The Ziff Who Came to Dinner

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The Simpsons episode
"The Ziff Who Came to Dinner"
Ziff gets busted.
Episode no. 327
Prod. code FABF08
Orig. airdate March 14, 2004
Written by Deb Lacusta & Dan Castellaneta
Directed by Nancy Kruse
Chalkboard I will not speculate on how hot teacher used to be
Couch gag In a parody of the 1977 science short film, Powers of Ten, the Simpsons sit down on the couch as normal when suddenly, the camera pans out, revealing an overhead shot of the house, an overhead shot of the neighborhood, an overhead shot of the United States, an overhead shot of the North American continent and the Western Hemisphere, an overhead shot of the Earth, the solar system, and Kang and Kodos standing next to a broken spaceship. Soon, many stars fill the screen as they form into the Milky Way. Other galaxies form and turn into atoms, which turn into simple molecular structures, which turn into more complex molecular structures, which turn into DNA helices, which pan out into a blank yellow expanse, which reveals to be Homer’s bald head and returns to the couch scene. Homer stares blankly for a moment, then utters, “Wow!”
Guest star(s) Jon Lovitz as Artie Ziff, Jay Sherman, Llewelyn Sinclair, Aristotle Amadopoulos, and Professor Lombardo
Season 15
November 2, 2003 – May 23, 2004
  1. "Treehouse of Horror XIV"
  2. "My Mother the Carjacker"
  3. "The President Wore Pearls"
  4. "The Regina Monologues"
  5. "The Fat and the Furriest"
  6. "Today I Am a Clown"
  7. "'Tis the Fifteenth Season"
  8. "Marge vs. Singles, Seniors, Childless Couples and Teens, and Gays"
  9. "I, (Annoyed Grunt)-Bot"
  10. "Diatribe of a Mad Housewife"
  11. "Margical History Tour"
  12. "Milhouse Doesn't Live Here Anymore"
  13. "Smart and Smarter"
  14. "The Ziff Who Came to Dinner"
  15. "Co-Dependent's Day"
  16. "The Wandering Juvie"
  17. "My Big Fat Geek Wedding"
  18. "Catch 'Em if You Can"
  19. "Simple Simpson"
  20. "The Way We Weren't"
  21. "Bart-Mangled Banner"
  22. "Fraudcast News"
List of all The Simpsons episodes

"The Ziff Who Came to Dinner" is the fourteenth episode of The Simpsons' fifteenth season. The episode aired on March 14, 2004.

Contents


[edit] Plot

Homer takes Bart and Lisa to a movie and he has to bring the Flanders family children with him, because Ned has taken the senior citizens for ice cream to celebrate the birthday of Jasper. However, at the Googolplex Theatre, every kid-friendly movie is sold out, and after listening to Lenny mention he had a small part in the horror movie The Redeadening as a gardener, Homer takes the kids to see the movie. The movie is very scary, causing it to scare Bart and Lisa at home, who think they hear noises from the attic. But when they look in the attic to see it, their fears scare them away. When Bart and Lisa arrange to have Homer and Marge look in the attic, they discover Artie Ziff living there.

Artie Ziff explains that he was living in the attic because he ran an unsuccessful Internet business, Ziffcorp (an Enron parody), and lost all his money after spending it on many extravagant items. He said he came to the family house because he thought Marge was the closest thing to him. Artie says he wants to stay in the Simpson house until he gets back on his feet, as long as he promises to be on his best behavior. Artie arranges to stay in the Simpson house and his first activity there is to read to Lisa from The Corrections. He then plays catch with Bart, but that goes unsuccessful. Homer then befriends him and takes him to Moe's Tavern, where ironically four other characters Jon Lovitz had voiced in the past sat where Lenny, Carl, Barney, and Homer would have sat: Jay Sherman (from "A Star Is Burns" and "Hurricane Neddy" [in the brief scene showing The Babysitter Bandit from the season one episode Some Enchanted Evening and a John Swartzwelder caricature in the mental hospital rooms]), Aristotle Amadapolis (from "Homer Defined" and "Homer at the Bat"), Llewellyn Sinclair (from "A Streetcar Named Marge"), and Professor Lombardo (from "Brush with Greatness").

Marge sees on the news that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is looking for Artie Ziff. Meanwhile, Artie is playing poker with Homer and his friends, Homer wins 98% of his company's outstanding stock. The SEC sweeps in to arrest Ziff, but Homer says he owns 230 million shares of Ziffcorp, making him the majority stockholder. To protect himself, Artie also blames Homer. Homer is taken into SEC custody, and placed on trial.

When Homer is on trial, Marge blames Artie for Homer being likely to go to prison. She also suggests that no one likes Artie for one reason: he only thinks of himself (this also proven by a short can-can that Artie had imagined, with all the people Artie). Homer is eventually found guilty and sentenced to twenty years in prison. Visiting Moe's Tavern, Artie encounters Patty and Selma, and Selma comes to take Artie to her apartment after he mentions putting Homer in prison. As they spend the night together, Artie makes a plan to turn over his corporate books in order to admit he is the real crook. Ziff turns himself in, and Homer is released from prison. The family takes one last look at their "Uncle Artie", who uses a squirt bottle to put out the prisoners' cigarettes, much to their anger.

[edit] Cultural references

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