Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish

"Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish" is the fourth episode of the second season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It is actually the first episode of that season in the production order. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 1, 1990. In the episode, Bart catches a three-eyed fish in a river downstream of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. After an inspection of the plant reveals numerous safety violations, Mr. Burns runs for governor to prevent the plant from being closed. The night before the election, Burns has a televised dinner with the Simpsons to show his appeal to the common voter. Homer sabotages Burns' political stunt and dooms his campaign by giving him the head of Blinky, the three-eyed fish.

The episode was written by Sam Simon and John Swartzwelder, and directed by Wes Archer. It was the first episode produced for season two and was intended to air as the season premiere, but was replaced with "Bart Gets an 'F' due to Bart's popularity in the early 1990s. The episode features cultural references to several American films, mostly the 1941 film ''Citizen Kane'', with Burns in the role of the character Charles Foster Kane. Mary Bailey shares her name with George Bailey's wife in the 1946 film ''It's a Wonderful Life''.

Journalists have described the episode as a satire on both American politics and environmentalism. It won an Environmental Media Award in 1991 for being the best television episode of the year with an environmental message. Since the episode first aired, the three-eyed fish Blinky has been mentioned several times in news articles regarding nuclear waste and mutation.

The episode was positively received by television critics for its satire on American politics. It acquired a Nielsen rating of 15.8, and was the highest-rated show on the Fox network the week it aired.

Plot

Bart and Lisa go fishing downstream of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. '' Springfield Shopper'' reporter Dave Shutton arrives just as Bart catches a three-eyed fish. After the fish, nicknamed Blinky by the media, makes headlines, incumbent governor Mary Bailey sends a government inspection team to the plant, suspecting nuclear waste may have caused the mutation. The plant's owner, Mr. Burns, is presented with a list of 342 violations which will cost $56 million to rectify. Distraught, Burns takes up Homer's suggestion that he run for governor to prevent the plant from being closed.

Burns's political advisers inform him that he is greatly despised by most people while Bailey is beloved by all. To quell the controversy over Blinky, Burns appears on television with an actor portraying Charles Darwin who claims Blinky is an evolutionary leap, not a "hideous genetic mutation". After Burns vows to lower taxes and runs a smear campaign against Bailey, his campaign ties hers in the polls. Burns's advisers suggest that he have dinner at the home of one of his employees the night before the election. After scanning the plant's video monitors for the most average man he can find, Burns chooses Homer.

The upcoming dinner with Burns divides the Simpson household, with Marge and Lisa appalled that Homer has allowed Burns to use their home as a campaign tool. For dinner, Marge serves Blinky, placing the fish's head on Burns's plate. Unable to swallow the fish, Burns spits it out. Cameras flash as the expelled bite flies through the air and hits the floor, dooming his gubernatorial campaign. Bailey wins the election. After destroying the Simpsons' furnishings in a fit of rage, Burns warns that Homer's dreams will go unfulfilled as long as he lives. However, Marge reassures homer they have each other, as the family is back together again.

Production

The episode was written by Sam Simon and John Swartzwelder, and directed by Wes Archer. Blinky had previously made a brief appearance in the season one episode "Homer's Odyssey", in which he was seen swimming in the lake outside of the plant. The writers liked the design of the fish and decided to devote an episode to him.

Mary Bailey and ''Springfield Shopper'' reporter Dave Shutton made their first appearance on the show in this episode. Dave Shutton, voiced by Harry Shearer, was named after a friend of Swartzwelder. Dave Shutton's roles have since become less relevant and have been reduced to cameos and appearances in crowd scenes. Mary Bailey would later appear briefly in episodes such as " Bart vs. Lisa vs. the Third Grade" and "The Seven-Beer Snitch". Nancy Cartwright ad-libs Bart's blasphemous prayer at the dinner with Mr. Burns (which takes place during the episode's climax) and she records it in one take. It was so funny that the crew was laughing during the prayer, and immediately after she finished Cartwright and the rest of the voice cast also broke into uncontrollable laughter. Producer Matt Groening says it was fortunate she could do it in one take, as a second would have been impossible to do.

During the Tracey Ullman Show and the first season of ''The Simpsons'', Bart quickly became one of the most popular characters on television in what was termed " Bartmania". Due to the success of the first season, the Fox network decided to switch ''The Simpsons''' timeslot in hopes that it would steal ratings from NBC's "powerhouse" line up. The show was moved from its 8:00 p.m. EST Sunday night slot to the same time on Thursday, where it would compete with NBC's ''The Cosby Show'', the number one show at the time. "Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish" was the first episode produced for the second season, but "Bart Gets an 'F' aired first because of Bart's popularity and the producers wanted to premiere with an episode involving him in hopes of stealing viewers from ''The Cosby Show''.Jean, Al. (2002). Commentary for "Bart Gets an F", in ''The Simpsons: The Complete Second Season'' VD 20th Century Fox.

Cultural references

The name of the episode comes from the slogan in a political advert used in Herbert Hoover's presidential campaign in 1928, "A Chicken In Every Pot", which the advert later amplifies with "And a car in every backyard, to boot.". Several parts of the episode are inspired by the 1941 film ''Citizen Kane'', all with Mr. Burns in the role of Charles Foster Kane. The campaign rally scene where Burns speaks in front of a giant poster of himself is a reference to a scene from that film. The scene where Burns trashes the Simpson family's dining room after the dinner is similar to the scene in which Kane destroys his ex-wife's room. Mary Bailey shares her name with George Bailey's wife in the 1946 film ''It's a Wonderful Life''. Burns hires an actor to portray the nineteenth-century scientist Charles Darwin to help in his claim that the three-eyed fish was the result of evolution. Darwin was a naturalist who presented compelling evidence that all species of life have evolved over time from common ancestors, through the process he called natural selection. The clip of Burns driving a military tank in his campaign montage is similar to a clip featured in Michael Dukakis's 1988 United States presidential campaign, in which he can be seen driving a tank. A re-run of the episode that aired on June 25, 1992, included a new chalkboard gag in the opening credits that featured Bart writing "It's potato, not potatoe" on the chalkboard. This is a reference to a spelling blunder by the then-Vice President of the United States Dan Quayle, who corrected a student's correct spelling of "potato" to "potatoe" at an elementary school spelling bee in Trenton, New Jersey

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