The Simpsons 371-375

Homer Simpson, This Is Your Wife

This episode premiered on March 26th 2006. The lead in show was King Of The Hill and it was followed by The War At Home. It ran opposite Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, 60 Minutes and The West Wing. 

The title is based on the 1955 TV series This Is Your Life and the plot is based on the British show Wife Swap.

The chalkboard gag is "I will not laminate dog doo" and the couch gag is repeat of the kebab roasting. 

Marge and Homer are going to Lenny's for a party that he is throwing in honor of his new Plasma HD TV. Homer falls in love with it and takes up residency on Lenny's couch. Marge sends the kids to get Homer but they become fascinated by the TV. Lenny tries to set Homer on fire to get rid of him. Marge enters a contest to try to win a flat screen TV but instead the family wins a tour of Fox Studios in Hollywood. While mocking Dan Castellaneta Homer runs into a statue of Mischa Barton (at the time she was starring in The O.C.) When Lisa asks about the show Mother Flippers she points out it's the same as show on another network so they give her a free sweatshirt, with an ABC logo on the back and to keep her quiet they lock her in the American Idol Holding Pen. Homer finds out the prize is enough to buy a new plasma TV so he volunteers for the show. Verity Heathbar is coming to live with Homer, Bart, Lisa and Maggie while Marge goes to live with Charles and Ben. During the introduction Homer and Bart moon the camera, the network uses Ryan Seacrest's head to cover it up. Verity is only doing the show to humiliate her husband. The Heathbars are horrible people and Charles starts to fall in love with Marge. Charles tries to seduce Marge but she admits she loves Homer, Charles says that Ben isn't his real son. Lisa shows up to bring Marge home. Homer has been hiding from Verity and has pizza taped to his legs. Charles shows up to tell Verity he wants a divorce but she's leaving him for Patty. Homer gets his TV. The closing credits has Ricky Gervais doing some of his...well I guess you'd call it comedy even though it's not very funny.

Ricky Gervais does the voice of Charles Heathbar (good thing I have Closed Captioning on, it's a personal thing). When the show was dubbed into German Christopher Marla Herbst did the voice. 

When the show originally aired it featured a live action opening, the camera zooms over a real cooling tower and into a school window, a boy writes I Will Not Eat Things For Money (a repeat of the episode Marge vs. The Monorail), the scenes are skateboarding out the school door, Homer dropping the rod while Mr. Burns checks his watch, Marge and Maggie at the grocery store, Lisa getting kicked out of the band classroom, Homer throwing the rod out of his shirt, Bart skateboarding down the street past the various characters, Marge and Maggie driving down the street, the driveway stuff and then the family plopping down on the couch. The whole thing is clearly British. It was originally shot for Sky One in England but was included since Ricky Gervais wrote the episode. In syndication they went with the animated version but you can see the live action alternative on YouTube.

Continuity error, Homer says Lenny is about to make a big announcement, Marge thinks he going to announce that he's getting married. Depending on which episode you watch Lenny is either single or married according to what the plot needs.

Carl does a version of Ain't No Party Like A West Coast Party by Coolio swapping in Lenny's name, but then he has to stop because he has to go to work in the morning.

Lenny has a Newsfake magazine cover "Man Of The Year". 

Dated Reference: Lenny throws a party to announce he has a new Plasma HD TV. Today you can buy one at Walmart.

Also Sprach Zarathustra plays when Homer takes up residence on Lenny's couch.

Homer watches Two And A Half Men. The show ran from 2003 to 2015.

Homer makes a scrapbook of 40 years of the Family Circus, but doesn't like one of the jokes so he throws it into the fire. The comic strip has run since 1960. At this point Homer would have been collecting them since 1966.

In LA a kid has a roadside stand selling botox for $5 an injection. 

Fox Network. Number Two With Prisoners 18-49. Here's where we make The Best Damn Sports Show, Period (First aired in 2001) and the Worst Damn Comedy Show, Period (A sign with Jody's World with David Spade, a fictional show)

Self aware joke, the family sees Dan Castellaneta (from the Tracy Ullmann show) at the Fox tour. He's does multiple voices on The Simpsons.

Fox shows: Dwarf Or Midget? America Decides / Million Dollar Fart Off / Mother Flippers

When touring Fox studios they give Lisa a hoodie with ABC on the back, now Disney owns ABC and Fox Entertainment. Another Simpson prediction?

Homer has a DVD Homer Gone Wild volume 6. "They'll never let me go near Lake Havasu again". This is a spoof on the Girls Gone Wild videos.  

Charles is an office manager, this is a reference to the 2001 British show The Office. 

Itchy And Scratchy Show, Scratchy is thrown into the guillotine but Scratchy shoots him with a tommy gun instead. Verity makes Bart do a verbal report to the family on the show, Itchy uses an ice cream scoop to scoop out Scratchy's heart and make a sundae. Homer has to give a report on CSI: Miami.

The housekeeper takes Ben to an Irish pub where the violinist plays Danny Boy. 

Fox flies Lisa on Frito Lay's Air Force Yum, "come to the cool ranch and rope in flavors yee-haw"

Charles says he's going to tell his wife "You're fired" like trump. The Apprentice ran from 2004 through 2017. 

Million Dollar Abie

This episode premiered on April 2nd 2006. The lead in show was King Of The Hill and it was followed by The Loop (a short lived sitcom about a guy in Chicago).  It ran opposite Extreme Makeover, Cold Case and The West Wing.

The title comes from the 2004 movie Million Dollar Baby.

The chalkboard gag is "I will not flip the classroom upside down" (the entire scene is upside down)  and the couch gag is a repeat of the TiVo menu screen.

Pro football wants to expand the league, the family says Springfield will be passed over since the only thing they are number one is is heart attacks. Homer vows to get the team for the city and everyone laughs at him. Various sounds are heard from the Simpsons basement including creepy children voice. Homer creates a model of the Springfield Meltdowns who play at the Duff Beer / Krustyburger / Buzz Cola / Costington's Department Store / Kwik-E-Mart / Stupid Flanders Stadium. His model includes a figure of himself puking in a trash can while Lenny and Carl cheer him on. The NFL picks Springfield because they don't like earthquakes and that potty mouth Sarah Silverman. The commissioner of football can't find his way to the stadium because the city changed all the street names to football references like Touch Down Ave and Two Minute Warning Blvd. He arrives at the Simpson's house and asks to use the phone however Grandpa is watching a story on 48 Minutes about criminals that ask to use the phone. Abe knocks him over the head and ties him up. When the Simpsons get home and free the commissioner he announces that the new team will never been in Springfield. Everybody hates Abe. He considers going to a euthanasia doctor but says he won't do it if he gets a call in the next 24 hours. The voters overturn the assisted suicide law just before Grandpa dies, he thinks he's dead and wanders around Springfield. He finds out he's still alive when he wanders into Luigi's where the family is eating dinner. Grandpa decides he needs to live without fear so he eats saltwater taffy and uses a mobility scooter at the skate park, telling the bullies they'll all die in a pointless war. The city holds a meeting on what to do with the new stadium, the leader of Los Souvenir Jacquitos suggests bullfighting (Lisa objects but is ignored). Grandpa volunteers to be the matador he becomes the hero of Springfield, except to Lisa. Grandpa decides he can't kill the bull and sets them all free, they go on a rampage throughout the city. Lisa and Grandpa float away on chairs attached to balloons but then two bulls tied to balloons show up. The closing credit scene features Grandpa testifying about people in the Communist Party.

Rob Reiner does his own voice.

Carmin Electra stars in Boobs, a show about remedial students. 

Jock Center features a slugger on 'roids (looks like Roger Clemens) / Tiger Woods is annoyed (a bird lands on his head) / North Korean Missiles Deployed. (the clip shows Kim Jong Il who died in 2011)

Maggie's words are translated into "Bald Mommy is sure to fail"

L.A. pitch for the football franchise features the song I Love L.A. by Randy Newman and has spokesman Rob Reiner. When comparing the tow cities Reiner talks about L.A.'s highlights and says Springfield has Apu. Rob pastes his name over his father's Walk Of Fame star and Rob Lowe's. 

Reiner mentions that Springfield takes in garbage from other cities (Trash Of the Titans) Quimby is seen holding a sign that says Welcome Vegas Trash. The trash barge has casino signs, used slot machines, dancer costumes and three dead Blue Man Group characters. 

Celebrity impersonators sing about L.A. Jar-Jar Sinks / The Who / Mark Knopfler / Bono / Sting / Bette Middler / Sylvester Stallone / Cindi Lauper / Steven Spielberg / Michale Jackson / Robert deNiro / Freddy Kruger / Quick Draw McGraw aka El Kabong / Quincy Jones directs. Several other people but I can't identify. 

48 Minutes is a spoof on 60 Minutes, which ran opposite The Simpsons, and their run time minus the commercials. The guest is Snake who likes to steal photos of the families and make collages that are a self portrait when looked at from a distance.

First Church Of Springfield Todays Topic: Jesus Hates You (this is meant for Abe after the football fiasco)

Nobody Loves You (When You're Down And Out) by John Lennon plays while Grandpa wanders around the city. 

The old Jewish Guy gives Abe a number to call, Dr. Egoyan 555-0362. Its a euthanasia doctor. 

The doctor uses a die-Pod (a spoof on an iPod) It features Instant Death / Slow Painful Death / Megadeath

The suicide chamber is a spoof on the death rooms in Soylent Green (spoiler alert)

Grandpa listens to Pennsylvania 6-5000 by Glen Miller while watching cops beat up hippies. 

Springfield Town Hall banner: Town Meeting. Come For The Agenda, Stay For the Addenda. 

Springfield Estadio de Toros Opening Day / Today: Bullfight Tomorrow: Bloody Sand Sale

At the opening of the bull fighting arena Lisa protests with a sign "Stop The Slaughter" and sings Blowin' In The Wind, a Bob Dylan song but made famous by the Peter, Paul and Mary cover.

Taco Pronto sponsors the bullfight broadcast.

Springfield Shopper headline: Old Man Beats Meat.

Lenny says he's smart, not book smart or street smart or something. This is a spoof on the Fredo speech from Godfather II

In the U.S. Bullfighting isn't like the European counterpart, animals are not allowed to be harmed so all the sticks are covered with velcro and stuck to a strip on the bull's back without penetrating the skin. They still do the cape and the bull is not killed at the end of the fight.

Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bangalor

This episode premiered on April 9th 2006. The lead in show was King Of The Hill and it was followed by The War At Home. It ran opposite Extreme Makeover, 60 Minutes and The West Wing.

The title comes from the 2005 movie Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang

The couch gag is a repeat of the dealt cards.

Mr. Burns shows a movie about how American workers are happy to be outsourced and then announces that the jobs are being moved to India. He throws a bouquet into the crowd and the person who gets it keeps their job, Homer wins. Patty and Selma go to see their hero, MacGuyver. They are the only two who show up. Richard Dean Anderson shows up looking for directions to SG:1 and insults the show MacGuyver, claiming that it was just a paycheck to him. Patty and Selma show up at the StarGate convention and kidnap Anderson. It takes Homer 65 hours to fly to India, he thinks he was going to Indiana. Homer gets into a fight with a cow over an iPod. Homer has to find Kavi, Apu's cousin, he turns out to be the second person Homer asks. Anderson escapes from Patty and Selma but then he comes back to explain how he MacGuyvered his way out. He asks them to tie him up again so he can try to escape a second time. Mr. Burns pretends to be a cobra rising out of a basket to welcome his Indian employees. Homer is suppose to explain to the workers how to run a nuclear plant so he turns to the management book Marge gave him. He reads some nonsense about fried eggs and the crowd cheers so they can go back to work. Kavi runs several tech support lines and does fake accents for each of them. Anderson keeps showing up asking Patty and Selma to put him in even more dangerous situations. Burns is happy because the plant is putting out 10% more power than the US version and he credits Homer and turns control over to him. Homer decides he's a God. In order to get rid of Anderson the sisters show their slides of their travels so he jumps out a window to escape. Mr Burns returns to the plant to discover that Homer has turned the place into the Apocalypse Now temple scene. it turns out that the Indian workers are only following Homer because he's been telling them about things like overtime, birthdays off and so forth, plus he unionized the staff. Burns moves the plant back to Springfield but the workers are happy because they set up "Golden Parachutes" for themselves. The show ends with a Bollywood dance number.

Richard Dean Anderson does his own voice.

Homer leaves a cutout of Mac Tonight in charge while he's in India. Mac was a mascot for McDonalds in 1986 advertising their later hours

Sons Of Sicily Hall. MacGyver Convent Today Conference Closet Q. Meanwhile across the street at the Coliseum is the SG:1 convention, complete with the Duff Blimp.

The kidnapping of Anderson is a spoof on the 1990 film Misery.

Marge's book for Homer to read on the flight to India, The Cereal Is The Prize. And other management secrets I learned at breakfast.

Homer uses his bodyguard's turban to imitate Carnac. Century Kids probably won't get the joke.

Bart has a new bully, he looks like Sluggo from the Nancy comic strips.

One of Kavi's tech support lines is a fake medium like Miss Cleo. Miss Cleo was an actress that promoted a psychic hotline in the 90's until the company was sued for fraud and deceptive billing practices. Youree Dell Harris, aka Miss Cleo died in 2016.

The End by The Doors plays while Burns takes the family upriver to find Homer. This is a spoof on the 1979 movie Apocalypse Now.

The Booze Cruise band plays Alexander's Rag Time Band by Irving Berlin.

When he thinks he's a god Homer and running the ritual at the power plant he looks like Mola Ram from the 1984 movie Indiana Jones and the Temple Of Doom.

The Bollywood dance number plays Pal Bhar Ke Liye by Kishore Kumar.

The Wettest Stories Ever Told

This episode premiered on April 23rd 2006. It ran in its usual time slot and opposite Extreme Makeover, Cold Case and The West Wing.

The title is based on the 1965 movie The Greatest Story Ever Told

The couch gag is a repeat of the jigsaw puzzle. They've added Homer saying D'oh when the heads are mixed up and then giggling when they are right. The hands are still pink btw.

The family is at the Fryin' Dutchman but their food is delayed because the chef is in a knife fight with an octopus. Lisa tells the story about the Mayflower. Marge and the kids are getting on the Mayflower when Homer comes rushing on board, he's a wanted man for questioning why they call it the Jacobean Era. The family disguises Homer as Marge's dead husband. Ned Flandish is the leader. Moe claims to be engaged to Marge. Homer strangles Bart and reminds Marge of her dead husband. Moe brought along beer for the Natives and tries to get Homer drunk. The ship gets hit by a storm and Moe exposes the crew as being drunk and blames Homer, they lock him in the stocks. Ned is knocked out so Homer takes control of the ship, they follow an albatross to the shore. Wiggum is the chief of the tribe at the first Thanksgiving. (talk about jokes that didn't hold up well)

Marge's name is Constance Prudence Chastity Goodfaith. aka Marge Obedience Temperance Sexwon't.

The Sea Captain shows up with their bill and they complain that they haven't gotten their food yet, so Bart tells another story, his is about The Bounty. Skinner is Captain Bligh, the crew is all the school children. He punishes the crew by pushing their mail overboard. Willie warns the captain about a potential mutiny but he just laughs at them. In Tahiti Homer is the chief of the locals. On the return trip Bligh abuses the crew so they mutiny. The crew sails back to Tahiti however Bart throws the wheel overboard and they crash into Antarctica. 

Pamphlet: The British Navy. Less Scurvy, More Curvy.

Weezer's Island In the Sun plays during the luau scene.

The crew visits Easter Island even though it's 1700 miles away.

The crew sings Row Row Row Your Boat.

Homer tells the story about The Poseidon Adventure. Burns is the captain of the Neptune, he makes several comments referring to capsized ships. The Simpsons are the band and Lisa sings a version of The Morning After. A giant wave hits the ship and it is capsized. Homer still celebrates NYE. Selma read all the brochures and tells everyone to head up towards the hull, Wiggum tells them to remain where they are. Homer goes to the restroom upside down. They head up through the vent shaft to a partially flooded room, CBG takes a rope and swims to the other side where they can reach the engine room, and then drops dead. The people are rescued and just then a haunted Bounty captained by Bart shows up.

70's movies mentioned by Burns: Earthquake / Towering Inferno / China Syndrome / Apple Dumpling Gang

CBG looks for some inspirational music, Alone Again by Gilbert O'Sullivan comes on the radio.

Bart's cursed Bounty crew is based on the 2003 movie Pirates Of The Caribbean. 

The end. The family never got their food btw.

Girls Just Want To Have Sums

This episode premiered on April 30th 2006. It ran in its usual time slot and opposite the regular programs. 

The title is based on the song Girls Just Want To Have Fun and the plot is based on Shakespeare's 12th Night, and the movies She's The Man (2006) and Just One Of The Guys (1985)

The couch gag is a repeat of the surprise party.

Juliana Krellner comes back to Springfield to direct a musical based on Itchy And Scratchy, she graduated top of her class except in math. Skinner comes on stage and starts making comments about women being inferior in math and gets attacked by the cast, and picketed by angry women. Skinner holds a diversity forum and wears a skirt however things go bad when everything he says is judged (The Simpsons predict the Woke Movement). Chalmers replaces Skinner with Upfoot and she divides the school by sexes. Homer and Marge get into a discussion about the inventions of women and men, Homer ends up sleeping on the couch. The girl's math class is trying to find out how numbers make you feel, Lisa complains. She sneaks over to the boy's side of the school and finds out that they are doing real math, she gets caught by assistant groundskeeper Skinner. Marge remembers back to when she was about to pass calculus but Homer distracted her and she never did math again so she disguises Lisa as a boy.  Bart nicknames Lisa Toilet. Milhouse tells Lisa (Jake) that he broke it off with Lisa, she gets mad and when she starts walking away she runs into Nelson, who beats her up on the playground. When Bart gets home he finds out that Lisa is Jake, he offers to teach her how to be a boy with instructions like eat like a slob and puke in CBG's fast food bag. Homer wants to "Wang Chung" with Marge but she's still mad at him over the women vs. men intelligence, he winds up on the couch again, when he makes a comment about being smarter than SLH he winds up in the dog house. Bart makes Lisa pick a fight with a smaller boy so she will finish her training. She goes after Ralph but won't take his lunch money, so Bart shoves her into him. The rest of the guys like her after that. Lisa wins an award for outstanding mathematics. She exposes herself at the award ceremony, Bart takes credit for teaching Lisa how to think like a boy. Lisa is giving a speech about learning but Mr. Largo interrupts her so he can give the award for best flautist, Martin, Lisa hits him with a chair in the middle of his song. 

Frances McDormand does the voice of Melanie Upfoot

Springfield Theater District: Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick in $$$ / One Guy Named Moe / Stab-A-Lot The Itchy and Scratchy Musical directed by Juliana Krellner and based on the book by Tom Stoppard.

Stab-A-Lot, based on the musical Spamalot, which is based on the musical Camelot. The play is based on The Lion King The Musical, the artwork is a reflection of the Disney artwork. During the "Circle Of Life" song Itchy pops out and starts slashing the other characters. 

Protest Signs: Skinner + Words = Hate / XX=XY / Why Did I Multiply? (Agnes Skinner) 

Springfield Elementary Banner: Diversity Forum Tonight Public Invited. Albanians Enter In Back. 

The girl's side of the school has paintings by Matisse, Frida Kahlo, Georgia O'Keefe and Cathy Guisewite. 

The boy's side of the school looks post apocalyptic with a bookmobile on fire, a crashed helicopter, a wolf, graffiti, a chalk outline.  

Boy's math book, Real Math, Now Extra Challenging.

Student Achievement Awards (Some Awards Pre-Taped)

At the award ceremony Martin plays Thick As A Brick by Jethro Tull, the actual song plays over the closing credits. (I hate Jethro Tull, the music not the guy)

This was another episode that set up a premises and then just sort of said "well, it's over" and left it at that. 

This episode is the end of another five. These episodes seemed to be all over the place and more and more into the cartoon world and less attached to reality.  Oh well, we're closer to the end, though not really, and closer to the movie. Onward to the next five.

Just a quick note. I'm gonna be taking a couple of weeks off from posting these because I have something to do and I won't have time for the show. I'm not quitting watching like I alway threaten to do, I'm just on a temporary break.