The Girl Who Slept Too Little

Infobox Simpsons episode
episode_name = The Girl Who Slept Too Little
episode_no = 358
prod_code = GABF16
airdate = September 18, 2005
show runner = Al Jean
writer = John Frink
director = Raymond S. Persi
couch_gag = Filmed in claymation, six balls roll in and bump into each other in the living room before turning into Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, Maggie, and Gumby.
guest_star = None


image_caption = A scene in Lisa's nightmare.
season = 17

"The Girl Who Slept Too Little" is the second episode of "The Simpsons"' seventeenth season. It originally aired September 18, 2005. This episode was originally supposed to be the last episode of season sixteen, but was replaced by The Father, The Son & The Holy Guest Star since that episode was pulled from its original air date due to the death of Pope John Paul II (since "The Father, The Son & The Holy Guest Star" centers on Catholicism). 9.8 million viewers tuned into this episode, beating Family Guy which had 9.4 million.

Plot

The Simpsons protest the construction of a stamp museum next to their home and successfully have it relocated to a cemetery lot, but are dismayed to see the old cemetery moving next door. Lisa soon finds herself suffering fright-induced sleepless nights and runs to her parents' bed. Homer and Marge attempt spending a night in Lisa's room to convince her that it is safe, but are quickly scared away. They turn to a psychiatrist for advice, but Lisa decides to face her fears alone one night in the cemetery, with dramatic results. After getting a concussion, Lisa experiences a number of strange dreams before scary monsters come at her. She tries to tell herself that she can not be scared but the monsters tell it is okay to be scared. If she is afraid of the cemetery, she should close the blinds or get a nightlight. Lisa soon finds out everyone is afraid of something.

Character Debuts

This episode features an appearance by Gravedigger Billy, Groundskeeper Willie's cousin.

Cultural references

*The Title "The Girl Who Slept Too Little" is a take on the 1997 film titled "The Man Who Knew Too Little" starring Bill Murray, which was itself a take on the title of two Hitchcock films, "The Man Who Knew Too Much" (1934) starring Peter Lorre and "The Man Who Knew Too Much" (1956) starring James Stewart. This is not the first time this title has been parodied; see "The Boy Who Knew Too Much" and "The Dad Who Knew Too Little". The title of the film, though not the plot, is originally from the G. K. Chesterton book of the same name published in 1922.
*The book "The Land of Wild Beasts" is an obvious parody of "Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak, right down to the artwork.
*The song played during the protest sequence is "Eve of Destruction" by Barry McGuire.
*When the people are transplanting the Cemetery near the Simpsons' house, Maggie is watching Count von Count from Sesame Street. Marge admits that she doesn't like watching the Count, and says "Go back to your own country!" to the TV.
*The stamp museum sign "The Fathers (and mothers) of Invention" is a reference to Frank Zappa's first band Fact|date=July 2007, The Mothers of Invention, of whom Matt Groening is a big fan.
*The Simpsons visit a stamp museum featuring stamp posters of Frederick Ives, Katharine Burr Blodgett, Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray, with audio statements about their inventions.
*The advertising campaign Bart and Lisa watch in the theatre mentioned above is for a restaurant called "The Hillside Wrangler", a parody of Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono who were called the Hillside Stranglers [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillside_Strangler] . Part of the Eisenhower Expressway is also called the Hillside Strangler [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillside_Strangler_%28Illinois%29#Lingo] .
*When Lisa finds Dr. Nick in the cemetery, he puts four severed arms around his body and says: "I'm not Dr. Nick, I am Dr. Octopus!", a reference to Dr. Octopus, the super-villain of the Spider-Man series. Also, he speaks some lines referencing the series, mentioning "I'm going to get you Spidey! Then I will have upside down kiss with Mary Jane!"