The Boy Who Knew Too Much
Encyclopedia
"The Boy Who Knew Too Much" is the twentieth episode of The Simpsons
' fifth season
. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 5, 1994. In the episode, Bart
runs away from a pursuing Principal Skinner after attempting to skip school. During part of his escape, he witnesses an event in which Freddy Quimby, the spoiled nephew of Mayor Quimby, is accused of beating up a French
waiter. Though the entire town believes that Freddy is guilty, Bart witnessed something else. At the trial, Bart testifies for Freddy, claiming that the waiter simply hurt himself because he was clumsy. Though attempting to deny the allegations, the waiter proves the truth in Bart's words by falling out the window.
The episode was written by John Swartzwelder
and directed by Jeffrey Lynch
. The new character Freddy, voiced by Dan Castellaneta
, was given the same type of cheekbones and nose as Quimby to make them resemble each other. The episode features cultural references to films such as Westworld
, Last Action Hero
, and Free Willy
, and the fictional characters Huckleberry Finn, Eddie, and Darwin. Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger
and his wife Maria Shriver
are also referenced in the episode. Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. It acquired a Nielsen rating
of 10.1, and was the fifth-highest rated show on the Fox network the week it aired.
, Bart
is not excited about going to school, in part because he has to travel there on a prison bus, and even more so when Ms. Krabappel informs the class that they will spend two hours longer than usual at school that day. When arriving at school, Bart forges a note claiming a dentist appointment so that he can skip school, but Principal Skinner is not convinced. Skinner chases Bart through Springfield, and as he finally corners him, Bart jumps into a passing car. The car is driven by Freddy Quimby, nephew of Mayor Quimby
, who is going to his birthday party. At lunch, Freddy is served chowder
, but he ridicules the waiter for saying it with a French
accent, even though Freddy himself pronounces it incorrectly with a Boston accent
. He then follows the waiter into the kitchen, and apparently roughs him up. Bart, hiding under a table, secretly witnesses the true turn of events. Freddy is charged with the crime, presumably assault
and battery
, and is put on trial.
During the trial, Despite Quimby's attempts to bribe the jury, the whole town seems to believe that Freddy is guilty due to his demeaning behavior and intolerance of how every person around him says "chowder". Only Bart knows otherwise, and he confesses to Lisa
that he is the only one who knows that Freddy did not actually assault the waiter. He does not want to testify, however, because he would have to admit that he skipped school to confirm it, and thus would face punishment from Skinner. At the trial, the jury consists of Homer
, Skinner, Hans Moleman
, Ned Flanders
, Helen Lovejoy, Jasper, Patty, Apu
and Akira. Homer votes against the others, but only because he wants to create a deadlock
so that the jury is sequestered
at a hotel with free room service and cable television, which he succeeds. In court, Lisa convinces Bart to testify, and Bart tells everyone that Freddy did not assault the waiter, but that the waiter injured himself in a series of clumsy actions. The offended waiter attempts to deny that he is clumsy, but in the process, he trips over a chair which causes him to fall out of the window into an open-roof truck filled with rat traps, thus proving that he is highly clumsy. Freddy is cleared of all charges, and Skinner, although praising Bart for being honest and coming forward, reminds him that this does not change the fact that he skipped school. Despite Bart's logical argument that his act of selflessness nullifies his misbehavior and that leaving him in peace would be the fairest thing to do, Skinner is unmoved and not only proceeds to coldly gives Bart three months detention, but then increases his punishment to four months for nothing more than the pride of annoying Bart.
and directed by Jeffrey Lynch
. Executive producer David Mirkin
"loved" that the whole situation of Bart seeing the waiter injure himself and not telling the truth ties together with the Homer plot in that it causes Homer to get jury duty and then only caring about going to the hotel. Mirkin thought it "worked really well". The new character Freddy was voiced by The Simpsons cast member Dan Castellaneta
, who also provides the voice of Mayor Quimby. Freddy was given the same type of cheekbones and nose as Quimby to make them resemble each other. When Bart is fleeing from Skinner, a shot of Bart running down a hill from the season four episode "Kamp Krusty
" was re-used. At the release of season five on DVD, a review described the image as possibly the "best the series has ever looked on DVD". However, "The Boy Who Knew Too Much" was one of the few episodes in which technical issues still remained; for example, Bart and Lisa's image was fuzzy toward the beginning, and the episode featured for the last time "some of the hand drawn dimensions that would be eliminated once the show switched over to digital compositing and desktop cartoon creation".
While driving the prison bus, Bart looks out the window and has a dream that features him, Huckleberry Finn, and Abraham Lincoln
on a raft going down a river in Springfield. Mirkin said Swartzwelder had always enjoyed putting presidents into his jokes, and this was only one of his many references to Lincoln. The scene of Skinner chasing Bart borrows heavily from the film Westworld
, especially the scene with Skinner walking across the river. The Simpsons director David Silverman
said Lynch and his fellow director Brad Bird
took "a long, hard look" at Westworld to make sure the animation in the scenes resembled the film as much as possible. Mirkin said of the Westworld parody: "Again, to show you what a collaboration this is, we had the animators looking at Westworld and making sure of the animation, and then we made sure that [The Simpsons composer] Alf Clausen
got the brilliant soundtrack from the film. He put in a lot of touches that really made the soundtracks identical." Bart's claim to film star and recurring character on The Simpsons Rainier Wolfcastle (a parody of Arnold Schwarzenegger
) that his "last movie really sucked" and Chief Wiggum's subsequent claim of "magic ticket, my ass" are in reference to Last Action Hero
, a Schwarzenegger film featuring magic tickets that was panned by critics. Additionally, Wolfcastle's wife is named Maria; Schwarzenegger's wife at the time was Maria Shriver
.
The Simpsons creator Matt Groening
appears in a cameo as the court illustrator in the Quimby trial. He can be seen signing his name on his sketch. Of the twelve jury members, Homer is the only one to cast a vote of "not guilty" which angers the other eleven jurors; the outcome of the trial ends with a verdict of "not guilty". This is a reference to the film 12 Angry Men. During the trial, Homer sings the jingle of the cat food company Meow Mix
in his head. Jasper, a member of the jury, wants the trial to be over so that he can go home and watch television. He says that tonight on the science fiction series seaQuest DSV
, Eddie, pet dog of Martin Crane
on Frasier
, will ride Darwin, the talking dolphin character from seaQuest DSV. The new "director's cut" of the 1993 film Free Willy
that Homer watches at the deadlock hotel features Jesse being crushed by the whale Willy. Homer is later saddened by this, and says, "Oh, I don't like this new director's cut!" Homer stays with Skinner at the hotel, and in a reference to the television series The Odd Couple
, Skinner picks up a cigar butt from the floor with his umbrella while cleaning the room, just like Tony Randall
does in the opening credits of that series.
of 10.1, equivalent to approximately 9.5 million viewing households. It was the fifth highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, following Married... with Children
, Living Single
, Melrose Place, and Beverly Hills, 90210
.
Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, praised the episode for containing "a memorable guest character in the French waiter Monsieur Lacosse, two great slapstick sequences involving the same, and displays Principal Skinner — pursuing Bart across the mountains like 'a non-giving-up school guy', and confessing that in some ways he's "a small man; a petty, small man" — in particularly fine form." DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson thought Freddy Quimby "may well be the most unpleasant character to grace the series — in an amusing way, though Freddy’s edginess makes him less amusing than his uncle. It’s rather startling to see Skinner so rapidly resume his dislike of Bart after the last episode, though. It’s fun to see his superhuman powers in the pursuit of Bart, and the mystery aspects of the show help make it a very good one. Add to that Homer on jury duty for even more entertainment."
Patrick Bromley of DVD Verdict gave the episode a grade of A for its "excellent bits thrown together to make this one, joke for joke, one of the season's funniest". In 2007, Patrick Enright of MSNBC
called it his tenth favorite episode of the show. He said it was a perfect example of the show's "hilarious randomness" because of jokes such as Homer singing the Meow Mix
cat food jingle, and the scene in which Homer discovers that if the jury’s deadlocked, they will be sequestered in a luxury hotel. Homer justifies his decision to be the lone dissenting voice by saying, "I’m only doing what I think is right. I believe Freddy Quimby should walk out of here a free hotel (when he should have said a 'free man')."
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 5)
The Simpsons fifth season originally aired on the Fox network between September 30, 1993 and May 19, 1994. The show runner for the fifth production season was David Mirkin who executive produced 20 episodes. Al Jean and Mike Reiss executive produced the remaining two, which were both hold overs...
. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 5, 1994. In the episode, Bart
Bart Simpson
Bartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by actress Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
runs away from a pursuing Principal Skinner after attempting to skip school. During part of his escape, he witnesses an event in which Freddy Quimby, the spoiled nephew of Mayor Quimby, is accused of beating up a French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
waiter. Though the entire town believes that Freddy is guilty, Bart witnessed something else. At the trial, Bart testifies for Freddy, claiming that the waiter simply hurt himself because he was clumsy. Though attempting to deny the allegations, the waiter proves the truth in Bart's words by falling out the window.
The episode was written by John Swartzwelder
John Swartzwelder
John Swartzwelder is an American comedy writer and novelist, best known for his work on the animated television series The Simpsons, as well as a number of novels. He is credited with writing the largest number of Simpsons episodes by a large margin...
and directed by Jeffrey Lynch
Jeffrey Lynch
Jeffrey Lynch is an American animator and graphic artist. He has worked as an animation director on The Simpsons and Futurama, and as an assistant director on Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man 3 and The Iron Giant....
. The new character Freddy, voiced by Dan Castellaneta
Dan 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,...
, was given the same type of cheekbones and nose as Quimby to make them resemble each other. The episode features cultural references to films such as Westworld
Westworld
Westworld is a 1973 science fiction-thriller film written and directed by novelist Michael Crichton and produced by Paul Lazarus III. It stars Yul Brynner as a lifelike robot in a futuristic Western-themed amusement park, and Richard Benjamin and James Brolin as guests of the park.Westworld was the...
, Last Action Hero
Last Action Hero
Last Action Hero is a 1993 American action-comedy-fantasy film directed and produced by John McTiernan. It is a satire of the action genre and its clichés, containing several parodies of action films in the form of films within the film....
, and Free Willy
Free Willy
Free Willy is a 1993 family film directed by Simon Wincer, and released by Warner Bros. under its Family Entertainment label. The film stars Jason James Richter as a young boy who befriends an orca whale, named "Willy."...
, and the fictional characters Huckleberry Finn, Eddie, and Darwin. Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
and his wife Maria Shriver
Maria Shriver
Maria Owings Shriver is an American journalist and author of six best-selling books. She has received a Peabody Award, and was co-anchor for NBC's Emmy-winning coverage of the 1988 Summer Olympics. As executive producer of The Alzheimer's Project, Shriver earned two Emmy Awards and an Academy of...
are also referenced in the episode. Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. It acquired a Nielsen rating
Nielsen 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 10.1, and was the fifth-highest rated show on the Fox network the week it aired.
Plot
On a sunny day in SpringfieldSpringfield (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...
, Bart
Bart Simpson
Bartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by actress Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
is not excited about going to school, in part because he has to travel there on a prison bus, and even more so when Ms. Krabappel informs the class that they will spend two hours longer than usual at school that day. When arriving at school, Bart forges a note claiming a dentist appointment so that he can skip school, but Principal Skinner is not convinced. Skinner chases Bart through Springfield, and as he finally corners him, Bart jumps into a passing car. The car is driven by Freddy Quimby, nephew of Mayor Quimby
Joe Quimby
Mayor Joseph "Joe" Quimby, nicknamed "Diamond Joe," is a recurring character from the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta, and first appeared in the episode "Bart Gets an F". A member of the Democratic Party, Quimby is the mayor of Springfield, and is a...
, who is going to his birthday party. At lunch, Freddy is served chowder
Chowder
In North America Chowder is a generic name for a wide variety of seafood or vegetable stews and thickened soups, often with milk or cream. Some varieties are traditionally thickened with crushed ship biscuit instead of flour, which is more usual...
, but he ridicules the waiter for saying it with a French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
accent, even though Freddy himself pronounces it incorrectly with a Boston accent
Boston accent
The Boston dialect is the dialect characteristic of English spoken in the city of Boston and much of eastern Massachusetts. The accent and closely related accents can be heard commonly in an area stretching into much of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, and areas of south-western Nova Scotia...
. He then follows the waiter into the kitchen, and apparently roughs him up. Bart, hiding under a table, secretly witnesses the true turn of events. Freddy is charged with the crime, presumably assault
Assault
In law, assault is a crime causing a victim to fear violence. The term is often confused with battery, which involves physical contact. The specific meaning of assault varies between countries, but can refer to an act that causes another to apprehend immediate and personal violence, or in the more...
and battery
Battery (crime)
Battery is a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact, distinct from assault which is the fear of such contact.In the United States, criminal battery, or simply battery, is the use of force against another, resulting in harmful or offensive contact...
, and is put on trial.
During the trial, Despite Quimby's attempts to bribe the jury, the whole town seems to believe that Freddy is guilty due to his demeaning behavior and intolerance of how every person around him says "chowder". Only Bart knows otherwise, and he confesses to Lisa
Lisa Simpson
Lisa Marie Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons. She is the middle child of the Simpson family. Voiced by Yeardley Smith, Lisa first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Cartoonist Matt Groening...
that he is the only one who knows that Freddy did not actually assault the waiter. He does not want to testify, however, because he would have to admit that he skipped school to confirm it, and thus would face punishment from Skinner. At the trial, the jury consists of 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...
, Skinner, Hans Moleman
Hans Moleman
Hans Moleman is a recurring character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta, and first appeared in the episode "Principal Charming". He normally appears in a running gag, where he usually suffers unfortunate, nearly fatal, events...
, 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...
, Helen Lovejoy, Jasper, Patty, Apu
Apu Nahasapeemapetilon
Apu Nahasapeemapetilon is a character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Hank Azaria and first appeared in the episode "The Telltale Head". Apu is the proprietor of the Kwik-E-Mart, a popular convenience store in Springfield, and a friend of Homer Simpson. He is also...
and Akira. Homer votes against the others, but only because he wants to create a deadlock
Deadlock
A deadlock is a situation where in two or more competing actions are each waiting for the other to finish, and thus neither ever does. It is often seen in a paradox like the "chicken or the egg"...
so that the jury is sequestered
Sequestration (law)
Sequestration is the act of removing, separating, or seizing anything from the possession of its owner under process of law for the benefit of creditors or the state.-Etymology:...
at a hotel with free room service and cable television, which he succeeds. In court, Lisa convinces Bart to testify, and Bart tells everyone that Freddy did not assault the waiter, but that the waiter injured himself in a series of clumsy actions. The offended waiter attempts to deny that he is clumsy, but in the process, he trips over a chair which causes him to fall out of the window into an open-roof truck filled with rat traps, thus proving that he is highly clumsy. Freddy is cleared of all charges, and Skinner, although praising Bart for being honest and coming forward, reminds him that this does not change the fact that he skipped school. Despite Bart's logical argument that his act of selflessness nullifies his misbehavior and that leaving him in peace would be the fairest thing to do, Skinner is unmoved and not only proceeds to coldly gives Bart three months detention, but then increases his punishment to four months for nothing more than the pride of annoying Bart.
Production
"The Boy Who Knew Too Much" was written by John SwartzwelderJohn Swartzwelder
John Swartzwelder is an American comedy writer and novelist, best known for his work on the animated television series The Simpsons, as well as a number of novels. He is credited with writing the largest number of Simpsons episodes by a large margin...
and directed by Jeffrey Lynch
Jeffrey Lynch
Jeffrey Lynch is an American animator and graphic artist. He has worked as an animation director on The Simpsons and Futurama, and as an assistant director on Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man 3 and The Iron Giant....
. Executive producer David Mirkin
David Mirkin
David Mirkin is an American feature film and television director, writer and producer. Mirkin grew up in Philadelphia and intended to become an electrical engineer, but abandoned this career path in favor of studying film at Loyola Marymount University. After graduating, he became a stand-up...
"loved" that the whole situation of Bart seeing the waiter injure himself and not telling the truth ties together with the Homer plot in that it causes Homer to get jury duty and then only caring about going to the hotel. Mirkin thought it "worked really well". The new character Freddy was voiced by The Simpsons cast member Dan Castellaneta
Dan 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,...
, who also provides the voice of Mayor Quimby. Freddy was given the same type of cheekbones and nose as Quimby to make them resemble each other. When Bart is fleeing from Skinner, a shot of Bart running down a hill from the season four episode "Kamp Krusty
Kamp Krusty
"Kamp Krusty" is the first episode of The Simpsons fourth season, which originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on September 24, 1992. During summer vacation, the children of Springfield attend Kamp Krusty, a summer camp named after Krusty the Clown. The camp is extremely...
" was re-used. At the release of season five on DVD, a review described the image as possibly the "best the series has ever looked on DVD". However, "The Boy Who Knew Too Much" was one of the few episodes in which technical issues still remained; for example, Bart and Lisa's image was fuzzy toward the beginning, and the episode featured for the last time "some of the hand drawn dimensions that would be eliminated once the show switched over to digital compositing and desktop cartoon creation".
Cultural references
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
on a raft going down a river in Springfield. Mirkin said Swartzwelder had always enjoyed putting presidents into his jokes, and this was only one of his many references to Lincoln. The scene of Skinner chasing Bart borrows heavily from the film Westworld
Westworld
Westworld is a 1973 science fiction-thriller film written and directed by novelist Michael Crichton and produced by Paul Lazarus III. It stars Yul Brynner as a lifelike robot in a futuristic Western-themed amusement park, and Richard Benjamin and James Brolin as guests of the park.Westworld was the...
, especially the scene with Skinner walking across the river. The Simpsons director David Silverman
David Silverman
David Silverman is an animator best known for directing numerous episodes of the animated TV series The Simpsons, as well as The Simpsons Movie...
said Lynch and his fellow director Brad Bird
Brad Bird
Phillip Bradley "Brad" Bird is an Academy Award-winning American director, voice actor, animator and screenwriter. He is best known for writing and directing Disney/Pixar's The Incredibles and Ratatouille . He also adapted and directed the critically acclaimed 2D animated 1999 Warner Brothers...
took "a long, hard look" at Westworld to make sure the animation in the scenes resembled the film as much as possible. Mirkin said of the Westworld parody: "Again, to show you what a collaboration this is, we had the animators looking at Westworld and making sure of the animation, and then we made sure that [The Simpsons composer] Alf Clausen
Alf Clausen
Alf Clausen is an American film and television composer. He is best known for his work scoring many episodes of The Simpsons, of which he has been the sole composer since 1990...
got the brilliant soundtrack from the film. He put in a lot of touches that really made the soundtracks identical." Bart's claim to film star and recurring character on The Simpsons Rainier Wolfcastle (a parody of Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
) that his "last movie really sucked" and Chief Wiggum's subsequent claim of "magic ticket, my ass" are in reference to Last Action Hero
Last Action Hero
Last Action Hero is a 1993 American action-comedy-fantasy film directed and produced by John McTiernan. It is a satire of the action genre and its clichés, containing several parodies of action films in the form of films within the film....
, a Schwarzenegger film featuring magic tickets that was panned by critics. Additionally, Wolfcastle's wife is named Maria; Schwarzenegger's wife at the time was Maria Shriver
Maria Shriver
Maria Owings Shriver is an American journalist and author of six best-selling books. She has received a Peabody Award, and was co-anchor for NBC's Emmy-winning coverage of the 1988 Summer Olympics. As executive producer of The Alzheimer's Project, Shriver earned two Emmy Awards and an Academy of...
.
The Simpsons creator Matt Groening
Matt Groening
Matthew Abram "Matt" Groening is an American cartoonist, screenwriter, and producer. He is the creator of the comic strip Life in Hell as well as two successful television series, The Simpsons and Futurama....
appears in a cameo as the court illustrator in the Quimby trial. He can be seen signing his name on his sketch. Of the twelve jury members, Homer is the only one to cast a vote of "not guilty" which angers the other eleven jurors; the outcome of the trial ends with a verdict of "not guilty". This is a reference to the film 12 Angry Men. During the trial, Homer sings the jingle of the cat food company Meow Mix
Meow Mix
Meow Mix is a variety of dry and wet cat food known for its advertising jingle. It is a product of Del Monte Foods.-Company background:The Meow Mix Company operates from a facility in Decatur, Alabama, and also produces Alley Cat brand cat food products. Originally a product of Ralston Purina,...
in his head. Jasper, a member of the jury, wants the trial to be over so that he can go home and watch television. He says that tonight on the science fiction series seaQuest DSV
SeaQuest DSV
seaQuest DSV is an American science fiction television series created by Rockne S. O'Bannon. It originally aired on NBC between 1993 and 1996. In its final season, it was renamed seaQuest 2032. Set in "the near future", seaQuest mixes high drama with realistic scientific fiction...
, Eddie, pet dog of Martin Crane
Martin Crane
Det. Martin "Marty" Crane is a fictional character on the American television show Frasier. He was played by actor John Mahoney. Martin is the father of Frasier and Niles Crane.- Biography :...
on Frasier
Frasier
Frasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet and Paramount Network Television.A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier stars...
, will ride Darwin, the talking dolphin character from seaQuest DSV. The new "director's cut" of the 1993 film Free Willy
Free Willy
Free Willy is a 1993 family film directed by Simon Wincer, and released by Warner Bros. under its Family Entertainment label. The film stars Jason James Richter as a young boy who befriends an orca whale, named "Willy."...
that Homer watches at the deadlock hotel features Jesse being crushed by the whale Willy. Homer is later saddened by this, and says, "Oh, I don't like this new director's cut!" Homer stays with Skinner at the hotel, and in a reference to the television series The Odd Couple
The Odd Couple (TV series)
The Odd Couple is a television situation comedy broadcast from September 24, 1970 to July 4, 1975 on ABC. It starred Tony Randall as Felix Unger and Jack Klugman as Oscar Madison. It was based upon the play of the same name, which was written by Neil Simon.Felix and Oscar are two divorced men....
, Skinner picks up a cigar butt from the floor with his umbrella while cleaning the room, just like Tony Randall
Tony Randall
Tony Randall was a U.S. actor, comic, producer and director.-Early years:Randall was born Arthur Leonard Rosenberg to a Jewish family in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the son of Julia and Mogscha Rosenberg, an art and antiques dealer...
does in the opening credits of that series.
Reception
In its original broadcast, "The Boy Who Knew Too Much" finished fiftieth in the ratings for the week of May 2–8, 1994, 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 10.1, equivalent to approximately 9.5 million viewing households. It was the fifth highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, following Married... with Children
Married... with Children
Married... with Children is an American surrealistic sitcom that aired for 11 seasons that featured a dysfunctional family living in Chicago, Illinois. The show, notable for being the first prime time television series to air on Fox, ran from April 5, 1987, to June 9, 1997. The series was created...
, Living Single
Living Single
Living Single is an American television sitcom which aired for five seasons on the Fox network from August 29, 1993 to January 1, 1998. The show centered on the lives of six friends who share personal and professional experiences while living in a Brooklyn brownstone.Throughout its run, Living...
, Melrose Place, and Beverly Hills, 90210
Beverly Hills, 90210
Beverly Hills, 90210 is an American drama series that originally aired from October 4, 1990 to May 17, 2000 on Fox and was produced by Spelling Television in the United States, and subsequently on various networks around the world. It is the first series in the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise...
.
Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, praised the episode for containing "a memorable guest character in the French waiter Monsieur Lacosse, two great slapstick sequences involving the same, and displays Principal Skinner — pursuing Bart across the mountains like 'a non-giving-up school guy', and confessing that in some ways he's "a small man; a petty, small man" — in particularly fine form." DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson thought Freddy Quimby "may well be the most unpleasant character to grace the series — in an amusing way, though Freddy’s edginess makes him less amusing than his uncle. It’s rather startling to see Skinner so rapidly resume his dislike of Bart after the last episode, though. It’s fun to see his superhuman powers in the pursuit of Bart, and the mystery aspects of the show help make it a very good one. Add to that Homer on jury duty for even more entertainment."
Patrick Bromley of DVD Verdict gave the episode a grade of A for its "excellent bits thrown together to make this one, joke for joke, one of the season's funniest". In 2007, Patrick Enright of MSNBC
MSNBC
MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
called it his tenth favorite episode of the show. He said it was a perfect example of the show's "hilarious randomness" because of jokes such as Homer singing the Meow Mix
Meow Mix
Meow Mix is a variety of dry and wet cat food known for its advertising jingle. It is a product of Del Monte Foods.-Company background:The Meow Mix Company operates from a facility in Decatur, Alabama, and also produces Alley Cat brand cat food products. Originally a product of Ralston Purina,...
cat food jingle, and the scene in which Homer discovers that if the jury’s deadlocked, they will be sequestered in a luxury hotel. Homer justifies his decision to be the lone dissenting voice by saying, "I’m only doing what I think is right. I believe Freddy Quimby should walk out of here a free hotel (when he should have said a 'free man')."
External links
- "The Boy Who Knew Too Much" at The Simpsons.com