In “Bart of Darkness” (S6, E1), there’s a scene in which Bart falls from a tree. Nelson points and laughs with his characteristic “Haw Haw”. When another child says Bart’s really hurt and has probably broken his leg, Nelson replies, “I said Haw Haw.” It’s funny because it’s so horrible. My brother really liked this line and would quote it often.

“Lisa’s Rival” (S6, E2) is pretty funny. A new girl in school is smarter than Lisa which causes her to sabotage her Tell Tale Heart diorama. Ralph Wiggum gets a couple of good lines. “I crushed my Wookie” and “My cat’s breath smells like cat food” are hilarious. The funniest part of the episode is the subplot in which Homer steals sugar from a crashed truck. He keeps the pile of sugar in the backyard and guards it, paranoid that someone will steal it. He mangles a quote from Scarface, claiming that in America, first you get the sugar, then you get the money, then you get the women. His monologue in which he impersonates the blue bloods wondering what is to be done about this Homer Simpson was great.

This reminds me of a great line from season 5 I failed to mention in the last post. In “The Boy Who Knew Too Much” (S5, E20) Bart is called to testify before a jury. Homer is on the jury and Bart can read his thoughts, which take the form of the song from the Meow Mix commercial. I loved this. Not only was the Meow Mix song delightful and super popular at the time, but I love that it reverses the common TV trope of someone being able to read minds and discovering deep, dark secrets. In reality, I think reading minds would be miserable because many people would be thinking of banalities like what they need to pick up from the store, trying to remember where they put something, or having a song stuck in their head.

“Itchy & Scratchy Land” (S6, E4) felt like a repeat of “Selma’s Choice” (S4, E13) in which they go to Duff Gardens since they’re both Disneyland parodies. This episode coming right after “Another Simpsons Clip Show” (S6, E3) makes it look like they’re starting to run out of ideas. This is another reason binge watching makes the episodes less funny. You notice repeated ideas like this more.

However, they do something new in “Sideshow Bob Roberts” (S6, E5). Sideshow Bob gets released from prison at the behest of right-wing radio personality Birch T Barlow (an obvious Rush Limbaugh stand in) and runs for mayor of Springfield. The Simpsons was a politically conservative show the first four seasons and moved towards the center during their fifth season. They make fun of both Republicans and Democrats in this and later episodes, so it feels like The Simpsons are still being politically moderate this season. The incompetent, womanizing Mayor Joe Quimby is a parody of JFK, so Democrats are being made fun of as well, they’re just presented as the lesser of two evils, compared to the “cold-hearted Republican” who wants to “lower taxes, brutalize criminals, and rule you like a king!”

My dad was a huge fan of Rush Limbaugh. Rush was always playing on the car radio, especially on our frequent road trips. We’d also listen to the radio at home while doing chores or yard work. I was in high school at the time this episode aired. I used to quote Rush to my high school friends and they would gently point out to me the things Rush got wrong. I was hoping to convert them to my conservative way of thinking, but over the years, they ended up converting me instead. I think my faith in Rush was beginning to wane around the time this episode aired, but I think I would have still considered myself a Republican at this time.

My family was a bit offended The Simpsons was making fun of Republicans, but we didn’t stop watching the show. Partly, I think this was because there wasn’t much else we could watch instead, but also The Simpsons was so funny in general, we were willing to overlook the occasional slip. I also think politics wasn’t as polarized back then as it is now. I can’t imagine a Republican continuing to watch a show that had one anti-Republican episode nowadays. I feel like people were more touchy about religion in the 1990’s and didn’t take politics as seriously. Now, it feels like people don’t take religion as seriously and have become hyper-touchy regarding politics.

It’s amazing they got Kelsey Grammar, the voice of Sideshow Bob, to make fun of Republicans in this way since he’s politically conservative himself. Perhaps to make up for this episode, “Grampa vs. Sexual Inadequacy” (S6, E10) pokes fun at Democrats. There’s a joke about then Vice President Al Gore being boring and a joke about JFK dodging reporter’s questions. Also, “Bart’s Comet” (S6, E14) gets in a dig at Jimmy Carter and “Bart vs. Australia” (S6, E16) pokes fun at Carter’s vice president Walter Mondale. I’m not sure if Homer’s rhyme “Scooby Doo can doo doo, but Jimmy Carter is smarter” in “A Star is Burns” (S6, E18) is meant to be a dig at Carter, but, it could be. It feels like season six still ridicules Democrats more often than Republicans, but at least both political parties are being made fun of.

“Treehouse of Horror V” (S6, E6) like all the Halloween episodes, is one of the funniest episodes of the season. The parody of The Shining was fantastic. Homer writes, “No TV and no beer makes Homer go crazy” over and over again. He tells Marge he’s thinking of calling it “No TV and no beer makes Homer… something something.” She asks, “Go crazy?” and he replies, “Don’t mind if I do!” makes a face in the mirror, and scares himself. I was in high school at the time this episode aired, and I remember the kids doing our short high school TV news show in the morning replayed this clip. Good times.

Homer also travels back in time, causing the future to change in a myriad of unexpected ways. It’s funny that the advice his father gave him on his wedding was to not change anything if he ever went back in time. In one future timeline, James Earl Jones does the voice of baby Maggie. There’s a running gag of Groundskeeper Willie saying he’s going to save the Simpson family only to get killed immediately. Hilarious.

I was surprised on rewatch how funny “Fear of Flying” (S6, E11) was. When it originally aired in 1994, I though it was a meh episode, but I found myself laughing all the way through this one. It starts with the guys in the bar playing deadly pranks on Moe. Homer unscrews the lid on a sugar bottle and everyone says he went too far and bans him from Moe’s. A man who looks just like Homer and speaks in his impersonation voice named Guy Incognito also gets kicked out of Moe’s. Homer hilariously tries out other bars, including the bar from Cheers featuring guest voices from the cast (although missing Kelsey Grammar, probably due to a scheduling conflict). It’s funny that Bart has Homer’s wallet. Marge seeing a therapist to overcome her fear of flying was also funnier than I remember.

On the other hand, “Homer the Great” (S6, E12) was less funny than I remembered. This is the one where Homer joins the Stonecutters, a secret society that’s basically a frat, yet somehow also does things like keeping the Martians a secret, rigging the Oscars, and keeping the electric car down. Patrick Stewart, best known for playing Jean Luc Picard in Star Trek, does the voice of Number One. I loved this when it originally aired, but it’s just not as funny as I remembered. I liked the scene where Homer tells Marge about being excluded as a kid. Marge replies, “Kids can be so cruel.” Bart, who happens to be walking by says something like, “We can? Thanks mom!” and runs off to hurt Lisa. Good stuff. Other than that and musical number, this one wasn’t a funny as I remembered.

“Bart vs. Australia” (S6, E16) contains the funny segment in which a guy tells Bart, “You call that a knife? This is a knife!” copying a line from Crocodile Dundee. However, instead of holding up a bigger knife, he’s holding a spoon. Bart points this out and the guy says, “Ah, I see you’ve played knifey-spoony before.” To those of us who watched Crocodile Dundee, this was a hilarious line. However, this episode as a whole isn’t as funny as I remembered. One thing that bugs me now is Lisa gets the science of the Coriolis Effect wrong. The Coriolis Effect doesn’t apply to small bodies of water like you find in a toilet or sink.

Unless I’m forgetting a previous episode, I think “Lisa’s Wedding” (S6, E19) is the first time The Simpsons show us the future. The Simpsons children are grown up and Lisa is getting married to a British guy, but Homer’s oafishness embarrasses her. It takes place in 2010, only fifteen years in the future from when it aired. In this version of the future, trees are extinct and robots are constantly melting from their own tears. They weren’t trying to accurately predict the future, of course, but they did get video calls right. However, there’s a scene in which Homer can’t make a call because Maggie is tying up the line. It goes to show that when people think of the future, they tend to overestimate technological changes in some areas, but underestimate them in others. People living in the nineties could predict things like robots and jet packs, but not the smart phone.

Burn’s Disney-style song from “Two Dozen and One Greyhounds” (S6, E20) in which he proudly sings about his wardrobe made out of animals, including grizzly bear underwear, is pretty funny. Also the parody of the Lady and the Tramp spaghetti-eating scene was good since the dogs act like real dogs and fight over the food rather than bashfully share it. However, overall, this episode wasn’t as funny as I remembered.

On the other hand, “‘Round Springfield” (S6, E22) is funnier than I remembered. It’s also tragic, of course, since this is the episode in which Bleeding Gums Murphy dies, but it was funnier than I remembered and “Jazzman” is a great song.

“The Springfield Connection” (S6, E23) was also funnier than I remembered. This is the one where Marge becomes a cop. Training at a shooting range, Marge shoots the cardboard cutouts of criminals, but not innocent bystanders. Wiggum, however, criticizes her. “You missed the baby. You missed the blind man…” Later in the episode, there’s a call back to this scene. Marge is pursuing a suspect in her backyard. Grandpa suddenly jumps out from behind a bush, pushing Maggie in a stroller and Marge holds her fire, but she does shoot the witch decoration Flanders is putting up for Halloween. Good stuff.

I loved the scene where Marge is arresting Homer and tells him he has the right to remain silent. He says, “I waive that right” then begins screaming loudly. Homer says when Marge joined the police academy, he though it would be fun “like that movie… Spaceballs” but instead is turned out terrible “like that movie… Police Academy.” This episode also features the return of Herman, the one-armed man who helped Bart deal with Nelson way back in season one. He’s operating a counterfeit jeans ring in Homer’s garage, or as Homer calls it in order to sound more American, his “car hole”. Hilarious.

I think this episode may also be the first time The Simpsons makes a reference to the internet, which many people were learning about at this time. Moe has a deck of nudie cards called Girls of the Internet. Back then, most sitcoms thought the internet was only a place to find porn and I was always frustrated that people didn’t realize it was much more than that. Oh well.

Season six ends on a cliff hanger, “Who Shot Mr. Burns? Part One” (S6, E25) As far as I know, this is the only time The Simpsons have done a two-part episode. It was a huge event. When this originally aired, we had to wait all summer to find out who done it. I recall Vegas was also placing bets on who did it. We were left with the impression that Mr. Burns was dead. The show did just kill off Bleeding Gums Murphy, after all, so killing off a character wasn’t off the table. My brothers and I though The Simpsons would be a very different show going forward without Mr. Burns in it.

Season six has a lot of laughs, but I don’t think it’s as good as season four. The funniest episodes this season are “Lisa’s Rival” (S6, E2), “Treehouse of Horror V” (S6, E6), “Fear of Flying” (S6, E11), and “The Springfield Connection” (S6, E23).