There's No Disgrace Like Home

Mr. Burns picnic makes Homer realize that their family is messed up. After they are victimized by the evil employer, Home decides to fix the family. He turns to a television psychologist who guarantees success in improving family relationships. There are many great bits, but the shock therapy one is quite good. We also have the beginnings of some stuff that will become staples in the future. Itchy and Scratchy make their debuts as super-violent cartoon characters.

The fourth episode of Season 1 in the Simpsons is a solid entry in the series. But I was comparing this episode to the modern Simpsons and this seems more....different. I think the creators were testing out different personalities for our favorite dysfunctional family. But nonetheless, this is still a fun episode that has some funny moments and by far my favorite moment is the actual shock therapy that takes place in the episode.

This episode, "There's No Disgrace Like Home", has Homer realizing at Mr. Burn's picnic that his family is not a very good family so he decides to sell the television in order to pay for therapy for him and his family.

Overall, this is a solid episode that has some funny moments. But this is a significant episode because we hear Burns say for the first time, "Release the hounds." Plus we get to meet Itchy and Scratchy for the first time. This is a pretty good and very watchable episode. I rate this episode 8/10.

After a bad experience meeting Mr Burns, Homer insists the family goes into therapy.

This is a strong early episode that satirises the dysfunctional side of families and the influence of the television upon life.

There are plenty of memorable moments such as the awkward day spent at the Burns residence with Homer trying to avoid embarrassment, plus the entire family spying through the windows of other houses, and of course the famous shock therapy scene.

I can identify with a lot (not all) of the aspects of family interactions portrayed in this episode as there are a lot of home truths still to be found in it. I think for the twenty first century the hold of the TV has given way to general screen time but it is equally as relevant as what we see here.

One thing my girlfriend and I insisted on doing when we became parents was to eat together at the table away from the television with no phones or tablets in reach. This came from our own experiences growing up eating from trays on our laps in the sofa.

The message here for me is that you cannot pretend you or your family are something you are not, you either accept who you are or make the effort to really change.

I think this is the funniest episode so far. There are glimmers of potential here hinting at how great the show will eventually become.

This time we examine the Simpsons family as a whole unit. I love the segments where perfect idealised families are contrasted to the Simpsons.

It's interesting that at this early stage it's actually Homer fighting to save the family by selling their TV. Very out of character for him.

Ultimately the message seems to be that it's them against the world. Although they are far from perfect, they bond and find common ground over the things that others would judge as being undesirable. Such as shovelling in food and overdosing on television while constantly bickering. I can definitely relate more to this reality, as I'm sure most families can which is why the show became so successful.

I particularly enjoyed Marge's post-punch bacchanal.

We also get a bunch of great Mr Burns moments. Even though he doesn't really conform to the character of Mr Burns that the show will later develop.

A memorable episode which explores the Simpsons' attitudes to each other in a funny and dysfunctional way. This episode had many firsts as well, for example, Bart says "don't have a cow", The Itchy and Scratchy Show and Mr Burns threatens to release the hounds. A very good episode with memorable moments and fantastic humour!