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"Dad Behavior" is the eighth episode of the twenty-eighth 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 Simpson, Homer, Marge ...
'', and the 604th episode of the series overall. It first aired on the
Fox network The Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly known simply as Fox and stylized in all caps as FOX, is an American commercial broadcast television network owned by Fox Corporation and headquartered in New York City, with master control operations a ...
in the United States on November 20, 2016. The plot revolves around
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 ...
discovering an app that makes his life easier, and
Grampa Grandparents, individually known as grandmother and grandfather, are the parents of a person's father or mother – paternal or maternal. Every sexually-reproducing living organism who is not a genetic chimera has a maximum of four genet ...
learning that he's about to become a father again. It was the first episode to be written by Ryan Koh, and was directed by Steven Dean Moore. Matt Leinart makes a guest appearance as himself.


Plot

Whilst attempting to put together Scandinavian flat-packed furniture, Homer manages to get stuck in a cabinet he has assembled. To help him escape, Barney recommends to him a new app called "Chore Monkey" that makes its user's life easier by assigning contractors to perform menial tasks for the user. Homer begins to use the app for all his unwanted tasks, and solicits a Chore Monkey called Blake, who is an ex-hostage negotiator, to argue with Marge in his place. Homer then uses Chore Monkey Gold—the app's premium subscription tier—to hire a substitute father figure for
Bart 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 ''Barth ...
. However he soon becomes jealous of the easy rapport between this Chore Monkey— Matt Leinart—and his son. Homer briefly hires a Chore Monkey named Tyler to act as a substitute son, but the two squabble, leading to Tyler
blackballing Blackballing is a rejection in a traditional form of secret ballot, where a white ball or ballot constitutes a vote in support and a black ball signifies opposition. The system is typically used where an organization's rules provide that one or t ...
the Simpsons' house. After attempting to video a premeditated "accident" for submission to
America's Funniest Home Videos ''America's Funniest Home Videos'', also called ''America's Funniest Videos'' (abbreviated as ''AFV''), is an American video clip television series on ABC, based on the Japanese variety show '' Fun TV with Kato-chan and Ken-chan''. The show feat ...
, Milhouse and his father,
Kirk Van Houten The American animated television series '' The Simpsons'' contains a wide range of minor and supporting characters like co-workers, teachers, students, family friends, extended relatives, townspeople, local celebrities, and even animals. The wr ...
, fall out. Homer attempts to spend time with
Grampa Grandparents, individually known as grandmother and grandfather, are the parents of a person's father or mother – paternal or maternal. Every sexually-reproducing living organism who is not a genetic chimera has a maximum of four genet ...
, who has been informed that he's impregnated a fellow (unnamed) resident of his retirement home, and is nervous since he believes that Simpson men do not make good fathers. Midway through a game of
Monopoly A monopoly (from Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situation where a speci ...
, Bart discovers that Matt is following a Chore Monkey script, rather than bonding with him naturally. Homer and Milhouse bond whilst topping up the engine oil of Homer's car, and cooking engine block pizza. Bart in turn becomes jealous of the time Homer and Milhouse are spending together. Whilst playing videogames with Bart, Homer fantasizes about playing with Milhouse instead, before taking the latter out on a fishing trip to the park. Out with Marge at the same park, Grampa reflects that his own relationship with his father was just as dysfunctional as his relationship with Homer. Upon noticing Homer and Milhouse (whom he mistakes as Bart) fishing, Grampa reminisces that he still has the chance to be a good father. Bart meets up with Kirk in the Van Houten's garage. Grampa discovers that his girlfriend got pregnant by Jasper Beardley instead of him, and is first shocked, but then immensely relieved. Bart and Kirk head to Itchy and Scratchy Land, only to find that Homer and Milhouse are also visiting the theme park. The two pairs of characters begin a
go-kart A go-kart, also written as go-cart (often referred to as simply a kart), is a type of sports car, close wheeled car, open-wheel car or quadracycle. Go-karts come in all shapes and forms, from non-motorised models to high-performance racing ...
race, but after Kirk crumbles under the pressure and brakes suddenly, Bart flies out of the kart and hits a stop sign. Homer rushes to help him, apologizing for his earlier obstinance. Bart calls him "dad", which pleases Homer greatly, and the two rekindle their relationship. Despite Kirk confessing that riding in a go-kart with Bart was the best time of his life, he and Milhouse also make up. The four characters all ride out of the park, stealing two of the theme park's go-karts. In an
epilogue An epilogue or epilog (from Ancient Greek, Greek ἐπίλογος ''epílogos'', "conclusion" from ἐπί ''epi'', "in addition" and λόγος ''logos'', "word") is a piece of writing at the end of a work of literature, usually used to bring c ...
Blake negotiates with Maggie, trying to get her to spit out her pacifier, but fails. Bart, Homer and Abe watch baseball together.


Production

The episode was the first to be written by Ryan Koh, and was additionally his debut episode as co-executive producer of the series. Koh has since written two further episodes of the series; " Singin' in the Lane" from season twenty-nine, and " Krusty the Clown" from season thirty. For the latter of these episodes, he was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for Outstanding Writing in Animation at the 71st Writers Guild of America Awards. It was the first episode to be
table-read The read-through, table-read, or table work is a stage of film, television, radio, and theatre production when an organized reading around a table of the screenplay or script by the actors with speaking parts is conducted. In addition to the ca ...
for season twenty-eight. Interviewed about his role in the episode, Matt Leinart stated that he had been a long time fan of the show, and that it was "one of those bucket list things. Doing voiceovers for The Simpsons is like...so crazy". This was the first episode of
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 Simpson, Homer, Marge ...
to be produced by Fox Television Animation.


Themes and cultural references

Chore Monkey is a parody of the app TaskRabbit, and Barney has an app on his phone called "Uburp", which is a parody of
Uber Uber Technologies, Inc. (Uber), based in San Francisco, provides mobility as a service, ride-hailing (allowing users to book a car and driver to transport them in a way similar to a taxi), food delivery ( Uber Eats and Postmates), pack ...
. After discovering Chore Monkey, Homer sings a parody of the chorus of the Steely Dan song Dirty Work. A parody of an It Gets Better poster with a picture of a grave on hangs in the retirement castle. Matt Leinart slightly deflates the football he and Bart are playing catch with, in a reference to Deflategate. Grampa asserts that 'Grave Date' and ' Friends With Social Security Benefits' are popular dating apps among the residents of his retirement home. Matt states that he has played a Heisman Trophy edition of
Trivial Pursuit ''Trivial Pursuit'' is a board game in which winning is determined by a player's ability to answer trivia and popular culture questions. Players move their pieces around a board, the squares they land on determining the subject of a question ...
. After smearing engine oil over Milhouse's face in the shape of a mustache, Homer remarks that he looks like Tony Stark. Homer and Bart play a videogame titled "PGA Tour of Duty", a portmanteau of '' Call of Duty: Zombies'' and the
PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...
series, in which a representation of
Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...
appears as a zombie
non-player character A non-player character (NPC), or non-playable character, is any character in a game that is not controlled by a player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaster ...
. Grampa's memory of his father is depicted in the animation style of
Popeye Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by E. C. Segar, Elzie Crisler Segar.Forever Stamp. Homer sings a parody of the
sea shanty A sea shanty, chantey, or chanty () is a genre of traditional folk song that was once commonly sung as a work song to accompany rhythmical labor aboard large merchant sailing vessels. The term ''shanty'' most accurately refers to a specific st ...
Drunken Sailor "Drunken Sailor", also known as "What Shall We Do with a/the Drunken Sailor?" or "Up She Rises", is a traditional sea shanty, listed as No. 322 in the Roud Folk Song Index. It was sung onboard sailing ships at least as early as the 1830s, and ...
to Marge. Prior to the episode, Marge and Lisa have fallen out because Marge has thrown out Lisa's copies of the
Utne Reader ''Utne Reader'' (also known as ''Utne'') ( ) is a digital digest that collects and reprints articles on politics, culture, and the environment, generally from alternative media sources including journals, newsletters, weeklies, zines, music, and ...
. Itchy and Scratchy Land is a parody of
Disneyland Disneyland is a theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney initially envisi ...
, and its ride "Itchy and Scratchy's Injury 500" is a reference to the Indy 500. The episode is dedicated to the American sportscaster
Vin Scully Vincent Edward Scully (November 29, 1927 – August 2, 2022) was an American sportscaster. He was best known for his 67 seasons calling games for Major League Baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers, beginning in 1950 (when the franchise was located ...
. Music played during the episode's race sequence and end credits was composed by
Alf Clausen Alf Heiberg Clausen (born March 28, 1941) is an American film and television composer. He is best known for his work scoring many episodes of ''The Simpsons'', for which he was the sole composer between 1990 and 2017. Clausen has scored or or ...
and Greg Prechel, and is an homage to the songs from the
Fast and the Furious ''Fast & Furious'' (also known as ''The Fast and the Furious'') is a media franchise centered on a series of action films that are largely concerned with street racing, heists, spies, and family. The franchise also includes short films, a t ...
franchise. In an article on Queer Theory that analyses the episode, Jonathan Hay relates the episode's unconventional opening credits sequence and Grampa's jubilation at realizing he is not a father to Lee Edelman's concept of reproductive futurity, as proposed in his 2004 monograph 'No Future: Queer Theory and the Death Drive'. Hay writes that:


Reception

Dennis Perkins of '' The A.V. Club'' gave "Dad Behavior" a B− stating:
In short, there’s nothing especially wrong with 'Dad Behavior,'...That the episode doesn’t turn out more memorably for all that is one of those elusive near-misses that’s maddeningly tough to pin down. In the end, the lack of stakes is what undermines the story. Bart and Homer’s estrangement just doesn’t feel weighty or immediate enough.
Tony Sokol of
Den of Geek ''Den of Geek'' is a US and UK-based website covering entertainment with a focus on pop culture. The website also issues a bi-annual magazine. History ''Den of Geek'' was founded in 2007 by Simon Brew in London. In 2012, DoG Tech LLC licensed ...
scored the episode 4.5 out 5 stars stating:
The episode is very funny, very clever and ends on a classic sequence...Although The Simpsons play out the family jealousies a lot, this one kept it fresh...Tonight’s highlight was the rising orchestral tension in the scene where Abe finds out about the baby’s lineage. The music builds on Abe’s face, the mother’s face and lingers on Jasper’s beard. Thrilling. Chilling. Ultimately freeing.
In addition, the episode's couch gag itself was commented on by reviewers. Lucy Morris of
Digital Spy Digital Spy (DS) is a British-based entertainment, television and film website and brand and is the largest digital property at Hearst UK. Since its launch in 1999, Digital Spy has focused on entertainment news related to television programmes, ...
felt that the couch gag was bleak, and a strange departure from the show's usual opening sequences. She noted however that Bart finally getting control of the TV remote was a welcome "silver lining" to the numerous traumatic deaths of his immediate family members within the couch gag. Caroline Westbrook of ''Metro'' also felt that the sequence was "pretty darned grim", but noted that it was not the series' first significantly weird couch gag. "Dad Behavior" scored a 1.3 rating and was watched by 2.88 million people, making it Fox's highest rated show of the night. However, this was a significant decrease from the previous episode, " Havana Wild Weekend", which acquired a 3.1 rating, and was watched by 7.13 million people.


References


External links

* {{The Simpsons episodes, 28 2016 American television episodes The Simpsons (season 28) episodes