From The TV IV

Homer's Triple Bypass is the eleventh episode of the fourth season of The Simpsons, and the seventieth episode overall. Homer has a heart attack and is forced to undergo coronary bypass surgery, but the procedure costs too much for the family to afford.

Also Starring: Maggie Roswell (Nurses, Ms. Albright)

Contents 1 Plot Overview 2 Notes 2.1 Title Sequence 3 Arc Advancement 3.1 Happenings 3.2 Characters 3.3 Referbacks 4 Trivia 4.1 The Show 4.2 Behind the Scenes 4.3 Allusions and References 4.4 Memorable Moments 5 Quotes

[edit] Plot Overview

Homer is having problems with his heart, clearly a result of all of the fatty, unhealthy food that he's eating. In bed, he flinches once as if having a heart attack but recovers quickly. The same happens the next day when Lisa screams his name and he eats a plate full of bacon. Although he's oblivious to this turn in events, Marge knows something is wrong and tries to get him to eat oatmeal instead of cheese wrapped in bacon. He claims to see a bug and dumps it all down the garbage disposal. Homer's condition is aggravated by road rage focused on Hans Moleman and his unbearably slow transport of Edgar Allan Poe's home. The final strain against his heart occurs when Mr. Burns calls him into his office and fires him. Homer suffers a briefly fatal heart attack and is rushed to the hospital.

Doctor Hibbert resuscitates Homer with an EEG machine and explains to him that his heart attack has made him "as weak as a kitten," a condition which Hibbert has far too much fun with. After several tests, Hibbert explains that he needs open heart bypass surgery that will cost over $30,000. Homer has another heart attack when he hears the price and it's raised by $10,000. Unfortunately, they don't have health insurance. When he tries to get insurance post-attack, his scheme unravels when he has another seizure in the office. He resorts to begging religious leaders but only winds up with a "droodle."

Homer gets a reprieve in the form of Dr. Nick Riviera, who advertises bargain surgery on late night television. Homer winds up in a bed next to Flanders, who is inexplicably donating a lung and a kidney with Riviera as his doctor. That night, Homer is inspired to pray by him and asks that his family be taken care of if he dies. The next day, he's visited by Krusty, who's also in the "zipper club," as well as his father, Lenny, Carl, Moe and Barney. They've replaced Homer at the plant with a brick on a string and Moe snuck him in a beer. In the meantime, both Lisa and Dr. Riviera are boning up on their heart surgery. Dr. Nick's video lessons are going poorly.

Eventually, Homer is brought into surgery and Lisa sits in on the observation. While he's still in surgery, Patty and Selma try to set her up with a stranger named Andre and across the town, Homer's friends are keeping him in their thoughts. Dr. Nick stalls during surgery and he's talked through the opening procedures by Lisa. In the end, the operation was a success and everything is fine (although his heart stops briefly again while looking at his family).

[edit] Notes

[edit] Title Sequence

• Blackboard: "Coffee is not for kids." The writing on this gets sloppier and more slurred as the lines progress, until the bottom which is illegible squiggles.
• Couch Gag: A miniature version of the family runs in and climbs onto the comparatively gigantic couch.

[edit] Arc Advancement

[edit] Happenings

[edit] Characters

[edit] Referbacks

[edit] Trivia

[edit] The Show

• First Appearance: This episode has the first gratuitous death of Hans Moleman when Homer runs him off the road while he's transporting the home of Edgar Allan Poe down the road.

[edit] Behind the Scenes

• Writing Staff: This episode wasn't written by a member of the Simpsons writing team, but was actually shopped out to a pair of writers who submitted an incomplete spec script. Michael Carrington normally was a writer and producer for Martin which was incidentally created by John Bowman. Bowman was approached by Al Jean to write for The Simpsons after several writers from the first three seasons left the show. He declined to create Martin.
• Original Number: When this episode was first broadcast, they accidentally put a real phone number on screen during Dr. Nick's commercial. In all subsequent airings of the show, they changed the number to 1-600-DOCTORB.
• Original Ending: The original ending to this episode was Homer eating a pizza in the intensive care unit. This was a callback to when his father looking in on him in the delivery ward and he mysteriously had a slice of pizza.

[edit] Allusions and References

• COPS: The television program Homer is watching in bed is a parody of COPS, a long-running reality show broadcast on FOX on which a camera crew follows police officers on duty, usually to domestic disputes. Each episode is typically set in a single city, so this episode would focus on Springfield's clearly incompetent police force.

[edit] Memorable Moments

[edit] Quotes

• Kid: Where's he going?
  Attendant: You remember that old Plymouth we just couldn't fix?
  Kid: We're going to sell him to Mr. Nikopopolous?!
  Attendant: You're a dull boy, Billy.

• Burns: Look at that pig. Stuffing his face with donuts on my time! That's right, keep eating... Little do you know you're drawing ever closer to the poison donut!
  [Burns cackles evilly, then stops abruptly]
  Burns: There is a poison one, isn't there Smithers?
  Smithers: Err... No, sir. I discussed this with our lawyers and they consider it murder.
  Burns: Damn their oily hides!

• Homer: Kids, kids. I'm not going to die. That only happens to bad people.
  Bart: What about Abraham Lincoln?
  Homer: He sold poison milk to school children.
  Marge: Homer!