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The times when Springfield's favourite family had some snarky things to say.
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00:00Whilst its best years are certainly behind it, The Simpsons rose to be one of the most important television shows for many years due to the combination of great wit and emotional death.
00:09It wasn't just a silly cartoon, it often handled the important subjects of the day.
00:13Typically, The Simpsons' writing team has always been pretty even-handed with their approach.
00:17Using the subject to tell a story rather than pick a side, it was the duty of the residents of Springfield to represent the different shades of grey.
00:23That being said, sometimes the show feels pretty potently about things and it makes sure we know about it.
00:30I'm SciForWhatCulture.com and these are 10 Simpsons episodes probably made out of spite.
00:35Number 10, Brother's Little Helper.
00:38In this season 11 classic, Bart, ever the wild child, is placed onto an experimental drug called Focusing.
00:44It proves fruitful at first, but it isn't long before Bart starts wearing tinfoil and ranting about being spied on.
00:50The episode culminated in him swallowing a handful of tablets and riding a tank through Springfield streets.
00:55The episode was written by George Myers, who had found decent success writing part-time for the show,
00:59but was feeling burnt out at the time.
01:01Struggling psychologically, Myers turned his pain into a memorable episode that critiqued the rise in diagnosing children with attention deficit disorders.
01:09Myers hated the first draft of the episode and was so ashamed of it that he turned it in under a pseudonym.
01:14Producer Tim Long joked that the script was moist with contempt.
01:17Amongst the ongoing debate at the time, Myers had heard plenty of stories of children misdiagnosed and placed onto drugs such as Ritalin
01:23and the damage it caused their psyche, when presumably they just needed better schooling.
01:28When it released on DVD, Myers admitted in the episode's commentary that, whilst he wasn't sure on his stance on the issue,
01:33he wrote Brother's Little Helper out of concern for children being prescribed behavioural drugs so readily.
01:39Number 9. There's something about marrying.
01:41By 2005, The Simpsons was no stranger to talking about homosexuality, back in a time when it wasn't quite as normal as it is today.
01:49This episode certainly continued the show's trend of showing LGBT people in largely more positive lights.
01:55Around this time, the subject of same-sex marriage was a hot-button subject in America
01:59and the centre of a lot of debate as some states, such as Massachusetts, began to legalise the process.
02:04And so, as with many great talking points of the day, The Simpsons used Springfield to explore the issue.
02:09There's something about marrying. See, Springfield legalising same-sex marriage to cynically increase its tourism income
02:15and, in the lead-up to the show, the network announced that a key character would come out as gay.
02:19Whilst not necessarily anyone's favourite, Patty was a long-standing part of the show's cast
02:23and a member of the Simpsons family. Her acceptance by others was a large part of the episode's story.
02:29Producer Al Jean said if there's something about marrying, that we don't take a position as much as explore everybody's perspective.
02:35Whilst the episode tended to be apolitical, it was definitely giving the message
02:38that those that demonised homosexuality were of an outdated sort.
02:42Number 8. Itchy and Scratchyland
02:45During seasons 5 and 6 of The Simpsons, the show was led under showrunner David Merkin,
02:49who immediately began to receive pushback from Fox.
02:52Specifically, the feedback was about the show within the show, Itchy and Scratchy.
02:57Fox were concerned with the animated ultra-violence and asked David Merkin to basically cut the two characters completely.
03:03In reaction, The Simpsons' writers went the other way entirely and crafted a season 6 episode
03:07that takes The Simpsons' family to Itchy and Scratchyland.
03:10The story allowed them to write as much animated brutality as they liked.
03:14Fox said that if such an episode were produced, then they would remove the Itchy and Scratchy parts themselves,
03:18although it's fair to say that wouldn't leave much of an episode.
03:21All the same, Merkin told his superiors that if that were the case, then he would tell the media what they had done.
03:25Fox relented, and the episode aired in 1997.
03:28Additionally, the episode serves as a parody of Disneyland,
03:31by combining the seemingly perfect majesty of The Mouse's Wonderland
03:35with the various dangers of both Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park and Westworld books.
03:39In hindsight, there's some delicious irony to be had in that The Simpsons is now owned by Disney
03:43and continues to be censored to appease the worldwide Disney Plus audience.
03:47Number 7, The Fool Monty, slash how munched is that birdie in the window?
03:52This one is not so much an episode written out of spite, but a reaction to one that impacted another.
03:57The episode Fool Monty tells the story of an amnesiac, Mr. Burns, being taken in by The Simpsons.
04:01Then, for all the troubles he's caused, Burns is essentially used and abused
04:05until Lisa takes him home and his memory returns.
04:08Whilst the episode does poke fun at Vice President Dick Cheney in its side story,
04:11there was one particular moment that caught the ire of the Republican Party.
04:15At the start of the episode, a Fox News helicopter swings into frame,
04:18emblazoned with the phrase,
04:19not racist, but number one with racists.
04:22Conservative TV host Bill O'Reilly in particular was upset with the show,
04:26crying foul that the Fox Network was letting its cartoon characters run wild
04:29and bite the hand that feeds.
04:31Happy to have stirred the pot, especially with such a vocal and well-known political figure,
04:35The Simpsons poked back.
04:37A helicopter was written into the following episode,
04:39How Munched Is That Birdie in the Window?,
04:40which reads,
04:41Fox News, unsuitable for viewers under 75.
04:44Al Jean said of the reaction,
04:46We're happy to have a little feud with Bill O'Reilly,
04:48that's a very entertaining thing for us.
04:50Number 6, you won't believe what this episode is about,
04:53Act 3 will shock you.
04:54In March 2022, The Simpsons decided to take another swing
04:58at the rise of the so-called cancel culture movement.
05:00What was particularly interesting about this decision is that it came two and a half years
05:04after The Simpsons was embroiled in its biggest controversy surrounding the character of Apu.
05:09In the episode's plot,
05:10unfortunate accidents lead to Homer trapping Santa's little helper in a car and not picking up the kids.
05:15The town proceeds to label him as a pariah.
05:18Instead of reading a prepared apology,
05:19Homer essentially calls Springfield soft and accidentally pushes Reverend Lovejoy out of a window.
05:24The family gets doxxed and Homer loses his job,
05:26but he is eventually invited to the Institute,
05:29where those who have had their reputations ruined on the internet can find repentance.
05:33Clearly a critique on the public perception of The Simpsons during the era,
05:36the episode takes shot at clickbait and society's tendency to believe a headline rather than read a story's context.
05:42It also toys with a current-day controversial figure by featuring Theo,
05:45a podcaster with a pretty clear inspiration in Joe Rogan,
05:49who wants to delete news of his misdeeds from the internet.
05:51Whilst the episode was decently well-received,
05:53it was kind of a case of The Simpsons already did it with the episode Homer Badman.
05:58Number five, Homer Badman.
06:00After spending their day at a candy convention,
06:02Homer loses track of his stolen and incredibly rare gummy based on the Venus de Milo statue.
06:07When he drops the kid's babysitter back home,
06:09he finds the gummy stuck to her behind and reaches out to take it.
06:13The babysitter misunderstands this act as sexual harassment and Homer becomes publicly disgraced.
06:18Homer Badman at large is a criticism of television's growing need
06:21to turn tragedy into entertainment, an issue which has only gotten bigger over time.
06:25In particular, the episode satirised Hard Copy,
06:28an over-the-top news show that ran from 1989 to 1999 in the US
06:32and was guilty of dramatising its stories.
06:35Hard Copy had a habit of not only presuming their targets as guilty,
06:38but also cutting footage to support their arguments and even camping outside of their houses.
06:42The show's parody version, Rock Bottom, does all of the above
06:45and also contains a memorable made-for-TV retelling of events,
06:49starring actress Dennis Franz as Homer.
06:51Homer Badman also parodies the O.J. Simpson's chase footage,
06:54Late Show with David Letterman, and television talk shows in general
06:57by giving the real-life bear Gentle Ben his own show.
07:00David Merkin would say in a DVD commentary that anyone could host a talk show
07:04because all they needed is a microphone and an audience.
07:07Number four, Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy.
07:10In the early 90s, Mattel released a new Barbie doll called the Teen Talk Barbie,
07:14which would read 270 different phrases.
07:16They were the kind of thing you'd expect if you've seen this episode that parodies the doll.
07:20Low-hanging fruit of feminine tropes about how great shopping is
07:24and, most controversially, how hard math class is.
07:27Due to public reaction, Mattel said that future revisions of this doll
07:30would not say this particular phrase.
07:32Always reacting to the real world,
07:34The Simpsons used their already existing doll, Malibu Stacy, in exactly the same way.
07:38Giving her a voice that only said the most vapid thing shatters Lisa's illusions
07:41that she had of the character.
07:43This prompts her to make a stand and make her own talking doll that empowers women.
07:47Lastly, mocking the toy industry and Mattel,
07:49Bill Oakley, one of the writers for the episode,
07:51even based Lisa's story on some of his own experiences.
07:54He went to several Barbie collecting conventions
07:56and met superfans due to his wife's own interest in the toy line.
07:59Despite Lisa's issues with the doll being founded in logic,
08:02the fact that the less intelligent Malibu Stacy outsells hers
08:05is a Simpsons-style cynical look
08:07on how having fun often wins over the importance of making a statement.
08:113. Panic on the Streets of Springfield
08:14In season 15, the Simpsons family travelled to the UK
08:17for the episode, The Regina Monologues,
08:20and encountered several British figures that made voice cameos.
08:23One of those approached, Stephen Patrick Morrissey,
08:25turned down the opportunity to be on the show.
08:28Over 15 years later,
08:29the Simpsons finally hit back at Morrissey's disinterest,
08:32not to mention his steadily more damaged public perception
08:34born from his controversial political stances.
08:37In Panic on the Streets of Springfield,
08:39Lisa is introduced to rock band The Snuffs,
08:41who act as a parody of both The Smiths and The Cure.
08:44Inspired by the liberal, vegan frontman Quillaby,
08:47Lisa begins to imagine his younger self to bring her solace.
08:50Eventually, this imaginary friend convinces Lisa
08:52to steal Homer's credit card to go see the real him perform.
08:56Lisa sees that in the current day,
08:57he has become an overweight, meat-eating, immigrant-hating wash-up.
09:01In a touching moment, imaginary Quillaby tells Lisa
09:03to remain true to her values before vanishing.
09:06Morrissey struck out against the caricature,
09:08bemoaning that in a world obsessed with hate laws,
09:10there are none that protect me,
09:12yet again missing the point.
09:14The Simpsons team said that Quillaby was actually inspired by several people
09:17and that therefore he couldn't sue,
09:19but it's plain to see who exactly the episode is mocking.
09:22Number two, two bad neighbours.
09:24Whilst The Simpsons had its fair share of controversies in its earlier years,
09:28very few public figures had a feud with the show
09:30quite like George H.W. Bush did.
09:32During his presidency, he famously said that he wished more families were
09:36more like The Waltons and less like The Simpsons.
09:39The show fired back in its own way the next week,
09:41with Bart saying that like The Waltons,
09:43we're also waiting for the end of the Depression.
09:45Two years later, in which time Bill Clinton had replaced Bush in office,
09:49writer Bill Oakley's idea to bring the feud to TV was put into production.
09:53Whilst many jokes would poke fun at his politics,
09:55the concept was not one that was meant to attack Bush's agenda
09:58so much as satire his crotchety-ness.
10:00With George and his wife Barbara moving to Springfield,
10:03Bush essentially took the role of Mr. Wilson to Bart's Dennis the Menace.
10:07Bart and Homer act exactly how Bush and his wife would expect them to,
10:10childishly pranking their uptight new neighbours.
10:12It was one of the first times that Simpsons got into the face of a politician to such a degree.
10:17Two Bad Neighbours was a great success,
10:19although George H.W. Bush never did make any statement about this parody of himself.
10:23Number one, The Itchy and Scratchy and Poochy Show.
10:26The 14th episode of Season 8 of The Simpsons saw the show overtake the Flintstones episode count
10:32to become the longest-running animated series on television.
10:35It was a perfectly timed affair, as in the lead up to the season,
10:38Fox had expressed some concerns about the show's shelf life and longevity.
10:42A suggestion was pitched to add a new main character to the show to shake up the formula,
10:46an idea that the writer's room laughed off.
10:49Parodying Fox's real-life worries,
10:51The Itchy and Scratchy and Poochy Show sees the popularity of Bart and Lisa's favourite cat and mouse duo waning.
10:57Much like Fox had suggested to The Simpsons writers,
10:59the fictional heads behind Itchy and Scratchy propose the idea of adding a new character to freshen things up.
11:04Naturally, Poochy's over-the-top persona and position as the shiny new thing is poorly received,
11:10and kids just want the thing they loved back.
11:12The episode mort Fox's request into one of the show's best outings.
11:16Many jokes from it are still remembered fondly today,
11:18taking aim at the fickleness and sometimes obsessive nature of television viewers.
11:23And hey, Fox can't say the writers didn't do as they asked.
11:25The episode also features an unexplained older son of the Simpsons family,
11:29Roy, played totally straight for extra laughs as the main story unfolds around them.
11:34And that's the list.
11:35Let us know what you thought of this video down in the comments below,
11:38and let us know of any other Simpsons episodes that you can think of
11:41that were either made to rile someone up or made in a reaction to something out of spite.
11:45Make sure you like this video, subscribe, hit the notification bell, and share it with your friends.
11:50I've been Cy for WhatCulture, and have a good week.
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