The times when Springfield's favourite family had some snarky things to say.
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00:00 Whilst its best years are certainly behind it, The Simpsons rose to be one of the most
00:03 important television shows for many years due to the combination of great wit and emotional depth.
00:08 It wasn't just a silly cartoon, it often handled the important subjects of the day.
00:13 Typically, the Simpsons writing team has always been pretty even-handed with their approach.
00:17 Using the subject to tell a story rather than pick a side,
00:19 it was the duty of the residents of Springfield to represent the different shades of grey.
00:23 That being said, sometimes the show feels pretty potently about things,
00:27 and it makes sure we know about it. I'm Sci for WhatCulture.com,
00:31 and these are 10 Simpsons episodes probably made out of spite.
00:35 10. Brother's Little Helper In this season 11 classic,
00:39 Bart, ever the wild child, is placed onto an experimental drug called Focusin. It proves
00:44 fruitful at first, but it isn't long before Bart starts wearing tinfoil and ranting about being
00:49 spied on. The episode culminated in him swallowing a handful of tablets and riding a tank through
00:53 Springfield streets. The episode was written by George Myers, who had found decent success
00:58 writing part-time for the show, but was feeling burnt out at the time. Struggling psychologically,
01:02 Myers turned his pain into a memorable episode that critiqued the rise in diagnosing children
01:07 with attention deficit disorders. Myers hated the first draft of the episode and was so ashamed of
01:12 it that he turned it in under a pseudonym. Producer Tim Long joked that the script was
01:16 "moist with contempt". Amongst the ongoing debate at the time, Myers had heard plenty of stories of
01:20 children misdiagnosed and placed onto drugs such as Ritalin and the damage it caused their psyche,
01:25 when presumably they just needed better schooling. When it released on DVD,
01:29 Myers admitted in the episode's commentary that, whilst he wasn't sure on his stance on the issue,
01:33 he wrote Brother's Little Helper out of concern for children being prescribed
01:36 behavioural drugs so readily. 9. There's Something About Marrying
01:41 By 2005, The Simpsons was no stranger to talking about homosexuality, back in a time when it wasn't
01:47 quite as normal as it is today. This episode certainly continued the show's trend of showing
01:51 LGBT people in largely more positive lights. Around this time, the subject of same-sex
01:56 marriage was a hot-button subject in America and the centre of a lot of debate as some states,
02:01 such as Massachusetts, began to legalise the process. And so, as with many great talking
02:06 points of the day, The Simpsons used Springfield to explore the issue. There's Something About
02:10 Marrying sees Springfield legalising same-sex marriage to cynically increase its tourism
02:14 income and, in the lead-up to the show, the network announced that a key character would
02:18 come out as gay. Whilst not necessarily anyone's favourite, Patty was a long-standing part of the
02:22 show's cast and a member of the Simpsons family. Her acceptance by others was a large part of the
02:27 episode's story. Producer Al Jean said of There's Something About Marrying that "we don't take a
02:32 position as much as explore everybody's perspective". Whilst the episode tended to be
02:36 apolitical, it was definitely giving the message that those that demonised homosexuality were of
02:41 an outdated sort. 8. Itchy & Scratchyland
02:45 During seasons 5 and 6 of The Simpsons, the show was led under showrunner David
02:49 Merkin who immediately began to receive pushback from Fox. Specifically, the feedback was about the
02:54 show within the show, Itchy & Scratchy. Fox were concerned with the animated ultra-violence and
02:59 asked David Merkin to basically cut the two characters completely. In reaction, The Simpsons
03:04 writers went the other way entirely and crafted a season 6 episode that takes the Simpsons family to
03:08 Itchy & Scratchyland. The story allowed them to write as much animated brutality as they liked.
03:13 Fox said that if such an episode were produced, then they would remove the Itchy & Scratchy parts
03:17 themselves, although it's fair to say that wouldn't leave much of an episode. All the same,
03:21 Merkin told his superiors that if that were the case, then he would tell the media what they had
03:24 done. Fox relented and the episode aired in 1997. Additionally, the episode serves as a parody of
03:30 Disneyland by combining the seemingly perfect majesty of the Mouse's Wonderland with the
03:35 various dangers of both Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park and Westworld books. In hindsight,
03:40 there's some delicious irony to be had in that The Simpsons is now owned by Disney and continues
03:44 to be censored to appease the worldwide Disney+ audience.
03:47 Number 7 - The Fool Monty / How Munched Is That Birdie In The Window
03:52 This one is not so much an episode written out of spite, but a reaction to one that impacted
03:56 another. The episode Fool Monty tells the story of an amnesiac Mr Burns being taken in by the
04:01 Simpsons. Then, for all the troubles he's caused, Burns is essentially used and abused until Lisa
04:06 takes him home and his memory returns. Whilst the episode does poke fun at Vice President Dick
04:10 Cheney in its side story, there was one particular moment that caught the ire of the Republican Party.
04:15 At the start of the episode, a Fox News helicopter swings into frame emblazoned with the phrase
04:19 "Not racist, but number one with racists". Conservative TV host Bill O'Reilly in particular
04:24 was upset with the show, crying foul that the Fox network was letting its cartoon characters run
04:29 wild and bite the hand that feeds. Happy to have stirred the pot, especially with such a vocal and
04:34 well-known political figure, the Simpsons poked back. A helicopter was written into the following
04:38 episode, How Munched Is That Birdie In The Window, which reads "Fox News, unsuitable for viewers
04:43 under 75". Al Jean said of the reaction "We're happy to have a little feud with Bill O'Reilly.
04:48 That's a very entertaining thing for us." Number 6 - You Won't Believe What This Episode
04:52 Is About, Act 3 Will Shock You In March 2022, the Simpsons decided to
04:57 take another swing at the rise of the so-called "cancel culture" movement. What was particularly
05:01 interesting about this decision is that it came two and a half years after The Simpsons was
05:05 embroiled in its biggest controversy surrounding the character of Apu. In the episode's plot,
05:10 unfortunate accidents lead to Homer trapping Santa's little helper in a car and not picking
05:14 up the kids. The town proceeds to label him as a pariah. Instead of reading a prepared apology,
05:19 Homer essentially calls Springfield soft and accidentally pushes Reverend Lovejoy out of
05:23 a window. The family gets doxxed and Homer loses his job, but he is eventually invited to the
05:28 institute, where those who have had their reputations ruined on the internet can find
05:32 repentance. Clearly a critique on the public perception of the Simpsons during the era,
05:36 the episode takes shot at clickbait and society's tendency to believe a headline rather than read
05:40 a story's context. It also toys with a current-day controversial figure by featuring Theo,
05:45 a podcaster with a pretty clear inspiration in Joe Rogan, who wants to delete news of his
05:50 misdeeds from the internet. Whilst the episode was decently well-received, it was kind of a
05:54 case of "The Simpsons already did it" with the episode "Homer Badman".
05:58 5. Homer Badman
06:00 After spending their day at a candy convention, Homer loses track of his stolen and incredibly
06:05 rare gummy based on the Venus de Milo statue. When he drops the kid's babysitter back home,
06:09 he finds the gummy stuck to her behind and reaches out to take it. The babysitter
06:13 misunderstands this act as sexual harassment and Homer becomes publicly disgraced. Homer
06:18 Badman at large is a criticism of television's growing need to turn tragedy into entertainment,
06:23 an issue which has only gotten bigger over time. In particular, the episode satirised Hard Copy,
06:28 an over-the-top news show that ran from 1989 to 1999 in the US and was guilty of dramatising
06:34 its stories. Hard Copy had a habit of not only presuming their targets as guilty, but also
06:38 cutting footage to support their arguments and even camping outside of their houses. The show's
06:42 parody version, "Rock Bottom", does all of the above and also contains a memorable made-for-TV
06:48 retelling of events starring actress Dennis Franz as Homer. Homer Badman also parodies the OJ
06:53 Simpsons chase footage, late show with David Letterman and television talk shows in general
06:57 by giving the real-life bear gentle bear his own show. David Merkin would say in a DVD commentary
07:02 that anyone could host a talk show because all they needed is a microphone and an audience.
07:07 4. Lisa vs Malibu Stacy
07:09 In the early 90s, Mattel released a new Barbie doll called the Teen Talk Barbie,
07:14 which would read 270 different phrases. They were the kind of thing you'd expect if you've seen
07:18 this episode that parodies the doll - low-hanging fruit of feminine tropes about how great shopping
07:23 is and, most controversially, how hard math class is. Due to public reaction, Mattel said that future
07:29 revisions of this doll would not say this particular phrase. Always reacting to the real
07:33 world, the Simpsons used their already existing doll, Malibu Stacy, in exactly the same way,
07:38 giving her a voice that only said the most vapid thing shatters Lisa's illusions that she had of
07:42 the character. This prompts her to make a stand and make her own talking doll that empowers women.
07:47 Lastly mocking the toy industry and Mattel, Bill Oakley, one of the writers for the episode,
07:51 even based Lisa's story on some of his own experiences. He went to several Barbie
07:55 collecting conventions and met superfans due to his wife's own interest in the toy line.
07:59 Despite Lisa's issues with the doll being founded in logic, the fact that the less intelligent
08:04 Malibu Stacy outsells hers is a Simpsons-style cynical look on how having fun often wins over
08:09 the importance of making a statement. Number 3 - Panic on the streets of Springfield
08:14 In season 15, the Simpsons family travelled to the UK for the episode "The Regina Monologues"
08:19 and encountered several British figures that made voice cameos. One of those approached,
08:24 Stephen Patrick Morrissey, turned down the opportunity to be on the show.
08:28 Over 15 years later, the Simpsons finally hit back at Morrissey's disinterest,
08:32 not to mention his steadily more damaged public perception born from his controversial political
08:36 stances. In Panic on the streets of Springfield, Lisa is introduced to rock band The Snuffs,
08:41 who act as a parody of both The Smiths and The Cure. Inspired by the liberal,
08:45 vegan frontman Quillaby, Lisa begins to imagine his younger self to bring her solace.
08:50 Eventually, this imaginary friend convinces Lisa to steal Homer's credit card to go see the real
08:54 him perform. Lisa sees that in the current day he has become an overweight, meat-eating,
08:59 immigrant-hating wash-up. In a touching moment, imaginary Quillaby tells Lisa to remain true to
09:04 her values before vanishing. Morrissey struck out against the caricature, bemoaning that "in
09:09 a world obsessed with hate laws, there are none that protect me", yet again missing the point.
09:14 The Simpsons team said that Quillaby was actually inspired by several people,
09:17 and that therefore he couldn't sue, but it's plain to see who exactly the episode is mocking.
09:21 Two bad neighbours
09:24 Whilst The Simpsons had its fair share of controversies in its earlier years,
09:28 very few public figures had a feud with the show quite like George H.W. Bush did.
09:32 During his presidency, he famously said that he wished more families were "more like the Waltons
09:37 and less like the Simpsons". The show fired back in its own way the next week, with Bart saying that
09:42 "like the Waltons, we're also waiting for the end of the Depression". Two years later,
09:46 in which time Bill Clinton had replaced Bush in office, writer Bill Oakley's idea to bring the
09:51 feud to TV was put into production. Whilst many jokes would poke fun at his politics, the concept
09:56 was not one that was meant to attack Bush's agenda, so much as satire his crotchetiness.
10:00 With George and his wife Barbara moving to Springfield,
10:03 Bush essentially took the role of Mr Wilson to Bart Dennis the Menace. Bart and Homer act
10:07 exactly how Bush and his wife would expect them to, childishly pranking their uptight new neighbours.
10:12 It was one of the first times that Simpsons got into the face of a politician to such a degree.
10:16 Two bad neighbours was a great success, although George H.W. Bush never did make
10:20 any statement about this parody of himself.
10:24 The 14th episode of season 8 of The Simpsons saw the show overtake the
10:30 Flintstones episode count to become the longest running animated series on television. It was
10:35 a perfectly timed affair, as in the lead up to the season, Fox had expressed some concerns about the
10:40 show's shelf life and longevity. A suggestion was pitched to add a new main character to the
10:45 show to shake up the formula, an idea that the writers' room laughed off.
10:48 Parodying Fox's real life worries, the Itchy and Scratchy and Poochy show sees the popularity
10:54 of Bart and Lisa's favourite cat and mouse duo waning. Much like Fox had suggested to the Simpsons
10:59 writers, the fictional heads behind Itchy and Scratchy propose the idea of adding a new character
11:03 to freshen things up. Naturally, Poochy's over-the-top persona and position as the "shiny
11:08 new thing" is poorly received, and kids just want the thing they loved back.
11:12 The episode morphed Fox's request into one of the show's best outings. Many jokes from it are still
11:17 remembered fondly today, taking aim at the fickleness and sometimes obsessive nature of
11:21 television viewers. And hey, Fox can't say the writers didn't do as they asked. The episode also
11:26 features an unexplained older son of the Simpsons family, Roy, played totally straight for extra
11:31 laughs as the main story unfolds around them. And that's the list. Let us know what you
11:36 thought of this video down in the comments below, and let us know of any other Simpsons episodes
11:40 that you can think of that were either made to rile someone up or made in a reaction to something
11:44 out of spite. Make sure you like this video, subscribe, hit the notification bell and share
11:49 it with your friends. I've been SyForWhatCulture, and have a good week.