Scullyfied Simpsons: Season 9, Episode 21: "Girly Edition"

"K-I-D-Z. Z for Zap! It's a programme for ALL KIDS, made by ALL KIDS, and concentratin' on all the subjects that ALL KIDS are into today!" (Damn you, Ben Elton.)

Airdate: April 19th, 1998

Synopsis: With the FCC cracking down on educational TV, executives convince Krusty the Clown to add a ten minute news program hosted by kids to the end of his shows. Lisa and Bart are appointed as anchor and sports anchor, respectively. Bart's goofy delivery impresses the executives more than Lisa's straightforward delivery, and he is promoted to co-anchor. After hearing Lisa's complaints about him, and after a brief consultation with Kent Brockman, Bart decides to go into more of a "sentimental" route, much to the chagrin of Lisa.

Meanwhile, Homer adopts a helper monkey, Mojo, to help him with his busy life- that is to say, getting food and sleeping. Marge is not amused.

Review: Now THIS is what "Trouble with Trillions" could've been: a satirical look at a particular organization or institution. In this case, the writers decide to take a huge bite out of the modern news media and traditional media in general, and it's brutal enough to obscure any flaws that this episode has.


Let's face it: with news fatigue and "social" news media on the rise, traditional outlets have to play the "tabloid" game even harder to try and retain viewers. The American news media does this especially egregiously- FOX News and the New York Post spin to the right, MSNBC spins to the left, CNN targets the lowest common denominator. It's all in the quest for viewers- many of whom have simply stopped caring.

At the same time as this episode was being produced, the FCC cracked down on children's TV shows on the networks. Believing that kids were getting stupider and fatter as a direct result of Ninja Turtles, the FCC began requiring that broadcast networks air three hours of "educational" TV. Basically, as long as it carried a message at the end, it got approved. The reason why this failed? Not only were kids just rebelling to cable TV, but strict advertising regulations made producing shows a loss for the networks.

This episode manages to hit two birds with one stone- exploring just how weak and phoned-in "educational" kids TV can be (hear me, Litton), while also taking a stab at the news media for covering "soft" news and sensationalism over hard news... even if it meant putting those that work for these companies in danger just to maintain their jobs.

As for characters... I actually can tolerate some of the characterization being a tad off... this time. In fact, I can't say character here is too far off. One of the chief complaints against this episode is that Bart isn't "proud" of being an underachiever here- he actually responds seriously to criticism. Yet, his response is far from genuine- it's just an attempt to garner sympathy and prestige. That's what American news media is, eh? Laying on the schmaltz and the flamboyance to get ratings.

Lisa, meanwhile, is often viewed by newcomers to the show as eons wiser and calmer than Bart. Episodes like these show why that viewpoint isn't exactly correct. Sure, Lisa might be wiser and calmer, but the prospect of being one-upped brings out the absolute worst in her... and makes for some excellent character scenes. She's far from irredeemable, shown when she comes to Bart's defense at the junkyard, but the scenes where she sets Bart up for failure show a brilliant sense of short-sightedness in her.

This episode marks the second appearance of Lindsay Nagle. Nagle works best as a symbol of the callous executive- one that tries to stay hip, and one that likes the money, product be damned. (Ironic, innit?) Later episodes have received flack for overusing the character- a sign that the show's well of ideas was on empty.

We also get our first appearance of the Crazy Cat Lady. Not a lot to work with beyond a joke or two, as funny as those are. For some reason, they gave her some episodes that tried to develop her character (running for mayor in "See Homer Run", getting a backstory in "Springfield Up", and injecting some pseudo-pathos in some Season 22 episode that I don't remember), and the results were underwhelming.

But enough of that noise - let's go to what everybody remembers about this episode... Homer getting a pet monkey! It's cheesy, full of Homer acting like an insensitive child, and just hysterical. You see, Homer's just childish enough to be lovable here- a limit that appears to have been overstepped in recent years. Seeing Mojo deteriorate under Homer's "care" is pretty dark, yet is also hysterical. "Pray for Mojo", indeed.

Overall, if this is the show's last "above 7" episode, I'm not going to complain too much.

Tidbits:

• "The Mattel and Mars Bar Quick Energy Chocobot Hour" is one of the greatest send-ups to 80s merchandise-themed cartoons ever. "That's barely legal as is!"
• Just wondering- how did Bart avoid punishment for effectively stealing half a shipment of Creamed Corn?
• Here's the deal- Season 12 has an episode that sends up the British sci-fi drama The Prisoner. I'm not too worried about it, since at the pace I'm reviewing The Simpsons, the show will finally be cancelled. Still, I'm thinking that, during the 17 episodes before "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes", I'll also post reviews of The Prisoner alongside those reviews. If that goes through, expect the first Prisoner review to go out with "Faith Off".

Zaniness Factor: 1.

Jerkass Homer Meter: 2. No matter what, dragging his father in to get a monkey stretches the character's likability, even by Scully's standards.

Favorite Scene: Mojo steals donuts, and proceeds to hoard them. No wonder why Homer developed a callous to his health, and was relatively unmoved by dropping him off.

Least Favorite Scene: OK, I'll admit that Lisa's speech at the end of the episode was pretty over the top.

Score: 8.