Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish

"And those bureaucrats in the state capital can stick that in their pipes and smoke it!"

- Charles Montgomery Burns

"Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish" is the fourth episode of season 2. It originally aired on November 1, 1990. It was written by John Swartzwelder and Sam Simon and was directed by Wes Archer.

Plot
Bart and Lisa go fishing downstream of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, and Springfield Shopper reporter Dave Shutton pulls up just as Bart catches a three-eyed fish, Blinky. From the resulting publicity, the governor, Mary Bailey, calls for an investigation of the power plant and its owner, Montgomery Burns. After an inspection, Mr. Burns is presented with a list of over 342 violations, which will cost $56 million to rectify. Distraught, Burns talks to underperforming Homer who half-heartedly suggests Burns run for Governor, which he does. Marge wants nothing to do with Homer's campaigning for Burns, even though Homer implies he may move up to an executive position this way, because she believes Mr. Burns is attempting to gain political office in order to cover up problems at the plant. Homer's support for Burns divides the Simpson house because Marge and Lisa support Bailey. It is unsure whether Bart himself supports either Bailey or Burns, but he is seen wearing a "Vote for Burns" T-shirt, probably because Homer made him do so.

Burns's political advisors break the news to Burns he is not well liked and force Burns to try being friendly and even smile. Burns makes a TV commercial, discussing Blinky with an actor portraying Charles Darwin, who claims Blinky is an evolutionary step. Combined with a smear campaign against Mary Bailey, this eventually leads to Burns tying Bailey in the polls. The night before the election, Smithers and his other advisors suggest Burns have dinner at the Simpsons' house as an opportunity to put Burns "over the top". To everyone's surprise, Marge serves Blinky, the three-eyed fish Bart caught, for dinner. On the advice of his campaign team, Burns tries to act like it does not bother him, but is unable to keep from spitting it out. The cameras flash as the bite flies through the air, but the press is gone, and his gubernatorial campaign is over by the time the chunk hits the floor. But nevertheless, it brought the Simpson family back together again.

Production
"Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish" was written by show developer Sam Simon and John Swartzwelder. It was directed by Wes Archer. Blinky, the three-eyed fish seen in this episode, previously appeared in "Homer's Odyssey" but the writers loved his design and subsequently planned a whole episode around him. Mary Bailey and Springfield Shopper reporter Dave Shutton, who make several appearances throughout the series, made their first appearance on the show in this episode.

The episode was the first show produced for season two. However, "Bart Gets an "F"" was aired beforehand because of Bart's growing popularity. The producers also wanted to steal viewers from The Cosby Show.

Reception
The Simpsons was the highest-rated show on the Fox network that week with this episode which finished nineteenth in the ratings for that week. However, despite The Simpsons producers' plan to steal viewers from The Cosby Show, the latter was watched by more households. The episode received positive reviews from television critics and it won a Environmental Media Award.

In other languages
Frische Fische mit drei Augen Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish