"Bart vs. Thanksgiving" is the seventh episode of the
second season of the American animated television series ''
The Simpsons
''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...
''. It originally aired on the
Fox network in the United States on November 22, 1990. In the episode,
Bart runs away from home after destroying a
centerpiece
A centrepiece or centerpiece is an important item of a display, usually of a table setting. Centrepieces help set the theme of the decorations and bring extra decorations to the room. A centrepiece also refers to any central or important object ...
that
Lisa Lisa or LISA may refer to:
People
People with the mononym
* Lisa Lisa (born 1967), American actress and lead singer of the Cult Jam
* Lisa (Japanese musician, born 1974), stylized "LISA", Japanese singer and producer
* Lisa Komine (born 1978), J ...
makes for the
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden and ...
dinner table.
The episode was written by
George Meyer
George Meyer (born 1956) is an American producer and writer. Meyer is best known for his work on ''The Simpsons'', where he led the group script rewrite sessions. He has been publicly credited with "thoroughly shap ng... the comedic sensibilit ...
and directed by
David Silverman. Voice actor
Greg Berg
Greg Berg (born November 26, 1960) is an American voice actor, best known for his work in cartoons, video games
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input de ...
guest starred as Rory, one of the homeless people at the soup kitchen. The episode features cultural references to
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is an annual parade in New York City presented by the U.S.-based department store chain Macy's. The Parade first took place in 1924, tying it for the second-oldest Thanksgiving parade in the United States with ...
, and the
poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...
s
Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...
,
Jack Kerouac
Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation.
Of French-Canadian a ...
, and
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wide ...
. Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from critics. It acquired a
Nielsen rating of 11.9, and was the third highest-rated show on the Fox network the week it aired.
Plot
Lisa Lisa or LISA may refer to:
People
People with the mononym
* Lisa Lisa (born 1967), American actress and lead singer of the Cult Jam
* Lisa (Japanese musician, born 1974), stylized "LISA", Japanese singer and producer
* Lisa Komine (born 1978), J ...
makes an elaborate decorative
cornucopia for the
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden and ...
dinner table.
Patty and Selma arrive, ignoring
Marge
Marge is a feminine given name, a shortened form of Marjorie, Margot or Margaret (name), Margaret. Notable Marges include:
People
*Marge (cartoonist) (1904–1993), pen name of Marjorie Henderson Buell, American cartoonist
*Marge Anderson (1932 ...
's instructions to not bring their own food.
Homer
Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...
picks up
Grampa from the retirement home. Marge, Patty, and Selma's mother
Jacqueline Bouvier
Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis ( ; July 28, 1929 – May 19, 1994) was an American socialite, writer, photographer, and book editor who served as first lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963, as the wife of President John F. Kennedy. A po ...
arrives and tells Marge she never does anything right.
Once they are assembled,
the Simpsons
''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...
sit down to Thanksgiving dinner. When Lisa places the cornucopia on the table,
Bart removes it to make way for the turkey. In the ensuing scuffle, Bart purposely throws the cornucopia into the fireplace and it burns to ashes. Lisa runs to her room crying, and Marge and Homer punish Bart by sending him up to his room. Marge then tells him that he has ruined Thanksgiving and later informs him that he will not be allowed to eat dinner until he issues a sincere apology to Lisa. Bart stubbornly refuses and climbs out of his room.
After Homer expels
Santa's Little Helper from the house for stealing a turkey drumstick, Bart and the dog run away from home. Bart tries to steal a pie cooling on a window sill at
Mr. Burns
Charles Montgomery Plantagenet Schicklgruber "Monty" Burns, usually referred to as Mr. Burns, Monty, or C. Montgomery Burns, is a recurring character and the main antagonist of the animated television series ''The Simpsons'', voiced initially by ...
' mansion, but Burns' hounds chase him away. While wandering the streets, Bart uses Homer's ID to sell his blood and — after passing out — is brought to a breadline that is serving Thanksgiving dinner to homeless people.
Kent Brockman interviews Bart for a human interest story at the soup kitchen. The family sees the report on television and call the police, hoping they can help find Bart and bring him home. When the police fail to locate Bart, Homer and Marge regret saying severe things that drove him away.
Bart later returns home feeling remorseful after seeing the meager lives of the homeless men at the breadline. He climbs onto the roof of the house to ponder his choices. When he hears Lisa crying because she misses him, Bart invites her to join him on the roof. He finally realizes what he did was wrong and apologizes to her as Homer and Marge watch on proudly. Bart and Lisa later rejoin the family to enjoy a meal of Thanksgiving leftovers.
Production
![David Silverman in 2007-cropped](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/David_Silverman_in_2007-cropped.JPG)
The episode was written by
George Meyer
George Meyer (born 1956) is an American producer and writer. Meyer is best known for his work on ''The Simpsons'', where he led the group script rewrite sessions. He has been publicly credited with "thoroughly shap ng... the comedic sensibilit ...
and directed by
David Silverman. It was the first script Meyer wrote on the show, and he thought he made "quite a few mistakes, but it turned out really well overall."
The staff decided to do a Thanksgiving episode after they realized an episode would air ''on'' Thursday, November 22, 1990 (Thanksgiving Day). ''The Simpsons'' had previously aired at 8:00 p.m.
EST on Sunday night but Fox switched its timeslot to the same time on Thursdays at the beginning of the second season.
The idea of Bart going up on the roof was suggested by Meyer who used to go up on the roof himself when he had fights with his family.
Voice actor
Greg Berg
Greg Berg (born November 26, 1960) is an American voice actor, best known for his work in cartoons, video games
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input de ...
guest starred as Rory, one of the homeless people at the soup kitchen.
Marge's mother,
Jackie Bouvier, voiced by
Julie Kavner, makes her first physical appearance on ''The Simpsons'' in the episode, though she was first referenced in a flashback in the season one episode "
Moaning Lisa Moaning Lisa may refer to:
* Moaning Lisa (band)
Moaning Lisa are an Australian rock band formed in Canberra in 2016. The group has released two EPs, ''The Sweetest'' in 2017, and ''Do You Know Enough?'' in 2018.
The four members of Moaning Li ...
".
Bill and Marty, voiced by
Dan Castellaneta
Daniel Louis Castellaneta (; born October 29, 1957) is an American actor, comedian, and writer. He is best known for voicing Homer Simpson on the animated series ''The Simpsons'' (as well as other characters on the show such as Abraham "Grampa" ...
and
Harry Shearer respectively, also make their first visual appearances, although they were heard on the radio in previous episodes, including "
Bart Gets an 'F'
Bart is a masculine given name, usually a diminutive of Bartholomew, sometimes of Barton, Bartolomeo, etc.
Bart is a Dutch and Ashkenazi Jewish surname, and derives from the name ''Bartholomäus'', a German form of the biblical name ''Bartholo ...
. They are two
radio show
A radio program, radio programme, or radio show is a segment of content intended for broadcast on radio. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series. A single program in a series is called an episode.
Radio networ ...
hosts
A host is a person responsible for guests at an event or for providing hospitality during it.
Host may also refer to:
Places
*Host, Pennsylvania, a village in Berks County
People
*Jim Host (born 1937), American businessman
*Michel Host ( ...
and
DJs
A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile D ...
on
Springfield
Springfield may refer to:
* Springfield (toponym), the place name in general
Places and locations Australia
* Springfield, New South Wales (Central Coast)
* Springfield, New South Wales (Snowy Monaro Regional Council)
* Springfield, Queenslan ...
's own radio station
KBBL. Homer listens to their radio show when he drives to pick up Grampa at the retirement home for the Thanksgiving dinner.
In Bart's fantasy, Maggie says "It's your fault I can't talk!"
Carol Kane
Carolyn Laurie Kane (born June 18, 1952) is an American actress. She became known in the 1970s and 1980s in films such as '' Hester Street'' (for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress), ''Dog Day Afternoon'', ''Annie ...
voiced this line, although she was uncredited.
Cultural references
At the beginning of the episode, Homer and Bart watch
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is an annual parade in New York City presented by the U.S.-based department store chain Macy's. The Parade first took place in 1924, tying it for the second-oldest Thanksgiving parade in the United States with ...
, an annual United States parade that includes floating
helium balloon
A gas balloon is a balloon that rises and floats in the air because it is filled with a gas lighter than air (such as helium or hydrogen). When not in flight, it is tethered to prevent it from flying away and is sealed at the bottom to prevent t ...
s modeled after famous fictional characters. When Homer and Bart talk about the balloons modeled after
Bullwinkle and
Underdog
An underdog is a person or group in a competition, usually in sports and creative works, who is largely expected to lose. The party, team, or individual expected to win is called the favorite or top dog. In the case where an underdog wins, the ...
, ''The Simpsons'' is self-referenced as Homer tells Bart that if the parade "turned every flash-in-pan cartoon character into a balloon, it would be a farce", after which a giant balloon of Bart can be seen on the television in the background. Not coincidentally, 1990 was the year Bart was turned into a balloon for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
While watching the Thanksgiving football game, Homer says he is cheering for the
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisi ...
.
Two of the fictional Dallas Cowboys players are named
Jay Kogen and
Wallace Wolodarsky
Wallace Wolodarsky, also billed as Wally Wolodarsky, is an American actor, screenwriter, television producer, and film director known for being one of the writers for ''The Simpsons'' during the first four seasons with his writing partner Jay K ...
after two writers on ''The Simpsons''.
[.]
The song that plays on the radio during the break in the Thanksgiving football game is "
Get Dancin'
"Get Dancin'" is a song written by Bob Crewe and Kenny Nolan and performed by Disco-Tex and the Sex-O-Lettes, led by Monti Rock III. The song was produced by Bob Crewe and arranged by Bruce Miller. The song was featured on their 1975 album, ''Disc ...
" by
Disco-Tex and the Sex-O-Lettes
Disco-Tex and the Sex-O-Lettes were a disco musical ensemble, group of the 1970s, featuring Monti Rock III (born "Joseph Montanez Jr."). The band is best known for their two disco hits "Get Dancin'" and "I Wanna Dance Wit' Choo (Doo Dat Dance)" ...
.
The game is played at the
Pontiac Silverdome, then home to the
Detroit Lions
The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...
, who also play on Thanksgiving. Lisa says the following about her centerpiece: "It's a tribute to the trailblazing women who made our country great. See, there's
Georgia O'Keeffe,
Susan B. Anthony, and this is
Marjory Stoneman Douglas. I'm sure you haven't heard of her, but she worked her whole life to preserve the
Florida Everglades
The Everglades is a natural region of tropical climate, tropical wetlands in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, comprising the southern half of a large drainage basin within the Neotropical realm. The system begins near Orland ...
."
The poem Lisa is seen writing in her room after her centerpiece is destroyed is a reference to
Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...
's poem "
Howl
Howl most often refers to:
*Howling, an animal vocalization in many canine species
*Howl (poem), a 1956 poem by Allen Ginsberg
Howl may also refer to:
Film
* ''The Howl'', a 1970 Italian film
* ''Howl'' (2010 film), a 2010 American arthouse b ...
".
Lisa also keeps a book of Ginsberg's work on a bookshelf next to
Jack Kerouac
Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation.
Of French-Canadian a ...
's novel ''
On the Road
''On the Road'' is a 1957 novel by American writer Jack Kerouac, based on the travels of Kerouac and his friends across the United States. It is considered a defining work of the postwar Beat and Counterculture generations, with its protagonis ...
'', and a collection of poems by
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wide ...
.
Feeling hungry, Bart decides to steal food from the old, rich
Mr. Burns
Charles Montgomery Plantagenet Schicklgruber "Monty" Burns, usually referred to as Mr. Burns, Monty, or C. Montgomery Burns, is a recurring character and the main antagonist of the animated television series ''The Simpsons'', voiced initially by ...
, who lives on the corner of
Croesus
Croesus ( ; Lydian: ; Phrygian: ; grc, Κροισος, Kroisos; Latin: ; reigned: c. 585 – c. 546 BC) was the king of Lydia, who reigned from 585 BC until his defeat by the Persian king Cyrus the Great in 547 or 546 BC.
Croesus was ...
and
Mammon
Mammon in the New Testament of the Bible is commonly thought to mean money, material wealth, or any entity that promises wealth, and is associated with the greedy pursuit of gain. The Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke both quote Jesus us ...
, two mythological figures of greed.
A member of Burns' security staff reads the novel ''
Les Misérables
''Les Misérables'' ( , ) is a French historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published in 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century.
In the English-speaking world, the novel is usually referred to by its original ...
''.
Reception
In its original broadcast, "Bart vs. Thanksgiving" finished thirty-seventh in the ratings for the week of November 19–25, 1990, with a
Nielsen rating of 11.9, equivalent to approximately eleven million viewing households. It was the third highest-rated show on Fox that week, following ''
Married... with Children'' and ''
In Living Color''.
Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. The authors of the book ''I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide'', Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, wrote: "Marge's mother Jackie is particularly nightmarish in her first real appearance. The final sequence on the rooftop with Lisa and Bart is lovely, and Homer's comment to Marge is a magical wrap-up to a good episode."
DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson said the episode "maintained a nicely irreverent tone most of the time – irreverent enough to make it amusing, at least," and added: "The interaction of the Simpson and Bouvier families at dinner was terrific, and Bart's experiences on skid row made their point while they still managed to be pointed and clever. 'Bart vs. Thanksgiving' was another winner."
Bryce Wilson of Cinema Blend said "Bart vs. Thanksgiving" and "
Lisa's Substitute
"Lisa's Substitute" is the nineteenth episode of the second season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 25, 1991. In the episode, Lisa's teacher Miss Ho ...
", another season two episode, were the first episodes that "asked
he audience
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...
to truly care about the characters, and they work beautifully". Both Dawn Taylor of The DVD Journal and Jacobson thought the most memorable line of the episode was Jackie's line to Marge: "I have
laryngitis
Laryngitis is inflammation of the larynx (voice box). Symptoms often include a hoarse voice and may include fever, cough, pain in the front of the neck, and trouble swallowing. Typically, these last under two weeks.
Laryngitis is categorised ...
and it hurts to talk, so I'll just say one thing – you never do anything right."
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bart Vs. Thanksgiving
1990 American television episodes
Thanksgiving television episodes
The Simpsons (season 2) episodes