Realty Bites
Encyclopedia
"Realty Bites" is the ninth episode of the animated television series The Simpsons
' ninth season
, which originally aired December 7, 1997 on Fox
. The episode sees Marge
becoming a real estate agent, meanwhile Homer
enjoys Snake's new car. It was written by Dan Greaney and directed by Swinton O. Scott III
.
This episode has the final speaking appearance of Lionel Hutz
five months before the death of Phil Hartman
. The episode's development grew out of a desire by the writers to do a show focused on Marge
, where her job did not work out. The episode received positive mention in the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, and is featured in the special 2003 DVD release The Simpsons: Risky Business.
After the auction, Marge encounters Lionel Hutz
, who has become a realtor. Marge decides to try it herself and begins working for Hutz, at "Red Blazer Realty". She tells prospective buyers her honest opinion about the houses she shows them, and even encourages the Hibberts not to move at all as she prefers their current home. Due to her honesty, she does not sell any homes and Hutz tells her to use more positive descriptions when selling the houses, such as "cozy" instead of "small". Hutz also tells Marge if she does not sell a house in the first week, she would be fired. She discusses this with her family, and Marge accuses them of thinking she is just a wife and mother that cannot compete in the real world (even though Bart, Homer and Lisa never even accuse her of this), and she says that she will sell a house, end of story (even when they never said she couldn't). Marge tries to bend the truth, but for some reason, just cannot lie to people, which other people do not understand. Marge does not disclose the entire truth about the "murder house" she sells to Ned Flanders
and his family. The house was the site of the infamous "Jealous Jockey Murders". The Flanders purchase the house and bid farewell to the Simpsons. Marge smiles through her guilt while Homer is very pleased.
Meanwhile, Snake walks out of the minimum security prison and, after failing at an attempt to decapitate Homer with a wire hung across two trees (though he does manage to dismember
Kirk van Houten), he jumps into 'Li'l Bandit' to get the car back from Homer. They start fighting each other to gain control of the moving car, and Chief Wiggum, who gets woken up by their fighting, starts chasing them.
Feeling guilty about her deception and concerned for the Flanders' safety, Marge goes to check on them at their new house. She tells them the truth about the murders, but they are not angry. Ned
and Maude are pleased to be a part of Springfield's
history, and refuse Marge's offer of returning the deposit. Unfortunately, the house is destroyed seconds later when 'Li'l Bandit and Wiggum's police car crash through the house. With the exception of Snake, no one is too badly hurt and Marge returns Flanders's down payment. Hutz, furious at the damage costs and in particular by the return of the money, fires her. At the end of the episode Homer takes Marge to the government unemployment
office, where characters from previous episodes are there, for instance Larry Burns and George.W.Bush (whom they insult)
, and Cookie Kwan, voiced by Tress MacNeille
. Excuses were made by the writers to bring back Gil in future episodes based on Castellaneta's performance at the table read, which proved popular with the staff. Snake's prison number is 7F20, the production code of "The War of the Simpsons
", the episode in which he first appeared. The piano wire scene was meant to end with Kirk's sandwich being sliced just the way he wanted, until George Meyer
suggested that his arm be cut off instead. Mike Scully
described the ensuing laughter at his suggestion as the most intense he had ever heard from the staff. He stated: "They were literally choking because the joke was so unexpected. It was a shocked kind of laugh, and it just started rolling, one of those laughs that build the more they reverberate through you." In the unemployment line, the unemployment recipient with the bucket hat and the beard is a caricature of George Meyer
(who was fired after speaking out against the addition of Poochie the Dog on The Itchy and Scratchy Show
). Due to Phil Hartman's death, the recurring characters of Lionel Hutz and Troy McClure
were retired.
. Gil Gunderson is based on Jack Lemmon
's portrayal of Shelley Levene in the 1992 film Glengarry Glen Ross
. Snake sets up a wire across a road to decapitate Homer
as he drives by. The wire is supplied by "Acme
", after the brand of equipment used by Wile E. Coyote to try and stop Road Runner in the Looney Tunes
cartoons. When Ned Flanders explains to Marge that they were painting Todd's room red, Todd starts saying "Red room, red room" and moves his finger, like the character of Danny does in The Shining
. When Lionel Hutz reads the list of wrecked items to Marge, it is a tribute to the Lethal Weapon
movies.
of 10.8, equivalent to approximately 10.6 million viewing households. It was the third highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, following The X-Files
and King of the Hill
.
The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide said, "A simple but enjoyable romp, with the final few minutes in the Murder House particularly funny. Best thing though is the introduction of the hapless Gil, destined to always be a ray of light in any episode!" The episode is featured in a special 2003 DVD compilation called The Simpsons: Risky Business, along with "Marge Gets a Job
", "Deep Space Homer
", and "Homer the Smithers
".
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
The Simpsons (season 9)
The Simpsons ninth season originally aired between September 1997 and May 1998, beginning on Sunday, September 21, 1997 with "The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson". The show runner for the ninth production season was Mike Scully...
, which originally aired December 7, 1997 on Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
. The episode sees Marge
Marge Simpson
Marjorie "Marge" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the eponymous family. She is voiced by actress Julie Kavner and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
becoming a real estate agent, meanwhile Homer
Homer Simpson
Homer Jay Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons and the patriarch of the eponymous family. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared on television, along with the rest of his family, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
enjoys Snake's new car. It was written by Dan Greaney and directed by Swinton O. Scott III
Swinton O. Scott III
Swinton O. Scott III is an animation director best known for his work on The Simpsons.He directed four episodes of Futurama, 7 episodes of "The Simpsons" and one episode of Family Guy...
.
This episode has the final speaking appearance of Lionel Hutz
Lionel Hutz
Lionel Hutz is a recurring character from the animated television series The Simpsons. He was voiced by Phil Hartman, and his first appearance was in the season two episode "Bart Gets Hit by a Car". Due to the death of Hartman, his final speaking role was in the episode "Realty Bites"...
five months before the death of Phil Hartman
Phil Hartman
Philip Edward "Phil" Hartman was a Canadian-American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and graphic artist. Born in Brantford, Ontario, Hartman and his family moved to the United States when he was 10...
. The episode's development grew out of a desire by the writers to do a show focused on Marge
Marge Simpson
Marjorie "Marge" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the eponymous family. She is voiced by actress Julie Kavner and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
, where her job did not work out. The episode received positive mention in the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, and is featured in the special 2003 DVD release The Simpsons: Risky Business.
Plot
Homer decides to take Marge to the Police seized-property auction and while there, he buys Snake's car 'Li'l Bandit'. Upon seeing this, Snake vows to kill Homer.After the auction, Marge encounters Lionel Hutz
Lionel Hutz
Lionel Hutz is a recurring character from the animated television series The Simpsons. He was voiced by Phil Hartman, and his first appearance was in the season two episode "Bart Gets Hit by a Car". Due to the death of Hartman, his final speaking role was in the episode "Realty Bites"...
, who has become a realtor. Marge decides to try it herself and begins working for Hutz, at "Red Blazer Realty". She tells prospective buyers her honest opinion about the houses she shows them, and even encourages the Hibberts not to move at all as she prefers their current home. Due to her honesty, she does not sell any homes and Hutz tells her to use more positive descriptions when selling the houses, such as "cozy" instead of "small". Hutz also tells Marge if she does not sell a house in the first week, she would be fired. She discusses this with her family, and Marge accuses them of thinking she is just a wife and mother that cannot compete in the real world (even though Bart, Homer and Lisa never even accuse her of this), and she says that she will sell a house, end of story (even when they never said she couldn't). Marge tries to bend the truth, but for some reason, just cannot lie to people, which other people do not understand. Marge does not disclose the entire truth about the "murder house" she sells to Ned Flanders
Ned Flanders
Nedward "Ned" Flanders, Jr. is a recurring fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Harry Shearer, and first appeared in the series premiere episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire". He is the next door neighbor to the Simpson family and is generally...
and his family. The house was the site of the infamous "Jealous Jockey Murders". The Flanders purchase the house and bid farewell to the Simpsons. Marge smiles through her guilt while Homer is very pleased.
Meanwhile, Snake walks out of the minimum security prison and, after failing at an attempt to decapitate Homer with a wire hung across two trees (though he does manage to dismember
Dismemberment
Dismemberment is the act of cutting, tearing, pulling, wrenching or otherwise removing, the limbs of a living thing. It may be practiced upon human beings as a form of capital punishment, as a result of a traumatic accident, or in connection with murder, suicide, or cannibalism...
Kirk van Houten), he jumps into 'Li'l Bandit' to get the car back from Homer. They start fighting each other to gain control of the moving car, and Chief Wiggum, who gets woken up by their fighting, starts chasing them.
Feeling guilty about her deception and concerned for the Flanders' safety, Marge goes to check on them at their new house. She tells them the truth about the murders, but they are not angry. Ned
Ned Flanders
Nedward "Ned" Flanders, Jr. is a recurring fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Harry Shearer, and first appeared in the series premiere episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire". He is the next door neighbor to the Simpson family and is generally...
and Maude are pleased to be a part of Springfield's
Springfield (The Simpsons)
Springfield is the fictional town in which the American animated sitcom The Simpsons is set. A mid-sized town in an undetermined state of the United States, Springfield acts as a complete universe in which characters can explore the issues faced by modern society. The geography of the town and its...
history, and refuse Marge's offer of returning the deposit. Unfortunately, the house is destroyed seconds later when 'Li'l Bandit and Wiggum's police car crash through the house. With the exception of Snake, no one is too badly hurt and Marge returns Flanders's down payment. Hutz, furious at the damage costs and in particular by the return of the money, fires her. At the end of the episode Homer takes Marge to the government unemployment
Unemployment benefit
Unemployment benefits are payments made by the state or other authorized bodies to unemployed people. Benefits may be based on a compulsory para-governmental insurance system...
office, where characters from previous episodes are there, for instance Larry Burns and George.W.Bush (whom they insult)
Production
The writers wanted to do a "Marge episode", but one where her job does not work out, unlike previous episodes. The episode marks the first appearance of Gil Gunderson, voiced by Dan CastellanetaDan Castellaneta
Daniel Louis "Dan" Castellaneta is an American actor, voice actor, comedian, singer and screenwriter. Noted for his long-running role as Homer Simpson on the animated television series The Simpsons, he voices many other characters on The Simpsons, including Abraham "Grampa" Simpson, Barney Gumble,...
, and Cookie Kwan, voiced by Tress MacNeille
Tress MacNeille
Tress MacNeille is an American voice actress best known for providing various voices on the animated series The Simpsons, Futurama, Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Disney's House of Mouse, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Rugrats, All Grown Up!, Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers, and Dave the...
. Excuses were made by the writers to bring back Gil in future episodes based on Castellaneta's performance at the table read, which proved popular with the staff. Snake's prison number is 7F20, the production code of "The War of the Simpsons
The War of the Simpsons
"The War of the Simpsons" is the twentieth episode of The Simpsons second season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 2, 1991. In the episode, Homer gets drunk at a party and embarrasses his wife Marge, so she decides to sign them up for a marriage counseling retreat...
", the episode in which he first appeared. The piano wire scene was meant to end with Kirk's sandwich being sliced just the way he wanted, until George Meyer
George Meyer
George A. Meyer is an American producer and writer. Raised in Tucson, Arizona in a Roman Catholic family, Meyer attended Harvard University. There, after becoming president of the Harvard Lampoon, he graduated in 1978 with a degree in biochemistry. Abandoning plans to attend medical school, Meyer...
suggested that his arm be cut off instead. Mike Scully
Mike Scully
Mike Scully is an American television writer and producer. He is known for his work as executive producer and showrunner of the animated sitcom The Simpsons from 1997 to 2001. Scully grew up in West Springfield, Massachusetts and long had an interest in writing. He was an underachiever at school...
described the ensuing laughter at his suggestion as the most intense he had ever heard from the staff. He stated: "They were literally choking because the joke was so unexpected. It was a shocked kind of laugh, and it just started rolling, one of those laughs that build the more they reverberate through you." In the unemployment line, the unemployment recipient with the bucket hat and the beard is a caricature of George Meyer
George Meyer
George A. Meyer is an American producer and writer. Raised in Tucson, Arizona in a Roman Catholic family, Meyer attended Harvard University. There, after becoming president of the Harvard Lampoon, he graduated in 1978 with a degree in biochemistry. Abandoning plans to attend medical school, Meyer...
(who was fired after speaking out against the addition of Poochie the Dog on The Itchy and Scratchy Show
The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show
"The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show" is the fourteenth episode of the eighth season of The Simpsons, which originally aired February 9, 1997. In the episode, The Itchy & Scratchy Show attempts to regain viewers by introducing a hip new character named Poochie, who will be voiced by Homer...
). Due to Phil Hartman's death, the recurring characters of Lionel Hutz and Troy McClure
Troy McClure
Troy McClure is a fictional character in the American animated sitcom The Simpsons. He was voiced by Phil Hartman and first appears in the second season episode "Homer vs. Lisa and the 8th Commandment". McClure is a washed-up actor, usually shown doing low-level work, such as hosting infomercials...
were retired.
Cultural references
The title of the episode is an allusion to the 1994 movie Reality BitesReality Bites
Reality Bites is a 1994 American romantic comedy-drama film written by Helen Childress and featuring the directorial debut of Ben Stiller. It stars Winona Ryder, Ethan Hawke and Stiller, with major supporting roles played by Janeane Garofalo and Steve Zahn. The film was shot on location in Austin...
. Gil Gunderson is based on Jack Lemmon
Jack Lemmon
John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III was an American actor and musician. He starred in more than 60 films including Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, Mister Roberts , Days of Wine and Roses, The Great Race, Irma la Douce, The Odd Couple, Save the Tiger John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III (February 8, 1925June...
's portrayal of Shelley Levene in the 1992 film Glengarry Glen Ross
Glengarry Glen Ross (film)
Glengarry Glen Ross is a 1992 American drama film, adapted by David Mamet from his acclaimed 1984 Pulitzer Prize- and Tony-winning play of the same name...
. Snake sets up a wire across a road to decapitate Homer
Homer Simpson
Homer Jay Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons and the patriarch of the eponymous family. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared on television, along with the rest of his family, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
as he drives by. The wire is supplied by "Acme
Acme Corporation
The Acme Corporation is a fictional corporation that features prominently in the Road Runner/Wile E. Coyote cartoons as a running gag featuring outlandish products that fail catastrophically at the worst possible times...
", after the brand of equipment used by Wile E. Coyote to try and stop Road Runner in the Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes is a Warner Bros. animated cartoon series. It preceded the Merrie Melodies series and was Warner Bros.'s first animated theatrical series. Since its first official release, 1930's Sinkin' in the Bathtub, the series has become a worldwide media franchise, spawning several television...
cartoons. When Ned Flanders explains to Marge that they were painting Todd's room red, Todd starts saying "Red room, red room" and moves his finger, like the character of Danny does in The Shining
The Shining (film)
The Shining is a 1980 psychological horror film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, co-written with novelist Diane Johnson, and starring Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, and Danny Lloyd. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King. A writer, Jack Torrance, takes a job as an...
. When Lionel Hutz reads the list of wrecked items to Marge, it is a tribute to the Lethal Weapon
Lethal Weapon (film series)
Lethal Weapon is a series of films starring Mel Gibson and Danny Glover as a pair of LAPD detectives. All four films in the series were directed by Richard Donner, and also share many of the same core cast members.-Lethal Weapon :...
movies.
Reception
In its original broadcast, "Realty Bites" finished 21st in ratings for the week of December 1-7, 1997, with a Nielsen ratingNielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
of 10.8, equivalent to approximately 10.6 million viewing households. It was the third highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, following The X-Files
The X-Files
The X-Files is an American science fiction television series and a part of The X-Files franchise, created by screenwriter Chris Carter. The program originally aired from to . The show was a hit for the Fox network, and its characters and slogans became popular culture touchstones in the 1990s...
and King of the Hill
King of the Hill
King of the Hill is an American animated dramedy series created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels, that ran from January 12, 1997, to May 6, 2010, on Fox network. It centers on the Hills, a working-class Methodist family in the fictional small town of Arlen, Texas...
.
The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide said, "A simple but enjoyable romp, with the final few minutes in the Murder House particularly funny. Best thing though is the introduction of the hapless Gil, destined to always be a ray of light in any episode!" The episode is featured in a special 2003 DVD compilation called The Simpsons: Risky Business, along with "Marge Gets a Job
Marge Gets a Job
"Marge Gets a Job" is the seventh episode of The Simpsons fourth season. It was first broadcast on November 5, 1992 on Fox. In this episode, Marge gets a job at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant to pay for foundation repair at the Simpson house. Mr. Burns develops a crush on Marge after seeing...
", "Deep Space Homer
Deep Space Homer
"Deep Space Homer" is the fifteenth episode of The Simpsons fifth season and first aired on February 24, 1994. The episode was directed by Carlos Baeza and was the only episode of The Simpsons written by David Mirkin, who was also the executive producer at the time...
", and "Homer the Smithers
Homer the Smithers
"Homer the Smithers" is the 17th episode of The Simpsons seventh season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 25, 1996. In this episode, Smithers takes a vacation and hires Homer to take over as Mr. Burns' assistant...
".
External links
- "Realty Bites" at The Simpsons.com