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| {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2023}} | |||
| {{Infobox Simpsons episode | {{Infobox Simpsons episode | ||
| | |
| image = Pygmoelian.png | ||
| | image_size = 235 | |||
| | image = ] | |||
| | caption = Moe (right), after plastic surgery, plays Dr. Tad Winslow on a soap opera thanks to his new handsome face | |||
| | episode_no = 242 | |||
| | |
| season = 11 | ||
| ⚫ | | episode = 16 | ||
| | airdate = ], ] | |||
| | |
| director = ] | ||
| | writer |
| writer = ] | ||
| | production = BABF12 | |||
| | director = ] | |||
| | airdate = {{Start date|2000|02|27}} | |||
| | blackboard |
| blackboard = "] stops at the gym door" | ||
| | couch_gag = The family, running into the living room, is surprised to see that ] has written his name on the carpet. ] washes the name off, but Groening comes in again and writes it back down. | |||
| | couch_gag = The Simpsons sit down as normal. ] notices the name “Matt Groening” written on the carpet, gets up, and wipes the name off. ] then comes in and rewrites his name on the floor. | |||
| ⚫ | | |
||
| | commentary = ]<br>]<br>]<br>]<br>]<br>] | |||
| | prev = ] | |||
| | next = ] | |||
| }} | }} | ||
| "'''Pygmoelian'''" is the sixteenth episode of the ] of the American animated television series '']''. It originally aired on the ] in the United States on February 27, 2000. In the episode, after getting his face censored out on the ] calendar for not being photogenic, ] gets plastic surgery and becomes the star of a popular soap opera. | |||
| ⚫ | ==Plot== | ||
| "'''Pygmoelian'''" is the sixteenth episode of the ] of '']''. It aired on ], ]. | |||
| After being tricked into evacuating the house by ], who had set off the fire alarm early in the morning, the family goes to the Duff Days festival sponsored by ]. While there, they see ] enter a bartending competition and win the grand prize of having his photo taken for the upcoming Duff calendar. However, when the calendar goes on sale, Moe is dismayed to find his face covered by several layers of stickers due to his ugliness. He takes ] and ] up on their suggestion that he have ]; although he is reluctant to go through with the procedure, it leaves him with a handsome face. Filled with new confidence, he confronts old adversaries, including the producers of the ] ''It Never Ends'', complaining that he was rejected for the part of Dr. Tad Winslow 25 years earlier because of his appearance. When the actor portraying the role is fired after demanding a salary increase, the producers hire Moe to replace him. | |||
| Meanwhile, ] and ] discover that ]'s pink Duff Days ] balloon has blown away in the wind. They go after it until it ends up in a ] office where the members are discussing what their mascot should be. One member dismisses the pink elephant as being too precise about their group's identity. They then give Lisa a bumper sticker supporting a gay president in 2084, admitting that they have to be realistic about their long-term goals. | |||
| __TOC__ | |||
| Taping of ''It Never Ends'' goes well until Moe reads in a top-secret book of future plot lines that his character is to be killed off. Infuriated, he gets revenge by revealing all the plots on the air, with help from Homer. The producer angrily interrupts to tell Moe that his character's death was meant to be part of a dream sequence, as indicated by the book's color-coding of pages that Moe had remembered incorrectly, and fires him. Moe confidently states that he can get a role on any other soap opera he wants, but as he is leaving, a set piece falls on his face and crushes it back to its original appearance. His life returns to normal at the bar, where he wonders how the accident ]. | |||
| ==Synopsis== | |||
| {{spoiler}} | |||
| ==Production and themes== | |||
| The family goes to a festival sponsored by ] and sees ] enter a "Beer-tender" competition. His face is pictured for the Duff calendar, but his picture is blocked out with stickers, because his face is ugly. Realizing how ugly he is, ] and ] suggest that Moe get ]. He reluctantly agrees. After his surgery, Moe has a very handsome face. In response, he confronts Duffman and the producers of a soap opera, ''It Never Ends'', saying he never got the part of the character Dr. Tad Winslow. Incidentally, the actor who plays Dr. Tad Winslow demands he get a raise in his salary, but it is rejected by the producers. In response, Moe tells the producer his story, and he becomes the new Dr. Tad Winslow. | |||
| "Pygmoelian" was written by ] and directed by ] as part of the eleventh season of ''The Simpsons'' (1999–2000).<ref name=yahoo>{{cite web|title=Simpsons - Pygmoelian|url=https://tv.yahoo.com/simpsons/show/pygmoelian/episode/2302|publisher=]|access-date=2011-10-09}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Weinman|first=Jamie|title=Republic of (Larry) Doyle, Or Boiled In Doyle|url=https://www.macleans.ca/uncategorized/republic-of-larry-doyle-or-boiled-in-doyle/|newspaper=]|date=2009-07-07|access-date=2022-01-24|archive-date=June 2, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220602194028/https://www.macleans.ca/uncategorized/republic-of-larry-doyle-or-boiled-in-doyle/|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
| In a 2007 article, ] critic Ed Gonzales noted that in relation to the episode's primary story of Moe's plastic surgery, the ] of Bart and Lisa chasing Maggie's pink elephant balloon into a meeting for gay Republicans serves as "a seemingly arbitrary bit of nonsense that connects succinctly with the theme of identity in which a person changes their face only to realize the efficiency of their old one."<ref name=Gonzales/> | |||
| The soap opera goes well, until Moe learns from top-secret future plot lines that his character will be killed off. On the air, Homer and Moe reveal the plot lines. The producers angrily tell Moe that his character was only supposed to die in a dream. They then fire him. As he walks off the set, a set piece falls on his new face, which is destroyed (actually, Moe gets back his original mug after the accident). Things go back to normal when Moe returns to his tavern. | |||
| ==Release== | |||
| Meanwhile, while Moe is acting, ] and ] discover that ]'s balloon is gone in the wind. They go after it until it ends up in a ] ] coalition's office, and they see the pink elephant from the balloon as their mascot. | |||
| The episode originally aired on the ] in the United States on February 27, 2000.<ref name=tvguide>{{cite web|title=The Simpsons Episode: 'Pygmoelian'|url=http://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/the-simpsons-2000/episode-16-season-11/pygmoelian/100521|work=]|access-date=2011-10-08|archive-date=October 11, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111011195010/http://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/the-simpsons-2000/episode-16-season-11/pygmoelian/100521|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Jacobson>{{cite web|last=Jacobson|first=Colin|title=The Simpsons: The Complete Eleventh Season (1999)|url=http://www.dvdmg.com/simpsonsseasoneleven.shtml|publisher=DVD Movie Guide|access-date=2011-10-02|date=2008-11-19|archive-date=July 20, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720102404/http://www.dvdmg.com/simpsonsseasoneleven.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref> On October 7, 2008, it was released on DVD as part of the box set ''The Simpsons – The Complete Eleventh Season''. Staff members Mike Scully, George Meyer, Larry Doyle, Matt Selman, Carolyn Omine, and Mark Kirkland participated in the DVD ] for the episode. Deleted scenes from the episode were also included on the box set.<ref name="dvdtalk">{{cite web |url=http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/35268/simpsons-the-complete-eleventh-season-the/ |title=The Simpsons - The Complete Eleventh Season |date=2008-11-01 |access-date=2011-10-02 |last=Jane |first=Ian |publisher=] |archive-date=July 20, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720122238/http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/35268/simpsons-the-complete-eleventh-season-the/ |url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
| == |
==Reception== | ||
| Reception of the episode from critics has been generally positive. | |||
| *Carl's last name is revealed to be Carlson in this episode. | |||
| *There is a character who takes ] picture for the ] calendar, introduced by ] as "Duff's Vice President in charge of calendars and fake IDs, Phil Angelides." ] is the name of the ], who is the 2006 Democratic Nominee for ]. When asked about the episode, the real-life Angelides acknowledged Simpsons creator ] as "a friend" and said "By the way, that made me very popular among my three daughters. It raised my hip status among all my daughters and their friends."<ref>http://basie.blogspot.com/2005/05/basie-interview-with-ca-treasurer-phil.html </ref> <ref>http://www.animationartist.com/General_News/MarNews00/marnews00.html</ref> | |||
| Brendan Dando & Guy Davis of the ''Four Finger Discount'' podcast describe this as one of the strongest episodes of the season. Davis explains, "No line goes wasted, even the simple moments like Lenny, Carl and Homer walking into Moe's have laugh-out-loud one liners." Dando credits Duffman as one of the episode's highlights, along with the spot-on spoof of daytime soap opera intros.<ref>{{cite podcast|first1=Guy|last1=Davis|first2=Brendan|last2=Dando|title=Pygmoelian (S11E16)|work=Four Finger Discount (Simpsons Podcast)|date=July 10, 2020|url=https://fourfingerdiscount.podbean.com/e/pygmoelian-simpsons-podcast/ |access-date=November 3, 2024}}</ref> | |||
| ⚫ | == |
||
| *When Homer and Moe are revealing the storylines, they are being taped, not broadcasted live, so in reality, the plan shouldn't have worked. | |||
| Ed Gonzales of ''Slant'' called it a "great episode."<ref name="Gonzales">{{cite news|last=Gonzales|first=Ed|title=The Simpsons Movie|url=https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-simpsons-movie/|newspaper=]|date=2007-07-27|access-date=2022-01-24|archive-date=January 24, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220124064143/https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-simpsons-movie/|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
| *When the Simpsons leave the house they're in their pajamas. But once they get to the Duff Beer festival they're in their regular clothes. | |||
| DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson commented that the episode "peaks early, as the scenes at 'Duff Days' provide the most amusement."<ref name=Jacobson/> He added that "It’s nice to see a focus on Moe for once, but the tale itself fails to really ignite. Though not a poor episode, it’s pretty flat after the opening."<ref name=Jacobson/> | |||
| ==Cultural reference== | |||
| *The episode title references ]'s '']''. | |||
| *The ] ] coalition is probably a parody of the ]. | |||
| In 2009, writers for ] listed a line by Moe from this episode among their top eight favorite Moe quotes.<ref name=Schedeen/> The line was "Yeah, hey, I've got a gift. As a child, I was bitten by the acting bug. Then it burrowed under my skin and laid eggs in my heart. Now those eggs are hatching and I... the feeling is indescribable." Homer responds to this by saying "I know what you mean. Our dog had that." The IGN writers commented that "We've never heard anyone describe their life's passion as a parasitic infestation, and we hope we never have to. The cherry on top of this little nugget of Moe goodness is Homer's nonchalant reaction. He's probably used to Moe's strange, gross remarks by now."<ref name=Schedeen>{{cite news|last=Schedeen|first=Jesse|title=Line-O-Rama: The Simpsons' Moe Szyslak|url=http://tv.ign.com/articles/104/1047990p1.html|access-date=2011-10-12|date=2009-11-19|website=]|archive-date=November 15, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111115051935/http://tv.ign.com/articles/104/1047990p1.html|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
| ==Quotes== | |||
| *'''Moe:''' I've been called ugly, pug-ugly, ], pug-fugly, but never ugly-ugly. | |||
| *'''Moe:''' Am I really that ugly?<br/>'''Carl:''' Moe, it's all relative. Is ] really that dumb? Is ] that drunk? Is ] really that lazy, bald, and fat? <br/> '''Moe:''' Oh, God! It's worse than I thought! <br/> (Moe, Lenny, Barney, and Homer all begin crying) <br/> '''Carl (looking right at the camera):''' See, this is why I don't talk much. | |||
| *'''Duffman:''' That brown patch could use a little H20...Oh yeah!<br/>''(Moe, with his new face, drives up to Duffman's house.)''<br/>'''Moe:''' Let's see how you like a sticker on ''your'' face!<br/>''(Moe plants a large sticker on Duffman's face.)''<br/>'''Duffman:''' Duffman...can't breathe. Oh no! | |||
| *'''Jeremy:''' (taking Lisa's bike) Look Daddy! I'm ], I'm stealing! <br/> '''Snake (crying in happiness):''' That's my little dude. | |||
| *'''Homer:''' Moe, the new Duff ]s are here, the ones with your picture! <br/> '''Moe:''' Alright! Move over liquor license! <br/> '''Lenny:''' Hey Moe, this license expired in ], and it's only good in ]...and it's signed by you. <br/> '''Moe:''' Yeah, I've been meaning to get that updated for this state and...real. | |||
| *'''Homer (using the tap himself):''' Hey, this isn't as complicated as Moe made it seem. <br/> ''(the tap breaks off and begins shooting beer into Homer's mouth. After trying to stop it, he becomes drunk and keeps drinking it)'' | |||
| *'''Titania:''' You said if I slept with you I wouldn't have to touch the drunk.<br/>'''Duffman:''' Duffman says a lot of things. Oh yeah! | |||
| *'''Moe:''' OK, I get it. I ain't pleasant too look at.<br/>'''Lenny:''' Or listen to.<br/>'''Carl:''' Or be with. | |||
| *'''Bart''' Look at her! It must be great to be a baby and be so easily amused.<br/>'''Lisa:''' Yeah, I wish I could be entertained by two cents worth of rubber shaped like some colorful animal. Dancing and twirling.(''temporarily hypnotized by the balloon)'' Dancing and twirling.. | |||
| *'''Lisa:''' ''(reading a sticker)'' A gay president for 2084? <br/> '''Gay Republican 3:''' We're realistic. | |||
| *'''Gay Republican 1:''' We need a symbol for our campaign. Something that says we're ] and ]. <br/> '' A pink ] in the shape of an ] flies through the window'' <br/> '''Gay Republican 2:''' A little bit on the nose, don't you think? | |||
| In his review of the eleventh season of ''The Simpsons'', Den of Geek critic Mark Oakley wrote that the "cobbled-together feel to the series stops it from reaching the heights of a few years before."<ref name=Oakley/> Oakley blamed this on lazy writing, and added that "Proof of this comes when, on more than once occasion, the scripts include get-out clauses for the ridiculous storylines being churned out."<ref name=Oakley/> He gave "Pygmoelian" as an example, commenting: "Moe has cosmetic surgery. However, at the show’s end his more familiar face is suddenly returned to him following an accident and the fact that this happens without horrendously disfiguring him is pondered upon by Moe himself as the credits roll. Playing this card once might be funny, but after three or four times it’s just plain lazy."<ref name=Oakley>{{cite web|last=Oakley|first=Mark|title=The Simpsons Series Eleven DVD review|url=http://www.denofgeek.com/dvd-bluray/7792/the-simpsons-series-eleven-dvd-review|website=]|access-date=2012-08-10|date=2008-09-28|archive-date=August 11, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120811233101/http://www.denofgeek.com/dvd-bluray/7792/the-simpsons-series-eleven-dvd-review|url-status=dead}}</ref> | |||
| ⚫ | == |
||
| ⚫ | *{{snpp capsule|BABF12}} | ||
| ⚫ | *{{ |
||
| ==References== | ==References== | ||
| {{reflist}} | |||
| <references /> | |||
| ⚫ | ==External links== | ||
| {{wikiquote|The_Simpsons/Season_11#Pygmoelian|"Pygmoelian"}} | |||
| {{portal|The Simpsons}} | |||
| ⚫ | *{{snpp capsule|BABF12}} | ||
| ⚫ | *{{IMDb episode|id=0767446}} | ||
| {{The Simpsons episodes|11}} | |||
| ] | ] | ||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
Latest revision as of 22:08, 26 December 2024
16th episode of the 11th season of The Simpsons
| "Pygmoelian" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| The Simpsons episode | |||
 Moe (right), after plastic surgery, plays Dr. Tad Winslow on a soap opera thanks to his new handsome face | |||
| Episode no. | Season 11 Episode 16 | ||
| Directed by | Mark Kirkland | ||
| Written by | Larry Doyle | ||
| Production code | BABF12 | ||
| Original air date | February 27, 2000 (2000-02-27) | ||
| Episode features | |||
| Chalkboard gag | "Dodgeball stops at the gym door" | ||
| Couch gag | The Simpsons sit down as normal. Marge notices the name “Matt Groening” written on the carpet, gets up, and wipes the name off. Matt Groening then comes in and rewrites his name on the floor. | ||
| Commentary | Mike Scully George Meyer Larry Doyle Matt Selman Carolyn Omine Mark Kirkland | ||
| Episode chronology | |||
| |||
| The Simpsons season 11 | |||
| List of episodes | |||
"Pygmoelian" is the sixteenth episode of the eleventh season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 27, 2000. In the episode, after getting his face censored out on the Duff Beer calendar for not being photogenic, Moe Szyslak gets plastic surgery and becomes the star of a popular soap opera.
Plot
After being tricked into evacuating the house by Homer, who had set off the fire alarm early in the morning, the family goes to the Duff Days festival sponsored by Duff Beer. While there, they see Moe Szyslak enter a bartending competition and win the grand prize of having his photo taken for the upcoming Duff calendar. However, when the calendar goes on sale, Moe is dismayed to find his face covered by several layers of stickers due to his ugliness. He takes Lenny and Carl up on their suggestion that he have plastic surgery; although he is reluctant to go through with the procedure, it leaves him with a handsome face. Filled with new confidence, he confronts old adversaries, including the producers of the soap opera It Never Ends, complaining that he was rejected for the part of Dr. Tad Winslow 25 years earlier because of his appearance. When the actor portraying the role is fired after demanding a salary increase, the producers hire Moe to replace him.
Meanwhile, Bart and Lisa discover that Maggie's pink Duff Days elephant balloon has blown away in the wind. They go after it until it ends up in a gay Republican coalition's office where the members are discussing what their mascot should be. One member dismisses the pink elephant as being too precise about their group's identity. They then give Lisa a bumper sticker supporting a gay president in 2084, admitting that they have to be realistic about their long-term goals.
Taping of It Never Ends goes well until Moe reads in a top-secret book of future plot lines that his character is to be killed off. Infuriated, he gets revenge by revealing all the plots on the air, with help from Homer. The producer angrily interrupts to tell Moe that his character's death was meant to be part of a dream sequence, as indicated by the book's color-coding of pages that Moe had remembered incorrectly, and fires him. Moe confidently states that he can get a role on any other soap opera he wants, but as he is leaving, a set piece falls on his face and crushes it back to its original appearance. His life returns to normal at the bar, where he wonders how the accident left him with his original face instead of an entirely new one.
Production and themes
"Pygmoelian" was written by Larry Doyle and directed by Mark Kirkland as part of the eleventh season of The Simpsons (1999–2000).
In a 2007 article, Slant critic Ed Gonzales noted that in relation to the episode's primary story of Moe's plastic surgery, the subplot of Bart and Lisa chasing Maggie's pink elephant balloon into a meeting for gay Republicans serves as "a seemingly arbitrary bit of nonsense that connects succinctly with the theme of identity in which a person changes their face only to realize the efficiency of their old one."
Release
The episode originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 27, 2000. On October 7, 2008, it was released on DVD as part of the box set The Simpsons – The Complete Eleventh Season. Staff members Mike Scully, George Meyer, Larry Doyle, Matt Selman, Carolyn Omine, and Mark Kirkland participated in the DVD audio commentary for the episode. Deleted scenes from the episode were also included on the box set.
Reception
Reception of the episode from critics has been generally positive.
Brendan Dando & Guy Davis of the Four Finger Discount podcast describe this as one of the strongest episodes of the season. Davis explains, "No line goes wasted, even the simple moments like Lenny, Carl and Homer walking into Moe's have laugh-out-loud one liners." Dando credits Duffman as one of the episode's highlights, along with the spot-on spoof of daytime soap opera intros.
Ed Gonzales of Slant called it a "great episode."
DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson commented that the episode "peaks early, as the scenes at 'Duff Days' provide the most amusement." He added that "It’s nice to see a focus on Moe for once, but the tale itself fails to really ignite. Though not a poor episode, it’s pretty flat after the opening."
In 2009, writers for IGN listed a line by Moe from this episode among their top eight favorite Moe quotes. The line was "Yeah, hey, I've got a gift. As a child, I was bitten by the acting bug. Then it burrowed under my skin and laid eggs in my heart. Now those eggs are hatching and I... the feeling is indescribable." Homer responds to this by saying "I know what you mean. Our dog had that." The IGN writers commented that "We've never heard anyone describe their life's passion as a parasitic infestation, and we hope we never have to. The cherry on top of this little nugget of Moe goodness is Homer's nonchalant reaction. He's probably used to Moe's strange, gross remarks by now."
In his review of the eleventh season of The Simpsons, Den of Geek critic Mark Oakley wrote that the "cobbled-together feel to the series stops it from reaching the heights of a few years before." Oakley blamed this on lazy writing, and added that "Proof of this comes when, on more than once occasion, the scripts include get-out clauses for the ridiculous storylines being churned out." He gave "Pygmoelian" as an example, commenting: "Moe has cosmetic surgery. However, at the show’s end his more familiar face is suddenly returned to him following an accident and the fact that this happens without horrendously disfiguring him is pondered upon by Moe himself as the credits roll. Playing this card once might be funny, but after three or four times it’s just plain lazy."
References
- "Simpsons - Pygmoelian". Yahoo!. Retrieved October 9, 2011.
- Weinman, Jamie (July 7, 2009). "Republic of (Larry) Doyle, Or Boiled In Doyle". Maclean's. Archived from the original on June 2, 2022. Retrieved January 24, 2022.
- ^ Gonzales, Ed (July 27, 2007). "The Simpsons Movie". Slant. Archived from the original on January 24, 2022. Retrieved January 24, 2022.
- "The Simpsons Episode: 'Pygmoelian'". TV Guide. Archived from the original on October 11, 2011. Retrieved October 8, 2011.
- ^ Jacobson, Colin (November 19, 2008). "The Simpsons: The Complete Eleventh Season (1999)". DVD Movie Guide. Archived from the original on July 20, 2011. Retrieved October 2, 2011.
- Jane, Ian (November 1, 2008). "The Simpsons - The Complete Eleventh Season". DVD Talk. Archived from the original on July 20, 2011. Retrieved October 2, 2011.
- Davis, Guy; Dando, Brendan (July 10, 2020). "Pygmoelian (S11E16)". Four Finger Discount (Simpsons Podcast) (Podcast). Retrieved November 3, 2024.
- ^ Schedeen, Jesse (November 19, 2009). "Line-O-Rama: The Simpsons' Moe Szyslak". IGN. Archived from the original on November 15, 2011. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
- ^ Oakley, Mark (September 28, 2008). "The Simpsons Series Eleven DVD review". Den of Geek. Archived from the original on August 11, 2012. Retrieved August 10, 2012.
