Talking Simpsons - Talking Simpsons - The War Of The Simpsons

Episode Date: March 2, 2016

Marge and Homer’s marriage is tested like never before while Lisa and Bart take advantage of the elderly in this episode of surprising firsts…

This week's episode of Talking Simpsons is brought to you by Geek Fuel. Go to geekfuel.com slash lasertime to sign up for a box of geeky goodies sent to you directly. And if you sign up through geekfuel.com slash lasertime, you will get an exclusive Star Wars item worth $20 added to your first box. Ahoy, hoy, everybody. Welcome to Talking Simpsons, where we're big fans of Satan's boners. This is your host, Bob Mackie, and this is the Lasertime Podcast Network's chronological exploration of The Simpsons. Who else is here today? Christopher Ancestor.

Henry Gilbert. Dave Rudd and the Queen of the Harpies. Wow. Queen of the Harpies. Somebody had to say it. You're proud, your majesty. So today's episode is the season two episode, The War of the Simpsons, which aired on May 2nd, 1991. Chris, what happened on this mythical day in history?

Oh my god! Oh boy, Bobby. Pretty Woman is released on VHS. Nolan Ryan pitches a seventh no-hitter and Garth Brooks' Thunder Road is deemed unfit to air. In the video, he cheats on his wife and then beats her. Those are not the values I grew up with.

I didn't know that video. I think I remember that because Beavis and Butthead made fun of it. They did. Beavis and Butthead got to watch the video and it didn't get to air on CMT or wherever it was. I love that song though. In 1991 I loved that song. Too spicy for VH1.

This is the first episode though that really I think tack tackles homer's drinking problem yeah uh and in the end i think homer needs an intervention he doesn't need couples counseling the problem is his drinking i mean homer is portrayed as an idiot someone not to emulate but i think this is the lowest he's ever been portrayed we've never seen him be this drunk for this long ever since barney yeah like he's the drunk one at a party with Barney. Other times when Homer gets drunk, it doesn't feel as human as it does in this one. It's to make a funny joke.

It's very realistically observed drunk behavior. I don't know if it's maybe my problem, but I've observed people being way worse while drunk than Homer. The ogling thing is bad, but everything else observed people being way worse while drunk than home. Like, the ogling thing is bad, but, like, everything else is like, if this happened at a party, I'd be like,

that guy's drunk, but it's funny. But at an adult party. Yeah. I also don't get invited to those. I love, well, first, when the party starts,

I like that Flanders, that Flanders knows how to make drinks. Hi. Homer, how are you? Please, come in. You look lovely tonight. Swell. And the house, you've done whatever. Hey, anybody mind knows how to make drinks. That's the first interaction of Moe and Flanders, I think.

They rarely share a scene together, but this is the more libertine Flanders. He's got a pool table, and he mixes drinks, and he's got a bar. And I can totally identify with Homer getting drunk on Planter's Punch. It's deceptive. What the hell is Planter's Punch? Well, it's just a type of specialty punch that doesn't taste alcoholic. I'm just asking. I'm allergic to peanuts.

He says he has three shots of rum in each drink. And it's funny because this happened to me when my stepdad and my mom visited. They're used to drinking. They're working class, so they just drink cheap beer like Miller Lite. So I was like, I'll take you out for some good beer. Oh, God. Just a Lagunitas IPA? Pretty much.

My parents were hungover the next day because that beer has literally three times the amount of alcohol as Miller Lite. It's 9% or something like that. I blame that gut for the cheap curing we keep getting. My mom is a regular Michelob Lice drinker. She has like four sometimes when I'm visiting. And I think, hey, that's a lot. But now that you remind me, no, it's cheap beer. You don't really do anything.

Also, Homer is mixing. At times he has a can of beer. At times he has a mixed drink. It's like, that'll get you effed up. Switching between stuff. Not really. Well, that's where get you effed up. Like, switching between stuff. Not really. Well, you kind of like, that's where your math gets messed up.

If you're switching between, you're just drinking to continue drinking and you're going to get hammered. It doesn't matter if you mix liquor. Kids don't listen to that. Liquor before beer doesn't make any sense. No, it's all going to make you sick. Too much alcohol will make you puke.

So, as a kid, did you have this kind of moment like Bart has with his step? Come over here. What? Monkey. You're a little monkey are you yes sir bart do that thing you do that's so cute what that thing you know how to do what go to bed uh interacting with drunk adults as a child not understanding what drunkenness means really like they're acting silly like What's wrong? They smell weird.

If you know me from my other podcast, you know I make fun of my parents, but they're actually saints. One incident of this, and it's so boring. It was Halloween. I get back from trick-or-treating. I'm like, when are we going to get that stereo from my room? We'll do it tomorrow, son.

Okay, whoa. Can I get a TV? Yeah, we'll get you a TV. And a VCR? Yeah, and a VCR. And then I wake up the next day, Mom, Dad, go get me a TV from my room, VCR. Yeah, and a VCR. And then I wake up the next day, Mom, Dad, go get me a TV from my room and VCR. And she had to tell me

that your father had a little too much to drink. And the worst thing he did was promise to get me a stereo early for Christmas. You should have shook on it. Make it official. Signed an agreement.

Well, today a kid would have just filmed it with their camera. This is an agreement, Dad. I'll put this on Vine if you don't. They'll be embarrassed. I don't know if you have any better stories of seeing your parents this no i just remember uh my biological dad would have like these poker nights which is what you would expect and it would be a lot of like a giant mustache drunk man like calling me over like you're getting big you know things like that actually when i was like two and three i do remember like

there's a lot of fucking people in the house, and they keep coming in my room like, Whoa, look at him, so cute. I do remember that. My dad enjoys liquor, but the only time I can really remember it was my mom went to her first, I think, only Jimmy Buffett concert in Jacksonville. It was the morning, and I was a spoiled kid who was used to my mom, worked a full-time job making breakfast in the morning. And so then I wake up like, where's breakfast, Mom? What's up? And she's just like vomiting in the morning. Both of my parents are Irish, so when Ireland made it to the World Cup in 1990,

I remember watching soccer with my mom and dad who were just getting crazy drunk because it was the first time in years Ireland's in the World Cup. And it was just a little bit scary to me. There's a little bit of continuity in this episode from Principal Charming. Barney's there and recognizes Selma. Yeah, he remembers it. He gets maced in the face. I wish I had that scene.

That's my quote of the episode. I remember you, but I don't remember you being so beautiful. Ow! Ow! That is great screaming and belching. I should have got this. I did get the fly in the ice cube, though.

Dr. Herbert! Enjoying your party? No, not really. Someone seems to have slipped one of those novelty ice cubes with a fake fly in my dream. It was me! You fell for it! Homer, these novelty ice cubes

are often made from highly toxic chemicals. Ironically, a real fly would have been much more sanitary. You should see the look on your face.

It's priceless! Why the fuck did I get one of those for Christmas this year? Wow. They still make those. Wow. And I like that

Hibbert kind of gets revenge later in the night. If you want him to live through the night, I suggest you roll him onto his stomach. Thank you. I will, Dr. Hibbert kind of gets revenge later in the night. If you want him to live through the night, I suggest you roll him onto his stomach. Thank you. I will, Dr. Hibbert. Thanks for coming. Remember, I said if.

The other way Homer acts out is he's telling off a complete stranger, telling him he's quitting, and the guy's just kind of humoring him like, okay. Don't quit. Please don't quit. That system sucks. But then Homer crosses the line with a thing I didn't get as a kid either. This is so bad. I didn't get what staring at boobs was.

I guess, I don't know. I guess I get it. But as a kid, I get it now. Maud Flanders is banging in this episode. I miss Maud just in general. Not just because she has a nice rack. She's a nice character. Could you give me a handful of peanuts, Marge?

Oh, sure. Not those peanuts. The ones at the bottom. Oh, okay. I see that as him coming now. I'm starting to get too dirty. It's not just that portrayal that Marge never looks away from, but she's seeing this.

She sees the whole thing. It's so, oh, it's so cringe-inducing. And being a drunk person who loves getting drunk and embarrassing himself, I am getting a lot of parallels,

especially from the next day when I made a huge mistake last night and I have to be in my best behavior, but everything you do, you feel like you keep fucking up and you can't redeem yourself from. When Homer's memory of it, I think Homer trying to remember it is the best

animation they've had to that point. It's beautiful. One of the first times I'm like, pause, pause, pause. I want to see how every character in the Algonquin Roundtable turns into people at the party. This is a parody of the Algonquin Roundtable, in case you don't know what that was. It was a group of intellectuals, writers, artists that

met at the Algonquin Hotel in New York from 1919 to 1929 and that scene is a takeoff on the work of edmund duffy who would like caricature them this is back when newspapers were like we're going to go to this restaurant and write what these rich people are talking about there's smart people there yeah dorothy parker said this yeah so yeah dorothy parker groucho marx uh people that you don't know basically i knew one of them. Well, we talked about your dad, Chris. Homer did the same thing to Bart the next day. You might have noticed Daddy acting a little strange

and you probably don't understand why. I understand why. You were wasting... I admit it. I didn't know when to say when. I'm sorry it happened and I just hope you didn't lose a lot of respect for me. Dad, I have as much respect for you as I ever did or ever will. Man, the fact that he's able to speak coherently would not have a massive

hangover. He's less hungover than I thought he would be. Well, he's really effed up when he wakes up. And Marge, I took the note that Marge didn't turn him over. She was told to turn him over and she didn't. But knowing when to say when. Is that a phrase that still gets used in anti-drunk driving?

No, I guess. I don't know. I don't watch syndicated television anymore where I used to see those kind of things. No when to say when. Because nobody even says when. They haven't said when since the 1800s to say stop. That is true. It's very antiquated language.

Also, watching that last night, when I left here, I drank some cider too fast. I actually was in that Homer disposition of like, no, thanks, Heidi, for a thing you did. I was better by the time I got home. Get the USB cable from the bottom. From the bottom.

I think that clip made me... That's why I'm a stomach sleeper most of the time. Even though it's terrible for your back. I mean, it's like, you're damned if you do, you're damned if you don't. Is that why my back hurts today? Well, yeah, I'm a side sleeper. That's what I am, which they say is bad for your heart if you sleep on your right side.

Everything's bad for you guys. Don't sit while you work. We're decaying constantly at this point. So then Marge signs him up for the couple's retreat with Lovejoy. Lovejoy gets a lot of work in this episode, and Flanders, too. Will the Simpsons be attending our little retreat? Oh, well, it's very tempting. Really a wonderful idea.

Marge! What are you doing? Are you insane? No! Give me the snack! Go! We'll be there! Go!

Julie and Dan do just such great work together in this episode. Not even just as Homer and Marge But as other characters later We'll meet those two soon That's also where the fishing subplot came in Homer and Marge go off on a marriage retreat It's happening at literally I think Catfish Lake Catfish Lake

So from Act 2 on I contend that Homer could be Tim the Toolman Taylor Or any stereotypical sitcom dad who's just like, I'd rather go fishing than do this couples retreat. And he has a bunch of funny but uncharacteristic snarky things to say.

You're right. It's not about his drunkenness at this point. It's just about his thoughtless behavior. He's just like, I don't want to go to this thing. Could this be, yeah, is it a reaction like,

I was drunk. I wasn't a terrible husband. So now now why should I care about this retreat? I don't have to. I don't have this problem I don't have to deal with. The problem was the drinking. It wasn't emotional friction between... It wasn't the straw that broke Marge's back. I mean, Marge has a lot of complaints.

It's just that he's so self-centered. What? Al Homer. I mean, Marge has a lot of complaints. It's just that he's so self-centered. Wait! Oh! Now Homer. He forgets birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, both religious and secular. He chews with his mouth open. He gambles. He hangs out at a seedy bar with bums and lowlifes.

It's true. It's all true. Homer, don't interrupt. Sorry. That's a marked difference from the last episode where she's like, those are all the reasons I love your father too. Yeah, it's true. She's very different from her love and admiration for him at least as substitute.

It's all bubbling to the surface. Have we gotten to the part where Grandpa is watching the kids yet? Oh, sure. Last resort. Oh, Grandpa the Feeb, the guy who can't be counted on for nothing, know-how, gag-nabbit. Everyone, you get me. I'll do it.

What's a Feeb? Feeble? Yeah, Feeble. It's kind of, I feel like at that time it was like, well, not the N-word, but a slur towards old people. I thought they were just saying Grandpa was into anime. No, I think it was anti-handicapped. Because I remember in the movie Monster Squad, the main character's little sister, he would call her Phoebe the Phoebe.

Oh. It sounds like a Mad Magazine word in any case. What a bunch of schmendricks. You dolt. By the way, that brief omen parody, I didn't get that as a kid. Oh, right, yeah. But that, it implies, It implies Bart's the worst. Bart's horrible. There's Damien the devil?

Yeah, he is the devil child who would at one try to run over a young girl. Sidebar, The Omen is the most frustrating horror movie I watched. Is it? It's not very good. It's not very good. It's basically like Dramatic Irony, the movie in which the characters do not understand the most obvious thing that's happening

to them for 90 minutes until they all get killed. And they all get killed. They all get killed. It's very unsatisfying. I bought every Omen movie this Halloween in my 30, 31 days of horror movies. For $4, I got every single one on Blu-ray. And then put it in a box to

take it to Amoeba without ever unwrapping it. Oh, boy. Okay, Gregory Peck has been in the movie. I also, I mean, the decapitation by the pane of glass is a cool film death. I like that. That is cool. Yeah. But then Bart, yeah, it's a neat little B story. They don't give a ton of time to it, but Bart taking advantage.

Bart and Lisa taking advantage of Grandpa. Bart literally smoking a cigar during a scene. Yeah. That they couldn't do now, no way. And then they even, like, that's something that was totally dated by this to me was that they're like, let's go to the video store

and rent R-rated videos mom and dad wouldn't let us rent. In the arcade. Like The Return of McBain. I can't avenge my partner's death with this pea shooter. I don't want to hear it, McBain. That tenon of yours

is against regulations. In this department, we go by the book. By book. By book. Bye, McBain! The Domest McBain joke, but one of my favorites. This is after Scoey dies. The talking crazy.

I just got called out on Twitter recently for being like the Donald Trump. His words, not mine. Tagging me with Donald Trump. The Donald Trump of McBain coherent storyline deniers. I still stand by they're doing a parody of this type of movie numerous times so they have to do a different scene. So of course you can cut

together looking like they're slightly coherent. They didn't intend to do it. Chris, I think I've thought on this more too since our last conversations about it. These are very stock scenes but I think what ended up happening is the artists cared more about the continuity than the writers. I think the writers may not have had continuity,

but definitely the director or whoever on this episode realized, we drew this guy as his boss in the last time we did McBane. Let's draw that boss character again. Yeah, it's also a time and money saver. You don't have to create a new character. If you look closely, these are all from different McBane movies.

They're not the same movie. Chris is a McBain continuity. God damn it! You're a McBain continuity denier. I'm not a maniac! Well, technically, Abe Simpson had seen McBain before. He watched it and wanted his money back. When you really care about someone, you shout it from the mountaintops.

So on behalf of Desjardins Insurance, I'm standing 20,000 feet above sea level to tell our clients that we really care about you. Home and auto insurance personalized to your needs. Weird, I don't remember saying that part. Visit Desjardins.com slash care and get insurance that's really big on care. Did I mention that we care? What is up Talking Simpsons fans? Chris here. Briefly jumping in to tell you this show is brought to you by GeekFuel. And if you go to GeekFuel.com slash LazerTime right now, you can get a free Star Wars item worth $20 just for signing up for a mystery box. What's in the mystery box, you ask?

Six to eight items, an exclusive t-shirt, and a $50 value of Kit and Kaboodle featuring famous stuff from Marvel, DC, Nintendo, Zelda, Game of Thrones, Pop Figs, pint glasses, posters, you never know quite what it's going to be, but it's like a delicious geeky gift that shows up at your door

whenever you feel like it. And oh, guess what? They've had Simpsons stuff involved in the box in the past. So go to geekfuel.com slash laser time right now, sign up for one of their boxes, get it as a gift for a geek in your life, and get a free $20 Star Wars item right now. So also let's talk about General Sherman. Yeah, that there is the only known picture of the General.

Can't see what he is, exactly. He's freakishly big, though. Gentlemen, I am going to catch General Sherman. Oh, my. I love that Hank is there. He's just an old man, like, oh, man. It is. That's the voice of a character I don't think I've ever heard again on The Simpsons.

That kind of... That Pet Sematary guy. Yeah. Is that what it is? Well, it's like... Yeah, it's a mix of like Maine and... Yeah. Well, also, I like the joke as a Southerner.

General Sherman is something you'd never name anybody over because he is... For people who like to think the Civil War was only about the bad things that happened in the South, General Sherman's an awful person who destroyed, who burned down Atlanta, destroyed its society. Like, anyway. I didn't know the history behind that, yeah. Yeah, so you'd never know, you'd never name something to celebrate General Sherman.

Like, he's only known to people who hate him. I don't think anybody in the North knows General Sherman. And the picture of General Sherman is a parody of the Nessie photo, the famous Nessie photo. It's called the gynecologist photo, too. Oh, really? It was done by a gynecologist. Or that's a fake fact I heard from John Hodgman. In about four years, we'll address Nessie

on The Simpsons. God damn it. I hate that episode. That'll be the last episode, man. The Simpsons did a lot of parodying famous photos, which is something I don't think you could do now, because everyone just looks at photos all day. I think Kim Kardashian's butt has been seen more than the Nessie photo by this point.

I would pass them for the current Simpsons to parody her breaking the internet. Yeah, yeah. Oh, with like fucking Groundskeeper Willie or something? Something like that. No, they can't even draw asses anymore on the show. That's true, yeah. They can't smoke.

At least not bare asses. Then they do the actual couple counseling and that's where we meet Gloria and John and I just, this is like a one-act pinter play.

I just love this. My name's Gloria. I'm here because Johnny Boy hasn't been able to cut it man-wise for some time. Not that I'd want

his odor of gin and sour defeat pressed against me. That's enough, Gloria. Thank you, Gloria. John, why don't you tell us a little about why you're here? She never cooks. She keeps a filthy house and she talks profanely.

She's the queen of the harpies. No, I'm not. Queen of the harpies. No, I'm not. Here's your crown, your majesty. Get away from me. Queen of the harpies. We're going to the right place.

I love that they're acting so well. I think that's some of Julie Kavner's best acting ever on the show. Julie Kavner, voice of March, who never appears after this as anybody other than Abovie. And Anne Castleton, voice of Homer, playing two different married couples. It's such a stage play thing.

It really is. This would be a one-act play you'd see in 1945. My one nitpick? They hardly seem like the church-going type. How do they know about this Maybe a church friend of theirs But did you guys realize this is a parody of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf

She's Elizabeth Taylor and he's Richard Burton That's such a Richard Burton voice Definitely I mean the movie is great It's about a drunk angry couple arguing for 90 minutes And it is just intense and amazing and i thought these lines were taken from the movie and when i watched the movie recently like oh no they just made this all up like this is all their their interpretation of that movie because my

stupid thing that i misreferenced uh my sister and i loved the movie the last unicorn you ever seen the last unicorn there's a devastating scene of a woman having her guts torn out by a harpy and she's yelling at it in a blood-curdling scream. And I think my sister would be like, you want to watch The Last Unicorn? Queen of the harpies! And she would get it, but I was quoting this episode and not the movie. Yeah, watch that movie.

It's great. No, I should. I've only seen it reenacted by Lindsay Lohan. I did. In a recent episode of Laser Time, I had to look up the derivation of the song Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf just to confirm that it was written by

Disney for that Three Little Pigs cartoon. And it was such a big song that that movie was... Just the title was a parody of Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf. A parody of a nursery rhyme. I didn't realize that either, man. I have one story to tell because of this episode running out of things to talk about.

In my English class, we were all assigned British authors to do reports about. And one of my people I knew wasn't a friend. He was assigned Virginia Woolf. Okay, just take anything she's written and do a report on it. He did a report on the movie Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? And he was seriously dressed down in front of the class like, you thought this was about Virginia Woolf? Did you do any research? He just literally rented rented that movie which has nothing to do with virginia

wolf it's about a drunk couple in the 60s fighting with each other he was unlucky that the hours it didn't exist yeah you could have had a good cheat there i shouldn't get on a high horse i barely know what you're talking about so i'm sure there's some people listening like that whatever i do understand though but if you're doing it for a class project come on uh well i haven't what's your bibliography, Blockbuster? Something I didn't realize until just now is that the episode is kind of interestingly book-ended. I didn't realize there are two parties in this episode. The grown-up party and then the kids party.

When they're taking so far advantage of Abe that I, one, them drinking coffee, I just love. Nancy does really good acting in this part. Sugar! Yes, ten please. drinking coffee, I just love. Nancy does really good acting in this part. Sugar! Yes, ten, please. Grandpa, top me off. Are you sure you're mine? Let you kids drink coffee. For the last time, yes!

I saw a lot of myself in that version of Bart. Last time, yes! When I'm working at home and on my fourth cup of coffee, my girlfriend talks to me like, what is it? Oh, yes. Okay, so when I go home and work at my parents' house during the holidays, I am absolutely like that. Like completely wired.

Do you want any food for the 14th time? No! Let me work. And the party has two firsts. Oh, yeah. It has the introduction of one of the most arrested characters in Simpsons history. Arrested. Bart's joint.

Uh, two-ish. Be there, be square tell my friends all right but i got some pretty funky friends all right i get out at noon and i'm already invited to a party that's him that's a snake so and his name is even discussed heavily among the writers so they called him jailbird inbird. In the script, he is Jailbird. And when they brought him back other times, he is Jailbird. But in Black Widower, the episode where in season three we're Sideshow Bob, we'll marry Selma, he calls him Snake.

He's like, Snake, I'm going to miss you most of all. But the contention of writers like George Meyer, who is seen as one of the creators of Jailbird, he said that character was not supposed to be animated to be Jailbird. The person he calls Snake should have been a different guy. But then they were already screwed up with like, no, we've called him Snake on the

show. And so now I think in the last decade they had an episode where he directly names himself as Snake Jailbird. That is his name. Snake Jailbird is his last name. So has there been an episode of just about him? I feel like he's the one character they...

They had a flashback episode where he decides to turn to life a crime. I think that's the one where Homer finds the body of Smithers' dad. Oh, right. You remember that one? The Blunder Years? Yeah, I think it's the Blunder Years where Homer just starts screaming or whatever. I also forgot to mention, just remembering it now, Mr. Bergstrom did come back for a one-off gag

in one of the recent shows. Really? Mentioning it here. Oh, and then the other first, kind of. So the next episode has this for the real first, but this is technically

the first ha-ha. Oh! Ow! Ow! Ow! Oh my God, Elliot. It's such a rough draft. Do you want me to take off my belt? Yeah. All right. I'll show you. Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!

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Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! next episode where he literally rides by and buttons a joke by pointing and laughing. Ha ha. Really? So they established a running gag that quickly. I'm glad they shortened it to two ha's. He didn't do it at all in Bart the General? No, this is the first one.

They mentioned it in the commentary too. It's the first ha ha. It is a big deal, the first ha ha. I think his bullying was all violence back then, but now it's ridicule. This is when he becomes slightly more of Bart's friend. He's a bad friend, but he's there as a friend like he steals he steals his dad's ties and stuff like he's terrible and whenever bart

needs like a third or fourth friend he's always there to join a boy band or go on a road trip because he's not as bad as dolph jimbo or kerny nelson's a little below them but sometimes he does hang out with them so we have to go back to the a plot i guess which is uh i forgot how homer ends up uh he tries to sneak out and uh marge catches him and i think he has to go out and ponder it and he finds like a fishing rod sitting there and that's how the general sherman stuff starts yeah it's a real conceit that he just he was trying to do the right thing he was trying to do the right thing but yeah okay so which side are you on here i'm i'm on marge's side he literally can go fishing anytime.

Maybe not as an adult. It's actually hard for him to get away from the house and go fishing. But just six months from now, go fishing. Fish for General Sherman. You don't have to do it on a couple's retreat. The one time she asked him not to do it. I'm with Marge. I don't think he's shown a desire to fish before or since. So how important is fishing to him, really?

I had written, I don't know how important fishing is. I'm an obnoxious Californian, as are all of you. How important is fishing to any generation at this point? My dad was, like, always apt to bond with me and go fishing. I'm like, I hate this. I feel like TV dads love fishing. I hate it. And, like, it fits in line with, like, middle class kind of things, like, light-loving bowling and going to the bar.

Or it's like in comic strips where the dad's like I love golfing. It's time to golf. Like every dad. Because the cartoonist loves golfing. That's why. Because of that and the fact that it seems like it's far away and the fact that it wasn't his rod or bait. Like it's not his fault

and he's just caught up in it at that point. I remember sympathizing like Marge go easy on him. He wanted to do the right thing, but nah, fuck Homer. On a certain level, it is magic too. They kind of take the ending as true, then General Sherman is magic and a matchmaker.

He should have dropped the rod like immediately. Oh shit, the meeting is starting right now. I should leave. But this next line where Brevin Lovejoy sums up Marge's relationship, it's my line of the show. That's the joke. Marge, as a trained marriage counselor, this is the first instance where I've ever told one partner that they were 100% right.

It's all his fault. I'm willing to put that on a certificate you can frame. I'm willing to put that on a certificate you can frame. Like a novelty frame you'd buy your parents for Christmas. By the way, that Satan's Boners thing I introduced the show with, that's from a pamphlet he's talking about, and there's another one called Good Grief, More Satan's Boners.

That actually, that recalls to me, I used to, at my local library, they would have sports blooper videotapes. I love those! So it would be like, yeah, baseball bloopers one, and oh, good grief, baseball bloopers part two. Dazzling dunks and basketball bloopers.

For the wonder shows and God's biggest boners. Boner! Booner! Put these three holy lands on top of each other. What a booner! Yeah, look that up on YouTube. I'm sure it's there. We should just do wonder shows now, man.

It would be a short series. Yeah, a limited series. It's for Patreon. for patreon we have to do the last episode in reverse so until this viewing of it i knew homer was singing i i thought he was singing i am the champion after he catches general sherman which is a whole like old man in the sea bit kind of yeah but uh it he sings i thought he's saying i am the champion but re-listening to it he really just bungles it up and pluralizes champions while saying I am the champion

I am the champion I am the champion no time for losers cause I am the champion of the world I never would have picked up on that as a kid I am the champion of the world. I never would have picked up on that as a kid.

I didn't know the song. But also, as we're re-watching them in order, that sticks around with Homer, him miss-singing lyrics. Sometimes I just groan when I hear saxophone. I'm like, come on, Homer. When the saints go over there. That was fun. This episode, they probably had to spend a lot of music rights because during the party, they had some stuff.

I had that note, too, that it is the most licensed music I think they'd ever had in one episode. And I don't think they intended it, but them playing Tom Jones at the party, I think sets up that Marge likes Tom Jones, as would be exploited in season four. Clever. Okay, I think Marge forgives Summer way too fast.

I fought her for six hours. She says one word and I toss it back. And you're telling me our marriage is in trouble? Come here, baby. Oh, Homer. Yes, Homer basically ends it like, you forgive me. Yeah, he talks for both sides, really.

And she's like, oh, Homer. That's such a cliche on The Simpsons now. Just like, oh, Homer. I guess we saw John and Gloria patch it up really fast. It also doesn't make sense because if she understood the magnitude of what Homer did, she probably would have let him keep the fish. Yeah, at that point she would have said, fuck it. You caught a good, nice fish.

Just keep it. If she believed him. Again, to bring up the legality not his rod not his bait you have to find that kid and share the share the truth

you need to consult the fishing experts call us at talking simpsons dot com I do love catfish though I can go for a catfish breakfast I love catfishing people

they are they are bottom feeders but I love them they're so gross oh and by the way Matt Groening there's one thing he hates it's animals acting

in a cartoonish human fashion. And even just re-watching it on the commentary, he's just like, ugh, when the fish winks to the camera. I didn't need to do that.

The joke is that it's a stupid idea, I think. Like, this should not be happening and it's just like a weird button to end the episode on.

Yeah, it's a lampshade hanging, totally, but it still is, I don't know, it really does take you out of it. I think sometimes Matt Groening is way too hard on the cartooniness of a show. It's like, they shouldn't cry that much.

That's too many tears. I think his direction helped kind of ruin the look of the show. I mean, not ruin, but sort of damage it and make it less expressive. When I've read what kind of style that he likes, it is not very cartoony. No, I mean, you look as the show progresses, the characters are much more flat. It's like contained. He wanted to make it King of the Hill all the time. Characters can never do this.

We've all been using Frinkiac lately, the Simpsons image search engine. And when you see these stills from Seasons 4, five, six, and three, there are these amazing poses, a tiny bit off model, but just so expressive. And those are just kind of stamped out by season eight or nine, I think. No more Twister Mouth. Yeah.

There's so many Twister Mouths in the next episode. It's the most Twister Mouth. Wes Archery, you've done it again. Yeah, and then I guess it just ends with them coming back and they have to wrap up the party and Bart and Lisa cleaning up the whole place.

Because Grandpa is sad. But he tricked him. That's right! You heard me! Pretending to cry! I can turn it on and off like a faucet! Oh, I'm crying! I'm so sad! Way to go, Grandpa.

You'll never trust another old person. I fooled you! You're like Jackers! I really like that moment. I think it's good Grandpa. I like how he just rolls away in his slippers. I guess he's going back. He walks into the middle of the street like,

I'm out of here! You get to walk back to the retirement community. I do like the constant slippers on Grandpa. It's a great touch. I don't think he brought up before. I guess the only other bit I'd mention is that they brought back

chocolate, chocolate, chocolate chip or the triple chocolate stuff from Krusty Gets Busted when they're buying all the chocolate. Oh, right. That was once a joke.

Yeah, yeah. Now, I mean, the ice cream industry just stole from the Simpsons like, oh, people want triple chocolate? Get it at Basket Ramen.

Here's a delicious way to kill yourself. I didn't get a good look at it, but it looked like Lisa snuck healthy things on there, too. I thought I saw broccoli. Oh, really? And I was like, hmm. That makes sense. It makes sense what you would do.

We got beets. We got beets. I love that. Love that. So, yeah, I think this is kind of a weaker episode, especially coming right after Lisa's Substitute. I would put it down with maybe Dog of Death in terms of my least favorite. It's got good jokes. There are good jokes in it and good acting.

Oh, oh, I forgot to mention too at the couples retreat, they originally wrote, they mentioned this on the commentary too, that it went through a big rewrite that at it was supposed to be

Mrs. Krabappel with her ex-husband. I believe his name was Ken Krabappel. They at least gave a name. So that's canon, people. And that Mr. Burns was going to be there

with a mail-order bride. But they said they couldn't write the scene for any way that it didn't feel like she was a prostitute. I bet they were dying to put Burns in this. They were dying. They were looking to fill a Burns hole everywhere they could. Like, what if Burns did this? Like, no, guys, we can't do Burns every episode.

Why would he go to a retreat when he could just pay for a marriage counselor? Or just get a new mail-order bride. Exactly. Take it back, Smadoos. So, yeah so yeah that was talking simpsons thanks so much for listening as always i'm your host bob mackie you can find me on twitter as bob servo i also write for something awful and us gamer and i also host the classic gaming podcast retronauts you can find that at retronauts.com or usgamer.net or just search for it in whatever program you use to listen to that kind of stuff everybody else what do you do uh laser time uh fun show that i co-host with a bunch of you guys and that's it thank you for the patronage this started uh through a crowdfunding effort uh thank you for bringing this into existence and if i haven't said it before if you go to talking

simpsons.com you can see every single episode that we've done except for the first season which is on patreon.com to the people who made this a reality. Yep. Check that out there. There's also 302010. If you liked our discussion of the things that happened on this day in Simpsons history, we have this podcast where we talk about the pop culture events 30 years ago, 20 years ago, and 10 years ago in sequence. It's pretty fun, guys. It's like a little audible portal into the past of that week. Cheap podcast.

I really have to figure out a way to regularly tie in wrestling with The Simpsons when I do this plug right here. I found the only one. It was Bret Hart, the only wrestler to ever be on The Simpsons. Oh, man stink. And I got you that action figure of Bret Hart. Oh, they made one? Yeah, they made a couple.

They did a guest star live. NECA Toys, I believe, has several waves of celebrity guest stars. The recently cancer-ridden Bret Hart. Now it's topical. He could be dead by the time this episode airs. Oh, yes. It's risky talk.

Now make God tap out. So thanks so much for listening. Also, please leave us a review on the iTunes Music Store or comment. I love reading comments. I like hearing what you guys think about the show and things that we might have missed. Even as we're huge nerds, we still miss stuff sometimes. But yes, please do that. And thanks for listening.

We'll see you next week, guys. Later. Wow. Infotainment.