Pardon My Zinger
| Pardon My Zinger | ||
TV Show Information
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Pardon My Zinger is a British sitcom airing on weekdays at 3:00 p.m. on Comedy Central in Springfield. The show played a major part in clearing Smithers as a suspect in the attempted murder of Mr. Burns.
At the town meeting, Smithers says that after being fired, he spends his days drinking cheap Scotch and watching Comedy Central. He adds that he never misses Pardon My Zinger. After learning of the Burns shooting, Smithers has a drunken memory of shooting someone, figures that he must have shot Burns, and goes to the downtown cathedral to confess and get it off his chest. However, instead of a priest, Chief Wiggum is sitting on the other side of the confessional's screen, apparently waiting for someone to come in and admit to the shooting: "Boy, this thing works great."
When Smithers is taken to jail, Kent Brockman asks him how he feels, to which he replies, "About as low as Madonna when she found out she missed Tailhook." Sideshow Mel sees Smithers on TV, hears him quoting the Madonna line, and realizes that the line was from the Pardon My Zinger episode that was being aired at the exact time that Mr. Burns was shot. This means that Smithers must have seen that episode and therefore couldn't have shot Burns.
Mel goes to the police with this information, and they talk to Smithers again. He memory now clearer, Smithers remembers that he saw the entire show -- in fact, he left the town meeting early to hurry home and watch it, when an old man (not Burns) got in his way and Smithers shot him. The man Smithers shot turned out to be Jasper Beardley. Because Smithers hit Jasper in his wooden left leg, he was unharmed -- much to Smithers' relief.
Because Mr. Burns was shot at 3 p.m., and it was solidly established that Smithers was at home watching Pardon My Zinger at the time, he was cleared as a suspect and was free to go. The police, however, remained baffled as to the identity of the shooter.
Appearances
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Episode – "Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part One)" (Mentioned) - Episode – "Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part Two)" (Mentioned)
