The Devil Wears Nada
| "The Devil Wears Nada" | |
|---|---|
| The Simpsons episode | |
| File:LABF17.jpg | |
| Episode no. | Season 21 |
| Directed by | Nancy Kruse |
| Written by | Tim Long |
| Original air date | November 15, 2009[1][2][3] |
| Episode features | |
| Chalkboard gag | I do not have the hots for my mom. |
| Couch gag | The family are cavemen who sit on a log that sinks into a tarpit, with their skeletons appearing in a museum. |
The Devil Wears Nada is the fifth episode in The Simpsons twenty-first season. It aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 15, 2009. In the episode, Marge and a group called the "Charity Chicks" pose for a history-oriented calendar in hopes of raising money for charity, but Marge becomes the talk of the town thanks to her racy poses. Meanwhile, Carl is chosen as the newest supervisor at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, and hires Homer to be his personal assistant.
The episode was written by Tim Long and directed by Nancy Kruse. Since airing, "The Devil Wears Nada" has received mixed reviews from television critics. It was watched by approximately 9.04 million viewers during its original airing.
Plot
The episode opens at a retirement party for the current Sector 7G supervisor, Ted. Just as Homer, Lenny, and Carl are celebrating their freedom from supervision, Mr. Burns arrives and chooses Carl as the new supervisor (after quickly deducing that he is the only semi-competent employee of the three). Meanwhile, in an effort to raise money, Marge and her “Charity Chicks” philanthropic group decide to follow the Police Department's lead and pose for a history-themed "sexy" calendar. At the photo studio, however, Marge (portraying Babe Didrickson Zaharias) is a bit reluctant to reveal any skin. The photographer loosens her up with red wine, and Marge ends up revealing more than she planned. Marge and her pin-up poses are soon the talk of the town.
Back at the plant, Carl makes Homer his new executive assistant (“You can take this new position or look for work elsewhere, and in this economy, elsewhere ain’t hiring”). That evening, Marge's libido — pumped up by the male population's positive feedback on her calendar — is running high, but Homer is too overworked and exhausted to satisfy her. This becomes an unhappy trend, and Marge feels ignored. Homer tries to make up for it by taking Marge out to a fancy hotel. Marge brings pleasure dice and Homer rolls Lick eyes, Spank hair, and Whisper into ass. Homer leaves the next morning, and a frustrated Marge throws a croquet mallet after his retreating cab. She accidentally knocks out Ned Flanders instead, and invites the Flanders family over for a family dinner by way of apology.
In Paris, Carl is having a great time flirting with a beautiful Frenchwoman, and he reveals that he plans to extend their stay indefinitely. Homer is devastated, and walks forlornly through Parisian streets where everything reminds him of Marge. Back in Springfield, Bart and Lisa bail on Marge's dinner, and Ned also shows up alone, explaining that he has grounded Rod and Todd for watching a Grey's Anatomy promo. The innocent dinner soon turns romantic, and Marge and Ned nearly kiss, until Marge catches sight of her wedding photo in Ned's glasses and realizes that it would be wrong. Homer, meanwhile, has forced Carl to give him his old job back by revealing that the woman Carl has been flirting with is actually Carla Bruni, wife of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and threatening to tell Sarkozy everything. Homer arrives home just as Marge is bidding Ned goodnight, and the two of them have sex, undisturbed at last.
Production
"The Devil Wears Nada" is partly based on The Devil Wears Prada, particularly the scenes that feature an overworked and over-utilized Homer.[4] This episode aired soon after the Simpsons character Marge had appeared on the cover of the real-life adult magazine Playboy. Executive producer Al Jean told the Toronto Sun that this episode was "a little bit of a reference to [Marge's] recent encounter with Playboy. In ['The Devil Wears Nada'], Marge goes to a photo shoot for a charity calendar and the photographer gets her a little tipsy, so she takes off a little more than she expects to." Jean explained that the writers came up with the storyline for "The Devil Wears Nada" over a year before the episode aired and they did not know back then that Marge would become a Playboy cover girl. Jean said that was "an independent offer from Playboy. But we thought, to be smart, we should probably have [the episode and Marge's cover] come out around the same time."[5] In regards to Marge's explicit plotline in the episode, Jean commented that "We're always a bit nervous when we push the boundaries or do something unusual and I usually think that's where we do our best stuff, and this [episode] is definitely one of those cases."[6]
Reception
During the episode's original broadcast on the Fox network in the United States on November 15, 2009,[7][8][9] it was watched by approximately 9.04 million viewers. In the demographic for adults aged 18-49, the episode received a 4.2 rating and a 10% share. It was the second-highest rated television series in the 8:00 p.m. timeslot, following Football Night in America, which received a 5.3 rating and 15.1 million viewers.[10] Since airing, "The Devil Wears Nada" has received mixed reviews from television critics. TV Squad's Jason Hughes was positive about it, commenting that "[...] everything about the episode worked, from Marge's sexy calendar to Ned Flanders' role in the final moments." He thought the Bart subplot complemented the main plot well, and added that he thought the episode featured "the heart I felt was missing all season. The love between Homer and Marge dominated this episode, coming in equal strength from both sides." Hughes concluded that "The Devil Wears Nada" was "perfectly balanced, written and executed".[7]
Todd VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club was less positive, giving the episode a C+ rating. He commented that because there have already been so many episodes about Homer and Marge's marital troubles, it becomes more difficult every time to make the episodes emotional. VanDerWerff added: "[...] The vast majority of the episode's running time was taken up by Marge and Homer yet again confronting the fact that their marriage isn't always the most compatible one. While the flip side of the usual husband/wife sexual dynamics had a few promising jokes in it [...], the entirety of the episode felt stale. There's no way Homer or Marge will ever cheat on each other, and that makes a story like this essentially boring."[11]
IGN's Robert Canning gave the episode a 6.2/10 rating, calling it disappointing. He commented that he enjoyed the first act of the episode because it had a lot of potential storylines, but it went downhill from there. Canning added: "At first I thought the episode might be trying to tie in with Playboy's recent Marge pictorial, but it soon became clear that the calendar was just a means to get Marge horny while Homer remained exhausted. This was another case of the series returning to familiar storylines. [...] Unfortunately, 'The Devil Wears Nada' doesn't give the story anything new."[4]
References
- ^ Amatangelo, Amy (2009-11-15). "Watch this!". Boston Herald. Retrieved 2009-11-15.
- ^ "Life in all its glory". The Gazette. Montreal. 2009-11-15. Retrieved 2009-11-15.
- ^ "The Devil Wears Nada". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-11-16.
- ^ a b Canning, Robert (2009-11-16). "The Simpsons: "The Devil Wears Nada" Review". IGN. Retrieved 2009-11-16.
- ^ Harris, Bill (2009-11-14). "Marge heats up Springfield". Toronto Sun. Retrieved 2009-11-14.
- ^ "Marge 'Wears Nada' On 'The Simpsons' (audio interview)". Hollywood Outbreak. 2009-11-04. Retrieved 2009-11-15.
- ^ a b Fraser, Garnet (2009-11-15). "TV tonight: Five worth watching". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2009-11-15. Cite error: The named reference "TS" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ Ahearn, Victoria (2009-11-06). "Tube talk". Waterloo Region Record. Retrieved 2009-11-15.
- ^ "Sunday's Highlights". Los Angeles Times. 2009-11-15. Retrieved 2009-11-15.
- ^ Gorman, Bill (2009-11-16). "TV Ratings Sunday: Football Wins For NBC; Housewives, Three Rivers, Cold Case All Up". TVbytheNumbers. Retrieved 2009-11-16.
- ^ VanDerWerff, Todd (2009-11-16). ""The Devil Wears Nada"/"Ladies' Night"/"Quagmire's Baby"/"Shallow Vows"". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 2009-11-16.
