The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show
| "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show" | |
|---|---|
| The Simpsons episode | |
| File:The Simpsons 4F12.png | |
| Episode no. | Season 8 |
| Directed by | Steve Moore |
| Written by | David S. Cohen |
| Original air dates | February 9, 1997 |
| Episode features | |
| Couch gag | A parody of the Sgt. Pepper's album cover.[1] |
| Commentary | Matt Groening Josh Weinstein David X. Cohen Yeardley Smith Alex Rocco Steven Dean Moore |
"The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show" is the fourteenth episode of the eighth season of The Simpsons, which originally aired February 9, 1997.[2] It was written by David S. Cohen,[2] and directed by Steve Moore.[2] Alex Rocco guest starred as Roger Meyers, Jr. for the third time.[2] The episode saw the introduction of the short-lived character Poochie. This episode also saw the The Simpsons surpass The Flintstones in the number of episodes produced for an animated series.[3]
Synopsis
The ratings of the Itchy & Scratchy Show segment of the Krusty the Clown show fall dramatically. Krusty gives the cartoon's producer Roger Meyers, Jr. an ultimatum: come up with a way to fix the sagging ratings, or else. Meyers decides to commission a study group to determine the reason why Itchy and Scratchy have lost their popularity.
Bart and Lisa participate in the study, watching cartoons and answering questions. However, things do not go very well, with the children contradicting themselves when suggesting what they want. Lisa points out that there was nothing wrong with Itchy and Scratchy to begin with; rather, the characters had simply lost the impact they once had with their audience. Meyers thanks Lisa for "saving" Itchy and Scratchy, and decides that a new character is what is needed to salvage his cartoon. He tells Krusty and his team of writers that this new character should be a dog, one with attitude and it is decided his name shall be Poochie.
Homer is among several Springfield residents to audition for the role of Poochie's voice, and wins the job. He meets June Bellamy, the voice actress for Itchy and Scratchy. The two then make several publicity stops to promote Poochie. Homer, meanwhile, invites all of his friends and relatives over to the screening of the first Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show. Krusty builds up the excitement for the first cartoon featuring Poochie, titled "The Beagle Has Landed". However, the cartoon is full of clichés and inane antics, and by emphasizing Poochie, contains none of the show's trademark violence. Homer and Flanders are the only ones who like the cartoon, while everyone else is left very unimpressed.
It isn't long before Meyers is forced to admit that Poochie's debut was a dud, and he decides to retire the character. Homer learns that Poochie will be killed off and is resolved to keep the Poochie character alive. At his next recording session, rather than reading from the script, he implores the audience to give Poochie a fair chance. The writing team is impressed with Homer's statement, and he is led to believe that the comments will be included in the next cartoon.
Instead, Meyers dubs the correct line—"I have to go now. My planet needs me."—into the dialogue, and a statement attesting to the dog's demise (he died on the way back to his home planet) is hurriedly edited into the cartoon. The in-studio audience cheers wildly as Krusty promises that Poochie is gone for good. Homer feels betrayed but, after realizing he never got paid for his efforts, chalks things up to the nature of show business.[4]
Throughout the episode, a college-aged boy named Roy comes to live with the Simpsons. When Lisa remarks that new characters are just a cheap effort to boost crappy shows' ratings, Roy appears out of nowhere. He has a few minor lines, calls Homer "Mr. S", and at the episode's end, he declares that he is moving out to live with "two sexy ladies."
Production
The episode was intended to be a commentary on what it was like to work on a television show that he been on the air for a long time but was nearing its end,[5] with it being meant to show that The Simpsons could still be good after eight seasons, even though it no longer had the "shock value" it did for the early seasons.[5] A while before this episode, a Fox executive made a suggestion that a new character should come and live with the Simpsons, on a permanent basis, and that it would "liven up the show",[6] the character of Roy being reference to this.[7] Roy had originally been designed to appear in the "Time and Punishment" section of the episode "Treehouse of Horror V" in one of the alternate realities, living with the Simpsons.[5]
The executives also wanted Jenny McCarthy to be on the show, as they wanted her to sign a deal with Fox.[8]
This episode features the first mention of Comic Book Guy's soon-to-be catchphrase "Worst episode ever", which was taken from the alt.tv.simpsons message boards.[5] The first mention of "Worst episode ever" can be found in this post, which was about the episode "Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie".
Original plan for Poochie
David Cohen's initial vision for Poochie was that he would be annoying to fans because he was wealthy, aloof and unlikeable. In the episode's DVD commentary he read his script for the first cartoon featuring Itchy, Scratchy, and Poochie:
Itchy and Scratchy are laborers in Poochie's gold mine. Poochie sits on a velvet throne surrounded by bags of money. He drinks champagne as he whips Itchy and Scratchy and lectures them on the value of hard work in a capitalist society. Finally, Itchy and Scratchy get fed up and plan their revenge. They decide Scratchy will present a fake money bag to Poochie. Itchy will secretly be hiding in the bag. When Poochie raises the bag to inhale the sweet smell of money, Itchy will jab him in the nose with a syringe of poison. Itchy gets in the bag and Scratchy presents it to Poochie, but the plan backfires because Poochie is offended by how small the money bag is. To demonstrate how worthless it is to him, he sets it on fire and uses it to light his cigar. Itchy's flaming skeleton falls out of the burning bag, and the syringe lands on Scratchy's toe and kills him, too. Poochie says, "Oh, well, I can always use my millions of dollars to hire more workers. That's the power of money." The end.[5]
Caricatures of the show's staff
As with other episodes centering around the production of The Itchy & Scratchy Show, such as "The Front", the show's staff are shown. Almost all of them are caricatures of the actual staff of The Simpsons.[5] In the first scene at the production table the person in the lower right corner, wearing a squid T-shirt, is David Cohen. On the left side, the furthest away is Bill Oakley with Josh Weinstein next to him. Next to Weinstein is George Meyer, who is the writer who speaks out and gets fired. The animator shown designing Poochie is supervising director David Silverman. Others who appear include Dan McGrath, Ian Maxtone-Graham, Donick Cary, Ron Hauge, Ned Goldreyer and Mike Scully, who had to be added in later, as the animators "didn't have his photo" from which to get an accurate likeness.[5]
Reception
It was placed twenty-third on Entertainment Weekly's top 25 The Simpsons episodes list.[9] The Quindecim, a college newspaper, made their own top 25, placing "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show" in seventeenth place.[10] 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 it: "A very neat episode which, like "The Front", is a good parody of the cartooning business." It currently holds a rating of "Great", with a score of 8.4/10 on TV.com,[11] and a score of 7.0/10 at the Internet Movie Database.[12]
References
- ^ a b Martyn, Warren; Wood, Adrian (2000). "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show". BBC. Retrieved 2007-03-12.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ a b c d Richmond, Ray (1997). The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to our Favorite Family. Harper Collins Publishers. pp. p. 226, 227. ISBN 0-00063-8898-1.
{{cite book}}:|pages=has extra text (help); Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ "1997 TIMELINE". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2007-03-13.
- ^ ""The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show"". The Simpsons.com. Retrieved 2007-03-12.
- ^ a b c d e f g Cohen, David (2006). The Simpsons The Complete Eighth Season DVD commentary for the episode "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
{{cite AV media}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - ^ Groening, Matt (2006). The Simpsons The Complete Eighth Season DVD commentary for the episode "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
{{cite AV media}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - ^ Smith, Yeardley (2006). The Simpsons The Complete Eighth Season DVD commentary for the episode "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
{{cite AV media}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - ^ Weinstein, Josh (2006). The Simpsons The Complete Eighth Season DVD commentary for the episode "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
{{cite AV media}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - ^ "The Family Dynamic". Entertainment Weekly. 2003-01-29. Retrieved 2007-03-12.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Culp, Sarah (2003-03-12). "The Simpsons' Top 25 Episodes". The Quindecim. Retrieved 2007-02-10.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show". TV.com. Retrieved 2007-03-12.
- ^ "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2007-03-12.
External links
