Love Is a Many Strangled Thing

"Love Is a Many Strangled Thing"
The Simpsons episode
Episode no.	Season 22
Original air date	March 27, 2011
Episode features
Chalkboard gag	I will not ridicule teacher's Final Four bracket.
Couch gag	The couch gag is done in the style of ASCII artwork, with Bart putting the words "Fatso" on Homer's chest.

"Love Is a Many Strangled Thing" is the seventeenth episode of The Simpsons' twenty-second season. It aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 27, 2011.

Plot

From FoxFlash: "When Homer inadvertently humiliates Bart in front of a stadium crowd, Marge encourages Homer to enroll in a fathering enrichment class taught by therapist Dr. Zander. Shocked to learn that Homer often strangles Bart for mischievous behavior, Dr. Zander conducts a series of treatments with the help of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to teach Homer what it feels like to be young and small. But when Bart learns that the therapy sessions have transformed Homer into a pushover, he takes advantage of Homer and becomes a school bully. Hoping therapy could also cure Bart of his bullying habits, Marge enlists Dr. Zander's help to patch their relationship."

Production

At the closing of the credits, there is a dedication "To the Memory of Elizabeth Taylor" beneath a picture of Maggie Simpson, who Taylor voiced with Maggie's first word, "Daddy", in the fourth season episode Lisa's First Word.

Cultural references

At the beginning of the show, the Planet Express ship from Futurama (also created by Matt Groening) flies past the title with the opening notes from that show's theme playing.

In his nightmare Homer appears as Claireece P. "Precious" Jones from the 2009 film Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, while Bart plays the role of the mother.