Homer test drives an electric car so that he can win a free gift. The free gift is being part of the test audience for Mel Gibson's new remake of "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." Everyone loves the film except Homer. Mel Gibson shows up after the screening and they all worship him...except Homer. The audience fills out cards about the movie and every single one of them loves it...except Homer. Mel reads the cards personally, but Homer's card disturbs him so much that he flies back to Springfield and asks Homer to help him re-edit the film. Homer agrees and the Simpson family goes to Hollywood. Homer has no idea what he is doing, but has no qualms about butting in and voicing his opinions. He walks all over Gibson and his ideas are terrible. The redone movie has a lot more action and it shocks the executives. The executives threaten to destroy the film, so Mel and Homer take it and run. They premiere it in Springfield and everyone hates it, Mel's career is ruined. Homer pitches more movie ideas, but Mel refuses to listen.

Skinner introduces a fire safety skit to the students. When Flanders catches on fire, the fire department tries to extinguish him, but it doesn't work because Bart is pulling a prank with the fire hose. Skinner has Homer and Marge come to the school, where he recommends a behavior drug called Focusyn. Bart is very reluctant about taking it, so Homer tries to trick him. Marge ends up convincing him to take it and Bart soon changes into the perfect student and son. Returning from a movie, Homer and Marge find that Bart has flipped out and become paranoid. When they take him to the doctor, he runs away. The cops search for him. Bart goes to a military base and steals a tank. He aims it at the sky and shoots down a Major League Baseball satellite, saying that MLB is spying on everyone. Mark McGwire comes out of nowhere to talk to them. Marge then takes Bart off of Focusyn and puts him on Ritalin.

Homer takes the kids to the zoo, and then they take a newspaper tour. Homer reveals his talent for identifying food and coincidentally, it is the food critic's last day at the newspaper. Homer writes a sample review on a typewriter. The typewriter has no "e" key, so it turns out to be a pretty bad review. Also in it, he makes threatening statements to the U.N. and repeats the phrase, "Screw Flanders." He pretends that it is a joke and vows to rewrite it. Lisa helps him this time and he gets the job. Homer and Lisa soon give positive reviews to every restaurant in town. At the advice of other food critics, he decides to change his style and he starts giving nothing but bad reviews. Lisa doesn't like his new style, so she leaves him to write the articles on his own. Homer has to review a food festival. Local restaurant owners meet and conspire tohug him with a spectacularly fattening clair called "La Bombe." Bart overhears them, so he, Marge, and Lisa try to find him before he eats the deadly pastry. Lisa stops him in time and the cops arrest the culprits.

I Know What You Diddily-Iddly-Did

The family (with Marge driving) runs over and believes that they'vehuged Ned Flanders. After covering up their misdeed, the family is haunted by someone who knows what they diddily-iddly-did, Ned Flanders himself.



Desperately Xeeking Xena

Lisa and Bart are blasted with radiation, get superpowers and become "Stretch Dude and Clobber Girl". In the episode "Enter...The Collector", they must stop Comic Book Guy (a.k.a. "The Collector") who has kidnapped Xena to add his collection. His collection also includes, Yasmine Bleeth, Doctor Who (Tom Baker), Matt Groening and many other recognizable icons.



Life's a Glitch, Then You Die

Homer is the nuclear plant's Y2K compliance officer. His negligence causes the Y2K bug to get out and spread across the networks of the world, causing mass destruction. Causing the government's "Operation Exodus" program to be activated, taking the best and brightest off the Earth to a new civilization on Mars.

The Simpson family goes to see a Zorro movie. Snake is rude after the movie, so to protect Marge's honor Homer challenges him to a duel, but Snake runs away at the onset of conflict. Overfilled with confidence, Homer starts challenging everyone to a duel by slapping them his glove. It gets him his way, until he slaps a Southern Colonel. The Colonel accepts his challenge and shows up at his front door at dawn. Homer chickens out and the family flees town. The man and his wife set up camp on Homer's lawn, while the Simpson family searches for a place to stay. Homer remembers Abe's old farm, so they go there and they become farmers. Homer has the repeated misfortune of tractors tipping onto him and he has no luck growing crops. He decides to use plutonium from the nuclear plant as a fertilizer. Radioactive tomatoes grow overnight, but they taste like ashtrays and are highly addictive. Apparently, they are tomatoes mixed with tobacco, which Homer starts marketing as "Tomacco." Lisa has moral problems with it. The Laramie tobacco company offers Homer 0,000,000 for the plant. Homer is not very good at negotiating, so he fails to cash in. When they return home, animals are addicted to the plant. They revolt, a la "Animal Farm" and a sheep destroys the last plant. The family returns home and Homer finishes the duel with a mere flesh wound and a hilarious "Glove Slap" rounds out the episode.

Homer shows up REALLY late for work and as a punishment he has to eat toxic waste. Instead he blows off his punishment and goes bowling with Lenny and Carl and he bowls a perfect 300 game. He gets on the news and becomes a local hero. He speaks to schoolchildren and he appears on "Springfield Squares." His celebrity begins to fade. He compares himself to Jesus. He gets depressed and goes to the top of a tall building and jumps off, but a bungee jumping Otto saves him. He thinks that God has saved him for a higher purpose, so he begins to look for it. He decides it might be his children, but he thinks that it isn't Bart or Lisa since they don't appear to need him. So he takes an interest in raising Maggie. He teaches her how to swim, but she has a fear of the water. When Homer almost drowns, she saves his life. So he teaches her how to bowl and she scores a 295 game.

Apu decides it's time to have children. When he and Manjula don't have any luck conceiving, they get some advice from Homer. Nine months later, Manjula gives birth to octuplets. The free stuff donated to them helps them out, but them a couple from Shelbyville gives birth to nine babies and the free stuff dries up. Then the owner of the local zoo makes an offer to help out, but the catch is the babies are going to be put on display.

Homer and Marge win a Harley in a dance contest. Bart teaches Homer how to ride. Homer bonds with the bike and takes it everywhere, becoming a nuisance. Homer even takes his cycle to church. He forms a motorcycle gang called "Hell's Satans", over runner-up name, "The Christ Punchers". The gang consists of Homer, Moe, Carl, Lenny and even Ned Flanders. The gang gives Chief Wiggum a hard time. They get into a cycle magazine, where the real "Hell's Satans" of Bakersfield see them. The real "Hell's Satans" crash at Homer's place, and destroy everything. Chief Wiggum turns his back on Homer. One day real "Hell's Satans" leave with Marge and Homer goes to try to find her. He goes to biker bars and gets the crap beaten out of him; meanwhile, Marge transforms the gang. She trains them to become upstanding members of society. Homer finds them and starts a brawl. He challenges the leader to a motorcycle duel (they actually duel with motorcycles). Homer wins and reclaims his old lady. On their way back to Springfield, Homer steals a keg from the biker bar.

Bart and Milhouse jump on the bed in drag and Bart breaks his coccyx and he has to begin using a wheelchair. The school is not equipped for a handicapped student, so Skinner makes a deal with Fat Tony. The mob will build ramps. Soon after the ramps are completed, they crumble. To add to the troubles, Fat Tony charges 0,000 for the job. Skinner opts to pay it, but he has to close the school. The neighborhood has a meeting to figure out how to give the kids an education. They try to get Mr. Burns to donate by performing a play. It doesn't work. Then a private company buys the school and reopens it. The new teachers encourage students to break books, and then they ask students about what kinds of toys they like. Lisa makes a shocking discovery about the new ownership; they are a top company and they using the children for research to design the hot new Christmas toy. Lisa and Bart go to investigate the company without success; the company's security guard is Gary Coleman. The kids do discover that the toy, Funzo, destroys other toys. They go to take all of the town's Funzos from people's homes. Homer helps them out and they go to burn them all. Homer, Lisa, and Gary Coleman get into an in depth philosophical discussion that lasts all night (but what sort of philosopher would celebrate Christmas anyway?). When Christmas comes, Homer invites Gary Coleman. It is a wonderful Christmas, thanks to the Simpson family.

Marge tries to get rid of the junk in the attic but Homer won't let her; especially the skis he hasn't used in years. The family goes skiing and Marge manages to break her leg while the rest of the family is out on the slopes. Marge has to stay in the hospital, so Lisa volunteers to take over Marge's duties of the house. She finds that it is quite a challenge when Homer and Bart don't do anything to help. After working hard at it, she finds out what a thankless job it is. Marge is having a good time in the hospital, because they are pampering her. Lisa is starting to get fed up with Homer and Bart, so she makes them think that they have leprosy. Leprosy comes from unclean living conditions, so Lisa thinks her trick will get them to clean the house. They don't; instead they go to Flanders for help. Flanders sends them to a leper colony in Hawaii. There they get carved up by needles and sanders. When they figure out that they don't have leprosy, they go on pretending that they do. Why, because hey, it's Hawaii!

Remember "Homer Goes to College?" Well, Homer visits his college for old times' sake and reunites with the old nerds. He organizes a prank, but somehow ends up with a bucket stuck on his head. Nothing will get it off, so the Simpson family goes to a faith healer. While there, Brother Faith has Bart pull it off. Bart sees the potential of being a faith healer, so he starts performing miracles of his own. After a while, he forms his own church; but after a miracle performed on Milhouse goes horribly wrong, he realizes that he should quit. Meanwhile, Homer has to build a homecoming float for Springfield University. The family goes to the big homecoming football game. Everyone roots for the star player, a kicker. Until a drunken Homer drives the float onto the field and runs over his leg. Fat Tony threatens Homer with an ice pick, but Homer gets Bart to perform another miracle on the leg. With a taped-up leg, the kicker attempts a big field goal. In doing it, his lower leg breaks off and kicks the ball again in mid-air. The kick is good!

Springfield is going to give an award to the town's oldest man, but when that guy dies, Mr. Burns gets the award instead. He decides to get a check-up at the Mayo Clinic with Smithers. When he leaves, he leaves the Simpson family as caretakers of his mansion. Homer starts living the life of a billionaire, but of course, he is highly destructive. He wants to throw a box social at the mansion for all his friends, but Marge pleads with him not to do it. He tries to get a few kegs for it from Moe, but local law prohibits the sale of alcohol before 2 PM. He cannot wait, so he takes Burns' yacht out to international waters, where no laws apply. Pirates see them whooping it up aboard the yacht and they rob them, put them into nets and then try to drown them. Fortunately they just float in the net back home. Meanwhile at the Mayo Clinic, Mr. Burns is told he has every disease known and unknown to man, it's just that they are all existing and trying to get through the door together in something the doctor's call "Three Stooges Syndrome". The doctors do warn him that a stiff breeze couldhug him. Back in Springfield, Burns is not too upset about losing his yacht and the Simpson family returns to living their "simple" life.

Springfield Elementary sends its band to the state fair. When the Simpsons get there, Homer basks in the great sounds of Bachman Turner Overdrive. Lisa seeks justice from on high when their school band loses in competition to another band that does the same tired old school band classic, "Stars and Stripes Forever" and their band does James Brown's "Living in America." so she writes a letter to President Clinton. What does the family after the competition, why they would watch a horse named Duncan dive from a platform. When the owner abandons him, Homer takes the horse home. The Comic Book Guy mentions that this plot has happened previously, but the Simpson family takes the horse home anyway. Homer tries to figure out a way to exploit Duncan. They enter him in a horse race with Bart as his jockey. The horse seemingly has no chance and he finishes last. Homer decides to give him a makeover and Duncan gets a bad-ass gimmick. He becomes Furious D. Marge starts developing a gambling problem, prompting Comic Book Guy to remember another classic episode. Furious D starts winning every race. The jockeys abduct Homer and reveal that they are evil trolls. They threaten him, so Homer has to throw the big race. Furious D wins anyway, and the jockeys come tohug the Simpson family. Homer beats them all by outsmarting them. To round out the "worst episode ever," President Clinton visits Lisa to tell her that he overturned the decision at the state fair.

Lisa takes the family on a hike, and everyone sees a race car driver crash. So the family goes to races. Sitting behind the Simpson family are the Flanders. Homer asks why they are there, Maude replies she likes to look at the yokels. To get the crowd going, T-Shirts are shot out of a cannon. The crowd goes wild, Dr. Hibbert gets one and Homer removes his own shirt, making a spectacle of himself. Maude is embarrassed by his behavior. Maude leaves to get her family hotdogs and when she returns she is hit by a flying T-Shirt and falls over the back of the grandstand to her passing. After the funeral, Homer takes it upon himself to get Ned back into the dating scene by creating a video dating tape for him. Ned goes on several bad dates and becomes discouraged, but finds an angel waiting for him at church, when he sees and hears Rachel Jordan, the lead singer of a Christian rock band, singing a song. Ned starts speaking with her as the episode comes to an end.

Homer tries to anonymously pledge ,000 to PBS to end the pledge break and get his favorite program back on the air. When PBS comes collecting, he goes on the run. Reverend Lovejoy helps Homer out by sticking him on a plane to do some missionary work in the South Pacific. It doesn't take long for Homer to corrupt the native population. Since he doesn't know anything about religion, he has the natives build a casino. Soon the island then turns from a tropical paradise into Atlantic City.

After winning the chance for his photo to appear on a Duff beer calendar, but losing out when the calendar appears with stickers covering his face, Moe gets a face lift. The resulting surgery makes him handsome and then Moe takes revenge on those who wronged him because of his looks in the past, including the producer of a soap opera. Of course his new looks get him the part, until he and Homer become privy to some plot lines that threaten to write him out of the show. In anticipation, they decide to go out "in a blaze of sour grapes".

The Simpsons go to an Indian casino when their vacation plans fall apart. Bart encounters a wise Indian chief who tells him his future. Bart becomes a pot-smoking, unemployed slacker who has Ralph Wiggum as his roommate. He regularly begs a blinded Flanders for money (Rod and Todd are gay). Bart tries to lead a band, but he fails. With Lisa as the newly elected President of the United States, he goes to mooch from her. She is very ashamed of him and she is also busy trying to think of a way to get the United States out of debt. Meanwhile, Homer is busy trying to find Lincoln's gold. Lisa tries to hike taxes by using creative phrasing to trick everyone when Bart accidentally reveals that it is actually a tax hike. America owes money to a number of nations, so Lisa invites their leaders to Washington. She sends Bart away so he won't screw up everything again, but Bart manages to return and talks to the nations. Bart manages to save the day this time and with that, his vision ends and the family goes home.

Homer and Bart search through people's garbage for treasure. When Homer goes to Moe's, Barney asks everyone why they didn't celebrate his birthday. It turns out that they did, but he doesn't remember. Moe bought him helicopter lessons as a gag gift. With help from a video Homer shot, he realizes what a drunken loser he really is. He asks for Homer's help in quitting drinking. Barney goes to AA. Meanwhile, Bart and Lisa embark on a project to design the next cover of the phone book. They try unsuccessfully to set up inspiring photographs. The sober Barney takes his helicopter lessons and Moe makes Homer the new Barney. Barney and Homer cease being friends. Bart and Lisa try to take a picture on Mount Springfield, but a forest fire traps them. Barney and Homer fly the helicopter to save them. When Barney gets nervous and craves a beer, Homer talks him out of it. They save the kids. Bart and Lisa get their picture on the cover of the phonebook after all, when Marge sends in a baby picture.

Homer is suffering from insomnia due to stress. In an attempt to heal, the family takes a vacation to Florida. Little do they know, it is Spring Break. After Homer accidentallyhugs the beloved town alligator, the family must go into hiding to avoid being arrested.

Lisa is inspired to learn dancing, so she begins taking classes. All the while, Bart and Milhouse pretend they are at camp, when they are actually staying overnight in the Springfield Mall. Police Chief Wiggum is conviced that giant rats have made their home in the mall, so he tries to exterminate them.

Otto has a girlfriend who he plans to marry and Bart offers the Simpson house as a place to hold the nuptials. Becky, the would be bride, confesses to Marge that she doesn't like heavy metal, which is a problem when Otto hires "Cyanide," a Poison tribute band to play at their wedding. Becky moves in with the family and the "hip-female" influence she brings to the family begins to get on Marge's nerves. Selma and Patty convince Marge that Becky is out to get her; Marge overreacts and strikes first and winds up appearing before a sanity hearing. Declared insane, she goes "on the lam".

A la VH-1's Behind the Music, a behind the scenes look is taken at the Simpson family's rise to fame, their successful years together and then their feud which resulted in a breakup and solo careers for the family members.