Wild Barts Can't Be Broken
Encyclopedia
"Wild Barts Can't Be Broken" is the eleventh episode of The Simpsons
' tenth season
, which was originally broadcast on January 17, 1999. When Homer
, Barney
, Lenny, and Carl drunkenly vandalize Springfield Elementary School, it is blamed on the children of Springfield, prompting Chief Wiggum to impose a curfew. The children respond by setting up a pirate radio
show in which they reveal the embarrassing secrets of Springfield's adults. The episode was written by Larry Doyle and directed by Mark Ervin. The concept behind the episode originates from show producer Mike Scully
always wanting to do an episode where the children would be subject to a curfew. The episode received an 8.9 Nielsen rating, and mixed reviews from critics.
, becoming increasingly annoyed by the poor performance of the Isotopes, goes and waits in the car. While in the car, he starts to sing the "Hitler is a jerk" song
. Months later, he enters Moe's Tavern and is informed by Lenny and Carl that the Isotopes are in the playoffs, and have, so far, been playing well. Homer quickly joins in with the fans to support the Isotopes, who end up winning the 1997 World Series
. To celebrate Homer, Lenny, Carl, and Barney
go on a drunken binge and in the process vandalize Springfield Elementary School. The next morning, Homer discovers his car, which is badly damaged and oblivious that in reality he and his friends where responsible. Chief Wiggum blindly jumps to the conclusion that the vandalism at the school to be the work of kids and immediately enforces a curfew on all of Springfield's children, prohibiting them from being on the streets after sunset.
Bart and Lisa, as well as the other children of Springfield
, are bored with not being allowed out after sunset. The children soon rally together to rebel and see a drive-in horror movie which they saw advertised on television, called The Bloodening. While at the movie, they are caught by Chief Wiggum. As punishment, the children have to clean a billboard
with Wiggum on it. Annoyed at this, the children set up a radio show called "We Know All Your Secrets", in which they expose the secrets of the adults of Springfield. The children are tracked down at the billboard by Professor Frink
's machine, and an argument between the children and the adults ensues. As each side is stating their case in a song, the senior citizens turn up, join in the song, to complain to everyone and suggest a curfew for all those aged under 70. The curfew is approved due to the general apathy of Springfield's non-seniors toward voting.
wanted to do an episode where the children of Springfield
would be subject to a curfew. He came up with the idea to do a Kids vs. Adults episode, where the children would be blamed for something the adults have done. The name of the baseball announcer, Denis Conroy, was used because that is the name of writer Larry Doyle's uncle. Dan Castellaneta
ad libbed
Homer singing "Hitler is a jerk, Mussolini
...." It was added in to the episode only for the purpose of filling time. The Chief Wiggum billboard sketch was inspired by Beaver Cleaver getting stuck in a soup bowl billboard in the "In the Soup" episode of Leave it to Beaver
. The music playing when the kids secretly leave their houses to see the movie was written by composer Alf Clausen
.
. The movie The Bloodening is a parody of the 1960 film Village of the Damned
. The sequence showing the children taking the equipment to build their radio transmitter is a recreation of a sequence from the short comedy films Our Gang
, featuring similar music and a dog
, with Milhouse dressed like Our Gang character Alfalfa
. The review Marge reads of Talk to the Hand – "The writing snaps, crackles and pops" – was how Variety
reviewed the sitcom Just Shoot Me!
when it first aired in 1997. The musical argument between kids, adults and seniors is a parody of the song "Kids" from the musical Bye Bye Birdie. When Lisa
is flipping through the radio channels, President Franklin D. Roosevelt
's Infamy Speech
can be heard. In the Springfield Elementary School shower-room Homer
, Barney
, Lenny, and Carl sing a medley of Queen
songs consisting of "We Are the Champions
" and "We Will Rock You
". When Cyndi Lauper
sings "The Star-Spangled Banner
" it is to the tune of her hit song "Girls Just Want to Have Fun
".
regards "Lard of the Dance
", "Marge Simpson in: Screaming Yellow Honkers", "Wild Barts Can't Be Broken", and "Homer Simpson in: "Kidney Trouble"" as "some of the best episodes of the season." The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, wrote that the episode was "a curious unmemorable episode with a good chunk in the middle. Neither the opening with The Isotopes nor the finale with the rather dire song help this one at all, and frankly, if it wasn't for the superb parody of Village of the Damned, and the kids' revenge by revealing their family's secrets, it'd sink without trace." In 2007, Simon Crerar of The Times
listed Lauper's performance as one of the thirty-three funniest cameos in the history of the show.
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 10)
The tenth season of the animated television series The Simpsons was originally broadcast on the Fox network in the United States between August 23, 1998 and May 16, 1999. It contains twenty-three episodes, starting with "Lard of the Dance". The Simpsons revolves around a working class family that...
, which was originally broadcast on January 17, 1999. When 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...
, Barney
Barney Gumble
Barnard "Barney" Gumble is a fictional character on the American animated sitcom The Simpsons. The character is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared in the series premiere episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire". He is the town drunk and Homer Simpson's best friend. His capacity for...
, Lenny, and Carl drunkenly vandalize Springfield Elementary School, it is blamed on the children of Springfield, prompting Chief Wiggum to impose a curfew. The children respond by setting up a pirate radio
Pirate radio
Pirate radio is illegal or unregulated radio transmission. The term is most commonly used to describe illegal broadcasting for entertainment or political purposes, but is also sometimes used for illegal two-way radio operation...
show in which they reveal the embarrassing secrets of Springfield's adults. The episode was written by Larry Doyle and directed by Mark Ervin. The concept behind the episode originates from show producer Mike Scully
Mike Scully
Mike Scully is an American television writer and producer. He is known for his work as executive producer and showrunner of the animated sitcom The Simpsons from 1997 to 2001. Scully grew up in West Springfield, Massachusetts and long had an interest in writing. He was an underachiever at school...
always wanting to do an episode where the children would be subject to a curfew. The episode received an 8.9 Nielsen rating, and mixed reviews from critics.
Plot
The Simpson family is at Duff stadium watching a Springfield Isotopes baseball game. After the first pitch HomerHomer 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...
, becoming increasingly annoyed by the poor performance of the Isotopes, goes and waits in the car. While in the car, he starts to sing the "Hitler is a jerk" song
Whistle While You Work
Whistle While You Work is a song with music written by Frank Churchill and lyrics written by Larry Morey for the 1937 animated Disney movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It was performed in the movie, at least unofficially, by voice actress Adriana Caselotti...
. Months later, he enters Moe's Tavern and is informed by Lenny and Carl that the Isotopes are in the playoffs, and have, so far, been playing well. Homer quickly joins in with the fans to support the Isotopes, who end up winning the 1997 World Series
1997 World Series
-Game 1:Saturday, October 18, 1997 at Pro Player Stadium in Miami Gardens, FloridaThe first World Series game in the state of Florida, Game 1 featured a youngster and a veteran facing each other on the mound...
. To celebrate Homer, Lenny, Carl, and Barney
Barney Gumble
Barnard "Barney" Gumble is a fictional character on the American animated sitcom The Simpsons. The character is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared in the series premiere episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire". He is the town drunk and Homer Simpson's best friend. His capacity for...
go on a drunken binge and in the process vandalize Springfield Elementary School. The next morning, Homer discovers his car, which is badly damaged and oblivious that in reality he and his friends where responsible. Chief Wiggum blindly jumps to the conclusion that the vandalism at the school to be the work of kids and immediately enforces a curfew on all of Springfield's children, prohibiting them from being on the streets after sunset.
Bart and Lisa, as well as the other children of Springfield
Springfield (The Simpsons)
Springfield is the fictional town in which the American animated sitcom The Simpsons is set. A mid-sized town in an undetermined state of the United States, Springfield acts as a complete universe in which characters can explore the issues faced by modern society. The geography of the town and its...
, are bored with not being allowed out after sunset. The children soon rally together to rebel and see a drive-in horror movie which they saw advertised on television, called The Bloodening. While at the movie, they are caught by Chief Wiggum. As punishment, the children have to clean a billboard
Billboard (advertising)
A billboard is a large outdoor advertising structure , typically found in high traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertisements to passing pedestrians and drivers...
with Wiggum on it. Annoyed at this, the children set up a radio show called "We Know All Your Secrets", in which they expose the secrets of the adults of Springfield. The children are tracked down at the billboard by Professor Frink
Professor Frink
Professor John Nerdelbaum Frink, Jr., or simply Professor Frink, is a recurring character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Hank Azaria, and first appeared in the 1991 episode "Old Money". Frink is Springfield's nerdy scientist and professor and is extremely...
's machine, and an argument between the children and the adults ensues. As each side is stating their case in a song, the senior citizens turn up, join in the song, to complain to everyone and suggest a curfew for all those aged under 70. The curfew is approved due to the general apathy of Springfield's non-seniors toward voting.
Production
Mike ScullyMike Scully
Mike Scully is an American television writer and producer. He is known for his work as executive producer and showrunner of the animated sitcom The Simpsons from 1997 to 2001. Scully grew up in West Springfield, Massachusetts and long had an interest in writing. He was an underachiever at school...
wanted to do an episode where the children of Springfield
Springfield (The Simpsons)
Springfield is the fictional town in which the American animated sitcom The Simpsons is set. A mid-sized town in an undetermined state of the United States, Springfield acts as a complete universe in which characters can explore the issues faced by modern society. The geography of the town and its...
would be subject to a curfew. He came up with the idea to do a Kids vs. Adults episode, where the children would be blamed for something the adults have done. The name of the baseball announcer, Denis Conroy, was used because that is the name of writer Larry Doyle's uncle. Dan Castellaneta
Dan Castellaneta
Daniel Louis "Dan" Castellaneta is an American actor, voice actor, comedian, singer and screenwriter. Noted for his long-running role as Homer Simpson on the animated television series The Simpsons, he voices many other characters on The Simpsons, including Abraham "Grampa" Simpson, Barney Gumble,...
ad libbed
Ad libitum
Ad libitum is Latin for "at one's pleasure"; it is often shortened to "ad lib" or "ad-lib"...
Homer singing "Hitler is a jerk, Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
...." It was added in to the episode only for the purpose of filling time. The Chief Wiggum billboard sketch was inspired by Beaver Cleaver getting stuck in a soup bowl billboard in the "In the Soup" episode of Leave it to Beaver
Leave It to Beaver
Leave It to Beaver is an American television situation comedy about an inquisitive but often naïve boy named Theodore "The Beaver" Cleaver and his adventures at home, in school, and around his suburban neighborhood...
. The music playing when the kids secretly leave their houses to see the movie was written by composer Alf Clausen
Alf Clausen
Alf Clausen is an American film and television composer. He is best known for his work scoring many episodes of The Simpsons, of which he has been the sole composer since 1990...
.
Cultural references
The episode's title is a reference to the movie Wild Hearts Can't Be BrokenWild Hearts Can't Be Broken
Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken is a 1991 film about Sonora Webster Carver, a rider of diving horses. It is based on events in her life as told in her memoir A Girl and Five Brave Horses...
. The movie The Bloodening is a parody of the 1960 film Village of the Damned
Village of the Damned (1960 film)
Village of the Damned is a 1960 British science fiction film by German director Wolf Rilla. The film is a fairly faithful adaptation of the novel The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham. The lead role of Professor Gordon Zellaby was played by George Sanders. This film was #92 on Bravo's 100 Scariest...
. The sequence showing the children taking the equipment to build their radio transmitter is a recreation of a sequence from the short comedy films Our Gang
Our Gang
Our Gang, also known as The Little Rascals or Hal Roach's Rascals, was a series of American comedy short films about a group of poor neighborhood children and the adventures they had together. Created by comedy producer Hal Roach, the series is noted for showing children behaving in a relatively...
, featuring similar music and a dog
Pete the Pup
Pete the Pup was a Pit Bull character in Hal Roach's Our Gang comedies during the 1920s and 1930s...
, with Milhouse dressed like Our Gang character Alfalfa
Carl Switzer
Carl Dean "Alfalfa" Switzer was an American child actor, professional dog breeder and hunting guide, most notable for appearing in the Our Gang short subjects series as Alfalfa, one of the series' most popular and best-remembered characters.-Early life and family:Switzer was born in Paris,...
. The review Marge reads of Talk to the Hand – "The writing snaps, crackles and pops" – was how Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
reviewed the sitcom Just Shoot Me!
Just Shoot Me!
Just Shoot Me! is an American television sitcom that aired for seven seasons on NBC from March 4, 1997 to August 16, 2003, with 148 episodes produced. The show was created by Steven Levitan, the show's executive producer.-Description:...
when it first aired in 1997. The musical argument between kids, adults and seniors is a parody of the song "Kids" from the musical Bye Bye Birdie. When 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...
is flipping through the radio channels, President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
's Infamy Speech
Infamy Speech
The Presidential Address to Congress of December 8, 1941 was delivered at 12:30 p.m. that day to a Joint Session of Congress by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt, one day after the Empire of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor Naval Base, Hawaii...
can be heard. In the Springfield Elementary School shower-room 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...
, Barney
Barney Gumble
Barnard "Barney" Gumble is a fictional character on the American animated sitcom The Simpsons. The character is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared in the series premiere episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire". He is the town drunk and Homer Simpson's best friend. His capacity for...
, Lenny, and Carl sing a medley of Queen
Queen (band)
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
songs consisting of "We Are the Champions
We Are the Champions
"We Are the Champions" is a power ballad written by Freddie Mercury, recorded and performed by British rock band Queen for their 1977 album News of the World. One of their most famous and popular songs, it remains among rock's most recognisable anthems...
" and "We Will Rock You
We Will Rock You
"We Will Rock You" is a song written by Brian May and recorded and performed by Queen for their 1977 album News of the World. Rolling Stone ranked it #330 of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2004, and the RIAA placed it at #146 on its list of Songs of the Century...
". When Cyndi Lauper
Cyndi Lauper
Cynthia Ann Stephanie "Cyndi" Lauper is an American singer, songwriter, actress and LGBT rights activist. She achieved success in the mid-1980s with the release of the album She's So Unusual and became the first female singer to have four top-five singles released from one album...
sings "The Star-Spangled Banner
The Star-Spangled Banner
"The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States of America. The lyrics come from "Defence of Fort McHenry", a poem written in 1814 by the 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet, Francis Scott Key, after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry by the British Royal Navy ships...
" it is to the tune of her hit song "Girls Just Want to Have Fun
Girls Just Want to Have Fun
Girls Just Want to Have Fun may refer to:In music:* "Girls Just Want to Have Fun", the first major single released by singer Cyndi Lauper on She's So UnusualIn film:...
".
Reception
"Wild Barts Can't Be Broken" finished tied for 40th in the weekly ratings for the week of January 11–17, 1999 with a Nielsen rating of 8.9. In his review of The Simpsons tenth season, James Plath of Dvdtown.com noted "Wild Barts Can't Be Broken" as "pretty decent". Peter Brown of IfIf (magazine)
If was an American science fiction magazine launched in March 1952 by Quinn Publications, owned by James L. Quinn. Quinn hired Paul W. Fairman to be the first editor, but early circulation figures were disappointing, and Quinn fired Fairman after only three issues. Quinn then took over the...
regards "Lard of the Dance
Lard of the Dance
"Lard of the Dance" is the first episode of The Simpsons tenth season, that originally aired on August 23, 1998. Homer discovers he can make money by stealing and reselling grease, but eventually stops after negative encounters with Groundskeeper Willie and the Springfield Grease Company...
", "Marge Simpson in: Screaming Yellow Honkers", "Wild Barts Can't Be Broken", and "Homer Simpson in: "Kidney Trouble"" as "some of the best episodes of the season." The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, wrote that the episode was "a curious unmemorable episode with a good chunk in the middle. Neither the opening with The Isotopes nor the finale with the rather dire song help this one at all, and frankly, if it wasn't for the superb parody of Village of the Damned, and the kids' revenge by revealing their family's secrets, it'd sink without trace." In 2007, Simon Crerar of The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
listed Lauper's performance as one of the thirty-three funniest cameos in the history of the show.
External links
- "Wild Barts Can't Be Broken" at The Simpsons.com