There's No Disgrace Like Home

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There's No Disgrace Like Home
S01E04
Production Code	7G04
Original Airdate	January 28, 1990
Written By	Al Jean & Mike Reiss
Directed By	Gregg Vanzo Kent Buttersworth
Show Runners	James L. Brooks Matt Groening Sam Simon
Special Guests	none
Blackboard Text	"I will not burp in class"

"There's No Disgrace Like Home" is the fourth full length episode of The Simpsons. The episode deals with Simpsons family relations, anger, and comparisons to other families.

Plot

Homer takes his family to the company picnic at his boss's manor. A cruel and tyrannical employer, Mr. Burns fires any employee whose family members are not enjoying themselves. Homer sees that Burns is drawn towards a family that treats one another with love and respect and he wonders why he is cursed with his unloving and disrespectful family. The entire picnic is a catastrophe when Bart tortures the Swans, Lisa drinks the fountain water, and Marge gets drunk and performs a musical number. Bart "goes for it" and tries to win a race that was scheduled for Mr. Burns to win, but Homer is there to stop him.

The Simpsons observe other families on their street, peeking through windows, they see happy families sharing quality time together. But are reported to the police for disturbing the neighborhood, they are even nearly shot at. Convinced that both he and his family are pathetic, Homer stops by Moe's Tavern, where he sees a TV commercial for Dr. Marvin Monroe's Family Therapy Center (he is also threatened by a dog belonging to the police as the dog recognizes the smell of him, but Homer dodges it by saying that he had meat in his pocket). When he hears that Dr. Monroe guarantees "family bliss or double your money back", Homer pawns the TV set and enrolls the family, who are extremely angry with him for giving away the TV, in the clinic.

When standard methods prove useless in civilizing the family, Dr. Monroe resorts to shock therapy and wires the Simpsons to electrodes. Soon the whole family is sending shocks to one another. This causes blackouts throughout the city. Mr. Burns is happy that all of Springfield is "gobbling up the juice". Resigned to the fact that the Simpsons are incurable, the doctor reluctantly gives them double their money back. With $500 in his pocket, Homer takes his blissful family to buy a new television set.

Debut Appearances

Characters making a first appearance in this episode are:

• Eddie and Lou
• Marvin Monroe

Foreign broadcast

• This episode was the first to be broadcast by the BBC, on BBC One on 23 November 1996, making it the first episode to be seen by UK terrestrial viewers (the satellite channel Sky One had shown the program since 1990).
• This episode is usually shown as the first episode of Season 1 on German television as "Eine ganz normale Familie" (An ordinary family) and was the first to be aired on Premiere in 1991 and later that year on ZDF. The German DVD release of season 1 puts it into the US order of episodes.

Trivia

• This episode appears in both Die Hard 2 and the Space Ghost Coast to Coast episode "Glen Campbell". In the latter, Space Ghost and Zorak are watching the episode at the very beginning, and Space Ghost comments, "Er, which one's Homer again? The baby?"
• At Marvin Monroe's therapy center, the family that Homer idolized at the picnic sits in the reception area.
• Lou is not African-American in this episode, though he is later.
• This is the first episode in which Bart says his catchphrase "Don't have a cow," as well as the first time Mr. Burns says "Release the hounds."