Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish
Encyclopedia
"Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish" is the fourth episode of The Simpsons
' second season
. 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. This causes the plant to become inspected, and in order to prevent it from being shut down, Mr. Burns decides to run for governor. After a hard campaign which sees Burns rise from being universally despised to running neck and neck with popular incumbent Mary Bailey, it is decided that Burns will have dinner with a random employee the night before the election. Homer
is chosen, much to Marge
's chagrin.
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.
and Lisa
go fishing downstream of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant and Springfield Shopper reporter Dave Shutton pulls up just as Bart catches a three-eyed fish, which the media nicknames Blinky. The fish makes headlines and a Washington regulatory committee sends a team to investigate nuclear waste coming from the plant that could have caused the fish to mutate. After the inspection, the plant's owner, Mr. Burns
, is presented with a list of 342 violations, which would cost US$56 million to rectify. Distraught, Burns talks to plant employee Homer
, who half-heartedly suggests Burns run for governor so that he could change the standards and prevent the plant from being shut down. Burns pounces on the idea, knowing that he will not have to pay to bring the plant up to code anymore.
Burns's political advisers break the news to Burns that he is greatly despised by many people and force Burns to try being friendly and even smile. Burns makes a television commercial discussing Blinky with an actor portraying Charles Darwin
, who claims Blinky is an evolution
ary step and not a mutated fish. Combined with a promise to lower taxes and a smear campaign
against current governor Mary Bailey, Burns ties with her in the polls. On the night before the election, Burns's advisers suggest that Burns have dinner at the home of a middle class family as an opportunity to put Burns in the lead. Burns scans his employees for the most average man he can find, and Homer is chosen.
The impending dinner with Burns divides the Simpson household. Homer supports Burns, while Marge
and Lisa oppose him. Before the dinner arrives, Burns's advisers prepare the family for the event, even giving them pre-written questions to ask in lieu of conversation. Lisa becomes disillusioned by it all, but Marge tells her not to worry. To everyone's surprise, Marge serves Blinky for dinner. Burns tries to act as if it does not bother him, but is not able to keep from spitting it out. The cameras flash as the bite flies through the air, and by the time the chunk hits the floor the press is gone and his gubernatorial campaign dissolves. Bailey wins the election and, despite Burns saying that Homer's dreams will be unfulfilled for as long as he is alive, the Simpson family happily gets together again.
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. While the idea of Blinky was completely fictional at the time, a three-eyed fish was caught in 2011 in Córdoba, Argentina
near a local nuclear power plant. The fish was a seawolf
and did not resemble Blinky besides the three eyes. The fishermen sent the fish to a radiation test, to determine whether the mutation came from being exposed to the water from the nuclear power plant.
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
".
During 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.
, 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
, on June 15, 1992.
Journalists have described "Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish" as a satire on American politics. Joanne Ostrow, a reviewer for The Denver Post
, said only a cartoon could get away with "such pointed satire" of American political campaigning and advertising that is featured in the episode. She compared it to the "counter-cultural posture" television shows such as Second City Television
and Saturday Night Live
took in the mid-1970s: "In those days, this sort of alternative viewpoint was kept out of prime time. [In The Simpsons case], it's still relegated to the (distant) fourth network, but at least the time is prime." Jeremy Kleinman of DVD Talk
wrote: "The writers of The Simpsons have often come across as unabashedly liberal and this episode is no exception as political/social commentary takes a step closer to the foreground during this episode." Al Jean
, current show runner
of The Simpsons, has himself admitted in an interview that the show is of "liberal bent". In the DVD commentaries
, creator Matt Groening
and the majority of people who work on the show state several times that they are very liberal, but some, such as John Swartzwelder
(one of the writers of this and many other The Simpsons episodes), are libertarian
. The show portrays government and large corporations as callous entities that take advantage of the common worker. Thus, the writers often portray authority figures in an unflattering or negative light. In The Simpsons, politicians are corrupt, ministers such as Reverend Lovejoy are indifferent to churchgoers, and the local police force is incompetent.
The episode also features an environmentalism theme. This theme is present in the nuclear power plant's polluting of Lake Springfield, which causes the fish of the lake to become mutated. University of the Sciences in Philadelphia
physics
and mathematics
professor Paul Halpern discuss the episode in his book What's Science Ever Done for Us?: What the Simpsons Can Teach Us About Physics, Robots, Life, and the Universe. He comments: "Considering the fact that [Charles Darwin's theory of] natural selection
takes generations and that successful varieties must sustain a survival advantage
over others, the only way Mr. Burns can prove his assertion [that the fish is the next step in evolution through natural selection] is by tracking Blinky over time to see if the third eye allows the mutant fish to find food more quickly or dodge predators." Mark Meister and Phyllis M. Japp discuss the environmental theme of the episode in their book Enviropop: Studies in Environmental Rhetoric and Popular Culture. The authors think human pollution is characterized in the episode as an improvement on nature, and human progress is viewed as an "integral" part of human evolution. They add: "These references articulate specific criticism of current environmental regulations, specifically the lax enforcement of the regulations concerning the dumping, safe storage, and disposal of nuclear waste. Furthermore, this episode condemns the manipulation of political and economic power to disguise ecological accountability and to shift blame for environmental problems." The authors also say the episode comments on the lack of adherence to safety standards for the plant, and criticizes the "apathetic acceptance" of unforced environmental inspections. In addition, they comment that the episode "explicitly criticizes media spin-doctor
s who distort the impacts of ecological degradation caused by wealthy corporations such as the nuclear power plant."
On February 13, 1991, a local group in Albany, New York
, fought the government's plan to create a nuclear waste dump in their neighborhood. It was staged by Citizens Against Radioactive Dumping (CARD) at the monthly meeting of the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Siting Commission in Albany. Here four children dressed up as Homer, Marge, Bart, and Lisa, and presented a three-eyed fabric fish, which looked like Blinky, to the commission. In addition to that they performed a rap song, which explained the plot of the episode.
Since the episode's initial airing, Blinky has been mentioned several times in news articles regarding nuclear waste and mutation. A reporter for the Lincoln Journal Star
compared Blinky to a rainbow trout
with two mouths caught in Lincoln, Nebraska
, in 2005. The fish was mentioned in an National Review
article discussing a legislation
which would make it illegal to import, possess or release alive into California any live transgenic fish: "Sounds like someone watched one too many episodes of The Simpsons with Blinky, the three-eyed fish that swims by the nuclear-power plant." Matt Smith of SF Weekly
compared Blinky to a type of fish found in San Francisco Bay
, which, according to a study by the University of California, Davis
, had a shrunken brain and misshapen body that had been caused by the dumping of toxic chemicals into the bay. In an article about the now closed nuclear weapons production facility Rocky Flats Plant
, Brian Park of The Rocky Mountain Collegian
joked that after its closure, "years of clean up ensued and now the area is a wildlife refuge; no word yet if Blinky has been spotted." Barbara Taormina of the North Shore Sunday
wrote in her article about the new liquefied natural gas
(LNG) pipeline in Massachusetts Bay
: "Will Blinky, the mutant three-eyed fish from The Simpsons be showing up in Massachusetts Bay? Probably not, but local environmentalists are worried that digging for the new LNG pipeline may stir up radioactive waste dumped decades ago." In his article about the nuclear power plant operator Exelon
, Thomas M. Anderson of Kiplinger wrote: "The thought of more nuclear power may conjure up images of the Three Mile Island accident or Blinky [...], but a growing number of policymakers and even environmentalists are coming to appreciate the advantages of atomic energy."
of 15.8, equivalent to approximately 14.7 million viewing households. The Simpsons was the highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, but was beaten by The Cosby Show which got a 20.2 rating. The episode won an Environmental Media Award
in the "Best Television Episodic Comedy" category, which has been awarded every year since 1991 to the best television episode with an environmental message. It was The Simpsons first Environmental Media Award, but the show has won six more since then.
The episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics since airing. The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, called the episode a "superb example" of political satire, "demonstrating the lengths people will go to to win votes. Marge, of course, sees straight through Burns and uses Blinky the three-eyed fish to demonstrate his lack of conviction." Phil Rosenthal of the Los Angeles Daily News
called the episode a "wonderful stab" at American politics and the "media machine that drives it", and added: "The message is so subtle, the makers of The Simpsons might deny it is there at all for fear of turning off a portion of its audience. Truth is, you may very well be so busy laughing and taking in the fine details, such as the references to Citizen Kane, to notice." Hal Boedeker of The Miami Herald
said the episode took "some well-aimed satirical jabs at American politics and the publics' short attention span. The episode has the wit of the best of All in the Family
, and benign mother Marge becomes a force for good, in the Edith Bunker
tradition." Virginia Mann of The Record
called the episode "terrific", though she believed its social and political "overtones" were more likely to appeal to adults than children. Tom Shales of the Washington Post described the episode as "a bull's-eye political satire".
Doug Pratt, a DVD reviewer and Rolling Stone
contributor, thought the episode's story was "nicely composed, so you don't have to recognize the Citizen Kane references to appreciate the effort, but it adds to the fun." He also noted that it begins the exploration of Mr. Burns "in earnest, the first of many characters who will receive elaborate coverage as the series advances." Jeremy Kleinman of DVD Talk
thought both Lisa's "tremendous intellect" and Marge's "moral compass" were "probed" in the episode, and he thought one "clear highlight" of the episode was Burns's attempts to explain away Blinky's mutation by turning to an actor portraying Charles Darwin who proceeds to give a speech suggesting that Blinky is merely advanced. DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson wrote: "The episode took an unusual approach for an early show, as it focused largely on a secondary character. One could argue that season one’s 'Krusty Gets Busted
' did the same, but 'Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish' provided a heavier emphasis on Burns than that prior program did Krusty
. This helped make it a fairly good episode. It fleshed out Burns’ character a little better and gave us a reasonably entertaining experience. The episode fell short of greatness, but it worked nicely for the most part." Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly
described the episode as "masterful".
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
The Simpsons (season 2)
The Simpsons second season originally aired between October 11, 1990 and May 9, 1991, and contained 22 episodes, beginning with "Bart Gets an F". Another episode, "Blood Feud" aired during the summer after the official season finale. The show runners for the second production season were Matt...
. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 1, 1990. In the episode, Bart
Bart Simpson
Bartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by actress Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
catches a three-eyed fish in a river downstream of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. This causes the plant to become inspected, and in order to prevent it from being shut down, Mr. Burns decides to run for governor. After a hard campaign which sees Burns rise from being universally despised to running neck and neck with popular incumbent Mary Bailey, it is decided that Burns will have dinner with a random employee the night before the election. Homer
Homer Simpson
Homer Jay Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons and the patriarch of the eponymous family. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared on television, along with the rest of his family, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
is chosen, much to Marge
Marge Simpson
Marjorie "Marge" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the eponymous family. She is voiced by actress Julie Kavner and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
's chagrin.
The episode was written by Sam Simon
Sam Simon
Samuel "Sam" Simon is an American director, producer, writer, boxing manager and philanthropist. While at Stanford University, Simon worked as a newspaper cartoonist and after graduating became a storyboard artist at Filmation Studios. He submitted a spec script for the sitcom Taxi, which was...
and John Swartzwelder
John Swartzwelder
John Swartzwelder is an American comedy writer and novelist, best known for his work on the animated television series The Simpsons, as well as a number of novels. He is credited with writing the largest number of Simpsons episodes by a large margin...
, and directed by Wes Archer
Wes Archer
Wesley Meyer Archer is a television animation director. He was one of the original three animators on The Simpsons' Tracey Ullman shorts and subsequently directed a number of The Simpsons episodes before becoming supervising director at King of the Hill. A...
. 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
Bart Gets an F
"Bart Gets an F" is the first episode of The Simpsons second season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 11, 1990. In the episode, Bart fails four consecutive history exams and the school psychiatrist recommends that Bart repeat the fourth grade...
" due to Bart's popularity in the early 1990s. The episode features cultural references to several American films, mostly the 1941 film Citizen Kane
Citizen Kane
Citizen Kane is a 1941 American drama film, directed by and starring Orson Welles. Many critics consider it the greatest American film of all time, especially for its innovative cinematography, music and narrative structure. Citizen Kane was Welles' first feature film...
, 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
It's a Wonderful Life
It's a Wonderful Life is a 1946 American Christmas drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra and based on the short story "The Greatest Gift" written by Philip Van Doren Stern....
.
Journalists have described the episode as a satire on both American politics
American politics
American politics is an area of study within the academic discipline of political science. It is primarily, but not exclusively, studied by researchers in the United States...
and environmentalism
Environmentalism
Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...
. It won an Environmental Media Award
Environmental Media Awards
The Environmental Media Awards have been awarded by the Environmental Media Association since 1991 to the best television episode or film with an environmental message....
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
Mutation
In molecular biology and genetics, mutations are changes in a genomic sequence: the DNA sequence of a cell's genome or the DNA or RNA sequence of a virus. They can be defined as sudden and spontaneous changes in the cell. Mutations are caused by radiation, viruses, transposons and mutagenic...
. The episode was positively received by television critics for its satire on American politics. It acquired a Nielsen rating
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
of 15.8, and was the highest-rated show on the Fox network the week it aired.
Plot
BartBart Simpson
Bartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by actress Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
and Lisa
Lisa Simpson
Lisa Marie Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons. She is the middle child of the Simpson family. Voiced by Yeardley Smith, Lisa first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Cartoonist Matt Groening...
go fishing downstream of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant and Springfield Shopper reporter Dave Shutton pulls up just as Bart catches a three-eyed fish, which the media nicknames Blinky. The fish makes headlines and a Washington regulatory committee sends a team to investigate nuclear waste coming from the plant that could have caused the fish to mutate. After the inspection, the plant's owner, Mr. Burns
Montgomery Burns
Charles Montgomery "Monty" Burns, usually referred to as Mr. Burns, is a recurring fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons, who is voiced by Harry Shearer and previously Christopher Collins. Burns is the evil owner of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant and is Homer...
, is presented with a list of 342 violations, which would cost US$56 million to rectify. Distraught, Burns talks to plant employee Homer
Homer Simpson
Homer Jay Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons and the patriarch of the eponymous family. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared on television, along with the rest of his family, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
, who half-heartedly suggests Burns run for governor so that he could change the standards and prevent the plant from being shut down. Burns pounces on the idea, knowing that he will not have to pay to bring the plant up to code anymore.
Burns's political advisers break the news to Burns that he is greatly despised by many people and force Burns to try being friendly and even smile. Burns makes a television commercial discussing Blinky with an actor portraying Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
, who claims Blinky is an evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
ary step and not a mutated fish. Combined with a promise to lower taxes and a smear campaign
Smear campaign
A smear campaign, smear tactic or simply smear is a metaphor for activity that can harm an individual or group's reputation by conflation with a stigmatized group...
against current governor Mary Bailey, Burns ties with her in the polls. On the night before the election, Burns's advisers suggest that Burns have dinner at the home of a middle class family as an opportunity to put Burns in the lead. Burns scans his employees for the most average man he can find, and Homer is chosen.
The impending dinner with Burns divides the Simpson household. Homer supports Burns, while Marge
Marge Simpson
Marjorie "Marge" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the eponymous family. She is voiced by actress Julie Kavner and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
and Lisa oppose him. Before the dinner arrives, Burns's advisers prepare the family for the event, even giving them pre-written questions to ask in lieu of conversation. Lisa becomes disillusioned by it all, but Marge tells her not to worry. To everyone's surprise, Marge serves Blinky for dinner. Burns tries to act as if it does not bother him, but is not able to keep from spitting it out. The cameras flash as the bite flies through the air, and by the time the chunk hits the floor the press is gone and his gubernatorial campaign dissolves. Bailey wins the election and, despite Burns saying that Homer's dreams will be unfulfilled for as long as he is alive, the Simpson family happily gets together again.
Production
The episode was written by Sam SimonSam Simon
Samuel "Sam" Simon is an American director, producer, writer, boxing manager and philanthropist. While at Stanford University, Simon worked as a newspaper cartoonist and after graduating became a storyboard artist at Filmation Studios. He submitted a spec script for the sitcom Taxi, which was...
and John Swartzwelder
John Swartzwelder
John Swartzwelder is an American comedy writer and novelist, best known for his work on the animated television series The Simpsons, as well as a number of novels. He is credited with writing the largest number of Simpsons episodes by a large margin...
, and directed by Wes Archer
Wes Archer
Wesley Meyer Archer is a television animation director. He was one of the original three animators on The Simpsons' Tracey Ullman shorts and subsequently directed a number of The Simpsons episodes before becoming supervising director at King of the Hill. A...
. 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. While the idea of Blinky was completely fictional at the time, a three-eyed fish was caught in 2011 in Córdoba, Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
near a local nuclear power plant. The fish was a seawolf
Seawolf (fish)
The Atlantic wolffish , also known as the Seawolf, Atlantic catfish, ocean catfish, wolf eel , or sea cat, is a marine fish, the largest of the wolffish family Anarhichadidae. They are commonly sighted throughout Asia...
and did not resemble Blinky besides the three eyes. The fishermen sent the fish to a radiation test, to determine whether the mutation came from being exposed to the water from the nuclear power plant.
Mary Bailey and Springfield Shopper reporter Dave Shutton made their first appearance on the show in this episode. Dave Shutton, voiced by Harry Shearer
Harry Shearer
Harry Julius Shearer is an American actor, comedian, writer, voice artist, musician, author, radio host and director. He is known for his long-running role on The Simpsons, his work on Saturday Night Live, the comedy band Spinal Tap and his radio program Le Show...
, 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
Bart vs. Lisa vs. the Third Grade
"Bart vs. Lisa vs. The Third Grade" is the third episode of The Simpsons fourteenth season. It aired on November 17, 2002.-Plot:The family is bored with the terrible reality shows inundating the six major networks, so Bart has a suggestion: buy a satellite dish...
" and "The Seven-Beer Snitch
The Seven-Beer Snitch
"The Seven-Beer Snitch" is the fourteenth episode of The Simpsons sixteenth season, first aired on April 3, 2005 in the United States.-Plot:...
".
During 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
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
decided to switch The Simpsons
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's "powerhouse" line up. The show was moved from its 8:00 p.m. EST
Eastern Time Zone
The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time...
Sunday night slot to the same time on Thursday, where it would compete with NBC's The Cosby Show
The Cosby Show
The Cosby Show is an American television situation comedy starring Bill Cosby, which aired for eight seasons on NBC from September 20, 1984 until April 30, 1992...
, 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
Bart Gets an F
"Bart Gets an F" is the first episode of The Simpsons second season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 11, 1990. In the episode, Bart fails four consecutive history exams and the school psychiatrist recommends that Bart repeat the fourth grade...
" 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.
Cultural references
Several parts of the episode are inspired by the 1941 film Citizen KaneCitizen Kane
Citizen Kane is a 1941 American drama film, directed by and starring Orson Welles. Many critics consider it the greatest American film of all time, especially for its innovative cinematography, music and narrative structure. Citizen Kane was Welles' first feature film...
, 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
It's a Wonderful Life
It's a Wonderful Life is a 1946 American Christmas drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra and based on the short story "The Greatest Gift" written by Philip Van Doren Stern....
. 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
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
who presented compelling evidence that all species of life have evolved over time from common ancestors
Common descent
In evolutionary biology, a group of organisms share common descent if they have a common ancestor. There is strong quantitative support for the theory that all living organisms on Earth are descended from a common ancestor....
, 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
Michael Dukakis
Michael Stanley Dukakis served as the 65th and 67th Governor of Massachusetts from 1975–1979 and from 1983–1991, and was the Democratic presidential nominee in 1988. He was born to Greek immigrants in Brookline, Massachusetts, also the birthplace of John F. Kennedy, and was the longest serving...
's 1988 United States presidential campaign
United States presidential election, 1988
The United States presidential election of 1988 featured no incumbent president, as President Ronald Reagan was unable to seek re-election after serving the maximum two terms allowed by the Twenty-second Amendment. Reagan's Vice President, George H. W. Bush, won the Republican nomination, while the...
, 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
Vice President of the United States
The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
Dan Quayle
Dan Quayle
James Danforth "Dan" Quayle served as the 44th Vice President of the United States, serving with President George H. W. Bush . He served as a U.S. Representative and U.S. Senator from the state of Indiana....
, who corrected a student's correct spelling of "potato
Potato
The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...
" to "potatoe" at an elementary school spelling bee
Spelling bee
A spelling bee is a competition where contestants, usually children, are asked to spell English words. The concept is thought to have originated in the United States....
in Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton is the capital of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Trenton had a population of 84,913...
, on June 15, 1992.
Themes and impact
The Denver Post
-Ownership:The Post is the flagship newspaper of MediaNews Group Inc., founded in 1983 by William Dean Singleton and Richard Scudder. MediaNews is today one of the nation's largest newspaper chains, publisher of 61 daily newspapers and more than 120 non-daily publications in 13 states. MediaNews...
, said only a cartoon could get away with "such pointed satire" of American political campaigning and advertising that is featured in the episode. She compared it to the "counter-cultural posture" television shows such as Second City Television
Second City Television
Second City Television is a Canadian television sketch comedy show offshoot from Toronto's The Second City troupe that ran between 1976 and 1984.- Premise :...
and Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
took in the mid-1970s: "In those days, this sort of alternative viewpoint was kept out of prime time. [In The Simpsons case], it's still relegated to the (distant) fourth network, but at least the time is prime." Jeremy Kleinman of DVD Talk
DVD Talk
DVD Talk is a website for DVD enthusiasts founded in January 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman when DVDs and DVD players were first beginning to hit the market.The site started as an online forum, an email newsletter, and a page of DVD news and reviews...
wrote: "The writers of The Simpsons have often come across as unabashedly liberal and this episode is no exception as political/social commentary takes a step closer to the foreground during this episode." Al Jean
Al Jean
Al Jean is an award-winning American screenwriter and producer, best known for his work on The Simpsons. He was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan and graduated from Harvard University in 1981. Jean began his writing career in the 1980s with fellow Harvard alum Mike Reiss...
, current show runner
Show runner
Showrunner is a term of art originating in the United States and Canadian television industry referring to the person who is responsible for the day-to-day operation of a television seriesalthough such persons generally are credited as an executive producer...
of The Simpsons, has himself admitted in an interview that the show is of "liberal bent". In the DVD commentaries
Audio commentary
On disc-based video formats, an audio commentary is an additional audio track consisting of a lecture or comments by one or more speakers, that plays in real time with video...
, creator Matt Groening
Matt Groening
Matthew Abram "Matt" Groening is an American cartoonist, screenwriter, and producer. He is the creator of the comic strip Life in Hell as well as two successful television series, The Simpsons and Futurama....
and the majority of people who work on the show state several times that they are very liberal, but some, such as John Swartzwelder
John Swartzwelder
John Swartzwelder is an American comedy writer and novelist, best known for his work on the animated television series The Simpsons, as well as a number of novels. He is credited with writing the largest number of Simpsons episodes by a large margin...
(one of the writers of this and many other The Simpsons episodes), are libertarian
Libertarianism
Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
. The show portrays government and large corporations as callous entities that take advantage of the common worker. Thus, the writers often portray authority figures in an unflattering or negative light. In The Simpsons, politicians are corrupt, ministers such as Reverend Lovejoy are indifferent to churchgoers, and the local police force is incompetent.
The episode also features an environmentalism theme. This theme is present in the nuclear power plant's polluting of Lake Springfield, which causes the fish of the lake to become mutated. University of the Sciences in Philadelphia
University of the Sciences in Philadelphia
University of the Sciences , officially known as University of the Sciences in Philadelphia , located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in pharmacy and a variety of other health-related disciplines.-History:The history of the University of the Sciences...
physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
and mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
professor Paul Halpern discuss the episode in his book What's Science Ever Done for Us?: What the Simpsons Can Teach Us About Physics, Robots, Life, and the Universe. He comments: "Considering the fact that [Charles Darwin's theory of] natural selection
Natural selection
Natural selection is the nonrandom process by which biologic traits become either more or less common in a population as a function of differential reproduction of their bearers. It is a key mechanism of evolution....
takes generations and that successful varieties must sustain a survival advantage
Survival of the fittest
"Survival of the fittest" is a phrase originating in evolutionary theory, as an alternative description of Natural selection. The phrase is today commonly used in contexts that are incompatible with the original meaning as intended by its first two proponents: British polymath philosopher Herbert...
over others, the only way Mr. Burns can prove his assertion [that the fish is the next step in evolution through natural selection] is by tracking Blinky over time to see if the third eye allows the mutant fish to find food more quickly or dodge predators." Mark Meister and Phyllis M. Japp discuss the environmental theme of the episode in their book Enviropop: Studies in Environmental Rhetoric and Popular Culture. The authors think human pollution is characterized in the episode as an improvement on nature, and human progress is viewed as an "integral" part of human evolution. They add: "These references articulate specific criticism of current environmental regulations, specifically the lax enforcement of the regulations concerning the dumping, safe storage, and disposal of nuclear waste. Furthermore, this episode condemns the manipulation of political and economic power to disguise ecological accountability and to shift blame for environmental problems." The authors also say the episode comments on the lack of adherence to safety standards for the plant, and criticizes the "apathetic acceptance" of unforced environmental inspections. In addition, they comment that the episode "explicitly criticizes media spin-doctor
Spin (public relations)
In public relations, spin is a form of propaganda, achieved through providing an interpretation of an event or campaign to persuade public opinion in favor or against a certain organization or public figure...
s who distort the impacts of ecological degradation caused by wealthy corporations such as the nuclear power plant."
On February 13, 1991, a local group in Albany, New York
Albany, New York
Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...
, fought the government's plan to create a nuclear waste dump in their neighborhood. It was staged by Citizens Against Radioactive Dumping (CARD) at the monthly meeting of the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Siting Commission in Albany. Here four children dressed up as Homer, Marge, Bart, and Lisa, and presented a three-eyed fabric fish, which looked like Blinky, to the commission. In addition to that they performed a rap song, which explained the plot of the episode.
Since the episode's initial airing, Blinky has been mentioned several times in news articles regarding nuclear waste and mutation. A reporter for the Lincoln Journal Star
Lincoln Journal Star
The Lincoln Journal Star is Lincoln, Nebraska's major daily newspaper. Owned by Lee Enterprises, the Journal Star was created by the 1995 merger of Lincoln's morning newspaper and its evening newspaper The Lincoln Journal Star is Lincoln, Nebraska's major daily newspaper. Owned by Lee...
compared Blinky to a rainbow trout
Rainbow trout
The rainbow trout is a species of salmonid native to tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead is a sea run rainbow trout usually returning to freshwater to spawn after 2 to 3 years at sea. In other words, rainbow trout and steelhead trout are the same species....
with two mouths caught in Lincoln, Nebraska
Lincoln, Nebraska
The City of Lincoln is the capital and the second-most populous city of the US state of Nebraska. Lincoln is also the county seat of Lancaster County and the home of the University of Nebraska. Lincoln's 2010 Census population was 258,379....
, in 2005. The fish was mentioned in an National Review
National Review
National Review is a biweekly magazine founded by the late author William F. Buckley, Jr., in 1955 and based in New York City. It describes itself as "America's most widely read and influential magazine and web site for conservative news, commentary, and opinion."Although the print version of the...
article discussing a legislation
Legislation
Legislation is law which has been promulgated by a legislature or other governing body, or the process of making it...
which would make it illegal to import, possess or release alive into California any live transgenic fish: "Sounds like someone watched one too many episodes of The Simpsons with Blinky, the three-eyed fish that swims by the nuclear-power plant." Matt Smith of SF Weekly
SF Weekly
SF Weekly is a free alternative weekly newspaper in San Francisco, California. The newspaper, distributed throughout the San Francisco Bay Area every Wednesday, is published by Village Voice Media, a 16-paper alt weekly newspaper chain that also includes the New York City Village Voice and the Los...
compared Blinky to a type of fish found in San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean...
, which, according to a study by the University of California, Davis
University of California, Davis
The University of California, Davis is a public teaching and research university established in 1905 and located in Davis, California, USA. Spanning over , the campus is the largest within the University of California system and third largest by enrollment...
, had a shrunken brain and misshapen body that had been caused by the dumping of toxic chemicals into the bay. In an article about the now closed nuclear weapons production facility Rocky Flats Plant
Rocky Flats Plant
The Rocky Flats Plant was a United States nuclear weapons production facility near Denver, Colorado that operated from 1952 to 1992. It was under the control of the United States Atomic Energy Commission until 1977, when it was replaced by the Department of Energy .-1950s:Following World War II,...
, Brian Park of The Rocky Mountain Collegian
Rocky Mountain Collegian
-Overview:"The Rocky Mountain Collegian" is a daily newspaper representing the student voice of Colorado State University. Founded in 1891, the paper is one of the oldest daily student newspapers west of the Mississippi River and is the only student-run daily newspaper in the state of Colorado...
joked that after its closure, "years of clean up ensued and now the area is a wildlife refuge; no word yet if Blinky has been spotted." Barbara Taormina of the North Shore Sunday
North Shore Weeklies
North Shore Weeklies Inc., based in Ipswich, Massachusetts, USA, was a newspaper publisher on Massachusetts' North Shore and one of the original subsidiaries of Community Newspaper Company , now the largest publisher of weeklies in Massachusetts....
wrote in her article about the new liquefied natural gas
Liquefied natural gas
Liquefied natural gas or LNG is natural gas that has been converted temporarily to liquid form for ease of storage or transport....
(LNG) pipeline in Massachusetts Bay
Massachusetts Bay
The Massachusetts Bay, also called Mass Bay, is one of the largest bays of the Atlantic Ocean which forms the distinctive shape of the coastline of the U.S. state of Massachusetts. Its waters extend 65 miles into the Atlantic Ocean. Massachusetts Bay includes the Boston Harbor, Dorchester Bay,...
: "Will Blinky, the mutant three-eyed fish from The Simpsons be showing up in Massachusetts Bay? Probably not, but local environmentalists are worried that digging for the new LNG pipeline may stir up radioactive waste dumped decades ago." In his article about the nuclear power plant operator Exelon
Exelon
Exelon Corporation is an electricity generating and distributing company headquartered in the Chase Tower in the Chicago Loop area of Chicago. It was created in October, 2000 by the merger of PECO Energy Company and Unicom, of Philadelphia and Chicago respectively. Unicom owned Commonwealth Edison...
, Thomas M. Anderson of Kiplinger wrote: "The thought of more nuclear power may conjure up images of the Three Mile Island accident or Blinky [...], but a growing number of policymakers and even environmentalists are coming to appreciate the advantages of atomic energy."
Reception
In its original broadcast, "Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish" finished nineteenth in the ratings for the week of October 29–November 4, 1990, with a Nielsen ratingNielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
of 15.8, equivalent to approximately 14.7 million viewing households. The Simpsons was the highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, but was beaten by The Cosby Show which got a 20.2 rating. The episode won an Environmental Media Award
Environmental Media Awards
The Environmental Media Awards have been awarded by the Environmental Media Association since 1991 to the best television episode or film with an environmental message....
in the "Best Television Episodic Comedy" category, which has been awarded every year since 1991 to the best television episode with an environmental message. It was The Simpsons first Environmental Media Award, but the show has won six more since then.
The episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics since airing. The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, called the episode a "superb example" of political satire, "demonstrating the lengths people will go to to win votes. Marge, of course, sees straight through Burns and uses Blinky the three-eyed fish to demonstrate his lack of conviction." Phil Rosenthal of the Los Angeles Daily News
Los Angeles Daily News
The Los Angeles Daily News is the second-largest circulating daily newspaper of Los Angeles, California. It is the flagship of the Los Angeles Newspaper Group, a branch of Colorado-based MediaNews Group....
called the episode a "wonderful stab" at American politics and the "media machine that drives it", and added: "The message is so subtle, the makers of The Simpsons might deny it is there at all for fear of turning off a portion of its audience. Truth is, you may very well be so busy laughing and taking in the fine details, such as the references to Citizen Kane, to notice." Hal Boedeker of The Miami Herald
The Miami Herald
The Miami Herald is a daily newspaper owned by The McClatchy Company headquartered on Biscayne Bay in the Omni district of Downtown Miami, Florida, United States...
said the episode took "some well-aimed satirical jabs at American politics and the publics' short attention span. The episode has the wit of the best of All in the Family
All in the Family
All in the Family is an American sitcom that was originally broadcast on the CBS television network from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979. In September 1979, a new show, Archie Bunker's Place, picked up where All in the Family had ended...
, and benign mother Marge becomes a force for good, in the Edith Bunker
Edith Bunker
Edith Bunker is a fictional 1970s sitcom character on All in the Family , played by Jean Stapleton. She was the wife of Archie Bunker , mother of Gloria Stivic, mother-in-law of Michael "Meathead" Stivic, and, after 1975, grandmother of Joey Stivic...
tradition." Virginia Mann of The Record
The Record (Bergen County)
The Record is a newspaper in northern New Jersey. It has the second largest circulation of New Jersey's daily newspapers, behind The Star-Ledger. Owned by the Borg family since 1930, it is the flagship publication of the North Jersey Media Group. Stephen Borg is the publisher of The Record...
called the episode "terrific", though she believed its social and political "overtones" were more likely to appeal to adults than children. Tom Shales of the Washington Post described the episode as "a bull's-eye political satire".
Doug Pratt, a DVD reviewer and Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
contributor, thought the episode's story was "nicely composed, so you don't have to recognize the Citizen Kane references to appreciate the effort, but it adds to the fun." He also noted that it begins the exploration of Mr. Burns "in earnest, the first of many characters who will receive elaborate coverage as the series advances." Jeremy Kleinman of DVD Talk
DVD Talk
DVD Talk is a website for DVD enthusiasts founded in January 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman when DVDs and DVD players were first beginning to hit the market.The site started as an online forum, an email newsletter, and a page of DVD news and reviews...
thought both Lisa's "tremendous intellect" and Marge's "moral compass" were "probed" in the episode, and he thought one "clear highlight" of the episode was Burns's attempts to explain away Blinky's mutation by turning to an actor portraying Charles Darwin who proceeds to give a speech suggesting that Blinky is merely advanced. DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson wrote: "The episode took an unusual approach for an early show, as it focused largely on a secondary character. One could argue that season one’s 'Krusty Gets Busted
Krusty Gets Busted
"Krusty Gets Busted" is the twelfth episode of The Simpsons first season, and originally aired on April 29, 1990. The episode was written by Jay Kogen and Wallace Wolodarsky, and directed by Brad Bird. In the episode, Krusty the Clown, a famous TV comedian, is convicted of the armed robbery of the...
' did the same, but 'Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish' provided a heavier emphasis on Burns than that prior program did Krusty
Krusty
Herschel Shmoikel Pinchas Yerucham Krustofski, better known as Krusty the Klown, is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta. He is the long-time clown host of Bart and Lisa's favorite TV show, a combination of kiddie variety television...
. This helped make it a fairly good episode. It fleshed out Burns’ character a little better and gave us a reasonably entertaining experience. The episode fell short of greatness, but it worked nicely for the most part." Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
described the episode as "masterful".
External links
- "Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish" at The Simpsons.com