Phaneron

25th Feb 2022

The Simpsons (1989)

You Only Move Twice - S8-E2

Question: I, like Marge, don't know much about football. Why is Homer disappointed to own the Denver Broncos team? I know his first choice was owning the Dallas Cowboys, but he seems to especially dislike the Broncos.

Answer: I don't think the writers had anything particular in mind when choosing the Denver Broncos to be the butt of the joke. But I wonder if it's meant to be a clue where Springfield is. But, while this episode did air late 1996 when the Broncos had a winning season, given the amount of time needed to produce the episode, it was written when the Broncos were a mediocre team at best. From '92-'95 they had a 32-32 record and never finished higher than 3rd in their division. And the Cowboys and Broncos are in separate conferences, so they're not particularly rivals. But as Phaneron points out, the Broncos ended up winning back-to-back Super Bowls in the following 2 season after this episode aired, so Homer is a very lucky guy.

Bishop73

Probably also worth mentioning that by the time this episode had aired, the Broncos had an 0-4 record in the Super Bowl, and to this day I believe they hold the record for most Super Bowl losses.

Phaneron

The Buffalo Bills also had an 0-4 record at the time of airing having lost 4 straight years.

ctown28

The Vikings are also 0-4 in the Super Bowl. The Patriots have 5 losses (although only had 1 at the time this episode aired).

Bishop73

True, and they would have been a funnier pick for Homer to end up owning, given that two consecutive of those four Super Bowl losses were to the Cowboys. Although Homer fantasizing about being John Elway in the episode Cape Feare makes his disdain for the Broncos rather funny.

Phaneron

7th May 2020

The Simpsons (1989)

Show generally

Question: I remember a scene in one episode when Maggie is outside the house at night looking for Marge. She thinks she sees Marge's hair sticking up from behind a fence, but when she looks behind the fence, it turns out it's just a tree. Which episode was that?

ksc

Answer: "Homer Alone" from season three.

Phaneron

26th Apr 2020

The Simpsons (1989)

Oh, Brother, Where Are Thou? - S2-E15

Question: How exactly did the production of Homer's car bankrupt Herb? If Herb, as a highly successful car manufacturer, was spending so much money spoiling Marge and the kids that an $82,000 price tag for making a car was enough of a straw to break the camel's back, wouldn't he have gone bankrupt sooner than later anyway?

Phaneron

Answer: It wasn't the cost of one car, but that they'd produced thousands of Homer's ridiculous vehicles, which they'd marketed as a family car, but cost five times as much as a new car at the time. No one would buy them and the company went under.

Brian Katcher

Wasn't the car just a demo though? How would they have been able to produce thousands of cars in such a short amount of time?

Phaneron

Herb had given instructions to his team to build whatever Homer wants, thinking it would be a success. More than likely the plant produced the one seen while production continued on the rest. Herb had too much faith in Homer and his ideas.

Ssiscool

Big difference between a "demo" or prototype car compared to a launch car. The dealers must have stock available of the launch car so people can actually buy them straight away.

stiiggy

1st Oct 2019

The Simpsons (1989)

Answer: They simply didn't like the real Seymour Skinner. He was headstrong and didn't vibe with the townsfolk. Armin was a pushover who didn't really rock the boat, so to speak, so they wanted to keep him around to maintain the previous status quo.

Phaneron

1st Jul 2019

The Simpsons (1989)

Answer: His final speaking role was in "Realty Bites," but his actual final appearance was in "A Tale of Two Springfields," where he can briefly be seen trying to climb over the wall of garbage.

Phaneron

3rd Sep 2018

The Simpsons (1989)

Answer: She wanted to use them to discourage Lisa from playing hockey and probably felt ashamed/embarrassed for keeping them when Milhouse asked if she had them.

Phaneron

14th Jun 2014

The Simpsons (1989)

Answer: According to Al Jean, the producers haven't decided yet but they have some ideas.

Phaneron

There was an episode in which Ned went to Springfield elementary as a substitute but left. Bart convinced him to come back. Then in S30s finale, "crystal blue haired persuasion", Flanders show Marge a test that Bart got in "his" class, suggesting he is the new teacher. However, Simpsons wiki fandom shows that it a is a temporary job.

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