In the Name of the Grandfather
"In the Name of the Grandfather"
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Episode Information
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The Name of the Grandfather will be the upcoming fourteenth episode of The Simpsons. In this St Patrick's Day special, The Simpsons find themselves on a holiday to Ireland.
This is first ever episode to premier outside of the US, first shown in the UK & Ireland. In the US, this episode was rated TV 14 DV.
Plot
The Simpsons family purchase a hot tub as a means to relax, yet in doing so forget they to visit Grampa Simpson at a family event. Homer decides to make up for it and decides to do something Grampa wants to do. Grampa reminisces about a pub in Dunkilderry, Ireland called O'Flanagan's, where he claims to have had the best night of his life many years ago. Homer decides to take Grampa there, but when the family arrive they realize Ireland has become a commercialized, hi-tech country of consumers and workaholics. The pub itself has run out of business as many of the patrons are now yuppies and have no interest in drinking. Homer and Grampa sit down at the pub and start drinking while Marge, Bart and Lisa visit various Irish landmarks. They visit the Giant's Causeway, Blarney Castle, the Guinness brewery and Dublin. After a long night of drinking, Homer and Grampa awaken to realize they have bought the pub from owner Tom O'Flanagan. They rename the bar but get no business because pubs are no longer popular. Homer gets help from Moe Syzlak, who suggests that they allow people to do illegal things in their pub. They find out that smoking is illegal in Irish pubs and Moe urges the Simpsons to turn it into a smokeasy. They do a roaring trade, but are closed down by the Irish authorities. As a punishment, Homer and Grampa are deported back to America with a small fine.
Promotion
"In the Name of the Grandfather" will be the first episode of the show to premiere in Europe before airing on Fox in the United States. It will air at 7:30 PM and be paired with "Sex, Pies and Idiot Scrapes", the season premiere episode of The Simpsons which begins with a visit to a St. Patrick's Day parade. To promote the broadcast, executive producers Al Jean and James L. Brooks, as well as Nancy Cartwright will visit Ireland for a special screening and are scheduled to participate in the Saint Patrick's Day parade in Dublin. In addition, Homer has been announced as the special guest editor of the March edition of Sky Magazine.[1]
Cultural References
The dialogue for the German Krusty the Clown Show has a veiled Nazi reference within.
Krusty: "Heil, heil" Mel: "Ach, Du lieber! Krusty spritzen der Gaswasser." Krusty: "Ja, ja - Krusty spritzen der Gaswasser."
Krusty's "Heil Heil" was a reference to the mandatory greeting in Nazi Germany, "Heil Hitler" ("Heil" literally means "hail" as in greetings to).
Mel's lament "Krusty spritzen der Gaswasser" is gramatically incorrect. The noun Gaswasser (The german normally say "mineralwasser" and it means seltzer water or club soda) is a neuter noun which takes the article "das." Also, the verb form is not correct. A closer rendition would be "Krusty spritzt das Gaswasser."
The sequence further parodies the rarely-seen Monty Pythons Fliegende Zirkus, a purpose-built and specially filmed German-language version of Monty Python's Flying Circus created by the Pythons for showing in Germany.
The episode takes its title from a traditional Christian benediction: "In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit."
Marge, Bart and Lisa parody the classic video game "Q-Bert" as they chase up and down the Giant's Causeway.
Kathy Ireland is shown during a short sequence. As revealed in the subtitles in the shot, the producers had invited her to appear and voice the cameo, but she declined.
Grandpa mentions about feeling "as lonely as Estes Kefauver at a meeting of Murder, Incorporated." When the Simpsons look at him blankly, he retorts, "That actually means something! Look it up!" Senator Estes Kefauver headed highly-publicized hearings into organized crime in the 1950s. The hearings were a serious blow to the Mob in America, though they are more remembered these days for a side hearing on juvenile deliquency that became a referendum on comic books and the direct cause for the creation of the Comics Code Authority.
Appearances
Characters
- Homer Simpson
- Marge Simpson
- Bart Simpson
- Lisa Simpson
- Maggie Simpson
- Seymour Skinner
- Carl Carlson
- Lenny Leonard
- John Frink
- Comic Book Guy
- Agnes Skinner
- Kirk Van Houten
- Rev. Lovejoy
- Helen Lovejoy
- Apu
- Manjula
- Cookie Kwan
- Lindsey Naegle
- Dr. Julius Hibbert
- Bernice Hibbert
- Disco Stu
- Mrs. Krabappel
- Ned Flanders
- Jasper Beardley
- Crazy Old Man
- Hans Moleman
- Abe Simpson
- Tom O'Flanagan
- Krusty the Clown (in German)
- Sideshow Mel (in German)
- Glen Hansard
- Markéta Irglová
- Moe Szyslak
- Chief Wiggum
