Brush with Greatness

Season 2, Episode 18, Aired
EDIT

Episode Summary

Lisa helps Marge rekindle her passion for painting, after the family discovers some of her old artwork up in the attic. Meanwhile, Homer is determined to lose weight after becoming stuck in a water slide at an amusement park.
8.6
out of 10
EPISODE RATING: Great
262 votes
  • Your Rating: 10
    "Perfect"
  • Your Rating: 9.5
    "Superb"
  • Your Rating: 9
    "Superb"
  • Your Rating: 8.5
    "Great"
  • Your Rating: 8
    "Great"
  • Your Rating: 7.5
    "Good"
  • Your Rating: 7
    "Good"
  • Your Rating: 6.5
    "Fair"
  • Your Rating: 6
    "Fair"
  • Your Rating: 5.5
    "Mediocre"
  • Your Rating: 5
    "Mediocre"
  • Your Rating: 4.5
    "Poor"
  • Your Rating: 4
    "Poor"
  • Your Rating: 3.5
    "Bad"
  • Your Rating: 3
    "Bad"
  • Your Rating: 2.5
    "Terrible"
  • Your Rating: 2
    "Terrible"
  • Your Rating: 1.5
    "Abysmal"
  • Your Rating: 1
    "Abysmal"
Rate It

Watch Online

iTunes
Buy

Cast & Crew

See All EDIT

Fan Episode Reviews (10)

See All

  • superb

    9.5
    "Superb"
    By jmbsonic555, Oct 17, 2011 Report Abuse
    Lisa helps Marge rekindle her passion for painting, after the family discovers some of her old artwork up in the attic. Meanwhile, Homer is determined to lose weight after becoming stuck in a water slide at an amusement park.

    9.5 our of 10

    DO YOU AGREE?

    0 0

  • this was a good ep

    8.0
    "Great"
    By cube2k8, May 14, 2010 Report Abuse
    in this ep of the simpsons marge used to be a good artist and lisa helps discover he passion for it and she starts to paint again as of homer he gets stuck in water park amusment slide.and decideds he wants to lose weight. marge gets noticed and mr burns sees how good she is so mr burns wants her to paint a portait of him and she deicdes not to go trough with it at the end and for homer him losing weight does not really happen . this was a good ep i tought of the show the simpsons back in the early daysmoreless

    DO YOU AGREE?

    0 0

  • decent

    10
    "Perfect"
    By futuramarama, Apr 06, 2010 Report Abuse
    mr. burns true evil spirit is introduced primarily in some of his insults in this episode. marge paints him- the true him, for an art gallery type thing.

    pretty good episode, it's not one of the all-time best but from what i recall of it it is pretty good with some funny parts {like the ending, which is kinda gross, but still funny}, and the plot is decent too. My overall grade would be a low "A" because i think it deserves an A, but not an A+, but i also do not think it deserves lower then an Amoreless

    DO YOU AGREE?

    0 0

  • Burn's evilness is revealed as Marge paints him naked. Go Marge Go Marge GO GO GO GO

    8.4
    "Great"
    By Iverson82094, Jan 28, 2008 Report Abuse
    Homer decides it's time to go on a diet after getting stuck in the waterslide at Mount Splashmore. While looking for his barbells in the attic, Homer notices drawings of Ringo Starr that Marge painted when she had a crush on him in high school. Lisa tells Marge she should go to an art school because she has talent. Marge signs up for an art class at the College and paints a photo of Homer asleep on the couch in his underwear. The teacher loves the painting and enters it into the Art Show. Marge wins the contest, and Mr. Burns wants her to paint him. While at their house, Marge walks in on Mr. Burns nude getting out of the shower. Burns mocks Homers attempt at weight loss, while Marge is angry with Burns. She paints a picture of the REAL Burns she saw in the bathroom. At it's unveiling, Burns is outraged but grows to like the painting.moreless

    DO YOU AGREE?

    0 0

  • Average

    7.7
    "Good"
    By Mywayhome, Jan 25, 2008 Report Abuse
    Season 2 was a strong season for The Simpsons and Brush with Greatness was an average episode. The plot itself was good and a good idea to feature Burns and Marge instead of typically Burns and Homer ,what worked best was Marge trying to find Burns' inner beauty but noticing there wasn't any. Characterizations were pretty spot on in this episode Burns being an angry horrible old man worked for the plot ,Marge remained caring and Homer was nice to see as he tried to help Marge at the end of the episode realize she is talented whilst watching his weight in a good sub plot. Smithers was good in the episode showing loyalty and sticking to his character but other than that nothing else great the mt Splashmore scene was not needed and wasted time it was lacking in the jokes department and didn't have much to praise.moreless

    DO YOU AGREE?

    0 0
 

Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

See All

  • Trivia

    ADD TRIVIA
    • Mr. Burns closet is full of discarded paintings, bronze busts, bas-reliefs, and some weird modern art sculptures-all resembling himself. Edit
    • A sign at Mount Splashmore has an image of Neptune on it and reads: "Caution. You Will Get Wet." Edit
    • Among the stuff in the Simpsons attic are a "Burns for Governor" placard. "Dr. Nick Riviera's Gym in a jar", a football jersey with the number seventeen on it, and a copy of "Gee, Your Pecs Look Terrific." Edit

  • Notes

    ADD NOTES
    • There was a discussion with Fox over the use of the word "genitalia" at the end of the episode. It led to the entire staff signing a letter to the network heads and censors over their use of the word as a part of their First Amendment rights. Edit
    • On the Season Two DVD commentary track, Groening made the comment to Ringo that they could animate him to look like The Beatles cartoon show. He shuttered and bluntly said "No." Edit
    • Ringo Starr originally agreed to do the script when he only had 2 lines in the entire script. When he came to L.A, they expanded his part, and was almost ready to walk out. He changed his mind because he still thought it was funny. Edit

  • Quotes

    ADD QUOTES
    • Homer: I'm a big fat pig! Marge: Now Homer, you do have big bones. Homer: Marge, nobody gains 30 pounds of bone! Edit
    • Ringo Starr: Dear Marge, thanks for the fab painting of yours truly! I hung it on me wall! You're quite an artist. In answer to your question, yes we do have Hamburgers and Fries in England, but we call French Fries "chips"! Love, Ringo. PS. Forgive the lateness of my reply. Edit
    • Burns: You're the fattest thing I've ever seen, and I've been on safari! Homer: If you need me I'll be in the refrigerator! (starts crying) Edit

  • Allusions

    ADD ALLUSIONS
    • M.C. Escher The line for the H2WHOA! water slide is in the shape of M.C. Escher's famous 1960 abstract lithograph "Ascending and Descending". Edit
    • The Good, the Bad and the Ugly The music playing when Homer comes to the scale is taken from the 1966 western The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Edit
    • Burns: Beatles, eh? Ah, yes, I seem to remember their off-key caterwalling on the old Sullivan show.
      A funny reference to the band's first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show back in 1964. Edit

Show Forums

See All
Last Activity
Replies

Watch The Simpsons Full Episodes

See All

Related Shows

Season 2 Episodes

See All
Ep 22
Blood Feud
Ep 21
Three Men and a Comic Book
Ep 20
The War of the Simpsons
Ep 19
Lisa's Substitute
Ep 18
Brush with Greatness
Ep 17
Old Money
Ep 16
Bart's Dog Gets an F
Ep 15
Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?
Ep 14
Principal Charming
Ep 13
Homer vs. Lisa and the 8th...
Ep 12
The Way We Was
Ep 11
One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfi...
Ep 10
Bart Gets Hit by a Car
Ep 9
Itchy & Scratchy & Marge
Ep 8
Bart the Daredevil
Ep 7
Bart vs. Thanksgiving
Ep 6
Dead Putting Society
Ep 5
Dancin' Homer
Ep 4
Two Cars in Every Garage a...
Ep 3
Treehouse of Horror
Ep 2
Simpson and Delilah
Ep 1
Bart Gets an F

Contributors

Become a contributor
More
Less

TV Listings

Full Listings
BROWSE | Shows | Videos | News | Listings | Forums | People | Photos | TV.com Blog

CBS Entertainment | About TV.com | About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2012 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Ad Choice | Terms of Use