Itchy and Scratchy: The Movie - S4-E6
Question: Homer bans Bart from ever watching "The Itchy And Scratchy Movie". But what exactly is the audience meant to think about this? Is the audience meant to think Homer did the right thing or Homer did a severe thing and the audience wants Bart to watch The Itchy And Scratchy Movie?
Who Shot Mr. Burns? (1) - S6-E25
Question: At The Town meeting, when The Town residents threaten Mr Burns, why does Ned Flanders want to hear from Sideshow Mel? How does he even know who he is? Why does he care about his opinion?
Answer: Why shouldn't he care about his opinion? As Mel says in another episode "My opinions are as valid as the next man's!" Maybe Flanders knew he was smarter then he looks and wanted to have a strong voice on his side.
The Springfield Files - S8-E10
Question: When Homer and Bart are looking out for the 'alien' there are 3 frogs croaking something. What are they saying, and why?
Answer: The frogs are saying Budweiser. One frog says "bud," the next one says "weis," and the final one says "er". This is a satire of a popular Budweiser television promotion that was going through America at the time.
Answer: Then the 3 frogs were eaten by a big crocodile that says "Coors", Budweiser's biggest competitor.
Question: Can someone explain why the show makes jokes about Major League Baseball and how they control us?
Chosen answer: Major League Baseball is very protective of their copyrights and trademarks, and likely to take legal action if they are used without permission. I think that is what the jokes refer to.
The Lastest Gun in the West - S13-E12
Question: Buck McCoy tells Bart that there used to be "a thing called metal." And Bart is surprised by a metal lunch box. What is the joke here?
Answer: That everything nowadays is plastic, to the point where a child of Bart's age would be unfamiliar with metal.
Question: Why would Homer want his 'favorite team' to lose by less than five points? Is it a gambling thing?
Answer: Yes, it's a gambling thing. It's called "the spread." The Cowboys would have been underdogs, so the opponent (in 1990 it was the Washington Redskins) were favored to win. Homer bet money that the Cowboys would win or at least not lose by 6 points. That's why he says "five and a half points", since there's no way to score half a point, if the Cowboys lost by 6, Homer loses the bet. But if they lose by 5 or less, Homer wins the bet.
Question: Does every episode have a chalkboard and couch gag (or variation on it)? When I watch reruns sometimes it goes into the show after the words "The Simpsons" come through the cloud and I can't tell if they cut out the intro or if there just wasn't one.
Chosen answer: The original opening of every episode of "The Simpsons" does include a chalkboard gag and a couch gag. Your Fox-TV affiliate may air the episode with portions of the opening and/or other segments of the show edited in order to make room for additional advertising, local station identifications or promotions for upcoming programming on that station. This is often done to television program episodes in syndication.
Answer: So, The Simpsons intro has 3 gags: the chalkboard gag, couch gag, and billboard gag. The show itself has variations of its opening, with different lengths to fit the length of the rest of the episode. The Couch Gag is the most common gag, and the Billboard gag is the least common because of these variations. And to answer your question, yes, sometimes the episodes don't even have an intro.
Marge vs. the Monorail - S4-E12
Question: Was the whole point of Lyle's flight to Tahiti making a brief layover in North Haverbrook so the citizens there could get their revenge on Lyle? (00:18:30)
Chosen answer: No. Lyle's flight having a layover in North Haverbrook was a happy accident for its citizens. It is unknown why the plane had a layover, except it suiting the plot.
Question: When Ned goes into the muffin store, Ned asks "One cran-bran, for the Flan man". What was he asking for? (00:15:45)
Chosen answer: He was ordering a cranberry bran muffin.
Question: Why did Sideshow Bob frame Krusty?
Chosen answer: He wanted Krusty out of the way so he could host a show where he isn't the constant fool.
Question: Why does Sideshow Bob not want to pursue Lisa since, if it hadn't been for her pointing out to Bart all the major flaws in the CCTV footage that would show that it couldn't have been Krusty (in Krusty Gets Busted), he wouldn't have been found out by Bart and Lisa? He knows Lisa is smarter than Bart, so surely he would have realised that Lisa was the brains behind the detective work that got him caught.
Question: This has interested me for ages: Where does Smithers actually live? And how does he get to and from the power plant? I am asking because Smithers is at Mr Burns's mansion most of the time, which gives the impression he is sort of a live-in servant, but in other instances, he is shown to live in a house by himself e.g. Lisa vs Malibu Stacey. And in terms of his commute to and from work, he is seen to drive Mr. Burns around in Burns's car, like a chauffeur, but in the episode where Homer gets promoted and gets the executive spot, Smithers drives up in another car, and not Burns's, which is already there.
Answer: In the episode, "You Only Move Twice", Smithers walks out of a house saying that it's nice driving Mr. Burns to work, so he could live in said house.
Question: When Lisa is telling Marge how she feels about Mr. Bergstrom, why doesn't she want to accept that Marge has the same feelings for Homer?
Treehouse of Horror XIII - S14-E1
Question: In "Island of Doctor Hibbert", when the fox around Hibbert's necks turns out to be Mr. Burns, why are Lisa and Bart so delighted to see him?
Question: How can Flanders afford stuff like a huge boat and a motorhome if he doesn't make a lot of money?
Answer: From time to time he has explained his above average income has come from a variety of reasons. First of all he has mentioned from time to time of other business ventures he has been involved. At one time he was doing advertisements when he shaved his moustache and another he was trading in religious website store. Secondly the Leftorium that he runs has had his highs and lows which would explain why he can sometimes afford more expensive items. Thirdly he seems to be quite clever when it comes to saving and business. For example he showed Homer about the Mega Savers course that showed about how to buy more expensive items at lower prices.
And he was once a successful pharmacist. He says so when he burns his tie announcing the Leftorium.
Question: How come Sideshow Bob only wants to kill Bart? In "Krusty Gets Busted", Bart and Lisa together investigated the crime and concluded that Krusty was framed. So Sideshow Bob should be going after Lisa too.
Answer: Essentially Bart was the main figure behind Sideshow Bob being arrested and convicated. While Lisa helped Bart gather some of the clues, it only lead them to the theory that someone else was behind the robbery. It wasn't until Bart noticed the size of Bob's feet compared to Krusty's feet that he discovered it was Bob who framed Krusty.
Sunday, Cruddy Sunday - S10-E12
Question: In the episode where Homer and Bart go to the Superbowl, why does Marge write down Jody Price's name on a pad when calling the toy company about missing feet for their egg painting game?
Answer: Because on the recording Vincent Price says his Grandson Jody will get them the missing feet.
Chosen answer: Like many great episodes of the Simpsons, this one does not give us a good or bad guy. Rather, it's examining a family dynamic; parents want to protect their children, children want to prove their maturity. Just like in real life, no one is being especially unreasonable, they're just butting heads by each trying to do what they think is best.