Talking Simpsons - Talking Simpsons - The PTA Disbands

Episode Date: December 20, 2017

After drinking plenty of Malk, we cover this classic episode, like it or lump it. Skinner and Edna are battling over a teacher's strike (purple monkey dishwasher) and all the kids are set free. We chat about all this with Super Best Friends' own Matt McMuscles as our special guest. Not listening to this podcast? That's a paddlin'.

this week's episode is brought to you by patreon at patreon.com slash talking simpsons not only you get access to every episode a week early and ad free but we have tons of extras including our two newest interviews we chat with mike scully about his time executive producing the show i ran it through seasons 9 through 12 which I always characterize as the four most consecutive seasons of the show. And we talked with writer Mimi Pond about what it was like to write the first episode of The Simpsons. You know, and I get to be the turd in the punch bowl every single time I tell this story,

because nobody wants to hear anything bad about The Simpsons. You can find all that and more exclusively on patreon.com slash talking Simpsons. I heartily endorse this event or product. Ahoy, ahoy, everybody. Welcome to Talking Simpsons, where we're losing our perspicacity. I'm Bob Mackie, one podcast host you're not going to screw with. And this is the Late Design Podcast Network's chronological exploration of The Simpsons. Who else is here with me today? Henry Gilbert, like it or lump it.

Who else? Much needed roughage, Christian Tista. And our very special guest. The taxes. The thing a thing means the taxes. Those are like my favorite lines. Matt McMuscles. Matt McMuscles, the tax man. And Matt, where do you hail from?

Who are you exactly? I am well known as one of the founding fathers of the Super Best Friends. Yes, excellent. And I also have my own side channel, Matt McMuscles, on YouTube. And I am a YouTube man. And I cut my teeth on, as Chris just reminded me, making Street Fighter stupidity videos. Exactly.

The old 90s Street Fighter cartoon back in the day. Matt has his own gift to animation in the form of the stupidity video series, which I go to at least twice a year and just lap my ass off those things rule and matt is this episode a particular favorite of yours the pta disbands um for me yeah it's definitely one of those that like stick out in my head pretty well i mean there's like well i'm sure we'll get into it but there's a couple of watershed moments thrown in there so yeah it sticks out of my head an awful lot and i i quote it that's that's what i didn't realize how many quotes and my favorite lines i think i could put 30 of them come from this episode yeah it's just back-to-back gags about school so we're slightly breaking format but today today's episode is the pta disbands oh my god the pta has disbanded

and today's episode aired on April 16th, 1995. As always, Chris will tell us what happened on this day in history. Oh, my God. Oh, let's try and stay happy, Bobby. The ladies can geek out over Sandra Bullock's While You Were Sleeping, while the boys can brood along with Mark Wahlberg and Leonardo DiCaprio in The Basketball Diaries. Oh, wow. We covered a lot of this on Talking Critic, actually, in the same week.

Talking Critic is coming. Well, hold on. Were you lot of this on Talking Critic, actually, in the same week. Talking Critic is coming. Well, hold on. Were you to watch this episode when it aired, you'd be treated to a bizarre night of Fox-branded comedy. The Simpsons, followed by House of Buggin', Married with Children, and the sanitized and boobless edition of HBO's Dream On. Oh, my God. I forgot they cut the boobs out. Oh, and Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols kill 168 people in the Oklahoma City bombing. Good night.

Good night, everybody. I think Brian Ben-Ben's impeccable timing is more important than Oklahoma City. I think he was a wasted comedic talent. That guy rules. Yeah. He was in everything for a while. I mean, Oklahoma City bombing, pretty bad. But the Mortal Kombat movie came out that summer.

It's true. It's true. One thing didn't bomb. Oh, sorry. It balances out. Yeah. No, that While You Were Sleeping is not a bad romantic comedy it's a holiday staple for my girlfriend yeah though it is about the weirdest scene in the movie to me and i already talked about this on on the critic but i'll steal my story again is that in the film

and an important plot scene involves the mother touching her son's balls while he's in a coma to confirm that he has one testicle instead of two that's confirming sandra bullock's story which uh happened because like his friend had a pen a pencil in his pocket while they were playing a basketball game and accidentally stabbed him it's like damn real nuts what they did while he was sleeping well no his mom just confirmed he didn't have one but oh man what a bummer but we had the pta dispense to help us be happier yes uh i love this episode as a kid who hated school this is just nothing but jokes about school and i appreciated this

so much when i was 12 in this area and everybody every member of the simpsons family is funny and i was a little distracted but i kept like like, what is the A-plot here? Who gets the A-plot? Is this a Skinner episode? Is this a Bard episode? The Lisa episode? It's because everybody has so many standout moments. And so many side characters, too. I kind of feel that Homer actually, I mean,

he has a few things in there, but he actually really doesn't do anything, because he's the only one that's not active at the school, but other than that, you're right, that like every member... We obey every member we obey the laws of the next even makes a face that is funny once i think she even gets it on for a second yeah it's it's more just about the bigger springfield and this almost feels like a prequel episode to edna dating skinner too yeah sparks are starting to fly i think think, in this episode. Their tension here is really their unspoken

sexual attraction to each other. I would say so, yeah. I also like this episode. It's all about, like, unionized labor and the problem it has, too, with people, like, everyone agrees school should have more money, but they're like, but the taxes. Oh, the taxes.

Those are, like, my favorite thing dan has ever done dan castaneda playing my secret favorite springfield taxes i bet and you don't even see him which one is he yeah man he was he's really uh the pinch hitting through that scene and i don't i don't and i don't know why but jokes about underfunded education have never been so funny it's still points doesn't it yeah so uh wait hey matt actually i was curious too what's your history as a simpsons fan? How long have you been a viewer? I remember just, I think I remember hearing there's this brand new animation

show coming out, and it was season one, and my memory's a little foggy, but when it first came out, I think I want to say the first episode I saw, again, it's season one, but now it totally escapes me.

But, you know, a longtime viewer up until, like, when does everyone drop off? Like 10, 11 at the most, you know, usually? 10, 13, yeah. People younger than us really never dropped off. I find that we have a weird, different relationship with the show than us old timers do.

Okay, okay. That's like totally fair because I know like sometimes you go so long that people just need to like you know and like no i'm gonna do it and do it all the way through and and and not mind it but yeah like the season 10 season 11 but still like love the simpsons like went to go see the movie opening day buy all the games if ever they come out i laughed pretty hard at the games too like there's two or three things in one of the games like i think it's simpsons hit and run where you're tasked with getting uh boards to uh nail up your windows because they're zombies and homer just says i need something to board up these

windows i know boards it is a funny game i love hit and run have you had super best friends done any simpsons games we we've done a hit and run a bit, but that we paid too much attention, unfortunately to that game. What we didn't pay attention to is Simpsons wrestling because the game is so bad and there's just not a lot to say about it, but it was tears where all we're doing is reciting like just every bit we've ever memorized.

And we see like the game glitch out and we said like boy man i sure hope someone got fired for that you know like so it that one resulted in like one of the funniest things where we talk zero about the game because there wasn't there wasn't a lot to say there's nothing to say about the game um that's screaming that's basically it for video games and stuff in terms of me but uh yeah you know i a lot of the 90 like 95 this is my wheelhouse so pta dispense is like totally in there i was also curious you're canadian so what like what uh what channel did you watch it on in canada no us canadians all tucked away down there yeah i'll talk to way down there, this will be a point I'll bring up, is that a lot of Simpsons, especially of the mid-90s,

are replayed on our channel CBC, which is as Canadian as it gets. It's a Canadian broadcasting company. And every day after school, it would replay at around 5 p.m., and sometimes they'll play two back-to-back episodes, and I'd see them so often that that's where they really got you know pounded into my consciousness so that's where I like literally saw it the most I would it would come on usually Sundays though on like you know Fox or whatever so that's I'd see the initial episode there if I missed it I'd always see the reruns on CBC I think that's what makes people of our generation

so attached to the show in that way that we predate syndication. We couldn't feasibly watch The Simpsons every day, and when we could, we did for years. And taped it. It became much more special when it was every day. All right, well, so this episode, though, starts with a reference to another classic TV show, F-True. Classic.

A total classic. This Civil War canon has been fully restored and is in ready-to-fire condition. But it's a good thing we're not firing it, because it happens to be aimed at the main support leg of that lookout tower. People don't realize that these cannons are very sensitive, and the slightest jolt could set them off. Of course, for safety reasons, we don't

keep the cannon loaded. It's just common sense. That scene of a cannon firing at a guard tower and the tower collapsing is from the show F Troop, the 60s show about the Civil War? Yeah. It's the show where red skin and pale face

both turn chicken, as the theme song says. It's like pre-Civil War. It's when they're... It's the show where red skin and pale face both turn chicken, as the theme song says. It's like pre-Civil War. It's when they're... Oh, yeah. It's during the much more fun killing of all... War of the Civil War was near. Yeah. It's when we were killing off all the natives.

That's what it's... I should not know the F Troop theme song. I apologize. It was on Nick and I. Yeah. I just love that subversion of such a lengthy... They spend almost a minute on setup of like boy it'd be really bad if this cannon shot huh but obviously we don't vote it's an excellent non-joke the lack

of payoff is a payoff and i love the state of the bus exactly the children are playing in the hole again they have to like jump to a new seat because the hole is getting bigger i love it i like the children are playing in the hole again but But the kids are all laughing and having fun with it. I also like the shot of the kids covered in toxic smoke. Ralph doesn't even cough anymore. He's just so used to it. But from the very beginning, they're setting up the plot line that the school has no money, and there's a real budget crunch going on.

Yeah, when Skinner says they've cut the budget again, that explains why the school looks no money and there are there's a real budget crunch going on yeah that when skinner says they've cut the budget again that explains why the school looks even worse the school i don't think it's ever looked worse than this and how auto has to steal gasoline here's the credit card i never knew what siphoning gasoline was until that's uh taught me like yeah no i've never done that but uh so i've done it with while transferring a fish tank. It totally works. Yeah, I think when you empty a pool, you can do a similar thing with a giant hose. But I do want to bring up the whole... So they're going to Fort Springfield, and now there's an admission cost because Disney owns it. D-I-Z-N-E-E.

Jesus. We previously saw the Disney brand in the episode Old Money, where Abe goes to Disneyland. Not affiliated with Walt Disney or the parks in any way. The reason this joke is in the show, it has lost the time, but in November of 1993, Disney announced Disney's America, a Michael Eisner idea to build a historically themed theme park in Virginia. Colonial Williamsburg. It's like just to beat the shit out of Busch Gardens' Colonial Williamsburg thing.

Yeah, to have sort of a kind of a Midwest destination, not like Florida or California. Something in... It sounded so boring! It is so boring! Like, everyone with triangle hats, like, why would you put your Disney money behind this? They had some weird ideas about this, like, as you walked through the park, you'd be, like, progressing through history.

Above the shops would be hotel rooms where you could stay in the park, which was a new thing for Disney parks. Like, you'd literally stay in the park, which was a new thing for Disney parks. Like, you'd literally stay within the park. Stay in the park. Wow. But on September 28, 1994, probably after this episode was written, Disney announced the cancellation of Disney's America. Basically, Virginia hated it. People hated it.

Historians hated it. Yeah, they're like, you can't corporatize history. So Disney's America never happened when this episode was written. It probably was on the brink of happening i remember i read on the page too some people said what are they gonna sell like slave ships to kids because that's part of history like yeah i would be screwy if they did that and we also meet uh principal valiant i think for the first time principal valiant he's great he's great and for the first time i noticed it says shelbyville on the bus i never saw that before.

Well, it's weird because in a few episodes we'll be deep in Shelbyville at Lemon of Troy, and its school seems the exact same. Yes. So I don't know why they're so rich in this episode. Yeah, it's weird. But that character, Principal Valiant, I just love. Just the way the operator of it knew who he was. Like, yes, sir, Principal sir principal valiant he swept the

princey awards but they're rigged i tell you they're rigged here's the admission plus uh something for you see that they get a little extra education would you yes sir principal valiant he thinks he's so hot ever since he swept the princey awards all those things are rigged here's here's a little extra for you make sure they get a little special education. A little more learning. They learn extra on top of it. Then we get to see what they're learning, which we get to see that on the plus side,

wherever Springfield was, they participated in the Civil War, but they were at Union. And this is the story of the brave Springfield Brigade. Yes. On May 21, 1864. The men of the 9th Bearded Infantry were sunning

and fluffing their beards in the sun. Suddenly, enemy troops crested that hill over there. For Springfield, we surrender unconditionally! We're sick! We need leeches and hacksaws to saw off our gangrenous limbs.

But the Springfield Brigade was too brave to accept the surrender. Come on, boys. Those white flags are no match for our muskets. Charge! And the Springfielders heroically slaughtered their enemies as they prayed for mercy. It's hard to see what's going on i can only make out the fat soldiers all right children switch hey they're trying to learn for free get them use your phony guns as clubs run children oh such chaos i like that a disney park would try to cover up that event in history, but here they're glamorizing the brutality.

I love it. It's so great. Speaking of brutality, there's no darker joke, I think, in this era of The Simpsons other than Gner being beaten to death by a bunch of adults. Yeah, we see them raise their guns. The camera pulls away, but he died in that shot. That's all that could have happened. Yeah, I i forget what season it is but we later see his parents and his mom says we just

want answers yeah that's right yeah that that he is just beaten to death that all grown men yeah that all those men were just like we are going to chase children and beat them for trying to learn and it's also a pretty grisly shot on the show of like that guy stabbing the other guy with the musket which i i wondered if the animators forgot like no no these are reenactors this is not actual stamping and as we learned from lisa on ice you shouldn't make udder run when he's full of chocolate that's true yeah it's just the way he grabs his side i i actually the amount of research I did for this episode, I watched some of Von Ryan's Express,

which is what that scene references. Von Ryan's Express is one of... It's where the Darkstalkers cartoon aired. That's a switcher shadow. But it was one of many great escape-type films of World War II, prisoners of war trying to escape. This was Frank Sinatra leading a ragtag group trying to escape from italian prison and they do and spoilers for the end of the movie almost everybody gets away except for frank sinatra and blue eyes is dead

as he's running after the train he's shot in the back by the Italians. And it looks exactly the same as Uter falling over and being beaten. That's great. Just that cut. They had to cut real fast. Like, uh-uh. The gun is right about to come down on him. And apparently they get away with it thanks to permission slips. Well, Seymour, because of your penny pinching, we're coming back from a field trip with the fewest children yet.

God bless the man who invented permission slips as a kid this made me realize the purpose of permission slips like this is the cover the school's ass in case any of us get hurt or die it's a shitty waiver that you put an eight-year-old in charge of yeah so that children but children consistently die on springfield field trips too it's just kind. We're bringing back fewer children than ever? Is that what Edna said? Well, you know what they said. They have to learn about tech wars sooner or later. It's harsh lessons

you've got to learn at Springfield Elementary. The Sentence will be right back. but I have so much more to tell you than just that you should subscribe to it so you can get every episode a week early and ad-free. I won't even just mention that you can get the first season of Talking Simpsons exclusively there, as well as our Talking Critic show where we go through every episode of The Critic. That's exclusively there, too. What I really want to tell you about is that we just have a brand new interview there with mike scully if you don't know mike scully is one of the legends of the simpsons i would dare say he works on the show from season five pretty much onward show ran the show from season nine ten eleven and twelve

and bob and i chatted with him a ton about both his long tenure on the show, being highly criticized on the internet, and so much more in an awesome hour-long interview. And it is exclusively on the Patreon right now. Just $5 a month will get you access to it. And again, it supports Bob and me doing this full-time, so we appreciate all the support on there. It is our main source of income, so any help you can give is totally awesome.

And I think we make it worth your while, so check it out at patreon.com slash Talking Simpsons. Once you're done learning about tech war, there's something else you should learn about. The Talking Simpsons t-shirt! We have our own t-shirt that's available at Shirtsicle. That's like Popsicle, but with shirts. Shirtsicle.com. It's on sale there,

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It comes in multiple sizes and shapes. Also, ships relatively internationally, so check the international shipping on that. It's all really cool tiny.cc slash talking shirt or at shirtsickle.com popsicle but with a shirt hey this is jerry cooney professional boxer and official greeter of mr burns casino welcome to mr burns casino if there's anything i can do to make your visit more enjoyable, please, just let me know.

Yeah, great. See ya. You're listening to the guys on Talking Simpsons. Hey, is that bug off? This week on Laser Time, the internet's seventh leading pop culture podcast, the gang is tackling a brand new topic. I tried to find a negative review of Citizen Kane. One star. It had no color.

It was utterly depressing. The camera angles were okay, but the acting really wasn't too good. All the actors were always interrupting themselves or each other, and it just didn't flow well in my mind. And this is my favorite line of all time. It's just like the Blair Witch Project. I mean, he's right. It's just like the Blair Witch Project.

A lot of people watch Citizen Kane because of the hype and find themselves disappointed it's sad but true Citizen Kane was a real disappointment totally unoriginal plot bad lighting cheesy sets boring too and gosh what is this rosebud thing that was freaky whoa dude anyway this movie was whack and mad boring it was a bummer too that it was all black and white and all the guys looked the same because they all wore suits. That's Laser Time. New every Monday on LasertimePodcast.com

iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. How we use electricity can be smarter cleaner and greener. At Electric Ireland we can help guide you there.

You see, our new Net Zero Hub has all you need to know about smart meter plans, EV tariffs, solar panels and much more. Making your usage clearer, your trips greener, your home cozier and your world brighter. Find our Net Zero Hub at electricireland.ie. I think it was a real like, this episode is written by Jennifer Crinton. This is her second episode on the show. And I think I really like the little family bits in here of them getting the

wrong lunch like that's that's a very domestic thing of march handing the wrong lunch and it should be noted that david murkin named this episode the pta disbands because in her original script that was going to be a big event in the episode and she was looking at it like it was a traumatic experience but david murkin's like nobody cares if pta disbands and the pta never disbands in this episode and i think that joke was added to make fun of her even more yeah it feels like a mocking of jennifer merkin was uh trolling his writers yeah he did that with everybody but uh then this is a ah god this is one of my favorite lines i say this one all the time see more that

teachers are fed up you have to start putting money back into the school. You cut back on everything. Salaries, supplies, the food. I don't care what you say, I can taste the newspaper. Posh. Shredded newspapers add much-needed roughage and essential inks. Besides, you didn't notice the old gym mats? There's very little meat in these gym mats. Our demands are very reasonable. By ignoring them, you're selling out

these children's futures. Oh, come on, Edna. We both know these children have no future. Prove me wrong, kids. Prove me wrong. I've never seen them fight like that, Bart. I'm worried that all this posturing and saber-rattling could lead to a teacher's strike. Strike?

Ow! My bones are so brittle. But I always drink plenty of... Malk? So, that clip is less than a minute long and there are like 14 jokes in it. You want to call that best line? Kinda. But I have a thousand best lines.

I think of so many of those readings. There's very little meat in these gym mats. George is so disappointed. Yet another instance of Simpsons predicting the future when it was revealed that Subway was using a chemical in its bread that's also used in gym mats. The thing that makes it fluffy. It's not as big a deal as it sounds. You just don't want to eat a gym mat that much. And in recent years,

Malk has become real. It is a milk substitute made out of nuts, and I want to try it so I get my vitamin R supplements. I've seen it going viral, pictures of Malk at organic food stores, but I just love the, prove me wrong, children.

That is so... Prove me wrong. What an excellent recovery. Yeah, Skitter was right. No millennial had a future after that, so he accurately predicted it. He was right. Those kids did have no future. that, so he accurately predicted it. He was right. Those kids did have no future. I like how the teachers are just eating this recycled garbage, not even

bringing it lunch from home. Like, just eat the newspapers and gym mats. And it's covered with, like, essential inks. Like, no one should eat ink. That is not what you should be doing. And by the way, vitamin R, according to Wikipedia, is Ritalin. Oh, interesting.

Really? That's according to Wikipedia, is Ritalin. Oh. Interesting. Really? That's according to, well, it's Wikipedia, so it must be true. But yes, then we get to see a little bit more about what's wrong with the school. How do you expect us to teach with these supplies? Well, this pointer's so old it's worn down to a nub. It still points, doesn't it? Stop that. And look at this.

The only books we have are ones that were banned by other schools well the kids have to learn about tech war sooner or later oh another great line and i love just the idea that a pointer could be worn down from the act of pointing just from pointing yes so some of the books on that shelf we've got sexist which that's an autobiographical book by henry Henry Miller about his second marriage. It was scandalous at the time for explicit descriptions of sex. It's the first of a three-part trilogy along with Plexus and Nexus. So he was going for a theme there.

Sexist sounds the most exciting. It's got sex in it. Tech War, of course, is the first in a series of books, quote-unquote, written by William Shatner. I made sure to give you folks context for that earlier in the season. Oh yeah. When tech war premiered, big tech war fan, Matt.

All I know about tech war is quoting this line. I mean, tech war is up there with Andromeda and Lex for me, you know, all the like season ones. Yeah. Well, tech war was just like,

it was Shatner trying to cash in on something like, what if I take out one letter from Trek and then put it with, with star Wars in the war, it'll be, it'll be its own thing. I'll fool a lot of people. It got one season of a TV show. Yeah.

And a bad CD-ROM game, but the other books on the shelf are, so we have 40 years of playboy. The actual book from 1994 is called Playboy, colon, 40 Years. Steal This Book is the 1971 book by Abbie Hoffman. It's basically an anarchist guide. Like, all of these rip-offs and scams you can't do anymore, like

how to cheat a payphone, how to steal from a grocery store, things like this, before the surveillance age. Like how to kind of live for free as a cross-pump. A little bastard guide. Yes, yes, exactly. The traveling bastard. Hop on Pop, that is the classic Dr. seuss book of course i think they're implying there's some kind of homosexual incest happening in that book and the satanic verses is a salman rushdie novel that got him his fatwa issued on him by a i believe a

muslim cleric or something like that he's fine now but some of his translators were murdered like people were murdered because of that so those are all the books bart i i love that edna knows she's being played by bart but her pride is is getting won over on her but meanwhile skinner just falls straight for it there's not going to be a strike bart yeah skinner said you wouldn't have the one times to go through with it skinner said that well i had to clean it up a little but basically kerbaba said you'd give the teachers everything they want. She did? Yeah.

She said you'd fold faster than Superman on laundry day. We'll see about that. Simpson, I always thought you were sneaky and manipulative. But now I see you're really a very sensitive little boy. Thank you, sir. Aw. Aw. I forgot he actually says aww

he just totally fell for it there's too many great things happening in the episode but this is still a great Skinner episode even though it's not truly his there are so many great lines including one coming up I don't know if you have the line he says on the PA yes yeah but I love that the turn of phrase of fold faster than Superman

on laundry day you're not mad at tom the flash i mean superman isn't as fast as the flash yeah i mean take it up with jace richdale who wrote that line yeah stay tuned for the credits of justice league people uh it well it's taking all my energy to not just talk about comic books with math this entire time we uh you're doing you're doing excellently don't worry but man isn't the jury cool I wish I want them to be in the next Spider-Man movie oh they're the best

are they like the runaway jury I've heard so much about no they're a bunch of guys who hunt they're a bunch of guys in like wannabe Iron Man who hunt down Venom because Venom killed this guy's son this rich guy's son so and Venom is still Flash? no this is back when eddie brock

nothing is more terrifying than a juror so i'm on board but no i if you want to have a slight correction he gives up on trying to have the jury kill venom because venom is too strong and overpowered so he's like you know what's the next best thing killing spider-man because it's his fault that venom was even created yeah get that guy that's the best good times all right but yes bob i think you're referring to this yes attention this is an emergency broadcast all is well in the school. My authority as principal is total pitch. Give me that! Attention, teachers! We're on strike! Ha!

Oh, no. Strike? Miss Hoover, are you on strike? Go home, children. That is a great Skinner joke. To have an emergency broadcast to say everything is fine. Everything is fine. I have not been removed from power yet. Marsha Wallace and Harry harry shearer i don't know if they were acting recording together but they are so good in this episode they're so great together i want to think that they were in

the same booth that they could even be great like the animation is backing them up very well but even on just a static shot of the intercom they're so funny together just hearing them fight over it great sound sound effects, too. Yeah. And then we also get to hear from Mrs. Pommel Horse, which, well, we get to know her name, and honestly, that name kind of sucks. Previously, she swallowed a whistle in Lisa on Ice, and that's basically all we

know about her. It's actually surprising they didn't do more jokes about gym teachers. Like, out of all the teachers they make fun of, they never make fun of gym teachers. Not a single lesbian joke. Yeah. I mean, I think they were leaning that way with Pommel Horse, but they never quite got there. This is not interesting, but I just know from syndication there is a hard cut. I'd like to get down, you know? And it fades out real fast.

They get rid of the pop goes the weasel joke. Yeah. That's right. In syndication, they add a new commercial in there. Yeah, Data leads them in the forbidden music. But yeah, so then they get home and Lisa and Bart have very different reactions to the strike. Great news, Mom! Horrible news, Mom!

The school's on strike! Maybe forever. Overload. Pleasure overload. Luckily, I'm prepared for this, so I'm not too worried. Sit up straight. Eyes forward. No talking gum is that gum is that gum oh yeah mark leave that crowbar here you know i don't like you prying and jimmying mom dad great news the teachers are we heard and we already hired a tutor well looks like we'll be staying

late today to make up for all this dilly-dallying no god okay so i love the observational quality of lisa's reaction to this because it's clear that she gets no validation at home so the validation she gets at school is almost like a drug that she needs yes that she goes through withdrawal yeah and then she even has class fish sticks. She has school fish sticks in there. Fish sticks. These have to have gone pretty bad. You need to refrigerate fish sticks. I have some faith in our country still.

I hope fish sticks aren't still a thing in schools. I don't know. They're so gross. I think it's just French bread pizza now. That's all they get. That I love. With pepperoni squares. Yeah.

But the Bart, meanwhile, his pleasure overload. I think of that too. He has to kiss the dog. He's too excited. He can't. I felt the same way whenever school was canceled. Unfortunately, my teachers could never go on strike because I went to a private school, a Catholic school.

But whenever school was canceled for snow, just like, what do I do with myself now? I have an entire day. Freedom. And see, that's the difference between all of us, Matt. You guys, you and bob probably had snow days henry and i had maybe had hurricane days if we're lucky yeah yeah snow snow days were a thing but they would not happen often like off schools that would like mine would like that other like that other joke from a previous episode where it's like in springfield elementary is open like

that would be my school they always had they always were able to get it back up and that's too bad but i also i love the little marge line of i don't like you prying and jimmying instead of just saying like don't have a crowbar that's bad she has to be very specific about it but uh i i feel so bad for millhouse that he thought he'd be free too. Instead, he already has to make up for lost time with basically Tony Randall. Yeah, there's a kind of a subtle sea story going through this in which Milhouse becomes smart temporarily. He helps them with the plan at the end. It only lasted this episode, but he is smarter than Bart. He stopped being just a useless dork and became a nerd.

He finally became the nerd. That's the problem when you're a dork. If you look like a nerd, you have glasses, people are like, okay, you're really smart. And you're like, no, I just like I'm lazy. You run for a terrible surprise. I'm not as smart as you think.

I like the bouncer at the arcade. There's a couple good arcade jokes in here, which in 95 arcades were still going, but... They were still living off of the Street Fighter 2 boat. Alright right you're gonna love this uh mad as well i went and got the game the arcade games of 95 like the big ones in 95 and right maybe let's say japan didn't get the message about the arcade scene dying because this year saw mortal kombat 3 tekken 2 king of fighters 95 virtue a cop and fighter 2 Area 51. Those are all like major, major arcade games all in that year.

Those are the big ones. I think all of my local arcades dried up by 97 or 98, so they didn't have much longer to live after this. Right about the time the Saturn stopped being a thing. Oh, man. That's what I loved about the Saturn. I was playing Virtua Fighter and Virtua Cop at Aladdin's Castle, and I was like,

I can now play this at home all the time. As the news poobah, you might want to wait until the next episode. Oh, okay. Talk about Saturn. How do we feel about the foreman with the voice of Bart? That's great.

I love that. It's the only way that joke works. It's them pointing out that why would they listen to some random person telling them to do stuff on a megaphone only if they sound like Bart? And I'm pretty sure Bart kills the man in the porta potty, like just suffocates him under a mountain of sand.

Personally, though, I think the standout on the construction scene is just when Bart's like, hey, you with the crane, swing it around real fast. And he just gives the most slightest shrug and just does it anyway is amazing. Yeah, when that girder flies off, people die. People die from that as well. I also love the little searching for Bobby Fisher joke

of Bart playing three chess games at once. And the really quick dang. I love it. Yeah, if you haven't seen Searching for Bobby Fisher, it turns chess into a sports movie, and basically where he gets child chess prodigy, and he's being trained by the streetwise Lawrence Fishburne, but also the

prim and proper ben kingsley and he has to learn both sides of the chess game today it's well it's i've never been so confident never having watched that movie i prefer the ucb parody the master dialectician yes i know that oh god that the gay tank commander yeah this whole operation is foobar wow you knew i remember the scene yes it's true so this description from homer has followed me to every job oh yeah lousy teachers trying to palm off our kids on us but dad by striking they're trying to affect a change in management so that they can be happier and more productive lisa if you don't like your job you don't strike you just go in every day and do it really half-assed that's the american way excellent yes having just come from a company that was failing and everyone was resentful and not doing anything uh i was on board with homer's idea that was very yeah that is certainly the

american way i i've been that at multiple jobs of like, well, but we didn't have the union option of striking anyway. So it really just was, all right, then I will do this half-ass. And I wish I had learned that sooner because I felt like everyone, especially at the job Bob and I just worked at, I felt like the smart people there just said, oh, yeah, I'm going to just work half-ass. Like, why do you care? Your mistake is caring. I'm going to hide all day. There's no money in passion.

Exactly. Only if you monetize your own passion. Well, man, have you had an office job or you just been, uh, I did. I did a Q and a game testing for like seven years.

Like most people go, all you game tested. All that must've been like, you must've been like ass deep and like babes and money. I'm like, no, actually it's it's one of the most boring jobs you could actually have yeah i used to work at a game publisher and

thank you for your service that's like one of the hardest jobs ever is game testing one of the most grueling jobs ever unfortunately i got too good at the job and they promoted me to be i couldn't even play games anymore no i had to be the one you had to be the one managing people to play the game so i couldn't at least have that. So I just looked at spreadsheets all day. The whipcracker. Goddamn. Can you say any of the games you worked on,

just so we can nerd out? Oh, yeah. No More Heroes. Oh, shit. The original one. I played it, yeah. I did a Tenchu game. I did Deus Ex Human Revolution, the recent.

Not the last Tomb Raider game, but the one before it. And Kane and Lynch, the second Kane and Lynch game. Wow. Dog days? There, I got it. Dog days, yeah, yeah, yeah. Though, continuity blunder here, Homer is gone on strike. He is a union member who's gone on strike.

And he got the dental plan he wanted. Yeah, he did affect change in management for a happier job. Then we get another another line i say all the time which i just fucking love good news people i'm happy to announce that another union has joined us in a sympathy strike the piano tuners local 412 now for operation strike make go longer you know i heard skinner say the teachers will crack any minute skinner said the teachers will crack any minute purple monkey dishwasher well we'll show him especially for that purple monkey dishwasher remark. That was my favorite joke.

Because it's a perfect joke for a kid to get. If you went to an underfunded public school, you played a lot of telephone. Yeah. It's a way to pass time. Where you whisper a phrase in another student's ear. It goes around the room. By the time you get back, it's totally warped. But it's the joke like my dad didn't get it.

But I did. And it was very rarely that moment. Like, yeah yeah i got the telephone joke you can keep your ducatus reference father i think purple monkey dishwasher is not synonymous with uh miscommunication yes something is lost in communication i use it all the time i use it to end ramblings yeah by myself but it's impressive that in the telephone game they only messed up the end of it it was all the same correct words except somebody added purple monkey dishwasher in that and then edna just bought it like edna is all

in on it i am shocked there there's not a popular band called purple monkey dishwasher i'm sure there's several unpopular bands with that name chris and i kind of wish chalmers was in more of this episode he's really just in the one scene yelling at Skinner it's not even a particularly funny one just the honk if you like cookies which I feel like it could be a funnier thing I think more Chalmers in this episode would upset the

Skinner and Edna fight going on here yeah that's true as much as I love Chalmers Super Nintendo Super Nintendo Chalmers the greatest I have had like 17 different people on Twitter say hey look at this Super Nintendo painted like Chalmers and it's always

fun to see it but it's been shared many times that's not as exciting as the Teapot Dome scandal 50 minute recess Milhouse the recess assignment is chapters 3 through 7 Yay! Recess!

Milhouse, we're down to high of the killer bees You wanna go throw rocks at it? Sorry Bart, I'm deeply immersed in the teapot dome scandal Huh? However, it might be feasible in a fortnight What? I can play in two weeks Juh?

So we get We get huh, wah, juh ja, and za in this episode. Bart forgets words. I just love that ja. Yeah, like Bart is getting stupider for being out of school, and Nils is getting much smarter by having a tutor. Yes. So if you don't know what the Teapot Dome scandal was,

it was Watergate before Watergate. It was before people said, scandal was uh it was watergate before watergate it was the before their deal before you know people said oh this political scandal is the next watergate they would say it was the next teapot dome scandal which was basically president harding in 1922 his his cabinet was faced with scandal because of this military outpost at teapot domeome, and it involved a bunch of bribery and payoffs to members of the cabinet, and one member of the cabinet, for the first time ever, went to jail as part of this. The president doesn't, it's not illegal.

That's what Harding should have said. But yeah, so that in a light version is what the Teapot Dome is. Do you know why I'm reading on the wiki that the teacher's supposed to be tony randall i mean he's tony randall-esque he's he's like a dry fey man yeah with dressed in the way he would dress on the the odd couple yeah but yeah i think it's supposed to be sort of i don't know a lot about tony randall i just i thought it was a reference to something i didn't understand it is an impression it's a character we don't see again. When we were doing Mandy Patinkin research for Lisa's Wedding,

I saw this hilarious time Mandy Patinkin was on Letterman where he just appeared for one, like he sang a song and then ran away and that the guy helping him, pretending to help him do the tech was Tony Randall just standing with him and then they sang

and then David Letterman's like, hey guys, let me talk to you and they just ran off the stage. It's like, hey, guys, let me talk to you. And they just ran off the stage. It's like, boy, that was something. Wow. Also, like Jimbo, I watched soap operas with my mom during the summer. Young and the Restless and All My Children. All My Children was my favorite.

I think it was, I don't know. I'm a passions man. It has an element of magic in it i think i watch a lot of amc with my sister that's what we called it we're fans super fans oh but now those shows are all gone the days of the soap opera over and it happens when you make the women work the people on the so uh their lunch hours they just want to watch the stew or the chew or matt or the form yes or matt that's that's what's replaced it uh or afternoon yak you know whichever well then they have a quick joke about wrist issues with video games which is actually a real problem for the young people a 40 year old i know it's

really happened and i was going to call bullshit i'm like i was playing with joysticks but everybody was still using joysticks yeah yeah razor fight to the slashing even better than disemboweler 4 i'd like to think they're doing it with stolen lunch money to playing all those games but uh yes then we get bart bart basically recreates a scene from it's a wonderful life and i also love this what do you mean the bank is out of money? Insolvent! You only have enough cash for the next three customers! Hey, what's the question? Wait a minute.

Just a second here. No, no. I don't have your money here. It's in Bill's house. In Fred's house. Hey, what the hell are you doing with my money in your house, Fred? It took me 20 years to realize how funny that was

because I hadn't seen It's a Wonderful Life when I saw this episode. Yes, here's the original scene for you folks if you've never seen It's a Wonderful Life. Potter is trying to shut down

the Bedford Bank that the mom-pop bank Jimmy Stewart owns and so a bunch of people run in to get their money out and he's like that's not how this works people well your money's been invested in other people's homes they're about to go on their honeymoon jimmy stewart and donna reed and this is also it's they unfortunately planned it the same day as the start of the great depression and so everybody's making a run on the bank to get their money they have to give them their honeymoon fund yeah so here's the explanation now no but you're you're you're thinking of this place all wrong as if i had the money back in a safe the money's not here well your money's in joe's house that's right next to yours and in the kennedy house and mrs

macklin's house and a hundred others you're lending them the money to build and then they're going to pay it back to you as best they can now what are you going to do foreclose on them i i want i hate that guy i need the money sorry i'm a big it's i'm a big it's a wonderful life fan i i'm gonna guess i watched it twice over christmas season like i always do i love it that's what he means when the money's in bill's house and fred it doesn't make sense unless you you have to know about bank runs you have to know about savings and loans You have to know about savings and loans, which I had to ask my dad about because they don't exist

anymore. It's just a bank. And Mo takes it literally. Yes. As if Frank or Fred rather. What the hell are you doing in your house? Like, just punches him. I mean, scandal and prison. As a 14-year-old, you still think it's funny. Yeah, I still loved it. It's just like I didn't understand the

bank-based meaning of it at the time. The random violence makes it funny, too. Just seeing Mo punch somebody in the face. I love Mo inciting a mob. So again, Bart has become pure evil. Meanwhile, I love that Lisa is so desperate that Marge

writing the letter A on just a piece of paper will settle her down. It's kind of disturbing. Yes, and then this is another one of my favorite jokes. I love this. I'm worried about the kids, homie. Lisa's becoming very obsessive.

This morning, I caught her trying to dissect her own raincoat. I know. And this perpetual motion machine she made today is a joke. It just keeps going faster and faster. And Bart isn't doing very well either. He needs boundaries and structure.

There's something about flying a kite at night that's so unwholesome. Hello, Mother Deer. Oh, that's it. We have to get them back to school. I'm with you, Marge march lisa get in here in this house we obey the laws of thermodynamics yeah the flying the kite at night thing it's great because you can't really identify why it's unwholesome it just isn't right you shouldn't

be flying a kite at night nor can you pinpoint to a reference it felt too specific to not be a film reference but i don't believe it is it felt like the omen to me but not a specific scene from it just of it reminded me and how in the omen they're just like this damien kid's weird but we can't say why exactly but don't recall him saying mother dear probably just they probably just sat around and thought like what is the most like unwholesome sort of like why would you be you can't even see the kite in the air. So I guess they just landed on that. Yeah, just like in Bard of Darkness, whenever Bard gets too much free time, he becomes isolated and weird.

Yeah, and gets the same bags under his eyes, too. I just, and just is, hello, mother dear. And I mean, well, the idea of Lisa. Such a specific shot. Lisa built a perpetual motion machine, which is impossible. It is impossible. So she built an impossible... Not with that attitude.

And then Homer is mad that it isn't perpetual. It actually accelerates, which is even more impossible. It could put a power plant in business. Yeah, exactly. Threatening Homer's job. And I just like the little the little touch of lisa going like she also has too much energy yeah that marge has hit her breaking point too so then we get a wonderful community scene which led by flanders actually maybe yeah so i love the continuity of that they kept the flanders as the head of the pta

but they can't make in principle again because they already did that in season five so they can't repeat that plot line but god this this reminds me of all political exchanges for now i just love this our demands are simple a small cost of living increase and some better equipment and supplies for your children yeah in a dream world we have a very tight budget to do what she's asking. We'd have to raise taxes. Raise taxes. It's your children's future. It'll cost you.

Come on! All right, that's a good point. It's not fair. I'm not paying the taxes! The finger thing means the taxes! Yeah, whatever character Dan Castaneda is playing goes back and forth with every line. Like, oh, she's right!

She's right! Oh, the taxes! The finger thing means the taxes. It is... Taxes are bad. I want an action figure of whoever that was. It's some of my funniest lines. The mouth movements don't match up to anybody.

No. It's not one guy, but it's just like a finger. It's not a gag they do very often, and I wish they did. They've let Dan Castaneda carry that crowd scene. Clearly improv something. Dan complained about taxes. Taxes are bad. Clearly improv something. Dan complained about taxes. Taxes are bad. Oh, yeah.

And the way the audio rolls back in, just when Skinner rubs his fingers, there's this pause and it just comes back. It's even more effective that way. Yeah, and it's a great sound they got, like Foley, of fingers rubbing together. Yeah, that's a hard sound to get on mic. Yeah, and meanwhile, like Edna's,

there, the banana's, there. But Edna's, come on. But people don't want to pay more taxes for school. They don't want, like, anytime people are like, okay, well, you want school, more taxes. It'll just be an extra half a cent in sales tax. They vote against that. And I don't want to pay for roads. I don't own a car, but that's not how taxes work. It's true.

Take care of everybody. So then we get the PTA disbanding clip, which doesn't happen. The PTA isn't disbanding. That's why the guy jumps back through the window backwards. And there are no super intelligent cyborgs, so the people from the town must teach the children. That same guy who says the PTA disbanded he's also from bart's comedy who's like quit stalling what's the

plan it's this it's oh wow it's the same reactionary guy yeah but uh he's he's getting more pep in his step every time but yes the a new teacher is taking over which this is almost my line of the show really like i love this part so much. Oh, my God. The PTA has disbanded. No, no. The PTA has not disbanded. We do have an emergency plan in case of a prolonged strike right here. Let's see. Replace teachers with super intelligentintelligent cyborgs.

Or, if cyborgs aren't invented yet, use people from the neighborhood. Talking on a turn. That's a paddling. Looking out the window. That's a paddling. Staring at mice' handles. That's a paddling. Paddling the school canoe.

Oh, you better believe that's a paddling. Paddling the school canoe. You better believe that's a paddling. They chose all the right people for these roles. I love all the scenes of the new teachers. I think I went off on that before about paddling in schools. Matt, did you was there a fear of being paddled in your school? No,

not at all. I mean, like there would be if Jasper was like a teacher at the school but uh no in in our school i have physical abuse was really high i feel in my some of those things i feel weird that i was born when that happened we were right in my area in arkansas they were still doing in the end of the 80s but it felt like they were just i got paddled once and weird i have a good i have a good explanation of it because when i was a kindergartner they had a fucking cricket paddle they drilled holes in to go faster that they would hit children with and it went from in kindergarten any teacher could hit you with it then in first grade they could only hit you in the bathroom

alone yeah uh second grade only a designated teacher yes second grade only the designated teacher third grade with a call from only Second grade, only a designated teacher. Third grade, only the principal. Fourth grade, a call from your parents has to be made, and only the principal. And by fifth grade, there was no more corporal punishment in public schools in Tallahassee, Florida. I was from Ohio, and they retired the Board of Education, but one of my friend's family still had a formal spanking policy. And he was spanked in my presence once, i was just like well this seems unnecessary we don't talk about it my family but they hit me until it clearly became unfashionable because i can remember it was a threat and it did happen until npr told them not to i didn't yeah i didn't get spanked uh well i did get spanked as a kid a

little bit but it was more like how we use electricity can be smarter cleaner and greener at electric ireland we can help guide you there you see our new net zero hub has all you need to know about smart meter plans ev tariffs solar panels and much more. Making your usage clearer, your trips greener, your home cozier, and your world brighter. Find our net zero hub at electricireland.ie. I bet probably I was spanked like maybe five times ever, but then it was used as like,

give me a switch or I'll get a switch and spank you some more next time. So it was more of a threat. I mean, I don't know. I'm not a parent. I don't think I would spank you some more next time. So it was more of a threat. I mean, I don't know. I'm not a parent. I don't think I would spank my kids, though. But just put them in timeout or something. But I'm threatened to do it constantly. Yes.

Always say, I'll give you something to cry about. I heard that a lot. I heard that one a lot. Chris, you said something about the paddle that was used, that there was holes drilled or something? What was that again? To move faster with less wind resistance. Speed holes.

Speed holes. That's what I thought. Speed holes so you can hit children faster. So you can hit children faster. It makes the paddle go faster. Speed holes. New innovations every day. That's Florida.

So Frank becomes the teacher. And this is another line I think of all the time as somebody who worked in the world of video games aka toys and who like i appreciate toys better than you do i think you're not enjoying it the right way i think of this all the time compression and expansion of the longitudinal waves cause the erratic oscillation, you can see it there, of the neighboring particles. Guess what is it? What? What is it? Can I play with it?

No, you can't play with it. You won't enjoy it on as many levels as I do. I love the colors, children. He's getting a lot of glee out of that popcorn popper. I feel that way with like... I'm an adulterated joy.

Yeah. I feel that way with like old Mario games. It's like, you don't appreciate this on the level that I do. You can't play Super Mario 3 and appreciate it the way I do. The game designed children. It's for me, children. Yes. You eight-year-old, you don't understand.

And the colors, children. I have warped into the colors, children. The colors, I say it all the time, but when was a what a vidigame journalist yeah and we were forced to caption images if i was look i don't have shit to say the colors children the colors that's what i captioned every stupid screenshot with and also uh leopold returns for the exact same joke this is the i looked it up this is the final other than in background shots a couple times, this is the final Leopold appearance, so savor it, people. Well, children, I don't

know what you did to all those substitutes, but it's going to stop now. Leopold? Alright, you listen up, you little freaks. The fun stops here. You're gonna shut your stinking traps and behave, dammit! This is one substitute you're not

gonna screw with march simpson hello class hi bart over here sweetie it's me mom hi hey hello yeah previously leopold introduced ned flanders as the new principal so it's the same joke but i love how over the top it is. I love the camera angles. I love the fear he instills in people. And then he switches it off immediately to introduce somebody. Ned Flanders! And also the fact that his lips move, but his teeth remain

clenched. Words cannot possibly escape his mouth. Usually he's like Chalmers Enforcer. It's true, but he immediately softens to introduce marge and right gets to a funny line marge rarely ever gets genuinely funny lines on tour like this is great yeah there's a scene before this in which bart gets another prank call style joke off on mo where he can't actually prank mo anymore because of jimbo jones but this is another

way to do it and just him reading off the things i also as a kid in my classes i do remember like well do we say present or here which do we say it and so that moe sorting it out say present it here present also moe's ears are quite small yeah that's all that's all in his head yeah that's my big ears, isn't it, children? Well, I can't help that. And also, Bart tortured Gabe Kaplan. Gabe Kaplan was on his list. Mr. Cotter? Yes, but the actor who played Mr. Cotter, not even Mr. Cotter.

Oh, fast breaks, Gabe Kaplan. Sure. Amazon Prime has shitty movie selections. That's all I'm saying. Sorry, I was going to say, I really wish we could have had one scene with Lionel Hutz as one of the substitute GGs because he's on the list. And I'm like, oh, I really wish we could have had one scene with Lionel Hutz as one of the substitute teachers. Yeah, he was on the list. I'm like, oh, I would have liked to have seen like one sentence out of him.

Teaching kids how to destroy evidence. How did he get knocked out? How did Bart bump him off? I think it would be pretty, if he just tempted him with bourbon, I feel like Hutz would shatter immediately. Brownest of the brown lickers and i love that marge rubs it in even more just when she writes her name on the board in parentheses bart's mommy like not even and the bart was going to kill someone with that with that one of her his tricks and then marge is like we used to do that prank when i was a kid there's blood on Marge's hands.

She's killed plenty of teachers. Just her non-reaction to it is so great. And yeah, so what did you think of Canada being all tucked away down there? A gag there. It's like any Simpsons Canadian jokes. I adore them because they're almost always on point in one way or another, whether they're incorrect, correct, funny. Even ones that aren't funny are funny somehow. It it's strange but all tucked away down there is great because that doesn't even like apply to like mexico you know so i don't even know what homer thinks i love

the little uh hand motion he does he's hiding canada in his hand though i'd like to there's all these stories you'll hear about like these things that go viral of kids in his class couldn't find country x on a map and like i think when i was in elementary school i probably couldn't have found say germany on a map but if they said canada i could find canada i i could yeah and ultimately i think geography i could too yeah and i think geography is one of those things that it's nice to know it but ultimately you can access that information at any time. So having it memorized does you no good whatsoever. I can't drive to Iceland.

It's never going to happen. Though I do love the running joke on John Oliver. He'll show a country with a name. This isn't even the country. This isn't even the country. Actually, it's this one. And you didn't know it. Yeah, then we confront the problem at the dinner table which this this

tension can honestly be a whole episode they only get like about two minutes out of bart versus marge there's no way i'll get into an ivy league school now at this rate i probably won't even get into vassar i've had just about enough of your vassar bashing young lady look mom it feels really weird having you on my turf how How would you feel if I started mopping the floor? I'd be thrilled. You can start right now. And I'm going to

keep teaching her class. Like it or lump it. With it. I guess I'll just have to get into the crawl space again. I hate it when he gets in there.

It's so great how Marge's solution is to hit the wall with a broom just to annoy bart out of the crawl space uh i think we're forgetting that marge was bart's teacher in whacking day so she taught him before yeah i god i just love that saying like it or lump it i say it's another one i'd say often can i high hands up who heard of vassar for the first time? I still barely know what Vassar College is. It's another liberal arts school. It's not a fancy

Ivy League school like Harvard. I think it's one of the Seven Sisters schools or whatever. They're famous for feminist teachings and things like that. I see, like Bryn Mawr. This could all be wrong, by the way. You do not sound confident. If we have any Vassar graduates in the listening audience, tell us all about it.

I went to a state school. Yuck. And I didn't get the clip of it because it's more visual, but the physical comedy of Abe and Jasper with his beard in the pencil sharpener, just him pulling Jasper's beard and we're like, Okay, no. It's great. I's beard and we're like, okay. It's great. I maybe really miss sharpening pencils like that. It's a satisfying

feel. My girlfriend's sister is an art director and she's like, yeah, I installed the crank pencil sharpener. It's like on her kitchen counter. I love that crank. It also reminded me of all the jokesters in class would sharpen a pencil very loudly in the middle of a test. Like, I'm going to make a huge scene. Those funny jokesters. There's a moment of respite if you're an add kid i can get up and use the

pencil sharpener before i start smoking it's like a smoke break turn a fun crank for a bit and then like oh i sharpened it too far broke the end of it better sharpen it again that sound of bart in the crawl space too it's It's just like so just a little skittering, skittering. It's so great. Bart's getting extra bullied while there. And I love the acting on Kearney in this scene. Mom, I need a dollar. Ever since I started teaching here, kids have been taking my lunch money.

And I need that money for candy. Here you go, precious. Now go off with your friends. Here you go precious why isn't my mom stopping this we've created a diversion that's a very nice jig kearney that wasn't dancing much more fun than bullying yeah that that was a very nice jig i I think in these seasons, the majority of episodes have Bart getting punched by a bully. He gets beaten so much in this show.

In the next episode, he's beaten with his new pads for a skateboard. Yes. So easy on the knuckles. It's also been strange that Bart decided to hide from the bullies three feet away from them. Yeah, that's true. Behind a tree. Like, they're right there. Like, I know for the sake of comedy, like, I guess Marge just has to push him in there.

But they're right there. Yes. And that he admits to Marge that he spends his lunch money on candy. I need that money for candy. It was always nice. It was in middle school when they finally introduced in my a place like the extra stuff of like you could get the regular uh you know lunch cafeteria food but you pay extra for like ice cream bars and the chuck yeah the chuck i bought a sega genesis by eating donuts on dares from that awful system setting aside the rest of your dude i don't eat

i can't eat donuts anymore i used to eat them as like, it's like a fucking animal. They were just, people would pay me to, give me a dollar to eat five donuts. I remember a two, having a $2 lunch or maybe a $1.50 lunch in my high school years.

I ate a apple pie, Hostess apple pie and a can of Coke. Jesus. Just eating garbage. But Bart has quite a plan to finally end this. So?

Wait, that's it. With your book smarts and my ability to exploit people with book smarts, we can figure out a clever plan to get them back together. A surprise party for me in Principal Skinner's office? Well, I don't know, but all right. Me? Go to my office? Highly irregular, but all right.

And you're not coming out until you reach an agreement. Let it out, Bart. This is not funny, Bart. Stop it, Bart. Let it out right now. You're going to be there. It's a bit odd that Bart goes to Milhouse and not Lisa for this plan, but I love how under-thought Bart's plan is,

just telling Skinner, go to your office for no reason bart usually puts more effort into his plans we saw buttzilla you know big butt skinner millhouse actually made up a good excuse for edna but instead skinner's just like me go to my office highly unorthodox i love that so much though and also yeah and so they're in there for five hours of slamming on the door and And a thumbs up to the animators of getting, like, the way the padlock bounces back and forth, like, erratically. It feels very random. It's a nice touch you wouldn't see in a modern cartoon. It communicates the fury on the other side of that door very effectively, I think.

But then they finally come to an agreement, and that brings us to the end of the episode. I really love this ending, too. Seymour, I guess we could start talking what's the point there's no more money unless you've got some magic new source of revenue well we've got to figure something out they've got us locked in here like prisoners prisoners in our own school hey this was a great way to make extra money renting out our cloak rooms to the overcrowded prison system. Yo, I used to sit right over there. It's all right, children. Just ignore the murderer. And as a bonus, some of our more troublesome students might be scared straight.

Psst, kid. Help me break out of here. I'll totally make it worth your while. I miss me. So this episode is paced like a Looney Tunes short up until the end even where it just ends suddenly. And it's not the most satisfying ending, but it's just like, bam, it's over. But it's just so packed with great, great jokes. So many lines of the show in this one. I love that they go so far to fix the school.

Like, well, what's the only way we can fix the school? Well, the government will invest in the prison system. Okay. And it's kind of sending the message like, yes, school is prison for children. Which they've had before. That was in the, like, them being on the prison bus to school. Kind of a shining thing going on. It also made a point to emphasize why Bart needs prison babysitting of an elementary school.

Bart's on the school to prison pipeline. Yeah. For sure. I didn't remember this episode being one of the best ever. When I started watching it, I was just floored the whole time. It's a perfect episode. Yeah, it's one I watched over and over on

VHS just because I hated school so much and I was like, yes, take down school. I hate it too Simpsons like I said before like a classic joke every three seconds also towards the ending like the very idea it skips over like I'd assume another PTA meeting would be need to be had where they go all right so listen

people we're going to put murderers and these codes like I love that it skips that scene because there's no way to possibly you know get it across okay with that so it's amazing that way i bet that plan involved lowering taxes which is why it passed immediately yeah probably probably no i love this episode too ity. Tons of amazing jokes and no silly B-plot to distract things. Just like a constant rollercoaster forward. I'd say the only negative about it would be maybe that the Marge as teacher was underserved just thanks to it being crammed with other stuff.

But just goddamn. She gets more funny moments than normal though. Yeah, tons. But I, God, that's a paddling. That's a paddling. So, thank you so much for listening, folks. I will let Matt talk about where we can find him and what he does, just to throw it out there for some plugs. Matt.

Sure, yeah. You can find me at Super Best Friends just on YouTube. Easy to find. But also, I have a new side channel where I just play all types of like stuff that's specifically in my wheelhouse currently playing Spider-Man on the PlayStation. Like the first, yeah, yeah.

I've never played it fully up until like just now I'd always like rent it maybe once get like had to return it, never got to see it all the way through. So I'm doing that at Matt McMuscles again, easily findable on YouTube. But yeah, no, that's where you can find me and do my stuff. I hope to actually play a Simpsons

game at some point. I was thinking of Bart's Nightmare on the Super Nintendo because I do remember a few of those mini-games. Specifically the Bartzilla and throwing tomatoes at students that wander in front of Bart. He's got like a catapult or a slingshot. I have a meaning

to play that again soon. It's one of the less bad ones, but still kind of bad. One of those I just could never justify getting my parents to buy me, but rented it all the time. We have streamed it multiple times. It's terrible, but it's one of the best

Simpsons games. What I love about that PlayStation Spider-Man game is that it's one of the best Simpsons games. What I love about that PlayStation Spider-Man game is that it's before Marvel became Marvel, and so they just seem to be able to go like, hey, can we have Captain America in this game? Yeah, sure. Put him in. Who cares? The Human Torch?

Yeah, here he is. Just have him. Punisher? Sure. Just put them all. Who cares? Yeah. To think that just 20 years ago it was such a wild west where now if you want to put any Marvel character in anything, you probably have to sign like 800 contracts over a year. So, yeah, as for me, I've been your host, Bob Mackie. Thanks for listening, by the way. You can find me on Twitter as Bob Servo. My other podcast is RetroNauts.

Every Monday, occasionally a bonus episode on Friday. It's a classic gaming podcast. Go to RetroNauts.com or look for RetroNauts in your podcatcher or wherever you listen to podcasts. We've done so many topics. We've been around for over a decade. So I recommend you find a topic you like and listen to that corresponding episode. You should like our show. Everyone else, tell us what you do, where we can find you.

Well, you can follow me on Twitter at H-E-N-E-R-e-y-g where i'm tweeting out funny things and political anger uh and also uh you should follow this on patreon at patreon.com slash talking simpsons that support there will get you access to every episode of the show a week early and ad free along with tons of exclusives including some really cool interviews coming up and our talking critic, where we go through every episode of the critic from the beginning in the same style as talking Simpsons. And lastly, I will say January 28th.

Again, folks, we're doing a live show of the talking Simpsons at SF sketch fest. Admission is free. You can claim a ticket. Now, if you're going to be in the area of the Bay area, January 28th,

that's a Sunday. I promise to kill one of you with a t-shirt cannon. You know what? Assassin, stay home. You are not welcome. And Lazer Time is where the show lived. Patreon.com slash Lazer Time is how we make a living. But you can check out the show Lazer Time, which is like this, but topic-based. We talked about The Simpsons over Christmas

because The Simpsons had a tentative finale in the 21st season? In 2011. And it's really, really good. If you never want to watch another episode, it's a really good episode to check out on. That was for Christmas special sequels. But what else?

We're going to do a bunch of stuff with cartoons right now. You guys have been involved with that. Looney Tunes, 30, 20, 10. The look look uh 30 20 and 10 years ago into the past of that week uh and video game apocalypse our weekly video game show thank you thank you so much for listening we'll see you next week with round springfield see you then Wow. Infotainment.