"That '90s Show" | |
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The Simpsons episode | |
The episode's promotional image, featuring Kurt Loder.
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Episode no. | 411 |
Directed by | Mark Kirkland |
Written by | Matt Selman |
Showrunner(s) | Al Jean |
Production code | KABF04 |
Original air date | January 27, 2008 |
Couch gag | The family is sitting on the couch. The screen zooms out to show them as a painting in a museum with the handwritten caption "Ceci n'est pas une couch gag." ("This is not a couch gag."), a reference to The Treachery of Images. |
Guest appearance(s) | |
Kurt Loder as himself. |
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Season 19 episodes
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Seasons | |
Kurt Loder as himself.
"Weird Al" Yankovic as himself
"That '90s Show" is the eleventh episode of The Simpsons' nineteenth season. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on January 27, 2008. Kurt Loder and "Weird Al" Yankovic both guest star as themselves, this being the second time for Yankovic. The episode was written by Matt Selman, and directed by Mark Kirkland.
After Bart and Lisa discover Marge's degree from Springfield University, Homer and Marge recount one of the darkest points of their relationship. The episode significantly retcons some of the Simpson family history, depicting the timeframe of Homer and Marge's romance as being in the 1990s due to the show's long run, as opposed to the mid-late 1970s and early 1980s setting in the early episodes, though later episodes would return to the latter setting.
The Simpson family are freezing inside their house. Bart and Lisa, searching for items to feed the fire, discover a box containing a degree belonging to Marge from Springfield University. Homer and Marge look shocked to find it, and claim it was from their dating years. Lisa does some calculations and realizes that, because Bart is 10, and Homer and Marge are in their mid-to-late thirties, Bart must have been born later in their parents' relationship than they thought. Marge and Homer proceed to describe one of the darker points of their relationship, the 1990s.
In the flashback, Homer and Marge are happily dating, living together in an apartment. Marge is an avid reader, and Homer is part of an R&B group alongside Lenny, Carl, and Officer Lou. One morning, Marge wakes up to find out she had been accepted into Springfield University, but is shocked to learn of the high cost of tuition. Homer, taking pity on Marge, gives up his dream of becoming a musician and instead decides to work at his father's popular laser tag warehouse in order to pay for it, where he is abused by the children. At Springfield University, Marge is impressed with her surroundings and with the radically feminist revisionist history professor Stefane August, despite Homer's disapproval.