There's No Disgrace Like Home

"There's No Disgrace Like Home" 250px

Episode Information Showrunner: [[{{{showrunner}}}]]

"There's No Disgrace Like Home" is the fourth full length episode of The Simpsons. The episode deals with Simpsons family relations, anger, and comparisons to other families. The episode was broadcast on January 28, 1990 on FOX.

Plot

Homer takes his family to the company picnic given by his boss Mr. Burns. A cruel and tyrannical employer, Burns fires any employee whose family members are not enjoying themselves. Homer sees that Burns is drawn towards a family that treats one another with love and respect and he wonders why he is cursed with his unloving and disrespectful family. This is the first time we see Marge drunk at the picnic.

The Simpsons observe other families on their street. Peeking through living room windows, they see happy families sharing quality time together. Convinced that both he and his family are losers, Homer stops by Moe's Tavern, where he sees a TV commercial for Dr. Marvin Monroe's Family Therapy Center. When he hears that Dr. Monroe guarantees family bliss or "double your money back," Homer pawns the TV set and enrolls the family in the clinic.

When standard methods prove useless in civilizing the family, Dr. Monroe resorts to shock therapy and wires the Simpsons to electrodes. Soon the whole family is sending shocks to one another. Resigned to the fact that the Simpsons are incurable, the doctor gives them double their money back. With $500 in his pocket, Homer takes his blissful family to buy a new television.

First appearances

This episode marks the introduction of Dr. Marvin Monroe, Itchy and Scratchy, and Eddie and Lou (two of Springfield's policemen). But Lou is not African-American in this episode, though he is later, and Smithers, who was drawn as an African-American in the previous episode, is drawn a yellow lighter than Burns in this one. This episode also marks the first use of Burns' "release the hounds" comment.

Production

The episode shows telltale signs of being one of the earliest shows of the season produced. The characters act slightly different than they would in later seasons. Lisa is a brat, Marge is a drunk and Homer is concerned that his family is going to make him look bad. It was an early episode for Mr. Burns, in which he had a different voice than the one it would later become. Originally, the character was influenced by Ronald Reagan, which was later dropped. The idea that he would greet his employees using index cards was inspired by how Ronald Reagan would greet people. The episode marks the first time Burns says "release the hounds". It also marked the first appearance of Eddie and Lou, although Lou was not black, but instead yellow like the rest of the characters. Lou was named after Lou Whitaker - a former Major League Baseball player. It is the first appearance of Itchy & Scratchy, although the cat and mouse duo appeared in the shorts.

The idea behind the scene in which the family takes turn to electrically shock each other was based on Laurel and Hardy throwing pies at each other, albeit played out more sadistically. The scene was rearranged in the editing room, because when it was first produced it played out differently. The edits made to the finished product were preliminary, however they were received well and remained unchanged.

Reception

The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, note: "It's very strange to see Homer pawning the TV set in an attempt to save the family; if this episode had come later Marge would surely have taken this stance." They continue, "A neat swipe at family counselling with some great set pieces; we're especially fond of the perfect version of the Simpsons and the electric-shock aversion therapy." In a DVD review of the first season, David B. Grelck gave the episode a rating of 2.0/5.0, placing it as one of the worst of the season.

This episode would have been one of the first seen by British viewers. It was the first episode to be broadcast by the BBC on 23 November 1996 on a Saturday at 5.30pm, because the episodes were shown out of order. The episode episode were screened with five million viewers that was slighly less than the show, Dad's Army, which previously held the timeslot. The episode also faced competition from ITV's screening of Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

The scene where the family turn electrically shocking each other would later appeared in Die Hard 2.

Trivia

• This episode was the first to be broadcast by the BBC, on BBC One on 23 November 1996, making it the first episode to be seen by UK terrestrial viewers (the satellite channel Sky One had shown the programme since 1990). Moving to BBC Two from 10 March 1997, it continued on the BBC until terrestrial rights moved to Channel 4 in 2004.
• This was the first episode seen in Australia on Channel 10 in 1991.
• Red, purple, green, blue: The colors of Jell-o molds Marge makes for the picnic.
• A sign outside Burns manor reads, "Poachers will be shot."
• The hypnotic show the Happy little Elves supervises the children in the nursury at the company picnic.
• Smithers wears his plant I.D. even at the picnic.
• The first episode that Bart says his catch phrase " Don't have a Cow"
• The first episode that the Simpsons have been shot at.
• The police dog's name is Bobo
• The phone number for Dr. Monroe's center is 1-800-555-hugs.
• This episode is the first time the audience sees the cartoon Itchy and Scratchy.
• When Homer is saying that they have to get 250 dollars for the therapy in the background you can see a teddybear on the lower shelf near the stero that looks exactly like Mr Burns' bear Bobo.
• Bart and Lisa's college fund amounts to $88.50
• Their TV is a Motorola, and the pawn clerk knows Homer's name when he enters.
• Dr. Monroe keeps his aggression therapy mallets in a gun cabinet.
• The family acts wildly out of character in this episode: Homer is much more caring and actually suggests to eat at the dinner table instead of watching TV. Marge is a drunkard who behaves a lot like Homer. While Bart and Maggie have the same personalities, Lisa seems to act much more bratty, which is reminiscent of her actions on the Tracy Ullman Show.

Errors

• When Marge gets drunk at the picnic, she falls on Homer while saying "Homie, did you try the punch?", her lips don't move.
• When Homer is at Moe's, there is a boxing match happening on TV. There is a bald guy who is getting considerably battered by the opponent and gets knocked out, and then for some absurd reason he is victoriously standing as if he had won.
• When the Simpsons are spying on the old man, the boy and the old woman, all three of them disappear and then reappear between shots. Whenever there is a wide shot from outside the house, they are not there but when there is a close shot from outside or inside they are there.
• As Homer is carrying the TV towards the pawn shop in the first shot the left window is clear. There is then a tracking shot of the family walking and when they get in front of the store the window has writing on it saying Pawn Shop. The writing is in black and the next shot when they are talking the writing is now dark brown.
• Before Homer enters the pawn shop you can see the TV is a purple color. As he enters the store the color of the TV is now blue.

Parodies

• Freaks, the Tod Browning cult horror film about sideshow "freaks," in its repetition of the line "one of us"
• Citizen Kane in its low angle hillside shot of Burns' mansion
• Batman in its reference to the "stately Burns Manor"
• The episode title is a play on the saying "There's no place like home" (a quote from The Wizard of Oz).
• In a scene reminiscent of A Clockwork Orange (1971), the Simpson family members are seated in a stark white laboratory, wired with electrodes, fronted by a bank of buttons. Each has the ability to shock everyone else.
• Itchy & Scratchy, who made their first appearances together in this episode, are the parodies of Tom and Jerry.

Episode Quotes

Marge: I don't want to alarm anyone, but I think there's a li'l al-key-hol in this punch.

---

Mr. Burns: [Seeing a son kiss his father on the cheek] Awww... That's the kind of family unity I like to see. Smithers, get that man's name. I predict big things for him down at the power plant.

Homer: Quick, Bart, give me a kiss.

Bart: Kiss you? But, Dad, I'm your kid!

Homer: Bart, please. Five bucks for a kiss.

---

Homer: I'm sorry, Marge, but sometimes I think we're the worst family in town.

Marge: Well maybe we should move to a larger community.

---

Homer: When will I learn? The answers to life's problems aren't at the bottom of a bottle, they're on TV!

---

[The Simpsons peer through a dining room window, watching another family happily eating dinner together.]

Homer: Look at that, kids! No fighting, no yelling.

Bart: No belching.

Lisa: That dad has a shirt on!

Marge: Look, napkins!

Bart: These people are obviously freaks.

---

[Mr. Burns and Mr. Smithers stand in front of the Simpsons family.]

Mr. Burns: And this must be... er... Brat.

Bart: Bart.

Homer: Don't correct the man, Brat.

Complete Character List

• Homer Simpson
• Marge Simpson
• Bart Simpson
• Lisa Simpson
• Maggie Simpson
• Charles Montgomery Burns
• Waylon Smithers
• Lenny Leonard
• The Happy Little Elves
• Moe Szyslak
• Barney Gumble
• Eddie
• Lou
• Dr. Marvin Monroe
• Itchy
• Scratchy

External Links

• Episode capsule on "Simpsons Archive"
• Template:Imdb episode

← Shorts Season 3 Season 1 Episodes Season 2 →
Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire • Bart the Genius • Homer's Odyssey • There's No Disgrace Like Home • Bart the General • Moaning Lisa • The Call of the Simpsons • The Telltale Head • Life on the Fast Lane • Homer's Night Out • The Crepes of Wrath • Krusty Gets Busted • Some Enchanted Evening