Donuts on the Couch: Growing Up on Evergreen Terrace
Former college roommates Thom Partridge and Dr. Andrew Murray revisit every episode of The Simpsons through the eyes of two dads in their 40s, exploring the humor, heart, and surprising depth of Springfield one episode at a time.
Donuts on the Couch: Growing Up on Evergreen Terrace
Some Enchanted Evening - Donuts on the Couch: Growing Up on Evergreen Terrace S1E13
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In “Some Enchanted Evening,” Marge’s call to Dr. Marvin Monroe sends Homer scrambling to rescue date night with a rose, chocolates, and a babysitter who turns out to be Springfield’s most wanted. Andrew and Thom discuss feeling unappreciated, Homer’s highly selective listening skills, and the strange experience of revisiting an episode originally intended to introduce the entire series. Along the way, they revisit Bart’s prank calls to Moe, Happy Little Elves, alarming childhood television, Penny Marshall’s turn as Ms. Botz, and the kids’ perfectly reasonable decision to bind their babysitter and force her to watch cartoons. Season 1 ends as it should: with the criminal escaping, the Simpsons apologizing, and Homer being identified on the evening news as a “local boob.”
Grab a donut and have a seat on the couch. Welcome to Donuts on the Couch.
SPEAKER_01Growing up on Evergreen Terrace.
SPEAKER_02Yet another Rewatch Podcast. You're starting, you're starting to be a good one. You want me to start up?
SPEAKER_01Sorry to give away so much, but we talk a little bit before we start recording. We try not to get any of the good stuff in. Hey, welcome back to Donuts on the Couch. Uh growing up on Evergreen Terrace, this uh Simpson rewatch podcast where Tom and I re-watch some of the Simpsons and sort of think about how they're different uh from when we were little watching them growing up and how we see them now that we're older. So hey Tom.
SPEAKER_00Hey, how are you, Andrew? And we're just just laughing about the uh this one, this episode, Some Enchanted Evening. Um if you're if you're you know remembering the episode and thinking back to season one.
SPEAKER_01Season one episode 13, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Episode 13, the season finale, and we were just talking about the babysitting service name. I'm trying our best. The rubber baby bumper buggy babysitting. I don't even know. Um, I was just dying laughing. So that's that's where we're at right now.
SPEAKER_01Our goal is to be able to pronounce it by the end of the episode, but uh yeah, the rubber baby buggy bumper babysitting service.
SPEAKER_00First hand the job. Thank you for calling the rubber baby bumper. I quit, I can't do this.
SPEAKER_01Um, I was looking that up trying to figure out actually like where does that come from? And like, you know, the origin's sort of nebulous. I'm not really sure exactly where it comes from, but it's this tongue twister. And it, you know, they they're they the internet was saying that it sort of became famous when it was used in Last Action Hero and Arnold Schwarzenegger tries to say it. Like, I don't remember that scene at all.
SPEAKER_00No, I don't either. I've I've seen that movie a few times, um, but not very recently. It might have something I relived. Um, you know, because that's what we do. We go back and watch things from the 90s and enjoy them.
SPEAKER_01Uh it's like a time machine, right? Yeah. Go back.
SPEAKER_00So, but this episode, I I I didn't particularly remember. I remember the basic story of it, but not kind of all the details. And uh, in my opinion, it was better than I than I remembered.
SPEAKER_01Okay, I like that because I uh I think I disagree.
SPEAKER_02Oh, whoa, Andrew, get out of here.
SPEAKER_01Um yeah, I don't know. I mean, I think you're right that it's like there's something kind of forgettable about it, like the details of it. Yeah. Um, and then I think that it for me it felt so close to the Tracy Ullman shorts, the later shorts, not so much the early shorts of it, uh which are are they actually all available on the Internet Archive. Yes, they're all of them. So, you know, maybe we can spend some time looking at a few of those as we go on uh over the years on this, but um, but it but it definitely reminded me of that. There's something that um I don't know, sort of like primitive in the the drawing and sort of how the characters act that you know it's still so early in the show's development.
SPEAKER_00Well, and was this the was this the episode that was supposed to be the uh the first one?
SPEAKER_01I think it was supposed to be the first one, and there's animation issues or something.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, kind of crazy that they took what was supposed to be the first one and made it the last one. What a bizarre thing. But but you feel it, you feel it in this episode, because you know we we you know we see Dr. Marvin Monroe in this episode, and we haven't seen him in quite some time.
SPEAKER_01There's definitely some things that sort of make sense of like, oh, if they had said that first, it would have made sense that these things show up later. So um but even like the the animation in the bar, like you know, Barney still has like the same color hair as his skin tone, and like he didn't actually in other episodes in season one, they they sort of evolved the animation even within the season.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. But you know, that's you know, this is animation in the late 80s, so in the early 90s, coming together in real time.
SPEAKER_01Yes, yes, absolutely. So, so getting to the episode itself, you know, they they do have a chalkboard gag, which is uh I will not yell fire in a crowded classroom. Good advice.
SPEAKER_00I'm sure Bart did that and caused some chaos in Ms. Caroppel's uh fourth grade class.
SPEAKER_01Got himself into some trouble, got a detention.
SPEAKER_00I wonder if uh I wonder if somebody got trampled. Yeah. Yeah, maybe there was a death. We didn't hear about it.
SPEAKER_01There was a death. One of the kids that disappeared.
SPEAKER_00Martin Prince is in the hospital right now.
SPEAKER_01Uh and then the couch gag again was a repeat where everyone sort of fits onto the couch. And we talked about this one before, as kind of being probably the most unsettling of them. Because like you expect something to happen, but they're all just sitting there with their eyes wide.
SPEAKER_00Well, and I think you know, if you look back as to this being potentially the first episode, you know, you can look at it not as unsettling as you know, this is a family that at the end of the day comes together. And they watch TV, yeah. Yeah, you know, they're they're a happy family. This is a good show to watch. You should watch it. I love this perspective. Yes. But you're right. Now, after watching a full season, you're like, oh geez, what's happening here? Everyone's staring at us.
SPEAKER_01Um, the first line of the episode is something that we we've hit on for most of these episodes. Uh, and this is actually a character off-screen, a woman on the radio. Uh producing. Yes, KBBL. Yes. Now to our own pie in the sky, Bill Pie and the KBBL traffic copter. Uh now, now Bill Pie. Bill Pie. Uh, this is the only time that they refer to Arnie Pie as Bill Pie. Um, there's some parts of the internet that say like Bill Pie was Arnie Pie's father. Uh Arnie Pie as uh Arnie in the Sky, not Pie in the Sky, uh, which is sort of the funny um joke that they make there, where the like the easy thing is they could call it pie in the sky. With Bill Pie, it is pie in the sky, but when it's Arnie Pie, it's Arnie in the Sky. Yes. Um, he's in 40 episodes. Um, and so again, they there's like one uh website that sort of says that like, well, his full name is William Arnie Pie, and that's why they called him that then. I think they were reworking as they were going.
SPEAKER_00Well, may maybe he didn't have his stage name yet. You know, by season four or five of us, I might be TP in the in Maine, you know. Who knows how uh how our uh personal entities. Yeah. So maybe that is William Arnold a pie.
SPEAKER_01It could be eat either way. I mean, he becomes an important character, uh, mostly in like side sort of pushing stories along. Um, but we just get our first glimpse of who he is here uh on the radio.
SPEAKER_00How is his name listed? Is it list like writ written out? How does he spell pie? Uh PYE. Oh, all right. Uh yeah. I think a funny joke is if they if they put it in in print somewhere, they should just make his last name like 3.14. Math jokes, math jokes.
SPEAKER_01We promised that we promised we wouldn't do any math jokes.
SPEAKER_00Oh no. Sorry, sorry. I'm always doing the math jokes here.
SPEAKER_01Can't stop you. Um, so this sort of introduces the episode into another one of these chaotic breakfast scenes. Everybody's just like shoving food into their face.
SPEAKER_00Very, very common start of this season early on is just the morning routine. And it's a very easy way to start an episode because you're starting the day. You know, the kids are on what's happening today, you know. You know, um, and I I do like how some like newspapers get moved or whatever, and they're like, oh, donuts. You know, um for us, donuts on the couch. We love it.
SPEAKER_01It's an important thing.
SPEAKER_00Sing it, Andrew, sing it.
SPEAKER_01We're still working on our theme song here, so uh it's coming together, but we've got a few versions that uh we've liked so far.
SPEAKER_00Yes, I know. We've got a couple of good clean ones, and I I insist on Andy uh singing it himself. So we're working on it.
SPEAKER_01Clean that up and do it, yeah. Yeah, yeah, gotta rent a studio and take some voice lessons, but we'll get there. Um so the kids are in this rush because the bus honks its horn, which you know that's great that the bus honks and waits for them to come outside.
SPEAKER_00Otto doing his job, right? No kid left behind. He's auto is auto is early to that uh somehow that strategy, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yes, before we actually know who's driving the bus here, right? So yes, but we know we know we know, we know as looking back. But so the kids rush off. Marge to like tries to hold up, like, but I made you these special lunches. Um, and the kids are like, No, no, we got money, and you see them like going through her purse and grabbing money.
SPEAKER_00Um, lunchboxes are show the two different personalities. Um, you know, the we Bart has a crusty lunchbox, um Krusty the clown. Um, not some old ratted out lunchbox. Um, and which of course we know he got uh when he last episode, right? Because he he got all that paraphernalia for helping helping Krusty get out of prison. And Lisa has the happy little elves uh lunchbox, which was an early season thing.
SPEAKER_01It is funny because again, that's like one of those um things where like they kind of phased out the happy little elves by this point of the season, unless you remember that this was the first episode that they put together. Because it seems like by like episodes like four, five, six, they've sort of have stopped referring to it. And even uh Lisa's character stops being interested in it.
SPEAKER_00Um yeah, although she shows a lot of interest later in this episode, which is this episode, it's still very important, kind of going back, but it it also is you know, as parents, we see that we see our kids uh you know switch and evolve from watching different types of shows and different cartoons, and that shows for babies, yeah. Exactly, yeah. And they'll be like, uh, you you loved this like two weeks ago. What are you talking about? Um so but yeah, I mean, but and then kids will go back to shows that they like, you know. My son really liked Paw Patrol for a long time when he was younger and then hated it, and you know, because it was for babies, and then then he came back to it and watched it a little bit more, kind of with you know, six-month older eyes and liked it again for a bit, and then it fell off forever.
SPEAKER_01So sort of like two uh 40-something year old men coming back and watching a cartoon for when they were children.
SPEAKER_00That's true, yes. We you know, I I well, yeah, we and we both have gone through long stages of our life where we didn't watch Simpsons. Uh and here we are back regressing, regressing back to the memes. Oh no, I said the memes. Another math joke.
SPEAKER_01I think they get a buzzer every time that happens. Um Homer also screams because he recognized that he's late. He's got this sort of like futuristic looking watch for some reason today, which he doesn't have in any other episode. Uh, but he rushes off, leaves the house a mess. I love how they all just kick over their chairs at the kitchen table. Yes.
SPEAKER_00Uh yes, and then and Marge is immediately like, well, Maggie, it's just you and me. Um Maggie's fast asleep. She's falling asleep, and kind of kind of gives you that, oh, this is gonna be like lonely, sad, upset housewife episode.
SPEAKER_01Um, which it absolutely I don't know if your kid ever did this, but um one of my young my youngest uh would fall asleep at the table from time to time uh in the middle of the day, like at lunchtime, if she was really tired and like fall asleep into her food, very similar to how Maggie's sleeping gear. Oh nice.
SPEAKER_00Um, my I there's a famous story in my family where my brother did that and he almost fell in like a plate of spaghetti in my own. Spaghetti. It's always spaghetti. Yeah. Yeah, always, yeah. Um my dad caught him apparently and got his hand all gross with spaghetti sauce. Um but no, I yeah, as someone who can sleep anywhere anytime, it's apparently not anywhere anytime, because at the dinner table, I'm I mean in all our meals together.
SPEAKER_01I've never seen you fall asleep at the table, Tom.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01So um but so so so Marge is alone here, she's still listening to the radio, KBBL is still on. Uh, and now Dr. Marvin Monroe's call-in show is on. Uh yes, yes.
SPEAKER_00Um, yes, and and inviting callers to call for for advice from Dr. Marvin Monroe for their embarrassing problems, yes, for their embarrassing problems. And the phone number is 555 Pain.
SPEAKER_01Yes, there's two phone numbers that we get in this episode, and that is one of them. Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_00Um and this was a great um, a great thing because Marge calls in and you know gets the if if you've ever called into a radio station. I've called into a couple sports radio stations before and everything, but uh not too often. But you get you get the pre-person first, you don't immediately go on air. Wait, you're Tom from Maine on the radio? I am, I'm Tom from Maine. Um actually, no, I think there is a there's somebody from Maine that's always on WEEI in Boston. And that's not me. Um but you know, yeah, go ahead. Yeah, so it's like the intern that's like, okay, and what's your problem? Like, I'll tell him and we'll see if you're a good fit for the show, that type of thing. Uh so she's like, My husband doesn't listen to me, he doesn't appreciate me, and I don't know how much longer I can. He turned on some mark off, was like, lady, you're whining for when you're on the air. You're whining. He's like, I don't want to hear this. Like, I can't help you.
SPEAKER_01So then as he's trying to get them on the air, he shows the two different people that are available on line one and white line two. I don't remember this this joke at all. Uh, I don't I don't think I ever picked up on this. Go ahead. Line one was Paul, age 51. He's a nail biter, but in parentheses it says not his own.
SPEAKER_00Uh oh yes. Yes, I didn't see that on one of my watch series. Um which is absolutely disgusting.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I I suppose that would be, yes. But I I like how uh that one wasn't the one that Dr. Monroe wanted to hear.
SPEAKER_00So I I I I would have picked that one because I would because there's so many questions, right? Right is exactly our now the the weirdest one, I think, would well maybe not the weirdest, but it's like okay, so you're biting someone else's nails, or you're biting like nails that are in the world, like you know, on wood nailed into a fence. Yeah. Um and then okay, if it's someone else's nails, is it fingernails? Yep, and and whose? Yeah. Are we going to the toes? Yeah, what's what's happening? And who's happening? Yes, yes. It sounds like uh what was the guy's name? Paul 51. Paul 51. Um he probably should be on that show, My Strange Addiction. That I don't know if you've ever watched that. I haven't. Oh god. I've seen a few episodes of that. That's uh I don't recommend. It's very weird, it's very gross. People eating chalk, people you know doing doing the most absurd things.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, this is an anti-endorsement for that show. Oh sorry.
SPEAKER_00The line two is my other podcast where we break down my strange addiction. And we try each one.
SPEAKER_01Oh god. Uh Marge is the on the other line, age 34, another appreci uh another unappreciated wife.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, very common in Springfield, apparently.
SPEAKER_01That's the calls they get. Yeah, as Marge is sobbing. Um, and you know, Dr. Monroe makes this like quick interpretation of like your husband sees you as nothing, and and Marge just replies, oh, okay, thank you, and goes hang up.
SPEAKER_00No, no, no, don't hang up the vote, Marge. Let me tell you what to do. There's more to it, Marge. Yeah. So I mean, his his instant analysis is to be very drastic and to basically. Confrontational. Confrontation, leave your husband or whatever. And they've already had therapy with Dr. Marvin Monroe.
SPEAKER_01Well, again, how these are released, they have yet to actually have it with the way that it was you know recorded in the euro. So that's part of that confusion. Yeah, a lot of incontinuity here. Um but they do do that sort of throughout the series, where like again, sometimes characters don't know who each other are, even though they've they've met multiple times. And they they make a joke of that with Mr. Burns later in.
SPEAKER_00Yes, yes. Um, I do like how she questions uh Dr. Marvin Monroe's thing, you know, by saying, What do you mean, leave Homer? Um and he's like, Oh, don't use his real name. And she immediately pipes back with leave Pedro?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I wonder why Pedro.
SPEAKER_01I'm impressed by your Dr. Marvin Monroe impression there. I think we've had sort of few and far between like impressions slip through, but I just heard his voice as you said that. Hey, you know, I'm I've been working on it.
SPEAKER_00You know, I'm gonna go on my world tour soon.
SPEAKER_01So so he encourages her though to to intervene or to confront him as soon as he gets home. Uh, and now we do one of these interplays between like different things going on, uh, where first we see the prank phone call, uh, which would have been the first prank phone call where Bart's calling uh Mo's Tavern looking for alcoholic. Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_00Um, alcoholic. And and Mo is pretty aggressive here with this with the threat, just the bite back, yeah. Yes, just straight up threatens Bart's life, you know.
SPEAKER_01Uh you little yellow bellied rat jackass. Which again, like the language of that for like late uh 80s, early 90s television was pretty bawdy.
SPEAKER_00Like, oh yeah. Well, this is why our parents didn't want us watching Simpsons. So, you know. And they were right. Luckily, now we're doing a podcast about it. I wonder what our kids will be doing podcasts about when they're this age.
SPEAKER_01Oh god, yeah. Paw Patrol, maybe, I don't know. Fortnite, who knows? Yeah, I don't I don't know. I don't know what the kids are into these days. No, neither do I, and neither do they. I don't know.
SPEAKER_00Um but and just just to go back, so during that whole conversation between Dr. Marvin Monroe and and uh Marge, Homer is listening at work, and all of his all of his guys figure out that it's his wife before he does, which is and they're they're yucking it up, they love it.
SPEAKER_01It's cruel. It's funny that they listen to the same radio show. Um but but it also is impressive how quickly he got to work if you look at the timeline there.
SPEAKER_00He is a dedicated employee, he's the safety inspector, you know, he's he's there.
SPEAKER_01Um so so she gets her advice from but Dr. Marvin Monroe. Homer's getting his advice from Mo the bartender.
SPEAKER_00Yes, he has some Mo's, he's and he stays. He doesn't want to he doesn't want to go home. And and Mo picks up on this, like any good bartender. Uh he's there to listen to our problems. So that's it.
SPEAKER_01He's giving us some advice though. Uh and Homer's first response to like the basic advice of like get her flowers is like, no, she's too smart to fall for that. Uh but then he sort of adds in, well, you should also check her into the fanciest motel in town.
SPEAKER_00Yes, the fanciest motel in town, and don't check out until tomorrow morning. If you catch my drift, I think he says. Oh, pick the pickled eggs, the famous jar of pickled eggs. His hands inside of it reaching around.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Are pickled eggs even a thing? Do people do that? Uh, I mean, uh yes, it's still a thing. Like we sometimes have them in my house, but oh, pickled eggs. Nice. But we don't have a giant jar like that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. All right. Next time I'm out, we will have yes. Oh no, we're doing it. At some point in our lifetime, we are gonna do a podcast episode face to face. We're gonna have a giant jar of pickled eggs.
SPEAKER_01And maybe a donut. We'll see.
SPEAKER_00Yes, well, of course, on the couch. Yes, oh, I love it when they do that. They say the name of the show in the show.
SPEAKER_01In case people forgot why they hear what they're listening to. Uh so uh the kids start to notice that dad's late. Uh, it cuts to a scene inside Howard's Flowers, which we pointed to as part of the introduction, actually. It's right below uh the semi-painless dentistry shop. Yes, yes. Uh to a dentist today, semi-painless Dunstan Dental.
SPEAKER_00It was great. Shout out, shout out to Dunston Dental, apparently.
SPEAKER_01Look at those shiny uh teeth there, Tom. They look great. So he ends up buying one rose. Uh it cuts back to the house, the clock's ticking at home. Uh you know, the kids are asking Marge for food, and she like snarls at them or growls at them.
SPEAKER_00Almost like grunts and like she's just she's not happy, whatever. Um, and I do I like Bart's comment here because he's like, How how could Homer possibly be late on meatloaf night?
SPEAKER_01Which is valid, valid. Yeah. Well, it's funny that like every meal is sort of his favorite meal, like like meatloaf night, pork chop night, like really whatever. Is he pretty excited about it? He's a foodie.
SPEAKER_00Marge must have a uh very consistent weekly schedule. Did you have that as a kid? I always remember having spaghetti on on Friday nights.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think we had a pretty regular routine when I was a kid where like a Monday would be one thing and Tuesday would be mac and cheese or something like that. And uh we we don't have that at all. We're we're sort of scrambling uh night to night. I mean, I do meal prep a few nights per week. Um, I use HelloFresh. I mean, this isn't meant to be an endorsement of HelloFresh, but um the the story behind that is when uh my wife really likes to cook and she's actually a really good cook. And I like don't really care to cook. I would eat like a nutritious gruel if I if I it was left to me. Like I really don't care.
SPEAKER_00Nutritional paste from the exactly.
SPEAKER_01I would be absolutely fine with that. But then when we had twins, uh we started this conversation that like she wasn't going to be available to to cook as regularly, so I needed to take on some more of that. So that's where I started subscribing to HelloFresh, uh, mostly for just like an easy way to pick out a menu and then. Try to learn a little bit about cooking and it's been helpful.
SPEAKER_00Well, it's it's easier than the Mrs. Doubtfire route and order from a fancy restaurant and then put it on your own plates. Probably cheaper as well. Uh I did when COVID came around, I did every plate, which I think is just the same version of the same company. Yeah. I think they're actually the same company, they're just two different plates. Yeah. Um and it was good because I, you know, I obviously it's just me and my son, so I do it all. Um and yeah, like I I ended up stopping because the delivery dates got screwed up and my package would my grip my uh vegetables would be sitting in the in the truck for three days before I got them. And I kept being like, hey, can you switch my delivery? And they didn't, so I was like, all right, see you later. Um but I had great success with it for quite a while and helped me learn a little bit more on cooking and stuff because um, you know, I I just do a lot of stir fries and throw everything in a bucket and cook it. Turn on turn the stone. Or this time of year, we've already had two straight nights this week where it's been uh dinner at this little eagle snack shack.
SPEAKER_01Yes, yeah, yeah. We've started that picnic season. We do uh peanut butter jelly sandwiches, uh sort of the kids' favorite for those nights. So man, I'm tired of them already. So early in the season. Anyway, so uh where were we? So yeah, yeah. So she's yeah, Marge is like steaming, and you can sort of get an idea of like what's going on in her head. She's like just replaying the things Marvin Monroe says to her, uh, really building in her rage. Meanwhile, Homer's outside like practicing what he's gonna say, and it's sort of this like sweep, like trying to figure out like, okay, how do I make this right?
SPEAKER_00Yes, and uh my favorite line, because you know he's you know he's doing different tacks and different like angles, like Marge, I love you, and Marjorie, I love you, baby. You know, uh all these uh all these different things. And and he well, and going back to Howard's flowers, he uh the dozen roses was fifty-five dollars, so he says he'll take one.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, roses are quite expensive, yeah. Very expensive, yeah. But a single rose is a nice gesture, so I applaud Homer in that.
SPEAKER_00Yes, and he got and he got uh chocolates as well. Which again, we've seen Homer buy presents for himself. That's right. Maybe this is maybe this is what he's doing. He's like, Oh maybe she won't have some too.
SPEAKER_01Well, yeah, I mean that's that's sort of part of the what goes into buying chocolates for somebody here. You gotta get some. True, true. Um, so he holds holds up the chocolate and flour, says, I love you, they kiss, and you know, then it sort of transitions or like she forgives him, like, oh um, and then we get the next prank phone call. So two prank phone calls in this episode.
SPEAKER_00Right. Back to back, yeah. Yeah. Uh this one is Oliver.
SPEAKER_01Oliver clothes off, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Oliver last name clothes off. Yes. Um and oh uh and Mo replies with, I'll cut your belly open.
SPEAKER_01So it cuts back then to a scene in bed, right, where Homer and Marge are talking about they got reservations at Shape Reed. Yeah, Shape Reed, very expensive. Um they you got a second floor room at the off-ramp inn, and then they think, like, oh, well, did you get a babysitter? And so they sort of panic. Marge picks up the phone to call the babysitter service, and we hear Mo sort of cussing out Bart, and she thinks it's just a cross-blind.
SPEAKER_00Yes, yes. Switch cross lines, I don't think happen anymore.
SPEAKER_01But in 1990, they may have.
SPEAKER_00Maybe, yeah.
SPEAKER_01And he's saying, 'I'll cut your belly open as she picks up the phone.' Uh uh again, like the vulgarity of all of that. I love that. I didn't really appreciate like how how far they were pushing Mo at this stage already.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I wonder if they've uh, you know, and we've we've done a lot of talking uh off-camera and a little on camera about uh w how we're gonna approach the um Treehouse of Horror episodes, which start next season. There is no Treehouse of Horror in season one, unfortunately. But I uh and you know, there's been you know 30, almost 40 years of Treehouse of Horror episodes now. I wonder if they've done one where Mo gets his revenge on the prank caller. Oh, I don't know. Yeah. I don't know either, but that would be that would be brilliant, right? Yeah, you know, uh Marge is finally pushed over the edge.
SPEAKER_01I can't wait till we start like hearing from the people that are like, yes, obviously they did that one in uh in season 30.
SPEAKER_00Like no, please tell us because you know we're we're we're really we're reliving this.
SPEAKER_01We're here to learn. Yeah, yes. So and send in your math jokes if you have them.
SPEAKER_00Yes, yes, please. Um so this is where it calls the babysitting. Yes, the wait, which babysitting service?
SPEAKER_01Rubber baby buggy bumper babysitting service. And you know, the woman saying it has such a cadence where like clearly she's reading it as well.
SPEAKER_00Like, I can only say I didn't catch that. What was it? The rubber baby buggy.
SPEAKER_01I don't know, whatever cares. Rubber baby buggy bumper baby sitting service.
SPEAKER_00I keep saying buggy, and it's not in there.
SPEAKER_01No, rubber baby buggy bumper.
SPEAKER_00Oh maybe it is, geez. Um, so but they're on the list. Uh the Simpson kids are on the screeners are on the wall. No way, no way, no way. So that home no no other kids are on there, right? Just those three, and all three of them, too, even Maggie.
SPEAKER_01Like, no way. Um which makes sense when you see what Maggie Maggie's capable later on, right?
SPEAKER_00Yes, yes, very true. So then Homer calls, and the woman on the other line uh at the rubber baby buggy bumper babysitting service. Oh, good job. I haven't even ever written down. Um said, you know, wait, did your wife just call here? And he said, No, I said Samson, not Simpson. Like he immediately gives the name that he never said his, you know, she didn't say Simpson either. So that was that's kind of a funny little no way. I'm not those people.
SPEAKER_01Um and then you know, tries to defend the Simpsons family as a quiet, uh quite misunderstood and underrated family.
SPEAKER_00Yes, the woman at the babysitting service just calls the Simpsons a bunch of savages. Yes, especially the father. Which if you've seen The Call of the Wild, you know, the call of the Simpsons. Yes, they kind of are savages.
SPEAKER_01Yes, that's true. They're capable of that. Aren't we all though? Right? Well, maybe you gotta tap into that, Tom. We're gonna turn this into a real manosphere podcast. Oh, yes.
SPEAKER_00All right, let's get the creatine going, and uh I don't even know. Hours of flexing for some reason.
SPEAKER_01Nobody wants that anyway. So uh then we cut to another scene where they're getting ready for this fancy night out. Uh, we sort of hear that Homer dances like an angel. Um well, yes, I think we know that.
SPEAKER_00Um, and we're gonna see more of that in season two with Dancing Homer. He does dance quite a bit, so he does dance like an angel. This is gonna be good.
SPEAKER_01He has this charisma to him. Uh, this is also the first time I didn't know they they did this joke this early in where Homer shaves and then all of a sudden the beard grows back. I thought that was like a few seasons in before they did that joke.
SPEAKER_00Um no, no, yeah, no. Um, and I think I saw I thought I saw somewhere that it stays like only for like five or six seconds and then just immediately comes right back in. And like almost like pops back in.
SPEAKER_01Like yeah, yeah, exactly. I mean, again, speaking to his uh masculinity here, his capacity to grow back facial hair that quickly is impressive.
SPEAKER_00This is about this is about eight weeks for me. I I don't have that capacity here. Um you've you've got much better capacity than I do.
SPEAKER_01Well, you know, I don't like shave all the way down ever. Uh I keep some growth going. I do, because this is this is all I get. So yeah. Um but it looks good, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, for the season two, I'll go the whole time with the beard.
SPEAKER_01Um so um Miss Botts arrives, brings her suitcases. She've got multiple suitcases.
SPEAKER_00Um and this is Miss Bots is voiced by the legendary Penny Marshall. Oh, really? Um yes, yes. Did you know that? I actually didn't know that. Oh, yes, yes. It's Penny Marshall. Um, famously, obviously, of Laverne and Shirley. Um she's Laverne. Um Penny Marshall actually passed away in 2018. Yeah. Um, you know, so she never got to see COVID. So that's that's great, actually. Yeah, lucky. Um But yeah, and and Cindy Will Cindy Williams, uh, who played Shirley, she actually passed away in 2023, too. So Laverne and Shirley, uh both at this point have passed. I watched us. I watched Laverne and Shirley as a kid, did you?
SPEAKER_01Uh yeah, a little bit like reruns. I don't think I watched it like religiously. Um I I watched Happy Days More, uh, which was you know where Laverne and Shirley actually came from. It was sort of a spin-off of that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. I mean, I you know, I from what I remember, I think my I think my mom watched it a little bit and I would watch with her. And yeah, I don't know. I remember it as being funny. Um kind of like that splash. That was content. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was a comedy. Um, but also just a couple notes for those of you that aren't overly familiar with Penny Marshall. Uh um, she she did uh um she was in the odd couple as well before. Um she also directed a league of their own. A League of Their Own, yeah. And she directed Big, uh, which are two fantastic movies, in my opinion. Two fantastic Tom Hanks movies. Yes, yes. So, yeah, um, so she plays, she she's the voice for Lucille Watkowski, the baby. Miss Bots. All at this point we only know her as Miss Bots. That's true. We only know her as Miss Bots at this point.
SPEAKER_01So Marge gives her some instructions of what to do with the kids, and and Maggie has to go to bed, and the kids are able to watch a video with the happy little elves meet the curious bear cub.
SPEAKER_00Yes, the happy little elves. Um Bart protests. And Lisa's excited. Yeah, yeah, of course. Even though they've seen it a million times. Uh, but Bart's protest is funny because you can tell ref the bat that Miss Bots is a little crazy. Uh because he's like, No, we've watched that too many times. I don't want to watch that. And and she's basically like, Um, I'm gonna do something to you if you don't watch this thing, and I don't even know what that is because no one's ever like defied me before, yeah, you know, which is like, oh god. Yeah, but it works. I mean, it responds, right? Yeah, he he flinks back and he puts the tape, he puts the VCR in and the uh the tape in the VCR. Yeah, the old VCR. Be kind rewind, Andrew, as always. In case you've forgotten.
SPEAKER_01RIP blockbuster video. Yes. Um, so it cuts to Homer looking at the lobster tank. They're now at Shea Paris. Uh Chay Parie. Yeah. Which is funny because it's not the name of a seafood restaurant necessarily.
SPEAKER_00No, but you know, whatever. And he picks the he picks the uh he picks the lobster that's floating. And the waiter's like, uh, this defeats the purpose of picking your own live lobster.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, so you know, he goes for the what, the one with the googly eyes or whatever. What is he?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, which is probably the one I would have taken too. I'll take that one.
SPEAKER_01It's looking at me. Uh every time uh we every summer we go back to Massachusetts for a week just for a vacation, and we always go to the local lobster pound, and the kids love to go to the tank and be able to pick up the live lobsters and sort of see what they do. And they they've got the whole range from like the tiny ones to the giant ones that are you know horrible to eat, but people still buy them for some reason.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yep. Yeah, no, uh lobster lobster tank is there's one in the grocery store nearby. This one in both, even like the little private, fun little grocery store that is really expensive near my house. Uh my son has lost interest at this point. He's middle school, doesn't care. But for many, many years, it was always just like, what are they doing in there? I'll be over by the lobster tank. Exactly. Um I don't know, it's just cool.
SPEAKER_01You know, it's something something different than Do I recall you don't like raw lobster? No, I do. I love lobster. I do love lobster.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Uh my family has um every year when my family comes up for vacation, we have a big lobster day. Um and my I think my sister and my brother have both stopped. And my dad um is older now, he doesn't come up as often. Um so it's just typically for my my mom and I. But my son also loves it.
SPEAKER_01Nice. Yeah. So yeah. Whoever will take it, yeah. Right. I I definitely miss that about living in Maine, where like the gas station down the street from my house sold lobster, and like the guy that sold car batteries down the street also sold lobster. Like, you don't get that in the Midwest.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you can get lobster whenever you want. Probably just open your front window and one will walk up. Throw one in. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01There is a guy around here that grows uh shrimp in a barn, which uh I guess is the closest thing, but I find that to be unappetizing the idea of that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um, no, that doesn't sound good at all. But you're right, because there is, you know, I mean, and then um there's that my friends always make fun of me. What was the name of the place across from um where you went to med school that was like uh Seastar, I think? Yeah, Seastar, yeah. Sea Star, yeah. Um and I have two hilarious memories from Sea Star. Uh one was directly of with you. We were down there, whatever, and we were grabbing, I don't know, probably drinks and whatever. It was this big, it's just you know, they had they had this deli and they had, you know, this fresh seafood and beer, and it was a convenience store, and they had a gas station, all of it. Um and I remember at one point I got a whoopee pie there at one point, and uh I I don't know why it stuck, it stuck with me for a long time because it didn't, it wasn't good. Like it just wasn't. And you you said to me it's at one point, it must have been one of our first times there, because we both grew to love that store. Uh, but you were like, oh Tom, the whoopee pie you got at the gas station didn't taste good. I was like, yeah, yeah. Um and then my other, my, my friend Matt, um, he was he came up a couple times and was always fascinated that these stores existed that were like gas stations and convenience stores and delis and liquor stores. Shotguns. Yeah, you can buy anything. They had clothes, like all this in a small, small store. Yeah, yeah. These aren't big stores, these aren't like everything. Yeah, just everything. And so he always would call that place the general store storant.
SPEAKER_01It does sort of encompass uh what it has there, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. Um, but oh, yeah, Sea Star. I don't I wonder if it's still there. I haven't been down that direction in quite some time. Yeah, me neither. I don't know. I'm sure something I'm sure something's there. They got the college crowd.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, exactly. So no so close to the university there makes sense. So um anyways. So um Bart can't take the cartoon anymore. He's you know, insistent that like let's put on the real TV. He puts on America's Most Armed and Dangerous.
SPEAKER_00We can we stop for a second though, because Lisa is loving the cartoon. You know, she she is saying, and and I wrote I wrote the entire quote from Bart down because I loved his quote here. Because she's like, No, I want to see what happens. I want to see the the end of this tape that I've seen a million times. And he goes, You know what happens. They find the captain's treasure, they dance around like little green idiots, I puke the end.
SPEAKER_01Oh, very confrontational for his you know, his little sister.
SPEAKER_00He's fed up, he doesn't want to watch the happy little elves anymore.
SPEAKER_01Um did you have to watch things that your younger siblings watched?
SPEAKER_00My little sister would always go, and then she would be like seven, eight, or nine or something, and I probably, you know, I'm I think five years older, um, and then my brother's in between. But she would always get this VHS tape at the local library that was it was this 80s or 90s movie called The Watcher in the Woods. And it was like this like horror movie with like with seances and stuff. But it I don't know. I hated it, it was awful. She will look back fondly and be like, oh, I love that movie. Um because it was kind of like this it was like this horror movie in the woods involving church, a church and missing kids and a seance. I don't even know because I hated it, but but it was like designed for like younger kids because it wasn't too scary, sure. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01I sort of gave the idea of being scary without actually being scary, exactly.
SPEAKER_00And I was like, this is the dumbest thing in the world. She loved it. We watched it all the time.
SPEAKER_01Oh uh, my my next oldest sister, so my middle sister was eight years younger than me, so there's a pretty big gap there. And uh so sh, you know, when I was, you know, this age watching The Simpsons, 10 years old, she was really into Barney the dinosaur. And that was sort of the first time that I got to see what that was all about. And it would just play all the time, sort of the same way the happy little elves would play.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah. So you you so that's why you wanted to skip over the happy little elves here.
SPEAKER_01Barney trauma from from the 90s. Still trying to just stuff it down, but but here we are talking about it, which can be. Hey, Barney. Uh, so again, they they changed the channel. Um, let's see.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, to America's armed and dangerous.
SPEAKER_01Yes, most armed and dangerous. Most armed and dangerous. Where we get the second phone number where you can call in to 1-800-USQEL. Yes. Cuts back and forth to the restaurant, and we see Homer and Marge, you know, drinking, eating, having a good time.
SPEAKER_00Having dinner. He's ordering the second least expensive wine. Yes. She really splurging for wine fair, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Uh, and then they're the on the show, they're running the story of this babysitter who uh robs and ties up kids. Uh the babysitter bandit, they call her.
SPEAKER_00Yes, kind of like the kind of like the scary, scary thing. Did you have shows like that that like, I mean, obviously this is based on America's Most Wanted. Um I didn't really watch America's Most Wanted. I would watch Cops a little bit, but um, you know, and thinking of like when I was 11, 12, 13, 14, I don't know, 28. Um cops would cops would scare me a little bit because it was just like a lot of dark running and the flashlight. I I don't know. It was very like they're getting the bad guys, but and sometimes you'd see like shootouts and stuff. Yeah. Like, yeah, this is awful. Um, so I didn't like I didn't like cops as much, but I really enjoyed the show Rescue 911.
SPEAKER_01Oh, sure, yeah. Do you remember that one?
SPEAKER_00Because those are like reenactments, right? They didn't actually reenactments of like yeah, of like horrific injuries that people had at home or whatever.
SPEAKER_01They like the like the like one episode of that that sticks out to me is when a kid uh cuts off his finger with an axe by mistake because he's like playing with an axe. And I remember my mom being like, That will happen to you if you pick up our axe.
SPEAKER_00It was very it was very much a show of like, don't do these things, kids. So I remember that. I remember the one kid like um got his tongue stuck to the freezer or something. Yeah, yeah. Almost like that movie where you know uh Christmas story Christmas story where he sticks his tongue out on a pole, very much like that. Um, but yeah, those were those were great shows back in the back.
SPEAKER_01They were, yeah. The one that scared me was Unsolved Mysteries, like just the like the music to that as a kid scared the crap out of me.
SPEAKER_00Well, that and the fact that they'd be like, okay, and this person that committed all these crimes and hurt all these people, they're still out there and they could be in your backyard. Um, it's always like, Oh, are they? I I'll go check the window.
SPEAKER_01Oh, so yeah, this is a scary story that this babysitter bandit Lucille bought Skowski who could be using a clever alias.
SPEAKER_00Um and they haven't shown her photo yet. Yes, no. They haven't shown her photo, and Lisa whispers to Bart, Miss Potts. Miss Potts. So she knows. She Lisa Lisa's smart. We've learned that this this season. She's very smart and observant, you know, despite her blind devotion to the happy little elves. I don't know. That's okay. You know, she's still in second grade. She's a young kid. Yeah, okay. Stop criticizing the child, Tom, the animated child.
SPEAKER_01What did you think of Mrs. Botts' measurements there? Uh six feet and 178 pounds.
SPEAKER_00That's pretty tall and pretty thin.
SPEAKER_01Pretty tall for like how slunched over she was. So I wonder if she's standing up if that's where she's six feet, or like wouldn't she slouched over? Is she six feet?
SPEAKER_00Um well, you're the doctor, Andrew. I think you measure standing straight up, right? I think maybe she needs to see the chiropractor and stand up flat against the wall so they can measure properly.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah. Those are things that I don't do enough of myself. I'm sorry, I should.
SPEAKER_00Um yeah, no, she's very uh she's very interesting and fun character. Um you know, because you know, so she starts, you know, she's the kids are watching the movie and she's going through the house upstairs. Yeah, to go through this stuff.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, going through like the back of their closets, like and just finding like old old kids stuff. Like of course that's what you're gonna find back there. What we were expecting. Uh valuables, I assume. But the other thing that's happening like in this back and forth is there's this like extended dance scene with Homer and Marge, um, which is kind of funny because it's like there's not any dialogue going on, just a lot of like animation of them dancing in like a bunch of different styles.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, they're just having the time of their life. They're at Chay Paris and they're having dinner and dancing, and it's just of Chay Paris. Where you want to take it, take a date, Andrew. It's you know I'll get that down, yes. This is this is the place to be in Springfield. Um yeah, and the kids are living a nightmare at home. The kids are.
SPEAKER_01Oh. Um let's see. So there's a thunderstorm going on outside. Um, they like have this realization of who she is. They see her coming up with a rope, and the kids just run off and they all run in different directions, which is kind of funny.
SPEAKER_00I do like how she appears with the rope right after they talk, like she catches them watching the show that she's on.
SPEAKER_01She's she's ready. She's ready to do what she has to do. Uh that that's part of her gig there is to tie the kids up.
SPEAKER_00Bart runs to the basement immediately. Lisa Smarter, obviously, runs right to the phone to try to call. Um, but she doesn't call the police. She calls the hotline. Right. And it takes her a minute to remember. She's like, um, what's she's like, what is it, 1-800? You snatch her. You squeal. Oh, you squeal. She calls, and of course, she gets the busy signal because the episode is airing right now, so everyone is calling.
SPEAKER_01With all of the illegitimate tips, yeah.
SPEAKER_00I I did like on those types of shows, like America's Most Wanted, and everything, where they would be like, Thanks, your tip, we caught this guy. And you're like, Oh, hey, it's working.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, I was looking that up, and they had caught like, I don't know, 1200 people or something as a direct result of that show, which is a lot of people.
SPEAKER_00Yes, yes. Uh um, and you know, uh, and so that those types of shows kind of led to later having, you know, where they like would have Chris Hansen like catch a predator, and they would they caught a ton of people doing that, you know. Um so these the these police shows and whatever, back at least back in the day, pre-internet, pre-cameras everywhere, sure. Um, certainly worked, you know. Um they were a service, a community service, really.
SPEAKER_01Yes, yes. Mesp is entertainment.
SPEAKER_00Get these bad people off the out of out of the world.
SPEAKER_01Yes, just the very beginning of the police stream that we found ourselves in.
unknownYes, yes.
SPEAKER_01Uh anyway, again. Um, so uh Homer and Marge are back in the car. They missed their exit. Uh the next exit is not for 34 more miles.
SPEAKER_00Which I which I laughed at. I mean, that's uh that's that's very much a main thing. Yeah, you know, like you know, you you've been up here too, and yeah, so you you get north of Portland and it's like, oh, when's the next exit? Oh, 26 miles, 34 miles. Oh, great. You know, when you're driving up to Canada or wherever you're going.
SPEAKER_01Um Bots ends up following Bart downstairs, right? Uh and finds the homemade pickled beets, which I did, you know, they don't really speak much of uh Marge's pickling at any time in this uh series.
SPEAKER_00No, but uh Miss Bots grabbed one, I think, right? She was like, ooh, I'll take some of these.
SPEAKER_01So far in this episode, we've seen pickled eggs and pickled beets.
SPEAKER_00Um I know. I'm gonna have to hit a farm neither. I'm gonna have to hit a farm stand at some point. I maybe have pickled beets, I don't know.
SPEAKER_01Probably. Uh I think those are like the kind of beets that you get out of like a salad bar, right? The purple ones. Yeah, I think so.
SPEAKER_02I don't know.
SPEAKER_01But yeah. You could please write in to correct us, as always. If you're a pickled beet enthusiast. Um Marge and uh Homer go to the motel room and sort of like the comical like getting her into the room and all of that. Uh cuts back to bots having the kids all tied up, and then she tapes Bart's mouth shut because he keeps talking and puts the happy little elves back on, which is the ultimate torture.
SPEAKER_00Yes, the ultimate torture. And then she goes back to looting. She doesn't watch looting. Which is what she's gotta do. Um Maggie comes down, um, you know, slowly slinks out of her crib and comes down because she wants to watch the happy little elves. Exactly.
SPEAKER_01She she knows what she's missing, and that's what she wants to see. And then she sees her brother and sister tied up, but also is distracted by the TV showing this uh and and has to wait for the show to end before she acknowledges them.
SPEAKER_00Didn't we see that? Did we see that in an earlier episode, or is that something I'm just remembering from watching, where sh where they're like, Maggie, come to who you love most.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that was a couple episodes back.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, yeah. So she's she's she's proving that right here, going right to the TV. Luckily, for Lisa and Bart, the happy little L's little show is very short. It had rich content, yeah. So she wants to watch it again, and and you know, Lisa is very smart and says, you know, uh uh Maggie, you know, um, if you want to watch it again, you have to untie me. And Maggie listens and comes right over. Um, but the the so the reason why Bart has the tape over his mouth is because at some point uh Miss Bot says, I hope you're smart enough to keep your mouth shut. Did you catch that part?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and Lisa says he's not.
SPEAKER_00Lisa immediately is like, he's not. Yeah, so boom, he gets tape. Like, great, Lisa, great, nice, nicely done.
SPEAKER_01Um that's a little sister thing, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I thought that was funny.
SPEAKER_01So Maggie does great, and Antis Lisa, and then um and then they set up a plan, right? We don't see that they're setting up a plan, but we sort of next see like Maggie is out in the hallway, sort of getting Miss Botts' attention.
SPEAKER_00You know, she walks by the the view is from the whatever room Miss Bots is in, and yeah, um and she's got the Binky in her mouth, and she's like sucking on it, doing it's making that noise. And then she kind of you know, she walks away, and so Miss Bots has to go try to find her in the hallway. And then the door shuts. Yes, and then you do the plan.
SPEAKER_01Um well, what what we hear is all of a sudden she gets hit by a baseball bat, right? As Miss Bots follows her into the room. Yeah, and then they sort of pan in, and we see you know, Bart's the one holding the bat, and he's also the one sucking the pacifier. And Lisa's got the rope, and Maggie's just sort of sitting there watching.
SPEAKER_00It's a perfectly executed plan. Um and as you you as you know, the um the pacifier, how many how many of those are probably in the Simpsons household right now?
SPEAKER_01Oh, dozens, right? All over the house, yeah.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, um, but what a great plan. They tie her up, they put her in front of the TV, and they put the happy little elves on.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. Again, the ultimate torture there. She's a great torture move. And then it gets back to Homer and Marge, uh, apparently like post-coitus, I assume. Um, and and Marge Homer's asleep, and Marge is talking about like maybe we should call home and check on the kids. And and she calls and there's no answer, so she gets alarmed and says, like, you know, let's go. And Homer's just like, okay, my work here is done. Um he's finished what he set out to achieve. Um yes, yes, he certainly did.
SPEAKER_00Which at this point, you know, they're they're not at an age where another child isn't out of the question. Yes, exactly.
SPEAKER_01You know, but it never comes in the series, you know. They don't 40 years later.
SPEAKER_00We're still in the first year, Andrew. We don't know. Oh, that's true, yes. Okay.
SPEAKER_01We don't know. Okay, okay. Could happen next year. Yeah. Kid so the kids escape, they uh go to a payphone, they call the hotline again, uh, wondering if they can get a reward.
SPEAKER_00Um they do get a reward if she's convicted. And this reward, wow, big time. And go on. Lisa says to Bartha they could get free t-shirts. Ooh, that's very intriguing. Awesome. Yeah. Somebody out there is buying t-shirts to get convicted uh convicts or felons in behind bars, which is great. That's great. Yeah. Someone's sponsoring it. You know, it's not it's not America's most armed and dangerous that's probably paying for those t-shirts. Someone's sponsoring it. That's true, yes.
SPEAKER_01Brought to you, but you know.
SPEAKER_00Um, donuts on the couch, a free t-shirt.
SPEAKER_01Oh, well, that that might be something we get to at some point. We do have uh our logo in the works and all of those things. So it's all together. That's right. Martin Homer get home, find Miss Bots tied up. They're like all apologetic. She's begging, please turn off the TV.
SPEAKER_02Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_00Yep, yeah, because she's been watching the happy little elves with her eyes like. Did they tape her eyes open? Like I don't I don't remember exactly the animation. They've they've taped her mouth shut, and she but she's like up close to the TV. She's like right.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um, yeah, so then you know, Homer's all apologetic. He offers to double and triple her pay, and she's just like, okay, great, thank you.
SPEAKER_00He's carrying the suitcases. Wow, these are heavy. It's all this stuff.
SPEAKER_01And she warns him, don't turn your back on that boy for one second.
SPEAKER_00And then Homer starts to say, Oh, I know, and to tell his own story, but then we start hearing the sirens in the background. Sirens, the and the uh news vans come in. Yes, yes, which the sirens and news vans have been in this neighborhood on Evergreen Terrace quite a bit this so far, yes, already. I remember when we we uh a deal was captured. Yes, yeah, that was a big scene there. Yes. So uh but she takes off, and then Homer is you know immediately talked to by the police, and he says he's on the air. Yeah, so I sent the babysitter away. Are you saying oh, because Bart is saying I've tied her up, she's in the living room.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. Um he let her go, and then he's characterized on the newscast as a local boob.
SPEAKER_00Yes, which is that's you know, if we're gonna end the season on a on a kind of a summary of the entire season, that's kind of where we're at right now. Yes, right. He kind of he he his intelligence seems to go down as the season went on.
SPEAKER_01It uh it vacillates. I think that's sort of the funny part about it. Like sometimes he says these like very intellectualized things, and other times, you know, he's clearly you know, acknowledging at the end of this episode, Lord help me, I'm just not that bright. So uh but yeah, there they're season one, Andrew. Oh my gosh, we got through an entire season.
SPEAKER_00We did an entire season of The Simpsons, the first season. Um yeah, uh great stuff. I like this episode. It got a 7.7 out of 10 on IMDb. Okay. Pretty good. I know your your your opinion at the start wasn't that great.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean it's got some uh good parts to it and some funny gags, but you know, as far as like world building and all of that, I think there's just a lot of inconsistencies. Um, it is again if you look at it as like this was meant to be the first episode, maybe this is where we're meeting Mo and Barney and a few of the barfly characters. So there is that, but again, because of the way they sort of placed it at the end, it it loses that. And so maybe that maybe that's why I had the reaction that I had.
SPEAKER_00Um yeah, yeah. So um, but yeah, I don't know. Great performance by Penny Marshall. I think she did a great job with uh especially when she's down in the basement searching for Martin. She's just like bar. Um, you know, looky. Yeah. Like, oh god. This uh this terrorizer is in this basement trying to capture me. That's like every kid's worst nightmare.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, it is getting trapped. I mean, because uh yeah, I think there is one other exit in the basement that they they um are able to show in later seasons, but I don't know if there's any exit in this episode.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, well, and a bulkhead and all that is always tricky for kids to figure out for a kid too. Yeah, yeah. Um, but yeah, no, I I enjoyed it.
SPEAKER_01Um and I've enjoyed the season so far. This has been a lot of fun, yeah, to be able to sort of revisit this, think about how it's again, it it's I think in some ways very dramatically different. There's a lot of like thematically uh stuff that comes up around like the relationships and all of that that I I don't think I picked up on as a kid. It was just sort of like a funny cartoon show, and you know, right.
SPEAKER_00And it still is, it does both, you know.
SPEAKER_01Um it does, yeah.
SPEAKER_00And and you see that with a lot of movies these days, you know. You think about like Shrek and Finding Nemo and all the all the mov all the animated movies we see as parents these days, there are definitely jokes in there that are designed for us. Um only for us, yes. Yes, for us. It's like uh it's like Fubu, for us by us, these jokes. So um, but yeah, no, it's uh we're gonna do a uh season one recap uh episode. It'll be shorter, uh 15, 20 minutes. Uh go through kind of our favorites, uh our least favorites. Uh you know, we have we had a bunch of guest stars in this season, Kelsey Grammar and Penny Marshall to you know in the last couple episodes here. And characters, you know.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, a lot of character introductions and um relationships and plot lines and all the stuff. World building, yeah. Yeah. So it's a lot of fun. Again, uh I I you know, not to give away what we'll talk about, but like I didn't give much credit to season one for a long time. I sort of ignored it on most rewatches uh through most of my adult life, and now I'm glad that we had the chance to go back and watch it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no, this was really fun to go through and talk about, and um and no wonder we liked it as kids too. It's fun. You know, Bart Bart is a great fun character for uh, you know, for like a 10-year-old boy to watch on TV and be like, this guy's cool, he's fun. Here's the role model I need. Yes. Yes, yes. And you throw in like the Butterfinger commercials that we had as a kid and and and the t-shirts. I mean, I had you know, I I think I had a uh big Bart Simpson eraser, you know, in school. Um I had a t-shirt that said don't have a cow man, you know. I yeah, I had a I had a poster, I think, that said that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, no, it's it's been a lot of fun, and I appreciate you uh um you and me working this out and doing it. I think it's great. Yeah. Um so tune in for seasons two through 40 coming up. Uh yes. Uh yeah, we'll have them done, I think, by Christmas, right? That's right. All the seasons, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Just watching around the clock with our eyes taped open.
SPEAKER_00But let me see. I've still got the still got the lock on that door behind you. Yep, you're still stuck in there. I still can't get out. Keep watching, Andrew.
SPEAKER_01I'm not safe. But you know, after this recap, we'll be back season two, episode one. Bark gets an F, and we'll get to you know, start into the second season. I'm really excited about getting that going. Absolutely, me too.
SPEAKER_00Thank you, Andrew, and thank you to everyone that's been listening. Donuts on the Couch, growing up on Evergreen Terrace. It's been quite the ride, and we're going to keep it going. Stay tuned for more. All right. Bye. Awesome. Thanks, guys. Thanks for listening to Donuts on the Couch, growing up on Evergreen Terrace.
SPEAKER_02Yet another Simpsons Rewatch podcast.