There's No Disgrace Like Home (Season 1, Episode 4)

In Which Homer is Embarrassed by the Family

Vitals

Title: There’s No Disgrace Like Home

Air Date: January 28, 1990

Episode No.: 7G04

Writer: Al Jean and Mike Reiss

Director: Greg Vanzo and Kent Butterworth

            Lets get this out of the way, this episode is funny, in fact I was caught off-guard by how funny it was. The reason I was so surprised is because, like most people, what I remember most about this episode besides the therapy scene (more on that later) is Homer and Marge role and personality reversal. Given what the show was at the time, with Homer more concerned about keeping up appearances despite his short fuse, and Marge not yet required to be the responsible wonder woman trying to keep Homer in one piece, the premise of this episode seems much more natural. It exaggerates some character traits that were eventually dropped, but with the proper open attitude its easy to enjoy the episode despite the off-character craziness.

So, despite more than 20 years of episodes showing us that There’s No Disgrace Like Home doesn’t fit into the larger series, lets just accept it as it is and take a look at a very entertaining episode. *

The premise is simple, in fact, considering it ends with a baby in an electroshock therapy machine, the scale of the episode is about as small as The Simpsons it gets. Its company picnic day at Mr. Burns’ mansion and Homer, dressed in a great striped red and white picnic wear, is stressed out by his family’s boorish behavior. We start with Bart and Lisa are fighting over who loves Homer the most (“You do! No you do!). It’s not an especially novel joke, but it’s well timed and acted and earns a laugh.

A quick trip to the kitchen to pick up five gelatin desserts (Mr. Burns complimented Marge’s jello once) and they are off. In the first season the animators loved using distorted perspectives to change the appearance of their characters, and the jellos are one of the best props they ever got to show of that gag, which works especially well with the less refined animation of the first season. Maggie looking through her pink blob is especially funny.

When the Simpson’s arrive at the mansion, Burns is greeting the guests doling out judgment. Burns orders Smithers to fire one man (who looks like he should have been rejected for a cartoon from the 1960s) because his son says he doesn’t want to be there.** Homer, just barely, navigates the family past Mr. Burns, and spends the picnic chasing the kids and tackling Bart to prevent him from beating Burns in a sack race. Meanwhile Marge wanders off and gets drunk with the other women and dances down a staircase.

At the end of the event, Homer is forced to watch another family happily leaving together, and literally sees them ascend into the sky on a beam of heavenly light, while his family turns into flame-pointed demons (with a great music cue), who he must join on a drive home across a smoldering hellscape.

Does it get any better than this?

After their near miss at the picnic Homer is more obsessed than ever with his family’s behavior. When he arrives home from work to find Marge and the kids eating TV dinners in front of Itchy & Scratchy, he springs into action dragging them into the dining room for a disastrous dinner. When Lisa says, “The sad truth is all family’s are like us,” Homer goes off the deep end and drags the family on a Peeping Tom tour of the neighborhood. They see a rich, happy family enjoying each other’s company (in a beautifully animated home), but they are forced to flee another yard after (hilariously) assuming that a conversation about getting the gun to chase them off is actually about love.

Perhaps the best joke in episode comes when the family arrives at yet another window. There is no one to be seen, but they mock the family that lives in  the shabby house and Homer is gleefully stomping their flowers. Then Marge says its their house and they give up for the evening. Despondent, Homer ends up at Moe’s. While the rest of the barflies watch a boxing match, Barney tries to commiserate with Homer, but after he calls Bart and Lisa crummy and they get in a fight, which Barney quickly end with a blow to the head that leaves Homer’s spinning.

Homer comes to at the exact moment that the smooth voice of Dr. Marvin Monroe comes on the television advertising his therapy services (“Family bliss or double your money back!). Homer, as he’s wont to do, takes this as some sort of divine inspiration and rushes home to get the family and come up with $250 for the treatment. Over the protests of Bart, Lisa, and Marge, he breaks open the college fund ($88.50 – Lisa will need a partial scholarhip).

Then it’s off to the pawnshop to do the unthinkable, sell the family television. Marge would rather pawn her engagement ring, but Homer won’t hear of it, they need $150 and the ring won’t do it. The shop looks like something out of Dr. Suess, full of appliances, and musical instruments, and a dozen other things. The best part of the trip though is the clerk, who looks and sounds completely crazy. There’s no textual joke, he’s just awesomely weird. They get the money with a promise that the TV is cable ready.

Dr. Monroe’s office looks great also, with a smart background cameo from the perfect family who had ascended into heaven at the the picnic. We also get a meta visit from Dr. Monroe’s latest satisfied clients, who look suspiciously like the Simpson family, off to have frosty chocolate milkshakes and celebrate their “new found ability to express love for each other.”

At this point the Simpsons join Dr. Monroe for one of the best remembered, and funniest, scenes of the first season. Marvin Monroe is probably has one of the weirder arcs of any Simpsons character. He is remembered today more as a joke, presumed dead (but not particularly missed) for years, but very briefly reappearing in season 15. If you listen to the DVD commentary you know that Dr. Monroe was retired because the voice was painful for Harry Shearer to perform. Its also clear though that he wasn’t very popular in the writer’s room.

Here Dr. Monroe seems to be a reasonable effective therapist who is simply overwhelmed by the dysfunction of the Simpsons. He starts by having the family draw the root of their problems. Everyone pins the blame on Homer with their own amateur portraits, while Home has already forgotten why they are there and draws a plane. Next they try aggression therapy with foam rubber beating sticks, until Bart realizes they would be more effective without the foam and hits Dr. Monroe in the shin with a metal rod.

Finally, at his wits end, Dr. Monroe attaches each member of the family, including Maggie, to an electroshock machine that they are supposed to use to shock each other when they are hurt emotionally. The entire setup looks great, its big and scientific without seeming too fanciful. Plus the stuttering shock animation holds up well, even if it looks quaint today. Before he can even explain the procedure the family descends into shocking, brownout causing madness. Even Maggie gets in on the act and illustrates why therapy is effective for babies (answer: they are babies).

Dr. Monroe has to unplug the machine and admit that the family can’t be helped. Homer, not missing a beat, demands double their money back. Dr. Monroe hands it over just to be rid of them. Naturally, Homer becomes the family hero when he announces they are buying a newer, better television.

This is a good episode, and it’s more important historically than people realize. The therapy scene became the go to first season clip for years, for many people that was the only first season clip they saw for years. Its also huge because it’s the first episode that aired that gets the balance of family problems and mocking humor. The episodes that preceded There’s No Disgrace Like Home had more real stakes for the family that made the reversion to the status quo at the end feel like a cheat. Here, the stakes come from Homer’s slightly misguided concern about the family. He just needs to loosen up a little bit and everything is fine. This allows the humor to flow more naturally and brings the plot in better alignment with the comedic sensibility. This is also the first episode, I think, where the animation truly adds to the experience start to finish. There are suddenly fewer blank background and odd angles, and the world is closer to having the grounding in physical reality that is essential to the show from the second season onward.

I know that there are many people who can’t stand this episode because Homer isn’t Homer, and Marge isn’t Marge, and, despite concern that she won’t be going to Vassar, Lisa isn’t Lisa. I’ve already said that I think that stance is misguided. Seriously, if you want to see a good episode of television and a some very smart writing, then forget what you know and give this one another try.

*This doesn’t mean I couldn’t write multiple posts about the character development oddness this episode creates. One in particular I can’t resist pointing out is that Marge seems to love Itchy and Scratch as much as the kids here, but in the second season episode Itchy & Scratchy & Marge, discovers the show is incredibly violent and starts a campaign to get it taken off the air.

**Given Mr. Burns known disdain for family, its weird to see him care so much. Then again, today’s Burns wouldn’t host a company picnic either.

Running Gags

The Children’s Treasury of Amusingly Mundane Names

            Dr. Marvin Monroe

Things That Might Amuse No One But Me

My favorite moment of the episode is, once again, made by the voice-acting. At the start of the sack race, Smithers leans over to Mr. Burns and gives him a head start by saying start just to him. The way that Smither excitedly whispers “Go Mr. Burns!” cracks me up every time. I rewound and listened at least half a dozen times today.

Jeff Albertson’s Obsessive Watcher Moment

The first appearance of Itchy & Scratchy is pretty tame. There is no elaborate set up or parody. Scratchy chases Itchy and dives head first as if it was an episode of Tom and Jerry (with the music to match), and Itchy gets him with a Looney Tunes style bomb.

Animation Corner

This is a deceptively big episode for the animation. It’s the first episode to see air that isn’t infected with blank, colored backgrounds on character close-ups, which sounds like it might be small, but makes a huge difference. More noticeably, Vanzo and Butterworth dive in with new lots of new sets and character models, and bring out detail that elevates the spaces above the more generic standards of the time. Dr. Monroe’s office is especially great.

Homer's Odyssey (Season 1, Episode 3)

In which Homer is one reckless driver away from suicide.

Vitals

Title: Homer’s Odyssey

Air Date: January 21, 1990

Episode No.: 7G03

Writer: Jay Kogan and Wally Wolodarsky

Director: Wes Archer

Do you remember the time that Homer, depressed because he was out of a job and out of beer, stole Bart’s piggy bank, left a suicide note in the kitchen, and got all the way to the edge of a bridge tied to a boulder? Remember when Bart and Lisa found the note and ran terrified into Homer and Marge’s bedroom and then rushed off to find him and convince him not to kill himself. Remember when Homer didn’t jump of the bridge because a car almost ran down his family as they rushed to keep him from jumping? Remember when the driver, who almost killed an entire family, didn’t even slow down.

All of that happened in this episode. Seriously, Homer’s Odyssey is that dark. Usually the Simpsons uses subversive or absurd humor to undercut serious moments, but not here. In Homer's Odyssey they play it straight. The jokes actually make the story even darker. More on that when we come to it.

Homer’s Odyssey starts innocently enough and, as was common in the early years, Bart carries the bulk of the first act. Mrs. Krabappel’s class is taking a field trip to the nuclear plant and she is determined that it will go better than last year’s trip to the local prison. Otto arrives late with the bus and has a slightly creepy conversation with Bart and reveals the tattoo he somehow received while blackout drunk the night before.*

Bart is last on the bus and gets stuck next to car-sick Wendell, but still manages to play the class clown. Sherri and Terri take advantage of Bart’s bad reputation to get him trouble with a double kiss on the check. He cries out in discomfort and, as punishment, has to sing “John Henry was a Steel-Driving Man.” It’s an enjoyable, random humor aside, and gives Bart yet another chance to show off his parody song stylings. Eventually they arrive at the plant, after taking a “shortcut” that requires an extra trip past the school and the prison, where the prisoners seem to remember last year's field trip fondly. Bart slaps Wendell on the back to celebrate a vomit-free ride which causes him to throw-up and drive the children out of the bus and past an inattentive guard.**

Inside the plant the children fill the occasionally-seen auditorium where they are greeted by Smithers in his first extended appearance. Showing that they didn’t have all the details pinned down yet Smithers is black. The character still looks good, but with 25 years of opposing history it’s a bit strange. We are also greeted with the show's first educational film strip, which looks great. It actually pretty educational (for real) and cut with a touch of crass propaganda. In one of the DVD commentaries the animators mention that to get the dirty, old film strip look they physically aged the film with dirt and scratching. That work is on display here and really does the trick.

After the film we cut to Homer lazily eating a donut in his golf cart. His lazy indifference is clearly unpopular with his more professional coworkers, one of whom mocks him while sipping a cup of coffee. Realizing Bart is in the building, Homer rushes off to meet the kids and impress his son with his big job. However he is distracted waving at Bart and crashes into a steam pipe, which causes a minor crisis (level 1 of 4). The other employees fix the problem and Sherri and Terri’s father fires Homer on the spot.

It apparently takes only one day of unsuccessful job-hunting to throw Homer into a serious depression. He’s just a technical supervisor in a world that only wants supervising technicians. He stops to drown his sorrows at Moe’s and we get the first prank call of the series proper (Mr. I.P. Freely), but Homer is quickly thrown out when he runs out of money and Moe kicks him when he’s down by telling him he’ll never get back on his feet (but they’re still friends!).

A pit stop in the rarely seen Simpson rumpus room.

Homer’s depression worsens as he fails to find a job for some unknown amount of time. Marge goes back to her pre-marriage job as a skating waitress at a drive-in. Finally, unable to sleep and desperate for a drink, Homer steals Bart’s piggy bank for the money (there isn’t enough) then decides to commit suicide.

He writes the note, which is recited in full, but includes no jokes and leaves no lasting impression, ties himself to a boulder, and sets off for the bridge, stopping to oil the hingers on the fence, another attempt to cut the tension that falls flat. For a reason that is never explained Bart and Lisa are up in the middle of the night and quickly discover Homer’s suicide note and wake Marge. The family gives chase, reaching the bridge just before Homer jumps. They call out and run into the road towards Homer, In a moment of serendipity a driver barrels into frame, apparently not seeing the family. Homer acts on instinct, charging into the street and saving the family. Angered by the dangerous intersection, Homer finds new meaning in his life, by advocating for public safety through improved signage. A newspaper montage leads up through his successful campaign.

His safety movement finally leads Homer to take on the nuclear plant itself (which he knows is the most dangerous place in the city). A protest rally assembles outide the gates and Homer is invited up the negotiate. Burns attempts to buy Homer off with a job offer, which Homer accepts, at until Burns asks him to sell-out completely by telling the crowd the plant is safe. Homer refuses and (accidently) negotiates a much better deal, by telling Mr. Burns that time he spends working is time he can’t spent agitating. Burns agrees and Homer becomes the plant’s safety inspector. He celebrates by dancing on the railing of Burns’ balcony before falling and being carried of by the crowd.

This is a dark episode and watching it as an adult is an uncomfortable experience. There is nothing wrong with a comedy taking on suicide, in fact it can be easier because of the chance to insert humor. Here though it's just sad. While The Simpsons typically relies on absurdity and bravado to push through tough issues, here the humor only serves to dig the hole deeper. In particular, this episode includes what I think is the darkest joke in the series. Homer, as he is walking to his death already tied to his boulder, passes in front of Mr. and Mrs. Winfield, elderly, seldom-seen neighbors, known only for their disdain for the Simpson family. Mrs. Winfield looks at Homer and says with obvious pleasure: “Looks like young Simpson is going to kill himself,” and Mr. Winfield responds, incredulously, “Maybe be just taking his boulder for a walk.” Then they laugh. They know he’s going to kill himself and they celebrate. Its serious, and real, and awful.

The episode’s worst crime, though, is that it refuses to address the ramifications of Homer’s actions. Without enough humor to charge past Homer’s suicide attempt and make the story into a farce, his addiction and depression are allowed to fester, tainting his redemptive arch, and making the last second return to the status quo feel like a cheat.

Think about it, Bart and Lisa actually read his suicide note and see him standing on the precipice, but their psychic trauma is never addressed. All the bad is brushed aside once Homer starts his safety campaign, despite hints that he hasn’t worked through all his issues. Yes, it’s a cartoon, but this is the second episode in a row in which one of the main characters illustrated that they have serious problems that need to be addressed, but instead accepts a bandaid and a return to the status quo.

I can’t allow negatively to completely mar this episode, so I’ll mention what I think is one of the best staged shots from the show at any point. Just before Homer decides to commit suicide and desperate for a drink he stoops to sneaking into Bart’s room and steal his piggy bank. The bank is staged on a shelve about Bart’s head and the scene is shot from somewhere near the ceiling. Homer reaches over Bart casting a menacing shadow. His outstretched arms and grasping fingers make the shadow look like a monster The specter of Homer’s addiction is visibly manifested as a nightmare that is consuming his vulnerable children. In an episode I don’t much care for it’s a true moment of genius.

Beyond that, I don’t have much to commend about this outing. Its suffocated by a heavy plot that leaves no air for laughter after the first act. Even though the animation is good enough and the voice work is great, the episode never comes to together and, unlike most first season episodes, provides few hints of the greatness to come. 

*This is the second time in the first three episodes that Bart displays a fascination with tattoos. He says he wants one and Otto tells him he has to wait until he’s 14. Bart seems to forget that he already had a tattoo and paying for its removal almost ruined Christmas.

**The guard bears a disturbing resemblance to Homer, down to the feet on the desk and donut in hand.

Running Gags

Homer’s Odd Job Count: 2 (Public Safety Advocate – Non-Costume Edition).

Marge’s Odd Job Count: 1 (Drive-in Waitress).

Weird Introductions to Classic Characters

Waylon “Wait He Started Out Black” Smithers

            Otto “Actually Pretty Creepy” Mann

            Police Chief Clancy “Vaguely Competent” Wiggum

Animation Corner

            Wes Archer, at least during his years at The Simpsons, loved to make his characters elastic. If                 you've ever listened to audio commentary tracks on an early Archer episode, you've heard                     discussion about the quirky moves he slipped into the animation to the apparent consternation of             Matt Groening. The combination of that fluidity and first season wonkiness, led to things like                 this giraffe neck Marge.

Jeff Alpertson’s Obsessive Watcher Moment

We get a brief glimpse at the adorable, radioactive monster Blinky the three-eyed fish. Blinky makes frequent appearances across the show and his (temporary) death creates the pivotal moment for Mr. Burns’ unsuccessful gubernatorial campaign in Two Cars in Every Garage, Three Eyes on Every Fish. Burns, in an attempt to show he understands the common man joins the Simpson family for dinner on election night. Marge, angry that Homer planned the dinner without her knowledge, serves Blinky, who is a symbol in the campaign of Burns’ irresponsible management of the plant. To prove the plant isn’t a danger Burns attempts to eat Blinky, but fails, spitting a morsel across the dining room and dooming his campaign before it hits the ground.

Things That Might Amuse No One But Me

My favorite small moment of the episode is right at the beginning. Mrs. Krabappel warns the class to keep their arms inside the bus so they won’t be like the kid who got his arm ripped off by a truck. Bart, ever the class clown, pulls an arm into his shirt and, in a perfectly pitched Tennessee Williams’ heroine’s voice yells “And I was that boy.” Great voice work from Nancy Cartwright showing off Bart’s theatrical side.

Bart the Genius (Season 1, Episode 2)

Bart learns that action have consequences...

Vitals
Title: Bart the Genius
Air Date: January 14, 1990
Episode No. 7G02 (Season 1, Episode 2)
Written by: John Vitti
Directed by: David Silverman

        I am a big fan of the writer of this episode, John Vitti, in fact he is probably my favorite all-time Simpson's writer. Vitti, in my opinion, works better than any other writers with the James L. Brooks sensibility. Brooks brought a strong dose of humanity (and an appropriately measured dose of sentiment) that gave the early show its center and is the framework upon which all the louder moments of humor hang. The Simpsons could never have succeeded as a show without that facet and Vitti is as good as anyone at finding both humor and poignancy in the same story beats. He establishes that reputation firmly from the very start and manages to bring surprising complexity to such fresh characters.

         The story is about as simple as the show gets. The show opens with a  family game of scrabble that highlights that the Simpsons aren't very smart (or at least not great at scrabble) and gives us the classic Kwyjibo. The family seems happy and loving, even if the scene ends with Homer flying into a rage and chasing Bart around the house. Then Bart, in his latest act of misbehavior, spray paints Skinner graffiti on the side of the school the next day ("I am a weiner") and gets turned in by Martin, who has never been worse as he not only torments Bart by abusing the trust of the teachers, but also mocks his intelligence with palpable condescension. Bart is caught, literally red-handed by Skinner (who has thankfully lost his stammer from Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire) and Marge and Homer are called in for an after school meeting.

Weiner may not be the common spelling, but it is an acceptable ethnic variation.

         Bart is returned to class and sits down just in time for a standardized IQ test. After some more poor treatment from Martin, Bart settles in, facing the window so he doesn't cheat, to take the test. It seems like every other line in the episode is about Bart's intelligence, and a fantasy sequence makes clear that having every adult in his life write him off as a stupid and incorrigible trouble-maker weighs on him. The math word problem become literal as Bart is trapped on a train where he seeks help solving the problem. As he becomes more confused and desperate numbers begin to take over the frame, until everything that can has taken on a numerical form. Its a very sharp, very Silverman piece of animation that illustrates just how heavily it all weighs on Bart.

         Yet another round of mocking from Martin, who is of course finished with the test, leads Bart to do the only thing he thinks he's good at, mischief. When Krabappel's back is turned he grabs Martin's finished test and exchanges it for his own. When Marge and Homer arrive for their meeting with Skinner, who has an entire drawer in his filing cabinet for Bart's permanent record, is about to announce some drastic action to address Bart's behavior when the school psychologist, Dr. J. Loren Pryor, rushes in and puts the result of Bart's IQ test before Skinner, who is stopped in his tracks. Although he, Marge and Homer are incredulous, Skinner is happy to be rid of Bart by any means necessary and arranges a transfer to a school for the gifted.

         At first Bart basks in the better treatment he receives. Finally his poor behavior is seen as a good sign, the byproduct of a special, but bored mind, and everyone gets off his back. He knows he won't be able to maintain the charade, but he tries, at first because he doesn't want to be caught and later because he doesn't want to disappoint Marge and Homer. Of course, Bart can't cut it at the new school, where the students quickly determine he isn't one of them and abuse him relentlessly. At home, he is happy to be treated better, especially by Homer. However, he is also exhausted by Marge, who is so intimidated by Bart's new intelligence that she sets up a series of unwanted culture outings. We see the trip to the opera, which the rest of the family uses to mock the singers, even though Marge somehow managed to snag a private balcony.

        Finally, exhausted from the abuse and heightened expectations, Bart is about to give up and confess, but decides to stick it out when Homer invites him to play catch and they have a rare bonding moment. Then, though, the time limit for the episode intervenes and Bart is send back to Springfield Elementary after he mixes an acid and base and fills the lab with something green that dyes his skin. Dr. Pryor, incompetent as he is, can't understand Bart's failure at the new school, and buys Bart's final lie about wanting to go undercover to observe the normal kids in his old class. It is only then, realizing he doesn't want to keep playing this game, that Bart confesses.
     
       Sadly, its played for laughs when Bart finally tells Homer the truth as he is being de-greened with turpentine in a metal washtub. He pours his heart out, telling Homer how much better it was to not be treated like a screw-up. Homer reacts with his typically oversized rage and chases Bart through the house and into his bedroom. A literal and figurative door closes on their better relationship and everyone falls back into their dysfunctional, but familiar roles. Its was only choice the show could make, but it always leaves me a bit sad for Bart, who has yet to find the acceptance he was seeking 25 years later.

         As a piece of comedy, Bart the Genius is an enjoyable, but ultimately disappointing outing. Vitti, as usual, does great work with the family dynamics, hinting at Lisa's put-upon brilliance, Marge's desire to nurture the children into a higher social class, and, of course, Homer's frustration with Bart.
However, while the jokes are sharply observed and the satire bites hard (for instance the transformation of Dumb Bart's graffiti into a monument to Genius Bart's early greatness), they are merely amusing rather than actually funny. The scenes at Bart's new school are particularly disappointing, with most of the jokes falling flat and not making the children seem odd, rather than brilliant.*

        I appreciate this episode for the emotions and complex feelings that it minds, even though it ultimately pulls its punches hard and reverts to the status quo. It makes sense for the second episode of the series, there is value to staying broad and malleable and there probably isn't anything to be gained from focusing on the saddest aspects of the family relationships.The particular pathos of this episode does come back a few time, with its peak in the second season's Bart Gets an F (which might be the most heartbreaking outing in the show's history), and the groundwork is laid here with impressive economy.

*I do love David Silverman's work in the scenes in the school, which looks amazing and overflows with nerd-thrilling detail. I like the retro-futuristic desks and Bart's struggle with the kneeling chair (especially because Lisa is the only 8 year old in the world who uses one - someone on staff is obviously an enthusiast).

"Discover your desks people."

Running Gags

The Children's Treasury of Amusingly Mundane Names: Dr. J. Loren Pryor, school psychologist

Dr. Nick Riviera's Parade of Incompetent Experts:
J. Loren Pryor is the first of many impossibly incompetent professionals in Springfield. This is one of the shows most common, and often best tropes, and is used so frequently that almost every adult in Springfield is terrible at their job. Dr. Pryor guides this train out of the station by cavilierly ignoring all the evidence that Bart's IQ test couldn't be accurate. When Skinner suggests they retest Bart to be sure, he caliverly refuses. He does, though, take time to measure Bart's head with calipers.

I imagine this has something to do with phrenology, but what?

Jeff Albertson's Obsessive Watcher Moment:
The question of the Simpson daughter's intelligence comes up frequently on the show. Although Lisa's brilliance hasn't been firmly established at this point, Lisa quickly develops into a (mostly) platonic ideal of precocious intelligence. There are countless episodes where Lisa must learn to navigate life as a smart Simpson. Maggie's mind is a less common topic, but does come up. In A Streetcar Named Marge she escapes the Ayn Rand School for Tots a la The Great Escape and may or may not be brilliant in Smart and Smarter, which features Simon Cowell and Lisa's ego.

Great Introductions of Classic Characters:
The late Marcia Wallace starts of with a grand slam as Mrs. Krabappel. Her first on screen advise for the class as she hand's out the IQ test: "I don't want you to worry class, these tests will have no effect on your grade, they merely determine your future social status and financial success. If any." A little on the nose, perhaps, but that's what makes Mrs. K so great, the only thing missing is the disaffected laugh.
(Wallace also does double duty in this episode, voicing Bart's other teacher, Ms. Mellon).

Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire (Season 1, Episode 1)

So it begins. Sort of.


Vitals
Title: Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire
Air Date: December 17, 1989
Episode No. 7G08 (Season 1, Episode 1)
Written by: Mimi Pond
Directed by: David Silverman

I'm not quite sure when I first saw this episode. By the time I was old enough to watch The Simpsons in the mid-90s, these first season selections were already rare in the syndication rotisserie, probably because the animation is obviously crunchier than the work done in later seasons. So when I came back around to these episodes they were already clunky. The voices and animation were a bit off and the writing was slower and had a lower joke density. There are still great episodes from the very beginning of The Simpsons run, but it was probably the right choice to let them slip into a comfortable retirement. Still, revisiting these early outings is worth doing, and even if you don't enjoy them as much as those from a few seasons later, there isn't a bad episode in the batch.

Its well known that Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire was not intended as the series premiere. It was supposed to be Some Enchanted Evening at the start of the 1989 television season, but that episode had to pushed to the end of the season due to a major animation catastrophe (the original animation is an extra on the Season 1 DVD, and well worth a watch). When the launch was pushed to just before Christmas, this episode became the natural plug-in. Instead of feeling like a pilot, therefore, the episode falls easily into subverting the tropes of stand-alone Christmas specials.* That extra level of parody really helps smooth over some rough spots along the way and make the episode much stronger than the typical premiere.

The show opens  without the classic theme, instead drifting down onto Homer and Marge in the car, running late for the school Christmas pageant. The humor throughout this episode is down to earth, Marge and Home have to awkwardly work their way to the center of an aisle to find their seats. Bart is introduced singing the classic, Batmanized version of Jingle Bells. Lisa first appears performing as Towanga, the Santa Clause of the South Seas.

Actually kind of freaky.

After the pageant ends we enter the Simpson house the first time and see a portrait of Simpson family life. Its mostly sweet, but irreverent. The family enjoys doing things together - bonding over gentle mocking of Patty and Selma - even if they get on each others nerves. Homer's short temper enables Bart's bratty literalism when he says that Bart can't have a tattoo unless he pays for it himself. A well-intentioned Flanders upstages Homer's failed light display.

Then its on to the part of Christmas that really matters, the consumerism. This is where the plot of the episode really launches. In a perfect dollop of the stilted logic that rules in Springfield, Bart gets a tattoo, enabled by Homer's "permission" and a grossly negligent tattooist with a proto-wiseguy voice that make me laugh every time I see it. After Marge catches Bart, we cut to the plant where Mr. Burns cancels Christmas bonuses just because he can. Then, to pile on the calamity, Marge's savings are spent on a laser-rific tattoo removal for Bart. Faced with disappointing his family and too broke for Christmas, Homer tells a white lie and sets out in search of miracle.

The first of Homer's many trips to Moe's sends him into training for a new part time job as a mall santa. When he arrives at home to find Patty and Selma there with withering disapproval he sulks off to steal a Christmas tree from the woods and is chased off by the gun-toting owner. The next day, Christmas Eve, Homer's Santa act is discovered when Bart decides to expose the fake Saint Nick and they have a heart to heart over Homer's effort to give the family a Christmas. At this point many sitcoms would tie on the bow and Christmas would be saved. Not the Simpsons, though, as it turns out Homer's net pay is only 13 dollars, no where near enough for presents

Now at rock bottom, with nothing to show for his efforts and out of time, Barney, singing "I'm in the money" to his own 13 dollars, offers to take Bart and Homer to the dog track. Bart convinces Homer to go and rather than betting on Barney's sure thing, Homer gets a feeling about a dog named Santa's Little Helper and puts all his money on the dog at 99 to 1. Of course, Santa's Little Helper comes in dead last and Homer once again defeated bangs his head on the metal rail with an amusingly realistic sound effect.

The episode finally turns when Santa's Little Helper's horrible owner disowns him and Bart asks if they can take him home. Homer's resists at first because Santa's Little Helper is "a loser," but a well-timed lick in the face wins him over. When Homer, Bart, and Santa's Little Helper, Homer is finally ready to admit what happened to the rest of the family (including a half-awake Abe), but before he can give his full confession Bart introduces the dog and all is forgiven. Cut to cheesy Christmas card photo of the last shot and its a wrap.

The most striking thing about this episode is that unlikely many pilots, it fits well with the series initial seasons. If you didn't know it was the first episode, you would never be able to tell. Of course the characters and animation developed over the first few years, but the shows early beats are immediately established. Lisa is smart, Bart is a brat, and Homer is a well-meaning buffoon.

Having said that, the episode is pretty bleak for the Simpsons. Working class sitcoms used to have a more prominent place on television, and they had yet to reduced to self-parody by ignoring the real money problems many families deal with on a daily basis (The Simpsons itself fell victim to this drift). That makes it a little bit jarring to see Homer and Marge fall into a true financial predicament. The show walks a fine line right from the start. I am one of those who has never gotten tired of the show and still manages to enjoy most episodes, even in this late season, but the show really lost something when it lost its working class grounding.

This isn't the best episode of the series, or even the strongest of the first season, but Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire, is a milestone. As the first episode of a comedy it is miles ahead of many other beloved shows, and it is a very impressive, full-formed piece of work.

*Because Simpsons Roasting on a Open Fire was treated as a special separate from the main series, the show's first season actually competed against itself for the Outstanding Animated Program Emmy. This episode ended up losing out to the excellent Life in the Fast Lane.

Running Gags

Thing That Might Amuse No One But Me:
Marge's line: "Homer be careful," is the very first of the series and perfectly sums up everything that will follow.

Movie Reference of the Week:
The first reference in series history is a good one. The parents of Springfield Elementary watch Lisa's fire-dancing Towanga performance, mouths agape with horror, just as in the famous Springtime for Hitler reaction shot from The Producers.

Homer's Odd Job Count:
1 (Mall Santa)

Jeff Albertson's Obsessive Watcher Moment:
The only thing Lisa wants for Christmas is a pony. As everyone knows, she gets her pony in the third season episode Lisa's Pony, which features another poorly thought out Homer plan that somehow brings the family together with a little animal assistance.

Homer's Most Homer Moment:
We get an early flash of the Homer that would soon emerge when Marge shows him the Christmas jar she had to empty to get Bart's MOTH tattoo removed. Realizing their is no money for Christmas, he panics then ineptly tries to pretend everything is okay. Its always been one of my favorite character beats on the show. Its happens fairly often, but it is always funny, and one of Dan Castellaneta's best Homer modulations.

Weird Introductions of Classic Characters:
Ralph "Japanese Robot Santa Claus" Wiggum
Principal Seymour "I mispronounce half the words I try to say" Skinner