- Old Yeller Belly
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"Old Yeller Belly" is the nineteenth episode of the fourteenth season of The Simpsons. It aired on May 4, 2003.
Plot
Bart and his friends in his treehouse try to eavesdrop on Lisa and her friends having a tea party, and the treehouse gets destroyed in the ensuing fight. After they rip up a railroad and then goof off with their spoils, Marge gets the Amish to build a new treehouse for Bart. However, because the Amish know little about electricity, Bart's treehouse catches fire, and Homer is trapped inside, unconscious. Homer calls for Santa's Little Helper to save him, but Santa's Little Helper is too scared. Snowball II does, by clawing at Homer's chest until he wakes up.
Snowball II is worshipped as a hero by Springfield. The local dog park is even renamed the "Snowball II Municipal Cat Park". Homer declares in an interview that "I have no dog!" and kicks Santa's Little Helper out of the house.
Tied up in the yard and thirsty, Santa's Little Helper drinks from a can of beer by balancing it on his nose. Springfield Shopper reporter Dave Shutton takes a photo of it that appears on the front page of the newspaper. This gets the attention of Duff Beer, who announce that Duffman will be replaced with Santa's Little Helper, as their new mascot, Suds McDuff.
Suds McDuff boosts sales of Duff Beer, and the family's fortunes explode, causing Homer to embrace Suds for his success. However, this prompts Santa's Little Helper's original sleazy owner and racing trainer (from "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire") to visit the Simpsons and prove that he owns the dog by showing the interview footage of Homer disowning Santa's Little Helper. He becomes Suds' new owner and takes the family's fortunes to himself, much to the Simspons' discomfort, including Homer, who then cries remorsefully for saying such a horrible thing on TV.
Figuring that if they can get Duffman to replace Suds as the Duff mascot, they can get their dog back, the Simpsons seek Duffman, who has become an ordinary man named Barry Duffman who helps the less fortunate (by teaching math at a local halfway house). The Simpsons ask him to help the family get Santa's Little Helper back at a Duff Beer-sponsored beach volleyball event.
At the event, Homer pretends to be drowning, while he is actually floating on a keg of beer. Santa's Little Helper is too cowardly, as Homer predicted, to save him. However, when Duffman goes in to save Homer, a shark attacks and Duffman refuses to go in, revealing himself to be a coward too. The shark attempts to bite Homer, but it gets drunk by biting the beer keg. The crowd at the beach likes the shark, and Duff Beer announces that the shark — named Duff McShark — will be their new mascot. Santa's Little Helper gladly returns to the Simpson family.
Cultural references
- The title refers to the film Old Yeller, and is also a play on Yellowbelly.
- The song Bart, Milhouse, Martin, and Nelson sing in the treehouse is a parody of the hymn "Glory, Glory, Hallelujah (Lay My Burden Down)".
- When Bart and Homer are stealing railroad ties, the train derails and barrel-spins above them, the style and music imitating the Car Acrobatic Team in the anime Speed Racer.
- The faulty electricity equipment starting the treehouse fire is a reference to The Towering Inferno, where a power surge resulting from faulty electricity equipment starts a fire. The film itself was co-produced by 20th Century Fox, which also produces The Simpsons.
- On being criticized by Lisa for his incorrect blueprints, Homer asks her if Frank Lloyd Wright had to deal with people like her.
- An ice sculpture of Homer at the grand opening celebration is a parody of The Thinker sculpture by Auguste Rodin.
- Suds McDuff is a reference to Spuds MacKenzie.
- When asked if he has always been a "cat person", Homer replies "Yusuf Islam will always be Cat Stevens to me." Homer also comments on his dislike of the Broadway production Cats, saying "it sucks".
- Luigi offers Snowball II lasagna, a reference to Garfield ("Have some lasagna, like the cat in the funny papers, who's notsa so funny").
- After Lisa questions why their dog has human girlfriends in an advertisement, Marge states that "people do crazy things in ads; like eat at Arby's."
- Suds McDuff appears on Pyramid.
- When Rin Tin Tin bites Adolf Hitler, the latter exclaims, "He bit me right in the axis", a reference to the Axis powers of World War II.
- Duffman is proclaimed a disgrace to the Unitard.
- Duffman hails Duff beer as being "beechwood aged," much like the claim of Budweiser.
- Marge accuses the new alleged owner of Santa's Little Helper of exploiting his pets worse than Bob Guccione, founder of Penthouse.
- The headline "Ale of the Pup" alludes to the Tail o' the Pup, a famous restaurant shaped like a hot dog.
- While Homer is on the Duff corporate airplane, he orders the pilot to "swing by old Heidelberg and drop in on the Oktoberfest." In reality, Oktoberfest is held in Munich.
- When the shark has the keg of beer lodged in its jaws, it appears similar to the final scene of Jaws; Homer also asks “how that naked young lady made it out alive.”
External links
- "Old Yeller Belly" at The Simpsons.com
- "Old Yeller Belly" at the Internet Movie Database
Categories:- The Simpsons (season 14) episodes
- 2003 television episodes
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