Thursdays with Abie
Plot
During a trip to a water park with the family, Abe meets a journalist named Marshall Goldman. Abe is thrilled that Marshall is interested in hearing his rambling anecdotes, and tells of the time he sat on and trained a real shark during World War II, after the warship he served on was sunk by a torpedo in Pacific Ocean. Marshall publishes Abe’s story in the Springfield Shopper. When Homer reads Marshall’s article, he is shocked that other people find Abe’s stories interesting. In his next anecdote, Abe tells of giving a not-yet-famous Clark Gable a shoe shine at the Springfield railway station and lending him a copy of Gone with the Wind, but still remembers his anger at not being paid. A rapt Marshall writes up this story as well and Abe’s fame grows. Homer decides to visit his father, but Abe tells him off, suggesting that Homer only wants to spend time with him now that he is famous. Later, Marge suggests that, in actuality, Homer is angry with himself for not having spent more time with his dad. Insulted at the not-so-false suggestion, Homer listens to Mr. Burns’ anecdotes, writes his own column and takes it to the Springfield Shopper (where it is quickly shredded). While at the newspaper office, Homer sneaks into Marshall’s office and discovers a manuscript that Marshall intends to submit for a Pulitzer Prize. The manuscript states that Abe is dead and Homer realizes that Marshall intends to kill Abe. He rushes to the railway station, but Abe and Marshall have already departed on a vintage train known as the Tinseltown Starliner. With the help of Lenny and Carl, Homer breaks through a window just as Marshall pulls out a gun. The two struggle, and then Abe pulls the emergency brake and Marshall is knocked out by a vast load of hat boxes. Homer and his father reconcile, with Abe telling Homer that he is ready for his first ramble.
Meanwhile, Bart has possession of Larry the Lamb, a stuffed sheep toy that each child in Mrs. Krabappel’s room takes a turn caring for over a weekend, much to the dismay of Nelson, who says that Larry was “all that kept me sane”. Bart resents the stuffed toy, so Lisa offers to take care of him. However, she accidentally loses Larry down a storm drain. Bart goes in to retrieve him, and is chased by sewer rats and sewer cats before finding Larry atop a pipe. Bart uses Larry to slide to safety but the toy rips and Bart unceremoniously crashes through a grate to a beach, where Agnes Skinner (who all this time has heard the children calling out for “Larry”) tells Bart to “Give him my number. I’ll teach him things. Things he can use.”
Reception
In its original American broadcast, “Thursdays with Abie” the episode was viewed by 8.65 million and got a rating of 4.0/10 in the 18/49 rating being the most viewed and highest rated episode on Fox’s Animation Domination block, beating out Family Guy, American Dad, and The Cleveland Show and was second in its timeslot after NBC’s Football in America. The show ranked seventh in the 18/49 rating and was third on Fox for the week after The OT and The Allstate Sugar Bowl and made it 20th in the weekly ratings (it was still Fox’s top rated scripted show).
The episode got a positive review from IGN’s Robert Canning giving it a 8.4/10 and saying that “Overall, the episode was a success, using one of the best Simpsons running jokes to tell an engaging and even sentimental tale”. Todd VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club gave episode a C+ saying that “Most of the core relationships on The Simpsons have hung on to their ability to move us. Most Homer and Lisa episodes are still touching on some level, while most Bart and Lisa episodes play off the two’s easy camaraderie. One of the exceptions to this rule is the relationship between Homer and his dad. The two had some great episodes in the show’s early going, as the series examined the way that Abe’s inability to be a good single parent reverberated down through the years (in a much, much funnier way than that sounds). Episodes like “Grampa vs. Sexual Inadequacy” and “Mother Simpson” focused in on the way the seeming hatred Homer had for his dad was driven by something deeper, and they were weirdly emotionally resonant. But over the years, some of the spark has gone out of this relationship, as the show has mostly just turned to storylines where Homer realizes how lucky he is to have his dad. This was another one of those, as Grampa told some of his rambling stories to a newspaper columnist and ended up almost getting killed by the guy, only to be saved by Homer at the last minute. The fact that The Simpsons endlessly resets itself doesn’t really hurt the relationships between the parents and their kids or between the siblings because those are the kinds of relationships that are always, essentially, resetting themselves, until adolescence starts to firm them up. That Homer and his dad can’t come to any sort of movement forward feels forced, I think, and means these kinds of stories have to get more and more out there.”
Cultural references
This episode is a parody of the Mitch Alborn novel Tuesdays with Morrie. Hank Azaria, a regular cast member on The Simpsons starred in the film adaptation of Tuesdays with Morrie.
References
^ http://www.foxflash.com/div.php/main/page?aID=1z4&mo=12&d=27
^ http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/01/04/tv-ratings-sunday-night-football-finishes-on-top-as-simpsons-housewives-return-up/37466
^ http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/01/05/tv-ratings-pro-and-college-football-and-desperate-housewives-top-weekly-viewing/37640
^ http://tv.ign.com/articles/105/1057807p1.html
^ http://www.avclub.com/articles/thursdays-with-abiefield-of-streamsbig-man-on-hipp,36667/
Categories: 2010 television episodes | The Simpsons episodes, season 21
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