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Bart vs. Thanksgiving
The Simpsons Season 02 Episode 07
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
This turkey is disgusting. It's a gray bird-shaped object crammed full of offal.
Another meta moment in The Simpsons with a Bart Simpson Thanksgiving parade float on TV.
Homer's impression of Patty and Selma is actually pretty accurate.
This Hooray for Everything band is making me angry. They're like Hanson mixed with the Jackson Five.
This is the first time we've seen Marge's mother visiting the Simpsons. Now there's a character they never developed. It's pretty obvious why.
As much as I love to be annoyed by Lisa, I can't help but feel bad for her. Bart is such a jerk to her.
Oh, Homer! I really do hope solar power is not a pipe dream. We're almost there, right? Right? Please? D'oh!
Mr. Burns has peacocks in his garden. And that sumptuous feast. I know they're just animated pictures, but that spread made me hungry.
Ugh, screw Marge's whole family. I can appreciate not getting along with your in-laws, but these people are just awful. Up theirs. Up all of theirs.
This Simpsons episode is the first time I can remember seeing a sitcom mention the fact that soup kitchens are only really fully staffed for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Most other sitcoms of this era would just have a volunteer-at-the-soup-kitchen heartwarming Thanksgiving episode. This is much richer, I think.
Classic joke: "Hello, operator, give me the number for 9-1-1!" Eddie and Lou don't have their canonical voices yet.
Maggie speaks! Well sort of. In Bart's daydream nightmare (it turns out "daymare" is a real word, actually).
Lisa has proven herself to be really good at eliciting epiphanies in Bart. I wonder how far Bart could go if he actually liked his sister in addition to the obligatory familial love he has for her.
Maybe I'm just hungry, because their post-Thanksgiving turkey sandwiches are also looking pretty delicious.
CONCLUSION
This episode is considered to be one of the classics, but to me it seems like it plays it in a very predictably formulaic sitcom sort of way. Maybe I've just seen it too many times, but it really doesn't seem that compelling to me. It's not particularly funny, the story seems a little maudlin. It's not bad, but it's not that great either.
THIS EPISODE'S RATINGS
  4/5 donuts from Statler
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RATINGS LEGEND
= LAME
= BAD
= MEH
= GOOD
= CLASSIC
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PLOT SUMMARY FROM WIKIPEDIA
It is Thanksgiving and Lisa assembles a decorative centerpiece for the dinner table. The Simpson family sits down to give thanks along with Grampa, Patty, Selma, and Marge's mother. When Lisa places the centerpiece on the table, she argues with Bart about where it should go since there is no room left for the turkey. In the ensuing fight, Bart accidentally throws the centerpiece into the fireplace and it burns up. Devastated, Lisa runs to her room in tears, while Bart is sent to his room by Homer and Marge for ruining Thanksgiving.
Convinced he has not done anything wrong, Bart decides to run away from home, taking Santa's Little Helper with him. Walking the streets alone, cold, and hungry, he visits a soup kitchen that is serving Thanksgiving dinner for homeless people. A television crew led by Kent Brockman is covering the event, and they interview Bart on live television. The family sees the report and calls the police. Bart eventually returns home feeling remorseful. However, the situation is worsened when he has a nightmare in which the family does not forgive him. He climbs up onto the roof of the house to think things out. Hearing Lisa cry because she misses him, Bart calls for her to come onto the roof. He realizes that what he did was wrong and apologizes to her. Bart rejoins the family to enjoy a meal of Thanksgiving leftovers later that night.
The episode was written by George Meyer and directed by David Silverman. It was the first script Meyer wrote on the show, and he thought he made "quite a few mistakes, but it turned out really well overall." The staff decided to do a Thanksgiving episode after they found out that an episode would air on Thursday, November 22, 1990, the date of Thanksgiving that year. The Simpsons had previously aired at 8:00 p.m. EST on Sunday night but the Fox network switched its timeslot to the same time on Thursdays at the beginning of the second season. The idea of Bart going up on the roof was suggested by Meyer who used to go up on the roof himself when he had fights with his family.
Accessed from Wikipedia on Feb. 26, 2010