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"Sideshow Bob Roberts" is the fifth episode of The Simpsons' sixth season.

Synopsis

Template:Spoiler Sideshow Bob calls up Birch Barlow, a local right-wing talk show host, stating that he is being treated unfairly in prison. Thanks to Barlow, all of Springfield sympathizes with Bob. Pushed by protests, Mayor Quimby releases Bob.

At a Springfield Republican meeting, Bob announces his candidacy for mayor of Springfield. Determined to keep the psychopath from becoming mayor, Bart and Lisa help campaign for Quimby. Quimby helps get the old folks' votes by naming a new expressway the "Matlock Expressway". Unfortunately, at a televised debate hosted by Larry King, Quimby's drowsiness causes him to lose all support. Springfield votes for mayor and the results are 100% for Bob and 1% for Quimby (and there is a one percent margin of error).

Within days, the Simpsons wake up to construction occurring outside. Bob informs the family that the Simpsons' house is in the way of the new Matlock Expressway and that it will be demolished in 72 hours. Bart and Lisa begin to suspect that Bob somehow cheated in the election. Lisa goes through all the voter records but that does not help (Bart is of no help because, thanks to Bob, he got transferred to kindergarten). While Lisa reviews the records, someone leaves a message for her. Bart and Lisa go to a parking garage to meet with the whistle blower, who turns out to be Waylon Smithers. He gives them one name of a person who voted for Bob and the two children soon discover that virtually every single person who voted for him had been dead for centuries. At a trial, Bart and Lisa trick Bob into confessing and he is thrown into a minimum security prison.

Trivia

• This episode features the shortest opening sequence yet, which transitions from the cloud opening right into the TV screen. In syndication, a couch gag is added in.
• The fourth Sideshow Bob episode.

Cultural references

• The plot of Bart and Lisa investigating Bob's election fraud, the pull-out of Lisa looking over the voting records, and the clandestine meeting with Smithers are references to the movie (and book) All the President's Men, which chronicled Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's investigation of Watergate (Lisa even mentions that they are like Woodward and Bernstein, and the library scene mimics the overhead shot of the library in the film).
• Bob says the famous line from A Few Good Men. His speech also parodies Jack Nicholson's speech following the line.
• The episode's name is a take on the movie Bob Roberts, starring Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins. Sideshow Bob's election ad parodies one seen in the film, as well.
• The character Birchibald T. "Birch" Barlow is a take-off on American talk show host and political commentator Rush Limbaugh. He was voiced by Harry Shearer, who is a strong critic of Mr. Limbaugh and his political views. The name "Birch" is likely a reference to the John Birch Society.
• This episode also features cameo appearances by several Archie Comics characters, including Archie Andrews, Reggie Mantle, Moose Mason and Jughead Jones; they're shown pulling up to the Simpsons' house, tossing Homer out of Archie's jalopy, and warning him to "stay out of Riverdale!" Later, Homer reads an Archie comic and calls them all "stuck-up Riverdale punks."
• Bob gives his acceptance speech underneath a giant poster with a picture of himself on it; this is a reference to the campaign speech scene in Citizen Kane, which was also referenced during Mr. Burns' run for governor in the episode "Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish.
• The song that is on the radio while Lisa is driving is "Man in Motion" by John Parr. It was the theme to the 1980s movie, "St. Elmo's Fire".

Political satire

There are many sections of the show that are designed to take a jibe of the political system in the United States, which satirizes politics in America. The object of the satire is highlighted in brackets.

• Birch T. Barlow complains that Sideshow Bob has been unfairly imprisoned by the "liberal justice system", but conservatives usually argue that the "liberal justice system" is too soft on criminals.
• In Sideshow Bob's political ad the narrator talks about the liberal "revolving door prison system". The narrator points out that the liberal mayor released two time convicted murderer Sideshow Bob. The ad ends insisting that the viewer vote for the aforementioned two time convicted murderer for mayor. (Again this satirizes the fact that politicians often turn against their own policies when it affects them, or their close friends in an adverse way; it is also a direct parody of the 1988 presidential campaign, when Michael Dukakis was attacked in an ad by George H. W. Bush for allowing the release of Willie Horton, a convicted rapist, when Dukakis was Governor of Massachusetts.)
• Mayor Quimby boasts about building a new expressway to the members of the old folks home, but he quickly realises that it isn't winning him any support. Grandpa Abraham Simpson points out that he only cares about fictional TV character Matlock, so mayor Quimby's aide quickly changes the diagram to show that it's called the "Matlock Expressway". (This satirizes the fact that politicians often flip-flop to win votes, and also that their aides do most of the work)
• Smithers reveals that he is motivated to tip off the Simpsons because of Republican disapproval of his lifestyle choice (satirizing how Republicans are against rights for homosexuals, and also implying that Smithers is gay).
• Bob uses the Republican cliché "flip-flop" to defame his opponent.
• On the television airing of the political debate between Sideshow Bob and Mayor Quimby, Mayor Quimby's head is surrounded by fire and his hair was held upward at the front like two demons horns. TV networks and newspapers may favour candidates with policies which will be more favourable to them. Mayor Quimby's performance in the debate is similar to that of Nixon in the televised 1960 Presidential debate with Kennedy.
• This episode reinforces the stereotypical Republican image through the local members of the party: the Blue-Haired Lawyer, Mr. Burns and even Count Dracula. Rainier Wolfcastle (an obvious parody of Arnold Schwarzenegger), the Rich Texan, and Dr. Hibbert are also shown as members of the party.
• This episode, and many other episodes of the Simpsons, reinforces the stereotypical image of the Kennedy family members through Mayor Joseph Quimby, the antics of him and the members of his close family, as well as Joe Quimby's accent.

Quotes

• Bob: Lies, lies, lies, I did it! I did it all! (crowd gasps) There, is that what you wanted you smarmy little bastards?
  Bart: We want the truth!
  Bob: You want the truth?! You can't handle the truth! No truth handler, you! Bah, I deride your truth-handling abilities!
• Judge: But why, Bob?
  Bob: Because you need me, Springfield! Oh I know your consciences force you to vote Democratic, but deep down you want a cold-blooded Republican to lower taxes, brutalize criminals and rule you like a king! That why I did it! To save you from yourselves.
• Bart: (groans) I'm only ten and I've already got two mortal enemies.
• Bob (after abducting Bart): That was a mistake, Bart. No children have ever meddled with the Republican Party and lived to tell about it.
  (Bob's goons then reach into their jackets and pin "Vote Bob" buttons on Bart's shirt. The limo pulls up to the Simpsons' house and Bart is thrown onto the lawn. Moments later, Homer is thrown out of a car by Archie's gang)
  Moose Mason: Duh, stay out of Riverdale.
• Homer (voting): I don't agree with his Bart killing policy, but I do approve of his Selma killing policy. (votes for Bob)
• Bart: Oh, no! The dead have risen and they're voting Republican!
• Bart (after learning Bob could be let out of prison while wearing headphones in class): Noooooooooooooo!
  Mrs. Krabappel: Well, despite Bart's objections, the people of South Africa can now vote in free democratic elections.
• Lisa (to Sideshow Bob): You don’t have the intelligence to rig an election by yourself, do you?
  Bart: You were just Barlow's lackey.
  Lisa: You were Ronnie to his Nancy!
  Bart: Sonny to his Cher!
  Lisa: Ringo to his rest of the Beatles!
• Voiceover on TV: Mayor Quimby supports revolving-door prisons. Mayor Quimby also released Sideshow Bob, a man twice convicted of attempted murder. Can you trust a man like Mayor Quimby? (quickly) Vote Sideshow Bob for mayor.
• Lisa: This is so exciting, Bart! We're just like Woodward and Bernstein!
  Bart: Yeah, except their dad didn't wait in the car reading Archie Comics.
  Homer: Stuck up Riverdale Punks...think they're too good for me!
  (soon, Bart and Lisa meet up with "Deep Throat", who is smoking a cigarette in the shadows)
  "Deep Throat": You're on the right track. Follow the names.
  Bart: Who are you?
  "Deep Throat" (takes a drag): I can't tell you who I am, but I worked on the campaign.
  (we then hear a car screeching and Homer's headlights flash on, revealing "Deep Throat" to be Waylon Smithers)
  Homer: Hey, Mr. Smithers!
  Smithers: Well, you might as well give me a ride home now.
• Lisa: All right, Bob, now it's personal!
  Bart: Hey, uh, he did try to kill me.
• Kindergarten teacher: Now, boys and girls, who knows what this is?
  Bart: Triangle.
  Kindergarten teacher: Very good, Bart! You have first choice of toys for free play.
  Bart: Cool! I call the Flintstone Phone. (dials it)
  Fred Flintstone: Yabba-dabba-doo, I like talkin' to you!
• Lisa: Bart, we did it! Now, they won't demolish our house and you can go back to the fourth grade!
  Bart: (groans) Tomorrow, we were gonna find out who the dish ran away with.
  Lisa: (annoyed) The spoon, Bart.
  Bart: Of course!
• Birch Barlow: You know, there are three things we're never going to get rid of here in Springfield: one, the bats in the public library .Two, Mrs. McFierly's compost heap .And three, our six-term mayor, the illiterate, tax-cheating, wife-swapping, pot-smoking, spendocrat Diamond Joe Quimby.
  Mayor Quimby: Hey: I am no longer illiterate.
• Bart: Hey Four-eyes! Vote Quimby. Hey Beardo! Vote Quimby.
  Lisa: This time he's the lesser of two evils.
  Jimbo: Uh, yeah, yeah. I love Grimby. Uh, can I have some more bumper stickers, please, dude? All right! The mummy's ready for his mystical journey.
  
  Milhouse: Aaaah, what's happening?!
• Abe: That Quimby fellow promised to build us a Matlooock Expressway. How're you going to top that, smart guy?
  Bob: Hmm. Well, how's this? I'll not only build the expressway, I will spend the rest of this afternoon patiently listening to your interminable anecdotes.
  Abe: Hot ziggety-zam! Me first. Not many people know I owned the first radio in Springfield. Weren't much on the air then, just Edison reciting the alphabet over and over. "A!" he'd say, then "B". "C" would usually follow...
  Bob: Oh...

External links

• "Sideshow Bob Roberts episode capsule". The Simpsons Archive.
• Internet Movie Database "Bob Roberts 1992 (Tim Robbins)"

• The Simpsons episodes, season 6