You Kent Always Say What You Want
| "You Kent Always Say What You Want" | |
|---|---|
| The Simpsons episode | |
| File:You Kent Always Say What You Want.png | |
| Episode no. | Season 18 |
| Directed by | Matthew Nastuk |
| Written by | Tim Long |
| Original air dates | May 20, 2007 |
| Episode features | |
| Couch gag | As the bottom of the screen says "20 years ago...", the Tracey Ullman short "Family Portrait" is shown, in which Homer has trouble taking a normal family portrait. (This replaces the normal opening sequence.) |
"You Kent Always Say What You Want" is the twenty-second episode of The Simpsons' eighteenth season aired on May 20, 2007 as part of the one hour season finale, alongside the episode "24 Minutes". It was the milestone 400th episode of The Simpsons and was written by Tim Long. Guest starring Ludacris as himself and Maurice LaMarche as the Fox announcer.
Plot
Marge is at Spinster Apartments, playing Pictionary with Maggie, Patty and Selma. However, it turns out to be nearly 3pm, so Marge is forced to leave early. Unfortunately, her car does not start and is forced to walk home, she runs home, running through the Kwik E Mart, a sewer, Mayor Quimby's mansion, a Chinese New Year parade, a St. Patrick's Day parade and Helen Lovejoy in order to get home in time to tell the kids they have to go to the dentist.
Once there, Homer is "tortured" by the dentist drill and ends up horrifying all the children in the waiting room with his screams of pain. Meanwhile, Lisa watches a Ludacris rap video about tooth decay, with Ludacris starring as Luda-Crest. Bart stops, walking through the halls and sees Principal Skinner being given nitrous oxide, and the nurse tells Principal Skinner to wait for the doctor to come in, and not to resist any of his techniques. Bart comes in, and scrapes his throat with his hand, then jams a large plastic tooth in to his mouth, before passing an X-ray through his testicles for 20 minutes, apparently trying to sterilise him. It is not known whether Bart succeeded.
On the way home, Homer pulls over to the ice cream parlor, and orders a plain vanilla ice cream with 8 mix-ins. When he selects cone (after deeply considering a cup) he is told that he has just purchased the 1,000,000th ice cream cone (Barney got the 999,999th one) sold by the store, that he will have a picture in the newspaper, and that he will be featured on Kent Brockman's Smartline late-night TV show special later that night.
On TV, Kent Brockman replies very sarcastically and bored to all of Homer's answers. When Homer makes a sweeping gesture with his hand ("The happiness swept me away!"), he knocks over Kent's coffee, spilling on to his lap, to which he screams "Oh, that hurt like a (---)!!!"
Kent attempts to apologize on the air, but afterwards discovers that no one saw his unpopular broadcast, and that his job is safe. Unfortunately, he only asks Comic Book Guy, and the next day, Ned Flanders is scrutinizing every show on TV for anything that he could find suggestive, and when he hears Kent's "super swear" (as Ned calls it), he immediately goes to his computer and talks about it. The next day, Kent is at the Channel 6 building, when he is told by Lindsay Naegle that his job is safe. However, she then sees the powder in Kent's coffee, and, thinking it's cocaine, fires him on the spot. The Simpsons decide to offer him a home at their house.
After a few days of living with Kent, Lisa realizes that a celebrity like Kent would be perfect to use to speak out against Fox News and the Republican party. So, using Lisa's webcam, the two put out an online video, which ends up being incredibly popular. Channel 6 executives, realizing his restored popularity, offer to re-hire Kent with a 50% pay raise, which Kent momentarily considers turning down but accepts when Lisa isn't watching. Upon returning home, Lisa and Homer badmouth Fox, but are overdubbed by a male announcer and a female announcer who makes positive statements. Homer breaks the fourth wall, offering to tell the audience one of Fox's big dirty secrets. Homer's last sentence is cut by the Fox disclaimer and the 20th Century Fox logo. After the logo, Homer attempts to say it on a blank, white expanse, but is cut by the Gracie Films logo.
Production
This episode, formerly known as "The Kent State Massacre"[1], was renamed in light of the Virginia Tech massacre, which occurred only a month before the episode was set to air. The episode was intended to spoof increased fines by the Federal Communications Commission in the wake of the Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction. However, a month before the episode aired, Don Imus was fired for remarks he made on the air. Similarly, Brockman wasn't immediately fired for his comments.[2]
Reception
Robert Canning named the episode one his three favorites of the season, stating that it "ended the season on a very high note".[3]
References
- ^ Reg. # PAu-3-061-056 in the U.S. Copyright Records database Retrieved on June 16, 2007
- ^ Roger Catlin (2007-05-20). "If Only Homer Could Count: He'd Know Tonight's Season Finale Marks The 400th Episode Of `The Simpsons'". Hartford Courant (ctnow.com).
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help); Unknown parameter|dateaccessed=ignored (help) - ^ Robert Canning (2007-06-14). "The Simpsons: Season 18 Review". IGN.com. Retrieved 2007-06-15.
