"The Simpsons" There's No Disgrace Like Home (1990)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Directors:

Kent Butterworth
Gregg Vanzo

Writers:

Matt Groening (creator)
James L. Brooks (developer) ...

TV Series:

"The Simpsons" (1989)

Original Air Date:

28 January 1990 (Season 1, Episode 4)

Genre:

Animation | Comedy

Plot:

At a company picnic Homer realizes his family is dysfunctional and takes them all to therapy where they end up having shock treatment...

Plot Keywords:

Nuclear Power | Dysfunctional Family | Principal | House | Sitcom

Cast

Dan Castellaneta	...	Homer Simpson / Barney Gumble / Son in Monroe ad (voice)
Julie Kavner	...	Marge Simpson (voice)
Nancy Cartwright	...	Bart Simpson / Tom Gammil / Mother #2 / Receptionist (voice)
Yeardley Smith	...	Lisa Simpson (voice)
Harry Shearer	...	Mr. Burns / Waylon Smithers / Father #1 / Documentation voice / Father #2 / Boxing announcer / Eddie / Dr. Marvin Monroe / Voice in Monroe ad / Pawnbroker / Father #3 (voice)
Hank Azaria	...	Mr. Gammil / Moe Szyslak / Lou / Father in Monroe ad (voice)
Maggie Roswell	...	Mother #1 / Daughter / Mother in Monroe ad (voice)
Pamela Hayden	...	Son #1 / Son #2 (voice)

Runtime:

30 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Argentina:Atp

Company:

20th Century Fox Television

Trivia:

Dr. Marvin Monroe's phone number is 1-800-555-HUGS.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When Homer threatens Barney he says, "Here's five you haven't met" yet he has only four fingers.

Quotes:

Mr. Burns: [after seeing Homer give Bart 5 dollars for a kiss] I never saw such an obvious attempt to curry my favor!
Weyland Smithers: Fabulous observation sir, just fabulous!

Movie Connections:

Spoofs A Clockwork Orange (1971)

Soundtrack:

Hey Brother, Pour The Wine

The Simpsons in all their dysfunctional glory

After a Peanuts-like, Simpsons-styled Christmas special, an episode that delved into Bart's psyche (along with "The Simpsons'" relationship to intellectualism) and an episode showing us a bit more about Homer's personality, it was time to look further into the Simpsons relationship to each other as a family unit.

The family has to attend one of Mr. Burns' annual, mandatory company picnics, and doing so, in addition to observing different kinds of behavior from his family at home, makes Homer despondent. He wonders why they can't be like other families, like the ones who ride off from the picnic in glee, with exemplary etiquette, while Heaven shines a special light on them and guides them home.

As they leave the picnic, the Simpsons instead turn into demons and ride through a desolate, Hellish landscape (in one of the first completely surreal sequences of the show, promising the many marvelously hallucinogenic side-trips to come in the series, and even more literally foreshadowing the Halloween specials). After the introduction (without title or other identification) of Itchy and Scratchy to the series, and while Homer is sitting at the bar of an oddly black-haired Moe, Homer sees a commercial for Dr. Marvin Munro's Family Therapy Center and decides to--horror of horrors--hock the television so they can have a session.

It's worth noting that as in episode 3, Homer's Odyssey, this is still not quite Homer as most of us would imagine him down the road. We'd usually think of someone else in the family--either Lisa or Marge, probably--becoming upset that the Simpsons are so unruly. But again, it may be that we've forgotten about Homer's complexities as much as that creator Matt Groening and the writers have changed his personality over the years.

Of course, things do not go as planned at Dr. Munro's. The Simpsons are too dysfunctional for that. Throughout the episode, we're treated to some of the funniest family dynamics of the series, including the family's typical manner of eating dinner and their response to quickly drawing what's bothering them for the psychiatrist (the latter event is also a great opportunity to note just how subtle the show can get--look closely at the differences in the drawings, considering each character's personality and abilities). The family is so dysfunctional that even the normally well-behaved and intellectual one, Lisa, goes off the edge many times--joining Bart in a funny pushing match, goofing off in an intellectual way at Mr. Burns' fountain, and gleefully engaging in the mayhem at Munro's office.

But Groening and the writers cleverly slip in a very benevolent and understanding moral of the story in the end--they show that as screwed up as they may be in some ways, the Simpsons are really a very happy family with a tight bond who function well as a unit. They just don't function in socially normative ways much of the time. The family who earlier slipped off into Heaven did so to emphasize the myth of that kind of family. The Simpsons tend to triumph, happily, in their own manner, just like most real families do.