Marge and Homer Turn a Couple Play

The Simpsons go to sit on the couch, but the couch grows fangs and snarls at the family. The Simpsons run out into the street, where everyone’s chairs, sofas, and loungers are rising up and attacking their masters. Sherri and Terri (the purple-haired twins) are swallowed by their beanbag chairs, Officers Eddie and Lou are trapped in their police car as the couches rock it back and forth, Professor Frink is attacked by his futuristic couch, and Moe fights back against his bar stools by blasting them with his shotgun. Homer hides out from the rampaging seats in a store called “Couch World”, but isn't safe there as all the couches pile on top of Homer and crush him.

Guest star(s)

Mandy Moore as Tabitha Vixx
Stacy Keach as Howard K. Duff

Season 17
September 11, 2005 – May 21, 2006

"Bonfire of the Manatees"
"The Girl Who Slept Too Little"
"Milhouse of Sand and Fog"
"Treehouse of Horror XVI"
"Marge's Son Poisoning"
"See Homer Run"
"The Last of the Red Hat Mamas"
"The Italian Bob"
"Simpsons Christmas Stories"
"Homer's Paternity Coot"
"We're on the Road to D'ohwhere"
"My Fair Laddy"
"The Seemingly Never-Ending Story"
"Bart Has Two Mommies"
"Homer Simpson, This Is Your Wife"
"Million Dollar Abie"
"Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore"
"The Wettest Stories Ever Told"
"Girls Just Want to Have Sums"
"Regarding Margie"
"The Monkey Suit"
"Marge and Homer Turn a Couple Play"

List of all The Simpsons episodes

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“Marge and Homer Turn a Couple Play” is the 22nd episode of the 17th season of The Simpsons that was originally broadcast on May 21, 2006. It was the finale for the seventeenth season.

[edit] Plot

Open to the family watching a cop drama. As the credits roll, Kent Brockman announces that the Springfield Isotopes are in first place thanks to their new acquisition of Buck “Home run King” Mitchell. “To the bandwagon!” shouts Homer, as they all head to Springfield Stadium. Tabitha Vixx, Buck Mitchell’s pop star wife, sings the first few bars of the American national anthem at the game, then strips down to lingerie and launches into one of her own songs. After a minute of lascivious dancing, she concludes “...and the home of the brave.” Buck, humiliated, delivers a terrible performance at that night’s game. He later sees Homer and Marge kissing on the Jumbotron; later that night Buck shows up at the Simpsons’ front door and asks for help with his marriage in exchange for season tickets.

Marge doubts their ability to counsel another couple. Her doubts lead to her and Homer flirting, which Buck sees and claims is an example of what he wants with his own wife. At the first session—taking place in the Simpsons’ living room—Buck confesses he assumed Tabitha would give up her recording career to focus on his minor league baseball career, to which she responds she won’t stay in a mismatched marriage. The session concludes with Homer asking Buck to sign dozens of baseballs, which pour virtually endlessly from the bag.

The next session takes place at Buck and Tabitha’s mansion and goes much more smoothly. As a result of his now-steady personal life, Buck's game returns to superior form. Tabitha continues her singing tour, and Homer comes to meet her in her dressing room to check up on things. There he gives her a neck rub; her loud moans and Homer's praise of the fried chicken he is eating are overheard through the door by Buck, who misinterprets them and barges in enraged and slugs Homer.

Now with his marriage again on the rocks, Buck goes into another slump. Homer wants to get them back together, but Marge refuses to help. He leaves, and a few minutes later Tabitha knocks on the door; she tells a shocked Marge that she plans to leave Buck for good. Marge objects, insisting they stay together.

Flash to Buck Mitchell at the plate in the bottom of the ninth. Homer has hijacked the Duff blimp and spells out a message to Buck, supposedly from Tabitha proclaiming her love. Buck, reinvigorated, hits the ball into the blimp itself, causing it to crash into the field; as Homer alone runs from the wreckage, Buck realizes Tabitha had no part in the message. He charges Homer, bat in hand, but Marge delivers a monologue over the Jumbo-Vision, dissuading him. Tabitha then comes on the Jumbo-Vision to tell Buck she wants to stay together.

The episode closes with another Isotope player, Tito, saying he doesn’t care about the healed marriage because bandits just kidnapped his mother.

[edit] Cultural references

One of the misplays that Buck made during the first game in this episode is a parody of Bill Buckner’s infamous error in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series.
The song Tabitha sings when she is first introduced, Trouble-Listic, sounds very similar to Britney Spears’ Toxic.
The show they are watching is called Hunch and seems to be a poke at the television show Monk. In fact, the first name of the “actor” on Hunch is Tony which is the real life first name of Monk’s main actor Tony Shalhoub.
Hunch also seems to be a bit controversial, in the same vein as NYPD Blue if Bart’s comment about Hunch’s butt in the shower is accurate.
Bart's comment about seeing Hunch's butt in the shower is a line displaying how the writers of the show are annoyed with the fact they the can no longer show animated buttocks uncensored on the show, even though they could in the past.
At the end credits for Hunch, the city of New York is credited as being played by the city of Lethbridge, Alberta, a small city between Calgary (hometown of episode writer Joel H. Cohen) and the USA/Canadian border of approximately 80,000 inhabitants. A strange choice to film a prime time crime drama, although Canada has become a popular filming location for many American movies and some television. This was shown in “The Bart Wants What It Wants.”
Among the people credited in the cast of Hunch are The Late George C. Scott as Furious Bowler, Anthony Hopkins as Bystander #2, Gwyneth Paltrow as Gloria Huncharella and Heidi Klum as Guy Who Turned Out To Be That Other Guy. J.D. Salinger, author of The Catcher in the Rye, is credited as the writer.
The file photo of Marge and Homer references Michelangelo’s famous Pietà.
Tabitha’s frequent pole-dancing could be a reference to Anna Benson. It should be interesting to note that both Tabitha and Anna married baseball players.
The font of the words behind Tabitha during the pole dancing scene (vows, monogamy, etc.) is similar to the font in the Korova Milk Bar in Stanley Kubrick's rendition of A Clockwork Orange.
Homer asks “Why couldn’t you marry one of your crummy back-up dancers?”, a reference to notable singers marrying back-up dancers, such as Britney Spears marrying Kevin Federline, and Jennifer Lopez marrying Cris Judd.
When the zeppelin is above the stadium and showing the text “I love you Buck,” the announcer is saying “Said zeppelin has a whole lotta love.” as a reference to Led Zeppelin song “Whole Lotta Love.”
After accidentally destroying Homer's dirigible with a home run swing, Buck remarks, "This is the worst blimp crash ever," to which Grampa Simpson replies, "Too soon!" This is a reference to the Hindenburg Disaster. This event was also referenced by Kent Brockman in Lisa the Beauty Queen, who after witnessing Barney crash the Duff Blimp exclaimed, "Oh, the humanity!" a la Herbert Morrison.
Tabitha’s Record Company is Paylola Records, a reference to the Payola hearings.
The magazine that Marge holds up has a picture of an old Krusty on the cover. The picture is the exact way the future Krusty looked in the episode "Lisa's Wedding", which is a reference to Groucho Marx as he appeared in his later years.
Showing disapproval to the bad play of Buck Mitchell, Homer Simpson throws various batteries onto the field. A similar incident happened during a baseball game between the Philadelphia Phillies and St. Louis Cardinals in 1999. Phillies fans, upset at former draft pick and highly touted prospect J.D. Drew for not signing with the Phillies for less than 10 million dollars, threw batteries at Drew when the Cardinals (Drew's team at the time) played a game in Philadelphia.