Two Dozen and One Greyhounds

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The Simpsons episode
"Two Dozen and One Greyhounds"

The puppies.
Episode no.	123
Prod. code	2F18
Orig. Airdate	April 9, 1995
Written by	Mike Scully
Directed by	Bob Anderson
Chalkboard	"The Good Humor man can only be pushed so far."
Couch gag	Everyone chases the couch as it and the back wall move backward down a long perspective tunnel.
DVD commentary by	Matt Groening David Mirkin Mike Scully Bob Anderson
SNPP capsule
Season 6 September 4, 1994 – May 21, 1995
Bart of Darkness Lisa's Rival Another Simpsons Clip Show Itchy & Scratchy Land Sideshow Bob Roberts Treehouse of Horror V Bart's Girlfriend Lisa on Ice Homer Badman Grampa vs. Sexual Inadequacy Fear of Flying Homer the Great And Maggie Makes Three Bart's Comet Homie the Clown Bart vs. Australia Homer vs. Patty & Selma A Star is Burns Lisa's Wedding Two Dozen and One Greyhounds The PTA Disbands! 'Round Springfield The Springfield Connection Lemon of Troy Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part One)
List of all Simpsons episodes...

"Two Dozen and One Greyhounds" is the 20th episode of The Simpsons' sixth season.

1 Synopsis
2 Trivia
3 Cultural references
4 External links

[edit] Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The Simpsons' dog, Santa's Little Helper, seems to be getting a little too frisky for the family's comfort, and all attempts to tire him out fail. Santa's Little Helper runs off with the family in pursuit. They follow him to the dog-track and find him pursuing a female greyhound racer, named She's the Fastest. The two quickly fall in love and the dog's owner gives her to the family, noting that once a dog falls in love, they lose their "racing spirit".

Santa's Little Helper and his "girlfriend" share various romantic experiences and one day, to the surprise of the family, she gives birth to 25 puppies. The puppies seem to be very cute and cuddly, but are also very troublesome to the entire family: savaging all of Bart's socks, stealing Homer's snacks, and (apparently) soiling the floor nonstop. Homer and Marge decide find new homes for the puppies, much to the dismay of Bart and Lisa. They convince Marge to give the puppies one more chance, but at the end of a near-perfect dinner party, the puppies pop out of the turkey, horrifying and disgusting the guests.

The next day, The family sets out to find homes for the puppies. However, the puppies don't like to be separated. Marge wonders how they will find someone who is able to care for 25 puppies when, Mr. Burns arrives and offers to let them live in his mansion. The family question his motives, but as they do so Burns and Smithers steal the dogs (when the family's back is turned).

Bart and Lisa manage to track the puppies to Burns' mansion where they spy on him through a window. He seems to be treating the puppies well, giving them a bath as Bart and Lisa arrive. He even picks a puppy who can stand on his hind legs as his favorite, a feat which somehow reminds him of actor Rory Calhoun, and names him "Little Monty". Just as Bart and Lisa think they might have been wrong about Burns, he walks into the next room and loads a gun, preparing to kill the puppies to make a tuxedo out of them.

Bart and Lisa sneak in the window and attempt to escape with the puppies down the laundry chute by tossing Bart's socks down and letting the puppies follow. However, Burns is waiting for them at the bottom. As Burns is about the kill the dogs, Bart grabs Little Monty from Burns' hands and places him with the other pups, hoping that Burns won't kill the dogs if he can't tell which is Little Monty. However, Burns tells him to stand up and he does. As Burns bends down to pick up Little Monty, Bart sees Mr. Burns' socks on a clothesline. As he reels the socks above the dogs, they see the socks and all of them stand up. Burns can't tell which is Little Monty, so he prepares to shoot them all. But the standing dogs are too cute for him to kill. He also renounces killing Bart and Lisa as they are standing on their hind legs "like a couple of little Rory Calhouns". Emotionally touched, he resigns himself never again to wear fur or to kill another animal (that can do an amusing trick). He buys them all and raises them as racing dogs. Later, it is learned that the 25 greyhounds all became world champions, winning millions of dollars in winnings for Burns. The episode ends with Marge reacting to a shadow of what looks like Homer hanging himself over the loss of the dogs, but Homer is actually batting a light bulb in the basement until it smacks him in the head and burns out.

[edit] Trivia

The puppies are named Rover, Fido, Rex, Spot, Rover II, Fido II, Rex II, Cleo, Dave, Jay, Paul, Branford, Dave II, Jay II, Paul II, Branford II, Sleepy, Dopey, Grumpy, Donner, Blitzen, Grumpy II, King, Queenie, Prince and The Puppy Formerly Known As Prince. (Note that this adds up to 26 puppies, instead of 25. All of them are males except Cleo and Queenie.)
The scene where Santa's Little Helper is having sex with She's The Fastest was originally supposed to be shown in full, but the networks complained. On all Fox network broadcasts, the sex scene was replaced with a frozen shot of the Simpson family in the stands reacting to it. All other broadcasts in North America (including syndication and the DVD version), however, reframe the original scene to only have Santa's Little Helper shown from the shoulders up as he's mounting She's The Fastest for a few seconds, in such a way that someone could barely tell he'd caught her. Apparently, some TV broadcasts in New Zealand have shown the full sex scene (which was originally an animatic that was never put to animation until after the episode aired, according to the DVD commentary).

[edit] Cultural references

The overreaching plot of this episode, as well as its title, was inspired by the Disney animated film One Hundred and One Dalmatians which also deals with a large quantity of puppies which are kidnapped. On the DVD commentary, Matt Groening comments that the film helped inspire the show, especially the scene in which the puppies watch TV. This helped inspire the idea of cartoon characters watching TV, which in turn lead to Itchy and Scratchy, Krusty the Klown, and Kent Brockman.
Less prominent references to Disney animated films are made throughout the episode. The most notable is a parody of the classic Disney production number. Montgomery Burns sings See My Vest, a parody of "Be Our Guest" from the film Beauty and the Beast. The song is sung entirely by Burns except for one line ("Kill two for matching clogs") which is sung by a female maid (in the only shot in which she appears in the episode). She has often been mistaken for a human representation of Mrs. Potts from Beauty and the Beast; however, she is actually a parody of Nanny from 101 Dalmatians.
The scene in which Santa's Little Helper courts She's the Fastest parodies Lady and the Tramp; the two wander behind Luigi's restaurant and are presented with a plate of spaghetti. The dogs unknowingly slurp on the same noodle - unlike Lady and the Tramp, they growl and fight over the noodle.
The greyhounds are watching the short-lived Fox television show "Models, Inc."