Against the Groen(ing) 10.12.07: There's No Disgrace Like Home - Episode 4
Posted by Cory Lynn Schibler on 10.12.2007
Hear that Homer, you can lie around in your underwear and scratch yourself.
And we’re back! Here comes another approximately 23 minutes of life with your favorite yellow family and mine, The Simpsons. Today we look at Groening’s take on family therapy with There’s No Disgrace Like Home. This is another tough school week for me, with a huge test tomorrow, but I’m going to hit this episode fast and furious anyhow. If it is not quite as entertaining as it should be I apologize.
Original Air date: January 28, 1990 Production Code: 7G04
This episode was written by Al Jean and Mike Reiss and directed by Gregg Vanzo and Kent Butterworth.
Principal Cast Homer: Dan Castellaneta Marge: Julie Kavner Bart: Nancy Cartwright Lisa: Yeardley Smith
Chalkboard Gag: “I will not burp in class”
Couch Gag: The family all squeezes in together and Homer plops out onto the floor.
The episode begins with the family getting ready for the company picnic. Bart and Lisa are shoving and fighting in the living room. When Homer asks what they are fighting about, they say they are arguing over who loves Homer more. They then proceed with their argument where they say that the other child loves him more. That’s a great opening gag.
Marge is preparing several gelatin desserts because Homer says that the time Mr. Burns complimented their gelatin dessert was the only time he talked to Homer without using the word bonehead.
Homer tells the kids that since his boss will be at the picnic, they need to show him some love and/or respect. The kids say that that will be a tough choice. After Mr. Burns reads his hellos to the family off of a card, we find out that everyone brought gelatin desserts, apparently because Homer told everyone that Mr. Burns loves it. Mr. Burns then tells the family to make themselves at home, to which Bart has this response.
Bart: “Hear that Homer, you can lie around in your underwear and scratch yourself.”
Homer reminds the family that as far as anyone knows they are a nice normal family. Marge is invited to drop the kids off and get some punch. After seeing Bart torturing some swans, she agrees. We then get a great gag about modern day parenting when they drop the kids off. Marge is worried about leaving the kids unsupervised. The other mother agrees that that would be bad, so she turns on the TV and walks off. Ah, the American mother.
Marge, getting increasingly drunk, says that she sees greatness in her family. The other mothers, shocked by her statement, question her. She says that it is not a greatness others can see, and if they aren’t great then they are certainly average.
Meanwhile, the employees are competing in the mandatory father/son sack race against Mr. Burns. Bart gets fed up with letting Burns win and tries to take the race. Homer hops after him and manages to drag him down before the finish line. Back at the punch bowl, Marge and the other mothers are performing a musical number about pouring wine and drinking the drink that they have made.
After giving a speech thanking everyone for coming, Mr. Burns tells them that they had better leave fast because he will release the hounds in 10 minutes. While they are leaving, Homer sees another family that is acting perfectly, while his kids are fighting over who gets to get in first and his wife is near puking. As he gets in the car, Homer sees the other family being drawn up to Heaven by a white light, while his family turns into demons that chant “one of us” as they drive off into fiery canyons that represent Hell.
Back at home; Homer decides that he has to do something to make his family life better. He says that instead of shoveling food into their mouths in front of the TV, they are going to eat at the table like a regular family. Upon finding that Homer is satisfied with them at the table, they go back to shoveling food. Homer stops them again, saying that they are going to say grace. Bart solves this problem with a simple “rub-a-dub-dub, thanks for the grub” and the family continues to shovel food. This angers Homer and so he takes another shot at it. His prayer consists of complaining about the family and ending with asking why God has smote him with this family.
Marge wants to know why they have to sit at the table and listen to Homer badmouth them to God. Homer says that they are the worst family in town and Lisa says that they aren’t any different than any other family. Homer then takes the family around the neighborhood to prove Lisa wrong. At the second home, the family catches them and chases them off with a shotgun.
At Moe’s Tavern, Homer is drowning his sorrows in a beer. When the cops arrive they turn down Moe’s offer of pretzels because they are on duty, but immediately order a couple of beers. Kind of like a precursor to the cops from Superbad. Everyone should see that movie by the way, it’s hilarious. They say that they are searching for a family of peeping toms that are terrorizing the neighborhood.
Homer says that the one thing that his mother told him that always stuck with him was that he was a big disappointment. Homer then sees a commercial for Dr. Marvin Monroe’s Family Therapy Center. Wow, that commercial is a scene directly pulled from my life, I swear. Homer then exclaims that he was wrong to look for life’s answers at the bottom of a bottle because the answers are on TV.
Landmark Episode Moment! Here we have the very first Itchy and Scratchy short, which is pulled directly from Tom and Jerry, except that after the cat chases the mouse into the hole and gets his head stuck, the mouse puts an old-fashioned fuse bomb into his mouth and blows him up. Not the best, but the really good ones are coming.
Homer then tells the family that he made an appointment with Dr. Monroe. Lisa is appalled that Homer would schedule an appointment with a guy who advertises during pro wrestling. Homer tells her that it is boxing and there is a world of difference.
Hey, timeout. They just took a crack a pro wrestling. This abomination must not stand. I demand that you all stop reading this review right now and write a scathing e-mail to Mr. Groening detailing the intricacies of professional wrestling. I’ll wait…………………………………………………………………………………………Back? Good, because in case you couldn’t tell, IT’S STILL REAL TO ME DAMMIT!
…And apparently to him too.
Anyway, after finding the college fund severely lacking the funds to pay for the therapy, Homer decides they have to pawn the TV. The family begs him to reconsider, with Marge going as far as to offer pawning her wedding ring instead. Homer says that wouldn’t work because they still need $150. We also find out that their TV is made by Motorola. That’s really interesting I didn’t know they ever made TVs. Marge tells Homer that by using the college fund and getting rid of the TV, he driving a stake through the hearts of those who love him. Lisa says that her dreams of going to Vassar have now officially gone down the drain.
Dr. Monroe says that they probably recognize him from TV and Lisa cracks that they would if they had one. When asked to draw out (on paper) the source of their anxieties, the entire family draws Homer. The family then uses Dr. Monroe’s aggression mallets to release some tension. Bart says that the mallets would work better without the padding, then removes the padding and whacks the good doctor on the leg with it. Dr. Monroe then decides that they need more aggressive treatment and decides to use the electroshock room.
This is without a doubt, one of my favorite scenes of all time. Each of the family is strapped to a chair with electrodes attached to their head. Each family member also has four buttons in front of them, which are connected to each of the other family members. Bart immediately presses the button connected to Homer and says that he was just testing. They are only supposed to shock each other when someone hurts them emotionally. However, the family just starts shocking each other repeatedly, which leads to power outages all over the city and to Dr. Monroe having a conniption. After this terrible therapy session, the family gets double their money back and decides that they are going to go buy a brand new TV, complete with a cart to roll it into the dining room on holidays. Roll credits.
The thing that I love about this episode is that the family spends almost the entire episode together as a unit. Just like Friends, I believe that the best episodes are when all the characters are together in one room, where they can play off of each other. Now as this is animated, some of these voice actors may have not even recorded their dialogue at the same time, but the great thing is that it gels together to the point that you think they did record it all together in the same room. If you have ever seen the episode of Inside the Actor’s Studio with the cast (the best episode of that series, right beside the full one with Robin Williams), you know that they have a kind of chemistry that hasn’t been seen since the Pythons. It makes each episode, even the later episodes that aren’t as great, seem special.
Continuing with our random love of pro wrestling clips, here is a best of clip video from one of the greatest promotions to ever hit America, World Class Championship Wrestling, which originated "Right here, in the state of Texas!" I just got my first cheap pop. Go me.
The 411: Combine a family centered plot, along with one of my favorite scenes of any TV show ever, and you get one great episode. While it is the weakest episode so far as far as the allusions and side jokes go, it is certainly the strongest plot wise that we have seen. All that will get thrown out the window next week when we look at Bart the General, but for now this episode stands out. 7.0 out of 10.0.
