Talking Simpsons - Talking Simpsons - On a Clear Day, I Can't See My Sister

Episode Date: June 24, 2026

"Oh, I always hoped we wouldn't be one of those 'restraining order' families." - Marge Simpson Bart's prankery against Lisa goes too far, causing the two siblings to be separated by a legally-mandated distance. Can the advice of Gary Busey and the soothing notes of Herb Alpert's "Tijuana Taxi" help these two bury the hatchet? Support this podcast and get over 200 ad-free bonus episodes by visiting Patreon.com/TalkingSimpsons and becoming a patron! And please follow the official Twitter, @TalkSimpsonsPod, not to mention Bluesky and Instagram!

This podcast is brought to you by patreon.com slash Talking Simpsons. Head there to check out exclusive podcasts like Talking Futurama, Talk King of the Hill, The What a Cartoon movie podcast, and tons more. Ho's this event or product. Hoi, ho, everybody, and welcome to Talking Simpsons Every Effig's Worst Nightmare. I'm one of your host, The Two Real Bob Mackie, and this is our chronological exploration of The Simpsons, who is here with me today, as always. I'm a great greeter.

I mean a great greeter. It's Henry Gilbert. And this week's episode is, on a clear day, I can't see my sister. This time, you have gone too far. What are you going to do? Tell mom and dad. They're powerless figureheads.

You'll see. Oh, you will see. This week's episode originally aired on March 6, 2005, and as always, Henry will tell us what happened on this mythical day in real world history. The Pacified. beats Be Cool to the top of the box office. Devil May Cry 3. Dante's Awakening is released for the PS2. And the Supreme Court rules that the death penalty is unconstitutional for juveniles who committed their crimes before the age of 18.

Wow. What an error it'll be alive. We can't kill children anymore. The state can't do that. For starting in 2005, yes. Now, right now in front of the Supreme Court, there is an Alabama Attorney General who is looking to overturn that. and knowing our current Supreme Court, Mike just pull it off. Yeah, I am not optimistic at all, but I don't want to put a needle in anyone's arm, let alone a child. That's just me, though.

Call me crazy, folks. If you'd like to hear more depressing facts about children tried for high crimes, listen to our Bart the Murder episode where I had some depressing research I accidentally came across. I always love when we can dispense facts about executing children on our comedy podcast.

I say hang them. Meanwhile, there's a cool new babysitter who's protecting children in the pacifier. This is the premise of at least two Hulk Hogan movies, right? Yes. I mean, it's an instant, easy premise for it's a kindergarten cop. It's the multiple rock movies like The Tooth Fairy. In this case, it's Vin Diesel.

It's just, okay, here's an R-rated badass character. What if we made him a movie that's PG or PG-13 about changing diapers and farts and all that when he's taking care of annoying kids? Yeah. And I guess Vin Diesel and The Rock are both slotted into these family movie positions at this time. Are they above this now? No, actually, The Rock, he recently, and by recently, he went in the past seven years did Jungle Cruise. So I guess he still can work in this mode.

The Rock is in an interesting place right now, actually. He just failed at winning an Oscar, but he still clearly wants it. Like his film with the Ben Safdi last year did not work out for him. But he has another movie. He is seemingly next year going to film a movie with AI's biggest fan, Martin Scorsese, and that might actually get him in Oscar. We're going to talk that old man out of this sooner or later. So The Rock does do kids movies.

So another weird thing with him is that he made Jungle Cruise with Emily Blunt. And apparently he's decided like she's his only love interest in movies anymore because then the Smashing Machine, she was also his girlfriend in that. And I believe she's about to be cast in that Scorsese film too. So she might just be contractually his girlfriend in movies now. I see. So the smashing machine, do we place that inside the Hurt Locker? Is that where it's stored? It'll protect you.

You can be protected from the smashing machine if you put it in the Hurt locker. That's right, folks. We were recording this almost on Disclosure Eve. Disclosure Day is upon us as of this recording date. And I guess The Rock not being cast in Spielberg movies quite yet. The Good Lady Blunt couldn't get him a job in that one, unfortunately. But I mean, yeah, Spielberg loves Lunt as well. But this has nothing to do with the pass fire, which I only know from trailers,

which is Vin Diesel, like not only has, Is he like a CIA or whatever guy protecting rich kids as their babysitter? But they have a pet duck. I know he's like holding a duck in the posters. Interesting. Now I'm more interested in this movie, but I'll probably never see it. And hey, Devil May Cry 3. This game, I know you just recently played through it, Henry.

I tried to give this game a go. I found it very difficult. Then I found out later they made the Western version much more difficult. But I guess now when you play these director's cuts, you can play the original Japanese version, which is much easier. I'm astounded that they were making Western. versions of the games more difficult this late in history. In the past, they're making games more difficult for the Western market to combat rental market stuff, where you would rent the game and finish it and then not buy it. I have no clue why they did that with the third Devil May Cry.

Last year, I played it because my husband said, like, oh, you love Bayonetta and all of these other, you know, third-person action games. But, and I told him, like, well, I did play. I played and beat the first Devil May Cry. He's like, yeah, but Devil May Cry three is the real first Devils May Cry. Like, that's the one you need to start with. And so, yeah, when I finally played it, it was pretty great. Now, I played the Switch remake, which lets you swap weapons the easiest. So it probably did make it even simpler to play. Still was challenging. And I lost on normal difficulty, but still, it was easier to at least swap weapons during combat. Well, I recently, and by recently, I mean, six years ago, played Devil May Cry 5. And I loved it.

And Capcom has not announced a sequel yet. But I guess, as I guess, as I was, of today they just released or they just announced the Switch 2 version so we could be getting closer to another definitely cry it's one of those series they are now ignoring along with ace attorney they're like oh we have resident evil now and monster hunter and street fighter we don't need you you b tier franchises dragon's dogma take a hike resident evil can have a new game one year and remake the next year and that'll just be every year from now on with resident evil apparently oh and i guess yeah be cool never saw that even though i really enjoyed the film get shorty when it came out, but the B-Cool sequel,

well, shit, here we were talking all about The Rock. I forgot. The Rock is in B-Cool. He plays a gay character in it that people made fun of him for back in 2005. I think that's why before you started talking about these movies, I assume The Rock was the pacifier. No. Well, I guess also, too, this is about the eternal struggle between Vin Diesel and

Dwayne Johnson to be the number one not gay, very bald, buff guy in movie theaters. I see. Well, I have not seen Get Shorty or Be Cool, but I have read the novel Maximum Bob by Elmore Leonard, and his source material fueled those two other movies, and I have to say, I like his work, and I want to read more of it. I think you'll like It Shorty. It Shorty is a pretty good send-up of 90s Hollywood, especially Gene Hackman, very funny in it. And I did not read Maximum Bob because my name is in it. It was recommended to me,

and I felt kind of embarrassed reading it in public with my name being Bob. I'm more of a medium Bob, okay? But that's everything that happened the week, this episode of The Simpsons aired. And we have a little writer's corner here because this is Jeff Westbrook's first episode of The Simpsons, so let's talk about him. So like Bill Odenkirk and Jay Stewart Burns, and probably one other guy I'm forgetting about, this is another case of a Futurama writer jumping to The Simpsons post Futurama cancellation. Though Westbrook wrote this episode as a freelancer and didn't join the staff until episode eight of season 17, the next season, and that episode is the Italian Bob. So he is first credited as a producer about a third of the way through the next

season. So he still had some other canceled sitcoms he was working on at this time, or soon to be canceled. I have to compliment Al Jean because sometimes I have given him guff about the opposite. This is using a freelancer assigned script, which they have a certain quota of them every year because of WGA rules at the time. And in the past, I've knocked him for the freelancers he would hire would be writers who like hired him first or it just seemed like, you know, a favor to a friend more like than giving somebody an opportunity. This at least was, in Westbrook's case, who wasn't a very established writer on Futurama at this time, at least let him be a freelancer to try out for the

Simpsons. Yeah, I mean, it's baby steps, but he only had written for television for a handful of years, even though he was a Harvard and Princeton graduate with a PhD. And we'll get to that because his life sounds very interesting. He might be the most interesting writer in terms of his personal background. And I'm not sure if these facts came up on Futurama commentaries. Maybe they did. But this commentary for this episode reveals a lot of interesting facts about Jeff Rlesbrook that I was not aware of or I had forgotten about. So, yes, like I said, went to Harvard, went to Princeton. As a PhD, he was one of many writers with PhDs on the Futurama staff.

He was a math professor at Yale. And also, he has a pilot's license and literally flew to his Futurama interview. He flew, I don't know if it was his own plane, but he flew there personally. And I guess he's also an accomplished yachtsman and he is an extra in the film Master and Commander the Far Side of the World. What hasn't Jeff Westbrook done? That all was so nuts to hear on the commentary. Maybe the master and commander thing came out of like just he was known in the very small circle of yachtsmen of like, well, you actually know how to like do things on a boat.

So maybe you should be a background character in our classic boat film. So if you look in the background of some scenes, I'm sure you can see much younger Jeff Westbrook, just kind of finding odd jobs between Futurama and The Simpsons. Sorry, Bob. I was wondering. Have you experienced the seas becoming battlefields yet? Have you watched this? No, I have not truly hit middle age. And when I do, I will watch that movie.

I'm 44. For 45th birthday, bam, we're watching it. It's going to be that. And then I start digging my own grave in the backyard. But yes, Westbrook was actually working as a researcher at AT&T Labs. When former coworker Ken Keeler convinced him to take a three-month leave of absence to write for Matt Grannings' new show, Futurama. So these two are working in, like, academic research for major technology companies.

And they threw it all away. for a job writing fart jokes for robots. I mean, how much can that pay? Like AT&T, like researcher, high-level researcher, and being like, I feel like he is the number one of the good schoolboys who worked at Futurama because there are PhD scholars there, including him, but he is the only one who, like,

teaching at Yale feels like the number one, only teaching as a professor in Harvard might be right above that of smarty pants at Futurama. Well, it really feels like, Jeff Westbrook and Ken Keeler are dunking at us because they both have PhDs. They've both, I assume Keeler did this as well, taught at, like, university level in terms of teaching courses. They both worked as researchers at AT&T. And they're like, maybe I'll just write for the funniest shows on television, too.

That seems easy. I forget the name of it, but there is, I've mentioned it before. Online, you can watch the video of it. There was a symposium at a college of comedy and science together where they had pretty much like a dozen of the PhD. and high-level writers for Simpsons and Futurama speaking. It's so funny on it, everybody lists their like master's and PhDs and all that background stuff that they normally wouldn't mention out of like humility, but here they're asked to. And Al Jean is laid on the list and he has to reveal he's like, man, I only have a bachelor's inside.

Pathetic, pathetic. Yeah, when I look at the kind of math that people like Westbrook and Keeler get up to that is often featured in Futurama, it goes way beyond algebra and trigonometry. these ideas that even just considering them briefly makes my brain hurt. And I consider myself to be an okay guy when it comes to doing simple mental math and figuring things out that way. But these are like this like theoretical math. This is just like ideas that barely exist in our universe that they're considering constantly with their massive Harvard educated brains. It's like on Doug when Skeeter is trying to explain math to him. It's the same deal. It's spinning around. It paralyzes poor Doug.

So there was a recent 2025 Princeton Alumni Weekly article about Jeff Westbrook where he talks about his transition to writing for television. I'll read you a quote from that article. So quote, this is from Jeff Westbrook. I had a three-month probationary period writing dirty jokes for a robot from the future. At the end, I returned to AT&T and felt, I had my adventure. Now I'm back. David X. Cohen called me, quote, we liked your work. We'd like you to come back on a permanent basis. What do you say? I had to think really hard. You don't get this opportunity very often in your life. I figured the show would be over in one to two years and I'd find my way back to industry. Two years won't kill my connections. I said I do it. I probably agonized over to this decision just for show in some sense.

I knew deep down inside, I take the job. So some part of him didn't want to turn his back on this very important technological research, but ultimately he found his calling. And he didn't need all that expensive schooling and all of those degrees. But, you know, it still helps fuel some of those jokes that really confuse us on Futurama. See, this is the best case scenario of America's best and brightest fancy pantses who go to the high level education is to. be a writer of robot fart jokes because otherwise you do either become an expert torturer for the CIA or you build bombs or do all these evil things. You build a new bomb that explodes and fiery knife shoot out and target children. Yes, yeah. Does this have the right shredding of child level? Like, get this. They call it like watermelons or something so they don't have to think about it.

You just have to remember their bones are softer when you're going into this research. Anyhow, based on his IMDB credits, he joined Futurama near the end of season two and wrote The Day of the Earth stood stupid, the 30% Iron Chef and teenage mutant Lelah's hurdles, though he never returned for any of the reboots. And now, going back to The Simpsons, since joining the series full-time in season 17, he's written a total of 29 episodes of this series. That is a lot. And outside of a few diversions, his career mostly consists of Futurama and The Simpsons. and he worked on a few very short-lived sitcoms like Life on a Stick and AUSA, two series that lasted one season and didn't even show all of their episodes on television. And apparently he also found time to write for the 2020 reboot of the grotesque puppet series Spitting Image.

So that is the entirety of Westbrook's career. Sorry, Henry, I wanted to get all of that out. No, no, wow. Those are all interesting side things. So it also shows you that Simpsons has enough of a schedule that you can risk. leaving the show to work on one season of something, and that only if it gets renewed, would you not come back to The Simpsons, I guess?

Otherwise, you can just come right back to your job once writing resumes again for the next season. It is crazy to me that he is, I don't know, one of, I think, six or maybe seven people who have worked on The Simpsons for at least 20 years, not counting Mac Grainning or James L. Brooks or the late Sam Simon. There are so many writers who have been around this long, and I think precedent has been set since Al Jean stepped down. Yeah, so my big theory on him I have is I think he's a good, funny writer and all that,

but I also think he is a new, a reason they welcome him onto it. And you can hear it on the commentary. He is a different type of guy, but a new John Swartzweiler in that he has so many interesting stories to share with you that he just becomes a resource in the writer's room to be like, oh, wait, I bet Jeff has a funny story about this. Or just he can say, well, you know, I wasn't. an extra master commander. And then they've pitch an episode out of his life experience as others in the group

are like, I'm a big nerd like them. Like, not every big nerd has a lot of life experience to go from being a yachtsman. And despite all this, he said basically he was pooping his pants having to pitch all of these ideas that he brought with him in front of the entire writer's room. He thought he'd be going in and pitching to the showrunner.

But no, they brought him in and he had a bunch of ideas and he's pitching them all to the famous Simpsons writers room. And this is the one that they pick up. Maybe other ones are made into pitches in the future, or maybe other pitches are made into episodes in the future rather, but this is what they landed on, the idea that Lisa gets a restraining order against Bart. If I was asked to come in with 10 pitches and then I got surprised by that, I don't think I could finish half of a pitch, including like George Meyer, who terrifies even

a like a Futurama writer. It's like, oh my God, that's George Meyer. The New Yorker wrote about as the greatest writer in television. But he made it. He got the call back. And after he was done with those canceled sitcoms. He has now been on the show since 2006, I guess, and his most recent episode was The Severance Parity. The Severance episode that was still funny enough to me as somebody who has not seen Severance and got none of the references in it, but I could figure it out well enough. While I'm impressed that he is still there, yeah, at 21 years, he still is, he can't compare to, say, Matt Selman or Al Jean on it, who Al Jean is still technically there. He's not gone per se. Yeah, he guess he's a one day a week guy,

presumably and possibly at this time trying to get that critic reboot off the ground we've heard. Yeah, I wonder, and I still think they're keeping it the secret at this point, who is working on the movie full time and who isn't? Though if Gene is for real working on that critic reboot,

I really don't think he could fit that in with having the same role on the second Simpsons movie that he had on the first Simpson's movie. Yeah, all these guys almost killed themselves in their mid to late 40s working on that last movie. So I think some of them are taking it a lesser role. They would have to.

I don't understand how they can get that done alongside the series again 20 years later. But we're going to find out. Yeah. Even with fewer episodes a year, it still seems like an insane task. Well, this episode also has an interesting thing of being a quote-unquote censored episode or related to a censored episode, though it was more felt internationally. And again, I'm like, I don't really know why this. I'm telling you what the headline said, which I'm like, wait a minute. This episode has nothing to do with nuclear radiation, but I'm telling you this was on the list of two episodes that got taken out of syndication.

Okay. In March of 2011, after the Tohoku earthquake in Japan, that terrible crisis, that also involved radiation leaking into the water, it was announced that in multiple international markets, like including Germany and Asia, and with a guidance to U.S. syndicators, that they said, you don't replay these two episodes for now. One was Marge gets a job, and the other was this one. And again, I just say, I was like,

this can't be right. I found the original article of them and somebody asking Al Jean for his comments on it. And this was one of them. And was it just the melting, the melting glacier or something? I don't understand. Well, yeah, maybe

trying to figure out where this could have come from. There are lots of Simpsons episodes about radiation and radiation hurting people. And there's nothing in here. So maybe it was mistakenly tagged or something. Yeah, it maybe was just like the wrong episode name in the headlines or something. But I was very confused by it, but Al Jean did say like, you know, he didn't consider it censorship. He's like, we don't want it to air for a while in light of the terrible thing

going on. I completely understand that. And he compared it to how they took the Homer versus the city of New York out of syndication rotation for a while as well. Yeah, my thoughts are just, what? Yeah, I really was confused by that. You know, even as I say it now, I'm like, wait, But that doesn't sound right. Like, trouble checking this again right now. There were tidal waves and things like that because of the earthquake and a lot of damage and casualties because of those. And I guess Lisa falls into some water.

But also, it's not deep water. And there are many other episodes where people are at risk of drowning on like wrecked ships and things like that. So, yeah, I'm very confused. This was the CBC article I found. It really is listed in the CBC article as this one and Marge gets a job. were taken off of the CBC. It says, yes, from episode 346,

in which jokes about a nuclear meltdown feature prominently, which is not true. I am confused all over again, as I read. Yeah, we cannot provide any answers here. I am just very puzzled by all of this. And the other way that this was involved in an episode being like delayed and not aired was that on April 10th, this got rerun in 2005,

which is a little early for a rerun in, in the normal cycle of American broadcast reruns. And that is because April 10th was supposed to be the premiere episode for later in this season, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Guestar. It was delayed because on April 2nd, Pope John Paul II died. Okay, yes, I knew where this was heading. Yeah.

This one was a faint reminder to me of like, oh, right, the Pope died. And now we've lost like three popes. Now, just two popes since then. Yeah. We've been through so many popes in the last 20 years. Well, I guess on an unrelated note, in case you want to know what this title means, it is a reference to a 1970 film starring Barbara Streisand. It's called On a Clear Day You Can See Forever. It is a musical comedy.

Apparently, it was a huge flop. And notably, nobody I follow on Letterbox has reviewed this, not even Chris Cabin. If Chris Cabin has not even reviewed the film, you know it's obscure. This is so Al Jean, isn't it? This episode title? Yeah. He probably saw it in theaters. Like, he was probably, it was a big musical.

or his parents took him to see it. Like, I had not heard of it either. It interests me on a certain level of if you're a Barbara completist or if you're a fan of Vincent Manelli in his films, the father of Liza Minnelli. But him making a film in 1970 feels as musty as a he-man movie coming out in 2026. Yes, it's true. I don't know where you can watch this.

I just know that's the reference in a very unpopular film. I think Matt Selman had the better pitch that he says on the comment. commentary, the loneliness of the long distance brother. Oh, that is better. I like that more. References also an obscure thing from the 70s, but I think better know. This is another good commentary because Matt Graining is on there. I can feel his grumblings be contained a few times in this episode.

Yeah. I think there are too many people there to overpower him. And I also like that you could tell, they talk about how on Futurama commentaries, they sound more fun because the voice actors are singing songs that they have to keep cutting and they're grading like, yeah, one person just recently saying a macarena parody we had to cut. Matt Sillman had a trick in case you're ever confronted by the paparazzo. Just sing a licensed song and they can't use the footage. Oh, that sounds like a great one.

Can they still use it on the, no, I bet it would probably get demonetized on the internet too. Just sing the Beatles tomorrow. That would probably. So Henry, if you had a restaurant and people are like, Henry Gilbert, what should say to us on the latest episode? What do you have to say about this? You can just sing she loves you or let it be or something. Yesterday I was doing a podcast and it's gay.

You have to make sure you're on tune though because they can be like, well, that's just a sound alike. We could air this. Right. Well, that's too bad. I cannot carry it too. I'm going to lose it. This episode begins with what we learned from the commentary is the new circus gag when they're short on an episode. Yeah, this is the fourth and last time this couch gag is used.

And another al-Gene overthinking way, they add. both Ken and Kodos laughter to this opening and they change what Homer says which is very distracting because he clearly says wow but they change it to cool for no reason I mean it's a very small point but I'm just

wondering why did you do this it doesn't match the mouth movement does not improve this opening maybe I guess it makes it technically new if you think people might assume this is lazy like no like Homer says a new thing I believe yeah you're on to something that it was Al Jean was concerned that the power of 10

opening is so memorable that if you see it again, you could think, oh, it's a rerun. It's a rerun. As opposed to other couch kegs, most couch kegs gets rerun on multiple episodes. But to see it on this one, does he think it's a trick around it of like, well, this time they'll actually be laughing over Kang and Koto's and he'll say, wow, instead of cool, that'll trick them into thinking we're not reusing this couch cake. Yeah, it could be a mix of that. Ultimately, I think Al Jean, he needs more confidence, buddy. Cheer up. You know, doing a great job here. And he always over-relied on ADR, even back in his Golden Age, on Simpsons 3 and 4. So I feel like it's just another example of, oh, let's change something at the last minute, even though it worked.

Theoretically, it was a good time to have on the commentary, the director Michael Markantel, because he seemingly worked on it and could speak to it, but the writers almost give him no space. Like, it's a Jeff Westbrook-Lovefest, and he has a lot of fun stories to tell. But Marcantel, he starts to go like, oh, yeah, Nancy Cruz helped a lot on this. And Silverman's trying to tee him up. I think David Silverman is used to on those commentaries that if you give the writers an inch, they will talk over every animator and you'll never say anything. So he always has to like shove the mic in front of the animator like, hey, wait, no, you had a funny story, right? Tell me the funny story. Come on, tell it, tell it.

David Silverman sounds very tired on this commentary. Yeah. And this would have been like 2012 or something. So I don't even know. I mean, he was still working on the show, but I don't know what would have kept him that busy. Still tired from the movie. The thing with Nancy Cruz on this, this would have been a little bit before Nancy Cruz helping with the Powers of Ten before she gets hired away to Disney to work on Rickett Ralph, which we just talked about or you'll hear us talk about at the end of the month on the Patreon. So the episode, though, begins with something else Westbrook said came from his life, not going to a glacier or a glacier, as a British person would say, but going to cold natural parks and areas because he grew up in.

Alberta, Canada. That's right. He's Canadian, too. What else can't he do? He succeeded in all these things while also being a Canadian. It's incredibly impressive. Selman, I think, was the one who says that he is both the nerdiest guy they know and the coolest guy they know at the same time. Maybe all of that free health care allowed him to succeed on such a level. Bob, were you ever at like a 3 a.m. before sunrise, go to school for a field trip thing? No. Maybe there were a few where you have to show up at school a little bit earlier than normal and the first thing you do is get on a bus, but nothing this extreme. I think on the band trip to Universal Studios in Orlando, that was the earliest. It had to have been like, be at school at 6 a.m. to so we get to Orlando before 10 a.m., the kind of thing. But maybe I

had to wake up at 5, but that's about as early as it gets. Yeah. I think they realize, well, the bus is not going to take you to school this early, so you have to find another means of getting here, and we don't want your parents to get up at two in the morning. Though also, if you have to wake up for like at 4 a.m. or 3 a.m. for a 6 a.m. flight, I found I simply can't sleep. Like, I cannot get any good sleep. Even if I go to sleep, like, oh, 8 p.m. I just refuse to do that anymore. Yes. I think I am more of a, I would rather take an 8 p.m. flight and feel like I wasted one night at a hotel than wake up at 4 in the morning for a flight. This is all the kids lined up to go to the

Springfield Glacier. Springfield can have everything. Now it can have a glacier on top of all of the other natural things. Like they have a mountain bigger than K2, the murder horn, and they also have a natural glacier. I think a glacier is one of the few geological features not featured on the series yet to date. They found a new one. Credit to that. Meanwhile, we see that Nelson is wearing his glaciers suck shirt, which he's is ripping off Bart's shirt craze from just six episodes earlier in Fat Man and Little Boy. That's true. Maybe this is a shirt from one of Bart's, lines of merchandise. But this is where we get the episode set up of where Bart and Lisa are at.

Happy three in the morning, everyone. In a mere five hours, we'll be gazing at Springfield's most exciting glacier. Springfield Glacier. I hope you're all wearing glacier appropriate clothing. Hey, check out my t-shirt. It's wicked relevant. It's part of my thing's suck line of clothing. Ha, ha, yes.

Well, while I disagree with your t-shirt's assertion, I do encourage anything that raises glacier awareness. Bus word to adventure So, Lees, ready for your trip? Sure am. See you next fall. You make those same stupid jokes every field trip. You work in the business as long as I have.

You're bound to repeat yourself. See you next fall. That's a classic prank, going back to before our age, but never hit me. I heard the see you next fall after many trips in my school days. think I got tripped a couple of times of it. As I said in a previous episode, it was punches where the top one in my friend grew and often to the bathing suit area for extra pain as well. The bathing suit area. Yeah. So like the upper hip. I have half a mind to make that a new jingle

of Bart saying when you've been in the business as long as I have your bound to repeat yourself, it could be used five times in this episode, I think. Yeah, it definitely feels like some out of commentary. I mean, yeah. We forgive it sometimes. of, look, it was, that joke was 10 years ago. Like, can you remember every joke you said 10 years ago? Like, though, of course, we would never repeat a story on a podcast. No, no, no. And, hey, if we do, don't remind us that we do this.

No. Ran out of life experience years ago. But this sets up that, like, Bart is bullying Lisa again. Like, they're in a bad place. Sometimes Bart doesn't bully Lisa at all for a whole episode. But this is getting back to, like, the classic brother-sister thing. I do think as a Bart and Lisa episode, I like this one better. than the one last season, Millhouse doesn't live here anymore because that felt really tacked on.

Yes, I do like, this is a new idea where Bart's sister bullying goes too far and it results in a restraining order. I don't like the ending that where Lisa suddenly in the wrong. I think Bart deserves all of the humiliation and punishment he receives in this episode. And then Lisa is forced to apologize. We'll get to it. I know Yardley Smith didn't like that either. I got to agree with her too. It also reminds me of them repeating themselves of just like,

Oh, Lisa gets to the end of the episode and she realizes she was wrong to tell a man he was wrong. And she needs to stop that. It's like make room for Lisa all over again or whatever that episode was where Homer was very cruel to Lisa. And then she realized like, hey, you know what? I am annoying. Yeah. He actually does lots of stuff with me. Yes.

You know, I wrote that down too. So yes, we head off on the bus trip here. They don't go to the Glacier Outlet Mall, which does sound like a nice time. I always love an outlet mall. It's a good time. You know what? I'll give Al Jeter another compliment. I complained a lot when they broke up Skinner and Edna, and ultimately I do not like it as destination.

At least in this episode, it seems like they did something with it other than just have Edna have a new boyfriend eventually. Yes, although this really sticks out of my mind as a moment where Skinner is brought too low, and it really redefines him from being a lovable loser to a despicable, pathetic loser, who will make out with a mummy. He is looking worse than,

the things Agnes says he is. Like, Agnes insults him and calls him, like, completely spineless. This is even more spineless than Agnes would be like, Skinner, have some self-respect. Yeah, and I think it's like this is, we are getting into the cringe comedy era, or we have entered it at this point,

and Skinner is now a character through which those jokes can flow. Like, can you believe this character is being this embarrassing, and you cringe and you laugh, and the office is on television in the fall? I think, you know, with this, could have been a pathway to Edna and Skinner get back together. You see this all the time in long-term sitcoms, the office or friends or whatever examples of this where when you have a couple on the show, they need to break up for a season

or two just to spice things up like dramatically. So this could have been like, okay, this is, Skinner tries to get her back and eventually does. And then they do get back together and married. If they could have done that. No, we just get Nedna until the death of Marsha Wallace. Boy, which is a very strange pairing. I'm looking forward to seeing

how that plays out because I never watched those episodes. I remember the hashtag Nedda movement, of course. We all remember that. You could vote? You could vote on Nedna? I believe you could vote. There was some level of voting to it because it was like, I think it was just a yes or no.

At the start of the next season, they played a different 30 seconds of an episode, I think. I believe it was a gimmick for over the summer, yeah. And you know what also this episode has? a whole lot of music cues. Lots of music. Sorry, I'm really beating up on Al Jean here. He needs their help more than ever with this critic reboot, but this feels like another needless touch, adding this Hall of the Mountain King music to the events that are happening. And then later, with all these four seasons, it just feels like, I mean, it's not bad, but it just feels

they're trying to sweeten it in a way where it doesn't really need to be sweetened. It also reminds me of the earliest seasons where they would take the time more for classical music to play over sequences or just instrumental music and this such as the well it's later in the episode but it reminds me of the dog of death sequence too

the part going natural sequence yes yeah though Skinner's being upset of the indemnity waivers that made me laugh as did we'll just use the chains and he doesn't mean winter chains on the tires he means making the children to pull the bus via chains it's very ptaidus bands

I like whenever the school and the bus are in a terrible state and the children have to suffer. And hey, just like PTA spans, Uder's back for a line. He hasn't got a line in a while, I think. He's there to praise Fitzcaroldo. And there's a Fitzcaroldo hater on the staff. Yeah. Though they must have apologized for this

because six seasons later, Werner Herzog will be a guest on the show. I guess that was one of a few appearances, right? Yes, because we had to hear about it. I think on our first time we had on Alex Navarro from the Next Lander podcast. He has a great story about how he was in Los Angeles

for the E3 video game convention and he was invited to go to a Simpsons table read, but an important appointment popped up and he could not miss it for work. So he let another person we've had on as a guest, Dan Reichert go in his place. And Dan Reichertre revealed to him,

not only was this a Simpsons table read, but Werner Herzog was there as well, and you didn't get to meet Werner Herzog. I think it's one of the most heartbreaking times for Alex Navarro in his life, I think. Well, maybe in Warner Hurtsog will show up at the mall or something. He can meet him there. I would love to meet Werner Hurts so much. We're almost birthday twins. He's just a day before me. The Simpsons take on the horrors of mind control. We pulled it up. And with no brain damage, dammy, jammy, jammy, jammy, jammy. Plus, the most horrifying sight you'll ever face. I'm Gary Busey. The Simpsons, all new at 877. Central Fox Sunday.

Bus word to adventure. It's Henry Gobert here. Welcomeing you to the break. Thanks again for listening to this week's podcast. Me and Bob love doing this for you, folks, as our full-time real jobs, bouncing between season 16 and 6 as we have been doing all year long. And we're only able to do this thanks to awesome people like you who listen to the podcast. Now I know what you're thinking, or I'm guessing what you're thinking.

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and a bunch of live action animation crossovers that we've talked about to. Sign up today to see everything you're missing out on at patreon.com slash talking Simpson. So we now get to the glacier, but it turns out that the glacier isn't there anymore. Crane your next skyward to behold its icy glory. What happened to the glacier? It's nearly melted.

This must be due to global warming. Young lady, the federal government's position on global warming is that it does not exist. This glacier is doing just fine. No, it isn't. It's a lump of sludge. Look at it. I have a little girl just like you at home. That's where she stays at home.

Boy, 21-year-old jokes about climate change. You're only funnier now, aren't they? Yes, although Lisa is still using global warming as a term, which is very cute. Yes, this is why they get away from later when she talks about natural gases instead of just carbon. You see why they rebranded to those things that both mean the same thing, but climate change and carbon footprint are easier to, I think, can't. distract from the issue as much as like global warming. I don't feel warmer. Gases, oh, farting, we always find, you know, that stuff. Yeah. And we're about a year before an inconvenient truth. So these issues are rising to the top again. Just like our ocean gases, but they're trapped.

They can't get out. This led me to look up some headlines, which remind me why I don't Google Climate Change headlines anymore because they make me too depressing. 2026 headlines like climate change is melting glaciers and ice sheets faster than they can regrow. And how a melting Glacier could affect tens of millions around the globe. And it could cause like Tokyo or most of Florida to go below sea level at some point. So these are these fun headlines you get to read about in 2026. Yeah, I don't like that. It's also funny to see them mocking W's response to global warming because in the 21 years since we had modest, not enough, but at least forward momentum from Obama and Biden when it came to these things that have been thoroughly torn apart. Here's something from a recent

White House press release. The Trump EPA chooses consumer choice over posturing to climate change zealots every time. Zellets. Well, that's not fun. This was about them finally getting rid of the plan that in 10 years from now, there would be a standard for engines and cars in the U.S. to only emit certain amount of gas. It's a great time. It's a great, great time. I won't be checking on these facts anytime soon. Love has Azari's delivery of I have a little girl just like you at home. That's where she stays. At home.

Speaking of things that are fun, Walmart. Yes. Now, I will beat up on Al Jean for this because I did not like hearing this on the commentary. The joke under Sprawlmart, the sign says not a parody of Walmart. The original joke was a parody of Walmart, but Fox was like, you can't do this. This is crazy. And Al Jean folded like Superman on Laundry Day. And he said, okay, okay, we'll find another joke.

and now the joke is not a parody of Walmart. And I would have loved to see how David Merkin would have handled this in his seasons. He would have made the meanest joke about Walmart possible. Yeah. He would have just called it Walmart. I know. I think too that you see in this episode later, Al Jean mostly only makes fun of Walmart for things that you can just say like, but this was an actual headline. As opposed to Merkin, who I think he'll go the extra mile and be like, no, make up something like extra.

crazy about them because I really hate them. Their hate comes through more instead of trying to be fair and balanced in things. Yeah. This might be why Al Jean was able to stay in charge for so long. But if anything, he's diplomatic to a fault and I wish he wouldn't buckle when it came to these kind of things. Ultimately, it's not like a show-killing joke that replaces the one that was there. I do feel it displays a kind of weakness on his part that I don't appreciate.

I did chuckle as like, all it says is not when it's like, no, we all know what this is. It's like, yeah. This is the era in which everyone is making fun of Walmart for valid and also classist reasons. And I feel like nothing actionable happens here in terms of Walmart could sue you if you make these jokes. Yeah, I know. And Walmart is like they are evil. Of course they're evil. Like they're very evil.

But you have a very good point on the classes thing, which is when this episode aired, I lived where a Walmart, I can remember the three Walmarts and triangulate them in addition to other big box retailers where I used to live in Florida. but then when I moved to Berkeley, California, there was not a nearby Walmart. I looked it up, and the closest one was like a 30, at least right now, is a 30-minute drive from Berkeley, California. And the same pretty much for where I live now to get to Walmart. But there's still targets. There's still all of the other ones.

They just don't have the more rural cultural signifiers of Walmart that say Target does. Yeah. I mean, there are valid reasons, but then you also have blogs like people of Walmart, that were very popular around this time, probably a little bit later, that we're just making fun of poor people. It's the making fun of poor people thing that it's like,

there are many ways you can make fun of Walmart, say like how they're one of the most guilty American companies of wage theft around or that they, as mocked in this episode, so I give them credit for that, that they take advantage of hiring a lot of undocumented workers and taking advantage of them because they're like, what are you going to do, report us to the police? We'll see you in courts.

Like lots of places are guilty. of that and Walmart is one of them. Walmart has been sued for billions for wage theft. Like, it's greater than the loss of any shoplifting. I want to remind people, too. It's interesting that there aren't really jokes at Walmart's expense initially. They go into the store, Homer and Marge, and Homer says, oh, this store is great. They have so many things of each thing. So Homer is praising Walmart for having great inventory. And then they meet a greeter. And yes, Walmart has greeters or they had greeters in this era, who are mainly there because there's a lot of elderly poor people who need work, unfortunately.

We don't take care of our old people in America. And also their shoplifting deterrence. It is also, that's another evil thing about Walmart too, not just the evil thing that is real that they do later in the episode too. But also speaking of shoplifting with Walmart, Walmart especially, though this is true of other big box retailers, that Walmart is guilty of hiring insufficient security at their places that are open all night, like the 24-hour ones,

because they just count on the police to handle it for them. And then the police have to like spend a good chunk of their budget just having people work at Walmart or work around Walmart to be the unpaid security for Walmart as cops. Yeah, the Apple store is the same way, at least the ones I'm aware of in the States. In Berkeley, I would have to go there a few times to get things repaired or pick up a MacBook.

There would always be two cop cars parked out front. So your tax dollars paying for police to just watch the Apple store all that. But, you know, as a concept, I like it as a starting point of what if Abe was a Walmart reader as we hear it in our next clips here. Oh, I just love it here. So many things and so many things of each thing. Welcome to Sprawlmart. Can I get you a cart or a basket? Grandpa, you're a Greek grader.

I mean a great greeter. Now look who's senile. You're a cart. All right. Darn thing. stuck. I'll give it a good yank. Yeah, bombs. Oh, Dad, I'll miss your cap,

your walking stick, your plaster base. I'm down here, you idiot. Dad, where's your base? Don't worry about that. Someone's got to greet the customers. That'll be fine. No, they're helpless without a greeting. Look at them. And then we see that the customers,

one is walking into the wall, the other is sobbing as she empties her purse onto the floor. And we sometimes talk about how things are just slowly getting worse or crappier all over the place. And we don't really even have greeters anymore. I was looking into this. In 2019, Walmart formally got rid of their greeter program and replaced this role with customer hosts. And it should not surprise you, this rule had a lot more duties than standing at the front of the store and waving to people and saying hi to them. As a customer host, you had to do traditional Walmart clerk things like lift objects and walk around the store.

They just turn this into a regular. clerk jobs. So we can't even have exploitation of old and disabled people anymore. Their only job is to say hello and greet people. That's like, wow. It's like they said, if you got time to lean or if you got time to greet, you've got time to clean. Yes, exactly. There was pushback from this because, yes, old people, disabled people, they would often have these greeter jobs. And they said, what about us? And Walmart replied, we'll find a place for you. Don't worry. So yes, we can't even have a veteran at the front of the store wave into you with this cane anymore. It sucks. It speaks

to that in shittification again of like this thing that was depressing in 2005, that has been sunsetted for a much eviler thing now. I also think, speaking of how things would be different, I think if they wrote this episode now, they might have the confidence to

just have the episode, or this B plot, be through Abe's vision, just Abe working at Walmart. Abe experiences the negative versions of working at Sprawlmart, and they focus it on him. Instead, they give their one joke out about elderly greeters

and then the job gets taken over by Captain Wacky. Yes, and very little of this story is about being a greeter. It's about another Walmart scandal, which has long been forgotten. We'll cover that later in this episode. But yeah, they're not interested in Abe at all in his story. I did like the design of the

pile of gnomes that happened to look like Grandpa. That's a funny design. That's why he's screaming gnomes. So we go back to the park and I rarely have identified more with Millhouse I don't buy the postcards, though. I buy a T-shirt. So I think to myself,

Grandma or my friends will be so impressed when they see this T-shirt of a place I've been. We've talked about Henry's T-shirt collection, and we really need you to catalog this, Henry. And hoodies. I still bought some T-shirts on my most recent trip to Universal, but it was like one hoodie, one T-shirt, and one spirited jersey,

a term I recently introduced to Bob. I've been in your place. It's nice. I will say that. A compliment to your apartment. But I'm also wondering, I'm always seeing new hoodies. I don't know where they go.

I'm just confused. I'll say the walk-in closet isn't so walk-in anymore at the front of my apartment. It's more of a reach-in closet. I love, too, the mill house, out of all those nice-looking postcards, he picks one of just glacier facts, just like text on a postcard. You know, it would be fun to send postcards to friends, though, again. You don't do that. Nobody does that anymore of sending fun postcards.

Yeah, yeah. People don't even send Christmas cards really anymore. It's depressing. I actually did get a thank you for being at our one. wedding card from a wedding I went to on Black Friday in November. We just got it in the mail, so we did get some nice. Some people still send that kind of correspondence. We see that Skinner needs to return when he got at the Sequoia National Park because he realized too late it was implied to nescence.

Yes. Love the word to mescence. It's disgusting. It only refers to really one kind of thing that can happen. And yes, the beach towel reads, I got wood at Sequoia National Park. I like that joke that that Skinner read it innocently

when he got it I might have told this story before in fact I think I have but this reminds me of a story about my grandma that one of the legendary grandma's stories

of my days when my grandma took a lot of bus trips and she brought back on this one I forget where she went to Branson Missouri or something like that

but at some gift shop along the way she brought home a t-shirt that she showed us and it said why drink and drive when you can smoke and fly and my grandma

thought this meant I like smoking cigarettes. We all had to tell our grandma, this is weed, and we all laughed. And even she laughed because she knew what weed was. In fact, my grandma did not smoke weed, by the way, as far as I know. But my mom told me a story about how my grandma took them to a Cheech and Chong concert or went with them in the 70s. So my grandma had probably smelled a lot of weed in her day. Right.

That's a cool grandma. But she did not wear the I like to smoke weed T-shirt after the purchase. I don't know what happened to it, actually. That Branson story also reminds me. Bob, have you seen the newest defunct land that's all about Branson? Yes, I have. And I guess they were dealing with a similar problem that Walmart was with their greeters. The original generation of greeters is all dead.

Yes. And my grandma's dead. I really like the dark humor of that newest video because the defunct land was framing as like, if it's the year 1990 and you're betting on an audience of people in their 80s or higher, that's only going to last so long, guys. Yeah, there were several. bus trips to Branson. My grandma was in her 70s in the 90s, so yep, and

she can't go to Branson anymore. Well, she could, but it'd be weird. Then we see that Bart has found another clever way to bully Lisa as they look at a recreation of the cavemen who would have been around the glacier back then, and Bart shows of, they left

something behind. It was a graffiti scratching of a cave painting that says Lisa stinks. And I like that he offers to Kearney, they're like, feel free to take a rubbing. That's a good to joke about archaeology. I like that. He's respecting the original engraving

by not messing with it. And you know what, Kearney is right. Bart did, you know, it's one thing to draw on it, but Bart did scratch deeply enough into that that you can take a rubbing. That had to take some time from Bart. We go back to Homer being a greeting, and he's greeting all your favorite characters.

They save character design money on just pulling Rabbi Herschel Christofsky out of the bank instead of making up a new rabbi character. And Homer demeans his faith by saying, Jesus loves you. Just kidding. I did doc comedy points because Homer tells Bumblebee Man, Buenos Natchos, which I think is a joke I had heard about 30 times on much lesser shows. So The Simpsons, you should not be treading in that territory, even with Homer.

There's a few times in this season. I've watched ahead in the next few episodes, too. And there's several times where I was like, no, have more confidence again of like, don't underline a joke or challenge yourself to something better. but this episode of Homer getting a new job, this just is Peter Griffin getting a new job. I don't think there is any difference between if Peter Griffin got this job at Walmart

than if Homer got this job. He doesn't even say, oh, I'm taking a break from my nuclear power plant job. They don't even make a joke out of him not doing his regular job for this episode. Yeah, we crossed that line, I think, by this point where we don't need an explanation as to why Homer is not at the power plant.

Homer, I also love Homer's response like, that coup happens to be my father. Please continue. Yes. He's just clarifying. Then we cut back to the field trip, and Skinner is getting even more desperate in our next clip. Evidence suggests that this Ice Age female was alone when she fell into a crevasse.

Dying alone, huh? Terrible fate to befall any woman, Ice Age or modern day. Seymour. I will now demonstrate how over you I am. See that man? Take note of how he's not you. Now watch. So, is there a Mrs. Park Ranger Johnson?

No, ma'am. I'm married to the glacier. But it's an open marriage. Then bring it, fool. Oh, for goodness sake, you've moved on, have you? Well, so have I. Play alone. Okay, yeah, we're hitting a lot of these rocky jokes I don't like.

We have Buenos Natchos, and Edna saying, Bring it, fool. Yeah. So that's a joke about she's too old to talk like that, and she's talking like a young person from then. Yeah, yeah, go. Yeah. Well, also, Skinner making out with a 5,000-year-old corpse also pretty sad. Pretty bad in his part.

Yeah, like I said, this starts Skinner down a new path of jokes where he is just ritualistically humiliated in every episode. And I love Skinner. I like when he just quietly has no dignity. This is too loud. Meanwhile, with Edna, I don't know what I would prefer. There is a, you know, sex-positive reading on this of like, yeah, Edna wants to get down, then she gets down. Like, she says, bring it, fool.

But a sex negative reading of 2005 is, like, saying, oh, are we supposed to judge Edna for being, like, this easy or this quick with having sex with essentially a stranger out of nowhere, out of field trip for children? Are we supposed to judge her? She's kind of going back to her season three characterization. Yeah, I think that is why they shove that stuff over to Selma and, to a lesser extent, Patty, because Edna's too hot. They needed women they found

uglier to make these jokes work. Edna's hot and hitting on Homer at Flaming Mose. You're supposed to be grossed out by it instead of going, yeah, dang, she's looking good, Edna. Yes. It's too distracting in this comedy show. I did not know until the commentary that that ice mummy is based on a real ice mummy.

And I don't have the information about this, but it's a real mummy. Yeah, it's an otzi is the name. Oh, with a umlaid or oh with something over it, Otsey. Found in Italy in 1991, frozen since 3,270 BC, and likely killed by another person and also special because they were found with clothes and shoes and tools intact. So it was a very informational mummy. Yeah.

They don't let you kiss the mummy, though. I mean, it would disintegrate. Even on the commentary, they say Westbrook's like, I was horrified. Like, it's such an insane joke. And also, did they leave the, like, display open and you can just pull it open and pull out this priceless artifact? Yeah, there's a story on the commentary where his wife wanted to throw a party for his first Simpsons invite people over to watch it. And he was like, no, no, no, maybe next one, maybe next time. That's so funny.

I also think that in the next scene, when Bart, there's only one deleted scene on the DVD for this or the Blu-ray. And it is like five seconds long. I feel like when they cut to Bart leaving the Rangers station with Waki-talkies, there is a missing beat of like the Ranger is distracted by having sex with Edna that Bart is able to steal the Wachie-Tonkeys. Like I feel like there's something missing there. Yeah, a lot is implied by the Ranger arriving, putting a shirt back on. Yeah, there should be while he's wearing a suspenders and no shirt,

it's an extra sexy combo, I'd say. And then it turns into a real take that Lisa's beliefs segment here in the show. I think. Yeah, Lisa's really getting it. You know what, hey, I was talking about, I have not played these jingles in a while. Let's hear the Take That Lisa's Beliefs jingle. Take that Lisa's beliefs.

This is where Lisa dares to care about greenhouse gases. Glaciers are nature's alarm clock, and it's time for us to wake up. Can there be any doubt that the culprit is greenhouse gas produced by man? The only gas is coming from Lisa's butt. People, please, I'm talking about toxic papers. Eminations! Hey, whoever's doing that, get off the frequency.

We're coming the woods. There's a killer loose out here. I let him do it, chief. It lightens the mood. My God! You're walking on the glacier. What if? Frog has a nerd on its butt. This is probably the most extended fart. seen in the show to date.

Even though these are not real farts, they are noises being transmitted to Lisa. Swaki-talkie, although we don't know what Bart's doing. We can't see the noises. Maybe these noises are coming out of his butthole. They can't show that on TV yet. They cut to his face for one of them, but the previous ones, I think, were all of his butt. I'm going to say that. Yeah.

The only difference between that and a family guy joke is it would have just been direct farts. And instead of implying that there was a mutilated corpse, they would have made you see it on Family Guy. Yes, absolutely. Yeah, I hate to be a joke surgeon once again this early. We're only in Act 1. I'll lay off in the future, don't worry.

I feel like the dripping blood joke would have been better if we just cut away immediately instead of having, oh, my God, that used to be a face. I feel like, oh, it was creepy and funny when the blood was just dripping on those face, and it'd be great if it was unexplained. The story told in our heads as much funnier than what the show eventually does with it. Now, do you think this is like a good... They needed to do a thing that's... This is too far.

Bart finally went too far. We've seen Bart do so many awful things over time. But obviously everybody laughing at Lisa and then combining it with her caring so much about the environment, like does make it hurt more. But I don't know. It didn't feel it was a topper on a bad day for Lisa, but it didn't feel like extremely bad for Lisa to be. Yeah, it's very tricky to write something like this because you have to humiliate Lisa,

but it also has to be funny and something new, but not too far. and we get a moment on the bus that you played in the intro clip here where it is very similar to the summer of four foot two scene where Lisa tells off Bart and he's really crossed the line and I feel like that was earned

in a way that this really isn't earned but again it is a very tricky scene to write and they kind of did the best they could you have reminded me of a way better episode about this kind of dynamic that one plays so much more about Lisa wants to actually has new friends that she likes

and Bart ruins it in a not as big but much more hurtful way, and all of it plays so much more realistically and believably in that episode. So after Lisa lets Bart know, Lisa is also hurt that Bart doesn't care that she's so upset. We go to the next morning, and this is where Bart learned some bad info for him. Good morning, world. Eat my shorts.

There'll be no shorts eaten today, young man. Bart Simpson, this is a restraining order. From now on, you must stay at least 20 feet away from your sister. Restraining order, bull spit. No piece of paper keeps me from wailing on my sister. So, you see what happens when you don't obey your restraining order? Yes, Chief Wiggum. And Snake, do you see what happens when you kidnap the president?

Oh, yes, Chief Wiggum. And Lou, do you see what happens when my coffee comes back cold? Chief, you ordered an iced coffee. No, I said a nice coffee. Nice. Two Eddie and Lou beats in the same act. That's a lot. Yeah, yeah.

Getting a lot of use out of them. We are not quite in the cold brew era of ice coffee, but it's becoming more and more popular. And they were really wailing on Bart's old catchphrases in this season. Like I've mentioned so many times they just slot in the word Icarumba over is like ADR. And now these first words on waking up are Eat My Shorts. Yeah, there's a scene later where Lisa goes to Sprawlmart and has lunch with Homer. She says, oh, I'm so glad Mr. Don't Have a Cowman is here.

And then Homer makes fun of Calabunga. What's that even me? It's so interesting that, like, why are in the 16th season, why are they thinking so much about Bart Mania and mocking these ancient catchphrases now? It's so far in the rearview mirror. And I think they're saying, why did this ever become popular? These phrases, they're so lame. Maybe working on the film has got them more backwards looking too, perhaps.

Maybe that's it. So we come back from the commercial break. and as Lisa explains how she got the restraining order. And when I play the next main show clip, it'll have the replacement line, but the only deleted scene on the DVD is Lisa having a different explanation for how she got the restraining order.

Let's hear that deleted scene. Lisa, you took out a restraining order against your own brother? I thought I taught you to use your words. I did use my words. In a legal brief. I had some help. The janitor at the food court

is a disbarred lawyer. You stay away from that janitor. I like that. Stay away from that janitor is funnier than, I think it's funnier than Homer has a bench warrant. I think that's funnier. Yes. So what's coming up next?

Oh, right. I say like, clear the runway for this next part because it saves the entire episode. I remember this standing out from my first viewing and being one of the few educational videos that really works without a Lionel Hutz figure. Sorry, Troy McClure, not Lionel Hutz. Why don't we hear from an insane man in our next clip?

Chief, how are we supposed to live with our kids constantly separated? Hey, I don't make the laws. I just... Something with them. Look, this videotape should answer all your questions. Get out of my dreams and also out of my car. A guide to your restraining order. Hi, I'm Gary Busey.

I'm here to explain about restraining orders. The answers to all your questions. questions are in this video. So you've got a restraining order. Meet Joe. Last name Spaghetti-O. One night Joe went to a party and fell in love with a girl named Mary. Oh, man, I've been there.

At first, Joe fell discouraged. But then he remembered what his father taught him. Never say die. Quitters never prosper. And no means yes. Boy, he does a great job. And I love how he was so game to be on board with all of these horrible. things that are implied about him. Yes. It should be noted that the actor Gary Abusey has like legitimate

brain damage from a motorcycle accident. Yeah, which there's a reference to that in the very beginning of this video because he pulls up on the motorcycle and he got into a very famous motorcycle accident in 1988 that gave him severe brain damage. And unlike in the joke in the episode, he was not wearing a helmet in that accident. Yes, that's what caused it. Yes, it was a helmet-free accident. So the blame is on you, Gary. So this is 2005. At this point, most people knew that Gary Busey was a little kooky because there was a very short-lived one-season show in Comedy Central. If you recall this, Henry, let me know.

It was called I'm with Busey. And that really underlined, I mean, it was a very contrived reality show in which a normal comedy writer hung out with Gary Bucy and they did normal things, but Gary Bucy always made it zany. But that really shone a spotlight on, wow, Gary Bucy is a crazy eccentric, but he is fascinating to watch. in a train wreck style way. And I'm sure they were inspired by the Osbournes for a show like this.

Yes, I also remember around this time, Gary Busey was a guest star on the Tim and Eric TV show, Tom Goes to the Mayor. And the commentary for the episode he was on is only them talking about trying to work with Gary Bucy and how incredibly difficult he was on that day. This is so great, though. Great caricature of Bucy. I love his maniacal laughter that just a. erupts out of his body for no reason. And again, in this short, he implies that he is a sexual predator who has problems with women. He's too real for a lot of people. And he has harassed

at least 12 women recently. And an independent film studio. Yeah, they credit Tim Long for being very good at dealing with him. It seems like they're only being complimentary to him and saying that like he was a fun guy. But it sounds like there's some not nice things they aren't talking about there. But I think the show has been searching for. a replacement for Troy McClure-style videos. And this is the closest they've come to cracking it. You're right that Al Jean references it. And it is in the next episode.

They actually do another video guide thing. And it's hosted by Robert Wagner and also an aging actor. And it's like, oh, yeah. You know what? You just have a real-life sort of Troy McClure play that kind of thing. Like an actor over 70 who's down on his luck can play a Troy McClure. type in those guide videos. And the writing of this short is very funny because Busey is introduced or he

introduces himself and then he pops a tape in that he can later reference in this short. And I guess that is a reference to Robert Evans because apparently when he would have to get presentations, he would arrive but then pop a tape in that was a tape of him speaking to the room. Yes. The example I think of that is in the kid stays in the picture documentary, which I watched last year and for the first time in a while. And yet he talks about in his self-mythologizing,

which is, it's his memoir, the movie, that he's telling the story that, oh, I was about to be fired. Everybody in Paramount didn't believe in me. And so I came to them with a big meeting. And he's like, guys, do I have something? I filmed a little thing. I want to show you. Like, he's in the meeting room with them.

And they actually have like 4K film footage of the thing he showed. He's like, and it's just him, in the same place walking around his office going, and we got a movie that the kids are going to love. It's called Love Story. And it's just him talking to them when he's in the room with them. It's great. Yes, I love that joke.

It came from an inspired place. And I should note that Gary Busey was given two years probation very recently for groping two women at a convention. But I will say it shouldn't have happened, obviously. But Gary Busey should not be allowed among people. He should not be appearing at conventions. He's an out-of-control wild man who's sort of-he doesn't. faculties are decreasing as he ages.

And this is not the fault of the victims, of course, but I say get Gary Busey in seclusion. Maybe you can film him doing fun stuff, but he should not be amongst the commoners. I know that these days, it has just become a thing that for aging celebrities, just going to conventions, everybody has their own Star Trek convention now. People made fun of it's like, oh, this is like the Pasadena Star Trek convention. Now everybody who was ever famous goes to the equivalent of a Star Trek convention to sign things. all of the time. Like that's her job. But at a certain point, they're sad and then there is risk of life and elder abuse. Yes. Yeah, I get a lot of these pictures on my Facebook feed because Facebook always shares a fan pages with me. Oh, this guy's a big fan. And look, here's a bunch of pictures of him with different celebrities. And I'm thinking, why does William Shatner still need to do this? He is 95 years old. He should be doing whatever he wants to do with his life for whatever remains of it. He should not be forced to sit with us.

Instagram shows me a lot of videos of. And I'm not opposed to. I've been to a number of conventions in my life. And I like seeing like, oh, I remember you from a movie. It's cool to see you. I will pay for a signature or something like that. Same with pro wrestlers. But they show it so much.

It does happen so much now that it comes to a certain level. Like, boy, I wish you were working more or something. Instead of having to be at conventions, I wish you got cast in films again instead of just signing things. dimensions. Yeah, I feel like with a lot of these people, I'm sure maybe they like to meet fans. I don't want to take a too negative stance on this, but I feel like if I were you, I would be doing anything else.

I'm here because I'm me. I think I remember Griffin Newman saying this story that a reason this really happened was because, or they're so expanded of so many celebrities going to cons and selling signatures and photo ops. I just saw a bunch of like that David DuCumny and Jillian Anderson together were like, you can get a photo with both of us, do not touch us, kind of photos at a convention. it's all because Griffin Newman said it was because of the Stephen Amel who played the Green Arrow on the Arrow show.

He started doing them and he was like bragging of like, no, you make crazy money at this stuff. And also you don't even have to report it to the IRS, which you shouldn't have said that. But it didn't cause the thing. I'm like, oh, real celebrities or like more famous people start going to these things. Yeah, I mean, I went to, it really has changed because I went to horror cons and comic conventions around the same, really small local ones. and the people you would meet are, I was killed by Jason in 1986. That's all I've done.

This is my life now. I'm sure those people are still in the circuit, but now it is William Shatner, David Dukovny. I don't know if Patrick Stewart is up to this. I feel like he wants to act more than appear at convention. So maybe he's one of the few who dodged this bullet, this very profitable bullet, that you want to hit you in the heart.

I mean, the craziest ones, though, are that, like, I have seen picture spread of Jason Mamoa at these things or Chris Evans. I'm like, but you are in movies now. Why are you doing this? Are you on a break? Yeah, what the hell? When is it enough money? Well, the answer is it's never enough, obviously.

Why do we hear the rest of Gary Busey's true-to-life story here? The next day, Mary got a restraining order against Joe. Now Joe can't come within 500 feet of Mary. He also can't call her or burn his name and gas on her lawn. I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Joe is me. and Mary is a composite of 12 different women and a small independent film company

all of whom couldn't deal with me because I'm too real I always hoped we wouldn't be one of those restraining order families yes I love Gary's claim that I'm too real that has always stuck with me as the perfect thing for an asshole abuser to say no one can deal with me

No one can get on my level. I'm too real for everybody. No, there's a million people who say that in real life. They mean it. They mean it. Yeah. They wanted to submit this for an Emmy. They liked his performance so much, but Al Jean said that guest appearances like this were a character plays themselves or an actor plays himself.

They never win the Emmy, so they didn't. Cowardly, I say. Again, Al Jean, stop it. Yeah, he is very funny here. I wish he was being cared for better in current days and not being a bad guy. But I at least, yes, he's so funny here that they got their breaking. a character design rule for him, but I love it, that his laugh that they recorded is so insane that it deserves the head backwards, like crocodile mouth thing that should not happen in the show.

It brought me back to great caricatures they did in the past, like Ringo Starr and Stephen Tyler from Arrow Smith. Yes. Now I feel like they want to flatter the guests too much, but this is perfect. It's grotesque. It perfectly fits what Gary Busey looked like then, and they're willing to push the model a bit to sell these big deliveries, like the big lab. It is such a funny, and I mean, he gave them a great insane laugh. He did a very good job of doing crazy laughter in this. I mean, with that Emmy, he's not for playing.

If you play a character, it's more likely. I mean, this is a good use of the celebrities in the place they should be. This is not the same as, wow, it's Lady Gaga jokes from the show. I want them to see a Gary Busey in a thing on the TV. That's funny. Yeah, and again, this is uncommonly mean to the guest. star. Usually there'll be a swipe taken at them in good humor, but in this one, a lot

of very horrible things are implied about Gary Busey, and he is not viewed in a positive light at all. Yes, I don't think they're this mean to Robert Wagner in the next episode when he does the similar job. So yes, Marge has been fearing this for all the time that they were going to be a restraining

order family, and this is where the plots get married together because Homer builds a poking rod so Lisa can know what 20 feet is, and also poke Bart. And it's not only built with a bunch of stuff probably bought at Sprawlmart, but he also got her a poll cover that he did get with his employee discount at Sprawlmart. And there's a screwdriver at the end of the poll, so Bart can know what it's like in the real world.

Yes, that's a good. Yeah, she's going to stab him a lot. So, okay, I guess maybe this is a good time to ask, when does Lisa become a bad person by doing this? Or what is a fitting enough revenge against her mean older brother who has bullied her so badly in the past? I think this makes up for almost makes up for a lifetime of abuse from Barts. And I feel like I'd be okay with the ending. We'll get to it if Lisa didn't also apologize. Yeah, I think the stabbing is like, she is poking him for the rest of the episode pretty much,

and it does start to drive Bart insane. But he does it all of the time. Again, I think back to one of my favorite Bartonlings interactions ever in the George Meyer-written Thanksgiving episode, where Bart, like Lisa's asked, why did you do that? Why did you destroy that? He's like, I don't know why I did it.

I don't know why I enjoy it. I don't know. I'll probably do it again. Yes. Very down to earth. The characters have drifted a bit since then, but yeah, I feel like maybe Lisa shouldn't have given

Bart extensive nerve damage with her poking, but he has to suffer a bit for his sins. So we go back to Skinner. It's also only act one of the Skinner and end of story. It was just for a few jokes. It's not going to be for the rest of the episode. Skinner is only here to let Bart know that at first it seems like Bart won't be able to be taught

at the school anymore. but actually there is one place that is 20 feet away from Lisa and that's in a disgusting shack. I also like the Skinner gives a back story to the AM and PM kindergartners made these pretty good Bart and Lisa dolls for the play. And appropriately, the Bart doll smashes on the ground. As is happening to him in the episode two,

yeah, as we cut to Willie, I do also like that Willie is teaching him math safari and actually Bart knows more than him. And so then you'll be teaching Willie. Yes. I like how the math book is called Math Safari because they would do this to your school books. They would give them fun titles,

but then inside it would just be the normal school book. Like reading adventure or whatever. And then it'd just be like, okay, now learn how all your letters are made. Math Safari is a great specific. I approve that. There's a lot of funny specifics in it. We've taken them to joke court a lot this episode, but there are some funny specifics in here.

I'll take them back to joke court here. Music cue number two as we get, guess what? an Al Jean musical montage. Yes. And of course, as usual in this era, the joke is, yes, we use the most on the nose song. And that song is, don't stand so close to me by the police, which is a great song. Yeah. And Al Jean was happily surprised that they got the rights to use the master recording too, which that's the kind of stuff I want to hear on a commentary. How do the negotiations go? How hard was it? How much money of Fox did it cost? And I'll say the jokes here aren't amazing. It's mostly how Bart is suffering from

having to be far apart from Lisa. He has to eat his lunch at school in the rain. His cheese washes down the sewer. He's got to be towed behind the bus in a shopping cart that's out of control. But we do get a very rare reference to radioactive man in this episode because he's at the bookstore. He is looking at the radioactive man comic, but then Lisa prods him into the gay interest section and the bullies in the cafe laugh at him. That's a great joke about bookstores. It's a great joke about the alphabet system that graphic novels would be, you know, alphabetically

near gay interest. And also I do like that. I miss when, look, it's funny when Bart is reading, say, a parodic version of like Shehulk versus Jesse Owens or whatever, that kind of thing. But that I like when he's not reading just a Batman or Spider-Man comic that we're in the Simpsons universe and they remember that Radioactive Man is his favorite superhero. I like when we remember this. And the text on the cover of that issue is very hard to read, but it says Radioactive, No More. So I guess in this graphic novel, he loses his powers or something like that. Hey, if I can compliment Al Jean, he and I both know that Amazing Spider-Man 50 was Spider-Man No More, the classic issue where he first quits being Spider-Man and puts his costume in the garbage. Well, they should have made that text easier to read, is my complaint.

Oh, yes. They were not ready for HD on that. I like Bart's sadness at being laughed at being in the gay interest section, which now I think I would be like the queer studies section or something. When I just went to the Powell's the last time I was in Portland, I think it was, or it's LGBTQ. I don't think they just use gay interests now as the day. Yeah, it's probably more like the word queer would be in there somewhere, LGBTQ plus. Because we took it back. We have effectively taken it back.

Sorry, Homer. Queer isn't the word for making fun of you anymore. A lot has changed in 30 years. So Bart then is getting, his pokes have hurt him so much that he now needs an anti-poking shot from a syringe. as he gets horribly poked some more by Dr. Hibbert. And I appreciate that. The commentary finally supports what we've been saying all along. You can't do jokes with Dr. Nick anymore because they've ruined Dr. Hibbert in the show.

Yes, he quickly just became, yeah, he's our bad doctor. And the joke here is that to help Bart with his nerve damage, Bart needs a shot, funnily enough, even though his nerve damage was caused by poking. But Hibbert keeps missing the vein because he's distracted by his sexual harassment lawsuit that is being brought upon him by his housekeeper. And he blames her for being under the mistletoe. It's like boy, this makes Hibbert already a bad guy. And I hate to

wonder if this was a joke about lawsuits that were coming to Bill Cosby at that time. I do wonder. This is pre finding out about Schwarzenegger having a child with their domestic help. Yeah, that's also true. It makes me sad that Hibbert would be, like,

if that's what he's getting sued for and that's his cover for it, it implies so many worst things about Himbert as a character, which I feel like does sell him out a little too much, I think. And to think that he started out as the humorless character who like soberly discussed the dangers of imitating what you see on television. And occasionally laughed inappropriately. That was the extent of him being kind of a bad doctor, his bedside manner. Well, speaking of how The Simpsons used to be, this is where we do see Lisa and Homer uniting in laughing at Bart's datedness.

I like eating here with you, Dad, especially without Don't Have a Cow Man. Yeah, he's a calipunker, dude. I mean, what's that mean? Nothing, I bet. Oh, need more soda. Homer, would you be interested in the position of executive greeter? Woohoo! That's been my dream ever since I heard it existed right now. What do I get? You get to work overtime without us paying you extra.

It won't do it. If you don't, we'll ship you right back to Mexico. But I'm a U.S. citizen. Uh-huh. How sure of that are you? Dios meo! And yes, the Walmart manager, excuse me, Walmart manager, has a fake Mexican passport with Homer Sanchez in its pages.

It's a good little gag about the realities of unpaid overtime at the real Walmarts. And again, billions in wage theft, billions in wage theft. billions in wage theft. Walmart alone is guilty of. And just about every major, and again, it's insane of like, you can do billions in wage theft, and then your punishment is, you know, a hundred, hundreds of millions of dollars tops, the highest. Like, then it's just, that's just what you factor into profitability. You profited off of this ultimately. That's just your stealing fee. Yeah. But the stealing pays for it. It's great. Lisa and Homer, now I get the like, oh, they never get to have a nice lunch together because Bart always ruins it. That's why she's hanging out with him. I get it now.

Though Lisa, for being such a 2005 liberal hating on, you know, greenhouse gases and global warming, here she is endorsing Sprawlmart by eating food there. Maybe she's stealing it. Taking them down from the inside. Yeah. Well, hey, that is what Homer ends up doing. So we got to endorse Homer on this. So now it's time for another recurring character they came into in these seasons. back for her sixth appearance. We've got Jane Casmeric once more on the show. And by the way, I've finally seen her in something other than Malcolm in the middle. I recently watched the Neo-Noir D-O-A.

It's a remake of the old 50s noir movie, and she is in it, and she's great. And that's a great movie. It is directed by the pair that directed Super Mario Brothers. And after watching D-O-A, I thought, give these people another chance. DOA is amazing. Wow, I have not heard of it. I need to check this out. This is me recommending D-O-A, the Dennis Quaid,

Meg Ryan Neo-Noir from 1988. Oh, nice. How old was Jack Quaid when that film came out, I wonder? Not born. Whoa, and Steve was that young. They might have met on the set of DOA as far as I know. Wow, so we can also thank DOA for the creation of Jack Quaid, who's a pretty good actor. Yeah, maybe one day he'll make a hit movie. Maybe.

Or you can just keep being a dweeb on television shows and always be like the guy everybody makes fun of on a TV show. He can just appear in red letter media every six months. Sorry, Jack Quaid born 92. So he was a twinkle in both of their eyes. That shows you how handsome you have to be and in good shape. To play the nerd on a TV show, you have to be as handsome and as in good as shape as Jack Quaid is on the boys. Dennis Quaid appeared.

Sorry, when Dennis and Meg Ryan were on the screen together, I told my wife, look, it's Nova Kane's parents. We've all seen Nova Kane. One of like three whiffs of Jack Quaid. Better luck next time at the box office. I must say, I'm making fun of Jack Quaid. Fine guy. I liked companion a lot. Companion's a great horror movie. I really liked him in the fifth scream movie.

He was very good in that. Why do we hear from good old Judge Constance Harm? Please lift this restraining order, Judge Harm. It's poking our family apart. Bart, do you have anything to say? My sister has no sense of humor. I'm sure you understand. It's why you became a judge instead of finding a husband.

I have a husband. What is he blind and deaf? From now on, the restraining order is, set at 200 feet. That's 61 meters. Oh, so crumbly. Sorry, boy. This is the only place that's 200 feet from Lisa, but still on our property.

Oh, it's pretty scary out here, Dad. Dad? I bet they miss me. By the way, we've all gone Casimir crazy recently because of the Malcolm in the Middle reboot, which I have not seen yet, hear good things about it, but I think I want to do a rewatch of the series first. We covered Malcolm in the middle, maybe three or four years ago on this podcast feed,

so check it out. We cover the pilot with Nathan Rabin. Yeah, it was a great time covering that one. I am also guilty of not yet watching it. The reviews for the... Guilty! Yes, Cammer, gavel coming down. And I heard very good things about it, too,

that it was just one and done, or it's just four episodes. It's not overstayed, it's welcome, too. Just visiting the character again. We have a different Dewey, but that's fine. Leave him alone. Leave real Dewey alone. Stop stalking him or trying to get photos of him.

Paparato. Let Eric Per Sullivan live his life. I'm saying it every day. I wanted to jump on Tijuana Taxi, Herb Alpert's hit song. Love it. I like it more than Spanishfully. I have used this in ads I've recorded for Retronauts. It is the feel-good song of the 20th century,

and it always puts me in a great mood. And I think dropping it in the middle of the episode and at the end really changes my evaluation of this episode as a whole. It was, when they used it at the end of the episode, they admit that it was an animatic return, like, rewrite. They realized it is just a funny thing to, like, smash cut to them and hear a great old song. I've been humming Tijuana taxi all week on the last four days of watching this and taking notes for it. It's just such a great song. And they're all playing it with different instruments.

It's really nice. And I will say, Herb Alpert, I thought he was dead. But it turns out Herb Alpert is touring with the Tijuana. of brass, whatever current version of them exist, and I can see them in Vancouver this October. Listener, should I do this? I'm very curious. My wife and I were both in our 40s. I assume we'll be the youngest people there. There might be some fatalities during the concert, but he is 91 years young, and I think I might jump on these tickets, which probably aren't very much, because seniors, they don't have a lot of money. Man, I need to see. If you're coming to Vancouver, it makes me hope

they're coming to Seattle, too, around the same time. I'm looking into this now, too, as soon as we're off this. I want to see Herb Alpert. I've enjoyed it. his music and comedic scenes for so long, I deserve to watch it in just its natural context of not just being used for a joke. I assume it's one of these old-timey concerts where the very

aged celebrity basically sits down and talks most of the time and then occasionally they do what you came for. But he's very old. I looked up some old televised performances of Tijuana Taxi and I realize now the joke they're doing with Maggie. Maggie is the one who plays the big

hong at the end of each, you know, that It happens a few times in the song. I saw they did it on the Andy Williams show. On YouTube, there was them performing it on the Andy Williams show. And Andy Williams is a singer. The song has no lyrics. So they make a joke out of it of like, and we're performing it with Andy Williams. And Andy Williams, like Maggie, is just standing there, confused the whole time, holding the horn.

And then once it gets to the end, they pointed him and he goes, for his part. That's a great role to have. It's like when you're watching an orchestra and one person has. to hit the symbol once or the big gong once and they're just waiting seven minutes to hit it. A lot of pressure, but once you hit that gong or the big symbol or whatever, your job is done. I think Matt Graining hates this joke, though.

I think he hates it on the commentary. Oh, the Tijuana Taxi recital? Well, I think he says, wow, they're good, which I think is Matt Graney saying he hates jokes that sell out. Like the characters, Homer, Marge, Bart, they're all playing music at a level. They could never play,

too cartoony. It's the type of thing I do think he hates, I think. I think this would make him bristle. And now, Henry has said multiple times on these podcasts that at his funeral, he wants them to play when the river meets the sea. I am going to say, this is my request, Tiawana Taxi on a Loop. Okay. I'll remember this too. I'll help. If anybody forgets, I'll remember too. Okay. So you've remembered mine. I'm going to remember yours. Do you want a taxi on a loop?

Thank you. Make it happen. Oh, yeah. And The Simpsons used this song before in Bark A Set by a Car. This is the music that's playing when Burns is giving his account of what happened. And I believe J. Cogan is the relative of Herb Alpert. They had to get the rights through him. And then later they were able to get Spanish Flea based on the J. Cogan relation. That's right. Father or an uncle of Jay Cogan's, because they joke, he's Mr. Hollywood. Like he knows everybody. Like he was a connection to get the rights to it. Like Herb Alpert songs, like Spanish Flea was the theme of the dating game. That's

where it's most famous. It makes you think of just watching a 70s game show. When I think of Herp Alpert's instrumental tracks. It's easy to just relax and think about how, you know, Watergate is happening at the same time. When I hear Tijuana taxi, I just think of

like cocktails in a pool side. It's very nice. Great for chilling out in the summer months that we are entering into now. Also, speaking of things that break reality in a way that probably bugged Mac rating, for Bart to be 200 feet away, they're back has become 10 times bigger than it ever has been or will be again.

Yeah, it's very funny because we are about to record an episode about Homer the Great. And in that episode, it also breaks reality by showing how the power plant extends to the Simpsons backyard. So we're having a lot of fun with the amount of land the Simpsons own and what it's adjacent to. And yeah, so since it happens in Homer the Great, a perfect episode, it would be wrong to be like, I would be quite hypocritical if I complain, but this breaks reality. So it's fine. I do like the art on this.

Bob Anderson's the director. And the way they draw the woods here is very good background design. Like it feels extra naturalistic in a way they would normally not portray the woods in the show. Yeah, suddenly it's like they're in a Calvin and Hobbs comic. Yes, yes. It becomes much more like naturalistic or just like photographs of the outdoors as opposed to. We are far past the purple trees area. of Simpsons. This is where

Lisa has pushed Bart out so far, but now Bart realizes it's actually pretty great to be out there. Not the least of which is, he can just pee wherever he feels like it. It is very strange to hear born free as Bart's like bottomless peeing as we watch him pee. And so many viewers

were like, we need to see his penis. And hey, folks, just wait a few years. You'll get to see the penis. They listened to it. They listened to that. In just two years, you'd be able to see his penis. Not yet, though, viewers. So then we go back to Sprawmarts for the RIP from the Headlines final act of the Sproulmart B story. As Homer and his fellow co-workers are locked in.

See this? It's the bathroom key. See you in the morning. You monster! We placed a compliance chip in the back of your neck during the company physical. That's it, mister. I am disgruntled. And up until now, I was relatively gruntled. Whoa, better increase the juice. I did it. I pulled it out.

And with no brain damage, damage, damage, damage, damage. Now we'll get all your chips out. Go to the police and shut this place down. Over, we took our chips out years ago. Really? Then why do you still work here? We've learned to accept the things we cannot change. And steal everything that's not nailed down.

I hope you won't judge us harshly. I'll be back for tall kitchen bags. It's a very centrist opinion. Walmart shouldn't lock their employees in, but also their employees do steal. So maybe it's necessary. When I was reading up on this, it sounds like you looked into it a lot too, Bob. But when I was reading up on it, like one of the defenses Walmart had was, well, as to prevent employee theft, too. And the joke is, yeah, the employees are stealing everything.

They are right to distrust them. I don't know if this policy is still in place. This is one of, frankly, too many Walmart scandal, so it has been forgotten. But, yes, many stores, I think, like, something like 10% of the stores would lock overnight employees into the store. And people were rightly outraged about this. And I guess Walmart's response was, you can use the fire exit if you're bleeding to death. Yes, yeah. But only of that.

The one I read that probably Al Jean read, among others, was New York Times reported on it in 2004, June 2004, headline, Workers' Is Sale, Night Lockins by Walmart. And yeah, the management defense was like, this is to prevent break-ins and employee theft. But it would be that the manager leaves you there. Nobody with a key to let you out is there. And that if an emergency happens, you call the manager and you hope they get there in time. And they have an example in the story of one of the employees gets their foot run over with equipment by another employee. Their ankle is broken.

They're in horrible pain. They cannot get out and go. to get to an ambulance. It takes an extra hour like excruciating pain all because this cost-saving thing to lock in employees and not let them out. Yeah, it's a damn shame. I feel like the rule is if we hire you, we trust you, but that's not the case. My local Walmart at the time of this episode's release, they got around that because it never closed. It was a 24-hour Walmart. Is that a super Walmart? This one was a super Walmart that was relatively novel to us at the time. I don't know in the Orange Park, Florida area, which is near Jacksonville.

This was for us new Super Walmart, which was a double-sized Walmart. Imagine if a Walmart also was a full grocery store. That's a Super Walmart. Yeah, I mean, in the time between graduating high school, when you can actually go to bars, you have like two or three years. So a lot of these years are spent, it's 2 a.m., let's go to Walmart or whatever else is open 24 hours. That was our time killing back then. Youngsters, we didn't have TikTok to distract us.

We went to Walmart late at night and looked at toys and say, oh, that's funny if it was gay or something. Or go to IHop or something. You know, Denny's was our one. The closer one was Denny's, and there was a nice lady there. She let us have our same booth all the time. Oh, very nice. Yeah, we didn't get I hop until later, so I will say my go-to 24-hour diner was Perkins. Perkins.

Okay. I don't think we had that in my neck in the woods. Or Friendlies. Oh, see, Friendlies I've heard of from just the ads, yes, yeah. Or other regional specifics. They are pulling from the real headlines here, not the compliance chips that are put in it, which Al Jean does say that he thinks that's a little too sci-fi and crazy. Though, I mean, Walmart has invested heavily in tons of technology that can spy on their employees all of the time. And as do all the other big box retailers, I don't want to just say it's Walmart and act like they're the one bad company.

Well, now we have all become Walmart employees and Target employees because we check our own groceries out and there are 15 cameras on us. at all times. Yes. Now, I've had it where I'm using one of those automated things and they just show you the self-checkout. They show you yourself on camera in it like recording in progress. We're watching you. I mean, to also speak of like headlines that are depressing type things, that this was a allegation I saw on a blue sky thread that was this person said that just out of the blue saying his wife had been arrested because Target alleged that she had shoplifted hundreds of dollar's item and they had called the police on her because they had filmed it and they finally had enough proof to get her and it's like they can now Target can just haul the cops on you but also

the guy said they eventually let her go because they actually had no proof Target fucked up I mean this is the future of like it couldn't be more obvious of that the police are here only to protect property of literally Target the company says this person hit X number of dollars on shoplifting go and get them you should fire me for my self-scanning job and then scan my groceries for me then. We should at least get an employee discount from having to scan our groceries at Safeway. So yeah, Homer realizes instead

he should just steal a ton of plasma TVs. He's the worst robber of them all and also probably stole it in such an obvious way that he got all of his friends fired from that job as well. And he's coming back for tall kitchen bags. Nice detail. Also, when Homer is crazy laughing similar to Gary Bucy, they had some fun animation on his crazy laughter there too.

So that right. wraps up old sprawlmart here. And now we head back to Bart going crazy as we get, again, Vivaldi's spring. So it's the fourth or fifth musical cue. I think it's five now. There's a lot. But you don't need to pay Vivaldi, folks. And this was the one that did remind me of the lengthy, it was longer,

but the dog of death sequence of Santa's little helper set to Peter and the Wolf from that episode. Don't the kids come out of their homes to this song in Itchy and Scratchy and Marge when there's no cartoon so they have to play outside and it's set to this song, right? It is this same song for when Itchy and Scratchy gets so boring that they go outside. That's right. Yes. Oh, man. Yeah, it's even more repetition of themselves. They credit George Meyer for Bart becomes a feral child immediately, which that is a very George Meyer pitch. I like that. Yeah. And there are some, the jokes are not amazing. It's just Bart acting like a dog, but the drawings are great. And the animation is great. They animated it real fun.

I think, though, this third act is so short. I think they realized they had more fun with pissing off Lisa, her revenge on Bart. And now Bart goes too far or Lisa went too far bit. They have a little less time for it. And they're really barreling toward the apology ending here. Yeah, as Marge can only look on in concern as her son is becoming an animal. Yes. And this is where Lisa admits that she can't remember any previous episode of The Simpsons

where Bart has apologized to her and been nice in our next clip. Lisa, don't you think your brother suffered enough? Mom, I don't mean to be mean, but every time I think about forgiving him, I remember all the bad things he's done to me. He's done good things for you, too. Name three. He brought home your homework when you were sick.

Yes, but he thought that was a bad thing. Let's count it anyway. Hmm. He did try to cheer me up when my hamster died. You forgot to eat your hot dog. Mmm, hot dog. Oh! Oh!

What the? Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! I just don't understand what the problem is.

Okay, that's two. And that's it. If I think of another one, I'll let him back in. Yeah, that goes. on a little too long because they need to do a lot more work to get this episode to a proper conclusion, but good sound design on Homer biting his finger. It sounds very painful. And yeah, I'm just thinking of all the times Lisa and Bart have made up in a story where Bart did a nice thing for Lisa in Act 3 of many episodes like this. Lisa, though, can't remember

and Marge can't either remember three times where Bart was nice. And honestly, that second one, I don't think should count because it's just Bart was pranking Homer and it just happened to entertain Lisa. Yes. March should just be like, Oh, Lisa, remember the events of Lisa on ice? Right, yes. Or another example would be, Remember the time that he helped you get revenge on your rival? Remember that?

Oh, right. That was just a few episodes ago. I think our marges are turning into gonzo. If I want to do a better gonzo, I need to just start from Marge. I'll practice on that. I mean, this is very much writing at the time for a lot of American male writers was guy's expectation of like that Marge is telling Lisa you need to forgive the jerk guy first like that's what needs to happen. If anything you should have watched your tone when you got

mad at him for abusing you. And wasn't it all just in good fun anyway? And this is the stuff that like Lisa again to bring it back the Thanksgiving episode, I love one of my favorite ever Lisa lines is when she said if only I had taken his cruelty with gentle good humor like just she takes it upon herself of like I should have been bullied better by an abuser. That was my mistake that Lisa says. I don't love this. Again, the sending is rescued by more Tijuana taxi, but Lisa sees Bart building an effigy.

It's clearly an effigy. This is a figure of Lisa meant to be burned. And for some reason, she doesn't understand that's what's happening. And I feel like Lisa is smarter than that. Yeah, I think to trick you and do not think about it as much, her calling it outsider art, feels like she outsmarted herself into viewing it as,

not seeing it for what it obviously is, which is an effigy, but I mean, maybe it helps that this comes out a year before the remake of the Wicker Man, which reminded a lot of Americans about the dangers of Wicker Man. Yeah, and B's. And B's. And B's, of course, bees. And you know what, Nick Cage, I did watch that Spider-Noire series. I watched the first episode just to give it a try, and it actually was a fun little time, mainly because Nick Cage, despite being 62, and he's having a good time in it. He's back to having a good time. It's just weird that we are now 20 years deep into the cookie cage era, which I really think Wickerman formally kicked off Cookie Cage.

That's when the castle debt started. That's when he would just do anything. Yes, he's probably feeling good that he's back to, even though it's a streaming show and not a movie, that he's working on a major IP again instead of like direct-to-video movies in Lithuania or something. He is having a good time in it. The joke on community, I'll never forget, is the great joke about how he's like,

Abed, the character played by Danny Pudi, does a great impression of Nicholas Cade and he's just like, I'm a cat, I'm a sexy cat. Like he basically, Nick Cage does that for real, except he acts like a spider and just keeps like moving his legs weird and his arms weird and like, that's how spiders move in real life, right?

I'm like, I guess, okay. Well, he went from playing long legs to Spider-Men, so he's willing to being spiders lately. In every episode, he either eats a hot dog or says he wants to eat a hot dog and can't. Well, maybe he's eating a lot of hot dog, dogs because he's going to be playing John Madden soon. Do you know about this? No, I haven't. Yes, he is Madden in Madden. Wow, that's crazy. I had not earned this.

I think you'll have a fun time. I mean, another funny thing in Spider-Noir that maybe even is why he keeps eating the hot dogs in character is that Nicholas Cage has been enjoying a lot of hot dogs lately. And it's fine for Nicholas Cage to not have like a bodybuilder physique. But when the stuntman who then does Spider-Man moves, he's not wearing as much padding, let's say, it becomes more obvious when Tickles Cage is not in a costume.

Hey, he's got that dog in him, or several dogs in him. He's got a lot of dogs. And hey, watch Spider-Nuar and black and white. That's my tip. It's the better way to watch it. It's a good show. But okay, so, yes,

Bart is going feral, and Lisa looks at him in the bartonoculars, binoculars for viewing Bart. A nice little sign tag. I'm Sue Marge, put that sign up there. And you know what? When she goes out there,

I do like Grainning and Silverman light up because they love remembering the shorts together. And Bart is dressed pretty similar to how he dresses in the Pagans short from the original run. Yeah, yeah. I don't know if it's a nod, but I like that there is some sort of reference happening here to those ancient shorts. And this is where Bart finally begs for forgiveness as he fears the poking has returned. Oh, I mean, it's a little American primitive, but who might you dismiss outside of? your art. It shows he misses me. And this is the third thing. Please. Just let me be. Look in your heart. I'm begging you. Look in your heart.

Bart, don't worry. I'm relinquishing the poke pole. What does that mean? You're sharpening it? Look in your heart. I'm begging you. Look in your heart. I'm not sharpening it. Are you putting feces on the tip? No, I'm giving it up. I've realized how much I missed you, and I can see from this magnificent Lisa statue that you felt the same way. Oh, uh, yeah. When you're right, Right, you're right. Let's eat. Yo, Bart, we're ready to torch the Wicker Witch of the West. Jimbo, the real one's here.

Oh, man. This is every effigest worst nightmare. Every effigest worst nightmare is a great line. Yeah, I do like that. And I do appreciate the Miller's Crossing reference, because Bart is basically quoting Bernie Burmbaum, aka who played him in that? John Tuturo. Thank you, thank you. But I don't think Nancy Cartwright-Seltz enough. I feel like they should have played the clip.

because I can't do it justice either, but it's, look into your heart, look into your heart. He's just screaming. And it is a guy who knows he won't be killed, really laying it on thick and trying to play for sympathy.

And I love to, not to, I don't want to spoil the whole Miller's Crossing Philverbybel, but then he isn't killed. And then he wants to get revenge. The guy who didn't kill him, he wants to kill that guy because he's mad,

because he's like, oh, you saw me beg for my life. It's such a way. It looks too humiliating. I can't have you. knowing that. That also has Joseph Polino, Joe Polino, like his nemesis, like the movie Millish Crossing, it's one of my

favorite openings of a Cohen film of him just complaining about how his fixed fight got fixed more in the wrong direction. Like, if you can't trust a fix, what can you trust? Like, his complaining is so great. I should say Joe Polino is actually John Polito. They spell and pronounce their names differently. Well, thank you, Bob.

Thanks. So yes, Lisa realizes what was obvious, the second you look at it, it's a burning effigy. And, you know, when they tell the story on the commentary, I gotta say, it sounds like they're bragging that they tricked Yardley Smith, and I don't really like this story. No, Yardley does stick up for Lisa a lot,

it sounds like, and she does object to things, but ultimately she's not a writer or a producer, so she can't have any say. Maybe they can try to work with her to appeaser, but in this case, it feels like they did trick her. The way I wrote down the quote, Tim Long says, you know, because he says that, I'm paraphrasing,

but he says that Yardley Smith didn't want to do it at first or was not thrilled about this ending. And then this is the quote I'll say from Tim Long. I told her it meant something different than what it meant, which does sound like he's joking that he lied to her. That it's like, oh, no, it doesn't mean that Lisa's burning her own effigy and agrees with why it's created. It's like it sounds like that is exactly what it meant. Yeah, again, Lisa, I feel like she is smart enough to know what an effig is.

And knowing that burning an effigy of herself is not a positive thing, the fire does not represent her musical ability. I mean, again, when Lisa has to say, I have the final clip here. Well, you know, why don't I play that first, and then we can really deconstruct Lisa taking all of this needless blame here. You were going to burn the third nice thing you've ever done for me? Well, you see, the fire represents your musical ability? Oh, Bart, I missed your lies. And I once kind of a pill, I guess. Lisa, you just poked my feelings.

I'm sorry, too. Give me that torch. And that plays us out over the credits, right? They play it all the way through, which I think that actually screwed up the, okay, time to get extremely niche here in the note on this. Hey, you stuck with us for this long. You deserve this. So watch how it's animated.

They come in. Maggie is there again with the horn. And I think they animated it to, they're going to end the episode with Maggie on screen, hits the horn at the time of like and da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-ba-da-da-ba-da-ba-ba-pum. And it's supposed to end with a burp. And Maggie, you can see in the shot,

Maggie is holding up the horn again and is pressing it. But it doesn't happen in the music that synced to it because they wanted it to play over the whole credits so they don't want to time it with the honk again for that. That is my guess that they changed late after animation when what music they'd play. Yeah, it looks like it's looping. the animation just to extend it over the credits.

And this is a rewrite. So I guess whatever they had originally took up a little more time. Also, for that joke to work, the bullies have to teleport away. They just vanish after Lisa lights it on fire. And they just had come to terms with Bart being gay. But man, like I was kind of a pill, I guess. Also that Bart, I think they're having a little, how has Bart gone like feral,

but also is working with the bullies to build a full wicker man and talking with them about it. Like, there's a missing step there, too. Yeah, Lisa just saying, I was kind of a pill, I guess. It's like, ah, it's just like her saying, oh, I am pretty annoying. It's like, make room for a lease episode. That does all kinds of things for me. It's like, no, you're here for something that he wants to do.

And this entire episode started because he wouldn't do something you wanted to do. And she lost her entire bedroom to a cell phone company because of what Homer did. Like, in all of her things, with a complete lack of her. respect for her things. And then by the end of it, she's like, you know what? I was annoying to. It's just like, God, again, and when you put it on, especially the female character in the show, learns that she's annoying too and maybe should apologize to the man who was mean to her. Maybe we're both wrong. That it sucks. It sucks. Yeah, I can see why Yardley was mad about this. But hey, this episode, I think what redeems it is Gary Busey and then two needle drops of Tijuana taxi. I'm happy.

Yep, it left me with a smile on my face in both those counts. There's some other funny stuff in it of specifics. Their swipes at Walmart could be a little better, but they at least are that and the climate-ching jokes are aimed in the right place. And you know what? They actually, on the commentary, had a Talking Simpson style well actually on it, of saying that in season 20s coming to Homerica, Homer says he hates xylophones.

It's the music you hear when skeletons are dancing. So what, Homer, do you hate xylophones? or are you great at playing them? Which is it? Could this be a Glockenspiel, perhaps? He loves Glockenspiels, hates Xylophones. Ultimately, a welcome to the show, Jeff Westbrook. You will be on The Simpsons until it becomes unpopular.

Don't forget, you're here forever, Jeff Westbrook. What are you going to do? Get on your yachts and not write sitcoms. Fly your little aeroplane around? Are you going to sell a new sitcom to the places that don't buy sitcoms anymore, which are all streamers? No way. Well, thanks to all of you out there for listening to another episode of Talking Simpsons.

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