When Buildings Collapse

"Man has always loved his buildings. But what happens when the buildings say 'no more'?"

―When Buildings Collapse narrator

When Buildings Collapse

TV Show Information Genre: Documentary Country of origin: USA Channel: FOX First appearance: "Lisa the Simpson"

When Buildings Collapse is a TV show that airs on FOX. It shows footage of buildings collapsing.

History

Due to her misunderstanding of the Simpson gene, Lisa was dejectedly writing in her diary that she had reached her mental and creative peak at age eight. She decided, "Maybe I should just give up now and settle into a mindless, happy stupor", and went downstairs to watch TV with Bart and Homer.

When Buildings Collapse was on, and in quick succession the program showed four video clips of buildings collapsing. During the clips, Bart and Homer cheered, hollered, laughed and exchanged high-fives. Lisa unenthusiastically played along, blandly saying, "Maybe someone got hurt", which made Homer laugh even more. After the last building collapse clip, a graphic of Kent Brockman at his desk being yelled at came on, along with a voiceover announcement: "And now, a Channel 6 editorial reply." Homer said, "Boring!" and quickly changed the channel. He ended up getting a program called When Surgery Goes Wrong, which was much more to his and Bart's liking.

Lisa later learned that the Simpson gene only affected males of the Simpson line and that Simpson women were all successful and high-achieving, giving her a new lease on life.

Buildings

Building Collapse Description The Old Printers' Home. Three old men, one of whom walks with a cane, are shown exiting the building just in the nick of time before it collapses. The Leaning Tower of Pizza Restaurant. The columns on the ground floor fail and the building tips over. The top floor detaches from the building, flies through the air, and nearly hits the camera. The Society of Structural Engineers. The building is built into the side of a steep and rocky hill. The support beams fail and the building tumbles down the hill. The House of Usher is a Gothic-style castle located at the top of a hill. One of the central towers blows up, spawning a chain of explosions that spread throughout the castle and blow it to pieces, leaving nothing remaining but a bare hilltop.

Behind the Laughter

• The show is a parody of the Fox special When Animals Attack!.
• The music playing in the background while the buildings collapse is Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture.
• The Leaning Tower of Pizza Restaurant is a pun on the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
• The House of Usher is a reference to the Edgar Allan Poe short story "The Fall of the House of Usher".

Appearances

• Episode – "Lisa the Simpson"

TV Shows on FOX

24 • Admiral Baby • All in the Family 1999 • America's Funniest Tornadoes • American Idol • Baked in a Pie • Bellow C Level • Boobs • Celebrity Boxing • Cops • Dwarf or Midget? America Decides • Frame Up • Glee • The Homer Show • House • How Much Humiliation Can You Take? • Jody's World • Landing Strip • Million Dollar Fart-Off • Monkey Olympics • Mother Flippers • The O.C. • Peepin' It Real! • Police Cops • Pomona • Prison Break • Promiscuous Idiots Island • So You Think You Can Dance • Up Late with McBain • When Buildings Collapse • When Good Snacks Go Bad • World's Deadliest Executions