area code and the poor side of town is switched over to 939. KBBL radio station is giving away tickets to see The Who, they call Homer's number but with the new area code they call Burns instead. Homer gets mad so Bart encourages him to call and complain but he doesn't use the area code and tries to strangle Bart with the phone cord, who knocks him out with the receiver. Homer shows up at the town hall meeting wearing dynamite. When the meeting breaks down Homer tries to set off the dynamite but it doesn't work so he decides to start their own city, New Springfield. Homer says all they have to do is sit back and wait for an NFL franchise to show up, a representative of the Cardinals shows up but Homer tells him to keep walking. (In 2000 the Cardinals ended their season 3-13), they make Homer the mayor. Meanwhile Quimby unveils their new name Olde Springfield. Lisa complains about splitting up the town. Apu charges Marge a 50% out of towners tax. Kent Brockman insults New Springfield so Homer goes to the power plant and shuts off their electricity. Frink tries to transport Sir Issac Newton into the present day but because the power is shut off only the legs show up and start kicking him. To strike back Old Springfield intercepts a beer truck and dumps the contents in the river. New Springfield shuts off the water but the riverbed is covered in gold and Old Springfield buys the Evian water factory. Homer decides that they have to build a wall so he tries to call East Berlin but can't get through thanks to the area code, instead he hires Fat Tony. When the people find out that they can't get food in New Springfield they flee. Homer says the people will be back when The Who show up to play but finds out the arena is in Old Springfield so he decides to kidnap them. Homer tells the bodyguard the family want to see The Who so he throws them in the room. They say they fired the bodyguard but he claims they didn't. Homer tells The Who that the promoters are going to make them wear frilly shirts like Keith Partridge so they decide to play New Springfield. Homer wants The Who to play songs from Grand Funk Railroad and Pac Man Fever. Old Springfield launches flaming garbage at Homer via their Rent-A-Pult. The fireball lands on the tire fire. Roger Daltrey suggests everyone in town get phones with speed dial to solve the problem of the area code. Then they play Won't Get Fooled Again extra loud to cause the wall to collapse. The badgers then launch an attack upon the city. The misdial signal plays at the end of the credits.

In reference to the chalkboard gag this episode ran on Sunday November 5th and Election Day was on Tuesday November 7th. (Al Gore was robbed of the Presidency by the corruption of Florida governor Jeb Bush and the conservative Supreme Court, however there was no attempt to overthrow the government.)

Bart tries to feed Todd's woodpecker to the badger but it pecks Bart on the head and flies off doing the Woody Woodpecker laugh. 

The name of the Springfield arena is changed to Yahoo Search Engine Arena. This is a spoof on corporations buying stadiums and putting their names on them. 

Homer says he was a fan of The Who when they were the Hillbilly Bugger Boys. 

The phone company's mascot is Phony McRingRing.

When the people of New Springfield suggest Homer could be the Mayor he imagines himself in the opening of the 1958 tv series The Rifleman

Apu and Marge do a commercial for Henderson's Toilet Paper. 

The New Springfield dumping the beer in the river is a spoof on the Boston Tea Party.

Fat Tony's company Lowball Construction builds the wall out of garbage including the fake angel skeleton from the episode Lisa The Skeptic and the Olmec head from Blood Feud.

The Who are staying at Hotel Pillowmint

Line of the episode: When Moe finds out Homer stole The Who he says "that fat, dumb and bald guy sure plays some real hardball", this is a spoof on the lyrics of Pinball Wizard. 

Roger Daltry suggest the town go to Radio Shack to get speed dial phones. By 2017 Radio Shack had shut down most of its retail stores and went into bankruptcy. 

And so we've reached episode 250. I like even numbers. This time around it was a mixed bag, one episode was a miss, one was pretty good, one was the Halloween special which gets a free pass, one was classic Simpsons but had a strange ending (the badgers attack) and one ventured outside the classic format and was actually pretty good, (Behind The Laughter). But, we're very near my least favorite episode, that I know of, and I'm not looking forward to it.

 The Simpsons 241-245

Missionary: Impossible

This episode premiered on February 20th, 2000. The lead in show was King Of The Hill and it was followed by Malcolm In The Middle. It ran opposite The W.W.O. Disney (Jungle To Jungle), Touched By An Angel and the NBA (Lakers 87 - 76ers 84)

The title comes from the classic TV show and movies Mission Impossible

The chalkboard gag is "A belch is not an oral report" and the couch gag is the couch is at a subway stop for Evergreen Terrace. The train pulls up and the family gets on. 

Homer is watching Do Shut Up on PBS, a show about a soccer hooligan family. The show is interrupted by the pledge drive, Homer gets mad at the delay so he donated $10,000 thinking they couldn't find him, however they have caller ID, aka Instatrace. A van shows up demanding the money, they even take him to the bank. Homer escapes but the PBS crowd chases him. Heruns into the church shouting "Sanctuary", Lovejoy sends Homer to an island in Microatia (a made up Pacific island nation). Homer thinks the island is dull but when he finds out Ned is jealous he decides to civilize the place. Bart takes over for Homer at the power plant and gets poked by Mr. Burns for incompetence. Homer creates a casino and teaches the natives how to ferment beer. He thinks he's built a paradise but the natives end up fighting. He decides that in order to save the people he needs to finish building the chapel. The ringing of the bell causes an earthquake which sets off a volcano and the chapel starts sinking into the lava, the show then cuts to a pledge break for Fox. The show ends on a cliffhanger with no real resolution.

Betty White does her own voice in this episode. 

Do Shut Up is a spoof on a number of British shows that appeared on PBS in the era. This would end with the creation of the cable network channel BBC America in 1998.

PBS is offering a CD of the sounds of museums. There is a hollow echo of someone walking followed by a cough. (because nobody is at the art museum in case you didn't catch that)

Marge is buying greeting cards, $5 a pound. 

The PBS mob that chases Homer: Soccer Hooligans, Mr. Rogers, Yo Yo Ma, Garrison Keillor, Tellatubbies, Big Bird, Oscar The Grouch, Elmo

Homer shouting Sanctuary is a spoof on The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, Lovejoy regrets teaching Homer the word.

Supplies in the Christian Relief plane: Prayer Books / Bibles / a water cooler full of Holy Water / Inflatable Pulpits. 

A butterfly lands on Homer's arm, turns into a worm, burrows under his skin and crawls into his brain. This is a spoof on the beetle scene from the 1999 film The Mummy.

Homer is licking toads for a buzz when he hears Marge on the radio saying "Hello, is there anybody in there?" This is a take on the Pink Floyd song Comfortably Numb. 

Homer builds The Lucky Savage Casino. 

Homer mentions Bob Stupak, Las Vegas gambler and hotel owner. He created the Stratosphere Hotel.

Celebrities running the Fox donation phone lines, David Duchovnhy, Gillian Anderson (X Files), Hank Hill, Thurgoode Stubbs (The PJs), Rupert Murdock, Bender (Futurama), Luke Perry (Beverly Hills 90210)

Self aware joke, Bart pledges $10,000 to the Fox pledge drive, Rupert Murdock says "You saved my network" to which Bart replies "It wouldn't be the first time"

This was another "drop the cow" episode, the writers had created an entire story about Homer as a missionary and had no real ending, so they tacked on the pledge drive. No real ending will become a regular thing now that we're well into the Dark Years. 

Pygmoelian

This episode premiered on February 27th 2000. It ran in its usual time slot and opposite Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, Touched By An Angel and The 10th Kingdom (a five part miniseries)

The name of the episode comes from the play Pygmalion. 

The chalkboard gag is "Dodgeball stops at the gym door" and the couch gag is a repeat of Matt Groening's signature on the floor. 

The fire alarm goes off in the middle of the night. It turns out Homer was tricking the family so they'd be first in line for Duff Days. Marge is the designated driver so she goes to the Rockn' Fun Zone, a barbed wire cage. Bart goes on the Tpisy Whirl (a gyroscope ride to make you feel drunk). Moe participates in the  Beer-Tender of the Year contest. Titiana is winning the contest until the final round, the drunk toss, she thought if she slept with Duffman she wouldn't have to deal with the drunk and quits. Moe chases Barney with a board, wins and gets his face on the Duff calendar. Duff put a sticker over Moe's face. He's upset about his looks so Lenny suggest plastic surgery. At Duff Days Maggie getsa pink elephant balloon, Bart and Lisa try to take it but it gets away so they try to chase it down. Moe goes to a plastic surgery and comes out handsom. He decides to get revenge so he puts a sticker on Duffman's face, the guy passes out from a lack of oxygen. He visits the girl who turned him down in high school, she apologizes but Homer throws a brick through her window. Moe once tried out for a soap opera but they turned him down, when he goes back to tell them off they hire him to play Dr. Tad Winslow. Moe gets the future storylines and finds out his character gets killed, he decides to get revenge by having Homer show up, dressed like an angel, and spills all the future plot lines. However it turns out the script was for a dream sequence and he ruins his career. He says he can get on any other soap opera but a backdrop falls on him and turns him back into old Moe. 

During the fire alarm Lisa saves her sax, Snowball II and her Perfect Attendance trophy / Bart saves SLH / Marge saves Maggie and the vacuum. (Continuity error, Lisa took a week off in the episode Bart's Dog Gets An "F")

Duff Days: A lost weekend for the whole family. This is a spoof on the title of the 1945 film The Lost Weekend.

Surly is announcing Drink Duff, then whispers "responsibly". He was first seen in the episode Selma's Choice. 

The alco-hall Of Fame: Ulysses S. Grant / Babe Ruth / Benjamin Franklin 

Bartenders in the contest: Michael Finn from the Green Potato Pub O'Hare International Airport / Titania from Juggernauts Hollywood California / Moe

The Hippy Hippy Shake by The Swinging Blue Jeans plays during the bartender contest.

Homer Lenny and Carl are suppose to spell out MOE on their stomach but both Lenny and Carl have an O so it spells out MOO. 

Other people in the Rockin' Fun Zone: Skinner, Apu, Kirk. 

Stickers over Moe's face; Drink Duff / Duff Enuff / Viva La Duff / Kiss Me I'm Duff / Ich Bin Ein Duff / I'mo Duff You Up! 

Cosmetic Surgery Group "We'll cut you good"

The pink elephant ballon blows into a meeting of The Gay Republicans. They give Lisa a bumper sticker "A Gay Republican in 2084" because they are realistic about changing times. That was 84 years in the future then, now it's 60 years away. 

Moe goes on the soap opera "It Never Ends" Considering the supernatural elements in the plot the show it was probably based on the 1999-2008 soap opera Passions. 

Self Aware: Moe points out that when the set fell on him his face went back to its old form instead of something new. 

In the episode I'm With Cupid Apu has a Duff beer calendar behind the counter at the Kwik-E-Mart

This episode wasn't bad but there was the entire balloon bit that just felt like filler, it had no point and didn't really go anywhere. Again, the Dark Years.

Bart To The Future

This episode premiered on March 19th, 2000 It ran in its usual time slot and opposite The ABC Big Picture Show (The Flintstones), 60 Minutes and Dateline NBC.

The title comes from the 1985 movie Back To The Future.

The chalkboard gag is "Non-flammable is not a challenge" and the couch gag is a repeat of the night club bouncer.

The Simpsons are planning on spending the weekend at Larva Lake but it's mosquito season so they get turned away. Bart sees an Indian Casino so they head to it, Marge won't go in because of her gambling problem and Lisa starts a long rant about Native Americans but Homer and Bart have run off. Bart is turned away at the door so he sneaks in disguised as Gabbo. He gets caught and is taken to the main office.  The manager tells him to throw a personal item into the fire, he tosses in a fire cracker. Bart looks 30 years into the future, he's living with Ralph and is trying to run a band. Homer complains about the horrible future they live in, Bart reminds him it's the horrible present. Nelson has offered to let Bart's band perform at his club but he has to borrow money from Homer to get his amp out of hock. Meanwhile Lisa is President of the U.S. Bart goes to Ned who is now blind, because he had laser surgery and after 10 years his eyes fell out. When they get home they find an eviction notice across their door. Bart decides to go to DC and mooch off Lisa. Lisa has taken over from President trump and the nation is broke. Milhouse is a cabinet level Secretary but which one they don't say. Homer is searching the White House for Lincoln's gold. Bart sends the Presidential helicopter to pick up Ralph. The only way to save the country is to raise taxes, Milhouse calls it a Temporary Refund Adjustment however Bart comes in and exposes that Lisa is raising taxes on live tv. In order to solve the problems Lisa wants to invite the debtor nations to DC but she has to get Bart out of town, so she appoints him Secretary of Keeping It Real and ships him off to Camp David along with his friends. While trying to write his report Bart is visited by the ghost of Billy Carter who tells him Lisa sent him there to get him out of the way, however it turns into a commercial for the casino. Homer finally digs up Lincoln's gold, however it turns out to be a metaphor. Bart shows up and gives the debtor nations his moochy excuses, they all leave happy. As a reward Bart asks Lisa to legalize marijuana. later when Bart tells Lisa about the future he says he has his own band and a Moped, and she has some government job. 

Ceasar's Pow Wow Casino. Now Appearing: Carrot Scalp. (this is a spoof on Carrot Top) There is a neon sign of Vegas Vic but his back is full of arrows and Chief Wahoo from the Cleveland Indians pops up with a bow. Yeah, this episode isn't very PC. 

On the side of the van: Arthur Crandall and Gabbo, Was seen on TV (The W is painted in red)

The Future, Homer and Marge are eating virtual fudge / Soylent Green Now with more girls! / Rod and Todd are Gay / DC businesses next to the White House: Drive-Thru Liqours, Hustler Super Store / Maggie is a baby, but it's Maggie jr. daughter of Maggie 

Nelson's Crab Shack: Captain Bart and the Tequila Mockingbirds. They perform a version of Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville. "Wasted once more in Daquiritaville" At the White House he does a version of Day-O The Banana Boat Song by Harry Belafonte.

Bart watches BrainVision News via a ray gun. 

Lisa takes a question from Helen, this is based on Helen Thomas who covered the White House for 50 years. She died in 2013.

There is a portrait of Taft outside the Presidential Dining Room. (fat joke)

Lisa meets with the Negro League of Rollerball, she is trying to desegregate all death sports. This is a spoof on the 1975 movie Rollerball, not the horrible 2002 remake, which was two years away. It also refers to the Negro League baseball during the time of sports segregation.

Failed Predictions: Ralph dries himself with a newspaper, who still gets a newspaper? / Bart has an actual cassette playing boom box, and tries to sell tapes of his music through the mail / trump spent money on programs for children / Chastity Bono (who is now Chaz Bono)

Kerney is Lisa's secret service agent and offers to kill Bart, he says every President gets three free murders but has to use them before the end of their term. 

Camp David sign on the gate Beer Guy Turn Here with red balloon tied to it. Bill Clinton's porno stash: Girlies what ain't got no clothes on.

Bart's committee on Cool, Ralph, Otto, Nelson, Krusty. 

The scene with Bart and Billy Carter is a spoof on the bar scene from the 1977 movie The Shining.

The White House has portraits of the former Presidents, including Ted Kennedy. 

Self aware joke: When Bart asks why his vision featured a side story of Homer searching for Lincoln's gold the manager says "I guess the spirits thought the main vision was a little thin"

This episode is the favorite with the "Simpsons predict the future" crowd since there was a joke about "President trump" and leaving the country in debt. There is also a joke about Carrot Scalp appearing at the casino. Carrot Top was a regular in Vegas and since 2005 has had a "residency" performance at the MGM Grand.

Days of Wine and D'oh'ses

This episode premiered on April 9th, 2000. It ran in its usual time slot and opposite The W.W.O. Disney (Angels in the Infield), Touched By An Angel and NBA baseball.

The title of the episode comes from the 1962 movie Days Of Wine And Roses

The chalkboard gag is "I was not touched "there" by an angel" and the couch gag is a repeat of the two versions of the Simpson in the living room.

Bart and Homer are digging through the town's trash. At the closed Hawaiian restaurant Homer finds a tiki idol. Homer rigs up a gas line from the kitchen to the idol but he sets it on fire so he takes off to Moe's. Barney is disappointed that nobody remembers his birthdays they show him the video and he's embarrassed by his drunken antics. Moe gave him helicopter flying lessons because they all think he could never do it, Moe offers to get him drunk. Barney swears to sober up and learn to fly a helicopter. He lasts about one day but is desperate for a beer, so he turns to Homer for help. At an AA meeting Gil shows up just to try to sell Amway. Homer makes a joke about 12 steps and they throw him out. The Springfield Phonebook is holding a cover photo competition and the first prize is a bike. The old photo is Mr. Burns. Rainer Wolfcastle shows up horribly out of shape but he's playing a fat secret agent. Everybody at the bar is bored without Barney so they start mocking Homer instead. Lisa sets up the image of Dogs Playing Poker but Nelson sneaks in and takes a photo. Homer and Barney have a huge falling out. While taking a nature photo Bart pops out a flash bulb and starts a wildfire. As part of his 12 step program Barney comes to Moe's to apologize for everything he did in and to the bar. Bart and Lisa are trapped in the fire and the only way to rescue them is for Barney to fly the helicopter, he starts to freak out but lands in front of a Duff truck, he tries to drink a beer but Homer gets them all and gets really drunk. Barney finds the courage and flies to the rescue. A bear tries to climb up in the helicopter so Homer cuts the rope, but hangs off the skid and grabs the kids. Bart takes a photo from mid air. Bart and Lisa gets their photo on the cover but it's a baby photo of them on the toilet. The kids win a new bike and Barney and Homer make up, Barney becomes a coffee addict so Moe sets up a coffee kiosk. 

The chalkboard gag is a reference to the show Touched by An Angel which had been running opposite The Simpsons since 1996.

Comic Book Guy is throwing out She-Hulk vs Leon Spinks. Sounds like a modern MCU show. All the nerds show up to grab them but he chases them off like raccoons. One says Shazbot, the Mork from Ork curse word.

Bob's Big Poi (a spoof on Bob's Big Boy)

When Homer finds the tiki he says "get out of my dreams and get into my car", this is a take on the song of the same name by Billy Ocean.

The people at AA: Gil / Susan (Scenes From A Class Struggle In Springfield) / Kent Brockman / Kirk / Lindsey Naegle / Bernice Hibbert

In the episode Round Springfield Barney trades in an AA 5 minute chip for a Pabst beer.

AA chalkboard: Things to do with your hands at a party

Best line in the episode, when Homer asks about the sugar cookies they point to the table, he says "aww, I don't want to walk that far, anything that takes 12 steps isn't worth doing" They throw him out.

The Springfield phone book competition address: Springfield Bell / Springfield, USA / P.O. Box 2153-1264 / Room RR-312-BB5 / Attn: Photo Submissions Supervisor

Stuff in the Simpson's closet: Hat from Mexico (Kamp Krusty) / Mr Plow jacket (Mr. Plow) / Skis (Little Big Mom) / Computer / Fire truck (Miracle On Evergreen Terrace) / Old radio (Wild Barts Can't Be Broken) / Panda Bear / Boxing Gloves (The Homer They Fall) / Pig / Pinwheel (Homer To The Max) / Cowboy Boots (Colonel Homer) / Golden Globe award (The Front) / Harley Davidson Motorcycle (Take My Wife Sleaze) / Hockey Stick (Lisa On Ice) / Bird cage / Hat and Bell (Lisa The Iconoclast) / Alarm Clock (Cartridge Family) / Spiffy cleaner (Saturday's Of Thunder) / Tennis racket / Guitar (The Otto Show) / oversized baseball (Dancin' Homer) / Johnny Reb bottle (Homer's Phobia) / Mr Sparkle box (In Marge We Trust) / menorah / safe / football helmet (Bart Star) / Space helmet (Deep Space Homer) 

Marge is reading Meddling Today magazine. 

Homer asks Apu if he has any of the chips that give you diarrhea because he need to do "a little spring cleaning" This is a reference to Wow chips that came out in 1998 and caused anal leakage. 

Artie Pie is seen talking to the helicopter pilot but doesn't say anything.  

From the top of Mt. Springfield Lisa and Bart can see everything, the Squidport (My Sister, My Sitter) and the monorail (Marge vs. The Monorail). 

Burt Renyolds is shooting a movie in Springfield, Fireball and Mudflap. When interviewed by Kent Brockman he calls the film crap.

Kill The Alligator And Run

This episode premiered on April 30th, 2000. It ran in its usual time slot and opposite the ABC Big Picture Show (Arabian Nights), Touched By An Angel and Twenty-One

The title comes from the song Take The Money And Run by The Steve Miller Band

The chalkboard gag is "I am not here on a partial scholarship" and the couch gag is the family has to do a barefoot fire walk to get to the couch.

Bart charges Homer $3 to deliver the mail but Homer pays him with Montana Militia money "It'll be real soon enough" Homer gets a copy of Self Test magazine and goes around asking people the questions. He rates Ned a Frigid Frida when he give him the sex test. Homer takes the How Long Will You Live questionnaire and finds out he'll die when he's 42. He starts to see TV characters saying they are going to kill him. An inspector shows up and is about to pass the nuclear plant when Homer shows up wearing a blanket and talking about death. Burns sends Homer to the plant psychiatrist who suggest Homer taking a trip to Florida. The problem is the family shows up during Spring Break but Homer runs off on a wild drunk party. Marge ties Homer to the bed but he escapes to the MTV broadcast. While on a swamp tour the family sees Captain Jack, the famous alligator. When Kid Rock goes to "pour a 40 for his homies" Homer shows up and starts drinking from the 40 gallon bottle. They are about to attack Homer when the sheriff shows up and saves him, he takes Homer back to the hotel. The next day Homer wakes up after sleeping all night and he feels better, however spring break is over and everyone is going home. Homer forces the family to continue to party with him however he runs over Captain Jack with a fan boat and gets arrested. The family escapes and gets into a car chases, Homer beats a train but gets hit by another train and drug down the tracks. The car falls off and they wind up lost. They get jobs at a diner in the middle of nowhere which includes staying in a trailer out back. The sheriff shows up and tows off the trailer with the family in it, they wind up in court. The family is sentenced to work on a chain gang but the governor needs staff for his party and the family gets recruited to handle it. The Simpsons try to escape at the party but Captain Jack shows up and they are set free. 

Robert Evans, Charley Rose, Kid Rock and Joe C. do their own voices. Diedrich Bader does the voice of The Sheriff.

Homer gets a copy of Self Test Monthly. Are you a good Driver? / Are you a good lover? / How smart are you? / Do you have ESP?

The Royal Fart Inn, college students change the name to The Royal Frat Inn. 

The MTV VeeJay's palm crystal changing color and being drug off is based on the 1975 movie Logan's Run.

Homer calls for The Rappin' Granny, aka Vivian Smallwood

Homer sings We Built This City by Starship. Louie Louie by the Kingsman also plays. Kid Rock's Bawitdaba plays over the closing credits.

The road gang scene is a spoof on Cool Hand Luke.

The ice sculpture at the Governor's Party is in the shape of an electric chair. 

I've reached episode 245. This was the era of hit and misses And onward I trudge.

 The Simpsons 236-240

Little Big Mom

This episode premiered on January 9th, 2000. The lead in show was King Of The Hill and it was followed by the pilot episode of Malcolm In The Middle. It ran opposite The W.W.O. Disney (George Of The Jungle), Touched By An Angel and Twenty-One (a reboot of the classic game show)

The title of the episode is based on the 1970 film Little Big Man

The chalkboard gag is "I will not create art from dung" and the couch gag is the family are all test dummies and when they sit on the couch it shoots forward and slams into the TV. Homer's head falls off.

While the family is watching the TV Marge sneaks out a box of old stuff to the Goodwill truck. She seals the family in the house but they manage to escape through the dog door. Homer jumps in the truck and retrieve the junk. Marge points out that Homer bought skis after the Winter Olympics but never went skiing once, so they go to Mt. Embolism. Marge doesn't want to ski so she hangs out at the lodge, Disco Stu hits on her until the kids show up. A clock fall off the wall and lands on Marge's leg and she winds up with a compound fracture and is stuck at the hospital. Lisa volunteers to run the house while Marge is out of commission, she creates a chore hat but Homer doesn't like any of the choices. Homer floods the house to play Marco Polo. Lisa gets frustrated, she has a vision that she's being visited by Lucy (Ball), Lisa comes up with a plan to make Homer and Bart think they have leprosy. Lisa tells Homer and Bart that the only cure is to clean the house except they go to Ned's instead, he sends them to Hawaii. Marge shows up and is happy the house is clean but is upset when she finds out they went to Molokai. Marge and Lisa travel to the island and Lisa confesses what she did, Homer and Bart say they know but they are on a great vacation, outside of the needles treatment. A Hawaiian version of the closing credits plays. 

The chalkboard gag is a joke about The Holy Virgin Mary painting by Chris Ofili. Instead of paint he used elephant droppings. It caused shock and outrage through the Christian community and even led to a lawsuit involving the then mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani. (The city lost the suit)

The Itchy And Scratchy Show The Tears Of A Clone. Scratchy is dead, with multiple knives, swords and axes coming out of him, and the characters are at his funeral. Itchy sees a story about cloning and gets an idea. He builds a cloning machine and kills the various reincarnations of Scratchy as they emerge on the conveyor belt. However they come to fast so he gets another idea and builds a shredder, they are killed as fast as they are created. Poochie the dog makes an appearance despite the guarantee from Krusty that he'd never be seen again. There hadn't been an Itchy And Scratchy cartoon on the series since The Treehouse Of Horror IX in 1998. There was a Butterfingers commercial in 1999. The conveyer belt speed is a spoof on the classic I Love Lucy episode Job Switching.

In 1997 the University of Edinburg successfully cloned Dolly The Sheep. 

Ski runs: the Widowmaker / Spinebuster / Colostomizer / Decapatator 

This episode features the "Stupid Sexy Flanders" gif.

Homer goes to the store and brings back Maple Soda, a toy cell phone full of candy, Astronaut Bread and Aerosmith cereal Sweet Emotions.

Twisted Joke: Homer and Bart are watching I Love Lucy: Ricky "Lucy!" (wack sound) Lucy "Waaaa!" Fred "You hit her pretty hard there Rick". 

Molokai Leper Colony Welcome Leprous Knights Of Columbus.

Although there is still a small population of people who live in Kalaupapa Hawaii the Molokai Leper Colony closed in 1969. 

Homer comments that while they are in Hawaii they can watch Gay guys get married. In 1993 the Hawaii Supreme Court legalized Gay marriage.

In the episode Mr. Plow the family watches The Carnival Of The Stars from Molokai island in Hawaii

This episode is one that goes off the tracks, it starts off with Marge cleaning the house, then jumps to the family skiing, then Marge in the hospital, then the house turning into a mess, Lisa tricking Bart and Homer into thinking they have leprosy in hopes they clean up but instead they wind up in Hawaii. It's all over the place story-wise. This will become common in future episodes, unfortunately. 

This was the first episode of the 21st century. Only 24 years to go, maybe.

Faith Off

This episode premiered on January 16th 2000. It ran in its usual time slot and opposite The W.W.O. Disney (The Loretta Claiborne Story), City Of Angels and Twenty-One.

The chalkboard gag is "I will stop phoning it in" and the couch gag is the family runs into the living room where a Sigmund Freud character is sitting in a chair, Homer lays down on the couch and says "Oh doctor, I'm crazy"

Homer gets invited to Springfield University homecoming. He runs into the nerds that helped him pass the class he had to take on nuclear science. The big game with Springfield A&M all depends on the placekicker Anton Lubchenko (this will become an important fact later in the episode). The alumni find out that the homecoming party was a scam to get funds for the football game. Homer decides to get revenge on the dean by putting a bucket of glue over his head, however when he opens the door he finds that the Kappa Gamma Tau fraternity already placed a bucket there and now it's stuck to Homer's head. While driving with the bucket stuck on his head they crash into Brother Faith's Revival. The reverend is a faith healer and cures Cletus and Krusty. Homer goes up but Faith can't get it off so he calls up Bart. He manages to pull of the bucket. With Faith's encouragement Bart becomes a faith healer, he cures Ralph by knocking loose the change he had jammed up his nose. Homer can't figure out what do for his homecoming float, Lisa suggest something about academia, Homer shows her a drawing of Superman fighting Godzilla. Bart gets bored in church and suggest that they liven things up with music and dancing. The kids steal a fumigation tent for Bart's revival. Homer steals all of Ned's flowers for his float, he also salted the flowerbeds so nothing else will grow. Lovejoy loses all his parishioners to Bart's show so he decides to fight back by playing Michael Row The Boat Ashore but he keeps messing up the cords. Bart "cures" Milhouse's vision but he walks into an oncoming truck. At the hospital Milhouse wants Bart to cure him again but it doesn't work so he gives up the faith healing. Homer gets drunk and rushes to get his homecoming float to the game. The team comes back after the half time but Homer drives on to the field with his salute to Fraternity Hazing. He runs into the punter, I told you it would come back. Fat Tony threatens Homer because he bet heavily on the kicker, Homer asks Bart to cure him. Bart tries is best to cure the kicker and he returns to the game. The kicker almost misses but then his detached leg hits the ball knocking it over the post and Springfield U wins. Drunk college kids run off with the leg but Hibbert says he'll get it back in the morning and sew it on. And that's where the episode ends.

Don Cheadle does the voice of Brother Faith.

Homer remembers his affair with Ali McGraw, however it's the plot of the 1970 movie Love Story.

Homer went to college in the episode Homer Goes To College, surprise there.

There is a poster for Space Mutants 5 hanging in the college dorm.

When Dr. Hibbert shows the victims of comedy pranks they include a guy who drinks water and it all comes pouring out of his bullet holes, a guy on a treadmill with a dog biting his butt and a guy with a swordfish though him. The last one is a spoof on the Jerry Lewis 1969 movie Hook, Line and Sinker.

First Church Of Springfield sign Today's Topic: Life In Hell (This is a reference to the comic strip Matt Groening started his career with)

Larry and Carl went to Springfield A&M. Homer calls it a Cow College, since it was founded by a cow.

The Mansion Family

This episode premiered on January 23rd, 2000. The lead in was the NFC Championship (St. Louis 11-Tampa Bay 6) and was followed by Malcolm In The Middle. It ran opposite The W.W.O. Disney (First Kid), Touched By An Angel and The Golden Globe Awards.

The name comes from the notorious Manson Family (dark humor there)

The chalkboard gag is "Class clown is not a paid position" and the couch gag is a repeat of the family reversed in age.

Kent Brockman and Brittany Spears are hosting the Springfield Pride Awards. Everyone gets an award except Homer. Cornelius Chapman wins the award for the oldest resident of Springfield, Spears kisses him and he drops dead. They ask for people to stand up based on their age, Homer pretends to be old but Marge makes him sit down. Burns turns out to be the newest oldest person and is given the award. Homer steals the award decoration from the set. Burns decided that since he's the oldest person he needs to go to the MAYO clinic for a check up, he has Homer watch his house even though Homer has a track record of screwing up, Burns figures Homer is due for getting something right for once. Bart finds Burns' safe but all that is inside is a Beefeater from the Tower of London. Lisa explores the library and finds the controversial Nancy Drew: The Clue In The Clock "So many swears". Since Burns is coming back the next day Homer decides to throw a party but Moe can't sell him any beer until after 2 PM. Moe suggests sailing out 12 miles into international waters so Homer steals Burns' yacht. Burns finds out that he's got every disease on the chart and some new ones, but they are all cancelling each other out, Burns thinks it makes him indestructible. The Coast Guard tells the yacht to come closer so they can party, Bart knows they just want to arrest everyone. Pirates see the party and raid the yacht. Homer tries to fight the pirates but just ends up hurting himself. The guests are forced into a net and Homer is happy that they float, except for the people on the bottom. Burns isn't upset that the pirates took his yacht but is angry that Furious George, his monkey, is cut up (after a monkey knife fight) and wants Smithers to donate skin grafts. Homer ends up crying about not being rich and complains that the people in the closing credits are all rich, he threatens to turn them in to the IRS and then shouts Save me Jeebus!"

Brittany Spears does her own voice. Her handlers were a pain to the recording staff including insisting on changing several lines. 

Springfield Pride Awards. Please, No Rioting. This is another "Simpsons Predicted It" thing, in August 2000 a riot would break out at the Source Hip Hop Awards causing the audience to flee the show and the police shutting it down. The event was banned from Pasadena. 

Cornelius Chapman's accomplishments, built first log cabin, introduced the tooth brush, only player on the basketeball team, helped people jump out the window on Black Tuesday, took a bullet for Huey Long, after Long was shot four times. Huey Long was the governor of Louisiana and was assassinated on Sept. 10th, 1935. There is a continuity error since multiple episodes featured Jebediah Springfield's log cabin built long before Chapman was alive. 

Homer complains about not winning any awards so Lisa reminds him he won a Grammy (in the episode Homer's Barbershop Quartet). He says he hasn't won any awards that matter. There is a quick disclaimer across the bottom of the screen "LEGAL DISCLAIMER: Mr. Simpsons opinions do not reflect those of the producers, who do not consider the Grammy an award at all". 

Artwork in the mansion: Burns in Dogs Playing Poker. Nude Burns from the episode Brush With Greatness. Burns in still life by Cezanne

MAYO clinic. Got Tumor? A spoof on the Got Milk? campaign. Bart and Lisa appeared in a print Got Milk? ad in 1996.

Best line of the episode: Burns is filling out a medical report and when it asks Cause of Parents Death? He writes "Got in my way". 

Marge mispronounces several comedians names, Bill Crosby and David Letterson. 

Tyson vs. Secretariat In International Waters "Slaughter In The Water"

Burns' yacht is called Gone Fission. In the episode The Old Man And The C Student, Burns is on another yacht Gone Fission II

Homer's party guests. Bart, Moe, Lenny, Carl, Barney, Apu, Krusty, Sideshow Mel, Wiggum, and the rest.

Boats beyond the 12 mile limit, bikini girls party, Old West shootout, bullfighting, rebroadcasting MLB with implied oral consent, guy marrying a cow.

Marge cleans a lab room and finds a row of Burns clones, and one of Smithers. 

The Coast Guard sailor sings a version of China Grove by The Doobie Brothers.

Saddlesore Galactica

This episode premiered on February 6th 2000. The lead in show was King Of The Hill and it was followed by Malcolm In The Middle. It ran opposite The NFL Pro Bowl (NFC 51 - AFC 31), Touched By An Angel and The NBC Sunday Night Movie (Face/Off)

The title is a spoof on the show Battlestar Galactica. (The original 1978 series since the new one wouldn't premier until 2004)

The chalkboard gag is "Substitute teachers are not scabs" and the couch gag is the family rushes into the living room in Karate robes and hand chop up the couch while Homer grabs the remote and turns on the TV.

The school band is accepted in to the State Fair competition, Lisa complains about playing Sousa songs. Everyone has suggestions but they all come from the 1800's. BTO is performing at the bandstand, Homer insists that they don't play any new crap but Takin' Care Of Business. Then they play You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet. The school band plays Living In America. The Ogdinville band shows up and plays Stars and Stripes complete with glow sticks and wins the competition. Lisa is mad because glow sticks aren't allowed. A show at the fair is Duncan The Incredible Diving Horse, which is basically forced off the platform into a bucket of water. Wiggum shows up and demands a permit for animal cruelty, the horse owner goes to his car "to get it" and takes off. The police plan to ship the horse off to the dog food factory but Bart wants to take him home. Comic Book Guy reminds them that they already did a horse story in the episode Lisa's Pony. Homer teaches Duncan to punt a ball but Bart suggests they turn him into a race horse instead. Lisa plans on writing a letter to President Clinton to complain about the band contest. Homer shows up at the track with the number 5 painted on the horse and Bart in his Krusty PJs as the jockey. Duncan doesn't start running until the race is over. Lisa calls the White House to complain. To toughen up Duncan they change his name to Furious D, give him a hat and leather coat, rainbow tail, skull and bones tattoo and a nose ring. The horse rams all the other riders and then attacks a photographer. (This would be a disqualification in a real race). Duncan starts winning but becomes a jerk in the process. A jockey asks Homer to join him in the lounge but finds out that they are really trolls. A Willie Wonka song  breaks out and the jockeys threaten Homer unless Duncan loses the next race. Duncan attacks the other jockeys and wins the race. The jockeys try to shoot Homer with a cannon and then chase him down the street with swords. When they get to the house Marge sprays them with a hose and Homer stuffs them into a trash bag. Clinton shows up to tell Lisa that he overturned the results of the State Fair band contest. 

Randy Bachman and C.F Turner, of BTO do their own voices. Horse racing announcer Trevor Denman does his voice too.

State Fair. Veterans Admitted Free. The joke here is Homer claims to be a Vietnam Veteran to get in free. He claims he fought at La Choy and Chun King. These were brands of prepackaged Chinese food in the 70's. He claims he was also at Margaret Cho, a famous comedian. 

When Homer is teaching Duncan to punt footballs he wears his Tom Landry hat from the episode You Only Move Twice. It's also a spoof on the Disney movie Gus The Field Goal Kicking Mule and all the Air Bud films. 

Marge buys a fire extinguisher endorsed by Linda Carter (Wonder Woman) and George Forman (boxer and entrepreneur)

When training Duncan Homer mentions the 1998 movie The Horse Whisperer.

Springfield Downs Now With E-Z Tear-Up Tickets

Moe meets a beautiful woman but his heart starts beating out of his chest in the Tex Avery style so he rushes to the hospital.

Horses in the race: Chock Full o' Drugs / (followed closely by) Stalker / Old Levis (fading fast) 

Marge can't decide which horse to bet on so they send her to the Wuss Bets line. Continuity Error, Marge was a gambling addict in the episode $pringfield. When Lisa says Marge might be developing a gambling problem Comic Book Guy says "I'm watching you!". He's wearing a Worst Episode Ever t shirt.

The show makes a joke that Clinton is a lousy President. If only they really could predict the future and see Bush jr and Trump. IOW, this joke isn't funny in the modern world. It wasn't that funny then.

This episode got really strange with the jockey trolls and the bit about Lisa's constant complaining over the band contest was really annoying. The whole Duncan winning the race after bullying the other horses is one of those "suspension of disbelief" that is hard to get past. This is an episode I'd normally skip. 

Alone Again Natura-Diddley

This episode premiered on February 13th, 2000. It ran in its usual time slot and opposite The W.W.O. Disney (101 Dalmatians), Touched By An Angel and the NBA All Star Game (West 137 - East 126)

The title comes from the Gilbert O'Sullivan song Alone Again (Naturally)

The chalkboard gag is "My suspension was not Mutual" and the couch gag is the family comes into the living room in bumper cars, they all team up on Homer bashing him into the wall.

The Simpsons go on a nature hike, Lisa complains about people taking out what they bring in. They hear what they think is bees but discover that a race track has been built around the bird sanctuary. Clay Babcock almost crashes into the family, Bart asks if he can go for a ride along, despite standing next to the flaming wreckage of his A car Marge agrees to let Bart go in the B car. Babcock gives the family tickets to the race, Lisa complains that she wanted to go hiking. Homer drives the family car into the pit to get new tires and causes a crash. The Fan-demonium girls show up and offer free t shirts from their t shirt cannon. Homer calls for a shirt from way up at the top of the stadium while Maude Flanders goes for hot dogs. The cheerleaders aim at Homer but he ducks and Maude gets knocked over the wall, which kills her. Homer promises to not be a jerk at the funeral. Lovejoy's sermon is about how Maude was mostly a background character and then he does a recap about Apu's eight children and the Van Houten's divorce. Fan-Demonium does a 21 t shirt gun salute and the coffin is covered in logos from racing sponsors. Homer gets a t shirt at the funeral. Ned can't sleep so he comes over to talk to Homer, he decides to put Ned on a dating site, the end of the video is Marge giving birth to Maggie. Ned decides to send the tape in, Homer is hiding in the mail box but can't get out. When they go to the dating service to see the response videos Comic Book Guy is cleaning out the One Nighter bin. When Ned is complaining that women don't like him Homer says "those floozies we married in Vegas were crazy about you" but he never told Marge about it so he has to change the subject back to Ned. Ned decides to give up religion, his kids are shocked, five minutes later he rushes to church, he's shocked to hear a rock band playing. Ned falls for the lead singer. He helps Rachel load up her van. The end. Yes, this episode will eventually lead to a future episode. A song about the death of Maude plays during the credits.

Shawn Colvin does the voice of Rachel Jordan.

A quick note on the chalkboard gag, Bart actually finishes writing out the last word when the bell rings. Was this also a joke about the firing of Maggie Roswell?

Springfield Nature Reserve / Outdoor Sex By Permit Only

When Homer thinks they might get attacked by bees he pulls out his repellant Bee-Gone African Strength. 

When Lisa complains about people carving their names in the tree "Written by Ian Maxtone-Graham pops up on the screen.

Clay Babcock is sponsored by Duff and Kwik-E-Mart. He drive the #42 car. Race sponsors KBBL radio / Duff Beer / Krusty Burger / Buzz Cola / Laramie Cigarettes / Kwik-E-Mart

At the cemetery are the gravestones of Bleeding Gums Murphy and Dr. Marvin Monroe, the other two regulars that died during the series, although we don't know what happened to Monroe. Beatrice Simmons headstone is there too, along with the inscription (Grandpa's Girlfriend) in case you forgot who she was. (she was in the episode Old Money). Frank "Grimey" Grimes headstone is there too but it's cracked and dilapidated, his grave is overgrown with weeds (Homer's Enemy).

Racing sponsors on Maude's coffin: SPT /AC DEECEE / Quakker State / Tirestone / Duff / Gudwrench / Laramie Cup / Swapon / Penzoil and something else I didn't see.

Rod and Todd's video game is Billy Graham's Bible Blaster. 

Lisa uses My 1st Video Editor to make the dating tape of Flanders. Dated reference, all the videos are shot on VHS tapes. 

Ned's ATM code is 5316

Ned plays Scrabble by himself. The words on the board are Alone / Solitary / Flandswered / Forever / Horny.

Video Matchmaking. Yes, we have desperate immigrants. 

Videos from the dating site Lindsey Nagel / Edna Krabappal (she has Skinner on the phone) / Diane (a slightly crazy woman)

Krabappal serves Chateau Maison wine at her dinner date with Ned, this was the place Bart went to as an exchange student in the episode The Crepes of Wrath. 

The band Kovenant plays at the church. There is an actual band with that name but they play industrial metal not Jesus Pop.

Rachel's bumper sticker: If this van's a-swayin, I'm in here a-prayin'

Maggie Roswell who did the voice of Maude wanted a pay raise equivalent to the rest of the cast since she had moved to Denver and had to fly in to L.A. to do the various voices for the show. The producers refused so she quit, or was fired based on who you are listening to. Since she was the voice of Maude they decided to kill off the character. It was an odd way to handle things but did create the opportunity for future story lines featuring Ned.

We've reached episode 240, and I have ventured into the dark years of The Simpsons. Troll jockeys, a character being killed off, jokes about leprosy. The show was all over the place and seemed to have lost touch with its roots. Fans were beginning to say that perhaps the show should wrap it up while it was still popular. However, it's still going 24 years later. And I, I venture further into the episodes I may have never seen before, or at least didn't pay attention to when they were on in reruns. Wish me luck on my journey into the unknown.