The Simpsons 391-395

Springfield Up

This episode premiered on February 18th 2007. The lead in show was a Simpsons rerun (The Haw Hawed Couple) and was followed by King Of The Hill. It ran opposite Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, 60 Minutes and Grease, You're The One That I Want.

The title comes from the 1964 documentary series Up. When this show aired the series was on it's 7th film, 49 Up.

The couch gag is a repeat of the cockroach family.

Declan Desmond has returned to Springfield. 32 years earlier he had interviews a group of schoolchildren and now he is doing a follow up in his documentary Growing Up Springfield. There are a series of photos of Moe, ugly child, teen mugshot, hip bartender, middle aged bartender, ugly bartender. 

32 Year Ago. The first kid Declan interviews is Lenny, the only thing he's looking forward to his dinosaur cake, Declan decides to leave him out for the rest of the series. Homer drops a coin in a well and wishes to be richer than everybody else and they all laugh at him.

The second kid is Clancy, at 8 he plays cops and robbers, as the cop. At 16 he's the hall monitor. Snake is known as "Detention Bird" instead of "Prison Bird". At 24 Wiggum's goes to the police academy, while giving the commandant a back rub with his gun he shoots the documentary cameraman. At 32 Wiggum is on the Springfield police, as the masseuse, he offers a guaranteed 8:30 AM massage to the mayor if he's chief of police. In the modern world Lou makes fun of Wiggums pants but Clancy doesn't have a comeback.

Homer at 8, he imagines he'll be rich with a huge mansion and a pinball machine with unlimited quarters. At 24 Homer is selling manure out of his broken down car and is an actor paid to ask questions in infomercials. He says he'll never let a couple of rugrats tie him down, cut to 8 years later with Bart and Lisa. At 40 Homer is living in a mansion. Rewind 8 years and Homer is working as part of a mariachi band in a Mexican restaurant. He gets rich off a pen that dispenses condiments. Declan says he can't embarrass Homer any further then the screen says "Barley Literate, Smells Like Feet"

The next kid is John (Frink). At age 8 he says he wants to grow up to be a rocket scientist. He is bullied by Fat Tony. Forward to the modern world and he's cured Frink's Disease, discovered Frinkconium and invented the 8 Month After Pill, he has now invented the Chrono-Trike to time travel back and convince himself to go into a different line of work so he can talk to a girl. He goes back to when he was 8 but gets hit by two cars and Carl takes off in his time machine. 

The next kid is Elanor, at age 8 she wants to be a doctor and a lawyer. At age 24 she had graduated from both Yale Law and Medical school.  Jump another 8 years and she's a chain smoking alcoholic with a cat. In the modern world she's the cat lady. 

Marge at age 8, she's a shutterbug and gets a picture of Moe accidentally kissing CBG. At 16 she's the school newspaper photographer. At 24 Marge is working at the mall photographer stand and supporting Homer while he gets his band together. A normal looking guy is getting a photo for his boating license, Psych, you thought it was the Captain but it's really Disco Stu and when Marge turns on disco music it changes his life.

In the middle of the modern day interview with Marge, Mr. Burns returns to his summer home to discover the Simpsons are pretending to be rich. Homer offers to give Burns Bart to do with what he wants. Mr. Smithers has been tied up and stuffed into a grandfather clock. Mr Burns wants release the hounds but they are at the winter house so Smithers has to go pick them up. Cut to 90 minutes later and Burns is telling stores of his life, Smithers shows up and the hounds are released. Declan chases Homer all over town to try to get him to talk. As he's about to confront Homer at home Lenny shows up to do his modern segment but Declan isn't interested in watching Lenny fill out check with the butterflies on them. Homer confesses that he didn't want to look like a loser, Declan plans to cut but Marge chews him out. Declan goes to Moe's to say he has developed an affection for the Simpsons and Moe points out that Homer has a great life. Declan gets an idea. Declan shows footage of the various people saying how much they like Homer. Marge asks Homer to not kill Declan, he says he wasn't planning on it when a variety of knives fall out of his clothes. Homer decides to use Declan's sound board to create a song. An 8 year old, black and white, Carl pops up in the background on the time machine but then disappears again. Declan and Homer sing Pitch Fork Lady. The end. 

Eric Idle returns as the voice of Declan Desmond.

Frink's Chrono-Trike is based on the time machine from the 1960 movie.

The Sentinel headline (Springfield High newspaper): Cheerleader Flung Into Next County / Boy Brings Enough For Everyone / Typing Class Tragedy (photo of the gym filled with coffins)

Marge plays Disco Inferno while working as a mall photographer.

Mr. Burns has Bull Moose Elbow Salve with a picture of Teddy Roosevelt on the label. 

When Mr. Burns tears off the portrait of the Simpsons in his summer house underneath is a painting of him in Andrew Wyeth's Christina's World. 

Homer is reading Pat Summerall's Smut Yuks.

Declan is working on a documentary Ain't No Mountain: A Blind Man Climbs Everest.

Yokel Chords

This episode premiered on March 4th 2007. The lead in show was The War At Home and it was followed by The Winner (A short lived sitcom about a man remembering his life in 1994). It ran opposite Extreme Makeover, The Amazing Race and Grease, You're The One That I Want.

The title comes from the term Yokels meaning rural people and Vocal Cords.

The couch gag is a repeat of the vending machine.

Marge dreams about reading a James Patterson book "Kiss The Girls" while sitting on a tropical beach. Patterson shows up and asks her to run away with him. Homer tells Marge that he took care of the morning routine, but he gave Lisa a drawing of a sandwich and gave Bart Grandpa's pills. Cut to the senior bus with Abe behind the wheel and driving crazy. To get a lunch Bart comes up with the story of Dark Stanley DeGroot. Bart says Stanley was a cook at the school and the kids make fun of him for flunking out of MIT. He goes nuts and kills the children to make soup. The story spreads around school and grows. Bart is telling the story in the cafeteria, the lights go out and when the come back on he's taken spaghetti and make it looks like his brains. All the kids run out so he eats their lunches. Skinner is helping Chalmers carry his collection of antique perfume bottles and the kids smash them. Willie rounds up the kids and hauls them back to school. Chalmers discovers that the Spuckler children don't go to school, Skinner points out that if the hillbilly kids will lower the overall testing scores. Lisa catches them and complains. Skinner offers to let Lisa be the Spuckler's tutor. After spreading the story Bart has to go to a psychiatrist, he tells her that he's been through the whole racket and she's wasting her time, she offers him the opportunity to play Death Kill City II: Death Kill Stories, rated Bad For Everyone. She plays Mad Libs with Bart as a word association, Bart starts talking about Homer. Lisa takes the kids downtown to learn and they do a version of Some Of My Favorite Things. Krusty sees the kids singing and wants to recruit them. Just as Bart is making progress however the school only paid for 5 sessions so he's done. Krusty offers to hire the kids and signs a contract with Cletus but he becomes a cruel taskmaster. The Spuckler kids do a version of 16 Going On 17. Lisa complains about them being exploited. Bart is depressed to see the psychiatrist with Milhouse. Cletus is blowing the kids money pimping himself out. Bart starts talking to an empty chair so Marge goes to see Dr. Swanson and pays for her to see Bart. Bart thinks he acts out for attention and decides he doesn't need to go back to the doctor. The psychiatrist goes to another psychiatrist after Bart leave her,  he tells her that perhaps she is using Bart to replace the son who was killed by Dark Stanley. Krusty is going to take the kids on a bus tour but Brandeen shows up in a military helicopter, she's serving in Iraq. It turns out that Cletus isn't the father to most of the children. 

Talk about an all star guest lineup, Meg Ryan does the voice of Dr. Swanson, Peter Bogdanovic does a second psychiatrist. Andy Dick, James Patterson and Stephen Sondheim do their own voices.

The animation of Dark Stanley is based on the works of Edward Gorey, the song is Suite Punta del Este and best known from the movie The 12 Monkeys. 

When Wilie rounds up the kids the theme from the 1965 movie The Hallelujah Trail plays.

When Skinner and Chalmers are trying to figure out a way to stop Lisa from spreading the story about the Spuckler children they sing a version of How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria from Sound Of Music.

The Daily Fourth Grader headline: Skinner To Hicks: "Drop Dead"

Lisa does a spoof on the opening scene from Sound Of Music while singing a version of The Hills Are Alive.

Lisa takes the kids to see the 1929 film Un Chein Andalou. 

Self Aware Joke, Bart says he has a dream that the whole family is just cartoon characters and their success lead to the creation of some crazy propaganda network called Fox News.

Psychiatric Quarterly: Effectiveness of Clozapine versus Olanzapine and Risperdone in Patients with Chronic Schizophrenia. 

Krusty's No Collar Comedy Tour. This is a spoof on the Blue Collar Comedy Tour. The comedians on the tour are Butt-Crack Barry / Merle Values / Reverend Racist / Andy Dick. 

Easter Egg Background, the studio is across from the Box Factory. This is a call back to the episode Bart Gets Famous. 

When Brandeen accepts Cletus's apology he says "Baby, you're the greatest". This was a line from the TV show The Honeymooners. The scene cuts to the moon rising with Cletus's face on it and he says "How sweet it is" which was Jackie Gleason's catch phrase.

Rome-Old and Juli-Eh

This episode premiered on March 11th, 2007. The lead in show was NASCAR racing and it was followed by The Winner. It ran opposite the regular programs.

The title comes from the Shakespeare play Romeo and Juliet

The couch gag is a repeat of the Bonanza map.

Homer has a surprise for the family so he blindfolds them, however the surprise is in the basement and they fall down the stairs. Homer has remodeled the basement into a family game room, his plan to pay for it all is to declare bankruptcy, however they changed the law and now he has a financial officer to oversee his debts. In order to save money Homer removes Abe from the nursing home, he moves into the basement. Ned gets an order of free shipping boxes and gives Bart the number for ordering. Grandpa has filled the fridge with his pills. Homer and Marge go out so they call Selma to watch Grandpa while he watches the kids. They drink wine and end up making out but get caught by Homer and Marge. Bart and Lisa build a box fort in the back yard. Patty comes up with a plan to break up Able and Selma. The A.S.S. driver shows up to demand the boxes back but the kids refuse to leave their fort. Patty pretends to be Selma and Homer pretends to be a bullfighter. Selma shows up and catches them, Abe and Selma get mad at them so he proposes and she accepts. Lisa complains about throwing rice at weddings, cut to several birds exploding, Homer tries to get Selma to eat some. Selma has to take a promotion and work longer hours to pay for a house for her and Able. Lisa and Bart get attacked by the A.S.S. drivers. Nelson shows up to join in the fight, after they win the battle they destroy the fort with a hose. Abe destroys the house so Selma decides that they need to split up. Homer and Marge role-play with his "Senior Sexy" costume but Homer runs out of the room and then comes back demanding to know where the other man is.

Homer's remodeled basement, shag carpet. Triangle Wars, Duff Beer Sign, Air Hockey, Glass top gas pump, Juke Box, Model train that runs around the top of the wall, ping pong table, football poster, dart board, Chevy Chase Foul Play pinball machine, Football helmet light. Beanbag chairs. 

The 1978 movie Foul Play was Chevy Chase's first post SNL starring role.

Marge spends $500 a month on a gambling website. In the episode $pringfield we learn she's a gambling addict.

Granpa's posters for his basement room: Keep Cool With Coolidge / Lillian Gish in "Broken Blossoms" This was a real 1919 movie btw.

A.S.S. American Shipping Service. Not Affiliated With The Human Ass. The shipping company number is 1-800-Ass-Ship. This is a real phone number for a car shipping company.

Is She Really Going Out With Him by Joe Jackson plays over the montage of Abe and Selma dating.

Selma and Abe look at a poster of Woody Allen's 1979 movie Manhattan.

Mall Stores: Eye Carumba / Shoelaces Plus / Unwanted Candles / Affordable Sportables / Springfield Book Worm (the O looks like ringworm) / 1 Photo

When Patty and Homer are mentally preparing to make out he pictures Marge and she pictures Mrs. Krabappal in the photo from the episode Bart The Lover.

Church banner: Congratulations Selma and Bob Lionel Troy Stu Bob Abe

Abe worked at Pan Am and plans to go back there. They went out of business in 1991.

The cardboard fight is a spoof on Lord Of The Rings, Ode To Joy plays during the attack. There is also a dragon that ends up stabbed with a cardboard tube. 

Abe has a VHS of the 1949 film The Sands Of Iwo Jima

In the episode Gump Roast they had future episodes including Grandpa marrying both Patty and Selma.

Homerazzi

This episode premiered on March 25th 2007. The lead in show was The War At Home and was followed by King Of The Hill. It ran opposite Extreme Makeover, 60 Minutes and Grease You're The One That I Want.

The title comes from the term paparazzi which is used to describe celebrity photographers. 

The chalkboard gag is "Global Warming Did Not Eat My Homework" and the couch gag is Homer starts out as a single cell and then goes through division. He turns into a jellyfish Homer, then a regular fish, an octopus Burns tries to catch him, he ends up on the land where he adapts and turns into a lizard, he eats a Lenny dragonfly. There is an Agnes pterodactyl. He evolves into a rat like figure and gets attacked by a Bart dinosaur, however T Rex Bart and Stegosaurus Lisa get into a fight (a spoof of the dinosaur scene from Fantasia). A meteor destroys the planet and Homer survives. He evolves into a monkey and then a human. Meanwhile Moe is devolving from human back into an animal. Time goes by from the Ice Age,  Dark Ages, Renaissance, Victorian era, to the modern world. When he finally gets home and sits on the couch Marge asks "What took you so long?"

It's Homer's birthday but he can't blow out the candles. He thinks they are trick but they are regular candles but he still can't do it. Lisa complains that Homer is out of shape. He spends the next three hours trying to blow out the candles and ends up setting the house on fire. To protect their stuff they buy a fireproof safe. Marge puts the photo album in, Lisa puts her Malibu Stacy car. Homer puts in the cologne from their first date. Bart puts in his Catch A Rising Star Krusty. Bart's Krusty doll sets the toy car headlights which overheats the cologne which explodes destroying Marge's photo album. Lisa says they can't restage the photos, so that's what Marge does. After recreating everything Marge comes home from the photo developer but trips on a Happy Little Elf doll and tosses them under the lawn mower, however she got duplicates so the day isn't ruined. In one of the duplicated photos Duffman can be seen on a date with Booberella. Marge decides to sell the photo to the local tabloid to get money to pay for their fire damage. Homer takes a job as a celebrity photographer. He gets blown off at the Krusty movie premier so he decides to have Bart annoy Paris Texan so she attacks him with a bottle. Betty White shows up and is nice to Homer and knows everything about the family. Homer insults Derrick's Tatum's hip hop album, he smashes all of Homer's cameras. Marge wants Homer to quit but she is addicted to the gossip. Homer flies over Rainer Wolfcastle's marriage, Rainer vows revenge and invites all the celebrities to his house. The celebrities hire Enrico Irratazio to get photos of Homer at his most embarrassing moments. When Homer quits and the celebrities celebrate. Lenny and Carl complain about celebrities so Homer decides to take photos of their party. He busts into the party and starts taking photos (a spoof of a McBain movie). Homer offers to not reveal the photos if the celebrities will be kinder to normal people. Woflcastle invites the Simpsons to his offshore platform for a BBQ. Marge asks if he'll look at her screenplay but he says he can't look at unsolicited manuscripts and then steals the idea for his own movie Mrs. Mom (A spoof on Mrs. Doubtfire).

J.K. Simmons does the voice of the tabloid editor (a spoof on JJ. Jameson from Spiderman) John Lovitz does the voice of Enrico Irratazio and Betty White does her own voice.

E*Z Blo Brand Easy Blow Candles, Now Easier To Blow! (there is a picture of a ladybug blowing out a candle)

Homer's cologne is Scent of a Wookiee from the Star Wars Collection. 

Freezeframe by the J. Giles Band plays during the photo montage. 

When they take a "Happy 1987" photo the family looks like they did in the Tracy Ullmann shorts. 

The series regulars who come over to restage the Star Trek Voyager show finale party: Lenny (dressed as 7 of 9) Barney, Homer Dr. Hibbert (dressed as Tuvok), Carl and Ned. "Bon Voyage Voyager"

Lisa reads Man and Superman by G. B. Shaw. Bart reads Aquaman and Superman by D.C. Comics.

Dated reference, Marge uses a film camera and gets prints at the photo developer, along with duplicates.

The Springfield Inquisitor headline: Friends Pray For Luigi's Death / Mr. Teene's Cocaine Orgy.

The Krusty Movie Premiering Tonight.

Gabbo shows up at the Krusty movie premier. They were once on rival programs on two different networks.

Fancy Farms grocery store. Health A Bitz 100% Natural cereal.

The Yee Haw Texan's daughter is named Paris Texan (a spoof on the city Paris Texas and Paris Hilton)

Homer's photos, Paris Texan, Paul McCartney, Gary Coleman, Yao Ming, Mr T, Elton John, Jimmy Durante (who died in 1980 btw), Jose Canseco, Drederic Tatum.

Homer has a photo of Arthur Crandall beating up Gabbo and Krusty flashing Betty White.

Embarrassing photos of Homer, Maggie hanging off the rear view mirror / Showering in a fire hydrant / drunk at Build A Bear / Fighting with a deer / burning a jury duty notice / Fighting with SLH for pizza / eating pizza out of the trash / sitting in the kid's wading pool with a cigar / flexing for the mirror

The celebrities celebrate at the Snub Club

Marge Gamer

This episode premiered on April 22nd, 2007. The lead in show was King Of The Hill and it was followed by a Simpsons rerun (Please Homer, Don't Hammer 'Em). It ran opposite Extreme Makeover, The Amazing Race and Dateline NBC.

The couch gag is The Springfield Shopper spins into frame with the headline "Couch Gag Thrills Nation" The photo is of the family on the couch. 

The PTA is getting everyone's emails but Marge doesn't have one. Lisa shows Marge the internet so she googles herself and finds a satellite image of the house, showing Homer naked in the backyard, he runs away from her and winds up in Ned's house where his parents are visiting. Marge becomes addicted to an online role-playing game Earthland Realms. The Shadow Knight shows up and kills Skinner's character. Marge finds out that Bart is the Shadow Knight and shows up at his castle, Bart is angry. Lisa started playing soccer after seeing the 2003 movie Bend It Like Beckham. The game has been cancelled because they don't have a ref but Homer volunteers, he makes a mess of the game, which makes Lisa. The bullies are about to attack Marge in the game when Bart shows up. Homer watches hours of soccer and becomes good at the game. When Helen Lovejoy gets mad at Homer he kicks her and the reverend out. Lisa starts faking being fouled in order to win the games. Ronaldo shows up to expose Lisa so Homer gives her a yellow card, she protests so he gives her a red card and kicks her out of the game. Marge redecorates Bart's on line trophy room with Hello Kitty and he accidentally kills her. Homer and Bart head to Moe's, he gives them advice on how to win the women back. Homer buys Lisa a DVD on fights that broke out due to soccer cheating. Lisa tells Homer that he was correct and she decides to play the game just for fun. Bart uses his life force to save Marge and everyone attacks and kills him. Marge vows revenge but Bart would rather go play outside. 

Ronaldo does his own voice

PTA Meeting Tonight, Let's Fail Your Children Together.

During the soccer game Homer tears off his shirt and is wearing a sports bra in a spoof of the 1999 Brandi Chastain incident.

When the Virgin Mary statue comes alive to break up a soccer riot in Brazil Adagio For Strings plays, in a spoof on the 1986 movie Platoon.

This one was kind of awkward. They didn't go into the video game realm enough to make the story interesting and the soccer one felt like a rehash of previous episodes where the kids get involved sports, especially the episode Bart Star. There also wasn't a lot of references and lets be honest, Ronaldo was clearly reading from a script and they just went with it. Oh well.

Well, another five episode done. Five more and I'm at the end of the 18th season and then on to the movie, it will have it's own blog naturally. Also I should note, I have seen the movie.