OTH: The Simpsons- "The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson" / "The Principal and the Pauper"
Principal Skinner is an old man who lives at the school.
Season 9, Episode 1
Aired September 21, 1997
Directed by Jim Reardon
Written by Ian Maxtone-Graham
Synopsis: Moe needs to implement a designated driver program, and unfortunately Barney gets the short end of the stick. It’s the worst possible time for him to be a DD, too, since he won Duff’s special customer contest and multiple gallons of beer in his name are delivered to the Tavern. Barney refuses, but he doesn’t remain good for long. After driving Homer to his house in his car, he drives away and isn’t seen for two months. That is, until one day, Barney returns in the back of a limo with no knowledge of where the Simpson station wagon is. Eventually, he receives a letter from the State of New York, which claims that it’s illegally parked in between the World Trade Center, which will be dumped into the river if it’s not removed and paid for within 72 hours. While the family is excited to potentially go to the Big Apple, Homer is resentful, having a bad experience in the grimy 70’s. However, Homer does need his car back and he’s out-voted, so they take a cheap bus to the city. While he just wants to get the car and leave, Marge and the kids insist on spending their day exploring the city. As they go around town and see various sites, Homer finds his car littered with tickets and booted. He has no choice but to call to have someone come to remove the boot, which will take any time from 9 to 5. Homer attempts to sit there all day like a good boy, and even gets to try some kind of street food (Khlav Kalash), which tastes like garbage. He downs it with a half-dozen cans of crab juice, which of course makes him have to go to the bathroom. The problem is that the nearest men’s room is in the towers, and the one Homer rushes to is closed, so he rushes to the other one. By the time he makes it, the traffic officer who’s supposed to remove the boot arrives and leaves yet another ticket for Homer’s inability to wait for him. When he runs down and sees that the ticket is worth $250, our man decides fuck it and attempts to drive with the boot in his car. Not a smart idea, but what do you expect from Homer? While his car is damaged from the boot, he also has no choice but to drive incredibly slow and cause a major traffic block. Feeling just as frustrated as everyone, Homer tricks a construction worker to let him use his jackhammer to take off the boot, and although he rips through a good chunk of metal and breaks almost all of the car’s glass, he can now drive normally. He races and finds the family in Central Park, demanding that they leave immediately. They had a great day, but our man doesn’t care.
We should probably address the elephant in the room- yes, Homer’s car is parked by the Trade Center, and the crew went to great lengths to make this part of the city look authentic, referencing not only the plaza where his car would be parked, but even fitting the same colors as the boroughs across the street. Special credit should be offered to David Silverman, who went to Manhattan for research and shared his homework with the crew to represent this area.
But I also don’t need to remind you of what happened in 2001, which is when “The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson” was pulled from syndication for a good five years. Suddenly, making jokes about the Twin Towers wasn’t in very good taste.
It’s unfortunate that such an entertaining episode had to become persona non grata for a period of time, but one of the side effects of life is that things must change, for better or worse. No one could have predicted 9/11 back in 1997, not even a show that many claim predicts the future like The Simpsons (or maybe you can if you have enough poor taste), nor should we continue to hold ourselves to a such a moment in time. I think it was appropriate to pull the episode from syndication as the wounds remained fresh, but now, hopefully enough time has come that it should be fair game to laugh about Homer racing from one tower from another to take a leak. And on that note, maybe it’s time that “Stark Raving Dad” arrives on Disney+.
In his second writing credit for the show, Ian Maxtone-Graham decides to cut back on plot to double down on gags in relation to the Big Apple, and as someone who has yet to visit as of this writing and only recognizes most of these by osmosis, I think it works. Picking the most popular tourist trap in the world not owned by the Disney corporation (…yet) helps to make for a familiar environment, one that the crew has fun in simultaneously spoofing and memorializing, reverent and subversive, like the show at its best. That’s what makes the bit like Bart’s stop at Mad Magazine’s office nearly as endearing as Homer’s hatred of New York traffic.
So it should be no surprise that this is a leftover Oakley and Weinstein vehicle, one that sticks to the show’s ethos while finding fresh new ways to get a laugh. Is it as good as the show gets? Maybe not, but this is a terrific start to what should be another great season of The Simpsons.
Season 9, Episode 2
Aired September 28, 1997
Directed by Steven Dean Moore
Written by Ken Keeler
Synopsis: It’s Skinner’s 20th anniversary as Springfield Elementary’s principal, and the school has set up a big celebration for him. While Skinner is flattered, things will never bee the same again when a surprise guest comes in- an older looking man who claims to be Seymour Skinner (Martin Sheen) crashes the celebration and wants to see what the meaning of this is. It turns out that the Seymour Skinner we’ve grown to know and (kind of love) over the past nine seasons was a fabrication- his real name is Armin Tamzarian, and he stole Skinner’s name, identity, and even his mother. It turns out that Armin was a hell raiser in Capital City who, after committing a heinous crime, was given the choice of jail, military service, or apologizing. Not realizing that the Vietnam war was going on, Armin went with service, and he joined Skinner’s platoon, eventually falling for his sedate and honest aspirations of becoming the principal of his local elementary school. When Skinner is missing, presumed to be dead, Armin decides to arrive to Springfield to inform his mother, but instead he chokes and lets Agnes believe that he really is Seymour. Meanwhile, the real Seymour was captured and worked for a POW sweatshop for the past 26 years, only just being relieved and returning home. Skinner isn’t happy, but Superintendent Chalmers insists that Armin still has his job and can live at the school while the real Seymour returns to live with his mother. But as much as Armin tries, things just aren’t returning to normal, and he eventually decides to step down and lets the real Seymour Skinner become principal, as Armin returns to Capitol City and returns to his life of debauchery. This breaks the heart of Mrs. Krabappel, who doesn’t care about the façade and is willing to accept Armin for who he is, and she dislikes Sgt. Skinner’s casual misogyny. Meanwhile, Agnes also grows weary of her real son, who isn’t as passive of a mama’s boy as the man she’s pushed around for the past 26 years. They meet with Marge, who suggests that they go to Capital City and convince Armin to return to Springfield. Armin initially isn’t interested, but Agnes refuses to take no as an answer and demands that he returns. The next problem is to get rid of the real Seymour Skinner, who is reluctant to allow things to return to normal, but Homer has an idea- he ties Skinner up to a train, which sends him away as a judge recognizes Armin Tamzarian as the one and only Seymour Skinner, which the rest of Springfield will recognize by penalty of torture.
Continuity has never been a pressing concern for The Simpsons. Various characters, storylines or details about the show’s ever-evolving cast can come and go as quickly as a bout of gas. Nine seasons and 180 episodes in, (not counting shorts from The Tracey Ullman Show, various Butterfingers commercials done by the crew, officially-licensed comics, etc), this should be common knowledge- only the occasional detail, like Lisa’s conversion to vegetarianism will stick, and even that only happened thanks to Paul McCartney’s insistence. And hell, if Macca asked the show to split Homer and Marge up for good, I bet they’d do it, too.
So I don’t totally understand why fans not only were, but still are unhappy with the reveal of Skinner’s identity. The Simpsons does not care about audience expectation, and never has. While character development isn’t unheard of, nothing is sacred in the series.
The show has made this clear, and writer Ken Keeler does his best to follow suit. While various crew members have dismissed the reveal of Skinner (Groening has gone so far as to call it a mistake), Keeler, alongside Oakley and Weinstein, continue to go to bat for the change, recognizing that the show’s audience needed to have their expectations played with every once in a while to avoid complacency.
Granted, I think it would be a disservice to the show if this was Homer or even Grampa we’re talking about. Doing so with a character who has been explored while not being as heavily defined as Skinner is a call that I think works, and if anything, I think this adds depth to the character. Not everyone is born following the book like Sgt. Skinner- many have to learn the hard way to become a productive member like this Skinner did. Hell, if anything, it makes the character more relatable to see him fall for the stern, yet loving parental figure of Agnes and the simple life of running an elementary school.
It also helps that while he adapted too well to Springfield’s ecosystem, the real Skinner sticks out like a sore thumb in comparison. Martin Sheen plays the squareness of the real Skinner to near-perfection, but he’s maybe a little too square for the town, stuck in his ways and not willing to adapt to the absurdity of his neighbors. It’s ultimately for the best that the real Skinner is rejected, while we’re expected to go back to recognizing Mr. Tamzarian as Seymour.
“The Principal and the Pauper” exists to remind the audience that no piece of media is meant to be taken as seriously as your priorities or loved ones. Even works that have made an impact on you, like how The Simpsons has for many, still need to be put down a pedestal in life. I think it’s a good lesson and episode, but not everyone seems to agree. Their loss.
Homer’s Bar Tab:
Couch Gag Wars- The family appear as the Harlem Globetrotters vs. them as astronauts. I’ll go with the Globetrotters, since a Simpson has already been an astronaut… for some reason.
I always try to listen to the commentary tracks, but we have two this week- one with still showrunners Oakley and Weinstein along with director Jim Reardon, and one with writer Ian Maxtone-Graham and Dan Castellaneta, so I just went with the former.
Hey, it’s the freakishly tall guy who pants Nelson! Nice to see him again on the bus.
ngl, I’m curious about crab juice, although I downed many a Mountain Dew when I was still drinking soda.
“How frightfully rude. I certainly hope somebody stabs him in the eye.”
You should see the Betty Ford Center musical in person. Seriously, the song won an Emmy and Annie Award!
So basically, Armin Tamzarian predates Dick Whitman. Neat!
“I’d sure hate to have a dozen crap weeds for Valentine’s Day.”
it’s a small world: Besides being the real Seymour Skinner, Marin Sheen is a legend in Hollywood, and one of his defining roles is playing President Bartlet in The West Wing, which we’re getting to soon!
New Character Corner: Ohhhh yeah, Duffman appears for the first time this week. Brilliantly played using Hank Azaria’s tenor, the character continues to make Springfield’s favorite swill feel as authentic as your local craft brewery, and doubles as a send-up of how ridiculous beer commercials could be back in the day.
Next Week: A flashback episode, as we see when Maggie picks up the sax. And then our annual Treehouse of Horror.