Season 5

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The Simpsons (Season 5)

Season Information Original run: September 30, 1993 – May 19, 1994 No. of episodes: 22 Previous season: 4 Next season: 6 DVD boxset: The Complete Fifth Season

The Simpsons' fifth season began on 30th September 1993 with the first episode, "Homer's Barbershop Quartet," and ended on 19th May 1994 with "Secrets of a Successful Marriage." David Mirkin was the show runner through most of the season's episodes. Al Jean and Mike Reiss were show runners of two episodes, "Homer's Barbershop Quartet" and "Cape Feare," which had been produced for the previous season. Consequently, they have Season 4's production code, 9FXX, rather than Season 5's, with 1FXX.

The season received eight awards nominations. It won an Annie Award for "Best Animated Television Production", an Environmental Media Award for "Best Television Episodic Comedy" for "Bart Gets an Elephant," a Genesis Award for "Best Television Comedy Series". David Silverman earned a nomination for "Best Individual Achievement for Creative Supervision in the Field of Animation", Alf Clausen and Greg Daniels received a nomination in the "Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music and Lyrics" category for the song "Who Needs the Kwik-E-Mart?", a song from "Homer and Apu." Clausen had another nomination for "Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore)" for the episode "Cape Feare" and the series was nominated for a Saturn Award for "Best Genre Television Series." The producers again tried to submit episodes for "Outstanding Comedy Series" category rather than the "Outstanding Animated Program" as they had previously done, but were still not nominated.

All 22 episodes of Season 5 including extras were released on DVD on 21st December 2004 in Region 1, 21st March 2005 in Region 2 and 23rd March 2005 in Region 4.

Episodes

Picture	#	Title	Original airdate	Directed by	Written by	Prod. code
100px	82 - 1	"Homer's Barbershop Quartet"	September 30, 1993	Mark Kirkland	Jeff Martin	9F21
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.
100px	83 - 2	"Cape Feare"	October 7, 1993	Rich Moore	Jon Vitti	9F22
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.
100px	84 - 3	"Homer Goes to College"	October 14, 1993	Jim Reardon	Conan O'Brien	1F02
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.
100px	85 - 4	"Rosebud"	October 21, 1993	Wes Archer	John Swartzwelder	1F01
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.
100px	86 - 5	"Treehouse of Horror IV"	October 28, 1993	David Silverman	Conan O'Brien, Bill Oakley & Josh Weinstein, Greg Daniels & Don McGrath,Bill Canterbury	1F04
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 (whch Homer signs) and a donut. Homer leaves one segment uneaten to keep the Devil from claiming his soul, but 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.
100px	87 - 6	"Marge on the Lam"	November 4, 1993	Mark Kirkland	Bill Canterbury	1F03
Marge and the family's neighbor, Ruth Powers, spend time together while Homer tries to cope without Marge and has Lionel Hutz babysit the kids. Homer and Chief Wiggum follow the two and tries to pull them over. Ruth insteads speeds up her car and reveals that it had been stolen from her ex-husband, much to Marge's dismay. While the police catch up to them, they dismiss the two and the charges.
100px	88 - 7	"Bart's Inner Child"	November 11, 1993	Bob Anderson	George Meyer	1F05
Marge consults a self help guru, Brad Goodman, for her constant nagging. Although he uses Bart's behaviour as an example of how people should behave. The whole town of Springfield then acts like him, which Bart does enjoy at first but then finds his behaviour assumed. The town then stop acting like him when things go wrong during an inaugural "Do what you feel" festival.
100px	89 - 8	"Boy-Scoutz 'N the Hood"	November 18, 1993	Jeffrey Lynch	Don McGrath	1F06
Bart remembers that he had joined a Boys Scouts-esque group called the Junior Campers while intoxicated from a squishee entirely made out of syrup he and Milhouse drank the previous day and became hyper as a result. Bart at first hates the group although is interested in some of its routines such as a member's own knife and enjoys it. A father-son rafting trip is to be held, which Homer is forced to enter. He, Bart, Ned and Rod Flanders become groups as ordered and end up seperated from the rest of the group. They become stranded at sea with no supplies for survival until upon discovering a Krusty Burger restaurant on an oil rig and become saved.
100px	90 - 9	"The Last Temptation of Homer"	December 9, 1993	Carlos Baeza	Frank Mula	1F07
Homer finds himself attracted to Mindy Simmons, a new employee in the Nuclear Power Plant and is dissatisfied as his crush on her would ruin his marriage on Marge despite Mindy having similar traits to him. While both have feelings for one other, Homer decides not to cheat on Marge. Meanwhile, Bart's appearance is modified into looking like a nerd as additional treatments applied to him for needing glasses for two weeks as he becomes shortsighted, being more prone to being bullied as a result.
100px	91 - 10	"$pringfield (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling)"	December 16,1993	Wes Archer	Bill Oakley & Josh Weinstein	1F08
Gambling is made legalized by voters as the economy slips, having Mr. Burns open a casino. Homer is hired as a blackjack dealer and Marge has an enduring addiction for gambling which has her care about it more than her family life. Meanwhile, Bart opens his own casino in his treehouse after he was kicked out of Burn's for being too young.
100px	92 - 11	"Homer the Vigilante"	January 6, 1994	Jim Reardon	John Swartzwelder	1F09
A cat burglar steals items through many homes in Springfield such as Lisa's saxophone. In response to this crime wave, a neighborhood watch group is created, leaded by Homer as the police are ineffective. Although the group becomes ineffective as well due to Homer's incompetence and the cat burglar remains loose and unknown. Grampa knows who it is as he had been ignored for his old age by Homer, revealing the cat burglar to be a senior named Malloy. Citizens of Springfield track him down and have him arrested although he gives back his stolen items. Now arrested, Malloy also states that he had hidden millions of dollars under a big "T". The citizens then rush to one which is a tree shaped like a T and dig under it. Instead, there is a note written by Malloy that he had tricked them so he would be able to escape. Some disapprove this and continue digging until deciding that there is no money whilst dug down below.
100px	93 - 12	"Bart Gets Famous"	February 3, 1994	Susie Dietter	John Swartzwelder	1F11
Bart becomes employed in Krustylu Studios as a production assistant after sneaking away from a school field trip to a box factory. He does not, however, enjoy his job and wants to quit. One day, Krusty needs Bart for a sketch and despite being unsuccessful in one, he becomes an unexpected star by saying "I didn't do it.". He then becomes famous although is dissatisfied for being well known by one line. Marge then encourages him that making people happy is what matters as then Bart decides to continue delivering the line. Despite saying it enthusiastically in a show, people then become tired of it and his popularity and fame sharply declines until Bart returns to being an average citizen.
100px	94 - 13	"Homer and Apu"	February 10, 1994	Mark Kirkland	Greg Daniels	1F10
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.
100px	95 - 14	"Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy"	February 17, 1994	Jeffrey Lynch	Bill Oakley & Josh Weinstein	1F12
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.
	96 - 15	"Deep Space Homer"	February 24, 1994	Carlos Baeza	David Mirkin	1F13
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.
100px	97 - 16	"Homer Loves Flanders"	March 17, 1994	Wes Archer	David Richardson	1F14
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.
100px	98 - 17	"Bart Gets an Elephant"	March 31, 1994	Jim Reardon	John Swartzwelder	1F15
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.
100px	99 - 18	"Burns' Heir"	April 14, 1994	Mark Kirkland	Jace Richdale	1F16
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.
100px	100 - 19	"Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song"	April 28, 1994	Bob Anderson	Bill Oakley & Josh Weinstein	1F18
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.
100px	101 - 20	"The Boy Who Knew Too Much"	May 5, 1994	Jeffrey Lynch	John Swartzwelder	1F19
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.
100px	102 - 21	"Lady Bouvier's Lover"	May 12, 1994	Wes Archer	Bill Oakley & Josh Weinstein	1F21
Marge accidentally takes an item from the Kwik-E-Mart without paying, and is sentenced to thirty days in prison for shoplifting. Her absence is felt at home, as the house turns into a total mess. Marge's absence also impacts the entire town, as without her marshmallow squares, a bake sale fails to raise enough money for the Springfield Parks Commission to buy a statue of Abraham Lincoln. Instead, the Commission gets a statue of Jimmy Carter, but the townspeople dislike it and a riot breaks out. To restore order, Mayor Quimby orders Marge to be released early, and everyone welcomes her back.
100px	103 - 22	"Secrets of a Successful Marriage"	May 19, 1994	Carlos Baeza	Greg Daniels	1F20
A new children's TV program, featuring a ventroloquist's dummy named Gabbo and airing opposite the Krusty the Clown show, is an instant success. Krusty's show, meanwhile, declines in ratings and popularity and is soon cancelled. Bart and Lisa are uninmpressed with Gabbo and manage to record him on a live TV camera insulting the children of Springfield, creating a scandal which decreases Gabbo's popularity. Bart and Lisa then convince several of Krusty's celebrity friends (Bette Midler, Johnny Carson, Luke Perry, Hugh Hefner and the Red Hot Chili Peppers) to take part in a special comeback program for Krusty. The Krusty Comeback Special is very successful, and Krusty's show returns to the air.