The times when Springfield's favourite family had some snarky things to say.
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00:00Whilst its best years are certainly behind it, The Simpsons rose to be one of the most
00:03important television shows for many years due to the combination of great wit and emotional depth.
00:08It wasn't just a silly cartoon, it often handled the important subjects of the day.
00:13Typically, the Simpsons writing team has always been pretty even-handed with their approach.
00:17Using the subject to tell a story rather than pick a side,
00:19it was the duty of the residents of Springfield to represent the different shades of grey.
00:24That being said, sometimes the show feels pretty potently about things,
00:27and it makes sure we know about it. I'm SciForWhatCulture.com,
00:31and these are 10 Simpsons episodes probably made out of spite.
00:3510. Brother's Little Helper
00:38In this season 11 classic, Bart, ever the wild child,
00:41is placed onto an experimental drug called Focusin. It proves fruitful at first,
00:45but it isn't long before Bart starts wearing tinfoil and ranting about being spied on.
00:50The episode culminated in him swallowing a handful of tablets and riding a tank
00:53through Springfield streets. The episode was written by George Myers,
00:56who had found decent success writing part-time for the show, but was feeling burnt out at the time.
01:01Struggling psychologically, Myers turned his pain into a memorable episode that
01:05critiqued the rise in diagnosing children with attention deficit disorders.
01:09Myers hated the first draft of the episode and was so ashamed of it that he turned it
01:12in under a pseudonym. Producer Tim Long joked that the script was moist with contempt.
01:17Amongst the ongoing debate at the time, Myers had heard plenty of stories of children misdiagnosed
01:22and placed onto drugs such as Ritalin and the damage it caused their psyche,
01:25when presumably they just needed better schooling. When it released on DVD,
01:29Myers admitted in the episode's commentary that, whilst he wasn't sure on his stance on the issue,
01:33he wrote Brother's Little Helper out of concern for children being prescribed behavioural drugs so readily.
01:399. There's Something About Marrying
01:41By 2005, The Simpsons was no stranger to talking about homosexuality,
01:45back in a time when it wasn't quite as normal as it is today. This episode certainly continued
01:50the show's trend of showing LGBT people in largely more positive lights.
01:54Around this time, the subject of same-sex marriage was a hot-button subject in America
01:59and the centre of a lot of debate as some states, such as Massachusetts, began to legalise the
02:03process. And so, as with many great talking points of the day, The Simpsons used Springfield to
02:08explore the issue. There's Something About Marrying sees Springfield legalising same-sex
02:12marriage to cynically increase its tourism income and, in the lead-up to the show,
02:16the network announced that a key character would come out as gay. Whilst not necessarily
02:20anyone's favourite, Patty was a long-standing part of the show's cast and a member of the
02:24Simpsons family. Her acceptance by others was a large part of the episode's story.
02:28Producer Al Jean said of There's Something About Marrying that we don't take a position
02:32as much as explore everybody's perspective. Whilst the episode tended to be apolitical,
02:37it was definitely giving the message that those that demonised homosexuality were of an outdated
02:42sort. 8. Itchy & Scratchy Land
02:45During seasons 5 and 6 of The Simpsons, the show was led under showrunner David Merkin,
02:49who immediately began to receive pushback from Fox. Specifically, the feedback was about the
02:54show within the show, Itchy & Scratchy. Fox were concerned with the animated ultra-violence and
02:59asked David Merkin to basically cut the two characters completely. In reaction, The Simpsons
03:04writers went the other way entirely and crafted a season 6 episode that takes the Simpsons family to
03:08Itchy & Scratchy Land. The story allowed them to write as much animated brutality as they liked.
03:13Fox said that if such an episode were produced, then they would remove the Itchy & Scratchy parts
03:18although it's fair to say that wouldn't leave much of an episode. All the same, Merkin told his
03:22superiors that if that were the case, then he would tell the media what they had done.
03:25Fox relented and the episode aired in 1997. Additionally, the episode serves as a parody
03:30of Disneyland by combining the seemingly perfect majesty of the Mouse's Wonderland with the various
03:35dangers of both Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park and Westworld books. In hindsight, there's some
03:40delicious irony to be had in that The Simpsons is now owned by Disney and continues to be censored
03:44to appease the worldwide Disney Plus audience. 7. The Fool Monty
03:49Slash How Munched Is That Birdie In The Window? This one is not so much an episode written out
03:54of spite, but a reaction to one that impacted another. The episode Fool Monty tells the story
03:58of an amnesiac Mr. Burns being taken in by the Simpsons. Then, for all the troubles he's caused,
04:03Burns is essentially used and abused until Lisa takes him home and his memory returns.
04:07Whilst the episode does poke fun at Vice President Dick Cheney in its side story,
04:11there was one particular moment that caught the ire of the Republican Party.
04:15At the start of the episode, a Fox News helicopter swings into frame, emblazoned with the phrase
04:19not racist, but number one with racists. Conservative TV host Bill O'Reilly in
04:24particular was upset with the show, crying foul that the Fox Network was letting its cartoon
04:28characters run wild and bite the hand that feeds. Happy to have stirred the pot, especially with
04:33such a vocal and well-known political figure, The Simpsons poked back. A helicopter was written into
04:38the following episode, How Munched Is That Birdie in the Window, which reads,
04:41Fox News, unsuitable for viewers under 75. Al Jean said of the reaction,
04:46We're happy to have a little feud with Bill O'Reilly. That's a very entertaining thing for us.
04:50Number 6. You won't believe what this episode is about. Act 3 will shock you.
04:54In March 2022, The Simpsons decided to take another swing at the rise of the so-called
04:59cancel culture movement. What was particularly interesting about this decision is that it came
05:03two and a half years after The Simpsons was embroiled in its biggest controversy surrounding
05:07the character of Apu. In the episode's plot, unfortunate accidents lead to Homer trapping
05:12Santa's little helper in a car and not picking up the kids. The town proceeds to label him as a
05:16pariah. Instead of reading a prepared apology, Homer essentially calls Springfield soft and
05:21accidentally pushes Reverend Lovejoy out of a window. The family gets doxxed and Homer loses
05:26his job, but he is eventually invited to the Institute, where those who have had their
05:29reputations ruined on the internet can find repentance. Clearly a critique on the public
05:34perception of The Simpsons during the era, the episode takes shot at clickbait and society's
05:38tendency to believe a headline rather than read a story's context. It also toys with a current-day
05:43controversial figure by featuring Theo, a podcaster with a pretty clear inspiration in Joe Rogan,
05:48who wants to delete news of his misdeeds from the internet. Whilst the episode was decently
05:53well-received, it was kind of a case of The Simpsons already did it with the episode Homer
05:57Badman. Number 5. Homer Badman. After spending their day at a candy convention, Homer loses
06:03track of his stolen and incredibly rare gummy based on the Venus de Milo statue. When he drops
06:08the kid's babysitter back home, he finds the gummy stuck to her behind and reaches out to take it.
06:12The babysitter misunderstands this act as sexual harassment and Homer becomes publicly disgraced.
06:18Homer Badman at large is a criticism of television's growing need to turn tragedy
06:22into entertainment, an issue which has only gotten bigger over time. In particular,
06:26the episode satirised Hard Copy, an over-the-top news show that ran from 1989 to 1999 in the US
06:32and was guilty of dramatising its stories. Hard Copy had a habit of not only presuming their
06:37targets as guilty, but also cutting footage to support their arguments and even camping
06:41outside of their houses. The show's parody version, Rock Bottom, does all of the above
06:45and also contains a memorable made-for-TV retelling of events starring actress Dennis
06:50Franz as Homer. Homer Badman also parodies the OJ Simpson's chase footage, late show with David
06:55Letterman and television talk shows in general by giving the real-life bear Gentle Ben his own show.
07:00David Merkin would say in a DVD commentary that anyone could host a talk show because all they
07:04needed is a microphone and an audience. 4. Lisa vs Malibu Stacy
07:09In the early 90s, Mattel released a new Barbie doll called the Teen Talk Barbie,
07:14which would read 270 different phrases. They were the kind of thing you'd expect if you've seen
07:18this episode that parodies the doll, low-hanging fruit of feminine tropes about how great shopping
07:23is and, most controversially, how hard math class is. Due to public reaction, Mattel said that future
07:29revisions of this doll would not say this particular phrase. Always reacting to the real
07:33world, the Simpsons used their already existing doll, Malibu Stacy, in exactly the same way.
07:38Giving her a voice that only said the most vapid thing shatters Lisa's illusions that she had of
07:42the character. This prompts her to make a stand and make her own talking doll that empowers women.
07:47Lastly mocking the toy industry and Mattel, Bill Oakley, one of the writers for the episode,
07:51even based Lisa's story on some of his own experiences. He went to several Barbie collecting
07:55conventions and met superfans due to his wife's own interest in the toy line. Despite Lisa's
08:00issues with the doll being founded in logic, the fact that the less intelligent Malibu Stacy
08:04outsells hers is a Simpsons-style cynical look on how having fun often wins over the importance
08:10of making a statement. 3. Panic on the streets of Springfield
08:14In season 15, the Simpsons family travelled to the UK for the episode The Regina Monologues
08:19and encountered several British figures that made voice cameos. One of those approached,
08:24Stephen Patrick Morrissey, turned down the opportunity to be on the show.
08:28Over 15 years later, the Simpsons finally hit back at Morrissey's disinterest,
08:32not to mention his steadily more damaged public perception born from his controversial political
08:36stances. In Panic on the Streets of Springfield, Lisa is introduced to rock band The Snuffs,
08:41who act as a parody of both The Smiths and The Cure. Inspired by the liberal, vegan frontman
08:46Quillaby, Lisa begins to imagine his younger self to bring her solace. Eventually this imaginary
08:51friend convinces Lisa to steal Homer's credit card to go see the real him perform. Lisa sees
08:56that in the current day, he has become an overweight, meat-eating, immigrant-hating
09:00washer. In a touching moment, imaginary Quillaby tells Lisa to remain true to her values before
09:05vanishing. Morrissey struck out against the caricature, bemoaning that in a world obsessed
09:09with hate laws, there are none that protect me, yet again missing the point. The Simpsons team
09:14said that Quillaby was actually inspired by several people, and that therefore he couldn't
09:18sue, but it's plain to see who exactly the episode is mocking.
09:222. Two Bad Neighbours
09:24Whilst The Simpsons had its fair share of controversies in its earlier years,
09:28very few public figures had a feud with the show quite like George H.W. Bush did. During
09:33his presidency, he famously said that he wished more families were
09:36more like the Waltons and less like the Simpsons. The show fired back in its own way the next week,
09:41with Bart saying that like the Waltons, we're also waiting for the end of the Depression.
09:45Two years later, in which time Bill Clinton had replaced Bush in office,
09:49writer Bill Oakley's idea to bring the feud to TV was put into production. Whilst many jokes
09:54would poke fun at his politics, the concept was not one that was meant to attack Bush's agenda,
09:58so much as satire his crotchetiness. With George and his wife Barbara moving to Springfield,
10:03Bush essentially took the role of Mr Wilson to Bart Dennis the Menace. Bart and Homer act
10:07exactly how Bush and his wife would expect them to, childishly pranking their uptight new neighbours.
10:12It was one of the first times that Simpsons got into the face of a politician to such a degree.
10:16Two Bad Neighbours was a great success, although George H.W. Bush never did make
10:20any statement about this parody of himself. 1. The Itchy and Scratchy and Poochy Show
10:27The 14th episode of season 8 of The Simpsons saw the show overtake the Flintstones episode
10:32count to become the longest-running animated series on television. It was a perfectly timed
10:36affair as, in the lead up to the season, Fox had expressed some concerns about the show's shelf
10:41life and longevity. A suggestion was pitched to add a new main character to the show to shake up
10:45the formula, an idea that the writers' room laughed off. Parodying Fox's real-life worries,
10:50The Itchy and Scratchy and Poochy Show sees the popularity of Bart and Lisa's favourite
10:55cat-and-mouse duo waning. Much like Fox had suggested to the Simpsons writers,
10:59the fictional heads behind Itchy and Scratchy propose the idea of adding a new character to
11:03freshen things up. Naturally, Poochy's over-the-top persona and position as the
11:07shiny new thing is poorly received, and kids just want the thing they loved back.
11:12The episode morphed Fox's request into one of the show's best outings. Many jokes from it are
11:16still remembered fondly today, taking aim at the fickleness and sometimes obsessive nature of
11:21television viewers. And hey, Fox can't say the writers didn't do as they asked. The episode also
11:26features an unexplained older son of the Simpsons family, Roy, played totally straight for extra
11:31laughs as the main story unfolds around them. And that's the list. Let us know what you thought
11:36of this video down in the comments below, and let us know of any other Simpsons episodes that
11:40you can think of that were either made to rile someone up or made in a reaction to something
11:44out of spite. Make sure you like this video, subscribe, hit the notification bell and share
11:49it with your friends. I've been Sy for What Culture and have a good week.