The Simpsons 341-345

Midnight Rx

This episode premiered on January 16th 2005. The lead in show was Malcolm In The Middle and it was followed by Arrested Development. It ran opposite Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, 60 Minutes and The 62nd Annual Golden Globe Awards.

The title is based on the 1988 movie Midnight Run

The couch gag is the family rushes in and sits down, there is a pause and Lisa says "What, can't we sit on the couch without something happening?", just then Homer is hit with a spear and said "D'oh!"

Mr Burns plans an employee day at the museum, Lisa complains. After everyone has a great time Burns announces that he's terminating the employee prescription drug plan. Burns and Smithers escape in a Sky Car, an early attempt at a helicopter. When Channel 6 cancels their health plan Krusty asks the kids to go to their parents medicine cabinet and send him Lithium Dibromide. Wiggum gives Ralph pills from the evidence locker. Dr. Hibbert appears on TV wearing logos from Allegra, Celebrex and Prilosec. Lisa and Marge go to the pharmaceutical company to complain, however the company just shows them a video. The nursing home cuts off the seniors from their prescriptions so Abe decides to fight back by going to Canada, Homer has dressed in a poncho and sombrero because he thought they were going to Mexico. Homer and Abe trade a DVD player for Canadian prescription cards. Everyone at the nursing home celebrates Abe and the family has a Hawaiian party for Homer. At the Kwik-E-Mart Apu calls Homer his favorite customer, he wants to go on a run, and Flanders asks Homer to smuggle some insulin for Rod. Homer gets mad when Ned tries to convert Apu while driving to Canada. Ned meets a Canadian that talks the same language but when the guy offers Ned a joint he says he was warned about the Satan of the north. On the drive home Ned gives Apu hot coffee, he burns his tongue and starts making Middle Eastern sounds, Ned raps a wet towel around his head to cool him off just as they reach the border checkpoint. The Mounties stop the car and Homer's pills spill out. The Canadians have a French translator to tell Homer that he has to leave the country and never return. Everyone is now mad at Homer and Abe for not being able to get more drugs. Smithers thyroid swells because he can't afford the pills. While imagining getting captured by King Kong Homer comes up with the idea to go to Canada by air. Burns shows up and offers to fly them in the Plywood Pelican. The plane is overloaded and going to crash so Burns bails out, Homer manages to make an emergency landing in Springfield. Abe gets arrested but everyone shows up to save him so Wiggum lets him go. Burns rushes home with the thyroid medicine but has to give Smithers mouth-to-mouth to revive him "wink wink". Burns revives the health plan but makes Homer a freelance consultant with no benefits, just then Homer finds a lump on his neck.

Springfield Air And Space Museum. Welcome Springfield Nuclear Plant Employees!

Exhibits: The Spirit of Shelbyville / a History Of The History Of Flight Museum video / Enola Gay plane / Agnes Skinner as a wing walker / The Plywood Pelican built and flown by Burn (based on the Spruce Goose) In the episode $pringfield Burns builds a model of the Spruce Moose

The invitation reads "Employee Outing Featuring Nasty Surprise."

When the family has to cut back Homer suggests getting a second job playing Rachel's Irish Cousin on Friends. Lisa points out that the show went off the air the year before. 

Springfield Employment Agency: When You Need To Show The State You Tried

The museum car Burns uses to try to escape is based on the 1915 "Sky Car", an early attempt at a helicopter.

Lithium Dibromide isn't a real medicine.

When Dr. Hibbert is promoting pharmaceutical corporations Sir Mixalot's song Big Butts plays. 

Pharm-er John's Pharmaceuticals (a spoof on Farmer John's, the maker of Dodger Dogs)

The Pharmaceutical company's video features I Want A New Drug by Huey Lewis and the News.

Welcome to Canada: Now Celine Dion-Free. Veterans Of One War

Dudley Do-Drugs Pharmacy Pharmacie (Based on the Dudley Do-Right cartoons)

White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane plays during the scene where Homer and Abe load up on Canadian prescription drugs. 

The Jacquitos show up to thank Abe for getting drugs and make him a member of the gang, they give him an Operation Dumbo Drop jacket.. The gang first appeared in the episode The Old Man And The Key. Operation Dumbo Drop was a 1995 film. 

Now Entering Winnipeg: We Were Born Here, What's Your Excuse?

Canadian News and Lost Mitten Update. The news refers to Homer as "Former Astronaut Simpson". This is from the episode Homer In Space.

Burns has Smithers in a glass coffin in a tower, this is a spoof on Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. 

This episode was based on the problem of the increasing cost of drugs in America and people going to Canada to get the same drugs at a much lower cost. The Bush administration's response to the problem was to create new Passport laws to cross the border. 

Mommie Beerest

This episode premiered on January 30th 2005. It ran in its usual time slot and opposite Extreme Makeover, Cold Case and American Dreams

The title of this episode comes from the book and movie Mommy Dearest.

The couch gag is the living room is a desert and the family is in rags. When the sit on the couch it turns out to be made of sand and collapses.

The family goes to Sunday Bruch to celebrate the paying off of their mortgage. Homer overeats on seafood (a repeat from the episode New Kid On The Block). Bart shoots a hot dog at Lisa and mocks her for eating meat, so she shoots a strawberry back and mocks him for eating fruit. They get into a food fight and Marge yells at them. Homer tells them off for embarrassing him so he goes to Moe. The health inspector shows up and threatens to shut the place down but he turns out to be Moe's old friend. The inspector eats a pickled egg and drops dead, just then Wiggum walks in but he flees the scene. A new health inspector shows up and shuts the place down. Barney sing Danny Boy in memory of the bar. Homer borrows money against the house to pay for Moe's bar, Homer imagines Moe disguised as Moe telling him to go through with it. When Marge finds out that Homer borrowed the money she insist on going to Moe's and run the place. Homer rushes to the bar only to find that Marge is running the bar, she orders Homer to go home and take care of the kids. Marge plans to turn Moe's into a British Pub. Moe's new pub is called The Nag And Weasel and has a Marge horse and Moe weasel on the sign. Moe thanks Marge for all her help but Homer starts to suspect that they are doing more than just running a bar. Homer and Marge go to the movies and Moe shows up, Homer starts to worry even more when Moe knows what's going on in his life. Lenny and Carl explain to Homer that Marge and Moe are having an intellectual affair, no physical intimacy but a mental connection (now known as a Work Marriage). Homer tries to connect with Marge but she's too tired, and her and Moe are going to a Tavern Owner's convention in Aruba. After she leaves Homer plans a last minute airport dash to save his marriage. Moe arranged for them to only have one room at Aruba. When Moe goes to watch the in-flight entertainment he sees Homer on the radar approaching the plane. Homer gets pulled over by the police for speeding, when Wiggum finds out what's going on he gives Homer a police escort to the plane. Homer chase down the plane on the mobile stairs. Moe sees Homer and confesses his love of Marge but Homer shows up after climbing through the toilet and confronts Moe. Homer plans on leaving and opens the emergency exit and almost gets sucked out, however Marge rejects Moe for Homer. When Marge finds out about the sleeping arrangements she makes Moe and Homer share the bed while she sleeps on the couch. Meanwhile the kids (unsupervised) enter a hot air balloon race in Paris. During the closing credits Marge and Homer sing Love With Keep Us Together while dressed like Captain and Tennille, Moe turns up the volume on the baseball game on the TV.

Deluxe Sunday Brunch, It's Breakfast With Booze!

The regulars who show up for the Moe's Tavern memorial: Jasper / Nelson / Larry / Sam / Homer / Barney / Moe / Lenny / Carl / Duffman / Surly / The Leprechaun / Dr. Nick / Kirk 

The bar across the street from Moe's The League Of Extra-Horny Gentlemen (a Gay bar) The title is based on the comic book series and the 2003 movie The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

First Bank Of Springfield: Vault Holds Less Than $20

The frames Springfield Shopper headline on the bar wall "Triple Murder At Moe's"

At the grand opening of the new pub "God Save The King" plays. 

Richard Blackwell makes an appearance at Moe's pub. He first appeared in the episode I Am Furious (Yellow)

When Homer finds himself alone in bed he plays Greensleeves on the trombone.

Springfield Googolplex movies: 3 Fast 3 Furious / Breast Camp / Dude, Where's My Prostate? / Michael Eisner vs. Michael Ovitz / Kill Bill Maher / Explosion 2 / Baby Cops 3: Tired and Cranky / Disney's "Stroller Rental: The Movie / Cards 

Itchy And Scratchy Land: Built By Imagination and Non-Union Labors. The park first appeared in the episode Itchy And Scratchy Land. On the Splash Mountain ride Ralph is hanging by his underwear from a Scratchy figure. 

Lenny has a Life magazine from the month he was born, the headline reads Bloodbath In Laos. 

Homer imagines the cuckoo clock bird with Moe's face saying Cuckold, Homer has no idea what that means as did most people before internet porn taught us all.

Regulars going to the convention, Luigi, Krusty, The Asian restaurant manager, Sea Captain. 

Homer's card: Homer Simpson Plus Size Butt Model

This episode was dedicated to the memory of Johnny Carson who had passed away on January 23rd and had appeared in the episode Krusty Gets Kancelled

Homer And Ned's Hail Mary Pass

This episode premiered on February 6th 2005. The lead in show was the Super Bowl Post Game Show. It ran opposite Desperate Housewives, Without A Trace and Law And Order Criminal Intent.

The title is based upon the 1997 movie Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion and the expression Hail Mary Pass from football.

The couch gag is the family forms a totem poll, Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie on top. 

The family goes to Springfield Park but it's run down, trash everywhere and homeless camps, Lisa complains. Marge plans a charity carnival to save the park but the Junior League is already holding one. Homer loses the charity auction but when he goes to the Port-A-Squat he comes out with a stuffed bear. Bart wins a giant octopus at the frog flip, everyone laughs at Homer but when he knocks Bart's frog off the winning lilly pad he gets the prize and mocks Bart while the audience cheers him on. Ned videos Homer's antics and Comic Book Guy asks to load it onto his web site. People all over the world see Homer's video.  A bus "Italians Touring America" pull up to the house to laugh at Homer (Mario is in the front seat). Homer gets mad and throws trash cans at Mario until he climbs up into the treehouse and grabs a hammer, however he gets run over and spins. Deon Overstreet from the San Antonio Cow Skulls football team shows up, he also plays Stay-off-drugs-ia in a Disney Channel movie. He offers Homer a $1000 for the rights to the dance so he can do it in the end zone. Homer does another dance and smashes the sail boat painting over his head, Marge has a closet full. Ned decides to make more Christian videos with his new camera, his first video is Cain and Able. LeBron James calls Homer to help come up with a post dunk dance. Ned shows his movie at the church, everyone loves it except Marge. Burns has a plan to fund the movies to launder the money from his phony vaccine scam. Homer runs a camp for showboating and the sports figures make a mess out of dinner. Ned makes a 10 Commandments movie with bigger production. Ned's film has Jonah getting killed by the whale and Solomon actually cutting the baby in half before he cuts himself in half. Marge complains so Ned insults Harry Potter and Ashley Judd. Everyone stands up to Burns so he cancels the movie. Homer is mentioned on Jock Center where his coached players appear on their highlight reel. Homer is taken to the commissioner of football but they love him for increasing ratings and player fines, they ask him to produce the Super Bowl Halftime Show, he has no ideas so he goes to church for inspiration. He runs into Ned and they come up with a plan to put on a Biblical half-time show. Homer's half time show is about the Great Flood. Everyone boos the show and the nation is angry at religion being shoved down their throat. 

Tom Brady, LeBron James, Michelle Kwan, Yao Ming and Warren Sapp do their own voices in this episode.

Comic Book Guy's real name is Jeff Albertson. He has been a regular on the show since the episode Three Men And A Comic Book in 1991.

Dated reference, Neds camera uses VHS cassettes. 

CBG's website is Dorks-Gone-Wild dot Com "Best Website Ever" the videos on the site: Boxer Shot By Wife / Lute Fruit (Martin) / Beauty Pageant Diarrhea / Big-Ass Baryshnikov (Homer)

Homer's pyramid of success Obnoxiousness / Poor Sportsmanship / Showboating / Mooning / The Bird / In Your Face. He adds Crotch Grabbing as the sun. 

Jammitin, Erectile Disfunction pills. 

Ned has a script for Citizen Kane on his bookshelf. 

Springfield Stadium, Tonight: Football / Tomorrow: Simon Vs. Garfunkel 

Deon meets Timmy Thomas who has Timmy Thomas disease. 

Homer's client list: Tom Brady Mon. 1PM / Deion Overstreet Tues. 3 PM / Yao Ming Wed. 11 AM / Warren Sapp Thursday 2 PM / Michelle Kwan Fri 1 PM / Lenny Wed. Noon.

Ned's movie is The Passion Of Cain And Able, a spoof on the 2004 movie The Passion Of The Christ.

Springfield Shopper headline in Ned's movie: Massachusetts Okays Gay Marriage. / Stem Cells Cure Alzheimers

Bart reads The Bible For Wise-Asses. Based on the For Dummies series. The image on the cover looks like Dennis the Menace. 

Homer Simpson Showboating Academy 

Ned Fanders' "Tales Of the Old Testament" Running Time 800 Minutes. aka 13 hours.  Burns' Celluloid Whimsies

Self Aware Joke, Homer says he's the worst thing to happen to sports since Fox. 

The Yee Haw Texan plans to take his profits from fining rowdy players and make a musical about the J. Giles Band 

At Super Bowl XVI, 1982, Pac Man and Ms. Pac Man are married by Robert Schuller. Lets Get Physical by Olivia Neuton John plays. Up With People was the real half time entertainment that year. Paul McCartney performed at the Super Bowl in 2005.

First Church Of Springfield. Rapture Threat Level: Orange

The halftime show is sponsored by Ford, Citibank and Moe's tavern. 

In the episode Homer teaches the players about poor sportsmanship. Tom Brady says he stands for good sportsmanship, this was 10 years before Deflategate. 

Pranksta Rap

This episode premiered on February 13th 2005. The lead in show was Malcolm In The Middle and it was followed by Arrested Development. It ran opposite Extreme Makeover, The 47th Annual Grammy Awards and Law and Order: Criminal Intent.

The title comes from the term Gangsa Rap.

The couch gag is the family is dressed up like chess pieces and has to hop across squares on the living room floor to reach the couch. Homer is the king, Marge the queen Lisa the knight, Maggie a pawn and Bart is the rook.

SLH eats the remote and changes the channel from the football game to Sunday Sitcoms, Homer panics. Lisa figures out that the dog ate the remote and changes the channel every time he barks. Homer tries to force him to puke it back out but gets stuck in the dog door, just as Selma and Patty show up. They cover him with makeup while Bart kicks him in the butt. Bart sees a commercial for a rap concert. He asks Homer for $50 to go to the show but Homer tells him to go to hell. Bart asks what if he pays for it himself and Homer says Go Nuts. Marge catches Bart heading out to the concert and forces him to wear his pants up around his armpits. Homer and Marge rap why Bart can't go to the show. Bart goes to his room and tries to write rap lyrics and decides to sneak out to the concert. The rapper drops his mic and when Bart catches it he gets into a rap battle. Bart almost gets caught but decides to fake a kidnapping. While interviewing Marge about the kidnapping Kent Brockman gets her to read a promotion for Hawaiian Getaway week on Channel 6. Bart tells Milhouse his plan and asks to hide out, so they go to Kirk's place. Wiggum gets depressed about what a poor job he does and falls asleep at his desk, he dreams that Barney Fife comes to visit him. Bart calls with demands, he tells Marge to not worry. Wiggum recognizes the sound of the Chintzy-Pop pop corn in the back of the tape, Apu tells them that Kirk is the only one cheap enough to buy it. The police bust into Kirks apartment and find Bart. Wiggum gets a parade with a float of him arresting Kirk, Milhouse has to march in the honor guard. Wiggum is promoted to commissioner, Lou is promoted to chief. Bart goes to Wiggum to confess however Wiggum wants him to keep the secret, Kirk is enjoying his time as a prisoner. Lisa discovers Bart's Murder 4 Life shirt and rats him out to Homer, however he has sold the rights to Bart's kidnapping story and tosses the shirt on the fire. Lisa goes to Skinner to try to expose Bart. Lisa goes to Alcatrazzz to see a video of the concert where they see Bart on stage. Wiggum bursts in but is outgunned by the rappers. Alcatrazz offers a solution to the problem, throw a house party. Chalmers is working for Alcatrazzz, they have him around for laughs but he needs the money for his sick wife. 

50 Cent does his own voice in this episode.

TV shows: Rueda De Fortuna / Mel Gibson's The Salad Of The Christ on Christian Carrot Theater /  Itchy / a tornado / golf / Hip-Hoppenings

Murders 4 Life concert featuring Da Glock Pointaz / Romeo Smoov / Queen Booty Shaykah / M.C. Champagne Millionaire / Assault Magazine's Man Of The Year Alcatraaaz 

Gravy Aficionado magazine: The new browns are in. 

Bart's Murder 4 Life ticket Row A Seat 7. How did he score something like that? And for only $50.

Best line of the episode "Son, your mother makes a very loud point".

Bart has a picture of Homer falling down the cliff from the episode Bart The Daredevil. 

Springfield Coliseum: Murder 4 Life Benefit. No Gang Colors (Except Red)

Milhouse plays frisbee alone in the park. In the last episode the place was a dump so I guess the fundraising was a success.

Bachelor Arms: Swimming Pool Now Corpse-Free

Kirk is now working as a scarecrow, but doesn't do a very good job. 

Springfield Shopper headlines about Wiggum: Wiggum Sleeps Through Riot / Top Cop Surrenders To Backfiring Car / Firemen Rescue Police Chief From Tree / Commission: Wiggum Sucks

At Kirk's apartment: Milhouse's room. Every Wednesday and alternate Saturday. 

Bart's Tombstone: Son, Brother, D- Student

Springfield Shopper headline: Wiggum Rescues Boy No, Really.

Wiggum makes Conspiracy 2005 jackets for Homer, Bart, Kirk and himself. 

This episode just ends with no resolution. I guess Wiggum remains police commissioner, Kirk stays in jail and Homer sells the rights to Bart's story. I really don't like the non resolution episodes. But I do like that Lisa lost in the end so that counts for something.

There's Something About Marrying

This episode premiered on February 20th 2005. The lead in show was Malcolm In The Middle and was followed by a Simpsons Repeat (Alls Fair In Oven War). It ran opposite Extreme Makeover, Cold Case and Law And Order, Criminal Intent

The title comes from the 1995 movie There's Something About Mary

The couch gag is the family skates around the living room with the Stanley Cup while the Charge theme plays. They are all missing a tooth and Homer has a black eye.

Bart sets up a Free Beer trap with a hanging melon. Barney comes along and grabs the beer as he runs by so the melon misses him. Bart complains that everyone in town is wise to his pranks and he needs a new victim, just then Howell Huser literally falls off the back of a turnip truck. Bart and Milhouse take him on a tour. He gets attacked by a swamp monster and then Milhouse tricks him with snapping gum. When he shames the town the bullies chase him and he hops on the back of another turnip truck. The guy turns out to be a traveling reporter and does a story about Springfield. A month later the town is boarded up. To save the town Lisa suggests legalizing Gay marriage. Reverend Lovejoy refuses to perform Gay Marriage, Marge objects but he drowns her out with the bell. Homer figures out he can make money off the marriages so he ditch his Death Before Gay Marriage sign and becomes an on line minister. When Homer runs out of Gay couples he suggests getting Lenny and Carl to get married. Lisa suggest straight marriages too. Cletus marries Brandine. Homer goes on Smartline along with Reverend Lovejoy. Krusty The Clown calls in to say that the Watchamacarcass sandwich uses not diseased meat from diseased animals. Patty shows up and asks Homer to perform her marriage, that's when she comes out to Marge, she's marrying Veronica, Homer mocks Marge for not figuring that one out. Veronica is a pro golfer, she met Patty when she threw her club at Krusty but hit Patty by accident. Marge starts to freak out so Patty tells her to accept her life or not show up at the wedding. Selma admits she married Disco Stu but he shows up with the annulment paperwork. Marge catches Veronica in the bathroom, the toilet seat is up and Veronica is shaving, Marge is happy because she thinks Patty is marrying a man. Marge speaks out during the marriage and tells Patty that Veronica is a man, and exposes her Adams apple. It turns out she is a guy who lied to get into the women's golf tournament. Veronica's real name is Leslie Robin Swisher. Patty can't go through with the wedding because she loves women. Patty and Selma head to the airport to leave unattended baggage. 

Bart and Milhouse play The Twist by Chubby Checker at a radioactive area, they claim it's the place they go to get active with radios.

Homer's map to the stars of Springfield: Lenny / Carl / That Dude I Hate / Red Car Guy / Hunny Tree / Scary Rock / Good Place for a Denny's / Isabella Rossellini (she was in the episode Mom and Pop Art)

The Gay Marriage ad uses the tune Jamaica Farewell.

WWW dot springfieldisforgayloversofmarriage dot com

Homer's church is the Li'l Chapel. This is based on the place in Las Vegas. 

There is a flier on a pole for jobs, $41 dollars an hour. Nobody has taken the number. I'd check it out. 

Homer's flier: Gay Weddings, Now that I've got your attention, I will perform Gay Weddings. Homer Simpsons 742 Evergreen Terrace. Knock Loud, I'm sleeping in back. 

Homer's church sign: The Church of Matri-Money. I will now marry anything to anything else--Diaper fee for chimp brides. 

Krusty's Watchamacarcass Sandwich. 

Que Sera Sera by Doris Day plays while they do a flashback of Patty's life, dressing up as a construction worker, while Marge hangs up a David Cassidy poster she hangs up Miss Jane Hathaway (The Beverly Hillbillies), Marge goes to see Sleepless In Seattle while Patty kisses a girl in front of the theater. 

In the episode Jaws Wired Shut Patty and Smithers appear in the Gay Pride parade on the float Still In The Closet. 

Self aware joke, Bart asks if Patty is on a realty show where a woman marries a fake millionaire and then has to honeymoon in a box full of snakes, Homer calls Fox to try to sell the idea to them.

Homer's wedding chapel customers: Ralph and a tiger / CBS and a cardboard cutout of Boobarella / Sea Captain and the masthead of a woman. 

This episode did a flip of the characters, in the episode Homer's Phobia he was afraid Bart might turn Gay and panics, becoming very homophobic. In this episode while Homer performs Gay marriages Marge freaks out when she finds out Patty is a Lesbian. 

I had the idea of setting up a Gay Marriage business but the minute my state declared it legal the local magistrate started marrying couples. He performed the first ceremony in New Mexico, there went my business. 

This episode would be condemned by Woke Culture. It uses the "if Gays can get married why can't anyone marry anything?" as a joke. There is the idea of a man pretending to be a woman to be better at a sport. All conservative talking points in the modern world.

Well this ends another 5 episodes. Almost halfway through, unless they keep making more episode.

The Simpsons 336-340

Treehouse Of Horror XV

This episode premiered on November 7th, 2004. The lead in show was Malcolm In The Middle and it was followed by Arrested Development. It ran opposite Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, 60 Minutes and American Dreams.

Keeping It Kodos

Kang and Kodos have their own sitcom. Their boss is coming to dinner and they are cooking the Simpsons. Homer is a roast (and eating himself), Lisa a soup, Bart is in a frying pan (and in pain) and Maggie and Marge are in pies (Marge says she thinks she's done now). After dinner the boss (based on Larry Tate from Bewitched) says he's going to burst, just as Bart busts out of his stomach (a spoof on Alien) Bart says "Cool, I'm vomit". Kodos and Kang get a hyper-galactic promotion. Bart complains he doesn't have a family now but they adopt him. The Perfect Strangers theme plays while a montage of clips from the show runs. Directed by Slarg Silverman / Written By Glekknor L. Brooks / Kodos' Wardrobe By Botany 5,000,000 / Audience Provided By Slave Colony Of Rebulon 7

We then see TreeHouse Of Horror with one of the aliens stamping it XV. This is a spoof on the Mark VII Limited logo. In the first Treehouse Of Horror the family is abducted by the aliens and Lisa thinks they are fattening up the family to cook them.

The Ned Zone

Homer tries to get a Frisbee off the roof by using a bowling ball, it rolls off and hits Ned, he wakes up in the hospital and luckily they discovered a brain tumor. When he shakes hands with Dr. Hibbert he sees the doctor falling to his death. Hibbert goes to open the window and tries to grab Homer's Frisbee off the ledge, and falls to his death. Ned saves Moleman from a power line but sees him eating by alligators, he drops Moleman in a manhole and sure enough sewer alligators eat him. He then stops in front of the theater that is showing The Rosie O'Donnell Musical and he sees the marquee being covered with a sign "Closed after 3 performances". He says he didn't need powers to predict that. Ned confesses to Homer who then insists on finding out his fate, Ned sees himself shooting Homer in the back three times. Flanders plans to move, Homer starts mocking him for for predicting his death and gives him a gun. When Ned doesn't fire he sees a new future where Homer sets off a nuclear explosion wiping out Springfield. Despite being warned Homer still plans to go to work because they are having ice cream cake for Lenny's birthday. Homer is in a soundproof booth, Ned tells him to not push the core destruct button but the microphone keeps cutting out and Homer hears Push the button! Ned then grabs the guard's gun and shoots Homer through the glass. Homer falls around several times but then hits the core destruction button with his tongue. In Heaven Marge is mad at Homer since he did it to keep from cleaning out the garage, which also goes to heaven. God shows up with Homer's frisbee and tells him to enjoy the buffet but stay away from the three bean salad.

This episode was based on the movie The Dead Zone. 

When Marge complains about Homer destroying the town to avoid cleaning the garage he says "Everything is coming up Homer". This is a spoof from when Milhouse said a similar line in the episode Mom And Pop Art.

Four Beheadings And A Funeral

London 1890. Someone is going around killing prostitutes. Wiggum is the chief detective on the case, Eliza Simpson (Lisa) shows up with her sidekick Dr. Bartly (Bart) and offer to help. Wiggum has arrested Apu because he's the darkest suspect they could find. Marge shows up as a Liza Doolittle character and has a knife a suspect has dropped. Meanwhile Wiggum has arrested Peter Pan for abducting children, when Pan says he'll never grow up Wiggum tells him he will in jail (Yep, it's a rape joke). Lisa goes to the Emporium Of Exotica "We have stuff in jars" run by CBG who identifies the knife for her. It is part of a set of the Seven Swords of Osiris. When CBG goes to find his records the Mutton Chop Murderer kills him. He tries to grab some Prof. Lazarus' Dead*No*More Elixir but drops it on a stool, that then comes to life and runs off (Simon Stoolowitz), it turn out C. Ebenezer Burns bought the knives. Moe runs the opium den they find Burns in. Burns recognizes the knife but sold them to Homer for opium, he happens to be at the den. Wiggum is in the den to make Ralph go to sleep and nabs Homer, however they find Selma dead in the street with a knife in her. Lisa sniffs the handle and comes up with a clue. Homer is about to be hung when Lisa shows up and accuses Wiggum since the handle smells like eel pie, Wiggums favorite food. Wiggum hops in Frink's hot air balloon to escape but is knocked down by Kang and Kodos in a steampunk spaceship. They end in Ralph's opium dream.

The title of this episode is based on the 1984 movie Four Weddings and a Funeral. The plot is based on Jack The Ripper and Sherlock Holmes.

Scotland Yard, Our Motto "What's all this then?"

CBG tries to sell Lisa an Illustrated Novelette, Daunting Deeds Alone Against The Dodo King with Young David Diligent.

Opium District, What happens here, stays here. / Mao's Den Of Inequity, Happiness is a warm poppy (a spoof on Charlie Brown Happiness Is a Warm Puppy)

There is a sign behind the opium den bar that says "No Tossing Addicts". This is a spoof on the ban of Dwarf Tossing that was big in the 80's but was banned because of the cruelty and being dehumanizing to Little People.

In The Belly Of The Boss

The family goes to the invention expo. A scientist has created a Vagrant Translator, the cat lady is saying "I have a serious brain disease, please give me a cat". Frink is demonstrating his shrinking ray to shrink his capsule full of a lifetime supply of vitamins and minerals, Maggie crawls in side and is swallowed by Burns. Frink plans to shrink the Simpsons into a ship and inject them into Burns to rescue Maggie, Homer takes control of the ship and crashes into Burns' heart. The only way to get it dislodged is to go outside. They use one of Burns' ribs to get loose, while Bart does a wee. The ship runs out of fuel so one of them has to stay behind. Homer volunteers. Homer then expands inside of Burns, they end up dancing to the tune of Under My Skin. Various characters, in costume show up on the dance floor. 

The title of the episode comes from the expression "In The Belly Of The Beast" and the plot is based on the 1966 film Fantastic Voyage.

New Invention Expo / See the inventions of Tomorrow! / Today and Tomorrow

Frink has a picture of a retrovirus and it looks like R. Crumb's famous "Keep On Truckin" image. He says it was designed by Crumb who is a friend of Harvey Pekar.

In the episode A Simpsons Clip Show Professor Frink proposed a Fantastic Voyage to get Homer out of a coma.

Standing Tall from Perfect Strangers plays over the closing credits and there is a montage of scenes from the show.

All's Fair In Oven War

This episode premiered on November 14th, 2004. It ran in its usual time slot and opposite The American Music Awards, Cold Case and American Dreams

The title comes from the expression All's Fair In Love And War

The couch gag is the family sits on the couch in a field, it's attached to a catapult which hurls them over a mountain. (this would have made more sense if it was a castle wall, just saying)

Bart comes in with cookies, when they asked where they came from he says they're having an open house next door. Homer and Marge go to look. The place is a lot nicer than their house. Marge is ashamed of their lives when she gets home and the place is falling apart. Homer offers to build a new kitchen but refuses to hire a contractor, he destroys the kitchen with a sledge hammer. Marge finds Homer's stash of Playdude magazines, he claims he only reads them for the articles so she cuts out all the nude photos. He tosses them out, Bart and Milhouse find them and start reading, they are actually bored, but decide to decorate the treehouse like the Playdude penthouse. Marge gets frustrated with Homer's work and calls a contractor, he offers to get the job done in three weeks, cut to two years later. Marge has a fantastic new kitchen, that costs $100,000. Marge makes wasabi buffalo wings and they are the hit of the church potluck. Thomas Pynchon says he's going to put the recipe in the Gravity's Rainbow Cookbook. Marge enters the Ovenfresh bake off competition, the winner becomes the new face of Auntie Ovenfresh. Marge makes dessert dogs, cake made to look like hot dogs. Marge gets a letter back from the contest and she has been selected for the bakeoff. The bakeoff rejects Ralph's crayon sandwich, with thumbtacks. Bart invites the kids to a party at the treehouse. Everyone at the bakeoff laughs at Marge's "tasty fake" hot dogs. Jame Caan shows up at Bart's treehouse and hogs the "grotto", a wading pool. He takes off with Mrs. Krabappal. Marge discovers the other chefs at the bakeoff are trying to sabotage her. The other neighborhood parents are mad that Bart is turning the kids into hustlers. One of the contestants ruins Marge's dish so she hustles to finish, and ends up in the judging room with the other contestants food, she's tempted to sabotage their dishes with Maggies ear medicine. Lisa sees her through teh keyhole and is shocked. The contest comes down to Marge's Blackened Dessert Dogs and Brandine's Armadillo a la Road. Homer decides it's time to tell Bart about the facts of life, who then goes around to all the kids and tells them what he learned. Lisa confronts Marge about the contest and complains that Marge won't be her hero anymore. Marge deicides to confess that she sabotaged the contest. Brandine becomes the face of Ovenfresh and runs off with James Caan, Cletus has him shot at a tollbooth.

James Caan and Thomas Pynchon do their own voices. 

The family is watching Blackula Meets Black Dracula. A spoof on the Blacksploitation films of the 70's. Homer says Black Dracula is now a congressman from Virginia. 

Homer imagines living next door to himself, he's playing Separate Ways by Journey too loud. 

When Homer rips out the light fixture in the kitchen Marge discover a stash of Playdude Magazines, The Girls of Kent State, Four Nudes In Ohio, the cover has two bikini women kneeling over a dead body in a spoof of the National Guard shooting at Kent State and the song Ohio by Neil Young.

J&J Construction, The Vague Answer People.

First Church Of Springfield sign, Church Pot Luck: What a friend we have in Cheese Puffs.

Apu says his dream was to come to America and start a family, his new dream is to run away to India under an assumed name "Steve Barnes". Later the Springfield Shopper has the headline Father Of Eight Missing with Apu's photo. Homer reads the New Delhi Daily with the headline "Steve Barnes Opens Convenience Store", the photo is Apu in disguise. 

Bakeoff Today! Warning: First Ten Rows May Get Fat

Ovenfresh Bakeoff sponsored by Ovenfresh Flour products including Li'l Fatso Cupcakes / Drizzlers Gravies / American Pride Radar-Guided Missile Systems / Quetzalcoatl's Choice Mexican Food "Tastier than a human heart" The favorite from Zihuatanejo to Popocatepetl. 

The mascot of the bakeoff is Billy Bouillon Cube. 

Playdude Mansion Springfield, You must be cooler than this to enter, with a photo of Milhouse. A kids jazz trio plays Take Five by David Brubaker. 

Food personalities Homer fantasizes about meeting when Marge wins the contest, The Pringles Man / Charlie Tuna / Poppin' Fresh / Mr. Cashew (Mr. Peanut) / Land O' Lakes Native American woman / The Koobler Dwarves (Keebler Elves) / Snip, Crinkle and Poof (Snap, Crackle And Pop) / The Green Giant / Twinkle The Kid (Twinkie The Kid) / Toucan Sam / Count Chocula has a portrait on the wall

The tollbooth scene is a spoof on The Godfather. 

Sleeping With The Enemy

This episode premiered on November 21st 2004. It ran in its usual time slot and opposite Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Cold Case and American Dreams.

The title comes from the 1991 movie of the same name.

The couch gag is the family runs in the living room and the couch is gone. As they are looking around it drops down crushing them. This one seemed familiar, like a repeat even though the fan site says it's new, then I remembered the Vend-A-Couch gag from the episode Hurricane Neddy in season 8

Lisa creates a 68 square game of hopscotch but when she bends over to get her rock Sherri and Terri start mocking her "big butt". She starts worrying about being fat. Homer tells her that she has a Simpsons butt. Homer promised to throw Bart a party if he ever got a 100 on a test, when he passes a state capitol test he demands his party, it turns out Mrs. Krabappal forgot to roll up the state map and the entire class got a hundred (in the first grade we had a test on spelling the names of the colors, the teacher left the color chart out and I just copied off that, art imitating life). Lisa goes to a mall store but they are promoting the thin look so she feels worse about herself, and imagines marring a fat Milhouse. For Bart's party they invite Patty, Selma, grandma Bouvier, Grandpa, Ralph and Martin,  Milhouse is under quarantine so he is on speaker phone. Ralph runs around the circle saying Duck until Bart yells at him, he runs away crying. Bart is miserable at his party and when Lisa shows up she runs off crying when Marge offers her a slice of cake. Marge feels unappreciated by the kids, she sees Nelson eating tadpoles from the park fountain so she gives him Lisa's lunch and takes him to the zoo, he doesn't know how to act. She takes him home, his mother is dating Moe. Marge offers to take the kids bowling but they refuse so she takes Nelson instead. Marge pays Nelson to do chores around the house. Nelson's mom shows up to return the money but Marge tells her off. Nelson's mother takes off and leave him behind so Marge lets him spend the night, he takes the bed and makes Bart sleep on the floor. Nelson makes Bart be nicer to Marge. Lisa tries to prove she conquered food by eating one dab of frosting, and ends up scarfing down an entire cake. Nelson tells Lisa he can help her, he tricks Sherri and Terri with a box of cookies that really has a skunk in it and then gets the students to sing about how they stink to the tune of Jingle Bells. To get rid of Nelson Bart tracks down his father, it turns out when he went to the store to buy cigarettes and he ate a candy bar with peanuts, he had an allergic reaction and wound up a freak in the circus. Nelson's mom shows up and got a part as Lady McBeth, after sleeping with the director. Nelson says thanks to Bart but still plans on beating him up the next day. Lisa complains that she didn't learn any lessons this week. 

Self Aware Joke, to explain why members of the Simpsons families have big butts Homer does a "How to draw Homer" demonstration.

Krabappal and Skinner have a one night stand, in the episode My Big Fat Geek Wedding they broke up. 

Saks Fifth Grade, Clothing For Girls. Restrooms are for purging only / Thin Is In / Size 0 and below. The store is based on Saks Fifth Avenue. 

For Bart's party Marge picks activities from the book Cloudy Day Diversions, the first one is draw a picture of Eisenhower. 

Bart's party gifts, birdhouse / Bowtie (probably from Martin) / $5 savings bond / socks / a funnel / a Thesaurus / rake / A cup from the Premier Credit Union (Sounds like presents my brother gives. Seriously, one year he gave me a vase from a motel)

Lisa is reading Thin By Third Grade

The bowling alley has the video game Pong 85

Next on ABC, who's dropping by to see George Lopez, we pray it's you! The George Lopez Show ran from 2002 to 2007, it consistently had low ratings.

Nelson sings Papa Can You Hear Me from the movie Yentl

Lisa eats a cake with Happy Labor Day Lenny on it.

Sherri and Terri read First Born and Second Born Twin Magazines. Patty and Selma are on the cover.

She Used To Be My Girl

This episode premiered on December 5th 2004. It ran in its usual time slot and opposite The ABC Sunday Night Movie (5 People You Meet In Heaven), Cold Case and The NBC Sunday Night Movie (The Family Man)

The title is based on the song Use To Be My Girl by the O'Jays

The chalkboard gag is "Poking a dead raccoon is not research" and the couch gag is the family runs in on the couch but they all look like Moe.

Bart is trying to give SLH his pill but he keeps spitting it out, Marge tells Bart to wrap it in a piece of cheese, but Homer eats it instead. There is a rumble outside as a parade of media vans go by. Mayor Quimby has been named in paternity suits by 27 different women. The press is placated by a puppy until Chloe Talbot from Global News Network shows up. It turns out she is originally from Springfield and has a video of Quimby in bed with a woman. Bart imitates Quimby to try to blackmail him for one million dollars. Talbot recognizes Marge and is disappointed that she never did anything with her life, she remembers when Homer barfed in her tuba in high school. Marge flashes back on when her and Chloe were the stars of the high school paper. Chloe was dating Barney in high school, she dumped him and went to college. Lisa swaps out her pearls for Chloe's trademark scarf and goes to dinner at the Press Club while Marge scrubs the bathroom and Homer learns to walk naked on stilts. Dan Rather and Tom Brokaw are playing Keep Away with Kent Brockman's microphone. "This just in, I'm really pissed". Marge is really jealous of Chloe. Chloe offers to take Lisa to the UN Women's Conference in Capitol City. Marge gets into a physical fight with Chloe on the front lawn, Homer think they are fighting over him. Marge won't let Lisa go to the conference so she sneaks out, while she's thinking the pros and cons of going Bart pushes her out of the tree. She sneaks into Chloe's trunk, Marge finds that she's gone and heads out to find her. Meanwhile Close gets a call to cover the volcanic eruption of Mt. Springfield, they get cut off by the lava flow so Chloe makes Lisa her operate the camera. Homer and Marge arrive at the conference just in time to see Chloe covering the volcano. Marge rushes to save Lisa and uses the rock above the lava to save her. Chloe is just about to die when Barney shows up in the helicopter, he's sober again. They have a half hour of pity sex while the Sex and The City theme song plays. Marge becomes a hero and realize that the kids are the most important thing in her life. She imagines a world in which she became a reporter, the "Miracle On Ice" never happened. The show ends with a scene of Lisa praying to Buddha, Jesus and SpongeBob for help during the eruption, when Buddha says perhaps they should help SpongeBob says "screw her" and laughs maniacally. 

Kim Cattrall does the voice of Chloe Talbot

This is the first chalkboard gag since the episode The Ziff Who Came To Dinner on March 14th of the same year.

Vans covering Quimby: Channel 6 News / Channel 11 News / KBBL news / ABC / CBS / The Christian Science Monitor (they have a flat tire and are waiting for God to jack up the van) / Fox News (Their semi has a large Bush Cheney 2004 banner)

When the Fox News semi rolls up We Are The Champions by Queen plays.

Marge says the Quimby is the most exciting scandal since The Juice was on the Loose, Lisa points out the juice is on the loose and Marge panics. In 2004 OJ Simpson was free but three years later he would be convicted for armed robbery in Las Vegas. He served 6 years in prison and then was released he died in 2024.

Signs at the Quimby protest: Mayor McSleeze / Say "Yes" to sperm limits / Quimby-You Pay Now

Homer reads Men's Fatness (a spoof on Men's Fitness) Bad Abs In Six Weeks

The Talbot Report with Chloe Talbot, Images of her: On the aircraft carrier with the Mission Accomplished banner / At the White House / In outer space. She interviews Bob Dylan who is incoherent. She claims she had a fling with Clinton and Schwarzenegger.

Springfield High News: Sham Chowder! with a photo of Moe spitting into the pot. 

Springfield Press Club: We have a liberal bias...towards great meal deals!

Marge gets a black eye from Chloe and uses Shiner Be Gone Irish Strength spray, it has the Fighting Irish mascot on the front. (Bad culture joke there). The can plays Too Ra Loo Ra Loo Rai, best known for the Bing Crosby version while Marge's eye goes from purple to green to brown and finally yellow. 

Women's Conference "Sexy Asian Girls Talk About Wage Disparity"

Fat Man And Little Boy

This episode premiered on December 12th 2004. The lead in show was the NFL Postgame Show and it was followed by Arrested Development. It ran opposite Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Survivor and the NBC Movie Of The Week (National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation)

The title comes from the nicknames of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki Japan.

The Couch gag is the family sits on the couch but it's attached to a anglerfish, which swallows them.

Lisa and Janie are playing in the back yard when they come under a spitball barrage by Bart. One of the spitballs has blood on it and it turns out to be Bart's last baby tooth. Otto is going to pull it out with the bus but rams into the back of Chalmer's Camry. Skinner offer the use of his Merkur. While trying to get the potato masher out of the silverware drawer Marge elbows Bart in the face and knocks out the tooth. Bart puts it under his pillow but the next day he gets a note that the Tooth Fairy made a donation in his name to the United Way, Marge points out that now that Bart is growing up he got an adult gift, he then claims he'll never grow up (self aware joke). Bart tries to remain a kid but he gets no thrill from the quarter ride outside the Try N Save. Bart imagines his action figure Sgt. Activity climbing an ice wall but Lieutenant Adventure meets him at the top and tries to sell him supplemental insurance. Bart takes all his toys, puts them on a raft and sets them on fire. Bart is depressed so Lisa suggests writing something, he writes "Adults suck, then you are one" on the front of his shirt and refuses to let Marge wash it off. Everyone at school loves Bart's new shirt and he goes into business selling shirts. The cops shut Bart down so Lisa suggests he offers his shirts to store. They head to the novelty expo to try to find a distributor. Bart's stand is next to Krusty and Friends Fun Wear that have a flashy display and show. Outside the show Bart gets hit by Goose Gladwell's car, the guy loves his shirts and offers to manufacture them. Homer gets caught sleeping on the job and is suspended but he quits since Bart is making money off the shirts. Homer sees a commercial for a change machine and has to ask Bart for money. Lenny and Carl are mad that Homer doesn't have to work. The waiter at a restaurant calls Homer pathetic for asking Bart for money. He starts to get to bored being home all day, he sees a documentary on how younger lions take over the pride and realizes that he's in the same position. Lisa shows Homer her science project, the history of nuclear physics but Martin shows up with C.H.U.M Childlike Humanoid Urban Muchacho. Lisa panics that she's going to lose so Homer offers to help, He builds a working model of a reactor complete with stealing plutonium from the nuclear plant. Lisa uses her Krusty Brand Geiger Counter and it warns her that Homer's reactor model is about to blow. Bart is signing t-shirts when Goose shows up to announce he's sold the line of shirts to the Disney corporation, who plan to turn several into movies, and thanks to his lawyers he doesn't have to pay Bart anything. When Homer finds out that Goose ripped off Bart he takes his nuclear reactor to the shop and threatens to set it off killing the entire city. Goose pays off Homer including two dribble glasses, Fake boobs, two t shirts and a rapping toilet seat. Homer takes his reactor to the dump. The show ends with Bart trying to get his tooth knocked out, he insults Nelson but he walks away pondering Bart's comments. 

Eric Idle returns as Declan Desmond. He first appeared in the episode Scuse Me While I Miss The Sky. Terry Greene does the voice of Sgt. Activity.

The spitball barrage is a spoof on the beach landing scene in the 1998 movie Saving Private Ryan. Bart uses the pages from Lisa's unfinished novel, They Promised Me Ponies.

White getting rid of his childhood things Dust In The Wind by Kansas plays.

Bart's shirts: Adults suck, then you are one / Life ends at ten / Bored in the USA / This Shirt Sucks / Everything Sucks / Sucking Sucks / Wake Me When It's Recess / I've puked more beer than you've drunk / Pobody's Snerfect Nithead / Impeach Everybody / Think Globally, Fart Locally / Weapon Of Ass Destruction / My other T-Shirt is also a Joke T-shirt / I ❤️ ❤️ Attacks / Get Bent (Ned thinks it means bend a knee to the Lord and buys it for Todd) / Do Not Resuscitate / Proud Nubian Princess (Wiggum confiscates the shirts and keeps that one) / Jews for Jesus / If You Can Read This The Backpack Fell Off / Don't Blame Me, I Voted for Scooby Doo / Stop Staring At My Man Boobs / Body By Oreo / I'm Not Getting Older, I'm Getting Bitter / Wish You Were Beer / America's Least Wanted / Top Of The Dude Chain / Stop World Hunger, Eat My Shorts / Don't Wake Me, I'm Working / Rich Bitch / I'm not fat, I'm Enormous

I'm Too Sexy by Right Said Fred plays during a montage of Bart's shirts.

Novelty Expo booths: Erotic Ashtrays / Finger Fun / Genuine Fake Stuff / Hairy Golf Balls / Exploding Hearing Aids / Buzzz / Untoastable Bagels / Tricky Cards / Loaded Dice / Poison Ice Cubes "Free Samples" / Mood Lollypops 

Krusty is selling Poochie shirts even though he signed a contract saying the dog was gone forever.

Goose Gladwell is based on Willie Wonka. 

Chestworthy Monthly magazine: Public Cottons To Simpson's Shirts. Pocket-T's At A Crossroads

Ronco Change Magician "Results may vary. Machine does not actually sort change"

Lisa's school project is a diorama on the history of Nuclear Physics: Marie Curie 1898 Discovers Radium & Polonium / X-rays 1895 Roentgen Discovers X-rays / Einstein 1905 Discovers Mass Energy Relationship E=MC2 / Scale model of the first nuclear reactor.

Self aware joke, Homer comments on the quality of Korean animation, his mouth jumps off his body about three feet. 

Homer searches for answers on how to build a nuclear reactor at www dot nuclear secrets dot com. It asks if he's a terrorist. 

When Homer breaks into the nuclear power plant the Pink Panther theme plays. 

Goose's Gags and Gifts "Meet T-Shirt Author Bart Simpson" / Mr. Simpsons will not say "Cowabunga"

Posters at the gag shop: Squirt-N-Squat (originally seen in the episode Smart and Smarter) / Stink Bombs / Hand Buzzers.

Homer's settings on his nuclear reactor: Off / Low / Nuclear Holocaust / High

We've reached another 5 episodes and the last episode of 2004. Only 20 more years to go. I'm also getting closer to the movie, finally, something to look forward to.

 The Simpsons 331-335

Catch 'Em If You Can

This episode premiered on April 25th, 2004. The lead in show was King Of The Hill and it was followed by a Simpsons repeat (Today I Am A Clown). It ran opposite Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Cold Case and Dateline NBC

The title comes from the 2002 movie Catch Me If You Can

The couch gag is a repeat of the frosted cake

Bart is holding a lecture about water balloons on the bus, he shoots one at Lisa. They get into a fight and Otto kicks them out at home. They fight their way in the door and knock Maggie into the cat box. Marge tells them to stop fighting and start packing for Uncle Tyrone's birthday in Dayton Ohio. The kids complain so Homer decides to leave them home with Grandpa. For their last night as a family they rent a movie, Marge goes with Love Story. The kids complain through the whole film making Marge and Homer angry. Bart gets bored and uses picture in picture to watch Krusty. Homer is upset because he sat through a chick flic and didn't get any "snuggling". At the airport Marge sees happy people on their way to Miami, they decide to trade in their tickets and head to Florida. Since the flight is overbooked they move Homer and Marge to the first class. The kids see a news story about a tornado ripping apart the hotel where their parents are suppose to be staying in Ohio, just then Marge calls to say they are OK, she doesn't know about the tornado. Bart finds out they parents are in Miami so they force Grandpa to go with them to track Homer and Marge down. A couple say they can't wait to have kids, Marge and Homer have a laughing fit. When the parents get back to the hotel they spot the kids camped out in front of their room so they take off  using Ned's stolen card, they kids spot them and decide to chase them down using Rod's stolen card. Bart gets on the reservation computer, reroutes the parent's luggage and schedules Homer for the low fat in flight meal. A guy offers to let Grandpa stay at his penthouse in Miami. In Atlantic City, while riding in the elevator to their room the parents spot the kids, they get off in the casino and then take off. Grandpa finds out that the guy he's staying with is Gay. The parents finally get away to Niagara Falls but the kids  catch them. The family gets into a fight so Marge gives up and plans to go home the next day. Lisa and Bart start to feel bad about bothering their parents so they take off to an amusement park, however Marge and Homer had already snuck out to go to the same park. They run into each other on the Ferris wheel, the parents try to hide in a closed bounce house, however they get a little randy and knock it over a cliff and into the river. The Canadians and American rescue boats get into a fight over saving them and the parents go over the falls. They end up in front of the Maiden Of The Mist, while doing the nasty. The show ends with Ned getting his credit card bill. 

Lisa is reading How To Talk To a Drunk Father.

Lackluster Video "If it doesn't star Sandra Bullock, your rental is free!" (A video rental store is quite the dated reference). Moves at the store: Ski Shul / Jerk-cules / Sea Triscuit / President Black Guy (Another Simpsons Prediction) / TV Show: The Movie / When Harry Became Sally / Air Chimp / Cemetery Academy. This is a spoof of Blockbuster Videos

The adult section films: Merchant-Ivory / Truffaut / Unfunny Woody Allen / Henry Jaglom / Bergman / Spike & Ang Lee 

Aloha Mufflers: Say "Aloha" to values. 

Homer reads The Economist: Indonesia's Gambit.

Bart dials *69 to find out where Marge was calling from. Does that still work?

Homer and Marge stay at the Swelldorado Hotel.

Grandpa runs over a guy in an Eeyore costume. He calls himself Eemore to avoid a copyright problem. Now Disney owns The Simpsons. 

When Grandpa goes looking for a woman in Miami the theme from Miami Vice plays and they do a Senior version of the opening credits. 

Homer steals Ned's credit card from The First Bank Of Springfield. The number is 8525 4941 2525 4158 Valid from 1/1 Good thru 12/31 Viza. Bart steals Rod Flanders' card, it has the same numbers.

Miami Airport, Formerly The Everglades 

Welcome To Atlantic City: Where New York Comes To Smoke / Trump Brothel (A spoof on Trump Taj Mahal, I wonder if this joke is about trump's grandfather, look it up)

Dredric Tatum is holding an exhibition boxing match with a white rhino and blowing up balloons on the boardwalk.

A montage of Bart and Lisa chasing Homer and Marge around the country is a spoof on the opening titles from Catch Me If You Can, complete with the theme song.

Niagara Falls Airport: Welcome to Niagara Falls Weddings, Honeymoons, Suicides

Rickety Brothers Amusement Park Niagara Falls New York. 

This episode was bits and pieces, the running away montage was too long and it all just felt disjointed. Plus every member of the family was super annoying, a Lisa level of annoying. I know I've seen it before but it just became background noise and I didn't pay attention, I forgot about Grandpa and the Gay dude, a story that never had a conclusion (not that I want to find out how that played out). Anyhow, on to the next one.

Simple Simpson

This episode premiered on May 2nd 2004. It ran in its usual time slot (the Simpsons rerun was I D'oh-Bot). It ran opposite the regular programs.

The title comes from the poem Simple Simon.

The couch gag is a repeat of the Batman 66 entrance.

Farmer Billy has put golden tickets into packages of bacon for a free tour of his "bacon factory" (Warning: Bacon Factory May Explode). Homer buys up all of Apu's bacon but finds a silver ticket, instead of going to the factory he becomes an honorary hog judge at the county fair. Lisa enters a place setting competition, all her plates and cutlery are musically based so the judge mocks her. Homer gets mad and hits him with a pie, but Homer has to hide his face so he creates a disguise from stuff around the fair. Everybody laughs at the judge and he runs away. When CBG forces Bart to buy crappy comics, claiming he smudged them, Homer decides to create a superhero costume for Pie Man and get revenge. Just after Homer hits CBG with a pie Nichelle Nichols walks in, she takes one look and walks out. When Marge guesses it could be Ned, Homer almost gives his secret away. He hits Krusty with a pie over the slight decline in the program's quality. (Hitting Krusty with a pie is part of his show so...) The police set up an exchange program, guns for pies. The Springfield Children's Hospital is becoming the Springfield Cosmetic Surgery. Clinic. It's a trap and when Homer shows up the police start shooting at him causing a mob panic. Marge almost gets trampled but Homer saves her and then kisses her while hanging upside down. Homer gets shot but has to dig the bullet out himself, and gets caught by Lisa. She asks him to stop before he gets killed. Homer goes to work and sees Burns treating everyone horribly so he decides to pull one last pieing. While trying to escape Burns tracks him on the security camera and discover Homer sleeping on the office couch. They take him to the power plant dungeon and pull off his mask. Burns decides to make Homer his hitman and his first target is himself, Homer smashes a pie into his own face. The next person Homer has to pie is a Girl Scout selling Cookes. Burns' next target is the Dalai Lama. Lisa introduces the Lama so instead of hitting him with a pie Homer exposes himself to the entire crowd, however nobody believes that he's the real Pie Man because he's too stupid and lazy. Marge tells Homer she always knew he was the Pie Man but before they snuggle he goes out on the roof in his costume, Bart shows up as the Cupcake Kid, Marge makes them clean the gutters. 

Nichelle Nichols does her own voice.

The family is watching Promiscuous Idiots Island. A spoof on Love Island and other such shows.

Repeated joke. On the dating show the women find out the horrible truth about the island, it's really a peninsula. In the episode Lisa On Ice she dreams she is President but they find out she flunked gym so she's sent to Monster Island only to find out it's really a peninsula. 

Self aware joke: Bart says when you sign a contract with Fox you know you're going to be betrayed and humiliated. 

During Farmer Billy's commercial Ralph can be seen on the hog conveyor belt about to be fed into the 5 story shredder. 

Farmer Billy's: Slow Kill Bacon / Bacon Fed Bacon / Traveling Bacon 

The Golden Ticket promotion comes from the 1964 book Charlie And The Chocolate Factory.

Apu sells guns, $2 a pound. 

Springfield County Fair: Who Still Goes To These? Find Out Inside. Worlds Biggest Pumpkin / Bok Choy / Ribbon / Brussels Sprout / Pile Of Mashed Potatoes (Bart hides the brussel sprout under the potatoes) 

There is a country singer doing an over the top patriotic song. He looks like Alan Jackson.

The judge who laughed at Lisa is the Yahoo Texan. 

The comic books CBG forces Bart to buy: Richie Rich The Poor Little Rich Boy Incorporates In Delaware  / Easy To Believe Tales (with Jesus on the cover) / Supergirl Vs. The Glass Ceiling / The Green Listener / Fantastic Floor: Annual Hardwood Issue!

When Homer is creating his costume you can see Xtapolapocetl, the Olmec head, in the background of the basement. 

Homer's pie pan has a note "Evildoers Beware! Signed, Simple Simon Your Friendly Neighborhood Pieman."

Springfield Shopper headline: Obese Nerd Eats Humble Pie / "Pie Man" Back For Seconds

Homer kissing Marge is a spoof on the 2002 version of Spider-Man

Springfield Town Hall banner: Tonight: The Dalai Lama "Free Tibet" and Free T-Shirts to the First Hundred Fans.

The Dalai Lama enters to Tibetan Horns playing Elvis's stage entrance music.

The Way We Weren't

This episode premiered on May 9th 2004. It ran in its usual time slot (The Simpsons rerun was Marge Vs. Seniors, etc) It ran opposite The ABC Sunday Night Movie (Harry Potter And the Sorcerer's Stone), Survivor and Dateline NBC

The title comes from the 1973 movie The Way We Were.

The couch gag is a repeat of the knife throwing

Bart tricks Milhouse and Ralph into raking the yard. Milhouse and Bart play Spin The Bottle with Terri and Sherri and their boy crazy cousin in the treehouse, however Milhouse ends up kissing Homer by mistake. Marge makes Homer and Bart go to "Family Court" to settle the argument over wasting his beer to kiss girls,  Lisa is the judge. When Bart says Homer probably kissed a lot of girls when he was 10 Marge claims Homer's first kiss was with her in high school, however he confesses what his real first kiss was. Homer goes to camp where he meets Lenny, Carl and Moe. The boys find out that they are working the kitchen at the girls camp in order to pay the camp's bills. Some girl loses her retainer so Homer saves it for her but they don't meet in person since they are on opposite sides of the tray flap. Homer accidentally stabs himself in the eye. When Homer is trying to figure out how to cross the late the Sea Captain shows up and takes him across. It turns out the girl at the camp was Marge however he didn't show up and broke her heart, she never forgave him. Marge tells her side of the story. The girls camp is a place to teach manners and deportment. The girls make fun of the mystery man in the kitchens name and say it's probably something low rent like Homer so he claims his name is Elvis Jagger Abdul-Jabbar. The night of her date Marge accidentally turns her hair brown. Homer did the fake yawn move to put his arm around Marge but she thinks he's boring her so she starts talking about bands. Mentally Homer calls himself a chicken but makes the clucking sound for real so Marge kisses him to make him stop. Marge and Homer plant to meet at Second Date Rock but he never shows up and she goes away broken hearted. Homer tells his side of the story, he gives her a heart shaped rock. Homer doesn't look where he's going and falls off a cliff into the river and comes to at at fat camp and spends the summer being forced to lose weight. Marge tries to call the boy's camp and asks to speak to Elvis Jagger, Moe answers and thinks she's prank calling and hangs up on her. Marge throws away the heart shaped rock and leaves camp. Homer manages to hop in the back of a truck and escapes from fat camp, when he shows up at the girl's camp he meets Selma and Patty and they tell him she's gone. He finds the heart shaped rock broken in half. Marge still doesn't forgive Homer. Homer pulls out half of the broken heart rock, it turns out Marge kept the other half. The two "snuggle".

Marge comes up with the idea of Family Court from a book, 101 Spank-Ternatives. 

Camp See-A-Tree For Underprivileged Boys. Marge goes to Camp Land-A-Man

Self Aware Joke. Homer talks about when he was ten in the 60's, or 70's or maybe it was the 80's. This is a joke about the family remaining the same age for 15 years. Homer calls for a recess just before the commercial break. When Marge calls the boy's camp and Moe thinks it's a prank he says "And that's the origin of that" even though they don't really do prank calls anymore.

When Homer wants to cross the lake between the camps he says it's either row or wade, but it's his right to choose. Kind of timely there. 

Cookie Kwan is at the girl's camp. She is reading Lose Your Accent In 30 Years.

When Homer stabs himself in the eye Moe gives him an eyepatch to wear. Moe wore a similar one as Dr. Tad Winslow on the soap opera It Never Ends in the episode Pygmoelian.

Marge warns the kids the next part of the story is a little WB. The WB network ran from 1995 to 2006. (less time than The Simpsons have been on the air) It was merged with UPN and became the CW network.

Happy Together by The Turtles plays while Marge is feeling her fireworks over kissing Homer. 

When Marge kisses Homer he imagines Screaming Yellow Zonkers raining down on him. This is a caramel coated popcorn snack. Quisp shows up with a bowl of cereal, this is the alien mascot for the cereal of the same name. Homer plunges into the Kool-Aid man. 

Wiggum / Quimby / CBG are at Fat Camp. 

Sammy's Scale Repair shows up at the fat camp.

To say he's done worst things than standing her up at camp Homer runs through the list of things he did over the years, hiding a gun (The Cartridge Family), sued the church (Pray Anything), ruins Lisa's wedding in the future (Lisa's Wedding)

Homer has a Baretta lunch box, it was a 1975 TV series staring Robert Blake. 

In Homer's memory box is a letter from Osama (bin Laden) and half of the heart shaped rock that was broken in two.

This turned into another "Marge and Homer's marriage is in trouble" episodes. I should have kept track of how many of those there are. 

Bart Mangled Banner

This episode premiered on May 16th 2004. The lead in show was King Of The Hill and it was followed by That 70's Show. It ran opposite Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, CBS Sunday Movie (Helter Skelter the 2004 version) and Dateline NBC

The title comes from the title of the U.S. National Anthem "The Star Spangled Banner"

The couch gag is a repeat of the microwave oven.

The family goes out for ice cream and kittens, only it's a trap, it's really shot day. Bart fights back with a skeleton however Lisa declares she's brave but then cries and wants a lollypop. Bart takes off but Dr. Hippert goes after him. After several tries Hibbert says Bart is too smart but it turns out to be Barney who grabs him and Hibbert gives him the shot. It turns out Bart has a reaction to the shot and his ears swell up, he goes deaf. Hibbert gives Homer a free pen and has him try it out, however Homer signed a malpractice waiver. Homer tests bart with a series of noises but he still can't hear. The bullies are afraid of him for standing his ground. Willie confesses that he's been deaf since the boiler explosion. Marge wants Bart to stay home from school but he doesn't want to miss the donkey basketball game. Homer makes a joke about Bart being deaf, but he can't hear it. When the national anthem plays Bart can't hear it and is teasing a donkey, he puts a carrot in his back pocket and the donkey tears off his pants and everyone thinks he's mooning the flag. The Springfield Shopper overhypes the story and everyone gets mad at the family. The bar crowd refuses to talk to Homer so he talks to himself and gets into a fight with himself over Marge. Everyone refuses to drink with him so Homer helps himself to the liquor. Nash Castor invites the family onto his show to get their side of the story. The show is a setup and Marge accidentally says she hates Americans and then says nice people in Springfield like her, so the host declares Springfield hates America. It spreads all over the country, even Congress declares We Hate Springfield Day. Quimby is upset because so many festivals are pulling out of the city so he changes the name to Liberty-Ville, where everything costs $17.76. Reverend Lovejoy preaches about patriotism and has Jesus in a Evil Keneval jumpsuit, giving a thumbs up. Lisa gives a speech about the First Amendment, the government shows up and arrests them. The organist plays Take Me Out To The Ballgame. In prison the kids start to get mind washed. Gummy Joe tells The Simpsons if they want to escape they have to do it during the talent show. They discover they are on Alcatraz and have to swim for it. A French boat rescues the family and takes them to Paris. The family comes back as immigrants and customs changes their names to The Simps.

Dr. Hibbert "Welcome to Hell....man Avenue Medical Plaza

Outside the Doctor's office, Springfield Children's Cemetery. 

One Way Or Another by Blonde plays during the scene when Dr Hibbert is chasing Bart.

When Dr. Hibbert tries to inoculate Bart from a biplane it's a spoof on the scene from the 1959 movie North By Northwest.

Hibbert gives Homer a pamphlet: Death Prick, A Parent's Guide To Shots Gone Wrong.

Bart reads Temporarily Deaf Weekly.

Springfield Elementary 55th Annual Donkey Basketball Tournament.

Faculty in the basketball game, Chalmers, Skinner, Ms. Hoover Mrs. Krabappal, Mr. Largo

This episode ran 12 years before the athletes kneeling during the National Anthem protests.

Daily Fourth Guardian headline: In-De No-Pans Day! with a photo of Bart with his butt out.

Lenny has a tattoo of the flag with Dole Kemp 96 on it. Bob Dole and VP nominee Kemp lost the 1996 election to Clinton and Gore.

Bart's past excuses, Blind, Wheelchair, Pregnant and Railroad Spike Through Head.

Springfield Shopper headline: U-ASS-A! with a photo of an evil Bart mooning a shocked Statue of Liberty.

When You Wash Upon A Car Car Wash.

Moe is Dutch and in the US on a permanent Visa.

Lisa's spam email: Refinance your home, you commie pig!

The show the family goes on is Head Butt With Nash Castor.

Wow, they do a joke about people in the Middle East that's really bad, talk about a total lack of PC.

The town going overboard on their patriotism is a spoof on the Freedom Fries propaganda of 2003, when the conservatives tried to eliminate the word French from all American products after the country said it wouldn't support Bush's invasion of Iraq.

Gil is teaching driver's ed but since they changed the lights to Red, White and Blue he makes the student pull out in the intersection and they run into Krusty, who makes Mr. Teenie swallow all his illegal pills.

Apu sells Homeland Noodles with Uncle Sam Balls. He changes the names of his kids to Freedom / Lincoln / Condoleezza / Coke / Pepsi / Manifest Destiny / Apple Pie and Superman. He also changes the families last name to the MacGillicuddys.

First Church of Libertyville sign: Is God patriotic enough?

Other celebrities in the special jail Michael Moore / The Dixie Chicks / Elmo / Bill Clinton / Al Franken

The Simpsons go to the Ronald Reagan Reeducation Center. 

Gummy Joe shows up as a prisoner. He was first seen in the episode Last Exit To Springfield 

The families escape plan comes from the movie The Sound Of Music and The Blues Brothers,  their musical number is a spoof on the 1976 show The Brady Bunch Hour. 

The family heads to Paris, Bart went to France in the episode The Crepes Of Wrath. Marge is wearing a Chenille suit the same as the one she wore in the episode Scenes From The Class Struggle In Springfield

When the family return to America it's a spoof on Vito coming to America in the 1974 film The Godfather II

Coming To America by Neil Diamond plays over the closing credits.

This was another disjointed episode, first it was Bart not wanting to get a shot, then going deaf, then being accused of mooning the flag, then the entire city gets accused of being unpatriotic, then the family goes to prison, to France and finally back to America. It was mostly a spoof on the over the top rhetoric of the Bush White House in his lead up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003. I'd say it's really dated now but with Trump running for President we've seen a lot of the same themes coming out of the Republican Party. However it's still not a great episode. 

btw, my first time watching it.

Fraudcast News

This episode premiered on May 23rd, 2004. The lead in show was King Of The Hill and it was followed by Malcolm In The Middle. It ran opposite Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Cold Case and Dateline NBC

The title comes from the 1987 movie Broadcast News

The couch gag is a repeat of the Anime characters.

While dedicating Geezer Rock Lisa spots a tree growing out of the rock. Homer climbs up the rock to pull it out since it will disrupt tourist business at his roadside corn stand. Just as Lisa is reading her poem Homer causes the rock face to collapse. Mr Burns is buried during the avalanche. Lisa is upset that nobody heard her poem so Marge suggests she publish it, she plans to do it herself. Burns survives in an air pocket and then crawls out. When he checks out the news he finds out nobody cares that he is dead. Smithers suggests that Burns change his image, instead of doing good deeds he buys up the newspapers and starts running positive stories about himself. Homer, Lenny and Carl dress in white tuxes to dance on Burns' grave. When Lisa finds out that Burns controls all the media she puts out a special edition of her self printed paper on how bad Burns is, he attempts to buy her with dancing ponies. While trying to deliver the paper the Simpsons's car is attacked by another car, helicopter and a thug on a Segway.  Lisa's  staff quits except for Ralph, he is hired by the Chicago Tribune. Bart sticks around to help Lisa by drawing an image of Burns destroying the free press. Smithers convinces Burns to stop Lisa in a nonviolent way so he cuts the power to their house. Skinner offers Lisa the school mimeograph. When he's losing the print war to Lisa Burns calls up his league of evil but they are all dead. Burns drugs Homer to get information from him. Burns runs stores about Lisa loving Milhouse and then projects the message on the moon with lasers. Homer gets mad at how Lisa was treated so he writes up The Homer Times, headline My Daughter, The Hero. Inspired by Lisa everyone in town starts their own paper. To feel better about losing the paper war Burns goes shopping. 

The band Blood, Sweat And Tears performs their song Spinning Wheels. Quimby calls them Blood and Tears and says "sorry to hear about Sweat"

Springfield's most beloved tourist attraction is Geezer Rock, it is based on The Old Man Of The Mountain in New Hampshire, which is featured on the state quarter. The real rock formation collapsed in 2003.

During Kent Brockman's broadcast a teen jumps off Geezer Rock because they cancelled Futurama. The show was cancelled in 2003 but came back in 2008. It was cancelled again in 2013 but returned in 2023.

Smithers has a tattoo, it's a heart with the words Boss Of My Heart and the image of him and Mr. Burns. 

Lisa's paper is called The Red Dress Press. 

Bumblebee Man makes an appearance, he hand't been on the show for a while.

Bart tells Lisa he's already sold subscriptions to her paper and got prizes for it. This is a spoof on Grit Newspaper that would offer prizes to kids who sold the paper.

Sign at the Springfield Elementary: Newspaper Staff Wanted / Apply to Editor-In-Chief at the Jungle Gym.

Channel 6, Still In English. A Division of Burns Media

Bart does a comic for the paper Seymour Skinrash.

Daly News headline Beloved Hero Cheats Death with a photo of Burns.

Booberella makes an appearance. She was first seen in the episode I'm Spelling As Fast As I Can.

The Itchy And Scratchy Show, What's Nuked, Pussycat. Written and Directed by C. Montgomery Burns. Scratchy is protesting the nuclear plant, Itchy impales him with a forklift and drives him by the orphanage and hospital powered by the plant. When Scratchy mentions wind power Itchy drives him into a turbine decapitating him. 

Burns Weekly headline It's Too Late. 

The Red Dress Press headline Lisa To Burns, Drop Dead / Ralph Wiggum's Oscar Pick with a photo of him picking his nose / Nyah, Nyah We're Back Lisa Rules, Burns Drools / Final 'I Give Up' Edition.

Homer listens to The Spice Girls singing Wannabe.

When Skinner flashes back to Vietnam Incense and Peppermints by Strawberry Alarm Clock plays.

Springfield Shopper Headline Lisa's A Total Wacko, Implies Father. / Lisa Loves Milhouse

Other papers: The Barney Bugle / The LennySaver "The truth about Carl, He's Great! / The Willie World News / Twin Spin "Are you a Patty or a Selma?"

Self aware joke, Burns says you can't control all the media, unless you're Rupert Murdock and then call him one beautiful man.

This episode is sort of a Simpsons prediction. With the rise of the internet pretty much everyone has become their own reporter, expressing their opinions on social sites, video channels and yes, even blogs. 

This was the last episode of the 15th season and another breaking point for me. What luck. 

 The Simpsons 326-330

Smart and Smarter

This episode premiered on February 22nd 2004. The lead in show was Oliver Beene and it was followed by a Simpsons repeat (I D'ohbot). It ran opposite Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Cold Case and American Dreams.

The title comes from the 1994 movie Dumb And Dumber.

The couch gag is there is a dry cleaners moving rack around the living room, the clothes spin by until the family, in bags, line up on the couch.

Homer tries to pull a toilet practical joke on Bart but he pees standing up, when Homer tries to force him to sit he winds up on the seat himself and gets sprayed. They get into a fight and trash the bathroom, when Marge comes to see what is going on Homer takes them out to breakfast. When the get to the restaurant they discover it's application day at the pre nursery school so they take Maggie but she is rejected because she doesn't talk. Later while playing with Maggie, Lisa discovers that she can spell with the blocks. Maggy takes an IQ quiz and correctly answers the questions. Henry, the pre k teacher, declares her IQ is 167, Lisa is jealous since her IQ level is only 159. Marge suggests Lisa find a new identity, she tries stand up comedy  in the cafeteria but bombs. She tries to go Goth, she calls herself Ravencrow Never-Smiles. Next she tries to be a cheerleader, then Hip Hop, Soccer and Cowgirl. When playing with the flash cards Lisa tries to teach Maggie the wrong words but gets caught by Marge, she runs away crying and dreams about being an evil sister and decides to hide in the Springfield Natural History Museum. The police find Lisa's coat and backpack at the museum. The family looks in the human body display, Maggie turns on the control panel and they get swallowed. The only way to get out is for Maggie to push the red button, instead she hits the green digest button and then the churn button. Maggie doesn't know what to do until Lisa shows up and gives her instructions, the family gets flushed out through the bowels and they learn that Maggie is only copying Lisa. Later when they are alone Maggie plays Lisa's sax and Lisa takes it away from her. Simon Cowell gives a critic over the closing credits. 

Simon Cowell does the voice of Henry, the admissions officer at the pre nursery school. 

Homer puts an Squat and Squirt squirting toilet seat in the bathroom. The box was a picture of a man with a top hat and monocle being sprayed with water. "EE-Yow!"

The pancake place is called The Flapjack Stack and is a converted Italian restaurant, formerly The Leaning Tower of Pizza, They painted over the pizza tower and turned it into a stack of pancakes. 

Wickerbottom's Pre-Nursery School.

Best line of the night, when Maggie passes the IQ test Henry says "Your baby is brilliant, why she could teach at Florida State". And this joke was 15 years before Ron DeSantis became governor.

When Lisa is depressed about not being the smart one Marge writes her a note, "You are Lisa Simpson" however she already has one, framed with a photo of Mr. Bergstrom. This is from the episode Lisa's Substitute.

When Lisa is trying to be a comedian she says "why do they call them field trips, we never go to a field", Skinner replies that they went to a battlefield last Thursday. This is a reference to the episode The PTA Disbands.

Lisa dreams about being in the 1962 movie Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?

Lisa hiding in the museum is taken from the plot of the 1967 book From The Mixed-Up Files Of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.

The Springfield Natural History Museum: Families Welcome, The Neanderthal Man Now Has No Wang! The Auditorium is showing Bark: The suit your tree wears. 

Henry Mancini's Moon River plays while Lisa wanders around the museum after hours. 

Homer's lost Lisa sign: Free Beer! Now that I have your attention, Missing Eight-Year Old Girl. Lisa Simpson 555-5472. PS, no free beer.

Henry calls Maggie as common as an angry woman in an Ibsen play. Ibsen was known for his plays about average people and the rules of society such as A Doll's House or Ghost.

Moe is pretending to be the families butler and he has Barney dressed up as the maid. They never explain why.

The Ziff Who Came To Dinner

This episode premiered on March 14th 2004. The lead in show was Oliver Beene and it was followed by The Bernie Mac Show. It ran opposite the regular programs. 

The title comes from the 1939 play and 1942 film The Man Who Came To Dinner.

The chalkboard gag is "I will not speculate on how hot teacher used to be" and the couch gag is the family sits down and then the camera zooms outward until the entire universe is an atom inside another Homer, he says "Wow!" but the rest of the family doesn't know what he's referring to. 

Homer takes the kids plus Rod and Todd to the movies but all the kids movies are sold out so they go to see The Re-Deadening, a horror movie. That night the kids freak out when they hear something strange in the attic and go to see. Marge and Homer are getting snuggly when the kids break in and tell them there is a ghost in the house. They hear theremin music so Homer lights a torch and goes to the attic, they find Artie Ziff is living in their house. It turns out Artie went broke during the Dot Com bust. He had been stealing from the company and the SEC is looking for him. While playing poker Homer wins the controlling stock in Ziffcorp just as the SEC shows up so they arrest Homer instead of Artie. Homer is sentenced to 10 years in jail. Selma  drags Artie back to her apartment and they "snuggle". Artie decides he has to get Homer out of jail by turning over his secret corporate books. Selma arranges for conjugal visits. Artie goes around spraying the other prisoner's cigarettes to put them out so Marge tells the kids to take their last look at him.

This is the first chalkboard gag since the episode Today, I Am A Clown in 2003.

The couch gag is based on the 1977 short film Powers Of Ten. Kodos and Kang are seen as the image zooms out. Also Sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss plays during the couch gag, it is best known from the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Moves at the Springfield Googolplex Theaters: Return To Ape Valley / The Fashion Of The Christ / Ghost Frat / Eating Nemo / From Justin To Kelly 4 / The Unwatchable Hulk / The Pianist Goes Hawaiian / Freddy Vs. Jason Vs. Board Of Education / The Wide Dingleberries Movie / A Matrix Christmas / Diet Coke: The Movie / President Air Bud: Tail To The Chief / My Big Fat Greek Salad (not a movie according to the guy in the ticket booth) / The Re-Deadening / Teenage Sex Wager / You're In The Matrix Charlie Brown

Self Aware Joke: Homer makes a comment about a tv cartoon (The Wide Dingleberries Movie) stretched out into a movie. This was 3 years before The Simpsons Movie was released although the producers had been working on the idea since 2001.

Rod and Todd have a pamphlet about movies, What Would Jesus View? by Michael Medved. He is a real movie reviewer with a heavy conservative leaning opinion.

The doll in the movie The Re-Deadining is based on the doll Annabelle which is suppose to be possessed. Annabelle came out in 2014. The song in the movie is Krzysztof Koeda's Lullaby from the movie Rosemary's Baby. 

Lisa's attic video is based on the 1999 movie The Blair Witch Project. Her film is a Pink Pony Production and her website is Lisathemove.com. Fox owns the web site but nothing is there.

Marge and Homer watch the 1973 police show Kojak, Marge also mentions Cannon and Barnaby Jones, two other 70's detective shows. 

A 1986 Newsweek "Why America Loves Saddam Hussein". The US was in the second year of Bush's war in Iraq. Hussein would be executed two years later. 

Mambo Number 5 plays while Artie is explaining on how he went broke. The logo on his corporate headquarters is based on the Enron one. Artie is in a hot tub with Newt Gingrich, Janeane Garofalo and Scottie Pippin.

Artie reads Lisa Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections. This is a real book that came out in 2001.

Homer takes Artie to Moe's, at the bar are Jay Sherman (A Star Is Burns), Aristotle Amadopolis (Homer Defined), Professor Lombardo (Brush With Greatness and Llewellyn Sinclair (A Streetcar Named Marge), all characters that had been voiced by Jon Lovitz.

Krusty is part of the congressional investigation into Ziffcorp. He was elected in the episode Mr. Spritz Goes To Washington

Springfield Shopper headline: Simpson Found Guilty, Sentenced To 10 years / Local bully to Homer: "Haw Haw" (with a photo of Nelson)

Springfield Penitentiary: If you committed murder, you'd be home by now.

Book at the prison waiting room: When Daddy Does Hard Time. It's a pop up book with "daddy" stabbing the jail house stoolie with a shiv. On the next page the prisoners set "daddy" on fire. 

While in prison Homer sings Charlie Louvin's Turn Around, adding his own lyrics.

Co-Dependents' Day

This episode premiered on March 21st 2004. The lead in show was King Of The Hill and it was followed by a Simpsons rerun (The Fat And The Furriest). It ran opposite Extreme Makeover: Homer Edition, 60 Minutes and American Dreams

The couch gag is a repeat of the family turning to dust.

The family goes to see Cosmic Wars: The Gathering Shadow, however the movie is really dull. Marge convinces the kids to write a complaint letter however they get a form letter back so they decide to go see the producer in person. Bart and Lisa sneak away from the tour and confront Curtis about how his stories are boring. Homer and Marge start getting wine drunk and head to Moe's, the next day Krusty is on the couch and gives them money for what he did in the fireplace. After an extended binge Marge wakes up with a horrible hangover and wants to swear off alcohol, so Homer takes her to Octoberfest, she decides to have just one beer and gets really drunk. Homer drives drunk and crashes, when the cops show up he puts Marge in the drivers seat and sneaks off, she gets arrested. The church crowd mocks Marge for being an alcoholic. She commits herself to a 28 day rehab center. Lisa tells Homer that she's suspicious of the circumstances of the drunk driving crash. Homer plans on breaking Marge out and he confesses to putting her in the drivers seat, Marge decides to get drunk and all the patients has hidden alcohol. In the end Marge decides that she likes spending time with Homer but wants him to give up drinking. A polka band plays the closing theme. 

Movies at the Googolplex: Teenage Sex Wager Vs. Boner Academy / Cosmic Wars: The Gathering Shadow / The Momentum Of Things staring Ellen Burstyn and Jim Broadbent

Cosmic Wars is a spoof on Star Wars and Randall Curtis is a spoof on George Lucas. 

Fox, A Division Of Orange Julius. Today they are a division of Disney. 

Cosmic Wars Ranch: Formerly Fresno California. Marge and Homer go to the Lush Valley Winery.

Lisa and Bart plan to go complain to Fox Broadcasting at 10201 West Pico, Building 203. This is the actual address for the studio.

Moe has a bottle of Chateau Latour 1886 and serves it to Marge and Homer. (considering how it was stored it probably went bad decades ago.

Lets Misbehave by Cole Porter plays over the montage of Homer and Marge on their binge.

Marge and Homer go to see The Lost Weekend / Days Of Wine And Roses / Barfly / The Lizzie McGuire Movie (they come out shaking and scared from the last one)

The band at Octoberfest is Brave Combo. They are a real band and played the polka songs in the episode.

Duffmensch shows up at Octoberfest.

First Church Of Springfield: We Welcome Other Faiths (Just Kidding)

A-1 Chimney Sweeps Formerly Z-99 Chimney Sweeps. Not found in Yellow Pages.

Quitters. A Place For Rehab. Andy Dick Is In

While on hold Homer sings Wichita Lineman and MacArthur Park both written by Jimmy Webb.

Series regulars at rehab: Otto, Sea Captain, Mrs. Krabappal, Agnes

This was another episode that started off with one plot line and morphed into a "Marge and Homer's marriage is in trouble" story. it also just said, "well, this is the end". They seem to be happening more and more.

The Wandering Juvie

This episode premiered on March 28th 2004. It ran in its usual time slot (the Simpson's rerun was The Regina Monologues) and opposite the regular shows.

The name comes from the plant the Wandering Jew, also the name for Judas (or other Biblical characters) who in some stories was cursed with immortality and forced to forever wander the earth alone.

The couch gag is a repeat of the Polaroid 

The family goes to Costington's department store, Homer confused the changing room with the restroom. Skinner and Krabappal are setting up their wedding registry. Bart finds out about the bar code reader for bridal registries, he pus his and a fake girls names on the computer and goes nuts. He then sends out wedding invitations to the people of Springfield and puts a gift table sign at a jobs fair. Bart gets caught by Wiggum who only accepts cash bribes and arrests Bart. Judge Harm sentences Bart to 6 months in juvenile hall. The family turns on each other with blame. The slide on the playground of juvie has a bully punching kids as they come down, complete with a souvenir photo stand of them getting hit. Bart gets too near the fence, the girls on the other side tie his hands with a scrunchy and threaten him. Homer sees a sign for a guard position at juvie. He shows up and announces he's Bart's father, but then it's quitting time and he won't be back for three days. At a dance the boys and girls are handcuffed together as dance partners. As soon as Bart's dance partner, Gina, gets the opportunity she escapes and Bart gets dragged along. The kids go to a blacksmith and are released from the handcuffs, Gina punches Bart and runs off. Bart follows her and finds out that that she doesn't have a family, she attacks him and get caught by Wiggum. Gina confesses that she escaped and drug Bart along, Wiggum lets Bart go. The Simpsons show up at jail to have taco night with Gina. 

Sarah Michelle Gellar does the voice of Gina Vendetti, Charles Napier returns as the warden and Jane Kaczmarek returns as Constance Harm.

The escape plot is based on the 1958 movie The Defiant Ones.

Costington's: Downtown's Last Gasp Of Class. A wino walks by and knocks off letters turning it into Last Gas Of Ass.

Bart puts his name and Lotta Cooties on the bridal registry. Billy Idol's White Wedding plays.

Springfield Juvenile Correctional Facility: Now accepting criminal midgets. 

Career Day at Juvie: Burger Flipper / French Fry Salter / Late Night Clean Up / Drive-Thru Specialist / Bathroom Mopper / Bun Package Opener, these are all sponsored by Krusty Burger. 

Juvie movie night: The Itchy And Scratchy Show: The Battle Of Slaughter-Loo. "The following cartoon has been edited for prison viewing" The armies of Itchys and Scratchys are on opposing hills, they charge towards each other pulling out bigger weapons, then it cuts to the end with Itchy declaring victory. 

Guards Wanted: If you can read this, you're overqualified. 

The sampler in the Warden's office: His Judgment Cometh And That Right Soon. This is from the 1994 movie Shawshank Redemption. (I added this to the wikipedia page for this episode)

Color My World by Chicago plays at the juvie dance. 

Bart's mug shot number is 158734. Gina's is 139812

Snake has written a book "Ten Habits Of Highly Successful Criminals.

Cletus whittles statues of  what he sees, including the Pillsbury Doughboy caught in a bear trap and fugitive Bart, he also whittles the future, the image of Wiggum being mauled by a bear.

The line at the blacksmith to get handcuffs off: Laurel and Hardy in striped prison uniforms / a Native American and a Cowboy / a hippie and a solider / A nun and a hooker / Sea Captain and a squid

The warden plans on going home to watch Will And Grace. The show ran from 1996 to 2006. I didn't realize it was on the air that long. 

This was the third episode in a row to feature a prison theme.

My Big Fat Geek Wedding

This episode premiered on April 18th, 2004. It ran in its usual time slot (The President Wore Pearls was the Simpsons rerun). It ran opposite Extreme Makeover, Cold Case and Dateline NBC

The title comes from the 2002 movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

The couch gag is a repeat of the Play-Doh factory. (according to Wikipedia the slot machine was seen in syndication)

Homer is whittling down D batteries to fit in the AAA slot in the remote, they spark in the dark and are keeping Marge awake so she heads to the couch. Over the school PA Skinner announces he and Mrs. Krabappal will be getting married on Saturday, he also includes the exact room of the hotel they'll be staying at and tells the kids they don't want to be disturbed. Marge throws a bachelorette party, she sends the kids to Grandpa to protect their fragile little minds, he shows them pictures of the horrors of WWII. Homer throws the bachelor party at Moe's, it's just a typical night at the bar. Chalmers forces Skinner to drink a beer and he gets instantly drunk. Duffman shows up at the bachelorette party and does a strip show, Ned calls the cops but the girls think Wiggum is another stripper, he goes ahead and dances for the money. Skinner confesses that he's having second thoughts. At the wedding Skinner tries to walk out backwards but Homer forces him to go back to the alter. Edna imagines the future of their marriage complete with Skinner's mother as a spider cyborg. She decides that if Skinner doesn't want to get married she is going to leave and runs off. Marge goes to talk to Krabappal and tells her she's happy with Homer although she remembers nothing but the bad times. Homer takes Skinner over to Krabappal's to tell him what to say, however Marge is telling her what to reply. Krabappal returns CBG's Incredible Hulk melon baller and invites him out to dinner. Skinner tries to get Edna back but finds out she's sleeping with CBG. The Simpsons go to the comic book convention to try to find CBG and Edna. CBG wants to have a Klingon wedding at the comic book convention, Skinner shows up dressed as Catwoman to object. Edna decides to not marry either of them. Homer offers to marry Marge again, the Klingon priest from the convention shows up. 

Matt Groening does his own voice. He is at the convention and talks about how he's happy to give autographs and drawings. I have an autographed copy of Life In Hell with a drawing of Binky.

Marge reads Recipes To Think About In Bed. Reading cookbooks was trendy in the early 2000's. 

When Nelson gets a home run during a kick ball game the theme from the 1984 movie The Natural plays.

At the bachelorette party they play Libido, The Naughty Word Scramble Game. 

U-Save Strippers "If we send your daughter....it's Free!

Banner at Springfield elementary: Skinner-Krabappel Wedding In Gym "No Dark-Soled Shoes" / Go Grrroom! / Bride Pride

The Larry Davis Wedding Experience plays at the reception. Their last appearance seems to be the episode Homer To The Max, 5 years earlier. They perform Just The Two Of Us.

Barney is an alcoholic again. 

Comic Book Guy show Edna a copy of I Do Comics "Oh No! 'Sob' I Married the High School Principal!"

Skinner tries to serenade Edna with a versions of The Lion Sleeps Tonight. 

Weird stuff: CBG slept with Skinner's mother and fiancee. 

Bi-Monthly Science Fiction Convention "Warning You could be photographed and used in ads....Looking Like That.

Skinner's Catwoman costume is based on the one Michelle Pfeiffer wore in the 1992 film Batman Returns.

This is the second time Homer and Marge get remarried. The first time was in the episode A Milhouse Divided. 

Some people were sad about the breakup of Edna and Skinner. Personally there were long stretches where I forgot they were a couple. Overall the storyline won't have much of an impact on my viewing of the series.

This one almost turned into another Marge And Homer's Marriage Is In Trouble but they wrapped it up in the last few minutes. Thank goodness.

And so we come to episode 330. I'm pretty sure I hadn't seen two of these before, possibly a third one (I might only know it from previews). We are getting closer to The Simpsons Movie but are still 20 years worth of episodes away from completing this whole goofy odyssey thing. I should have gone with Green Acres, that show only ran for 6 years. I'd be long since done by now.