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1 | 1 | 1 | Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simpsons_Roasting_on_an_Open_Fire | While the Simpsons are Christmas shopping, Bart sneaks off and gets a tattoo. Marge soon discovers this and uses the family's Christmas savings to get it removed. Meanwhile, Homer discovers that he will not be getting a Christmas bonus from Mr. Burns and thus the family has no money to buy Christmas presents. He decides to keep their financial troubles a secret and get a job as a department store Santa, but later discovers that the job does not pay enough. Desperate for a miracle, Homer and Bart go to the dog track on Christmas Eve in hopes of earning some money. He bets it all on a long shot named Santa's Little Helper, who loses. Angry that he lost, the dog's owner disowns him. Homer lets Bart keep him. Later, Homer attempts to come clean to everyone, but Bart exclaims that they have a dog and everyone happily welcomes the newest member of the Simpson family. | After attending the Springfield Elementary School Christmas pageant, the Simpsons prepare for the holiday season. Bart and Lisa write letters to Santa; Lisa asks for a pony — which Marge tries to tactfully discourage by claiming that there would not be enough room for one on Santa's sleigh — and Bart wants a tattoo, which Marge and Homer forbid him from getting. The next day, Marge takes the kids Christmas shopping at the mall. Bart sneaks away to get a tattoo that reads "Mother" on his arm, thinking that Marge will like it. Before the artist can finish the tattoo, Marge finds Bart and drags him to the dermatologist to have it removed. She is forced to spend the family's entire holiday budget on the procedure, believing that Homer's Christmas bonus will cover gift expenses.
At the power plant, Mr. Burns cancels this year's employee Christmas bonus. When he learns Marge spent the family's holiday money on tattoo removal, Homer moonlights as a shopping mall Santa at the suggestion of his friend Barney Gumble. While at the mall on Christmas Eve, Bart removes Santa's beard, exposing Homer's secret. Bart apologizes for the prank and praises his father for moonlighting to give the family Christmas presents. After Homer's Santa gig pays far less than expected due to deductions for training and uniform, he and Bart receive a greyhound racing tip from Barney.
At Springfield Downs, Homer bets all his money on a last-minute entry named Santa's Little Helper, a 99–1 long shot. The greyhound unfortunately finishes last. As Homer and Bart leave the track, they see the dog's owner yell and abandon him for losing the race. Bart pleads with Homer to keep the dog as a pet. They return home, where Homer's confession to not getting his Christmas bonus is interrupted when Bart introduces Santa's Little Helper to the others. The family is overjoyed by this gesture, and celebrates by singing "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer". |
2 | 1 | 2 | Bart the Genius | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bart_the_Genius | Bart has trouble on an intelligence test and sneakily switches tests with Martin Prince, the class genius. After the results are tabulated, the school psychiatrist labels Bart a genius and sends him to the Enriched Learning Center for Gifted Children. Homer starts treating Bart with respect, but Bart immediately feels out of place among his new classmates and alienated from his former peers. He confesses that he cheated on the test and is subsequently sent back to Springfield Elementary School. | The Simpsons spend a night playing Scrabble and remind Bart that he should stimulate his brain by improving his vocabulary if he hopes to pass his intelligence test at school. After Bart cheats by inventing a nonsense word, kwyjibo – basing its definition on an insulting description of his father – Homer angrily chases after him.
At Springfield Elementary School, Bart is busted for vandalism by Principal Skinner after the class genius, Martin Prince, snitches on him. To get revenge, Bart surreptitiously switches exams with Martin. When the school psychologist, Dr. Pryor, studies the IQ test results, he labels Bart a genius. Homer and Marge enroll him in a school for academically gifted students. Neither Lisa nor Skinner are fooled by Bart's supposed genius, but Skinner is pleased that Bart no longer attends Springfield Elementary.
At the Enriched Learning Center for Gifted Children, Bart feels out of place among the other students with advanced academic skills. Ostracized by his brilliant classmates, Bart visits his former school, where his old friends reject him because of his perceived intelligence. After Bart's chemistry experiment explodes, filling the school lab with green goo, he confesses to Pryor that he switched tests with Martin. Pryor realizes that he was never a genius and has him readmitted to Springfield Elementary.
Bart returns home and admits to Homer that he cheated on the intelligence test, but he is glad they are closer than before. Though Homer is touched by this sentiment, he is ultimately upset and angry at Bart for lying to him about the test and chases him through the house as Lisa declares that Bart is "stupid again". |
3 | 1 | 3 | Homer's Odyssey | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer%27s_Odyssey_(The_Simpsons) | Bart's class visits the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant and Homer, anxious to look like he is working, accidentally crashes his cart into a radioactive pipe, causing him to be fired. Depressed and unable to find a new job, he decides to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge. His family discover his plan and try to stop him, but in the process they are almost run over by a truck. Discovering his new purpose, Homer embarks on a safety crusade and eventually decides to go after the Nuclear Plant and holds protest rallies. To end Homer's furor, Mr. Burns offers him a job as safety inspector, with increased salary, which Homer accepts. | Mrs. Krabappel takes Bart's class on a field trip to the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. Distracted when Bart waves at him, Homer crashes an electric cart into a cooling vent and is fired. Homer searches for a new job without success. Feeling like a failure, he writes a note to his family and decides to commit suicide by tying a boulder to himself and jumping off a bridge.
His family hurries to the bridge to save him, but they are almost run over by a speeding truck. Homer pulls them to safety just in time, and he is suddenly filled with a new reason to live: to place a stop sign at the dangerous intersection. After successfully petitioning the city council, Homer embarks on a public safety crusade that involves placing speed bumps and warning signs throughout the town.
Inspired to use his new safety efforts in order to not give up on finding a new job, Homer takes on the biggest danger in Springfield, the nuclear power plant. After Homer rallies people to his cause, Mr. Burns decides to end the furor he is creating by offering him a new position as the plant safety inspector, along with a higher salary. Homer, torn between his principles and his livelihood, tearfully tells his followers that they must fight their battles on their own from this point on, and takes the job. |
4 | 1 | 4 | There's No Disgrace Like Home | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There%27s_No_Disgrace_Like_Home | Homer takes his family to the company picnic at Mr. Burns's manor. Marge, Bart and Lisa embarrass Homer and he notices that Mr. Burns seems to favour a family who love and respect one another. Convinced that both he and his family are pathetic, Homer takes everyone to Dr. Marvin Monroe's family therapy center. When standard methods prove useless in "civilizing" them, Dr. Monroe resorts to shock therapy. Soon the Simpsons start shocking each other, causing the whole town to lose power. Dr. Monroe refunds the Simpsons. | Homer takes his family to a company picnic, where he is embarrassed by the behavior of Bart, Lisa and Marge. Mr. Burns, Homer's boss, fires any employee whose family members are not enjoying themselves. When Homer notices that Mr. Burns approves of a "normal", well-mannered family who treat one another with respect, he wonders why his own family is so dysfunctional. The picnic is a catastrophe when Bart chases and tortures the swans, Lisa swims in the fountain, and Marge gets drunk and performs a musical number.
Homer tries to prove his point to Bart, Lisa, and Marge by taking them on a tour of the neighborhood and peeking in windows to observe other families. The excursion makes the others uncomfortable for invading these families' privacy, and one homeowner shoots at them for trespassing. A depressed Homer visits Moe's Tavern, where he sees a television advertisement for Dr. Marvin Monroe's Family Therapy Center. Enticed by Monroe's guarantee of "family bliss or double your money back", Homer decides to sign the Simpsons up for an appointment.
To his family's chagrin, Homer pawns their television to pay for the $250 therapy. When Monroe asks the Simpsons to draw pictures of the source of their problems, Bart, Lisa, and Marge draw Homer. Distracted, Homer draws an airplane in flight and Monroe scolds him for being a bad father figure. After Homer gets angry with Bart and tries to attack him with a lamp, Monroe gives the Simpsons padded mallets to work out their aggression without harming each other. The exercise fails when Bart removes the padding from his mallet and hits Monroe in the knee with the hard inner core.
In frustration, Monroe resorts to aversion therapy by wiring the family members to an electric generator, so they can deliver shocks to one another to deter misbehavior. However, they shock each other so many times that the generator becomes damaged (which leads to all of Monroe's other patients leaving his office) and the entire city suffers a brownout, delighting Burns. Realizing he cannot help the Simpsons, Monroe unplugs the generator and begs them to leave. After Homer reminds him of the double-money-back guarantee, Monroe angrily pays him $500 on the condition that they never tell anyone of their visit to the center. The Simpsons decide to use the $500 to buy a new television. |
5 | 1 | 5 | Bart the General | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bart_the_General | Bart runs afoul of Nelson Muntz, the school bully, who begins attacking Bart every day after school. Homer suggests fighting back, which does not work. Desperate for a solution, Bart visits Grampa for advice. Grampa takes Bart to meet Herman, who suggests that Bart rally all the school children and declare war on Nelson. Bart and his army attack Nelson and successfully manage to convince him to give up his bullying ways. | Bart gets into a fight with Nelson Muntz, the school bully, after Nelson's friends stomp on a box of cupcakes that Lisa baked for Miss Hoover's birthday party. Nelson beats up Bart after school and warns him to expect the same pummeling the next day. Marge encourages Bart to reason with Nelson, but Homer urges him to bend the rules and fight dirty. Bart follows Homer's advice and gets beaten up again. He turns to the toughest member of the Simpson family, Grampa, who introduces him to Herman, the crazed one-armed proprietor of an army surplus store called Herman's Military Antiques. After Herman teaches him military tactics, Bart declares war on Nelson and his gang of bullies.
Bart enlists all of Nelson's other victims — nearly all of his friends and classmates — and trains them for combat. With Herman commanding from Bart's tree house, Bart leads his forces into battle by ambushing Nelson and his minions. They commence saturation bombing with water balloons, forcing Nelson's thugs to surrender and Nelson to be taken prisoner, who threatens to beat up Bart as soon as he is untied. Herman drafts an armistice that states that Nelson will retain his honorary position and name but not hold any actual power. After Bart and Nelson sign the treaty, Marge serves cupcakes and peace prevails.
During the epilogue, Bart tells the audience that contrary to the events of the episode, war is neither glamorous nor fun, and states that there are no winners and very few good wars. He also advises that the audience visit their local library for more information about war. |
6 | 1 | 6 | Moaning Lisa | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moaning_Lisa_(The_Simpsons) | Lisa becomes depressed, which begins to affect her performance in school. Neither Marge nor Homer are able to make Lisa happier. One night, she hears distant Jazz music and sneaks out of her room to follow it. She meets Bleeding Gums Murphy, who teaches her how to express her music through the saxophone. When Marge drops Lisa off at school the next day, she suggests that Lisa smile no matter how she feels. However, Marge sees that Lisa is being denied her creativity and realizes that is what is disappointing her. Marge tells Lisa to just be herself, and the entire family go to see Murphy perform at a local Jazz club. | Lisa wakes up one morning saddened. At school, she gets in trouble with her music teacher for improvising and becomes reluctant to play dodgeball in gym. At home, Homer and Bart pummel each other at video boxing, but despite Homer's attempts, he is unable to defeat Bart. Homer and Marge try to cheer Lisa up, but she is consumed with existentialism and worry over all the suffering in the world. In her room, Lisa hears music coming from outside her window. She follows the music through town and meets Bleeding Gums Murphy, a soulful saxophonist playing the blues. Lisa learns about expressing herself through her music from him, only to be discovered and whisked away by Marge.
Homer goes to the arcade and enlists the help of an arcade boxing expert, while Marge, who is still upset at Lisa for sneaking out the night before, takes her to band practice. She tells Lisa to smile no matter how she feels inside, to suppress her emotions to be popular, and that happiness will follow. But when she sees Lisa hiding her true feelings and being taken advantage of by her classmates and her music teacher, Marge changes her tune and tells Lisa to be herself. Her support helps Lisa to feel genuinely happy. When Homer returns home, he is about to defeat Bart in a rematch but Marge unplugs the game console to announce Lisa's recovery, while Bart declares his retirement as an undefeated video boxing champ. Later, the Simpsons visit a jazz club to hear Bleeding Gums Murphy sing a blues number written by Lisa. |
7 | 1 | 7 | The Call of the Simpsons | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Call_of_the_Simpsons | Homer becomes envious of Flanders' new RV and goes to "Bob's RV Round-up" to buy one of his own. Settling on a dilapidated camper, he takes the family camping and in the process destroys the RV. Leaving Lisa and Marge behind, Bart and Homer try to find their way back to civilization, but have little luck. Later on, Homer is mistaken for Bigfoot and captured. Marge, Bart and Lisa are saved and Homer is released, although scientists say they can not determine which species he belongs to. | Jealous of Ned Flanders' new motor home, Homer visits Bob's RV Round-up to buy one. Because of his poor credit rating, he only qualifies for a smaller, dilapidated RV, which he is conned into purchasing. Homer takes his family on an excursion, driving on remote backroads. After Homer ignores Marge's suggestion to drive back to the main road, the Simpsons find themselves teetering over a precipice. They escape the RV before it plummets over the cliff and explodes, leaving them stranded in the wilderness with no food or supplies.
After Homer builds a crude lean-to shelter, he and Bart leave to find help, unaware that Maggie is tagging along. Marge and Lisa stay behind and build a fire and sturdier shelter despite knowing nothing about camping. Separated from Homer and Bart, Maggie is adopted by a family of bears. Homer and Bart lose their clothes after plunging over a waterfall and falling into a raging river. They hide their exposed bodies with leaves and mud. After a frigid night's sleep, Homer tries to steal honey from a beehive. When the bees attack him, he evades them by jumping into a mud pit. Homer is mistaken for Bigfoot after a nature photographer takes a picture of him covered in mud. Soon the forest is inundated with Bigfoot enthusiasts after a tabloid offers a $5000 reward for capturing the creature alive.
After Marge and Lisa are rescued by park rangers, Marge tells the media the monster in question is her husband, leading to tabloid headlines such as "I married Bigfoot". Cold, hungry, and exhausted, Homer and Bart stumble upon the bears' cave and retrieve Maggie. Homer is captured and taken to a lab for testing. He returns home after scientists agree that he is "either a below-average human being or a brilliant beast". While watching news coverage of his ordeal, Homer worries his co-workers will mock him until Marge consoles him by calling him "my brilliant beast." |
8 | 1 | 8 | The Telltale Head | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Telltale_Head | Bart becomes friends with Jimbo, Dolph, and Kearney, a group of local troublemakers. Trying to impress them, Bart decides to cut off and steal the head of the statue of Jebediah Springfield. The next day, the entire town grieves for the vandalized statue and Bart discovers that his new friends want to attack the vandal. Feeling remorse, Bart confesses to his family and Homer and Bart take the head back to the statue after passing through the furious people. | On Monday night, Homer and Bart are chased through the streets of Springfield by an angry mob while carrying the head of the statue of their town founder, Jebediah Springfield. Surrounded by the mob, Bart begins to explain the events of the previous day.
After going to church with his family, Bart is forbidden by Marge to see the violent movie Space Mutants 4. Later on, he runs into three of Springfield's bullies: Jimbo Jones, Kearney Zzyzwicz, and Dolph Starbeam, who invite Bart to sneak into the movie theater to watch Space Mutants 4.
After being thrown out of the theater by the manager, the gang shoplifts from the Kwik-E-Mart, owned by store clerk Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, throw rocks at the Jebediah Springfield statue and watch clouds. Bart remarks that one cloud resembles the statue, but without a head. His new friends remark that they wish someone would decapitate the statue, saying it would be funny to see the town upset over it. When Bart disagrees, the bullies make fun of him. Bart is conflicted and asks Homer whether it is okay to compromise one's beliefs to be popular. Homer tells Bart that popularity is the most important thing in the world, as long as it does not involve killing someone. That night, Bart sneaks out of the house and decapitates the statue.
The town is shaken by the crime, which causes Bart to feel guilty about his action. The act also does not make him popular with Jimbo, Dolph, and Kearney, who tell Bart they did not actually mean what they said about cutting off the head, and that they would attack the culprit if he were with them. Bart begins to fear the consequences were his actions revealed, and his conscience manifests itself as the statue's severed head, which begins speaking to him. Unable to go on, Bart finally confesses to his family, explaining that he thought being popular was the most important thing in the world. Homer realizes it was his advice that had caused Bart to commit the crime in the first place, and takes responsibility by accompanying Bart as he takes the head back to the statue, returning the story to the beginning.
Bart realizes his act has actually brought the town of Springfield closer together, and the mob agrees. The head is then returned to the statue and everyone forgives Homer and Bart. |
9 | 1 | 9 | Life on the Fast Lane | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_on_the_Fast_Lane | Having forgotten about Marge's birthday, Homer rushes to the Springfield mall and impulsively buys her a bowling ball. Marge is not impressed with the gift and after discovering that he intends to use it, she decides to spite him by going bowling herself. While at the alley, she meets Jacques, a charming French bowling instructor, who offers her lessons. Jacques begins to fall for Marge and invites her to his apartment. Although she agrees, Marge undergoes a moral dilemma. In the end, Marge visits Homer at the nuclear plant. | After forgetting Marge's 34th birthday, Homer rushes to the Springfield Mall, where he buys a bowling ball for himself and disguises it as her gift. Patty and Selma treat Marge to a birthday dinner at the Singing Sirloin, where Bart gives her French perfume and Lisa presents a macaroni-and-glue portrait of her mother as the Mona Lisa. Marge is pleased with both gifts because her children made her feel loved and special on her birthday. As Homer presents the bowling ball to her, it bursts through its box and squashes her birthday cake. Marge calls Homer out for offending her with a gift for himself, pointing out that she has never gone bowling in her life and that the ball is inscribed with his name.
Determined to learn how to bowl to spite Homer, Marge visits Barney's Bowl-A-Rama. While there, she meets a French bowling instructor named Jacques who offers to give her lessons. After several lessons, Jacques and Marge agree to meet for brunch.
Their brunch goes well until they see Helen Lovejoy, the gossipy preacher's wife, who seems delighted to find Marge with a man other than her husband. After deflecting Helen's prying by feigning a discussion of bowling theory, Jacques asks Marge to meet him the next day at his apartment, causing her to faint. While unconscious, she sees herself dancing with Jacques in his luxurious, bowling-themed apartment. Regaining consciousness after her romantic fantasy, Marge accepts Jacques's invitation.
Meanwhile, Homer finds the personalized bowling glove Jacques gave Marge and realizes he may lose her to another man. Soon Bart realizes Lisa's suspicion that their parents are drifting apart is true. Bart advises Homer to keep quiet about Marge's suspected affair to avoid making things worse.
Marge leaves for her rendezvous with Jacques but remembers her lifetime commitment to Homer during the drive. She comes to a fork in the road: one way leads to the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, the other to Jacques's apartment. After agonizing over her decision, Marge surprises a distraught Homer at the plant and kisses him warmly. An ecstatic Homer abandons his work post for ten minutes and takes Marge to the backseat of his car. |
10 | 1 | 10 | Homer's Night Out | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer%27s_Night_Out | Bart purchases a mini spy camera and manages to take a picture of Homer dancing next to stripper named Princess Kashmir at a co-worker's strip club party. He gives copies of the picture to his friends, and eventually the picture starts to circulate around until eventually Marge sees it. She kicks Homer out of the house, but the next day explains that she is not upset about his dancing next to a woman, but rather that Bart saw it. She demands that he take Bart and go apologize to Princess Kashmir. Homer agrees and says he is ready to start respecting women. | Bart purchases a miniature spy camera from a mail-order catalog and uses it to take candid photos around the house. Later, Homer tells Marge he is going to a bachelor party for a co-worker, Eugene Fisk. While Homer is gone, Marge decides to take the children to a seafood restaurant where — unknown to her — the bachelor party is under way in another room.
A belly dancer named Princess Kashmir arrives at the party and invites Homer to dance with her onstage. Walking out of the bathroom, Bart wanders into the bachelor party and snaps a picture of Homer and Princess Kashmir dancing. Bart brings the photo to school and gives a copy to Milhouse, who promptly gets requests for copies from other students. When the students' parents get hold of the photo, more copies circulate until everyone in Springfield has seen the picture, including Marge, who is furious. When Homer arrives home later that day, Marge demands an explanation. Bart inadvertently reveals that he had taken the picture, angering both his parents. Homer spends the night at Barney's apartment after Marge kicks him out of the house.
The next day, Homer goes home to apologize to Marge, who worries the picture will make Bart think it is acceptable to treat women as sex objects. She insists that Homer take Bart to meet Princess Kashmir so he can see that she is more than just a stripper. Homer and Bart scour Springfield's strip clubs searching for Princess Kashmir, eventually finding her at the Sapphire Lounge.
Homer introduces himself and Bart to Princess Kashmir, who is preoccupied with her upcoming performance but understands what Homer is trying to teach his son. Homer inadvertently finds himself onstage when the striptease show starts. He is about to be thrown offstage when the audience recognizes him from the picture. Homer gets caught up in the audience's fanfare and starts dancing with the showgirls until he remembers the lesson he is trying to teach Bart. Homer stops the show and makes a plea to the audience to treat women with respect. Marge, who is in the audience, accepts Homer's apology and they reconcile. |
11 | 1 | 11 | The Crepes of Wrath | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crepes_of_Wrath | Principal Skinner finally becomes fed up with Bart's pranks and proposes that Bart be sent to France as part of the student exchange program. The family agrees and Bart is sent to the "beautiful" Château Maison, which is actually a dilapidated farmhouse on a neglected vineyard. Bart is treated like a slave by two unscrupulous winemakers, César and Ugolin, who eventually feed him wine tainted with antifreeze. Meanwhile, an Albanian boy named Adil starts to live with the Simpsons. Unbeknownst to Homer, Adil is a spy sent by his country to obtain nuclear blueprints from the Nuclear Plant, and is secretly faxing them home. Back in France, Bart learns French and reports the winemakers' crimes to the police. Adil is caught by the FBI and deported. | After Homer trips over Bart's skateboard and falls down the stairs, he is confined to the couch for several days with an injured back. As punishment, Marge makes Bart clean his room, where he discovers an old cherry bomb. At school the next day, he flushes it down a toilet in the boys' restroom while Principal Skinner's mother, Agnes, is using the adjacent girls' restroom. The resulting explosion blows Agnes off the toilet seat, enraging Principal Skinner.
Skinner aims to punish Bart beyond suspension or expulsion; he proposes to Homer and Marge that Bart enter the school's student exchange program, spending three months in France. When Bart is told he will stay in a lovely French château, he agrees to Skinner's plan, much to Homer and Skinner's delight. During Bart's time in France, the Simpsons host a student from Albania named Adil Hoxha.
When Bart arrives at the misleadingly named Château Maison, he finds a dilapidated farmhouse at a run-down vineyard. His hosts are winemakers César and Ugolin, who treat him like a slave. Bart is starved while being made to carry buckets of water, pick and crush grapes, sleep on the floor, and test wine contaminated with antifreeze.
Adil arrives in Springfield and impresses Marge and Homer with his polite manners and help with household chores. Homer takes Adil on a tour of the nuclear plant and thinks nothing when Adil takes many photographs, which he transmits to Albania with a fax machine hidden in Bart's treehouse; it is revealed that Adil is an Albanian spy sent to obtain blueprints of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant's reactor.
When Bart's captors send him to town to buy a case of antifreeze, he asks a police officer for help, but the police officer does not speak any English. Bart walks away, frustrated that he has not learned any French. However, he suddenly begins speaking French and tells the police officer about the cruelty that he has suffered at the hands of the winemakers, as well as their efforts to sell adulterated wine. The men are swiftly arrested, and Bart is hailed as a hero for exposing their scheme.
In Springfield, Adil is caught spying by the FBI and deported to Albania in exchange for the return of an American spy captured there. Bart returns home with gifts for his family. Homer is excited upon learning that Bart speaks French, not realizing that Bart called him a buffoon. |
12 | 1 | 12 | Krusty Gets Busted | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krusty_Gets_Busted | While buying ice cream at the Kwik-E-Mart, Homer witnesses a robbery perpetrated by a man believed to be Krusty the Clown, host of The Krusty the Clown Show, Bart's favorite program. Krusty is sent to jail and his show is taken over by his assistant, Sideshow Bob. Bart is certain Krusty is innocent, and gathers evidence to support his claim, which he takes to "Krusty's bestest friend", Sideshow Bob. Bart realizes the robbery was actually committed by Bob, who was trying to frame Krusty. Bob is arrested and Krusty thanks Bart for saving him. | Marge asks Homer to pick up ice cream from the Kwik-E-Mart on the way home from work; Homer obliges, and at the Kwik-E-Mart, he sees a man resembling Krusty the Clown committing a robbery. After Homer identifies Krusty in a police lineup, the latter is arrested and convicted, much to the grief of Bart. Taking advantage of the public outrage over Krusty's seeming criminal turn, Apu begins marketing a "clown-repelling" machine gun, while Reverend Lovejoy arranges a bonfire, where Springfield's residents destroy Krusty's merchandise.
In Krusty's absence, his sidekick Sideshow Bob becomes the new host of his show, rechristening it as The Side-Show Bob Cavalcade of Whimsy and retooling it to focus on education and classic literature while retaining The Itchy & Scratchy Show. Refusing to accept that his idol could have committed a crime, Bart enlists Lisa's help to prove Krusty's innocence.
At the crime scene, Bart and Lisa recall that the robber read a magazine and used a microwave oven, which Krusty could not have done as he is illiterate and has an artificial pacemaker, which requires him to avoid microwave radiation. When Bart and Lisa visit Sideshow Bob to learn whether Krusty had any enemies, he gives them tickets to his show. During the live broadcast, Bart is invited on stage with Bob, who dismisses Bart's points about the microwave and magazine. When Bob says he has "big shoes to fill", Bart remembers when Homer stepped on the robber's foot during his robbery, making him react in pain. Despite wearing clown shoes, Krusty has small feet and would not have felt Homer stepping on them. Bart deduces that Sideshow Bob is the culprit, since he had the most to gain from Krusty's downfall and his large feet literally fill his own shoes. To prove this to the audience, Bart hits one of them with a mallet and reveals their size as Bob reacts in pain.
While watching the show, the police realize they failed to notice this evidence and head to the studio to arrest Bob, who admits he framed Krusty because he hated being on the receiving end of the clown's humiliating gags and felt that his true talents were wasted on his show. Released after his exoneration, Krusty regains the trust of the townspeople, including Homer, who apologizes for misidentifying him, as he thanks Bart for his help. Bart hangs a picture of himself shaking hands with Krusty in his bedroom, which is refilled with Krusty decor and merchandise. |
13 | 1 | 13 | Some Enchanted Evening | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Some_Enchanted_Evening_(The_Simpsons) | Marge, feeling unappreciated by Homer, calls in to Dr. Monroe's radio show, which Homer overhears at work. Homer, wanting to make it up to Marge, decides to take her to dinner at a fancy restaurant and hires a babysitter to take care of Bart and Lisa. They are sent Ms. Botz, who Bart and Lisa soon discover is actually a burglar nicknamed "The Babysitter Bandit". They are captured by Ms. Botz and tied up but eventually are freed by Maggie. Bart and Lisa capture Ms. Botz and call the police. Meanwhile, Marge and Homer return home and find Ms. Botz is tied up. Homer, unaware of her true identity, frees her and Ms. Botz makes a clean getaway just moments before the police arrive. | Marge is depressed that Homer takes her for granted, and phones Dr. Marvin Monroe's call-in therapy radio slot. Listening to the call at work, Homer feels bad when Marge reveals his name on the radio. After work, he visits Moe's Tavern, where Moe advises him to give Marge a rose and a box of chocolates. Marge's mood softens and Homer invites her to go dancing, dine at a fancy restaurant, and spend the night at a motel.
Marge and Homer hire Ms. Botz through a babysitting service to watch the kids. Botz puts Maggie to bed while Bart and Lisa watch The Happy Little Elves. While watching America's Most Armed and Dangerous on television, Bart and Lisa scream in horror when they realize that Botz is a wanted burglar, dubbed the 'Babysitter Bandit'. Realizing her cover is blown, she prevents them from escaping and calling for help. Botz ties up the kids and packs the family's possessions into her suitcases. Maggie wakes up, goes downstairs and finds Bart and Lisa; they try to get her attention, but she focuses on the happy little elves. As the video ends, Maggie attempts to watch it again, and Lisa tells her she can if she unties her and Bart. While Ms. Botz is still cleaning up, she sees that Maggie is out of her crib. Bart lures Ms. Botz into his room, and knocks her out with a baseball bat.
Realizing Botz cut the telephone line, the kids go to a local phone booth and call the producers of America's Most Armed and Dangerous. When Marge and Homer are unable to reach Ms. Botz by phone, they return home early to find her bound and gagged. Unaware she is a wanted criminal, Homer and Marge free her and pay her handsomely. She flees just as the kids arrive with the police and news reporters. Homer, thinking this is one of their naughty tricks, quickly grabs Bart, saying how he and Marge had untied her. However, reporters tell him that Ms. Botz is a wanted criminal. Realizing his blunder, he lies to the media, and thinking all that hard work was for nothing, Homer is embarrassed. When a television newscast identifies him as a 'local boob', Marge assures him he must be doing something right if he raised three children who can hogtie a stranger, making Homer feel better. |
14 | 2 | 1 | Bart Gets an 'F | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bart_Gets_an_%22F%22 | Bart fails a test and is told he has one more chance to pass it or else he will be held back a year. Bart tries to get the class genius Martin Prince to help him, but after that fails, Bart prays for help. That night, Springfield is hit with a massive blizzard and the school is closed, giving Bart one more day to study. Despite his desperate attempts, Bart fails the test again. While crying, he mentions an obscure historical event and Mrs. Krabappel, noting that he applied practical knowledge, passes him. | At Springfield Elementary School, Bart presents a book report on Treasure Island, but it soon becomes obvious that he has not actually read the book. Mrs. Krabappel tells him to stay after class. As a punishment for not doing the assignment, Mrs. Krabappel makes Bart write “I will not fake my way through life” on the chalkboard 100 times. Additionally, Mrs. Krabappel warns Bart that there will be an upcoming exam on Colonial America. On the day of the exam, Bart feigns illness to avoid taking the test, as he has not studied. After asking Milhouse for the test answers, he takes the test but gets an even lower grade than Milhouse.
Homer and Marge meet with the school psychiatrist, Dr. J. Loren Pryor, who recommends for Bart to repeat the fourth grade. Scared for Bart's academic future, Marge and Homer support this idea, but a terrified Bart vows to improve his grades.
In desperation, Bart asks Martin to tutor him, promising to improve Martin's popularity in return. Bart teaches Martin how to play pranks and slack off; Martin discovers he prefers Bart's lifestyle to his own and breaks his promise to Bart. To buy more time to study, Bart prays to God for a miracle to avoid the next day's test at school. A heavy snowfall occurs overnight; the next morning, a snow day is declared throughout Springfield. As Bart prepares to play in the snow, Lisa reveals she overheard him praying and urges him to make good use of his answered prayer. Bart reluctantly studies while everyone else is having fun in the snow; however, Bart is unable to focus on his study material and begins hitting himself, believing the pain will force him to focus.
Despite his best efforts, Bart fails the next day's test by one point. Bart breaks down in tears and compares his failure to George Washington's surrender of Fort Necessity to the French in 1754. Edna is impressed at this obscure historical reference and gives him an extra point for demonstrating applied knowledge. Bart is so ecstatic when he receives a barely passing grade (D-minus), he runs through Springfield, announcing his success. When Bart returns home, his parents post the test on the refrigerator. Bart remarks that "part of this D-minus belongs to God". |
15 | 2 | 2 | Simpson and Delilah | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simpson_and_Delilah | Homer discovers a new miracle hair growth formula called Dimoxinil and cheats on some insurance forms so he can buy some. Homer grows hair overnight and is soon given a promotion at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. He gets a new secretary named Karl, who helps him become successful. However, Mr. Burns' assistant Waylon Smithers becomes jealous of all the attention Burns is giving Homer and discovers that Homer had cheated on the insurance forms. Smithers tries to fire Homer, but Karl claims he cheated on the forms and is fired in Homer's stead. Bart spills Homer's remaining Dimoxinil and Homer loses all his hair. As a result, Homer is demoted back to his old position. | Homer uses Springfield Nuclear Power Plant's medical insurance plan to pay for a hair restoring drug worth $1,000, although the plan doesn't actually cover the Dimoxinil treatment, because he's sick of being laughed at and overlooked because of his baldness. After applying the drug, he wakes up the next day with a full head of hair. Mr. Burns scans the security monitors to find someone to promote to the "token" position of junior executive. Mistaking Homer for a young, unspoiled go-getter, Mr. Burns promotes him.
When Homer has trouble finding a secretary who is not a seductive young woman, a man named Karl persuades Homer to hire him. Karl soon proves indispensable to Homer. When he forgets his own wedding anniversary, Karl hires a singing telegram service to serenade Marge with "You Are So Beautiful".
At an executive board meeting, Homer comes up with a way to increase worker productivity. After this, workplace safety improves and accidents decrease, and Smithers' correct observation that is due to Homer no longer being in a position to cause problems is mocked and dismissed by Mr. Burns. Homer spends his paycheck on home improvements and plans to give the kids what they always wanted, and when Marge is concerned he should save for a rainy day, Homer dismisses it by telling her that the good times are here to stay.
After Homer receives the key to the executive washroom, Smithers is angry that he is now in Burns's good graces while Smithers's loyal service is forgotten. Smithers attempts to get Homer fired for committing insurance fraud, but Karl takes the blame and is fired instead. Homer is nervous about giving a speech at the plant, and discovers Bart has spilled and ruined the contents of the miracle hair drug. Homer tells his son that he's caused a lot of damage and worst of all that "baldness is hereditary."
The next day, Homer loses all his hair, as he had to keep applying the drug on his head. Before the meeting, Karl appears with a prepared speech for Homer and reassures him that all his accomplishments were due to his will and effort, not the hair. Homer gives his speech, but the audience refuses to take him seriously because he has no hair and walks out on him. Burns gives Homer his old job back, sympathizing with him having male pattern baldness like Burns does.
At home that night, Marge insists that Homer's old "dead end" job as a safety inspector has always provided for the family and the kids will get over having less than their friends. When Homer is worried about his baldness making him ugly to Marge, she sings to him "You Are So Beautiful". |
16 | 2 | 3 | Treehouse of Horror | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treehouse_of_Horror_(The_Simpsons_episode) | In a Halloween anthology episode, Bart and Lisa tell scary stories.
"Bad Dream House": Bart tells a story where the Simpsons move into a haunted house built on a Native American burial ground. After the house is told off by Marge, it chooses to destroy itself rather than live with the Simpsons.
"Hungry Are the Damned": In Bart's other story, the Simpsons are abducted to be taken to the planet Rigel IV for a feast. Lisa is suspicious of the aliens' intentions, believing that the Simpsons themselves are being cooked. When her trust is misplaced, the offended aliens Kang and Kodos return the family to Earth.
"The Raven": Lisa retells the poem by Edgar Allan Poe, in which Homer appears as the poem's narrator and Bart is the raven.
| On Halloween, Bart and Lisa sit in the treehouse and tell scary stories. Homer, who had just come home from trick or treating, eavesdrops on them.
In "Bad Dream House", Bart tells a story where the Simpsons move into an eighteen bedroom house they got a good deal on. The walls of the cursed house begin to bleed and objects begin to fly through the air, Lisa senses an evil presence in the house (judging by the ghostly, echoing voice that tells the family to get out). There is also a portal to another dimension, a vortex, in the kitchen: Homer tests it out by throwing an orange in it. A piece of paper is thrown back at him as a response (on it is written "Quit throwing your garbage into our dimension"). Marge expresses the desire to leave, but Homer asks her to sleep on it. That night, the house possesses Homer and the children, manipulating their minds and making them chase each other with axes and knives. Unlike the others however, Marge is using her knife to spread mayonnaise on a sandwich and intervenes, breaking the trance. Afterwards, Lisa discovers the source of the haunting—a Native American burial ground hidden in the basement (something which the realtors had apparently mentioned to Homer repeatedly). After the house threatens them again, Marge confronts the house, demanding that it treat them with respect during their stay. The house thinks it over and opts to destroy itself rather than live with the Simpsons.
In "Hungry Are the Damned", Bart tells a story where the Simpsons are abducted from their backyard by two aliens named Kang and Kodos. The aliens take the Simpsons to their home planet Rigel IV for a feast. En route they present the Simpsons with enormous amounts of food and watch eagerly as the Simpsons gorge themselves. Suspicious of the aliens' intentions, Lisa finds a book in the kitchen titled How to Cook Humans. Kang blows off space dust obscuring the real title, How To Cook for Forty Humans. Enraged at Lisa's mistrust, they return the Simpsons to Earth. Kang explains that Lisa has ruined the family's chance at paradise.
In "The Raven", Lisa reads "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe. In this adaptation, Bart is depicted as the raven, Homer appears as the poem's narrator, and Marge appears in a portrait as Lenore. The Narrator, infuriated by the Raven's mockery of his grief over his lost Lenore, flies into a fit of rage chasing it across his study, ending with the Raven's eventual victory and the Narrator staring helplessly at it as he sits on the floor amid a scatter of books and broken objects.
Homer returns to bed, terrified of the stories the children told. |
17 | 2 | 4 | Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Cars_in_Every_Garage_and_Three_Eyes_on_Every_Fish | After Bart catches a three-eyed fish in a river downstream of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, the Plant is inspected and found to have 342 violations, which would cost $56 million to rectify. In order to prevent his Plant from being shut down, Mr. Burns decides to run for Governor. After a hard campaign which sees Burns rise from being universally despised to running neck and neck with incumbent Mary Bailey, it is decided that Burns will have dinner with a random employee the night before the election. Homer is chosen, much to Marge's chagrin. Marge serves the three-eyed fish to Burns for dinner, who cannot eat it and, as a result, loses the election. | Bart and Lisa go fishing downstream of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. Springfield Shopper reporter Dave Shutton arrives just as Bart catches a three-eyed fish. After the fish, nicknamed Blinky by the media, makes headlines, the incumbent governor Mary Bailey sends a government inspection team to the plant, suspecting nuclear waste may have caused the mutation. The plant's owner, Mr. Burns, is presented with a list of 342 violations which will cost $56 million (approximately $129 million in 2023) to rectify. Distraught, Burns takes up Homer's suggestion that he run for governor to prevent the plant from being closed.
Burns' political advisers inform him that he is greatly despised by most people, while Bailey is beloved by all. To quell the controversy over Blinky, Burns appears on television with an actor portraying Charles Darwin who claims Blinky is an evolutionary leap, not a "hideous genetic mutation". After Burns vows to lower taxes and runs a smear campaign against Bailey, his campaign ties hers in the polls. Burns' advisers suggest that he have dinner at the home of one of his employees the night before the election. After scanning the plant's video monitors for the most average man he can find, Burns chooses Homer.
The upcoming dinner with Burns divides the Simpson household. With Homer supporting Burns's campaign simply to not antagonize his boss, Marge and Lisa are appalled that Homer has allowed Burns to use their home as a campaign tool, only agreeing to it after Homer begs. For dinner, Marge serves Blinky, placing the fish's head on Burns's plate. Unable to swallow the fish, Burns spits it out. Cameras flash as the expelled bite flies through the air and hits the floor, dooming his gubernatorial campaign. Bailey wins the election. After destroying the Simpsons' furnishings in a fit of rage, Burns warns that he will ensure Homer's dreams will go unfulfilled as long as he lives. However, Marge happily reassures Homer that his ambitions are so meagre nobody could possibly thwart them. |
18 | 2 | 5 | Dancin' Homer | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dancin%27_Homer | Homer fires up the crowd at a Springfield Isotopes game and is chosen to be the team's new mascot. He immediately becomes a popular attraction and the Isotopes start a winning streak. As a result, Homer is promoted to the team in Capital City. The Simpsons move to Capital City, but Homer fails to enthrall the crowd, and returns home. | One night while drinking beer at Moe's Tavern, Homer tells the story of his big break. The Simpsons attend a home game of the Springfield Isotopes, the town's minor league baseball team, as part of an outing sponsored by the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. Homer fears that his chance to have any fun at the game are ruined when his boss, Mr. Burns sits next to him; to his surprise, though, Burns buys him several beers and the two men enjoy taunting the Isotopes. When a drunk Homer does an impromptu dance to the tune of "Baby Elephant Walk," the crowd responds with enthusiasm and the Isotopes go on to win the game, breaking the longest losing streak in professional baseball.
Homer is hired as the Isotopes' mascot, spurring the team to a winning streak. Their next loss causes Homer to worry that he will be fired, but he is instead offered a chance to perform during the major-league games played in Capital City by its team, the Capitals. He is to fill in for their mascot, the Capital City Goofball, during portions of each game. The Simpsons pack their belongings, say goodbye to their friends, and move to Capital City. However, Homer's first performance fails to impress the crowd; he is fired immediately afterward, and the family moves back to Springfield.
As Homer finishes his story, he finds Moe and all the customers enthralled and asking to hear it again. He wonders why tales of misfortune are so popular. |
19 | 2 | 6 | Dead Putting Society | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Putting_Society | Ned Flanders invites Homer to his house for a beer. Homer, seeing how nice Ned's house is, becomes jealous, causing Flanders to angrily ask him to leave. Flanders immediately regrets his outburst and tries to make up with Homer, who remains defiant. One day while mini golfing, Bart and Flanders' son Todd decide to enter a tournament. Homer becomes confident that Bart will win and makes a bet with Ned that the father of the boy who does not win will have to mow their neighbor's lawn in their wife's Sunday dress. On the day of the tournament, Bart and Todd make the finals but decide to call it a draw, forcing both Homer and Ned to fulfill the requirements of their bet. | Watching Homer mow his lawn with frustration, Ned invites him to Ned's basement rec room for a beer. When Homer sees Ned's well-furnished house and his perfect relationship with his family, he angrily accuses Ned of showing off and is asked to leave. Later Ned feels guilty about his outburst and writes a letter of apology to Homer. Homer reads the letter aloud at the breakfast table, where the Simpson family laugh at Ned's sentimentality, as well as his use of the word "bosom".
Homer takes Bart and Maggie to Sir Putt-A-Lot's Merrie Olde Fun Centre for a round of miniature golf. They encounter Ned and his son Todd there and play golf together. Bart and Todd learn of an upcoming children's miniature golf tournament and enter it. Although Todd is skilled at playing, Homer is confident Bart will win. He tells Bart that it is not acceptable to lose and forces him to angrily stare at a picture of Todd for fifteen minutes every day for motivation.
Doubting his golfing skills after seeing his meager collection of sports trophies, Bart accepts Lisa's offer to help him practice. Lisa approaches the task as a zen master, teaching Bart to meditate. She finds the golf course is based on simple geometry and teaches Bart how to achieve a low par. Homer makes a bet with Ned about whose son is a better golfer: the father of the boy who does not win the tournament will mow the other father's lawn in his wife's Sunday dress.
On the day of the tournament, Homer encourages Bart to win at all costs. Bart and Todd play well and are tied when they reach the eighteenth hole. Realizing that they are equally skilled at golf, they call it a draw and split the $50 prize. Ned suggests that means their bet is off, but Homer insists that they both must mow each other's lawn in their wife's Sunday dress because of the way their bet is worded. To Homer's dismay, Ned is not humiliated but actually enjoys mowing Homer's lawn in his wife's dress because it reminds him of his college fraternity days. |
20 | 2 | 7 | Bart vs. Thanksgiving | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bart_vs._Thanksgiving | When he is blamed for ruining Thanksgiving, Bart runs away and finds a soup kitchen and some homeless men. Eventually, Bart returns home, intending to apologize but has last minute thoughts and climbs to the roof of The Simpsons house where he hears Lisa sobbing. He apologizes to her, and the family happily enjoys a meal of leftovers. | Lisa makes a cornucopia for the Thanksgiving dinner table. Patty and Selma arrive, ignoring Marge's instructions to not bring their own food. Homer picks up Grampa from the retirement home. Marge, Patty, and Selma's mother Jacqueline Bouvier arrives and tells Marge she never does anything right.
Once they are assembled, the Simpsons sit down to dinner. When Lisa places the cornucopia on the table, Bart removes it to make way for the turkey. In the ensuing scuffle, Bart ends up throwing the cornucopia into the fireplace and it burns to ashes. Lisa runs to her room sobbing, and Homer and Marge punish Bart by sending him up to his room. Marge then tells him that he has ruined Thanksgiving and later informs him that he will not be allowed to eat dinner until he issues a sincere apology to Lisa in front of the family. Bart refuses and climbs out of his room.
After Homer expels Santa's Little Helper from the house for stealing a turkey drumstick, Bart and the dog run away from home. Bart tries to steal a pie cooling on a window sill at Mr. Burns' mansion, but Burns' hounds chase him away. While wandering the streets, Bart uses Homer's ID to sell his blood and after passing out, is brought to a breadline serving dinner to homeless people. Kent Brockman interviews Bart for a human interest story. The family sees the TV report and call the police, hoping they can help find Bart and bring him home. When the police fail to locate Bart, Homer and Marge regret the things they said to him, feeling that it was what caused him to run off.
Bart later returns home feeling remorseful for leaving after lending money to a couple of beggars. He climbs onto the roof to ponder his choices. When he hears Lisa crying because she misses him, Bart invites her to join him on the roof. He finally realizes what he did hurt her deeply and apologizes as Homer and Marge watch proudly. Bart and Lisa later rejoin the family to enjoy a meal of leftovers. |
21 | 2 | 8 | Bart the Daredevil | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bart_the_Daredevil | The Simpsons go to a monster truck rally that features famous daredevil Lance Murdock. Bart immediately becomes enamored and decides he wants to become a daredevil too. Bart's first stunt ends in injury and despite the family and Dr. Hibbert's best efforts, he continues to attempt stunts. Bart decides to jump the Springfield Gorge, but Homer gets wind of his plan and makes Bart promise not to jump it. Bart immediately breaks his promise and goes to jump the gorge anyway, but Homer stops him just in time and finally gets Bart to swear he will stop being a daredevil. Homer accidentally ends up having to jump the gorge himself, failing in the attempt. | The Simpsons attend a monster truck rally featuring Truckasaurus, a giant robotic dinosaur that crushes their car when they accidentally drive into the arena. The rally's grand finale features a death-defying stunt by legendary daredevil Lance Murdock. The stunt leaves Murdock badly injured and hospitalized, but it inspires Bart to be a daredevil.
Bart injures himself trying to jump the family car on his skateboard. At the hospital, Dr. Hibbert shows Bart a ward full of children who have been hurt by dangerous stunts. Undeterred, Bart keeps performing daredevil stunts, and during a class trip to Springfield Gorge, announces he will jump the gorge on his skateboard the next Saturday.
Lisa persuades him to visit Murdock at the hospital, hoping he will discourage Bart from jumping the gorge, but instead, Murdock encourages Bart to do it.
Homer insists jumping the gorge is too dangerous and forbids Bart to do it. None of Homer's punishments or arguments dissuade Bart, who goes to the gorge that Saturday. As Bart is about to perform the stunt, Homer arrives, tackles Bart and decides to jump the gorge himself to show him what it feels like to see a family member unnecessarily risking their lives.
Not wanting to see his father get hurt on his account, Bart ultimately promises to stop being a daredevil; as Homer hugs Bart in relief, the skateboard accidentally rolls down a hill and flies over the gorge with Homer still on it. It appears Homer will make it safely across, but he loses momentum, and plunges onto several jagged rocks during his fall until he hits the bottom of the gorge. Homer is then airlifted into an ambulance, which crashes into a tree, causing him to fall down the gorge again.
In the hospital, Homer ends up in the same hospital room with Murdock. He tells him, “You think you’ve got guts, try raising my kids!” |
22 | 2 | 9 | Itchy & Scratchy & Marge | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itchy_%26_Scratchy_%26_Marge | Maggie attacks Homer with a mallet, and Marge immediately blames The Itchy & Scratchy Show for turning her violent. Marge forms S.N.U.H. (Springfieldians for Nonviolence, Understanding, and Helping) and campaigns against the show. Eventually she successfully gets the writers to change their ways and make the show less violent. Meanwhile, Michelangelo's David goes on a coast-to-coast tour of the U.S., and the members of S.N.U.H. mobilize to protest it. Marge, however, says she likes the statue and, realizing it is wrong to censor one art form but not another, gives up her protest. | Homer clumsily attempts to build a spice rack for Marge, when Maggie hits him on the head with a mallet. Marge is puzzled by Maggie's behavior until she realizes that Maggie is imitating the violence on The Itchy & Scratchy Show. Marge forbids Bart and Lisa from watching the show, but they continue to do so at their friends' houses without her knowledge. Marge writes a letter to the cartoon studio asking them to tone down the violence, but chairman, Roger Meyers, Jr. dismisses her concerns, which prompts Marge to form a protest group.
Marge organizes Springfieldians for Nonviolence, Understanding, and Helping (SNUH), and forces her family to picket outside the studio. SNUH gains momentum and residents boycott The Krusty the Clown Show, which airs Itchy & Scratchy episodes. After Marge appears on the panel discussion show Smartline, parents send thousands of letters to Meyers, who reluctantly agrees to eliminate violence from Itchy & Scratchy and solicits story ideas from Marge. The children dislike the format change and stop watching it to go outside instead.
Afterwards, a traveling exhibition of Michelangelo's sculpture David schedules a stop in Springfield. Other SNUH members urge Marge to protest the exhibition due to its nudity, but Marge, an artist herself, considers David a masterpiece. During another Smartline appearance, Marge claims it is hypocritical to censor Itchy & Scratchy and not David as they are both free forms of expression, feeling that her motives did more harm than good.
Now free of public negativity, Itchy & Scratchy quickly returns to its old format after SNUH disbands, prompting the town's kids to stop going outside and resume watching the show. While Marge and Homer view David at an art museum, Marge laments that the kids would rather watch a TV show than see a work of art. Homer cheers her up by revealing that the school is having students see the sculpture on a field trip to the museum. |
23 | 2 | 10 | Bart Gets Hit by a Car | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bart_Gets_Hit_by_a_Car | One day, Bart is skateboarding when he is suddenly hit by Mr. Burns's car. An attorney named Lionel Hutz suggests that the Simpsons sue Burns, promising a big cash settlement. Homer agrees, and he and Hutz spend time fabricating Bart's story, taking him to see Dr. Nick Riviera, who has dubious credentials. Marge opposes suing Burns and would be happy with him paying Bart's medical bills and apologizing. Burns eventually finds out about the phony doctor and Marge is called to the witness stand during the trial. She refuses to lie, and her testimony leads to the trial being lost. | While crossing the road on his skateboard, Bart is struck by Mr. Burns' car and hospitalized. When Bart wakes up, the attorney Lionel Hutz suggests that the Simpsons sue Burns. Marge disagrees since according to Dr. Hibbert, the family's physician, Bart's injuries are minor. After Burns offers Homer a measly $100 - which he immediately rescinds when Homer mentions it would not even cover Bart's medical bills, accusing him of extortion, Homer visits Hutz's law office at Springfield Mall.
Hutz promises Homer a cash settlement of $1 million if Bart lies about the extent of his injuries, of which Hutz gets half as his fee. Hutz takes Bart to go see Dr. Nick, a quack doctor who claims Bart has extensive injuries and wraps him in bandages. On the stand, Bart and Burns both tell exaggerated versions of the accident to impress the jury, who find Bart's story to be more believable, but Marge and Lisa are furious because they know it is Hutz's attempt to curry their favor.
An angry Burns offers Marge and Homer an out of court $500,000 settlement. Marge pleads with Homer to accept the money and drop the lawsuit. Homer refuses, knowing Burns will lose and have to pay the full $1 million. Angered, Marge admits that she and Lisa are concerned over his recent behavior and the "shifty lawyers" and "phony doctors" he hired. Overhearing Marge, Burns quickly returns and withdraws his offer.
At the trial, Marge is called to the stand and denounces Dr. Nick as a quack with no medical qualifications that Hutz hired to discredit Hibbert. When Burns's lawyer asks about the extent of Bart's injuries, she outlines Hibbert's original prognosis of how limited his injuries really are, and how Homer and Hutz made Bart lie in his testimony. Her honest testimony destroys Hutz's case, and the Simpsons get nothing.
That night, Homer goes to Moe's Tavern to drown his sorrows. Marge follows him and asks to forgive her for testifying truthfully. Homer looks into her eyes and realizes he loves her as much as ever. |
24 | 2 | 11 | One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Fish,_Two_Fish,_Blowfish,_Blue_Fish | The Simpsons go to a new sushi bar, where Homer takes a liking to the food and decides to try fugu, which is poisonous if not cut properly. Homer's fugu is not, and he is taken to the hospital where he is told he has 22 hours to live. Homer makes a list of things he wants to do, and spends his last day making amends with Grampa and talking to his children. Homer accepts his fate, but it turns out he was not poisoned after all, and he vows to live life to its fullest. Homer then continues to live his life as before. | At a sushi bar, Homer orders sushi made from fugu, a deadly venomous pufferfish. While the master chef is making out with Edna Krabappel behind the restaurant, it falls to an apprentice to prepare the fish and remove its toxic organs. After Homer swallows the sushi, the waiter Akira warns him he may have been poisoned.
At the hospital, Dr. Hibbert informs Homer and Marge that Homer likely has only 22 hours to live. That night, Homer tells Marge he will refrain from telling Bart and Lisa the bad news. He makes a list of things he wants to do before he dies.
After oversleeping on his last day, Homer attempts to tackle the things on his list. He has a man-to-man talk with Bart, listens to Lisa play her saxophone, and borrows Ned's camcorder to make a video of himself for Maggie to watch when she is older. Homer reconciles with his father, Abe, which takes up far more time than he expects and forces him to skip some of the other things on his list.
When arrested for speeding, Homer demands officers Lou and Eddie write him a ticket, thinking he will avoid the fine by dying. The officers are rankled by Homer's snarky attitude and throw him in a police cell. After Barney pays his bail to Chief Wiggum, Homer insults his boss, Mr. Burns, and has a last drink at Moe's Tavern, causing him to miss dinner with his family. He hurries home in time to say goodbye to his children and "snuggle" with Marge.
At midnight, Homer quietly leaves his bed and bids each family member goodbye while they sleep. He sits glumly in the living room listening to Larry King read the Bible on tape. The next morning, Marge finds Homer collapsed in the armchair, realizes that his drool is still warm, and wakes him to joyfully inform him he is still alive. Homer celebrates and vows to live life to its fullest. He resumes his life, watching a televised bowling tournament while eating pork rinds. |
25 | 2 | 12 | The Way We Was | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Way_We_Was | In the first Simpsons flashback episode, Marge tells the story of how she and Homer met in high school in 1974. Marge and Homer meet for the first time during detention and he immediately tries to get Marge to be his date for the prom. She initially agrees, but ends up attending with Artie Ziff. In the end, Marge regrets going with Artie, and reveals that she has fallen in love with Homer. | When the Simpsons' television set breaks, Marge tells her children how she and Homer met in a flashback. Marge and Homer were both high school seniors in 1974. Homer and his close friend Barney earned detention for smoking in the boys' restroom. Unlike Homer, Marge was studious, but she was also sent to detention for burning a bra at a feminist rally. Homer instantly fell in love with Marge on seeing her in the detention room. Despite his father Abe's warning that he was aiming too high, Homer was determined to win Marge's heart.
To impress Marge, Homer joined her debate team, where he learned she was romantically interested in the more articulate Artie Ziff. Homer asked Marge to tutor him in French, and she accepted his invitation to the senior prom. When Homer confessed that he was not enrolled in French class and was only using the ruse to spend time with her, Marge told him off for making her needlessly stay awake late the night before an important debate tournament. She lost the debate to Artie, who asked her to be his prom date. Marge agreed to go to the prom with Artie. Homer was unaware of this, so he unexpectedly arrived at her house on prom night. When Artie arrived moments later, Homer despondently left and attended the prom alone.
Artie and Marge were crowned prom king and queen and shared the first dance. Marge found Homer crying in the hallway. He confessed his feelings for her and although she was sympathetic, she urged him to accept her love for Artie. At Inspiration Point after the prom, Artie tried to make out with Marge in the back seat of his car; when he tore her dress in a fit of passion, Marge slapped him and demanded to be taken home, passing by Homer walking alone after he ran out of money to pay for his limousine rental. Realizing she was in love with Homer, and spurred on by overhearing her parents Clancy and Jacqueline criticize him, Marge returned in her car to pick him up and apologized for her foolish mistake she made. Homer fixed the torn strap of her dress with the corsage he had bought for her. Homer tells Marge that she’ll never be able to let her go. When the flashback ends, Homer and Marge kiss. Lisa and Maggie are touched, but Bart makes gagging sounds of disgust. |
26 | 2 | 13 | Homer vs. Lisa and the 8th Commandment | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer_vs._Lisa_and_the_8th_Commandment | Homer gets an illegal cable hook up. Despite their enjoyment of the new channels, Lisa becomes suspicious that they are stealing cable. Her suspicions are confirmed by Reverend Lovejoy and Lisa protests by no longer watching television. Meanwhile, Homer invites his friends over to watch a boxing match, but Lisa's protest gets to him. He decides not to watch the fight and cuts the cable. | After seeing Ned Flanders reject an offer from a crooked cable man for a $50 illegal cable hookup, Homer chases after the cable man and takes the offer. The Simpsons like the new channels and spend hours watching them. However, Lisa is suspicious about the cable hookup, and after a Sunday school lesson about the existence and nature of Hell, she fears that Homer is violating the Eighth of the Ten Commandments — "Thou shalt not steal" — and will go to Hell when he dies.
After seeing other examples of common thievery everywhere, Lisa visits Reverend Lovejoy. He dissuades Lisa from reporting her father's illegal cable hookup to the police since the Fifth Commandment states one must "honor thy father and thy mother", but instead advises her to lead by example and refuse to watch programs via the cable hookup. Marge pleads with Homer to either disconnect the cable or pay for it, but he refuses. However, after the cable man offers to sell him a stolen car stereo and attempts to break into Ned's house, Homer barricades his windows in fear. Bart one evening discovers a porn channel called "Top Hat Entertainment", despite fear of punishment from Homer, who spots him watching it. Homer lets Bart off with a warning, telling him not to watch the channel again. Bart pretends to agree to this and behind Homer's back charges the neighborhood children 50 cents to watch the cable porn channel, but just as it begins Homer catches him and sends him to his room as punishment.
Homer invites his co-workers and bar buddies to watch Drederick Tatum fight for the World Heavyweight Championship during a cable-TV boxing match. Unfortunately for Homer, Mr. Burns also finds out and decides to attend the gathering to watch the match. Whilst preparing for the viewing party, Homer is forced to hastily hide items he stole from some of his guests, namely office supplies from the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant and beer mugs from Moe's. When Lisa announces she will boycott the screening, Homer banishes her to the lawn, where she is joined by Marge and Maggie. Eventually Homer's conscience bothers him and he begrudgingly chooses not to watch the fight, dragging Bart outside with him. When his friends leave, Homer hesitantly cuts the cable hookup over Bart's objections. However, he ends up cutting off power to his neighborhood while trying to find the right wire to cut the cable. |
27 | 2 | 14 | Principal Charming | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principal_Charming | Selma begs Marge to help her find a husband and she enlists Homer's help. Meanwhile, Bart gets in trouble at school and Homer is brought in to talk to Principal Skinner, who he decides would be perfect for Selma. Homer invites Skinner to dinner, but he falls in love with Patty instead of Selma. Patty and Skinner start dating, much to Selma's unhappiness. Skinner proposes to Patty, but she rejects him because of her bond with Selma. | After attending the wedding of a coworker, Selma begs her sister Marge to help her find a husband. Marge asks Homer to help find a husband for Selma, but he struggles to find anyone suitable. When Bart is caught spelling his name on the school's lawn by killing the grass with a herbicide, Principal Skinner summons Homer to his office to discuss the prank. After learning that Skinner is single, Homer invites him to dinner. When Skinner arrives at the Simpsons' house, Homer accidentally introduces him to Patty instead of Selma; Skinner is instantly smitten with her, making Selma feel even worse about her marriage prospects.
Skinner asks Patty for a date, but she is reluctant. Selma encourages her to go on her first date in 25 years and warns her this may be her last chance to marry. Patty does not enjoy her first date with Skinner, but they keep seeing other and eventually bond, much to Selma's chagrin. Because Skinner is distracted by his love for Patty, he allows Bart and the other children to do whatever they want at school. He soon enlists Bart's help to persuade Patty to marry him. At the same time, Homer arranges a date between Barney and Selma, which she reluctantly attends.
Following Bart's lead, Skinner uses an herbicide to write "Marry Me Patty" on the school's lawn. Skinner takes her to the top of the school's bell tower to propose marriage. Patty is flattered, but she declines because she and Selma share a special bond as twin sisters. Patty appreciates Skinner's understanding and gentlemanly conduct, and admits that were she ever to settle down with a man, she would marry him. After rescuing Selma from her date with Barney, Patty drives her home to their apartment. Meanwhile, Skinner accepts his fate and reasserts his authority over Bart by destroying the entire lawn with herbicide and forcing him to repair the damage by replanting the field seed by seed, much to Groundskeeper Willie's satisfaction. |
28 | 2 | 15 | Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oh_Brother,_Where_Art_Thou%3F | Grampa confesses that Homer has a half-brother, and Homer immediately tries to track him down. Homer eventually discovers that his half-brother is Herb Powell, the head of a car manufacturer in Detroit. Herb immediately starts to bond with Bart and Lisa and he invites Homer to design his own car. Homer's car design is a disaster, causing Herb to become bankrupt. | Grampa suffers a mild heart attack while arguing with a cinema clerk. Realizing he may not have much time left, he confesses a long-hidden secret: Homer has a half-brother. Before Grampa married Homer's mother, he and a carnival prostitute had a son whom they left at the Shelbyville Orphanage. Determined to find his brother, Homer visits the orphanage and learns that his half-brother Herb Powell now lives in Detroit.
Herb owns Powell Motors, a Detroit automobile manufacturer. Herb is overjoyed to learn Homer is his half-brother and invites the Simpsons to stay at his mansion. Bart, Lisa, and Maggie are enthralled by Herb's wealthy lifestyle and outgoing personality, but Marge worries wealth will spoil her children. Herb decides that Homer, an average American, is the perfect person to design his company's new car, and gives him free rein on the project. When Herb's design team ignores Homer's outlandish suggestions, Herb encourages Homer to take command and incorporate his own ideas into the final design.
The new car is unveiled with great fanfare, but Herb is horrified to find that it looks ridiculous, has various outdated features and the unaffordable price of $82,000.[note 1] Powell Motors is forced into bankruptcy. The bank forecloses on Herb's mansion and he loses everything he worked for. As Herb leaves Detroit on a bus, he angrily disowns Homer as a brother. Grampa arrives and scolds Homer for ruining Herb's life. While Homer drives the family home, Bart tells him his car is great. Homer is relieved to learn at least one person likes it. |
29 | 2 | 16 | Bart's Dog Gets an 'F | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bart%27s_Dog_Gets_an_%22F%22 | Homer becomes fed up with Santa's Little Helper, who continually destroys things. He says he will get rid of him unless he goes to an obedience school. Bart, Lisa and Maggie have grown to love the dog and promise to train him. Santa's Little Helper does poorly there, as Bart is unwilling to use a choke chain. The night before the final exam, Bart and Santa's Little Helper play on Lisa's suggestion, thinking it will be their last few hours together. This bonding breaks down the communication barrier, meaning Santa's Little Helper can now understand Bart's commands, thus passing obedience school much to the family's (except Homer's) happiness. Meanwhile, Lisa has the mumps. | Lisa is home from school with the mumps, so Marge teaches her to sew. While Homer is at the mall buying magazines for Lisa, he splurges on a $125 pair of Assassins athletic shoes after seeing Ned sporting them. Santa's Little Helper promptly destroys Homer's Assassins. Marge shows Lisa a patchwork quilt, a family heirloom, which Santa's Little Helper chews apart. When Homer and Marge want to get rid of the dog, Bart and Lisa promise to train him, if they are allowed to keep him.
Santa's Little Helper attends an obedience school run by Emily Winthrop, an English woman. After seeing how misbehaved the dog is, she sternly suggests Bart use a choke chain to correct his behavior. Since Bart is reluctant to use firm discipline to train him, the dog fails to master basic commands like sitting and heeling. Emily grows more exasperated with Bart and his dog at each class.
Thinking it will be their last time together, Bart plays with Santa's Little Helper the night before the final exam. The dog is finally able to understand Bart's commands and passes obedience school, to Homer's chagrin. Lisa marks the occasion by starting a new quilt to replace the one Santa's Little Helper destroyed. |
30 | 2 | 17 | Old Money | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Money_(The_Simpsons) | Grampa falls in love with a wealthy woman named Bea Simmons. On Bea's birthday, Grampa tries to celebrate it, but he is dragged away by Homer. Bea dies that night and Grampa blames Homer for causing him to have missed her last moments. After the funeral, Grampa receives her fortune of $106,000. Bea's ghost appears and she tells him to forgive Homer and spend his money on a worthy cause. | Grampa falls in love with Beatrice "Bea" Simmons, a new resident at the Springfield Retirement Castle. Homer insists Grampa join the rest of the Simpsons at a cheap lion safari for their "fun day with Grampa" and ignores Grampa's protests that he is getting ready for Bea's birthday, dismissing her as a figment of Grampa's imagination. The safari trip goes wrong when Homer goes onto an unauthorized pathway that leaves the family surrounded by lions and trapped overnight until a warden rescues them. When he finally returns home, Jasper tells him that Bea has died of a burst ventricle, though a devastated Grampa believes she died of a broken heart. Deeply distressed by her death, Grampa attends her funeral, where he furiously tells a despondent Homer that it is his fault that he missed his last chance to be with Bea and disowns him, much to Homer's heartbreaking grief and his family's horror.
Grampa inherits $106,000 from Bea's estate and initially plans to spend it on himself, making sure to call Homer and tell him that he is not getting any of the inheritance. After Bea's ghost visits him on an amusement park roller coaster, he instead decides to give the money to people in need, and while he heeds Bea's plea to forgive Homer he also tells Homer he still would not get the money. Several of the townspeople visit Grampa with frivolous, greedy, and destructive proposals, disgusting him so much that he goes for a walk to clear his mind. Seeing the plight of Springfield's homeless residents during his walk, he realizes he does not have enough money to solve the city's problems.
Grampa goes on a gambling junket at Jasper's suggestion, hoping to win so much money that he can help everybody. Homer finds him on a winning streak at a casino's roulette tables and pleads for him to stop while he is ahead. The two struggle over the bet, and Homer manages to drag Grampa's chips off the table just before the wheel stops on a number he had not covered. After Grampa thanks Homer for saving him from losing the inheritance, they finally have a sincere reconciliation. Grampa uses the money to renovate the retirement home and has the dining room renamed in Bea's honor. |
31 | 2 | 18 | Brush with Greatness | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brush_with_Greatness | After finding some old paintings she did of Ringo Starr, Marge decides to take an art class at Springfield Community College. There, she becomes the top student and wins the college art show. Meanwhile, Mr. Burns needs a painting for the Burns Wing of the Springfield Art Museum, and asks Marge to paint him. At first, she has trouble painting such an evil man, but then decides to paint him naked and frail. Everyone, even Burns, praises Marge's painting. Meanwhile, Homer decides to go on a diet after being stuck on a water slide during a family outing. | The Simpsons go to the Mount Splashmore water park. The park's rescue crew is forced to close the water slide ride after Homer is stuck inside. The crew remove the blocked section of pipe using a large crane, with Homer still stuck inside. That night, the news media poke fun at Homer's massive size during their coverage of his mishap at the water park.
After learning that he weighs 260 pounds (120 kg), Homer vows to go on a diet and get more exercise. While Homer is looking for his weights in the attic, Bart stumbles upon several old paintings of the drummer Ringo Starr that Marge had made as a high school student. Marge reveals she was scolded by her art teacher for painting Starr, on whom she had a crush. She sent a painting to Starr for his "honest opinion", but she never got a response back. After Lisa suggests that Marge take a painting class at Springfield Community College, she paints Homer asleep on the couch in his underwear, earning praise from her teacher, Professor Lombardo. The painting wins the college art show, earning Marge fame and newspaper headlines.
Mr. Burns asks Marge to paint his portrait for a new wing of the Springfield Art Museum. Marge agrees, although she resists Homer's plea to paint Burns as a beautiful man. While Burns is taking a shower at the Simpsons' house, Marge inadvertently sees him naked. Homer finds he has lost 21 pounds from his exercise regimen and now weighs 239 pounds (108 kg). After Burns disparages Homer's weight and his daughters, Lisa and Maggie, Marge throws Burns out of the house. She is ready to quit until she receives a response from Starr, who, though decades late, praises her portrait of him. Homer encourages Marge to finish the painting.
Marge's painting of a naked, frail and weak Burns is unveiled at the opening of the museum wing, much to the shock of both Burns and the crowd, causing Smithers to faint. She explains that the portrait shows that behind all of Burns' evil, he is a frail and vulnerable human being who is by extension just as beautiful as any other living creature in the world. With that in mind, the crowd praises Marge's portrait; even an impressed Burns does the same before thanking Marge for a job well done. |
32 | 2 | 19 | Lisa's Substitute | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa%27s_Substitute | When Miss Hoover falls ill with a suspected case of Lyme disease, she is replaced by substitute teacher Mr. Bergstrom. Because of his unorthodox teaching methods, Lisa quickly takes a liking to him. Just as Lisa is about to ask Mr. Bergstrom over to her parents' house for dinner, Miss Hoover returns. Meanwhile, Bart runs for class president against Martin Prince, but loses due to the fact that nobody in the class voted, with the exception of Martin and one of his supporters. | Lisa's teacher, Miss Hoover, announces to her class that she has Lyme disease, and is taking a leave of absence. She is soon replaced by a substitute teacher, Mr. Bergstrom. When Mr. Bergstrom shows up for his first day teaching Lisa's class, he is dressed as a cowboy and pretends he is in Texas in 1830, and asks the students to name three historical inaccuracies on his costume. Lisa is able to name four historical innacuracies, and Mr. Bergstrom is impressed by Lisa's knowledge of his deliberate anachronisms. He rewards her with his cowboy hat. Due to Mr. Bergstrom's unorthodox teaching methods and friendly nature, Lisa begins to look up to him. When Lisa and Homer are visiting a museum, they run into Mr. Bergstrom, and Lisa becomes embarrassed when Homer displays his ignorance. Sensing a void in Lisa and Homer's relationship, Mr. Bergstrom takes Homer aside to suggest he be a more positive role model.
At Marge's suggestion, Lisa goes to invite Mr. Bergstrom to dinner at their home, but is devastated to find Miss Hoover back (it turns out her Lyme disease was psychosomatic) and Mr. Bergstrom gone. Lisa rushes to Mr. Bergstrom's apartment and learns he has accepted a new job in Capital City. She rushes to the train station when Mr. Bergstrom is about to board, and tearfully tells him she will be lost without him. Mr. Bergstrom replies that the life of a substitute teacher is transient, and he has to help students who need him most. He writes her a note and tells her any time she feels alone, its contents are all she needs to know. He boards the train and departs. Lisa looks at the note, which reads, "You are Lisa Simpson."
Meanwhile, Bart's class prepares to elect a class president. Mrs. Krabappel nominates Martin, while Sherri and Terri nominate Bart. During a debate with Martin, Bart tells jokes and wins the class over. Certain of his own victory, Bart holds a premature victory party during recess, but he finds out that the majority of students in his class--including himself--did not vote at all, giving Martin the victory with just two votes.
That night at the Simpsons' dinner table, Lisa is visibly devastated by Mr. Bergstrom's departure. When Homer tells Lisa he does not care about her problems, Lisa lashes out, calling him a "baboon". Homer is initially confused and offended until Marge calls Homer out on his insensitivity. Homer makes up with Lisa by claiming he has never lost anyone special, and then cheers her up by mimicking a monkey. Lisa apologizes.
Finding Bart seething over the election result, Homer comforts him by pointing out that being class president would have involved extra work with little reward. Homer then sees Maggie is crying because she dropped her pacifier, and returns it to her. When Homer goes back downstairs, Marge begins to ask if he made up with Lisa, but Homer interrupts her and says, "Don't say anything, Marge. Let's just go to bed. I'm on the biggest roll of my life." |
33 | 2 | 20 | The War of the Simpsons | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_of_the_Simpsons | After Homer gets drunk at a party, Marge decides to sign them up for a marriage counseling retreat. Homer finds out the retreat will be held at Catfish Lake and packs his fishing equipment, despite Marge's telling him that all they will be doing is resolving their differences. At the lake the next morning, Homer tries to sneak away to go fishing, but Marge catches him and he takes a walk instead. On the dock, Homer finds an abandoned fishing pole. The pole, with the legendary Catfish named General Sherman on the line, yanks him off the pier into a small rowboat, and onto the lake. Homer catches his fish and when he sees Marge upset, immediately lets it go to prove his love for her. | During a party at the Simpsons' house, Homer humiliates himself by getting drunk, insulting guests, and leering at Maude Flanders' cleavage. At church the next day, Marge signs up for marriage counseling at a weekend retreat hosted by Reverend Lovejoy and his wife Helen. When Homer learns the retreat will be held at Catfish Lake, he packs his fishing equipment, but Marge tells him they are only attending to resolve their marital problems. On the way to the retreat, Homer stops at a bait shop and learns of the legendary catfish General Sherman.
At the lake the next morning, Homer tries to sneak away to fish, upsetting Marge that he would choose fishing over their marriage. Instead of returning to bed, Homer takes a walk and finds an abandoned fishing pole on a dock. As he grabs the pole with General Sherman on the line, the fish yanks him from the pier into a small rowboat and onto the lake. From their cabin window, Marge grows angry watching Homer battle General Sherman. Marge attends the marriage workshops alone while Homer triumphantly docks with General Sherman aboard the boat. When Homer returns, Marge tells him their marriage is in serious trouble if he values fishing more than his wife. To prove his love for her, Homer releases the fish, which swims away.
While Marge and Homer are away, Grampa babysits Bart and Lisa, who trick their grandfather into letting them throw a party. After the party ends, the house is a total mess. When Grampa cries, they fear their mess will land him in trouble with their parents, so they frantically clean the house. Once home, Marge praises Grampa for the house's cleanliness. He reveals his secret is "pretending to cry" to con his grandchildren into cleaning it. Bart and Lisa realize they were tricked as Grampa leaves while laughing at them. |
34 | 2 | 21 | Three Men and a Comic Book | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Men_and_a_Comic_Book | Bart, Milhouse and Martin Prince pool their money together to buy the first Radioactive Man comic from Comic Book Guy. They discover that they are unable to share the comic and due to their mistrust of each other, end up destroying it. | While attending a comic book convention dressed as his superhero alter ego Bartman, Bart finds the first issue of Radioactive Man selling for $100 at Comic Book Guy's Android's Dungeon. Since he does not have enough money to buy it, he decides to get a job. Bart performs back-breaking labor for Mrs. Glick, who gives him only fifty cents for all of his hard work, including weeding carnivorous plants, feeding Mrs Glick's cat, and scrubbing sludge off her roof.
When Bart sees Martin and Milhouse at the Android's Dungeon, attempting to buy the comic book and a Carl Yastremski baseball card, respectively, he persuades them to pool their money and buy the comic book. Since none of them is willing to let the comic book out of his sight, they spend the night together in Bart's treehouse. They get progressively more paranoid, and Bart grows convinced Martin and Milhouse are conspiring against him as a thunderstorm approaches.
When Martin gets up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, Bart thinks he plans to steal the comic and ties him up. Milhouse tries to alert Marge that Bart has gone crazy, but Bart thinks he is making a move for the comic and tackles him. Milhouse falls over the side of the treehouse, but Bart catches him precariously by his sleeve. Milhouse admits to Bart he only wanted the Yastrzemski card to begin with, not the comic. When a gale of wind takes hold of the comic, Bart is forced to decide between grabbing it and rescuing Milhouse. After Bart pulls Milhouse to safety, the comic blows out the door and onto the ground, where it is shredded by Santa's Little Helper and struck by lightning. The next morning, the three boys reflect on how their inability to share the comic led to its destruction, while a bird lines its nest with a scrap from the last page. |
35 | 2 | 22 | Blood Feud | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Feud_(The_Simpsons) | After Mr. Burns falls ill and desperately needs a blood transfusion, Homer discovers Bart has Burns's rare blood type. Homer urges his son to donate, promising that they will be handsomely rewarded. Having received the blood, however, all Burns does is send the family a card. Enraged, Homer writes an insulting reply, but Marge convinces him at the last minute not to send it, but Bart unknowingly mails it anyway. Mr. Burns becomes furious and demands that Homer be beaten. Smithers calls off the beating, however, on the grounds that this action is no way to thank the man who saved Mr. Burns's life. He convinces Burns to instead buy the family a present. | Mr. Burns falls ill with a life-threatening condition called hypohemia — in which the body fails to produce enough blood — and needs a blood transfusion. Burns' search for a donor finds that none of the employees at Springfield Nuclear Power Plant share his rare blood type, double O negative. Some even laugh about Burns' condition and refuse to reveal their blood type. Homer originally offers to donate some of his blood believing that he would get a reward for saving Burns' life, but discovers that his blood type is A positive. When discussing it with Marge, he learns that his son Bart is double O negative. Although Bart has second thoughts on donating blood, Homer urges him to, promising that Burns will reward the Simpsons handsomely. After Bart reluctantly agrees and his donation saves Burns' life, Burns sends the Simpsons a thank-you card. Enraged at the paltry gesture, Homer writes an insulting reply, but Marge convinces him not to send it. The next morning, Homer finds the letter missing and learns Bart has mailed it.
When Homer fails to prevent the letter from reaching Burns' desk by attempting and failing to fill the mailbox with water, Burns receives the letter. Burns is initially impressed with the positive start of the letter, but before Homer can leave Burns' office, Burns reads the rest of the letter. Furious, Burns demands that Homer be beaten by thugs, but Smithers protests, insisting it is no way to return the favor the Simpsons performed for him. A remorseful Burns soon sends the family a colossal Olmec head of the god Xtapalapaquetl, which Bart likes. He also apologizes to Homer for misjudging him and gives him a copy of his book, Will There Ever Be A Rainbow?.
As the Simpsons stare at the head, they debate the lesson they have learned from the affair. Lisa suggests that perhaps there is no lesson. Homer observes that the recent events are "just a bunch of stuff that happened", though everyone agrees the past few days have been a memorable turn of events. |
36 | 3 | 1 | Stark Raving Dad | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stark_Raving_Dad | Homer's sanity is called into question when he arrives at work wearing a pink shirt. After Bart takes Homer's mental stability test for him, Homer is committed to a mental hospital where he meets a big, hulking bald man who says his name is Michael Jackson. Meanwhile, Lisa is depressed over her upcoming eighth birthday, but is very happy in the end to receive a song that is written specially for her birthday.
Note: In the wake of renewed sexual abuse allegations against guest star Michael Jackson, this episode was removed from syndication in March 2019 and was banned from circulation, and is the only episode of the series not available for streaming on Disney+, and the post-2019 reprints of season 3 DVD set. | Lisa reminds Bart that he forgets her birthday every year, so he promises to get her a present for her eighth birthday. Meanwhile, Homer panics after seeing that all his white work shirts are dyed pink after Bart tossed his "lucky" red hat into the laundry. Homer is forced to wear a pink shirt to work, where Mr. Burns suspects his attire reveals Homer is a "free-thinking anarchist".
Homer is sent home with a psychiatric quiz to allow Dr. Marvin Monroe to assess his sanity, but Homer makes Bart complete the quiz because he is too lazy to do it himself. Bart ticks "yes" to all the questions, which ask if Homer hears voices, is quick to anger, or wets his pants. When Burns and Monroe see the results, they send Homer to a mental institution, where he is committed after an inkblot test image that resembles Bart triggers his temper.
Homer is put in a cell with a large white man who introduces himself as Michael Jackson. Being unfamiliar with the real Michael Jackson, Homer believes and quickly befriends him. Marge visits Homer at the mental hospital and convinces his doctors that he is not insane when they realize Bart is real and not a figment of Homer's imagination. When Jackson reveals that he is in the asylum voluntarily, Homer invites him to stay with the Simpsons. Despite promising to keep it secret, Bart blabs about Jackson coming to his house; soon all of Springfield gathers outside to see the pop star. When Homer introduces Jackson, the townspeople realize he is an impostor and leave, angry at Bart.
In his excitement over Jackson's arrival, Bart fails to acknowledge Lisa's birthday. After overhearing a distraught Lisa writing a letter disowning her brother, Jackson convinces Bart to let him help heal their rift. Together they write and perform a song for her called "Happy Birthday Lisa". The song thrills Lisa, who declares it the best present ever. Jackson then reveals that his real name is Leon Kompowsky, a bricklayer from Paterson, New Jersey. He explains that he had been filled with anger most of his life, but found solace when talking in Jackson's voice because it made people happy. Leon bids farewell to the Simpsons, singing Lisa's birthday song to himself in his normal voice. |
37 | 3 | 2 | Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Lisa_Goes_to_Washington | While reading a copy of Reading Digest, Homer finds an entry form for an essay contest for which Lisa signs up. When she wins the contest, she and the family travel to Washington, D.C. where the finals are to be held. Here, Lisa bears witness to the seedy underbelly of politics and becomes bitterly disappointed after learning of a bribery scandal involving Springfield's state congressman. In her final essay, she disdains and condemns the government system, which leads to the arrest of the corrupt congressman. While she fails to win the contest, her faith in government is restored. | Homer sees an ad for a children's essay contest in the Reading Digest magazine. Lisa submits an essay on the contest's topic – "what makes America great" – after visiting Springfield Forest and seeing a bald eagle land nearby. The Simpsons travel to Washington, D.C. after Lisa's essay, "The Roots of Democracy", earns her a spot in the national finals there.
While Bart and Homer enjoy the all-expenses-paid perks of their trip, Lisa visits famous monuments for inspiration. At a shrine to a feminist icon, she sees a corrupt congressman, Bob Arnold, taking a bribe from a timber industry lobbyist to allow loggers to clearcut Springfield Forest. Heartbroken and disillusioned by government corruption, Lisa destroys her winning essay. She pens a scathing indictment, "Cesspool on the Potomac", which condemns government greed and corruption and names the politician involved in the bribery.
Lisa's essay elicits a hostile reaction from the judges and the audience. When word of her speech quickly spreads through the capital, Congressman Arnold is arrested, removed from office and sent to prison, where he becomes a born-again Christian. Lisa's essay fails to win the contest, but her faith in government is restored and the contest winner commends her courage and honesty. |
38 | 3 | 3 | When Flanders Failed | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_Flanders_Failed | Homer makes a wish for Ned Flanders to be a financial failure. The wish comes to life when Flanders's store catering to left-handed people goes out of business, causing the Flanders family to end up financially in trouble. When finding out that Ned's house is to be repossessed, Homer feels guilty and decides to help by telling all the left-handed population of Springfield about the Leftorium and calling in a few favors from his friends. This helps Ned keep the store and get his house back. Meanwhile, Bart goes to the Japanese bartender Akira and takes karate lessons, but quits after he discovers that it is not as interesting as he had expected it to be. | Ned Flanders invites the Simpson family to a barbecue where he announces plans to quit the pharmaceutical business and open the Leftorium, a store for left-handed people. While pulling a wishbone with Ned, Homer—jealous of Ned's material success—wishes for the Leftorium to fail and go out of business. Undeterred after Lisa scolds him for indulging in schadenfreude, Homer gloats when Ned tells him business is slow. Afterwards, Homer keeps seeing left-handed citizens struggling with items made for right-handed people (including his boss, Mr. Burns) and considers telling them about the Leftorium, but decides not to.
In the B-story, Bart begins taking karate lessons at Akira's karate school. He soon finds himself bored with karate, so he decides to skip each lesson and play video games at the mall arcade instead. Whenever Bart is asked by his friends and family about the karate techniques he is learning, he refers to the Touch of Death, an ability he sees in one of the arcade games he plays. He proceeds to terrorize Lisa into doing his will by threatening her with the Touch of Death. When the school bullies take Lisa's saxophone, she tells them Bart will defend her with the Touch of Death. Unable to actually defend himself or his sister, Bart is pantsed and hung by his underwear from a playground basketball hoop rim by the bullies. Having reclaimed her saxophone, Lisa wistfully notes that sometimes two wrongs do make a right.
Eventually the store closes, plunging the Flanders family into debt and misery. Ned is forced to sell his possessions, and Homer gleefully buys many of them for a pittance. Overcome by regret, Homer decides to return Ned's possessions, but he finds Ned's house repossessed and the family living in their car. Homer tells Ned to open the store one final time and informs all the left-handed residents of Springfield about the Leftorium; they descend upon the store and buy almost everything; Mr. Burns buys the roadster with left-handed shift. The business boom helps Ned keep the store open and get his house back. Todd Flanders leads a chorus of "Put On a Happy Face". |
39 | 3 | 4 | Bart the Murderer | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bart_the_Murderer | After suffering from bad luck, Bart stumbles upon the "Legitimate Businessman's Social Club" Mafia bar where the leader, Fat Tony, hires him to work as their permanent bartender. However, when Principal Skinner ends up missing for nearly a week, Bart is immediately blamed for murdering him, causing Bart to get sent to court. As Bart is about to get convicted, the principal shows up which leads to Bart being cleared of all the charges. | After forgetting a permission slip, Bart misses out out on a field trip to the chocolate factory and spends the day licking envelopes with Principal Skinner. On the way home, he loses control of his skateboard during a downpour and crashes down the stairwell of the Legitimate Businessman's Social Club, owned by the Springfield Mafia.
At the club, mob boss Fat Tony (Joe Mantegna) and his henchmen, Legs and Louie, are inhospitable towards Bart at first. They are soon impressed by his ability to pick winning horses and make excellent Manhattans. Fat Tony hires him as the club's bartender and errand boy, and Bart starts wearing Rat Pack suits and allows the Mob to store a truckload of stolen cigarettes in his bedroom until they can be fenced. After a news story about a hijacked truck of Laramie cigarettes, Lisa asks "Bart, is your boss a crook?" He says "I don't think so...but it would explain an awful lot."
Bart is given detention for trying to bribe Principal Skinner, and is unable to serve Manhattans to a rival gang. The mobsters confront Skinner, who is reported missing the next day. As it becomes apparent that Skinner has been murdered, Bart rushes to confront Fat Tony at the club after a nightmare about Skinner's ghost and his own execution. While Bart is there, the police raid the club and arrest the mobsters. Bart is subsequently placed on trial for Skinner's murder.
At the trial, Fat Tony, Legs and Louie say Bart killed Skinner and that he is the kingpin of the Springfield mafia. Homer, when called to testify, finds the claims plausible. Bart is found guilty and Judge Snyder is about to give Bart a certain death sentence when Skinner, unshaven and disheveled, bursts into the courtroom, and explains to everyone what happened to him. Fat Tony and his henchmen visited Skinner's office and left sheepishly after Skinner scolded them for interfering in student discipline. When he returned home that day, Skinner became trapped beneath stacks of old newspapers in his garage and lay stuck there for a week before finally realizing he had to get out himself.
Bart is exonerated, despite the prosecution's unsuccessful attempt to have Skinner's speech stricken from the record. Bart quits Fat Tony's gang and tells him that the bromide is true: crime doesn't pay. Fat Tony says, "Yeah, you're right" and drives off in a limousine. The incident is the basis for a TV movie, Blood on the Blackboard: The Bart Simpson Story starring Richard Chamberlain as Skinner, Joe Mantegna as Fat Tony and Neil Patrick Harris as Bart. Homer says he knows who the real crooks are: "those sleazy Hollywood producers!" and the credits roll. |
40 | 3 | 5 | Homer Defined | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer_Defined | Homer accidentally saves the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant and is ashamed when people mistake him for a hero. When another impending meltdown threatens the Shelbyville plant, he is asked to perform his heroic deeds once again. He is lucky again, but this time he is derided as a lucky imbecile, even more so than he was hailed as a hero. Meanwhile, Milhouse's mom forbids him to be friends with Bart as she feels he is a bad influence on him. | While eating donuts at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, Homer splatters jelly on the nuclear reactor core's temperature dial. The donut filling obscures the panel and the plant approaches a nuclear meltdown. Unable to remember his safety training (because he was playing with a Rubik's cube at the time), Homer chooses a button at random with a counting rhyme, which miraculously averts the meltdown. Springfield is saved and Homer is hailed as a hero.
Mr. Burns names Homer "Employee of the Month". Lisa, often embarrassed by her dim-witted dad, starts to worship him as a role model. Homer feels guilty that his so-called heroism was nothing but blind luck. His despair deepens after he receives a congratulatory phone call from Magic Johnson (who used the Lakers' last time out to call Homer personally), who tells him frauds are eventually exposed.
In the B-story, Bart is upset when he learns that he is not invited to Milhouse Van Houten's birthday party because Milhouse's mother, Luann, thinks Bart is a bad influence and forbids the boys from being friends. Deprived of his best friend, a depressed Bart resorts to playing with Maggie. Marge visits Luann and persuades her to let the boys be friends again. Using the Krusty the Clown walkie-talkies Bart gave him for his birthday, Milhouse invites Bart to his house. Realizing that no one else would have stood up for him, Bart thanks Marge.
Burns introduces Homer to Aristotle Amadopolis (Jon Lovitz), the owner of the nuclear power plant in the fictional neighboring city of Shelbyville. Burns forces Homer to deliver a motivational speech to the Shelbyville workers. During Homer's fumbling address, an impending meltdown threatens the Shelbyville plant. In the control room, Amadopolis asks Homer to avert the disaster. Homer repeats his rhyme and blindly presses a button. Although Homer once more averts a meltdown, Amadopolis is irate to find that Homer's supposed heroism was by sheer dumb luck. Soon the phrase "to pull a Homer", meaning "to succeed despite idiocy," becomes a widely used catchphrase, even employed by Magic Johnson; its dictionary entry is illustrated by Homer's portrait. |
41 | 3 | 6 | Like Father, Like Clown | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Like_Father,_Like_Clown | When Krusty comes over to the Simpsons' house for dinner, he reveals to them that he is of Jewish heritage, and that his father, Rabbi Krustofski kicked him out for pursuing a career in comedy, and not a successful career as a rabbi. Krusty starts to fall apart and Bart and Lisa decide to contact the rabbi and convince him to forgive Krusty. The rabbi at first refuses to see Krusty again, but Bart convinces him to do so, and the two reconcile. | Krusty had agreed to have dinner with the Simpsons to repay Bart for helping exonerate him for charges of armed robbery.[a] When he keeps canceling, an upset Bart writes him a letter saying he has lost faith in Krusty. Krusty's secretary, Lois Pennycandy, is so moved by the letter that she threatens to quit if Krusty does not keep his promise to Bart, so Krusty reluctantly attends. When asked to say grace, Krusty recites a Hebrew blessing. Realizing that Krusty is Jewish, Lisa speaks of his heritage, making him break down in tears. He tells the family that saying the blessing reminds him of his troubled past.
Krusty reveals his real name is Herschel Krustofsky (Hebrew: הרשל קרוסטופסקי) and describes his upbringing on the Lower East Side of Springfield. His father, Hyman Krustofsky, is a rabbi who hated his son's wish to become a comedian and wanted him to follow in his footsteps. At school, Krusty made the other students laugh and became a slapstick comedian behind his father's back. One night, Krusty performed at a rabbis' convention unknowingly attended by Hyman. A rabbi squirted seltzer on him, washing off his clown makeup. Recognizing Krusty, an outraged Hyman immediately disowned his son. They have not seen or spoken to each other in 25 years.
Showing a father-and-son themed episode of The Itchy & Scratchy Show reduces Krusty to tears. Lisa says “A man who envies our family is a man who needs help” and she and Bart decide to reunite father and son. Hyman tells them: "I have no son!" and Bart says "Great, we came all this way and it's the wrong guy." He adds: "I didn't mean that literally!" He refuses to reconcile with Krusty because he believes that his son had abandoned his faith and family. To outsmart Hyman, Lisa finds Judaic teachings that urge forgiveness, but he refutes her arguments. In a last-ditch effort, Bart convinces Hyman to abandon his stubborn ways by quoting Sammy Davis Jr. — a Jewish entertainer like Krusty — and making a passionate plea about the struggles that the Jewish people have overcome. Bart's speech finally convinces Hyman that entertainers have a place in Jewish culture.
Krusty is feeling glum when he starts the live of his show, and then calls for Itchy & Scratchy to roll. Bart and Lisa arrive backstage with Hyman, and he and Krusty joyously reconcile before the audience. Hyman accepts a cream pie from Bart and throws it in his son's face. |
42 | 3 | 7 | Treehouse of Horror II | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treehouse_of_Horror_II | When Homer, Bart, and Lisa eat a ton of candy, the three begin having various nightmares.
In Lisa's nightmare ("The Monkey's Paw"), the Simpsons visit Morocco and find a monkey's paw that makes all their wishes come true – with dire consequences. Homer eventually gives the paw to Ned, who improves his home.
In Bart's nightmare ("The Bart Zone"), the town of Springfield must think happy thoughts or suffer the powers of Bart's twisted imagination. Dr. Marvin Monroe prescribes that Homer should spend quality time together. As this happens, Bart wakes from his dream, horrified.
In Homer's nightmare ("If I Only Had a Brain"), Mr. Burns transplants Homer's brain into a robot to create a super-efficient worker. The robot remains as incompetent and inefficient as regular Homer, and Burns restores Homer's brain to his body. Homer wakes after Burns is accidentally crushed by the robot, and finds Burns' head is grafted on his shoulder.
| After eating too much Halloween candy, Homer, Lisa and Bart have nightmares.
In Lisa's nightmare, Homer buys a cursed monkey's paw that will grant its owner four wishes. While he, Bart and Lisa argue, Marge pleads with them to heed the vendor's warning and not use it at all. Despite this, Maggie is granted the first wish: a new pacifier. Bart wishes for the Simpsons to be rich and famous, but the public soon tires of the family's antics and ubiquity. Horrified by the wasteful wishes, Lisa wishes for world peace, but aliens Kang and Kodos enslave the defenseless Earth. Determined to make a harmless wish, Homer demands a turkey sandwich, but the turkey is dry. With all the wishes used, he gives the paw to his neighbor Ned, who wishes for the aliens to leave and transforms his home into a castle.
In Bart's nightmare, Springfield lives in fear of Bart's omnipotent powers, including the ability to read minds, magically move objects and turn living things into grotesque forms. When Homer refuses to turn off a football game so Bart can watch The Krusty the Clown Show, Bart transports him to the football stadium in place of the ball for a field goal kick. As Homer creeps into the house trying to surprise him with a blow to the head, Bart transforms Homer into a jack-in-the-box. After Dr. Marvin Monroe says Bart is desperate for attention from his father, Homer spends quality time with his son. Bart restores Homer's human form and they share a warm moment, causing Bart to wake up screaming.
In Homer's nightmare, he becomes a grave digger after Mr. Burns fires him for incompetence. While building a giant robotic laborer to replace human workers, Burns searches a graveyard for a human brain to implant in the robot. After mistaking Homer, asleep in an open grave, for a corpse, he removes his brain and places it in the robot. Since Robo-Homer is just as incompetent as the old Homer, Burns declares the experiment a failure. After restoring the brain to Homer's body, Burns kicks the robot, which topples over and crushes him. Homer wakes from the nightmare to find Burns' head grafted on his shoulder. Homer tries to reassure himself that he is only dreaming, but Burns' head insists otherwise. |
43 | 3 | 8 | Lisa's Pony | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa%27s_Pony | When Lisa requires a new saxophone reed for her talent recital, she asks Homer, who immediately promises to buy her one. Although Homer breaks his promise, he makes up for it by giving Lisa the one thing she had always wanted, a pony named Princess. With a new pony in the house, Homer struggles with two jobs to cover the cost. Lisa, upon seeing what Homer must go through to pay for the pony, decides to sell it. | Lisa needs a new saxophone reed for the school talent show. Homer agrees to buy her one but visits Moe's Tavern first. When he arrives at the music shop next door, it has closed for the night. Dejected, Homer returns to the bar, where he finds the shop's owner. Moe convinces him to re-open his store, but when Homer reaches the school with the new reed, Lisa has already butchered her performance. Humiliated and dejected, she ignores her father's attempts to appease her. While watching old family videos, Homer realizes how much he has neglected Lisa over the years.
After Homer's attempts to mend his relationship with Lisa fail, he buys her, using a loan through the power plant credit union, the one thing she has always wanted: a pony. Lisa wakes one morning – the pony is lying next to her in bed. She is delighted with her and names her Princess; she forgives her father. Homer is glad Lisa respects him again, but Marge is upset when he ignores her warning that they cannot afford the horse.
To pay for Princess' stabling, Homer moonlights at the Kwik-E-Mart, which exhausts him over time. Marge tells the children about the sacrifices their father is making but says that Lisa must decide for herself whether to part with Princess. After watching Bart take advantage of a sleep-deprived Homer at the Kwik-E-Mart, Lisa shares a heartbreaking goodbye with her pony. She tells Homer there is a "big dumb animal" she loves even more than Princess: her father. When Homer—who was lazy, stole from the Kwik-E-Mart, and was rude to the customers—quits his job, Apu admits that he was the "best damned employee a convenience store ever had". |
44 | 3 | 9 | Saturdays of Thunder | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturdays_of_Thunder | After taking a fatherhood quiz, Homer realizes that he knows nothing about Bart, and in the result, strives to be a better father after learning that Bart is one of the racers in the Soapbox Derby. Their entry is not very good, so Bart decides to drive Martin Prince's much nicer racer. Homer is at first devastated, but decides that he must be a good father and support Bart. Bart later goes on to win the race. | Marge makes Homer take a fatherhood quiz and discovers he knows next to nothing about his son. After a pep talk at the National Fatherhood Institute, Homer offers to help Bart build his own Soap Box Derby racer. At the qualifying race, Bart and Martin Prince form an alliance vowing to beat bully Nelson and his intimidating racer, the Roadkill 2000.
The racer that Bart and Homer build is so poorly made that it fails to accelerate and breaks down before reaching the finish line. Martin wins the race, but his aerodynamically designed vehicle veers out of control and crashes into a wall at high speed, leaving him with a broken arm. He allows Bart to take his place as driver. Feeling betrayed, Homer rejects Bart's attempt to apologize for switching vehicles, denounces both boys, and angrily tells Bart to do whatever he wants.
Marge reminds Homer that she has defended him in the past, but his recent actions prove he is a bad father. As Bart prepares for the finals with Martin's newly tuned racer, Homer takes the fatherhood quiz again and finds that he can now answer all the questions due to having spent so much time with Bart. Homer hurries to the race and wishes Bart luck, telling Bart he will be proud of him regardless of who wins. Nelson repeatedly tries to cheat and force Bart to crash, but Bart wins the race and the championship. He and Homer savor their victory, though Martin tries to take all the credit as he actually built the winning racer. |
45 | 3 | 10 | Flaming Moe's | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flaming_Moe%27s | One night at Moe's Tavern, Homer tells Moe Szyslak of a secret alcoholic cocktail made with cough syrup and fire that he calls "Flaming Homer". When Moe tries Homer's recipe in the bar, he finds it boosts his business and patronage, so Moe steals the recipe from Homer. Later, Moe is about to sell the recipe for $1 million but Homer comes and divulges the secret ingredient, only to find out that Moe was planning to split the million with him. | To avoid Lisa and her friends' disruptive sleepover, Homer visits Moe's Tavern, where he learns Moe is struggling financially as "Increased job satisfaction and family togetherness are poison for purveyors of mind numbing intoxicants like myself." Homer tells him about the Flaming Homer, a drink recipe he invented when Patty and Selma made his family watch slides from their vacation after Patty took his last Duff. Homer mixed drops of liquor from near-empty bottles, inadvertently including a bottle of children's cough syrup. When Patty dropped cigarette ash in the drink and set it aflame, Homer discovered that fire balanced out the alcohol content, as he puts it: "Fire made it good."
After making a test Flaming Homer, Moe gives it to a customer, who loves its taste. When the customer asks what the drink is called, Moe insists it is his invention, a Flaming Moe. Soon word of mouth spreads, leading to a business boom for Moe. To handle the extra customers, he hires a waitress named Colette, who he later gets romantically involved with. Moe renames his tavern Flaming Moe's, which soon becomes one of Springfield's trendiest nightspots and Aerosmith's new hangout. Homer is angry with Moe for stealing his drink recipe and vows never to return, although Moe is unable to hear this over the clamor of his new customers. During a show and tell assignment about inventors, Bart attempts to prove that Homer invented the Flaming Moe, but everyone else in the classroom derides him and Ms. Krabappel, seeing the liquor bottles he brought along for a demonstration, tells Bart to "take them to the teacher's lounge."
A restaurant chain wants to buy the drink's recipe and offers $1 million for the recipe, but Moe refuses. After Colette learns that Moe stole the recipe from Homer, she makes him promise to apologize to Homer and compensate him. As Moe is about to accept the deal – and share half of the money with him – a resentful Homer, obsessed with Moe's betrayal, appears at the tavern in the light rigging, revealing to everyone in the bar that the secret ingredient is children's cough syrup. The representative quickly retracts his offer and leaves, with Homer falling to the stage below, crushing Aerosmith.
Soon nearly all bars and restaurants in Springfield are serving rebranded versions of Flaming Moe, leaving Moe's business to dwindle again, with Colette having left for Hollywood to pursue an acting career. Homer visits Moe's, where they reconcile after Moe serves him a Flaming Homer on the house. |
46 | 3 | 11 | Burns Verkaufen der Kraftwerk | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burns_Verkaufen_der_Kraftwerk | The stock in the Nuclear Plant skyrockets amid rumors of a takeover meaning that all the workers get rich, except for Homer who has sold his stockholding for a mere $25 and fears that he will lose his job. The rumors prove true as two German businessmen buy the plant from Mr. Burns for $100 million and fire Homer for incompetence. Mr. Burns decides to buy the plant back when he discovers that his former employees no longer fear him. | The employees of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant become wealthy after selling their company stock, except for Homer, who sold his shares prematurely to a shady stockbroker and only netted $25. Meanwhile, two German businessmen named Hans and Fritz visit Springfield, wanting to approach Mr. Burns about buying the power plant. They bump into Homer at Moe's tavern, where he boasts that Burns will not sell the plant for any less than $100 million after hearing Burns' assistant Waylon Smithers claim so. Burns claims that he would never sell his plant to Germans, and meets with Hans and Fritz just so he can tell them no face to face. However, he is ecstatic to discover that they are offering him $100 million, and accepts. Hans and Fritz become owners of the power plant, and Burns retires, while Smithers remains an employee.
The new owners immediately begin a thorough evaluation of the plant and its employees; Homer worries his lax work ethic as safety inspector will cost him his job. When Hans and Fritz interview Homer, he is unable to intelligently answer their questions and daydreams about frolicking in "The Land of Chocolate" after hearing Germany being mentioned as such. Just as Homer feared, the owners announce that he will be the only employee fired, so the rest of the Simpson family makes budget cuts until he can find a new job. Burns has drinks with Smithers at Moe's Tavern, where Homer has been drinking. Homer and the other patrons except Smithers taunt Burns. Humiliated, Burns realizes that his former employees no longer fear him. Since his ownership of the plant gave him power over ordinary men, Burns decides to buy it back.
Hans and Fritz discover that the plant is in need of repairs and decide to sell before they sink too much money into it. Burns, noting their desperation to sell, offers them $50 million for the plant; they reluctantly accept half what they had paid him. Now back in charge, Burns re-hires Homer, saying that it is better to keep one's enemies close, and vows for revenge for the humiliation he suffered at the bar. |
47 | 3 | 12 | I Married Marge | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Married_Marge | After worrying that she may yet again be pregnant, Marge drives to Dr. Hibbert's office. While anxiously waiting, Homer begins to tell Bart, Lisa, and Maggie about how he and Marge got married at a quickie wedding chapel, and how he attempted to prove to Marge's sisters that he can provide for their upcoming child. | Marge worries she may be pregnant again after a home pregnancy test is inconclusive, so she drives to Dr. Hibbert's office to take another test. While Marge is gone, Homer tells Bart, Lisa, and Maggie the story of their marriage and Bart's birth.
In 1980, Homer is working at a minigolf course while dating Marge. At the end of a date, Bart is conceived when Homer and Marge had sex in a golf course castle, and Marge accepts Homer's proposal of marriage. The pair marry in a seedy wedding chapel across the state line and spend their wedding night on the living room couches at Marge's family's house.
As Homer's wages from the golf course are insufficient to support his growing family, he applies for a job at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, but is rejected because Smithers favored two other applicants who happened to be his old college fraternity brothers. In desperation, Homer applies at smaller businesses in the area, but his efforts prove to be fruitless and his and Marge's newly purchased baby supplies, alongside Marge's wedding ring, are repossessed. Remorseful for not being a suitable husband for Marge, Homer leaves to find steady work, hoping to return once able to support his family. He leaves Marge a note explaining his departure and she is devastated when she reads it.
Ultimately, Homer finds work at a fast food restaurant. Patty and Selma see Homer working at the restaurant during an outing, but decide not to tell Marge where he is because of their disdain for him; Selma later changes her mind and tells Marge when she sees her sister's despondency. After reconciling with his wife, a reinvigorated Homer re-applies at the power plant, telling Mr. Burns he would be the perfect employee due to his unwavering subservience. Impressed, Burns readily hires Homer.
At the hospital, Homer announces that he has found work at the plant, allowing him to pay for Bart's imminent delivery. Soon, Bart is born, and the newborn promptly sets Homer's tie afire.
After Homer ends his flashback, he tells Bart, Lisa and Maggie he is blessed to have such children and does not regret having them. Regardless, when Marge arrives back with the news she is not pregnant, Homer and Marge share a celebratory high-five. |
48 | 3 | 13 | Radio Bart | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Bart | When Bart's birthday party turns into a disaster, he uses a radio transmitter microphone Homer gave him to play pranks on other citizens. He decides to throw a radio down an old well and tricks the town into thinking a little boy is stuck in it. At first he is successful, but Lisa reminds him that he left a "property of Bart Simpson" label on the radio and goes to retrieve it. Bart becomes trapped in the well and the town gets angry and decide to leave him there. Homer later gets fed up with the townspeople's ignorance and frantically tries to rescue him. He digs a hole near the well, which helps the townspeople realise the error of their ways and offer help. | Homer sees a television commercial for the Superstar Celebrity Microphone — which can broadcast anyone's voice over AM radio — and impulsively buys one for Bart's birthday. At his party, Bart is crestfallen when he receives gifts such as a cactus, a label maker, and a new suit. At first, Bart dislikes the microphone, but he later uses it to play practical jokes, such as tricking Ned's sons, Rod and Todd, into believing that God is talking to them, eavesdropping on Lisa and Janey's conversations about boys, and convincing Homer that Martians are invading. He also uses the microphone to make it look like Mrs. Krabappel made flatulent noises.
Bart ends up losing the radio down the well, but plays this to his advantage, tricking the townspeople into thinking an orphan named Timmy O'Toole has fallen down the well. Although they are unable to rescue Timmy, since the well is too small to accommodate an adult, the entire town offers its love and moral support. Krusty persuades Sting to join other celebrities in recording a charity single, "We're Sending Our Love Down the Well".
Lisa catches Bart imitating Timmy's voice and reminds him that the townspeople will be angry at him for being duped, while correctly assuming that he put a "Property of Bart Simpson" label on the radio. For fear of reprisal, Bart tries to retrieve the radio after nightfall but falls to the bottom when policemen Eddie and Lou undo the rope Bart used to lower himself down the well. When the townspeople find Bart trapped there, he admits Timmy does not exist. Angry at being tricked, the townspeople refuse to rescue him.
After a tearful speech by Bart saying that there would be many things he would miss out on including what would happen in the family, Homer has finally had enough and decides to dig a tunnel and rescue Bart himself. Groundskeeper Willie helps Homer dig and soon several other residents join the excavation, finally rescuing Bart with help from Sting. The next day, Willie posts a warning sign near the well to prevent future accidents. |
49 | 3 | 14 | Lisa the Greek | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_the_Greek | Homer begins to bond with Lisa after learning her unique and convenient ability to pick winning American football teams. However, Homer secretly takes advantage of Lisa's ability, using it to gamble money off Moe. When Homer selfishly chooses going bowling with Barney instead of going on a mountain hike with Lisa, Lisa finds out Homer had only been using her for gambling, and refuses to speak to him until he fully understands her. | When Lisa complains to Marge that Homer does not share her interests, Marge suggests doing something he likes, so Lisa watches a televised football game with him. After being cheated by a premium rate betting advice hotline, a desperate Homer asks Lisa to pick a winner. She picks the Miami Dolphins, so Homer calls Moe's Tavern to place a $50 bet. Homer and Lisa celebrate the Dolphins' victory.
Since Lisa is adept at picking winning teams, Homer declares every Sunday during football season Daddy-Daughter Day. Lisa sustains her winning streak for eight weeks, earning her father more money as the Super Bowl approaches. Homer buys his family expensive gifts and meals with his gambling earnings. When Lisa asks Homer if they can go hiking the Sunday after the Super Bowl, he tells her that Daddy-Daughter Days are over until next football season. Lisa realizes that Homer only wanted her to help him gamble and does not treasure her company.
Meanwhile, Marge arranges a Mother-Son Day with Bart by taking him clothes shopping. She forces him to try on unfashionable clothes and humiliates him by flinging open the fitting room door, causing Sherri and Terri and the other customers to laugh at him in his underwear. Bart spends the rest of the day locked in the car to avoid getting beaten up by bullies for Marge’s poor fashion choices while Marge herself remains oblivious.
After a nightmare in which her childhood sports betting with Homer caused her to grow up to become a compulsive gambler, Lisa, completely heartbroken, gives away all the toys Homer bought her with his betting stash. She tells Homer who will win the game, but she warns him that she is so distraught she might unconsciously want him to lose. She makes a cryptic prediction: if she still loves him, Washington will win; if she does not, then Buffalo will. As Homer anxiously watches the game at Moe's, Washington scores at the last second and wins. Overjoyed that his daughter still loves him, Homer cancels his bowling date with Barney and goes hiking with Lisa the next weekend. |
50 | 3 | 15 | Homer Alone | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer_Alone | The family's dependence on Marge causes her to suffer a nervous breakdown during her early morning errands, and she decides to go to a spa resort to calm down. Homer, meanwhile, has to care for the troublesome Maggie while Bart and Lisa spend their time with their spinster aunts, Patty and Selma. The entire family realizes how much they need Marge to take care of things, and everybody is happy when she eventually returns from the spa. | Stressed from doing household chores and running errands for her family, Marge hears DJs Bill and Marty make a cruel prank call during their radio show. She suddenly snaps when Maggie accidentally breaks her baby bottle, splattering milk everywhere, and blocks traffic by parking her car across both lanes of a bridge. When the police are unable to convince her to move, Homer persuades her to surrender and she is arrested. Since the town's women sympathize with Marge's plight, Mayor Quimby orders her release over Chief Wiggum's objections.
Marge decides to take a vacation by herself to a health spa called Rancho Relaxo. She leaves Bart and Lisa with Patty and Selma; since Maggie is scared of Patty and Selma, she ends up staying at home with Homer. Marge enjoys her much-needed rest while the rest of the family find it hard to adapt to life without her. Homer finds himself lonely and unable to care for Maggie. Bart and Lisa dislike living with Patty and Selma because they snore loudly, watch MacGyver and Divorce Court, and serve meals of tongue sandwiches, Clamato, Mr. Pibb and soy milk.
Upset by her mother's absence, Maggie leaves the house to find Marge. When Homer and Barney are unable to find her, Homer calls a missing baby hotline. Maggie is found atop the roof of an ice cream shop (whose mascot resembled Marge) and returned to Homer as Marge leaves the spa. Marge finds her forlorn and disheveled family waiting for her on a train platform when she arrives home. While Homer and the kids are sleeping next to her that night, Marge tells them she needs their help around the house; they assure her she has nothing to worry about. |
51 | 3 | 16 | Bart the Lover | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bart_the_Lover | When a yo-yo craze sweeps over Springfield Elementary School, Bart's errant yo-yo happens to break a fish tank, killing the class goldfish. Edna Krabappel sentences Bart to a month of detention. Bart decides to write phony love letters to her under the guise of a man who responded to her personal ad. Meanwhile, Homer tries to cut back on swearing after Flanders complains that Todd is picking up on the foul language. | Springfield Elementary School teacher Edna Krabappel, feeling increasingly lonely and isolated due to the lack of a male presence in her life, places a personal ad in the newspaper. Meanwhile, a yo-yo craze hits the school after a troupe of performers demonstrates the potential of the toy. Bart breaks the classroom's fishtank with a yo-yo, landing him a month's worth of detention. During a detention session where Edna is not present, Bart rummages through her desk for his yo-yo and discovers her personal ad, ultimately deciding to respond to it as a prank.
Bart sends Edna a romantic letter using the alias "Woodrow" after seeing a portrait of Woodrow Wilson on the classroom wall. Using dialogue from old romance films as well as Homer's old love letters to Marge, Bart tells Edna what she wants to hear, increasing her romantic interest in Woodrow. When Edna asks to meet Woodrow for dinner so they can finally meet, Bart, intending to end the prank, responds by asking her to meet with him at the Gilded Truffle restaurant. Unwilling to keep the date, Bart goes to the movie theater next door to see a movie. On his way there, Bart sees Edna waiting for "Woodrow" and laughs. When the movie ends, Bart returns to the restaurant and feels regretful when he sees Edna crying at her table.
Meanwhile, Marge notices that Santa's Little Helper needs a new dog house. Homer tries to save money by building one himself, but his attempts fail and he curses loudly enough for Todd Flanders to overhear and repeat the curses at dinner. Ned complains to Homer, who criticizes his mustache. Ned promises to shave it off if Homer stops swearing. Marge suggests he put twenty-five cents for each curse in a swear jar (as her father used the same technique to cure his swearing problem as well); he briefly resorts to physical violence as an alternative. Homer's constant swearing eventually puts enough money in the jar to buy a dog house and a six-pack of beer.
Bart feels worse after being unable to console Edna. Not knowing what to do, he finally tells his family about his prank letters. Lisa suggests "Woodrow" write her a goodbye letter. Together, the family collaborates on a romantic letter for Edna, with "Woodrow" announcing that he must leave but will never forget her. Edna feels better after reading it and invites Bart to spend his last day of detention outside the classroom. |
52 | 3 | 17 | Homer at the Bat | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer_at_the_Bat | The Springfield Nuclear Power Plant softball team proves to be a huge success with Homer as their official star player. But after Mr. Burns makes a bet with Shelbyville Nuclear Power Plant owner Aristotle Amadopolis, he hires nine professional baseball players to fill out the team. However, eight of those ringers fall victim to separate misfortunes, and Burns is forced to turn to his regular employees, who win the game. | Workers at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant are reluctant to join the plant's softball team due to its previous unsuccessful year, but eagerly do so when Homer mentions he has a secret weapon, which turns out to be his "Wonder Bat", a lucky bat he made from a fallen tree branch struck by lightning. They enjoy an undefeated season and earn a spot in the championship game against the Shelbyville Nuclear Power Plant.
Mr. Burns makes a million-dollar bet with Aristotle Amadopolis, owner of the Shelbyville plant, that his team will win. To ensure victory, Burns attempts to hire nine Major League Baseball all-stars for his team from the dead-ball era such as Honus Wagner and Mordecai Brown, but after Waylon Smithers informs him that they are all retired and dead, Burns orders him to find living players. Smithers recruits Steve Sax, Wade Boggs, Ozzie Smith, Roger Clemens, Don Mattingly, Darryl Strawberry, Ken Griffey Jr., Jose Canseco and Mike Scioscia. Mr. Burns gives them token jobs at the plant so they can play on the team, much to the dismay of the plant's players, and hires a hypnotist to boost his team's chances of winning. Homer is distraught when his Wonder Bat is destroyed by a pitch from Clemens during practice.
Before the game, seven of the nine all-star players suffer from bizarre mishaps that leave them unable to play: Sax is arrested by the Springfield police (who blame him for every unsolved crime in New York City), Scioscia gets radiation poisoning as a result of working in the nuclear plant's unsafe conditions, Griffey develops gigantism as a side effect of a nerve tonic Burns gave the team, Canseco gets caught up rescuing a woman's possessions from her burning house, Boggs gets knocked unconscious by Barney Gumble during an argument they have at Moe's Tavern over who was the greatest English prime minister (Barney thinks it is Lord Palmerston, Boggs says Pitt the Elder), Smith disappears after visiting the Springfield Mystery Spot, and Clemens is hypnotized into acting like a chicken. Mattingly and Strawberry make it to the game, but Burns kicks Mattingly off the team for failing to shave off his non-existent sideburns. Burns is thus forced to use his team of regular employees alongside Strawberry; Homer is benched while Strawberry plays his position.
With the score tied and bases loaded with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, Burns pinch hits Homer for Strawberry, noting that fielding a right-handed hitter against a left-handed pitcher will serve to their advantage. Distracted by Burns' strange signals, Homer is hit in the head by the first pitch, knocking him out and forcing in the winning run. The team wins the title and Homer, still unconscious, is paraded as a hero. The episode ends on a picture of the team, including Smith (who is seen as a hovering spirit) and a visibly angry Strawberry. |
53 | 3 | 18 | Separate Vocations | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Separate_Vocations | The school makes the students take an aptitude test, and it ends up suggesting Bart become a policeman and Lisa become a homemaker instead of a professional jazz musician. While Lisa becomes a troublemaker, Bart improves his grades and behavior and is chosen to be Principal Skinner's newest hall monitor. | The students at Springfield Elementary School are assigned to take the Career Aptitude Normalizing Test (CANT). The test has been designed to tell each student which career they will be best suited for in adult life.
After the test results come back, Lisa's test says she would be best suited for homemaking. Heartbroken, she tries to prove the test results are wrong and consults a music teacher about her dream of becoming a professional saxophone player. He tells her that she has talent, but she can never be a professional saxophone player because she has inherited her father's stubby fingers. Believing she will never achieve any of her dreams, Lisa also loses interest in being a good student and lapses into nihilism.
Meanwhile, Bart's test says he would be best suited to be a police officer. Bart goes for a police ride-along with Eddie and Lou and helps apprehend Snake during a car chase. Bart becomes impressed with the police officers' authority and qualified immunity. When Principal Skinner discovers Bart's new interest in law enforcement, he makes him hall monitor. Bart issues demerits to students for minor infractions and restores order to the school.
Lisa begins rebelling at school. She encounters two delinquent students smoking in the bathroom and suggests they TP Skinner's beloved school mascot, a puma statue. After insulting Miss Hoover, Lisa gets put in detention; while serving detention alone, Lisa steals the teachers' answer keys, exposing the teachers' ignorance. Skinner and Bart set out to find the answer keys and punish the person who stole them. However, when Bart finds out that Lisa is the culprit, he takes the fall for her, not wanting her to ruin her future. Skinner sentences Bart with detention for the rest of the school year. While Bart is in detention, Lisa consoles him by playing her saxophone outside the classroom. |
54 | 3 | 19 | Dog of Death | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_of_Death | Santa's Little Helper falls ill and the family must make budget cuts in order to pay for his operation. Although his own life is saved, the family begins getting angry with him for losing out on their favorite things so he runs away. Santa's Little Helper ends up in the possession of Mr. Burns, who trains him to become a vicious attack dog. Bart stumbles across the new Santa's Little Helper and is attacked, but Santa's Little Helper recognizes Bart and decides to stop the attack. | The Simpson family rushes Santa's Little Helper to the animal hospital, where they learn that he has a twisted stomach and needs a $750 operation. Homer tells Bart and Lisa that the family cannot afford the operation, but after seeing how much they love the dog, decides he will find a way to pay for it.
To save money for the operation, the Simpsons must make sacrifices: Homer stops buying beer and Bart gets his hair cut at a barber school. Marge must cook with lower-quality food and forgo her weekly lottery ticket. Lisa can no longer afford volumes of Encyclopedia Generica, and Maggie's tattered clothes must be repaired instead of replaced. The family saves enough money for the operation, which is a success.
The Simpsons are glad that their dog survives, but soon they start to feel the strain of their sacrifices. The family's morale suffers, and they direct their anger at Santa's Little Helper. Feeling unwanted, he runs away from home on an adventure, only to be captured, taken to the dog pound and adopted by Mr. Burns, who trains him to be one of his vicious attack hounds. After a brutal brainwashing process, Santa's Little Helper is turned into a bloodthirsty killer.
The family regret their hatred against Santa's Little Helper, and Bart goes from house to house asking if anyone has seen him. When Bart arrives at Mr. Burns' mansion, Santa's Little Helper starts to attack him. After recalling all the good times he had with Bart, Santa's Little Helper reverts to his friendly nature toward him. He protects Bart from Burns's pack of snarling hounds and returns to the Simpson family, who shower him with love as apologies for their foolishness. |
55 | 3 | 20 | Colonel Homer | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonel_Homer | After his behavior at the movie theater embarrasses Marge, she and Homer have a large argument, causing him to head to a redneck bar where he meets a beautiful barmaid named Lurleen Lumpkin with a talent for singing. Homer becomes her manager and does everything he can to make Lurleen famous, but it takes a very long time for him to notice Lurleen has fallen in love with him. With Marge already upset and thinking Homer's the one with the roving eyes, it is time for him to decide on his romantic future. | The Simpsons visit the local multiplex. After Homer makes distracting sounds and loudly reveals the film's ending to the audience, Marge berates him and the other patrons heckle and pelt him with refreshments. Marge tries to apologize on the way home, but Homer informs her: "Marge, I have always carried myself with a certain quiet dignity. Tonight you robbed me of it." He drops Marge and the children at home and drives into the night.
Homer stops at a redneck bar, where an attractive waitress and singer-songwriter named Lurleen performs country songs on stage. Her song "Your Wife Don’t Understand You" resonates with Homer; he drives to her mobile home several days later to beg a copy. When Lurleen reveals she has not recorded the song, Homer persuades her to join him at a recording booth, after which they are approached by a representative for a local country station. Lurleen's songs are instant hits.
Marge disapproves of Homer seeing Lurleen because she fears they will form a romantic relationship. Her fears increase after Homer becomes Lurleen's manager, and she buys him an expensive white cowboy suit, which he wears at home. Homer denies having an affair with Lurleen, but insists he will manage her career, with or without Marge's approval. Marge becomes angry when Homer gambles his whole family's future by using the life savings to pay for a recording studio for Lurleen, and her new single, a suggestive love song called "Bagged Me a Homer", angers her further.
Homer gets Lurleen a gig on the country western television show Ya-Hoo! Homer and Lurleen spend the night before her performance in her mobile home. She sings a new song, "Bunk With Me Tonight", adding it has a "secret message"; he belatedly realizes that she is trying to seduce him. Rather than violate his marital vows, he leaves.
During Lurleen's performance, Homer is approached by a business agent who asks to buy Lurleen's contract, but he refuses. When Homer becomes locked in an embrace with Lurleen in her dressing room, his love life flashes before his eyes, and he remembers Marge saying she will always love him. Homer tells Lurleen that he only wanted to share her voice with the world, and leaves to avoid committing adultery. He sees the agent again outside the dressing room and sells him Lurleen's contract for $50.
Marge is watching Ya-Hoo! in bed when Homer returns. Lurleen's new song "Stand By Your Manager" reveals what Homer did – and did not – do with her; she sings "I hope that Marge knows/ Just how lucky she is." Marge says "I do"; she forgives Homer and they kiss passionately. |
56 | 3 | 21 | Black Widower | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Widower | Selma reveals that she has a new boyfriend that she met through the prison pen-pal program, Sideshow Bob. Bart is immediately suspicious of Bob, but Bob does everything he can to romance Selma and prove he's changed. After Selma and Bob are married, Bob reveals that he plans to kill Selma, but he is stopped by Bart. | The Simpsons have dinner with Selma and her new boyfriend Sideshow Bob. Bob's presence frightens Bart and Lisa. During dinner, Bob reveals that while he was in prison, he began building up hatred and the desire to kill Bart for exposing his crime of framing Krusty the Clown[N 1] and started plotting revenge. However, after receiving Selma's response to his "Prison Pen Pal" ad, he fell in love with her and was inspired to become a model prisoner, earning an early release.
Bob proposes to Selma and she accepts. He makes an appearance at a Krusty the Clown telethon and they reconcile. Lisa encourages Bart to forgive Bob, but Bart refuses to believe he is reformed. When Selma discovers that Bob detests MacGyver, the marriage is nearly called off until Bob takes Homer's suggestion to let Selma watch it alone while he takes a walk.
Whilst planning for the wedding, Selma reveals that she has no sense of smell or taste after a mishap with a bottle rocket as a child, and at the wedding reception, she announces that she has cut back on cigarettes, smoking only after meals and episodes of MacGyver. Selma sends the Simpsons a tape of their honeymoon which captures Bob's tirade over the lack of a gas fireplace in their hotel room. While watching MacGyver with Patty that night, Bart realizes that Selma is in danger and the Simpsons rush to the hotel room.
When Selma retires alone to watch MacGyver, her hotel room explodes. Bob returns, expecting Selma dead, but she is unscathed, and the Simpsons and the police apprehend Bob. Bart explains how he exposed Bob's scheme: Bob opened the gas valve in the hotel room, knowing Selma would not smell the leak. He left while she watched MacGyver, knowing she would light a cigarette afterwards and cause an explosion. Although Bart foiled the plot, Chief Wiggum absent-mindedly threw a match into the room after smoking a celebratory cigar, causing the explosion. Bob, vowing revenge on Bart, is led away by the police. As Selma blames herself for almost getting killed, Marge praises Bart for foiling Bob's plot and not losing his mistrust of Bob. |
57 | 3 | 22 | The Otto Show | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Otto_Show | Otto crashes the school bus, and it is later discovered that he never actually owned a real driver's license, prompting the authorities to fire him. Otto then moves in with the Simpsons after he has been evicted, and attempts to teach Bart to learn to play the guitar, though with difficulty. But it's the way he enrages Homer that might provide an inadvertent return ticket to his beloved bus-driving job. | Bart and Milhouse attend a Spın̈al Tap concert, but the poor condition of the arena leads Spın̈al Tap to angrily end their concert after only 20 minutes. A riot breaks out.
Bart decides he wants to become a rock guitarist, so Homer and Marge buy him an electric guitar, but he struggles to learn how to play it. On the school bus, Bart tells the driver, Otto, that his guitar must be broken, but Otto plays it in an impromptu performance that wows the bus passengers. After his rendition of "Free Bird" makes the children late for school, Otto's reckless driving runs Spinal Tap's tour bus off the road and crashes the school bus. Otto admits to Officer Lou he does not have a driver's license and is suspended without pay. Unable to pay his rent, he is evicted from his apartment. Homer and Marge reluctantly let him stay in their garage after Bart pleads with them, but Otto soon makes a nuisance of himself and Homer demands that he leave.
Otto tells his instructor Patty that he wants to pass so he can "staple my license to Homer Simpson's big bald head". Intrigued, Patty gives Otto the correct answers to the written test. She gives him a passing grade after being amused by Otto's story of Homer's crude behavior. Otto regains his job and is seen arriving to pick the kids up from school whilst a wistful Principal Skinner—having attempted, unsuccessfully, to drive the bus in Otto’s absence—watches on in admiration. |
58 | 3 | 23 | Bart's Friend Falls in Love | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bart%27s_Friend_Falls_in_Love | Milhouse falls in love with the new girl, Samantha Stankey, jeopardizing Bart and Milhouse's friendship. Bart eventually calls Samantha's father and lets him know what is happening. Her father takes her away, which leads to Bart and Millhouse having a fight. Meanwhile, Homer orders a subliminal cassette tape to help him lose weight, but is sent one that helps him increase his vocabulary after the weight-loss tapes were sold out. | While riding the bus to school, Milhouse shows Bart his new fortune-telling toy, a Magic 8 ball. Bart asks the ball whether he and Milhouse will still be friends by the end of the day; the ball predicts they will not. A new girl from Phoenix, Samantha Stanky, arrives at Springfield Elementary School the same day, and Milhouse instantly falls in love with her. To Bart's dismay, Milhouse and Samantha start a relationship. Rather than playing with Bart alone after school, Milhouse brings Samantha to the treehouse and spends the entire time hugging and kissing her. They ignore Bart, leaving him in tears.
Milhouse and Samantha spend all their free time together. Feeling jealous and excluded, Bart reveals their relationship to Samantha's father. As punishment, Mr. Stanky sends Samantha to Saint Sebastian's School for Wicked Girls, a convent school run by French-Canadian nuns. After seeing Milhouse heartbroken, Bart begins to feel guilty for his actions. Bart and Milhouse pummel each other after Bart reveals that he snitched on Samantha to her father. After calming down, the boys visit Samantha at the convent school, where Bart apologizes to her. Samantha says she loves Saint Sebastian's but still has feelings for Milhouse. She gives him a goodbye kiss despite knowing it is against the rules.
In the subplot, Lisa worries that Homer's obesity will lead to his early death. On Lisa's suggestion, Marge orders a subliminal weight loss tape for Homer. The company is out of weight loss tapes and sends him a vocabulary-enhancer tape instead, unbeknownst to Marge and the family. Homer falls asleep while listening to the tape. When he wakes up, he speaks a flowery, erudite English, but ends up eating more food than ever. Once he realizes he has gained rather than lost weight, Homer discards the tape and his vocabulary quickly returns to normal. |
59 | 3 | 24 | Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes? | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brother,_Can_You_Spare_Two_Dimes%3F | When the radiation from the Nuclear Power Plant causes Homer to become infertile, he is awarded a complete $2,000 compensation. Meanwhile, Homer's half-brother, Herb, now living on the streets, returns with a plan on how to regain his name, wealth, and life back and reluctantly turns to Homer for help. Herb asks for Homer's $2,000 so he can develop a new product that will translate baby gibberish into speech. | A routine physical exam at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant reveals that Homer is sterile after being exposed to radiation. Fearing a lawsuit, Mr. Burns gives $2,000 prize in exchange for signing a legal waiver freeing the plant of all liability. Homer is suspicious; Burns hastily explains that he is awarding Homer the inaugural Montgomery Burns Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence, complete with an extravagant ceremony hosted by Joe Frazier.
Homer plans to buy a vibrating chair as a replacement for the living room couch, which Bart and Lisa have broken while goofing off. Homer's half-brother Herb, broke and homeless because of Homer,[N 1] learns of the prize Homer has won and stows away on a train to Springfield, planning to persuade Homer to lend him the money. Upon seeing Homer in person, Herb punches him in the face out of anger over the loss of Herb's company. After hearing a baby's cries, Herb devises a plan to regain his wealth by designing a device that can translate baby talk into coherent speech so parents can respond to their infants' needs. His invention is an instant success that makes him rich again.
Herb repays Homer's loan and buys several gifts for the Simpsons, including a new washer and dryer for Marge, an NRA membership for Bart, and a monthly book club subscription for Lisa. Herb forgives Homer for ruining him earlier and buys him the vibrating chair to reward his faith and generosity, and the Simpsons use the original $2,000 to replace the broken couch. |
60 | 4 | 1 | Kamp Krusty | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamp_Krusty | Bart and Lisa go to Kamp Krusty for the summer in order to have a break from their parents and meet Krusty the Clown. However, their promises of a fun summer at Kamp Krusty are broken when the director of the camp, Mr. Black, is revealed to be a ferocious accountant and that the camp counselors are the three teenage bullies from school. Meanwhile, Homer is rejuvenated with the kids gone and even begins to regain his hair and lose weight. All of the kids at the camp are treated horribly and Bart survives by clinging to the promise that Krusty himself will soon arrive. However, when this does not happen, Bart leads the campers into a rebellion and they eventually take over the camp. Homer sees a news report about this and immediately loses his hair and regains his lost weight. The real Krusty arrives at the camp and decides to make it up to the kids by taking them to Tijuana, Mexico. | Bart and Lisa attend the summer camp Kamp Krusty, leaving Homer and Marge to have some time alone for the summer. The camp's director, Mr. Black, has licensed the camp's name from Krusty the Clown. However, the camp turns out to be a dystopia; as Lisa explains in a letter to her parents, "Our nature hikes have become grim death marches. Our arts and crafts center is, in actuality, a Dickensian workhouse.” The camp counselors are bullies Dolph, Jimbo and Kearney, who feed the campers Krusty-Brand Imitation Gruel while enjoying deluxe accommodations themselves; the bullies sip brandy with Mr. Black, who intones: "Gentlemen, to evil!" Worst of all, Krusty himself is unaware of the camp's conditions and is currently on a vacation in London.
To appease the restless campers, Mr. Black tells the children that Krusty himself is coming to visit. However, "Krusty" turns out to be a poorly disguised Barney Gumble, and the ruse does not fool Bart. Bart then leads the campers in revolt, driving out Mr. Black and the bullies and changing the camp's name to Camp Bart. Meanwhile, Homer and Marge see a breaking news report of the campers' revolt. After learning that Bart is the leader of the rebellion, Homer instantly loses the hair he grew and regains the weight he lost since the children went to camp.
The real Krusty is informed of Kamp Krusty's conditions, and returns from London to visit the camp. He apologizes to the campers for their ordeal and his unawareness of their plight; Mr. Black had bribed him with a "dump truck full of money", which placated Krusty into ignorance. To make it up to the campers, Krusty takes them for "two weeks at the happiest place on Earth: Tijuana!". As "South of the Border" (sung by Gene Merlino) plays, a montage is shown of Krusty and the campers vacationing in Tijuana, but Krusty misses the bus home at the end of the trip. |
61 | 4 | 2 | A Streetcar Named Marge | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Streetcar_Named_Marge | Marge is cast in a musical production of A Streetcar Named Desire as Blanche DuBois after the play director sees Marge's deep-seated depression when dealing with an uncaring Homer. She struggles with a scene where she has to shove a glass bottle into the brutish Stanley Kowalski (who is played by Ned Flanders), but manages to get over it by imagining Homer as Stanley. Marge begins to become extremely angry with Homer as she sees parallels between him and Stanley. At the end of the musical, Marge believes Homer does not pay attention to her and confronts him with hostility. However, Homer explains that he was genuinely moved by Blanche's situation. Marge realizes that Homer really did watch the musical, and the two happily leave the theater with his saddened expression left behind. Meanwhile, Maggie is sent to the Ayn Rand School for Tots where she attempts to retrieve her pacifier from a strict daycare attendant.
Note: This is the last episode to be animated by Klasky Csupo. Starting with the next episode until the season 28 episode "Havana Wild Weekend", the series was animated by Film Roman. | Marge announces to the Simpson family that she intends to audition for the role of Blanche DuBois in Oh! Streetcar!, a local musical production of A Streetcar Named Desire. The family ignores her, and she leaves for her audition, feeling especially unappreciated by Homer. The director, Llewellyn Sinclair, immediately rejects Marge, explaining that Blanche is supposed to be a "delicate flower being trampled by an uncouth lout". However, as a dejected Marge calls home and takes Homer's dinner order, Llewellyn realizes that she is perfect for the role.
At Llewellyn's suggestion, Marge enrolls Maggie at the Ayn Rand School for Tots, a daycare centre run by Llewellyn's sister, Ms. Sinclair. Ms. Sinclair immediately confiscates Maggie’s pacifier. Aided by the other toddlers at the daycare, Maggie manages to get her pacifier back, and redistributes all the other toddlers' confiscated pacifiers.
Marge and Ned, who is playing Stanley Kowalski, rehearse the scene in which Blanche breaks a glass bottle and attacks Stanley, which Marge has been struggling with. Homer repeatedly interrupts the rehearsal. Imagining that Stanley is Homer, Marge takes out her frustration--she smashes the bottle and lunges at Ned, injuring him.
The Simpson family attends the musical, and Homer is moved by Marge's performance, though during the curtain call Marge mistakes his sadness for boredom. After the show, Homer tells her that he was saddened by Blanche's plight as a woman in need of compassion but who receives only neglect and mistreatment from men like Stanley. Marge is moved by Homer's sincerity and impressed that he understood the musical so well, and the two happily leave the theater. |
62 | 4 | 3 | Homer the Heretic | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer_the_Heretic | While skipping Sunday's church services, Homer discovers the joy of staying home and having the house all to himself while Marge and the kids experience a rambling sermon from Reverend Lovejoy. Homer decides to start his very own religion customized for himself, despite Marge's continuing objections for giving up his faith. Marge, Reverend Lovejoy and Ned Flanders all try to convert Homer back to Christianity but fail. The next Sunday morning, Homer once again stays at home, but accidentally sets the house on fire and is rescued by Flanders. After the blaze is extinguished, Reverend Lovejoy suggests that God was working in the hearts of Homer's friends, despite their different faiths and this convinces Homer to give church another try.
Note: First appearance of God. | One Sunday morning, Homer decides that he will not go to church after seeing how cold it is outside and splitting his pants while getting dressed. Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie attend the day's service, but must put up with the church's malfunctioning furnace, the doors freezing shut when the churchgoers try to leave after the service ends, and car trouble in the parking lot. Homer, meanwhile, spends the morning goofing around the house, eating large amounts of fatty foods, and watching TV.
When Marge and the children return home, Homer proclaims that he had the best day of his life because he skipped church, and thus he will never attend church again; Marge is horrified by this. That night, Marge prays for Homer; Homer, meanwhile, falls asleep during Marge's praying and has a dream about meeting God. In the dream, God is initially enraged at Homer for forsaking His church, but He comes to understand Homer's viewpoint and agrees to let him worship in his own way. Homer invents his own religion tailored to his personal tastes, including holidays he invents to get out of work.
Marge, Reverend Lovejoy and Ned attempt to convince Homer to attend church again, but Homer remains devoted to his own religion. The next Sunday morning, while his family is at church, Homer falls asleep on the couch smoking a lit cigar, which sets the house ablaze. Apu, chief of Springfield's volunteer fire department, rushes to the Simpson house with other volunteer firefighters including Krusty the Clown, Chief Wiggum, and Barney. Ned rescues Homer from the burning house. The firefighters then arrive and extinguish the fire.
Homer interprets the fire as God delivering vengeance. Reverend Lovejoy counters that God was working through Homer's friends to save him, despite their different faiths. Homer agrees to give church another chance after further encouragement from Reverend Lovejoy. However, while Homer does show up to church the next Sunday, he falls asleep and snores loudly during the service. In the dream Homer has during the service, God consoles Homer on the ultimate failure of Homer's invented religion. Homer asks God what the meaning of life is, and after finding out Homer doesn't want to wait until he dies to find out on his own, God reluctantly begins to answer Homer's question, just as the closing credits start rolling, preventing God from revealing the meaning of life to the viewers. |
63 | 4 | 4 | Lisa the Beauty Queen | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_the_Beauty_Queen | Lisa's self-esteem breaks off after she sees a crude drawing of herself at Springfield Elementary's fair. When Homer wins the Duff Beer raffle and a ticket to ride on the Duff Blimp, he sacrifices the ticket for the money in order to get Lisa entered into a beauty pageant. Although originally reluctant to enter, she competes and finishes second. However, after the winner is hospitalized, Lisa is declared the new Little Miss Springfield. She is forced to become a shill for Laramie Cigarettes and after seeing children smoking, decides to fight back by protesting against the dangers of cigarettes, and also vows to target the corruption of Mayor Quimby. Quimby and the Laramie officials meet and use a technicality to dethrone Lisa. Homer is upset that Lisa lost her title, but Lisa reminds him that he originally entered her in the contest to help her self-esteem, which it has, and she thanks him. | At a carnival held at Springfield Elementary School, Lisa gets a caricature of herself drawn, but the caricature is unflattering and causes the other carnival patrons to laugh, leading Lisa to assume she is ugly. Meanwhile, Homer wins a ticket to ride in the Duff Blimp at a raffle the carnival is holding.
When the family gets home, Lisa cries over her perceived ugliness, and Homer tries to cheer her up, to no avail. Homer goes to Moe's Tavern and sees a commercial for the "Little Miss Springfield" beauty pageant. Homer decides to enter Lisa in the pageant to boost her self-esteem. Lisa is reluctant to compete in the pageant until Marge tells her that Homer sold his ticket to ride in the Duff Blimp so he would have enough money to pay the pageant's entry fee. Realizing her father's sacrifice, Lisa enters the pageant.
At the pageant's registration, Lisa meets a formidable competitor named Amber Dempsey, who has won more beauty pageants than any other girl at the registration. In preparation for the pageant, Lisa receives makeovers at the beauty parlor and encouragement from her family. The day of the pageant arrives, and onstage Lisa explains her aim to make Springfield a better place, and her talent is a jazzy medley of "America the Beautiful" and "Proud Mary", while Amber wins the crowd's adoration by batting her large eyelashes. After Krusty the Clown's interview segment, Amber is announced as the winner with Lisa the runner-up. At Amber's first public appearance as Little Miss Springfield, a lightning bolt strikes her metal scepter. She is hospitalized for her injuries, and Lisa is crowned Little Miss Springfield.
One of Little Miss Springfield's duties as spokesperson for pageant sponsor Laramie Cigarettes is to lure a younger demographic into smoking. Instead, Lisa protests against the dangers of cigarettes at her public appearances, and also vows to target the corruption of Mayor Quimby. Quimby and the Laramie executives look for a way to dethrone and silence Lisa. They find a technical error on her entry form: Homer wrote "OK" in the box marked "Do not write in this space". As Amber is recrowned Little Miss Springfield, Homer is upset that he cost Lisa her title, but Lisa reminds Homer that he entered her in the pageant to help her self-esteem, and thanks him because it worked. |
64 | 4 | 5 | Treehouse of Horror III | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treehouse_of_Horror_III | In the third Treehouse of Horror episode, the Simpson family holds a Halloween party and several family members tell scary stories:
"Clown Without Pity": In Lisa's story, Homer buys Bart a Krusty doll which turns out to be evil and tries to kill Homer.
"King Homer": In Grampa's story, a King Kong parody, Mr. Burns decides to hire Marge Bouvier to trap an ape who looks like Homer.
"Dial "Z" for Zombie": In Bart's story, Bart discovers an occult book and tries to use one of the spells to bring back the family cat, but instead, he accidentally summons a horde of zombies.
| The episode's wraparound segment shows the Simpson family having a Halloween party for the children of Springfield. Lisa, Grampa, and Bart each tell a horror story.
In Lisa's story, "Clown Without Pity", Homer buys a cursed Krusty the Clown doll as a last-minute birthday present for Bart. After the doll makes numerous attempts on Homer's life, he captures the doll, locks it in a suitcase, and drops it in a "Bottomless Pit". Returning home, Homer is ambushed by the escaped doll, who tackles him into the kitchen and tries to drown him in a dog bowl. Marge calls the consumer service hotline. A repairman arrives and discovers that the doll has been set to "evil" mode. He flips the switch to "good" and the Krusty doll becomes friends with Homer, although it is quickly put to work as Homer's slave.
In Grampa's story, "King Homer", inspired by Grampa watching lots of movies, Marge joins Mr. Burns and Mr. Smithers on an expedition to Ape Island as bait for the legendary giant ape King Homer in 1936. The natives of Ape Island capture Marge and tie her to a post as an offering for King Homer, who is summoned by the sound of drums. Marge is initially terrified but sees the friendly side of Homer, and the two form a friendship. Nonetheless, Mr. Burns is determined to capture King Homer and Smithers knocks Homer unconscious with a gas bomb. Returning to Springfield, the group display King Homer at a theater. The photographers' flashes enrage King Homer, who breaks free from his restraints. He abducts Marge and attempts to climb a skyscraper, but is unable to get past the second story of the building and collapses in exhaustion. In the end, King Homer and Marge get married.
In Bart's story, "Dial "Z" for Zombies", Bart finds a book of black magic in Springfield Elementary Library when he is asked to write a book report for class. That night, he tries to resurrect the family's dead cat, Snowball I, but accidentally reanimates corpses from the nearby human cemetery instead. The zombies terrorize Springfield, turning many people into zombies. Aided by Homer wielding a shotgun, Lisa and Bart find a book at the library to cast the appropriate counter-spell, causing all of the zombies to return to their graves. |
65 | 4 | 6 | Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itchy_%26_Scratchy:_The_Movie | At Springfield Elementary's Parent Teacher night, Mrs. Krabappel tells Homer and Marge about Bart's behavior. Wanting Bart to one day become Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Homer decides to punish Bart. However, he never makes his punishments stick and Bart continues on his destructive path. Marge confronts Homer and he agrees that next time he will make his punishment stick. Meanwhile, Bart finds out that Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie is about to hit theaters and immediately buys a ticket. However, when Bart one day forgets to watch Maggie, Homer bans Bart from ever seeing the movie. Bart tries everything to see the movie, but Homer refuses to budge and after the movie closes, Homer declares that one day Bart will thank him. In a flashforward forty years into the future, Homer and Bart, now Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, decide to watch the movie together.
Note: First appearance of Bumblebee Man. | Marge and Homer attend a parent-teacher conference at Springfield Elementary School. Although Miss Hoover tells Homer that Lisa is doing well, Mrs. Krabappel tells Marge that Bart is continually causing trouble. She urges Homer and Marge to enforce stronger discipline and suggests that Bart could grow up to become a Supreme Court Justice if his behavior improves. Marge and Homer return home to find that Bart has stolen and broken Grampa's dentures. As punishment, Marge sends Bart to bed without dinner; however, Homer later brings Bart a slice of pizza and makes Bart promise to behave. However, Bart continues to get in trouble, always managing to distract Homer from punishing him. Eventually, Homer vows to give Bart an effective penalty.
Bart buys himself a ticket for Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie, the highly anticipated film adaptation of The Itchy & Scratchy Show. While Bart is left home alone with Maggie, he watches TV instead of paying attention to her. Maggie takes Homer's car for a joyride and crashes into the wall of Springfield Prison, releasing the prisoners. Homer then punishes Bart by tearing up Bart's ticket to Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie and banning him from ever seeing the movie under any circumstances. Bart begs for a different punishment, but Homer refuses. The film is released to wide acclaim, and every child in Springfield sees the film multiple times; since Bart is not allowed to see the film, his classmates tease him.
Bart tries to buy another ticket, but discovers Homer has instructed the movie theater employees not to sell him a ticket. After the film's release, Marge and Lisa try to convince Homer to change his mind, with Marge claiming Bart has been punished long enough, but Homer refuses. Eventually, the film is removed from theaters. Bart reluctantly confesses that the punishment deeply affected him, to which Homer responds that consequently, he will learn to accept responsibility for his actions and will have a better life as a result.
40 years later in a non-canon sequence, Bart, now Chief Justice of the United States, and Homer, a senior citizen, walk down the street and discover the film is back in the local theater as a classic re-release. Homer decides that Bart has officially learned from the experience, and the two happily watch the movie together. |
66 | 4 | 7 | Marge Gets a Job | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marge_Gets_a_Job | The Simpsons' house begins sinking into the ground. Marge decides to earn extra money to repair the foundation by working at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant and Homer is forced to work alongside his wife. However, Mr. Burns falls deeply in love with her and begins to seduce her. However, Marge resists and Burns fires her after discovering she is married. Homer stands up for Marge and an impressed Mr. Burns treats them to a free Tom Jones concert. Meanwhile, Bart continually fakes sick to get out of taking a test. | When a position opens at Springfield Nuclear Power Plant by the enforced retirement of Jack Marley after 45 years of service, Marge decides to apply for the position to pay for expensive repairs for the foundation of the Simpsons house. Mr. Burns is enchanted by Marge. He promotes her ahead of Homer's position, but when she tells him that she is married he fires her from her position and sexually harasses her. She threatens a lawsuit and enlists the help of Lionel Hutz, who is completely unsuccessful and flees from Burns' army of real lawyers; but Burns yields after Homer defends his wife. Homer and Marge enjoy a private show performed by the singer Tom Jones, who is being held captive by Burns following Marge's revelation that she is a fan of Jones's music.
Meanwhile, Bart, after making several excuses to avoid taking a test, is forced to take the test by his teacher, Edna Krabappel. She places him alone outside the classroom, hands him the test, and leaves. A captive wolf escapes from a taping of The Krusty the Clown Show and attacks Bart outside the classroom. He cries "Wolf!" but Edna, who advised him to read "The Boy Who Cried Wolf", ignores him. Groundskeeper Willie rescues Bart by fighting the wolf, giving Bart time to return to his classroom. Since he feels that he will not be believed if he tells the truth, Bart says, with apparent honesty, that he made up the story. He then passes out and Edna realizes that Bart really was attacked. |
67 | 4 | 8 | New Kid on the Block | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Kid_on_the_Block | The Simpsons' next door neighbors move and are replaced by a single mother, Ruth Powers and her daughter Laura. Laura becomes the object of Bart's affection but Bart becomes heart broken after learning that her boyfriend is Jimbo Jones. Meanwhile, Homer wages war against the Sea Captain's seafood restaurant The Frying Dutchman, for falsely advertising their "all-you-can-eat" buffet.
Note: First appearances of The Sea Captain and Ruth Powers. | The Simpsons' elderly neighbors, the Winfields, move to Florida because of Homer's antics. The Winfields' old house is purchased by single mother Ruth Powers and her teenage daughter Laura, with whom Bart falls in love at first sight.
After seeing a television advertisement about an all-you-can-eat seafood restaurant called "The Frying Dutchman", Homer decides to go and take Marge with him, and Bart suggests that Laura should babysit him, Lisa, and Maggie. While Laura babysits the Simpson children, Bart attempts to impress her. However, Laura tells Bart that she is dating Jimbo Jones, one of the bullies at Springfield Elementary School, much to Bart's dismay.
Meanwhile, at the restaurant, Homer quickly enrages the Sea Captain, devouring nearly all the food in the buffet, and is eventually hauled out before he has finished. Enraged, Homer sues the restaurant for false advertising, as the ad that he heard on the television prior to the incident claimed that it was "All You Can Eat", despite Homer not being full before being kicked out.
Homer hires Lionel Hutz to represent him in court, and the case is successful after Hutz convinces the jurors that Homer had not had all he could eat. To avoid further legal trouble, the Sea Captain and Homer eventually strike a deal together that Homer will be displayed in the restaurant as "Bottomless Pete: Nature's Cruelest Mistake" to lure in more customers ("Come for the freak, stay for the food!"), much to Marge's embarrassment.
When Laura, babysitting, invites Jimbo over to the Simpson household, Bart, in an attempt to make Jimbo look bad, prank-calls Moe's Tavern, giving his name as "Jimbo Jones", and giving Moe the Simpsons' address. Believing Jimbo to be the one who has been pranking him all along, Moe rushes to the Simpson house brandishing a large, "rusty and dull" kitchen knife. He finds Jimbo, who bursts into tears and begs for his life; Moe spares him out of pity. Laura breaks up with Jimbo for not being the tough "outlaw" she thought. She tells Bart that she would certainly date him if he were older, and the episode ends with the pair laughing after prank-calling Moe again. |
68 | 4 | 9 | Mr. Plow | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Plow | After demolishing both his and Marge's family cars during a snowstorm, Homer buys a snowplow and starts a business plowing driveways. He calls his business "Mr. Plow" and becomes a huge success. Barney Gumble, inspired by Homer decides to start his own rival company and becomes Springfield's new favorite snow plower. Homer tricks Barney into plowing the dangerous Widow's Peak. Barney does so, but gets trapped in an avalanche and after seeing a news report about it, Homer rushes to save him and the two decide to work together, but God melts all of the snow. | After crashing into Marge's car on a snowy night (which he had spent drinking at Moe's Tavern), Homer is forced to purchase a replacement car. The Simpsons go to a car show where a salesman convinces Homer to buy a pickup truck mounted with a snowplow by saying Homer can make the payments by plowing people's driveways. Homer starts a plowing business called Mr. Plow but has trouble finding customers until Lisa suggests recording a commercial and airing it on public television. The resulting commercial attracts many customers and the business becomes highly successful. Homer is given the key to the city in recognition of his service.
Barney, jealous of Homer's success, starts a rival business called Plow King. Barney advertises his business with a commercial featuring a jingle sung by Linda Ronstadt. (When Moe asks Barney how Ronstadt agreed to appear in the commercial, Barney says, "We'd been looking for a project to do together for a while.") Homer pays an agency to make him a new commercial, but the new commercial is perplexing and does not sufficiently advertise Homer's business. As a result, Barney becomes much more successful than Homer. Mayor Quimby revokes Homer's key to the city and gives it to Barney.
To get revenge on Barney and revitalize his own business, Homer tricks Barney into plowing a non-existent driveway on Widow's Peak, a large, treacherous mountain outside of town. After a day of successfully plowing Springfield citizens' driveways, Homer sees a news report that says Barney is trapped in an avalanche on Widow's Peak. Feeling guilty and fearful for Barney's life, Homer drives to the mountain and rescues Barney. Barney and Homer reconcile and agree to become business partners. However, after Homer says, "When two best friends work together, not even God himself can stop them!", an angered God promptly retaliates by increasing the outside temperature, melting all the snow and effectively putting both Homer and Barney out of business. Since Homer can no longer make the snowplow payments, his plow is repossessed, but he keeps the Mr. Plow jacket to wear to bed because he knows it arouses Marge. |
69 | 4 | 10 | Lisa's First Word | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa%27s_First_Word | While attempting to get Maggie to say her first word, Marge tells the story of Lisa's first word. In 1983, Marge, Homer and Bart are living in the Lower East Springfield district and Marge announces that she is pregnant. She and Homer decide to move into a house to support their bigger family and move into their present day home. Lisa is born during the 1984 Summer Olympics and Bart immediately becomes jealous of her. He tries several mean things to her, but only manages to get himself in trouble. Bart decides to run away, but Lisa says her first word: "Bart". Bart discovers that Lisa loves him and embraces her as his sister. In the present day, Homer puts Maggie to bed, saying he wishes that she will never talk. Once he leaves, Maggie utters her first word: "daddy". | Homer, Marge, Bart, and Lisa are trying to get Maggie to speak. When their attempts prove unsuccessful, Marge decides to tell the story of when Lisa began speaking. The story flashes back to 1983, when Homer, Marge, and Bart lived in an apartment on the Lower East Side of Springfield. When Marge became pregnant again, she and Homer decided to move into a bigger living space. After viewing several unsuitable properties within their budget, they bought a house on Evergreen Terrace; persuaded by Homer, Grampa Simpson had sold his own house to give Homer and Marge enough money to buy their new house. In 1984, the Simpsons moved into the house and met their next-door neighbors, Ned Flanders and his family.
Meanwhile, Krusty the Clown began a promotion for the 1984 Summer Olympic Games with his Krusty Burger chain. The promotion is a "scratch-and-win" game where customers would win free Krusty Burgers if America won a gold medal, but the game cards were rigged to feature events that athletes from Communist countries were most likely to win. However, just before the promotion was put into effect, Krusty received word of the Soviet boycott of the Olympics; the campaign thus ended up giving away more free burgers than anticipated, causing Krusty to eventually lose $44 million.
Bart was forced to give up his crib so Lisa could have it. Knowing Bart was a fan of Krusty, Homer built him a clown-themed bed. However, because of Homer's poor woodworking skills, the bed looked like an evil clown, which terrified Bart. Soon, Lisa was born, and Bart became jealous of the attention she received from relatives and family friends. After several failed attempts to make Lisa look bad, and then several failed attempts to get rid of her, Bart decided to run away from home. As he packed his possessions, Lisa said her first word, "Bart". Bart was thrilled, and Marge explained that Lisa adored him. Bart and Lisa hugged each other and bonded over how funny it was that they both called Homer by his name, rather than "Daddy" as he wished.
In the present, as Bart and Lisa argue Homer puts Maggie to bed; he tells her, "The sooner kids talk, the sooner they talk back. I hope you never say a word." As soon as he turns off the light and closes the door, Maggie takes her pacifier out of her mouth and, unheard by anyone else, says "Daddy". |
70 | 4 | 11 | Homer's Triple Bypass | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer%27s_Triple_Bypass | Due to his many years of eating unhealthy foods, Homer suffers a heart attack, and needs to have a triple bypass surgery. He has to choose between the $40,000 operation set by Dr. Julius Hibbert, which he cannot afford or the $129.95 operation by Dr. Nick Riviera. When he chooses the cheaper surgery, Homer begins to accept that he may die. However, the operation goes well and with a little help from Lisa, Dr. Nick saves Homer's life. | One evening while eating dinner in bed, Homer seems to be having heart problems but is not concerned. The next morning, Marge makes him oatmeal for breakfast but he rejects it in favor of bacon and eggs, despite the chest pains he has been feeling. Driving to work, he hears an irregular thumping noise, and is relieved when a gas station mechanic tells him the noise is coming from his heart, not his car.
At work, Mr. Burns observes Homer eating and sleeping on the job, so he berates and threatens to fire him for his gross incompetence. The stress is too much for Homer who eventually has a heart attack. Homer is then taken to the hospital, where Dr. Hibbert informs him and Marge that Homer needs a coronary artery bypass surgery, which will cost $30,000. Hearing this, Homer has another heart attack, and the fee rises to $40,000. Marge and Homer both worry they will not be able to afford the operation. Homer manages to obtain an insurance policy, but has another heart attack as he is signing the contract, which causes it to be immediately revoked. He then approaches leaders of various religious communities, hoping they will give him money, without success.
Finally, he decides to be treated by Dr. Nick Riviera, who will perform any operation for $129.95. Dr. Nick rents a tape to learn how to perform this operation, but another program has been recorded over parts of the tape. In the operating theater, Dr. Nick does not know how to operate on Homer, but Lisa, who has been studying cardiology, calls down instructions from her place in the viewing gallery. The operation is a complete success. |
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