The War of the Simpsons vs. Krusty Gets Kancelled

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The War of the Simpsons

At a party thrown by himself and his wife Marge, Homer humiliates himself by getting drunk, telling off strangers, and leering at Maude Flanders' cleavage. The following day at church, Marge signs up for a weekend retreat of marriage counseling hosted by Reverend Lovejoy and his wife Helen. Homer finds out that the retreat will be held at Catfish Lake and packs his fishing equipment, despite Marge telling him that all they will be doing is resolving their differences. On the way to the retreat, Homer stops at a bait shop and learns of the legendary catfish General Sherman.

Back at home, Grampa babysits Bart and Lisa, who trick their grandfather into letting them throw their own party. At the lake the next morning, Homer tries to sneak away to go fishing, but Marge wakes up first. Marge is upset that Homer would choose fishing over their marriage, which Homer fails to understand as he visualizes Marge turning into a catfish. Homer takes a walk instead of returning to bed. On the dock, he finds an abandoned fishing pole. The pole, with General Sherman on the line, yanks him off the pier into a small rowboat, and onto the lake. From their cabin window, Marge watches Homer battle General Sherman and gets frustrated. At home, Bart and Lisa's party has ended and the house is a total mess. Watching Grampa cry and fearing that he will get in trouble, they frantically clean up the house for him.

Marge attends the workshops alone while Homer triumphantly rows in with General Sherman. When he returns, Marge tells him their marriage is in serious trouble if he values fishing more than her. To prove his love for her, he lets the fish (still alive) go and they return home. Once home, Marge congratulates Grampa on how clean the house is, to which he reveals his secret is "pretending to cry". Grampa laughs as he reveals to a shocked Bart and Lisa that he tricked them as he leaves, and Bart swears he will never trust an old person again. At the bait shop, General Sherman is still uncaught, but tales are told of a near-mythical figure who almost succeeded: "Went by the name of Homer. Seven feet tall he was, with arms like tree trunks. His eyes were like steel: cold, hard. Had a shock of hair, red, like the fires of Hell."

Krusty Gets Kancelled

One afternoon while watching television, Homer and Bart see a highly distracting commercial for something named "Gabbo". The advertisement is the start of a viral marketing campaign around Springfield to build interest in whatever "Gabbo" is. Finally, "Gabbo" is revealed to be a ventriloquist's dummy. Ventriloquist Arthur Crandall announces that Gabbo's new program will air in direct competition with the established Krusty the Klown Show on each afternoon at 4 p.m. Gabbo's catchphrase — "I'm a bad wittle boy" — instantly charms his intended audience, and this has a negative impact on Krusty and his show. The clown vows to withstand the competition from the new program, but Gabbo's cutthroat tactics quickly attract Krusty's audience. Krusty tries to fight back with a dummy of his own, but due to its gruesome appearance and poor condition, it falls apart, and scares off many of the children in the audience. Even The Itchy & Scratchy Show abandon Krusty, move to the Gabbo Show, and are replaced with the strangely incomprehensible Eastern European cartoon "Worker and Parasite" (in the style of Priit Pärn) with characters resembling them. Eventually, Krusty's ratings hit rock bottom, and then his show is cancelled.

Left without work and without having built a nest egg, Krusty falls on hard times and begins suffering from depression. Meanwhile, Bart and Lisa, all along unimpressed with Gabbo, decide to try to help Krusty. When Bart sneaks into the studio where they are filming Gabbo, he overhears Gabbo referring to children of Springfield as "S.O.B.'s" while the cameras are switched off. He manages to distract the cameraman and turns the cameras back on as Gabbo continues this rant. This adversely affects Gabbo's reputation, and Kent Brockman reports it on the news. But he repeats the same "S.O.B.'s" gaffe, is fired from his job, and Gabbo escapes unscathed. Meanwhile, Krusty is still down in the dumps without a job. After visiting his house and seeing photos of Krusty's celebrity friends, Bart and Lisa suggest he host a comeback special. They begin recruiting major celebrities to appear on Krusty's special: Bette Midler, Johnny Carson, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Hugh Hefner, and Luke Perry (Krusty's "worthless half-brother"). They also try to recruit Elizabeth Taylor, but her agent declines the invitation before they can speak to her.

Bart and Lisa return to Krusty to declare their success, only to find him morbidly obese from drinking several milkshakes after believing them to be weight-loss shakes. Fortunately, the entire Simpson family helps get him back into shape before the special airs.

Krusty's comeback special features his reunion with Sideshow Mel, Perry getting shot out of a cannon, the Red Hot Chili Peppers singing "Give It Away" in their underwear, Carson lifting a 1987 Buick Skylark over his head and Krusty and Midler singing "Wind Beneath My Wings". The show is a great success and Krusty's career gets back on track. While watching the special at home, Taylor remarks to herself that she should fire her agent. Afterwards, everyone heads to Moe's for an after party, where they toast Krusty and watch Carson as he plays the accordion while balancing Grampa and Jasper on a bench on his head.

[stip]

all the people on RM are S.O.B.'s

[stip]

war of the simpsons is a nice early episode but it lacks the touch of absurdity that would come to define the best episodes

[Norah]

War of the Simpsons is one of my favorite early episodes. The fish tale that closes the episode scratches me where I itch.

[tragabigzanda]

This is a really tough choice for me. I'm going with War of the Simpsons, but could change my vote tomorrow.

[LoathedVermin72]

KGC. Neither of these are great.