Sideshow Bob Roberts
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| The Simpsons episode | |
| "Sideshow Bob Roberts" | |
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| Bob at his victory speech. | |
| Episode no. | 108 |
| Prod. code | 2F02 |
| Orig. Airdate | October 9, 1994 |
| Show Runner(s) | David Mirkin |
| Written by | Bill Oakley & Josh Weinstein |
| Directed by | Mark Kirkland |
| Chalkboard | None |
| Couch gag | None |
| Guest star | Kelsey Grammer as Sideshow Bob Larry King as himself Dr. Demento as himself |
| DVD commentary by | Matt Groening David Mirkin Bill Oakley Josh Weinstein Mark Kirkland |
| Season 6 September 4, 1994 – May 21, 1995 |
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| List of all Simpsons episodes... | |
"Sideshow Bob Roberts" is the fifth episode of The Simpsons' sixth season.
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
Sideshow Bob calls up Birch Barlow, a local right-wing talk show host, stating that he is being treated unfairly in prison. Thanks to Barlow, all of Springfield sympathizes with Bob. Pressured by protests, Mayor Quimby releases Bob.
At a Springfield Republican meeting, Bob announces his candidacy for mayor of Springfield. Determined to keep the psychopath from becoming mayor, Bart and Lisa help campaign for Quimby. Quimby helps get the old folks' votes by naming a new expressway the "Matlock Expressway". Unfortunately, at a televised debate hosted by Larry King, Quimby's drowsiness (caused by extra drowsy flu medication) causes him to lose all support. Springfield votes for mayor and the results are 100% for Bob and 1% for Quimby (with a one percent margin of error).
Within days, the Simpsons wake up to construction occurring outside. Bob informs the family that the Simpsons' house is in the way of the new Matlock Expressway and that it will be demolished in 72 hours, along with any remaining Simpsons. Bart and Lisa begin to suspect that Bob somehow cheated in the election. Lisa goes through all the voter records but that does not help. (Bart is of no help because, thanks to Bob, he got transferred to kindergarten.) While Lisa reviews the records, someone leaves a message for her. Bart and Lisa go to a parking garage to meet with the whistle blower, who turns out to be Waylon Smithers. He gives them one name of a person who voted for Bob and the two children soon discover that virtually every single person (and many dead pets) who voted for him was dead, even some for centuries. Of course, dead people and animals are not eligible to vote. At a trial, an angry Bart and Lisa trick Bob into confessing his crime and he is thrown into a minimum security prison, thus managing to let the Simpsons have their house back, letting Quimby gain his term as mayor, and putting Bart back to the fourth grade.
[edit] Trivia
- When this episode originally aired, it used a short (clouds-driveway-couch-credits) opening recycled from Season 5's Boy-Scoutz N the Hood. On the April 23, 1995 airing, an even shorter (clouds-credits) opening was used. This opening is featured on the Season 6 DVD boxset. In syndication, the opening sequence from Season 5's Rosebud is used.
- This is the fourth Sideshow Bob episode.
- We learn that Bob's middle name is "Underdunk".
- Radio host Birch Barlow is the author of the "well selling book" Only Turkeys Have Left Wings
[edit] Cultural references
- The plot of Bart and Lisa investigating Bob's election fraud, the pull-out of Lisa looking over the voting records, and the clandestine meeting with Smithers are references to the movie (and book) All the President's Men, which chronicled Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's investigation of Watergate (Lisa even mentions that they are like Woodward and Bernstein, and the library scene mimics the overhead shot of the library in the film).
- Bob says the famous line from A Few Good Men. His speech also parodies Jack Nicholson's speech following the line.
- The episode's name is a take on the movie Bob Roberts, starring Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins. Sideshow Bob's election ad parodies one scene in the film, as well.
- The character Birchibald T. "Birch" Barlow is a take-off on American talk show host and political commentator Rush Limbaugh. He was voiced by Harry Shearer, who is a strong critic of Mr. Limbaugh and his political views. The name "Birch" is likely a reference to the John Birch Society.
- This episode also features cameo appearances by several Archie Comics characters, including Archie Andrews, Reggie Mantle, Moose Mason and Jughead Jones; they're shown pulling up to the Simpsons' house, tossing Homer out of Archie's jalopy, and warning him to "stay out of Riverdale!" Later, Homer reads an Archie comic and calls them all "stuck-up Riverdale punks."
- Bob gives his acceptance speech underneath a giant poster with a picture of himself on it; this is a reference to the campaign speech scene in Citizen Kane, which was also referenced during Mr. Burns' run for governor in the episode "Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish.
- The song that is on the radio while Lisa is driving is "Man in Motion" by John Parr. It was the theme for Rick Hansen's Man in Motion Tour, and the theme to the 1985 movie, St. Elmo's Fire.
- Sideshow Bob wins the election by ballot stuffing using the names of the deceased, a common type of electoral fraud that is perhaps best known for having occurred in Chicago in the mid-1900s, where the dead who voted were dubbed "ghost voters."[1]
- The language spoken at Republican Party headquarters is inspired by Enochian, a language associated with occult and Satanic ceremonies.[1]
- While in Kindergarten, Bart plays with a Flintstones talking phone.
[edit] Political satire
There are many sections of the show that are designed to satirize politics in the United States.
- Birch T. Barlow complains that Sideshow Bob has been unfairly imprisoned by the "liberal justice system", but conservatives usually argue that the "liberal justice system" is too soft on criminals.
- In Sideshow Bob's political ad the narrator talks about the liberal "revolving door prison system". The narrator points out that the liberal mayor released two time convicted murderer Sideshow Bob. The ad ends insisting that the viewer vote for the aforementioned two time convicted murderer for mayor. (Again this satirizes the fact that politicians often turn against their own policies when it affects them, or their close friends in an adverse way; it is also a direct parody of the 1988 presidential campaign, when Michael Dukakis was attacked in an ad by George H. W. Bush for allowing the release of Willie Horton, a convicted rapist, when Dukakis was Governor of Massachusetts.)
- Mayor Quimby boasts about building a new expressway to the members of the old folks home, but he quickly realises that it isn't winning him any support. Grandpa Abraham Simpson points out that he only cares about fictional TV character Matlock, so mayor Quimby's aide quickly changes the diagram to show that it's called the "Matlock Expressway". (This satirizes the fact that politicians often flip-flop to win votes, and also that their aides do most of the work).
- Smithers reveals that he is motivated to tip off the Simpsons because of Republican disapproval of his lifestyle choice (satirizing how Republicans are against rights for homosexuals, and also implying that Smithers is gay).
- Bob uses the Republican cliché "flip-flop" to defame his opponent.
- On the television airing of the political debate between Sideshow Bob and Mayor Quimby, Mayor Quimby's head is surrounded by fire and his hair was held upward at the front like two demons horns. TV networks and newspapers may favour candidates with policies which will be more favourable to them. Mayor Quimby's performance in the debate is similar to that of Nixon in the televised 1960 Presidential debate with Kennedy. The debate was said to be broadcast by FOX, which was (and still is) run by a well-known conservative (despite his financial support for environmental groups and the Gore-Edwards campaign), Rupert Murdoch. See also: Fox News.
- This episode reinforces the stereotypical Republican image through the local members of the party: the Blue-Haired Lawyer, Mr. Burns and even Count Dracula. Rainier Wolfcastle (an obvious parody of Arnold Schwarzenegger), the Rich Texan, and Dr. Hibbert are also shown as members of the party.
- This episode, and many other episodes of the Simpsons, reinforces the stereotypical image of the Kennedy family members through Mayor Joseph Quimby, the antics of him and the members of his close family, as well as Joe Quimby's accent.
[edit] External links
