Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder
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"Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder" is the sixth episode of the eleventh season of The Simpsons. It originally aired on November 14, 1999.
[edit] Synopsis
On a normal day, Homer is very late for work. As punishment, Mr. Burns makes Homer eat toxic waste in a dark room. Lenny and Carl come in and invite Homer to go bowling. Homer lies to Marge on the phone, telling her that he was not able to attend a tea party date with Maggie because there was a breakdown at the plant and Lenny was hospitalized. Homer then goes bowling with Lenny and Carl. Homer bowls a 300 game, and makes the evening news, earning the attention of Springfield. With this accomplishment, Homer becomes a celebrity, appearing on "The Springfield Squares" (which has Ron Howard as a guest). However, he attempts a walk-on during a Penn & Teller special, but that backfires on him as Penn chases him off the stage with a crossbow (and leaving Teller slowly descending into a tub of water with sharks in it).
Homer's 15 minutes of fame wanes, and he becomes "yesterday's news". Worrying that his life has peaked, he attempts to commit suicide from a tall building, until Otto, who is bungee-jumping, saves him. Thankful for being alive, Homer searches for a more noble life, and dedicates his life to his children. He tries but fails to connect with Bart and Lisa so he decides to spend more time with Maggie. He tries to teach her how to swim, but she doesn't trust him and therefore, won't go in the water. When Homer takes Maggie to the beach, he nearly drowns, and has to have Maggie pull him to shore. For saving him, Homer treats Maggie to a game of bowling—and she bowls a 295 game. She actually bowled a perfect game, but Homer penalized her for going over the line. The "300 game" balloon, however, was still released.
[edit] Cultural references
- The title of the episode is derived from Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh, a song parody by Allan Sherman. The title of this episode is a reference to gutters in bowling, and the fact that Homer created a fad by bowling a perfect game.
- While Maggie is saving Homer, the opening music from a little known film called Midway is East plays.
- The fast-motion sequence when Homer oversleeps, accompanied by music, references a scene from the 1983 film Koyaanisqatsi. The same scene also pays homage to the sequence where Alex DeLarge has a threeway with two girls he met in a record store in the 1971 film A Clockwork Orange.
- Homer plays a Where's Waldo? game on the back of the cereal box he eats his breakfast from.
- Homer dresses up as a Teletubby to entertain Maggie. His line, "...and I'm all man, in case you heard otherwise" is a reference to the Reverend Jerry Falwell accusing Tinky Winky (from the Teletubbies) of promoting homosexuality.
- Homer sings The Doors song "The End". And sings Jim Morrison's voice.
- When Homer and Otto descend into the sewers on the bungee rope, they pass three underground societies: the Morlocks (from The Time Machine), the C.H.U.D.s (from C.H.U.D.) and the Mole People (from the 1956 film The Mole People). In this parody, Hans Moleman and his people are actually dressed up like the Albino enslavers from the film NOT the actual mole creatures.
- Teller, of magic duo Penn & Teller - who is known for never speaking, makes a voice role in this episode.
- This episode actually shows that itchy and scratchy might be real people since the appear on the game show and do not look like costumes and have speaking roles. Also Ron Howard returns since stealing homer's movie idea.
[edit] External links
- "Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder" episode capsule at The Simpsons Archive
- "Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder" at the Internet Movie Database
