"The Simpsons" Yokel Chords (2007)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Susie Dietter

Writers:

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

TV Series:

"The Simpsons" (1989)

Original Air Date:

4 March 2007 (Season 18, Episode 14)

Genre:

Animation | Comedy

Plot:

In a "The Sound of Music" parody, Lisa becomes a tutor for Cletus's seven children, until Krusty tries to exploit them as entertainers. Meanwhile, Bart becomes emotionally attached to his school-appointed psychiatrist. |

Plot Keywords:

Child Star | Home Schooling | Nuclear Power | Dysfunctional Family | Pacifier

Cast

Dan Castellaneta	...	Homer Simpson / Grampa / Barney Gumble / Krusty the Klown / Groundskeeper Willie / Mayor Quimby / Hans Moleman / Sideshow Mel / Others (voice)
Julie Kavner	...	Marge Simpson / Patty Bouvier / Selma Bouvier / Others (voice)
Nancy Cartwright	...	Bart Simpson / Nelson Muntz / Todd Flanders / Ralph Wiggum / Kearney / Others (voice)
Yeardley Smith	...	Lisa Simpson (voice)
Hank Azaria	...	Moe Szyslak / Chief Wiggum / Apu / Comic Book Guy / Cletus / Prof. Frink / Others (voice)
Harry Shearer	...	Montgomery Burns / Waylon Smithers / Ned Flanders / Kent Brockman / Rev. Lovejoy / Principal Skinner / Dr. Hibbert / Rainer Wolfcastle / Others (voice)
Peter Bogdanovich	...	Psychologist (voice)
Andy Dick	...	Himself (voice)
James Patterson	...	Himself (voice)
Meg Ryan	...	Dr. Swanson (voice)
Stephen Sondheim	...	Himself (voice)
Marcia Wallace	...	Edna Krabappel (voice)
Pamela Hayden	...	(voice)
Tress MacNeille	...	(voice)
Russi Taylor	...	(voice)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Company:

20th Century Fox Television

Quotes:

Krusty the Klown: I brought the greatest American composer... this guy. What's your name?
Stephen Sondheim: Stephen Sondheim. I know you hear that a lot, but I think you're great.
Krusty the Klown: Well, I bet you hear this a lot: You cost me an arm and a leg, so get to work!
Stephen Sondheim: Here's the opening number.
Krusty the Klown: Aha... Complex harmonies... Sophisticated lyrics... Pithy observations on everyday life... What is this crap! Where's the zazz? Why don't you do what you did on Cats?
Stephen Sondheim: I didn't write Cats.
Krusty the Klown: Oh, no! All right, I think we can save this.

Movie Connections:

References Auntie Mame (1958)

Interesting use of parody

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This episode was a very interesting one. It opens with a potential storyline - Homer actually taking care of his kids for once - but then cuts to Bart at school without a lunch. The story he tells to discourage other kids from eating - Dark Stanley - was simple brilliance: the old-fashioned animation, the ghostly music; all of it enraptured me. I was quite sorry when the sequence ended.

Then, after the children have fled the school, we see the first musical number (parodying "How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria"). It took me a while to figure out that this was a parody of The Sound of Music, because the actual tunes were different than the original. The episode sags ever so slightly in the middle, but picks right up again when Cletus' kids, the ones Lisa had been tutoring, are signed to Krusty's show and Stephen Sondheim (my all-time favorite composer) makes a cameo. Bart's meeting with a psychiatrist (Meg Ryan) is almost equally memorable, although the two feel almost like separate story lines that require separate episodes to cover.

Overall, I was impressed with this episode. It was hilarious at times, with the wit and wonder of the Simpsons of old creeping back in.