The Simpsons/Homer's Triple Bypass

Homer's Triple Bypass
Season 4, Episode 11
Airdate	December 17, 1992
Production Number	9F09
Written by	Gary Apple Michael Carrington
Directed by	David Silverman
← 4x10 Lisa's First Word	4x12 → Marge vs. the Monorail
The Simpsons — Season Four

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)

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).

Notes

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.

Arc Advancement

Characters

• Clancy Wiggum: The sheer incompetence of the chief of the Springfield Police Department is showcased brilliantly in the COPS parody. The opening credits montage are the mere setup:
  • Wiggum tries to talk a suicidal subject off the ledge of a building, but the young man walks of the ledge to his death; Wiggum simply makes cuckoo sign before the man even hits the pavement below.
  • A police officer captures a wanted subject after a foot chase on the top of a tall building ... before pulling back to see Wiggum, Eddie and Lou were watching a TV show.
  • Lou and Eddie arrest Jasper, pulling weapons hidden in his beard.
  • Wiggum, Eddie and Lou shoot at a mummy, but the mummy is unfazed.
  • More TV: The officers are watching an episode of "Itchy and Scratchy."
  • The officers use a police helicopter to get free admission to a local drive-in theater.

The main story: The officers are called to a report of a cattle rustler, but when the homeowner won't answer the door, Wiggum calls for a member of the SWAT team to use a battering ram to knock down the door. Dozens of officers and SWAT team members are waiting as the homeowner, who turns out to be Rev. Lovejoy, comes outside. Very angry at what's happening, Lovejoy demands an explanation, to which Wiggum cluelessly asks, "Isn't this 742 Evergreen Terrace?" When Lovejoy points out the correct address is next door, pan over to see clearly obvious clues that the neighbor's house was that of a cattle rustler, with dozens of cattle in the front yard. The suspect – Snake, a man Wiggum has encountered many times before – makes a getaway, snarling: "Close but no doughnut, cops!"

Wiggum cannot so much as even give a grossly inadequate description of the car or the suspect: "This is Papa Bear. Put out an APB for a male suspect, driving a ... car of some sort, heading in the direction of ... you know, that place that sells chili. Suspect is hatless! Repeat, hatless!

• Patty and Selma: Marge's sisters are visiting and clipping coupons when Marge is called to the hospital. Patty and Selma, rather than accompany her to the hospital (as the possibility existed she was a widow right then and there), stay at the house, continuing to clip coupons and talk about the bargains therein, as if nothing was wrong. (Indeed, Patty and Selma so strongly disapproved of Homer they didn't even consider him a person.)

• Dr. Nick Riviera: An incompetent surgeon who has botched many surgeries and medical procedures, he is the lone affordable option open to Homer and Marge after they realize they don't have health insurance, which would have covered the cost of a triple bypass done by a competent surgeon.

Referbacks

• "Itchy and Scratchy and Marge": The "Itchy and Scratchy Show" segment viewed by Chief Wiggum and his lackeys is culled from the episode where Marge protests violence in children's cartoons. The resulting cartoon seen here has the two adversaries kill a squirrel, whose head was replaced by Marge's head, created in protest to Marge's activism.

Trivia

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.

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.

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.

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!