The Simpsons/There's No Disgrace Like Home

There's No Disgrace Like Home
Season 1, Episode 4
Airdate	January 28, 1990
Production Number	7G04
Written by	Al Jean, Mike Reiss
Directed by	Gregg Vanzo, Kent Butterworth
← 1x03 Homer's Odyssey	1x05 → Bart the General
The Simpsons — Season One

There's No Disgrace Like Home is the fourth episode of the first season of The Simpsons, and the fourth episode overall.

Guest Stars:

Plot Overview

Homer and family are headed out to the Nuclear Plants company picnic, hosted by Mr. Burns at his estate. Homer, wanting to impress Mr. Burns tries to make his family seem perfect, which doesn’t go well.

Mr. Burns is already in a bad mood since someone went around telling everyone in the company that Mr. Burns likes Jell-O deserts.

Eventually Marge gets drunk, the kids start fighting, and Bart tries to beat Mr. Burns in the father/son sack race. Once they get home, Homer is so disappointed that he calls a family meeting, and tries to show everyone what a normal family is like, by peeping though windows.

After almost getting shot by one of the families Homer ends up at Moe’s, where he sees a TV ad for Dr. Monroe’s Family Clinic. Homer empties his kids collage fund and sells their television to get the $250 needed for an appointment.

The appointment goes horribly, everyone ends up shocking each other. Dr. Monroe tells everyone to leave. Homer demands the "double your money back" guarantee. The Simpson’s end up with $500 that they spend on a new television set, everyone is happy.

Notes

Title Sequence

• Blackboard:
• Couch Gag:

Arc Advancement

Characters

• Charles Montgomery Burns: The series' first real look at the elderly chief executive officer of the Springfield Nuclear Power plant. He is largely modeled after both real people, such as Howard Hughes, and fictional characters including Charles Foster Kane (of Citizen Kane). Early episodes have him as a cruel, callous individual who will fire employees for the slightest of offenses, and as a caricature of the devious, greedy and wealthy corporate bosses. Although he is Homer's boss, he is not his direct supervisor, although the two will have frequent encounters in many episodes. Among his trademarks are his inability to remember his employees' names (his assistant, Mr. Smithers, frequently reminds him who Homer is and that his assigned workstation is "Sector 7G"), his oft deviously stated "Excellent," and often making references to old times and outdated technology in contemporary times. The exact nature of his relationship with Mr. Smithers is left ambiguous, and his age is often left ambiguous, although based on a likely birth date of 1893 (in a Season 8 episode), it is suggested he is in his mid-90s (in Season 1 episodes).
• Dr. Marvin Monroe: A family therapist and clinical psychotherapist, his first appearance here is to attempt to help the Simpsons with their family issues, which are multiple. (Basically, Homer, Marge, Bart and Lisa each insist they are right and refuse to concede.) Monroe has such a reputation for successfully being able to counsel others (including dysfunctional families) that he offers a "double-your-money-back" guarantee if he fails. This guarantee is invoked when his clients, the Simpsons, engage in electroshock therapy to the point where they not only put their safety and health in danger but they cause an electrical brownout in Springfield and the entire region. An episode aired later in Season 1, "Some Enchanted Evening," sees Monroe hosting a daily call-in radio show on KBBL, implied to be part of a barter agreement (ergo, he pays them for airtime and advertising of his services). He is also an author and editor of a series of advice books, including "Dr. Marvin Monroe's Guide to Etiquette" (which Bart receives as a birthday gift in the Season 4 episode "Radio Bart").
• Waylon Smithers: The executive assistant to Mr. Burns at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, and Burns' completely loyal and sycophantic aide, adviser, confidant and – (it is thought) unknown to Burns – secret admirer. For years, his sexual identity was left ambiguous although there were clear signs of his attraction to men, and it was in Season 27 where he came out as gay. In "There's No Disgrace Like Home," Smithers was black, but this was changed for all subsequent appearances. Smithers is likely one of the only employees (other than possibly Lenny and Carl) who are actually qualified to do their assigned jobs at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant and do the job well.

Trivia

The Show

• The "Perfect Family" is sitting in Dr. Marvin Monroe's clinic.

Allusions and References

• Burns' Manor:
  • Batman: Characters refer to Burns' home as "Stately Burns Manor," referencing Batman comics (including the TV series that aired from 1966-1968 on ABC and was produced by 20th Century Fox Television), where Bruce Wayne's home is Wayne Manor with the descriptor "Stately" often added before.
  • Citizen Kane: Mr. Burns' mansion resembles Charles Foster Kane's mansion from the 1941 movie starring Orson Wells.

Reviews

• Overall Grade: no reviews yet
• Review Breakdown: A+: 0 A: 0 A-: 0 B+: 0 B: 0 B-: 0 C+: 0 C: 0 C-: 0 D: 0 F: 0