Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming

Kelsey Grammer as Sideshow Bob
R. Lee Ermey as Colonel Leslie Hapablap

"Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming" is the ninth episode of The Simpsons' seventh season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 26, 1995. In the episode, Sideshow Bob attempts to rid the world of television.

The episode was written by freelance writer Spike Feresten, and features the fifth appearance of Sideshow Bob. Although Feresten received credit for the episode, the writing staff completely rewrote the episode and very little of Feresten's original script was left in the finished version. It was the first episode of The Simpsons to be directed by Dominic Polcino, who described it as being very difficult to direct. R. Lee Ermey, known for his role in Full Metal Jacket, guest stars as Col. Leslie "Hap" Hapablap while Kelsey Grammer reprises his role as Sideshow Bob.

The episode is a parody of "'60s-era nuclear war movies" and contains several references to Cold War films, including Twilight's Last Gleaming, Dr. Strangelove, and Fail-Safe. In its original broadcast, the episode finished 49th in ratings for the week of November 20–26, 1995, with a Nielsen rating of 8.7 and a 13% share of the audience.

At Springfield Minimum Security Prison, Sideshow Bob is disturbed when he hears the other inmates laughing at the inane antics of Krusty the Clown's television show. Believing that television is a fountain of "mindless drivel" and wanting to rid the world of it, Bob escapes while on work duty at a local Air Force Base. He gains access to a restricted area of the hangar, where he finds a 10-megaton nuclear weapon.