"Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge" is the twenty-second and final episode of the thirteenth 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 ...

''. 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 ...

in the United States on May 22, 2002. In the episode, a massive heatwave causes the residents of Springfield to install large

air conditioning Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C or AC, is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior environment (sometimes referred to as 'comfort cooling') and in some cases also strictly controlling ...

devices in their homes. This leads the

Springfield Nuclear Power Plant Springfield is the primary fictional setting of the American animated sitcom ''The Simpsons'' and related media. It is an average-sized, fictional city within an indeterminate state in the United States. The fictional city's geography, surroundi ...

to overload, causing two town-wide blackouts to occur. The Springfield Police Department are powerless to the riots that follow, prompting

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 ...

, dissatisfied with the police's incompetence, to start his own security company called SpringShield. "Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge" was directed by

Pete Michels Pete Michels is an American animation director who is the supervising director of ''Future-Worm!'' on Disney XD. Prior, he was a supervising director on seasons 1 and 2 of ''Rick and Morty'', an animation and supervising director on ''Family Guy'' ...

and written by

Dana Gould Dana Gould (born August 24, 1964) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer and voice artist who has been featured on HBO, Showtime, and Comedy Central. He voiced Hi Larious in the TV series ''Father of the Pride'' (2004–2005) and the ...

, who also pitched the idea for the episode. It features American actor

Joe Mantegna Joseph Anthony Mantegna (, ; born November 13, 1947) is an American actor. Mantegna began his career on stage in 1969 in the Chicago production of the musical ''Hair''. He earned a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play and a Joseph Jeff ...

as recurring character Fat Tony, and includes references to '' Dragnet'', '' High Noon'' and ''

The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American crime drama television series created by David Chase. The story revolves around Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster, portraying his difficulties as he tries to balance ...

''. In its original broadcast, the episode was seen by approximately 5.3 million viewers, finishing in 53rd place in the ratings the week it aired. Following its home video release on August 24, 2010, the episode received mixed reviews from critics. The episode was dedicated to the memory of Stephen Jay Gould who died two days before it aired. He had voiced himself in the ninth-season episode "

Lisa the Skeptic "Lisa the Skeptic" is the eighth episode of the ninth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 23, 1997. On an archaeological dig with her class, Lisa ...

Plot

Springfield is in the midst of a massive

heat wave A heat wave, or heatwave, is a period of excessively hot weather, which may be accompanied by high humidity, especially in oceanic climate countries. While definitions vary, a heat wave is usually measured relative to the usual climate in the ...

. Every building in the town has installed a large

device. However, this draws a lot of power from the

. Despite the safety measures Mr. Burns has taken (cutting power to the orphanage), the plant is at full power. At home, without an air conditioning device, the Simpsons have to follow an old-fashioned fan. Homer decides to give them a taste of winter by plugging in his dancing Santa Claus. This overloads the plant and causes a town-wide blackout. After Lenny and Carl accidentally crash their cars into a store with no active alarm and decide to loot it, widespread

rioting A riot is a form of civil disorder commonly characterized by a group lashing out in a violent public disturbance against authority, property, or people. Riots typically involve destruction of property, public or private. The property targeted ...

and looting occur. The police try to intervene, but are powerless to stop the massive

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Ca ...

wave. The next day, Springfield has been devastated by the crime wave.

Mayor Quimby Mayor Joseph Fitzgerald O'Malley Fitzpatrick O'Donnell The Edge "Joe" Quimby, nicknamed Diamond Joe, is a recurring character from the animated sitcom television series ''The Simpsons''. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta, and first appeared in ...

decides to take legal action by forming a

blue-ribbon committee In the United States, a blue-ribbon committee (or panel or commission) is a group of exceptional people appointed to investigate, study or analyze a given question. Blue-ribbon committees generally have a degree of independence from political infl ...

. At the Simpsons' house, someone steals Lisa's Malibu Stacy collection. Homer decides to take action by looking for it. He finds the culprit, Jimbo Jones, and later foils a robbery by Snake Jailbird at the Kwik-E-Mart. He goes through a very long list of his previous jobs (during which Marge puts curlers in her hair offscreen) and decides that he likes the idea of combining his love of helping ''and'' hurting people. Homer forms his own

security" \n\n\nsecurity.txt is a proposed standard for websites' security information that is meant to allow security researchers to easily report security vulnerabilities. The standard prescribes a text file called \"security.txt\" in the well known locat ...

company called "SpringShield". Although it only has Homer, Lenny, and Carl, it is more efficient and more successful than the Springfield Police Department. When Quimby sees Chief Wiggum trying to shoot a

Piñata A piñata (, ) is a container, often made of papier-mâché, pottery, or cloth, that is decorated, filled with candy, and then broken as part of a celebration. Piñatas are commonly associated with Mexico. The idea of breaking a container fille ...

with a shotgun while blindfolded, he dismisses Wiggum and (in a fit of rage) makes Homer the

chief of police Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the b ...

on live television. After stopping one of Fat Tony's operations, Homer practically rids Springfield of crime. However, Fat Tony escapes and vows to kill Homer unless he leaves town. Homer is unable to get protection from the citizens he protects (only

Ned Flanders Nedward "Ned" Flanders Jr. is a fictional character in the animated television series ''The Simpsons'', voiced by Harry Shearer and first appearing in the series premiere episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire." He is the good-natured, ch ...

volunteers, but Homer ignores his offer) and Lenny and Carl lock themselves in a jail cell. When Homer does not leave, Fat Tony arrives with a few of his own henchmen (including Johnny Tightlips), as well as

mafia "Mafia" is an informal term that is used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the original “Mafia”, the Sicilian Mafia and Italian Mafia. The central activity of such an organization would be the arbitration of d ...

muscle—the characters of ''

'' series. Just before they are about to kill Homer, an unseen sniper shoots the mobsters; injuring them and causing them to flee. Safe again, Homer resigns as police chief and offers the job to the first person who comes along, which is Wiggum (who notes that an identical situation is how he became chief in the first place). When Marge thanks him for saving Homer, Wiggum says that he did not shoot anyone, having lost his gun, badge and nearly his squad car. Unbeknownst to them, the person who saved Homer was Maggie, who fires at the mobsters from her window with a scoped sporting rifle.

Production

"Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge" was written by

and directed by

. It was first broadcast on the

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

on May 22, 2002. The idea for the episode was also pitched by Gould, who had just moved to southern California with his wife. After moving in, the two decided to install an

alarm system An alarm device is a mechanism that gives an audible, visual or other kind of alarm signal to alert someone to a problem or condition that requires urgent attention. Alphabetical musical instruments Etymology The word ''alarm'' comes from th ...

because, Gould quipped, "the police aren't enough. Too many people wanna kill you."Gould, Dana. (2010). Commentary for "Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge", in ''The Simpsons: The Complete Thirteenth Season'' VD 20th Century Fox. When meeting the other writers, Gould pitched an episode in which Homer becomes the owner of a security company, which then became "Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge." Although current showrunner

Al Jean Alfred Ernest Jean III (born January 9, 1961) is an American screenwriter and producer. Jean is well known for his work on ''The Simpsons''. He was raised near Detroit, Michigan, and graduated from Harvard University in 1981. Jean began his wri ...

found it "very funny," the episode's first draft was heavily altered after the first table-read, a process in which the script is read out loud to the other writers.Jean, Al. (2010). Commentary for "Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge", in ''The Simpsons: The Complete Thirteenth Season'' VD 20th Century Fox. During the blackout, Lenny and Carl accidentally crash their cars into a store, causing a riot to erupt. The sequence was conceived by Gould who, after the

1992 Los Angeles riots The 1992 Los Angeles riots, sometimes called the 1992 Los Angeles uprising and the Los Angeles Race Riots, were a series of riots and civil disturbances that occurred in Los Angeles County, California, in April and May 1992. Unrest began in So ...

, was "somewhat obsessed" with civil unrest issues. In the DVD commentary for the episode, he said "I love the idea of, 'All you need is for the power to go out and slowly the fabric of society unravels." While trying to determine who stole Lisa's Malibu Stacy car, Homer holds Bart as his prime suspect. Unbeknownst to Bart, who is eating an apple, Homer tells Lisa "Look at him over there, eating that apple. What is he planning?" Originally, the scene would show Homer suspecting Lisa, but because it bothered the character's voice actor,

Yeardley Smith Martha Maria Yeardley Smith ( ; born July 3, 1964) is an American actress, artist and writer. She currently stars as the voice of Lisa Simpson on the long-running animated television series ''The Simpsons''. Smith became an actress in 1982 aft ...

, the scene was changed. American actor

reprises his role as Fat Tony in the episode.Mantegna, Joe. (2010). Commentary for "Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge", in ''The Simpsons: The Complete Thirteenth Season'' VD 20th Century Fox. In another scene in the episode, Homer shows his family an advertisement for his security company. In it, a monster is seen breaking into an elderly woman's house. When the woman screams, the screen freezes and Homer is composited to the screen, instructing the audience about SpringShield's telephone number. In order to composite Homer into the screen, director Michels made use of a

greenscreen Chroma key compositing, or chroma keying, is a visual-effects and post-production technique for compositing (layering) two images or video Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and displa ...

. The advertisement resumes and the monster is subdued by Homer, Lenny and Carl. Confused, the monster turns to Homer and asks, "friend?" to which Homer replies "the only friend you need is SpringShield," and holds a business card in front of the camera. The monster then puts the card in his wallet and says "monster put in wallet." The monster's last line was written during one of the episode's rewrites, but none of the writers on ''The Simpsons''' writing staff has taken credit for it. The line has since become very popular with the series' writing staff; Jean said that it was "very funny and unusual for a television show," and Gould considers it to be his favourite joke in any episode he has ever written. At the end of the episode, Maggie saves Homer by shooting Fat Tony's gang members with a rifle, as a reference to the two-part episode Who Shot Mr. Burns? from seasons 6 and 7, in which it is ultimately revealed that Maggie shot Burns after his gun fell into her hands. The scene was conceived by series co-creator and executive producer James L. Brooks while writing notes during the episode's first table-read. While "

The Frying Game "The Frying Game" is the twenty-first and penultimate episode of the thirteenth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 19, 2002. In the episode, ...

" was originally thought to be the last episode of the season, "Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge" was later revealed to be the real season finale. Although new episodes of ''The Simpsons'' usually air on Sundays, "Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge" aired on Wednesday, May 22, 2002. On August 24, 2010, "Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge" was released as part of ''The Simpsons: The Complete Thirteenth Season''

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

and

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

set. Al Jean, Matt Selman, Carolyn Omine, Dana Gould, Joe Mantegna and Pete Michels participated in the audio commentary of the episode.

Cultural references

In a scene in the episode, Homer tells Marge about all the jobs he has had, referencing several episodes of the series. According to Jean, the scene was added during a rewrite of the episode's script. In another scene, Homer, in the Springfield church, attempts to recruit companions for his security company. The scene is a reference to the 1952 American

western film The Western is a genre set in the American frontier and commonly associated with folk tales of the Western United States, particularly the Southwestern United States, as well as Northern Mexico and Western Canada. It is commonly referred ...

'' High Noon'', although the line "You all know me" was taken from the American horror/thriller film '' Jaws''. When visiting the clothing store Wooly Bully, Homer has a rapid, monotone conversation with the cashier. The two speak in a similar manner to the characters in the American 1950's television

crime drama Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combin ...

'' Dragnet'', of which Gould was a "big fan". When noticing that one of his ferrets is wearing a wire, Fat Tony tells it "you're not a pet, and you're not a friend. You're nothing to me." The line parodies a similar conversation between Michael and

Fredo Corleone Frederico "Fredo" Corleone is a fictional character in Mario Puzo's 1969 novel ''The Godfather''. Fredo is portrayed by American actor John Cazale in the Francis Ford Coppola 1972 film adaptation and in the 1974 sequel, ''The Godfather Part II ...

in the American gangster film ''

The Godfather Part II ''The Godfather Part II'' is a 1974 American epic crime film produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The film is partially based on the 1969 novel ''The Godfather'' by Mario Puzo, who co-wrote the screenplay with Coppola. ''Part II'' s ...

''. Near the end of the episode, Fat Tony drives to the Simpsons house in what seems to be a white

Dodge Caravan The Dodge Caravan (and the long-wheelbase Dodge Grand Caravan) is a series of minivans that was manufactured by Chrysler from the 1984 to 2020 model years. The Dodge version of the Chrysler minivans, the Caravan was marketed as both a passenger v ...

, while shots of Springfield are shown on the way. The scene parodies the

title sequence A title sequence (also called an opening sequence or intro) is the method by which films or television programmes present their title and key production and cast members, utilizing conceptual visuals and sound (often a opening theme song with vi ...

of the American television drama series ''

'', and features

Alabama 3 Alabama 3 are a British/English musical group founded in Brixton, London in 1995. They are best known for their track " Woke Up This Morning", which was used for the opening credits of the TV series ''The Sopranos''. In the United States, the ...

's song "

Woke Up This Morning "Woke Up This Morning" is a song by British band Alabama 3 from their 1997 album ''Exile on Coldharbour Lane.'' The song is best known as the opening theme music for the American television series ''The Sopranos'', which used a shortened version ...

," which is also used in ''The Sopranos''' title sequence. Michels stated that the parody was "very fun" to animate; "Being from

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, it was a labor of love," he said in the episode's DVD commentary.Michels, Pete. (2010). Commentary for "Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge", in ''The Simpsons: The Complete Thirteenth Season'' VD 20th Century Fox. The episode title is a reference to the James Brown song "

Papa's Got A Brand New Bag "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" is a song written and recorded by James Brown. Released as a two-part single in 1965, it was Brown's first song to reach the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 Top Ten, peaking at number eight, and was a number-one R&B hit, top ...

". The monster of SpringShield commercial is a parody of ''

The New Woody Woodpecker Show ''The New Woody Woodpecker Show'' (titled ''The Woody Woodpecker Show'' on-screen) is an American animated comedy television series based on the animated short film series created by cartoonist and animator Walter Lantz. It was developed by ani ...

'' Badger character, including a quote "Hey buddy".

Reception

In its original American broadcast, "Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge" received a 5.0 rating, according to

Nielsen Media Research Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rati ...

, translating to approximately 5.3 million viewers. The episode finished in 53rd place in the ratings for the week of May 20–26, 2002. Together with the first half-hour of ''

Celebrity Boxing ''Celebrity Boxing'' is a FOX television show, in which celebrities whose careers and/or notoriety had diminished were pitted against each other in exhibition boxing matches. The contestants wore headgear during the fights, which were scheduled ...

'', the shows averaged a 3.9 rating among adults between ages 18 and 49, pushing Fox to number two for the night, just behind NBC. Some listings do not name this show as the Season 13 finale because it aired outside of the series' regular Sunday 8PM EST timeslot; those listings name this episode as a "special airing" and list

as the S13 finale instead. Following its home video release, "Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge" received mixed reviews from critics. Writing for 411Mania, Ron Martin gave the episode a mixed review, calling it "passable." He wrote that "Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge" is "far from memorable as season finales should be." DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson wrote "Like many S13 episodes, “Badge” feels more than a little derivative," describing the episode as a combination of the

season 4 Season 4 may refer to: * "Season 4" (''30 Rock'' episode), an episode of ''30 Rock'' See also * * Season One (disambiguation) * Season 2 (disambiguation) Season 2 may refer to: * ''Season 2'' (Infinite album) * '' 2econd Season'' See also * ...

episode " Mr. Plow" and the season 5 episode " Homer the Vigilante". He continued by writing "That doesn’t mean the show lacks amusement, but it’s too rehashed to end the year with a real winner." Nate Boss of Project-Blu described it as "A random episode, without many laughs," however, he added that it "could have been worse." Giving the episode a positive review, Jennifer Malkowski of DVD Verdict gave it a B+, billing "Homer's 'You know I've had a lot of jobs' list" as the episode's "highlight". Writing for Screen Jabber, Stuart O'Connor was favorable as well, describing it as a "first-rate ep sode. Screen Rant called it the best episode of the 13th season.

References

External links

"Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge"
at The Simpsons.com * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Papa's Got A Brand New Badge The Simpsons (season 13) episodes 2002 American television episodes The Sopranos