The Simpsons 286-290

Gump Roast

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

The title comes from the 1994 movie Forrest Gump.

The couch gag is a repeat of the slot machine.

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

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

I Am Furious (Yellow)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The internet company is BetterThanTV.com

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

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

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

Homer takes Churchill Downers Horse Tranquilizers. 

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

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

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

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

The Sweetest Apu

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

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

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

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

James Lipton does his own voice

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

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

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

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

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

Springfield Bachelor Apts. Our Beds Are The Murphiest.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Little Girl In The Big Ten

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

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

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

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

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

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

The gym coach's name is Brunella.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Frying Game

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pamphlet: Screamapillar Care Tips.

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

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

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

Gil is the Simpson's lawyer. 

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

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

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

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

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

Fox shows Frame Up / No Pants Island / Fart Date

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

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

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