The one where they visit NYC. That scene where Homer has to pee. Never again.
On a similar note, Sunday’s rerun was the one where Venus and Serena played tennis. What fortunate timing!
Why? Why is that episode so offensive now? Does this mean that you advocate cutting out any and all scenes from movies made after the early 70’s that have shots of the WTC or that have the WTC as a main point on their plot?
I for one see nothing wrong with the episode and hope they don’t yank it off the shelves. It was pretty funny, especially the crab juice/Mountain Dew joke.
I hope they don’t pull it. While I understand that the image of the World Trade Center will never be comfroting to many many people, there was a time when it did exist and things happened in it. I don’t think we need to make these planes travel back through time and destroy the towers even earlier.
They should still show that episode, as well as many other shows with the World Trade Centers, such as the King Kong remake. If we change our lives around this event we let the terrorists win.
For those of us who have never seen the episode (and maybe never will - I watch the Simpsons only very occasionally when I am not working), what happened in the episode? I’m assuming Homer ends up urinating over the side of the building: if I am wrong, please correct me.
And what was with the crab juice/Mt. Dew joke?
Homer was buying food from a street vendor, and wanted something to wash it down.
Homer: Now what do you have to wash that awful taste out of my mouth?
Vendor: Mountain Dew or crab juice.
Homer: Blecch! Ew! Sheesh! I’ll take a crab juice…
Episode Synopsis
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In the beginning of the episode, Barney is chosen as the designated driver for the night. Unfortunately, he has also won a night of Duff beer but he can’t drink any of it. As he is driving a drunken Homer home he snaps, drops Homer off on the curb, and takes off.
Sometime later Barney shows back up in Springfield climbing out of the trunk of a limo, he has no clue as to where Homer’s car is. Homer receives a letter in the mail informing him his car is illegally parked in New York City. Homer doesn’t want to go pick it up because of an earlier incident in his youth he had in New York but his family persuades him to.
Once there, the family splits off, with Homer trying to find his car and the rest of the family off to see the sights. Homer finds the car parked in the in between the World Trade Center Towers. As he is wondering what to do out loud and employee in one of the towers leans and yells at him to shut up because people are trying to work. A second employee from the other tower leans out and chides the first employee not being friendly to Homer. He then looks at Homer and apologizes to him adding that, “They put all the jerks in Tower One.”
As homer is waiting for the cop to show up and remove the boot he gets hungry and starts buying some type of exotic food from a foreign vendor. After awhile he becomes thirsty and asks the vendor if he has anything to drink. The vendor replies with, “Crab Juice or Mountain Dew.”
Homer replies with, “Bleeech, yuck, I’ll take the crab juice.”
After drinking one to many crab juices Homer has to use the bathroom. He rushes up to the 100th floor of the first tower only to find the bathroom out of order. He then rushes to the 100th floor of the second tower and relieves himself in a very vocal manner. As he is doing so he misses the cop and gets another ticket.
At this point he is so fed up that he drives the car with the boot on to pick up the rest of the family in Central Park, who have been having a wonderful time sightseeing, and they go home.
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Thats about it in a nutshell. It was a very funny episode.
In this episode, (which, btw, is also one of my favorites and I hope they don’t pull it,) Barney goes on a bender and takes Homer’s car. Weeks/months later, Homer gets a notice that his car is illegally parked at the WTC. The Simpsons have go to NY to get the car, but Homer is reluctant because he hates New York (can’t remember why). Homer finds the car parked in the middle of a plaza between the buildings, booted and covered with parking tickets and a notice that a traffic cop will be by between the hours of 8 and 6 (or something–all day) so he has to wait by the car the whole day for the guy to come take the boot off. Various things happen with the rest of the family while sight-seeing. Anyhoo, a foreign street vendor comes by Homer and sells him some food–“Khav Kalash” or something like that. Homer says, “I’ll take a bowl” and the vendor says, “No bowl. Stick, stick.” and gives Homer a lump of meat on a stick. Homer keeps eating these things and gets thirsty, so the vendor says he has Mtn. Dew or Crab Juice, and Homer goes, “Eeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwww!..gimme the Crab Juice”
Then he drinks so much Crab Juice that he has to pee but he can’t leave the car or he’ll just get another ticket but eventually he goes up to the top of one tower only to find that the only bathroom is closed, so he goes into the other tower and at the top he sees the traffic cop waiting for him, giving him another ticket and finally leaving. Eventually they all go home after some hijinks.
No peeing off the WTC. There is one part where Homer passes a line of people waiting to jump off the top of the building, which could be upsetting but otherwise, I see no reason to permanently pull the episode. They might not want to show it in the next month but we can’t pretend the WTC never existed.
I think it would be sufficient for future airings (and the eventual DVD release) to possibly edit out the line about “They put all the jerks in Tower 2!” and put something at the end in memory of the people who died. They didn’t pull any other episodes because of deaths, and most if not all (Linda McCartney, Phil Hartman, etc.) received this type of tribute. They also retired all of the characters Hartman voiced, which, even though I miss the hell out of Lionel Hutz and Troy McClure, I agree with because no one else could do those characters like he did.
Another similar thread in GQ:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=86746
ElwoodCuse:
Could we maybe stop being so hysterical? The episode should not be altered in any way. It was a joke in a sitcom, for cryin’ out loud! Produced years before the fact.
Would you have them cut the first shot from Working Girl? Do you think the final scenes from the 1976 version of King Kong should be reshot?
It’s almost like some of you are actors, and the World Trade Center has suddenly become MacBeth. Images of the World Trade Center are part of our history and our culture, and that is Okay, despite what happened this week.
I think they should re-shoot ALL of the King Kong remake, preferably with the lens cap on.
Thank you Fiver, and everyone else in this thread that’s shown that some are actually still sane after this unholy mess.
This is the first thread I’ve responded to because I guess I’ve been numb and the act of typing seemed too exhausting to contemplate.
The Simpsons is, once again,(listen carefully now) a CARTOON sitcom. Most of us have seen all the old episodes anywhere from 10 to 100 times. You know the plot lines. If you think it’s going to bother you, don’t watch it. Pretty simple.
When you’re old enough to have been through wars, natural disasters, deaths of friends,relatives, spouses,etc.,you’ll understand that the hysteria will slowly wind down, and someday you’ll be able to laugh again at things that now seem impossible.
Take it slow. It’s not quite the end yet.
Uh, there’s no “could be” about it. That scene should definitely be removed from airings in the near-future (years, possibly).
I re-checked this episode and the line Homer barges through is NOT people waiting to jump off the building. It’s in the lobby and it’s quite obvious that they are waiting in line at a teller-type window (probably to buy a ticket to the observation deck?).
There’s another episode where he’s waiting in line, though, I believe. It’s the one with his 300 bowling score, and he throws himself off a high building, and Otto does too, only he’s bungy jumping. I don’t rememeber anything about waiting in line to leap off a building in the NYC Episode. The worst thing they said in that episode was “They put all the jerks in Tower 2” and that’s more of a spoof on the nature of New Yorkers than anything else.
HUH? Maybe I saw a different version of the episode, but I don’t recall any line of suicides? Homer barged past a line of tourists waiting to go to the top of the building for sight-seeing purposes.
This and the similar thread (currently in IMHO, I think) are both depressing to me.
When a loved one dies, do you advocate getting rid of all their pictures, destroying any letters in which they joke?
I hope they don’t pull the episode. It was a damn good one, and I’ll take laughter over ostriching any day.
Last night, they showed the episode where Milhouse gets a girlfriend (one I hadn’t seen in a while). This is also the one that Homer tries to lose weight with those audio tapes (but gets the vocabulary builder instead).
As the tape company employee lists the available tapes, one is Hostage Negotiation. Marge imagines Homer on the tarmac talking to some plane hijackers, only to be riddled with bullets.
Didn’t see that one coming.
Geez, i wish i could see a Simpsons episode. I’ve never seen the one where Milhouse gets a girlfriend…and i thought i’d seen them all. It’s been nothing but news around here (Boston) 24 hours a day. We could use some laughter. One good thing, though, I haven’t seen a commercial in three days.