Difference between revisions of "Season 5"

"Homer's Barbershop Quartet"

Homer tells the story of when he was a member of a barbershop quartet called The Be Sharps, consisting of himself, Principal Skinner, Apu and Chief Wiggum (later replaced by Barney). The group became popular very fast, largely due to their hit song, "Baby on Board," which earned them a Grammy. However, Homer missed his family while the Be Sharps were touring, and the group's popularity began to decline. Eventually the group broke up and the members returned to their regular lives. Back in the present, Homer calls the other members and the group reunites to perform "Baby on Board" on the roof of Moe's Tavern.

Bart is worried when he receives anonymous threatening letters written in blood, and even more worried when he learns that the sender is Sideshow Bob, and Bob has recently been released from prison. For their protection, the Simpsons are placed on the Witness Relocation Program, given new identities, and moved to Terror Lake to live on a houseboat. Unbeknownst to them, Bob has followed them to Terror Lake. He breaks into the boat, ties up the family, sets the boat adrift, and advances on Bart to kill him. Thinking quickly, Bart appeals to Bob's vanity by asking him to sing the entire score of H.M.S. Pinafore. While Bob sings, the boat drifts downriver back into the jurisdiction of the Springfield Police, where Bob is arrested and sent back to jail.

"Homer Goes to College"

Homer learns that he is underqualified for his own job at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant because he has no college training in nuclear physics. He enrolls at Springfield University, where he tries to live the stereotypical college life of pranks and parties and gets his three nerd tutors to go along with him. When one prank gets the nerds expelled, they move in with the Simpsons and cause all kinds of problems for the family. Homer is able to get the nerds back into school, but fails his class. The nerds hack into the college computer and give Homer a passing grade, but Marge finds out and makes him retake the class.

"Rosebud"

Mr. Burns remembers his long-lost childhood toy, a teddy bear named Bobo, and wants to retrieve it. Maggie is discovered to be in possession of the bear, and offers the Simpsons a large reward to give the bear back. They decline, however, when they see how attached Maggie is to Bobo. Burns and Smithers try threats and begging to get Bobo back, but nothing succeeds. When the next step (cutting off beer and TV) affects all of Springfield, the whole town forces Homer to return the bear, but they relent when they see the expression on Maggie's face. Finally, Burns confronts Maggie in person and persuades her to gives Bobo back to him. Now reunited with Bobo, Burns snuggles up with him and wonders what the future holds for Bobo.

Conan O'Brien, Bill Oakley & Josh Weinstein, Greg Daniels & Don McGrath,Bill Canterbury

Prologue: Bart talks to the viewers in a room with paintings lampooned by the Simpsons. Marge tells him that he should warn viewers that the episode is scary, and leaves Maggie with him while she goes to buy some earrings. Bart ignores her, continuing to present the episode and telling three scary stories.

The Devil and Homer Simpson: Homer laments that he would sell his soul for a donut. The Devil promptly appears, producing a contract (which Homer signs) and a donut. Thinking he's outsmarted the Devil, Homer leaves one segment of the donut uneaten to keep the Devil from claiming his soul. However, that same night, Homer eats it anyway while half-asleep raiding the fridge. The Devil returns to collect, but Marge insists on having a trial, to which the Devil reluctantly agrees. After Homer spends a day in hell, the trial is held. Homer wins, but for revenge the Devil turns Homer's head into a donut. He is then unable to leave the house, as police officers with coffee are expectantly waiting outside for him.

Terror at 5½ Feet: Bart witnesses a gremlin attacking the school bus and tries to warn everyone, but nobody believes him because they don't see the gremlin. With each warning, Bart gets deeper into trouble while the gremlin further damages the bus. Bart manages to get the gremlin off the bus, and it falls into the road and is picked up by Ned Flanders. When the bus finally gets to school, everyone sees the damage but they still think Bart is crazy. When Bart is sent to a mental hospital in an ambulance, the gremlin re-appears in the ambulance's rear window, holding Ned's severed head,

Bart Simpson's Dracula: When a series of mysterious attacks occurs in Springfield, Lisa suspects that a vampire is responsible and that the vampire is Mr. Burns, but no one believes her. Lisa becomes more suspicious when Mr. Burns invites the family over for dinner and serves blood for drinks. Lisa and Bart then discover vampires in Burns' basement, and Bart is caught and turned into one. Later that night, Bart and several other children of Springfield try to attack Lisa. She tells the family that they have to kill the head vampire to get Bart back, so they return to the mansion and kill Burns (who fires Homer just before he dies). They return home, where Lisa discovers that the whole family (except herself) are vampires, and the head vampire is actually Marge ("I do have a life outside this house, you know"). They all swoop in to attack Lisa, but they stop at the last second and everyone wishes the viewers a happy Halloween. Then, in a parody of the Peanuts special A Charlie Brown Christmas, they sing while Santa's Little Helper dances and Milhouse plays the piano.

Marge and the family's neighbor, Ruth Powers, have a girls' night out, hanging out at a country bar and doing some target shooting using a farmer's antique cans as targets. Homer hires Lionel Hutz to babysit the kids and goes out to have some fun on his own. He meets up with Chief Wiggum, who offers him a ride home. Then Wiggum sees a car with a broken taillight and tries to pull it over, but it speeds away: It's Ruth and Marge, and Ruth doesn't want to pull over because she's driving her ex-husband's car, which she stole from him. A high-speed pursuit follows, and the police eventually catch up to Ruth and Marge. The car theft charges against Ruth are dropped, but Marge is fined for shooting the farmer's cans.

Marge realizes she is addicted to nagging and consults a self-help guru, Brad Goodman, to overcome it. Marge later takes the family to hear Goodman speak, hoping that he can do something about Bart's bad behavior. Instead, Goodman uses Bart as an example of how people should behave: "Do what you feel." The whole town starts acting like Bart, which Bart at first enjoys, but later finds annoying. The town then holds a "Do what you feel" festival, but it causes a number of dangerous mishaps due to people not feeling like doing their jobs. The festival flops, and things in Springfield return to normal.

Bart and Milhouse go on an all-syrup Squishee bender, and Bart awakens the next morning to find that he's joined a Boy Scouts-esque group called the Junior Campers. Bart at first hates the group and wants to quit (especially when he learns the patrol leader is Ned Flanders), but comes to enjoy it when he discovers that the skills he learns are highly useful for pranking Homer. On a father-son rafting trip, Homer's bumbling causes the raft with himself, Bart, Ned and Rod to be separated from the group, ending up adrift at sea with no supplies. Homer saves the day, however, when he smells hamburgers and leads them to a Krusty Burger restaurant on an oil rig, where they are rescued.

Homer finds himself highly attracted to Mindy Simmons, a new employee at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, but is torn because having an affair with her would ruin his marriage to Marge. It gets worse when Homer discovers that he and Mindy have very similar traits (such as a fondness for beer, TV, naps and junk food), and when they're sent on an out-of-town overnight business trip. In the end, Homer and Mindy acknowledge their feelings for each other, but Homer stays faithful to Marge. Meanwhile, a series of medical treatments temporarily transforms Bart into a nerd, making him a target for the school bullies.

A declining economy prompts Springfield to legalize gambling, and Mr. Burns opens a casino. Homer is hired as a blackjack dealer, and becomes popular among customers when they realize he always loses. Marge, however, becomes addicted to gambling, ignoring her family in favor of playing slot machines. She realizes she has a problem when Homer confronts her about breaking a promise to Lisa. Meanwhile, Mr. Burns becomes a reclusive clean freak (a. la. Howard Hughes), and Bart, after being kicked out of Burns' casino due to being underage, takes revenge by opening his own casino in his treehouse.

"Homer the Vigilante"

A wave of burglaries hits Springfield, and many items, such as Lisa's saxophone, are stolen from people's homes. When the police can't catch the cat burglar, Homer forms a neighborhood watch group. However, it too is ineffective due to Homer's bungling. Finally, Grampa Simpson reveals that the cat burglar is Malloy, a fellow resident of Springfield Retirement Castle. When the townspeople confront Malloy, he confesses, returns the stolen items, and says he's hidden a treasure worth millions of dollars in town. Everyone races to dig up the treasure, but they find only a note where Malloy says that there is no treasure and he tricked everyone so he could make his escape. Mayor Quimby, however, insists they keep digging just in case there really is a treasure.

"Bart Gets Famous"

John Swartzwelder

Bart sneaks away from a school field trip and ends up getting a job assisting Krusty the Clown. When Krusty puts Bart into a sketch as a last-minute replacement for Sideshow Mel, Bart flubs his line and accidentally trashes the stage. He then says, "I didn't do it," which the audience finds hilarious. Krusty then puts Bart into more sketches to say "I didn't do it," and Bart's catchphrase catapults him to instant stardom. Bart, however, finds fame to be dissatisfying, and becomes tired of being known for only one line. Eventually his popularity fades and Bart returns to being an average kid.

"Homer and Apu"

Homer gets Apu fired after being food poisoned twice from expired products from the Kwik-E-Mart by having him reported with Kent Brockman. An unemployed Apu then lives with the Simpsons and actor James Wood replaces his job in the Kwik-E-Mart. Homer then decides to have Apu get his job by going to India to talk to the owner of the Kwik-E-Mart chain although are unsuccessful as the three questions solely available are wasted by Homer's own incompetence. Apu then visits the Kwik-E-Mart and saves Woods from being shot by a robbery in the store. Woods then helps him get his job back after being grateful from being saved.

Lisa is dissatisfied over the new Malibu Stacy doll, which phrases it utters are demeaning for women, and persuades the creator of the doll line to produce a more politically correct doll. Named "Lisa Lionheart" after Lisa herself, the new Malibu Stacy doll gets positive attention although Malibu Stacy executives then have customer's attention redirected to a new doll with a hat included, rendering Lisa's doll as unsuccessful as a result. Meanwhile, Grampa worries that he is getting old and makes the most of it such as having a job at a Krusty Burger restaurant despite being incompetent at it.

NASA is required to hire average joes for astronauts to gain higher ratings. Homer and Barney are recruited and the former wins by default as Barney becomes intoxicated by wine. Homer then is prepared for launch in space with Race Banyon and Buzz Aldrin. Their mission then goes wrong when Homer has potato chips and ants. Havoc ensures and he accidently breaks the handle of the space shuttle's hatch. Homer then inadvertently seals the door shut with an inanimate carbon rod despite being reluctant to have it close the hatch. The crew safely return back to Earth. While the rod is hailed the hero, Homer is respected by the family instead.

Homer begins to be fond of Ned Flanders when he invites him to come to a superbowl game with a spare ticket with him as he was forced to go with Ned when he had the final two tickets. Although he keeps a constant presence of Flanders, having him begin to become increasingly annoyed of Homer. He is then arrested for drunk driving when having Homer off his car while he was chasing the Flanders, resulting in Ned losing the respect of the church community. Homer then gains it back to him and Ned thanks him as well as the two becoming friends.

Bart wins a radio contest while the family clean the house as forced by Marge. Two prizes are then rewarded; an African elephant or $10,000. He chooses the former prize although it is a gag prize. The radio station, KBBL, are forced to send Bart an elephant to keep their jobs from being replaced by a machine capable of doing their jobs as stated by their boss. The elephant is named Stampy and taking care of him proves to be too expensive. Homer decides to sell him to an ivory dealer instead of a non profit Animal Refuge. Stampy then escapes and causes havoc across Springfield. As soon as the elephant is tracked down, Homer eventually decides to send the elephant to the Animal Refuge.

Mr. Burns decides to have an heir as he nearly dies from drowning in his bath to inherit his wealth. Initially, Bart is rejected but is eventually chosen for his malevolence. Marge convinces Bart to spend time with Burns and soon decides to stay with him after being disruptive than usual to his biological family. However, he begins to miss them and Burns prompts a surveillance footage that is staged by actors to portray the Simpsons. He then tests Bart's loyalty by firing Homer but Bart refuses and decides to return to the family.

Principal Skinner is fired accidently by Bart when he brings Santa's Little Helper to school for show and tell and roaming around the school. A guilty Bart then befriends Skinner while Ned Flanders is hired as the new principal of Springfield Elementary, having the school gone amok by his hesitation. While he enjoys him as a friend, Bart decides that it is necessary for Skinner to be his enemy while he had returned to the Army to become a sergeant again. He then withdraws his former role after Bart's persuasion and regains his job back whilst having Flanders fired.

Bart ditches school as he considers such a day for one too beautiful to remain inside. Principal Skinner is aware of the ditching and tracks him down but fails to capture him. Bart then sneaks into a birthday party of Mayor Quimby's nephew, Freddy and witnesses a waiter being injured, having an innocent Freddy taken into court as he was accused of attacking him. Bart is the only eyewitness and would have to state that he deliberately ditched school during the incident while Skinner is the only one aware. Meanwhile, Homer is then chosen for jury duty against Freddy Quimby and lives in a hotel.

102 - 21

"Lady Bouvier's Lover"

Homer signs up to teach a class about keeping a successful marriage at a learning annex as he is tired of being called "slow". He is first unsuccessful and only can be keep the class's interest is by telling them secrets about Marge and what she and Homer do in their bedroom. She then kicks him out of the house after being fed up of continuing to tell their secrets to the class. Homer then lives in Bart's treehouse and begs Marge to return back and eventually she agrees to have him return.