"A Midsummer's Nice Dream" is the sixteenth episode of the twenty-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 Simpson, Homer, Marge ...

''. It originally 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 March 13, 2011. The episode name is a play on the

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

play '' A Midsummer Night's Dream'' and the Cheech & Chong movie ''

Nice Dreams ''Nice Dreams'' is a 1981 American action adventure comedy film directed by Tommy Chong and starring Cheech & Chong, in their third feature film. Released in 1981 by Columbia Pictures, the film focuses on the duo having gotten rich selling canna ...

''.

Plot

The Simpsons are at a live

Cheech and Chong Cheech & Chong are a comedy duo consisting of Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong. The duo found commercial and cultural success in the 1970s and 1980s with their stand-up routines, studio recordings, and feature films, which were based on the hippie a ...

show when Chong, upset by the act's repetitiveness, begins to improvise and ultimately leaves the stage. Homer is encouraged to take Chong's place on stage, and recites the " Dave's not here, man" act from memory. Cheech is impressed, and asks Homer to join him for the rest of the tour under the name "Cheech and Chunk". Homer is disillusioned to learn that Cheech and Chong's lives are different from their stoner personae. Meanwhile, Chong has replaced Cheech with

Seymour Skinner Principal Seymour Skinner (born Armin Tamzarian) is a recurring fictional character in the animated sitcom ''The Simpsons'', who is voiced by Harry Shearer. He is the principal of Springfield Elementary School, which he struggles to control, ...

, forming a duo called "Teech and Chong", but the team proves unsuccessful. Homer eventually convinces Cheech and Chong to reunite. Meanwhile, Marge discovers that the

Crazy Cat Lady 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 write ...

is a hoarder. In an effort to help, Marge has the clutter removed from her home. But after loading the waste disposal truck, Marge begins removing items she sees as unique and valuable, eventually causing her own home to become cluttered. To cure Marge's new obsession, Homer brings back the Crazy Cat Lady, who ends up becoming a hoarder again after seeing all her old items. In an epilogue Bart, posing as Puck, tells the audience the epilogue as well as that they can watch the show the next day on

Hulu.com Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television seri ...

Reception

In its original American broadcast, "A Midsummer's Nice Dream" was viewed by an estimated 5.448 million households and received a 2.5 rating/8% share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49. This means that it was seen by 2.5% of all 18- to 49-year-olds, and 8% of all 18- to 49-year-olds watching television at the time of the broadcast. This episode fell 11% in the ratings from the previous episode, making it the lowest rated episode of the season. The episode received generally negative reviews. Rowan Kaiser gave the episode a D saying "I have no idea what ''The Simpsons'' was trying to do tonight" and called it the worst episode of the season. Eric Hochberger gave the episode a 2.5/5, despite liking the season he criticized its use of guest voices and cited the episode as an example. The

Parents Television Council The Parents Television and Media Council (PTMC), formerly the Parents Television Council (PTC), is an American media advocacy group founded by conservative Christian activist L. Brent Bozell III in 1995, which advocates for what it considers ...

named "A Midsummer's Nice Dream" its Worst TV Show of the Week for the week ending March 18, 2011, for its subject matter; it was the first ''Simpsons'' episode to be so named. The PTC stated "''The Simpsons'' may have been on the air for 22 years now (and counting), and while there are plenty of adults who watch the show, no one can deny that there is also a sizable audience of children. Since Cheech is portrayed as a strait-laced stick-in-the-mud, the subtle anti-drug messages in the show are completely lost. In the end, sober still equals boring."

References

External links

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"A Midsummer's Nice Dream"
at theSimpsons.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Midsummers Nice Dream, A 2011 American television episodes American television episodes about cannabis The Simpsons (season 22) episodes