Sideshow Bob Roberts

Season 6, Episode 5, Aired
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Episode Summary

Homer has been listening to a conservative radio talk show host. One day Sideshow Bob calls in from prison, voicing his conservative views. The host, Barlow, gets Sideshow Bob released from prison. Upon Sideshow Bob's release, the town's Republicans want him to run for mayor against Quimby. Bob outwits Quimby in every debate and wins by a huge landslide. Lisa is skeptical (as usual) about how he did it, so she investigates. Meanwhile, Homer has problems with the gang from Riverdale. Sideshow Bob imposes a few new policies. For one he condemns the Simpsons' house to help make way for the new Matlock Expressway, much to the delight of the seniors. Second, he gets Bart placed in kindergarten. Lisa discovers how Sideshow Bob won the election: he had dead people vote for him. He admits to all of this when Bart and Lisa outwit him in front of the town. Sideshow Bob goes back to prison.moreless
8.9
out of 10
EPISODE RATING: Great
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Fan Episode Reviews (11)

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  • perfect

    10
    "Perfect"
    By futuramarama, Aug 19, 2011 Report Abuse
    what i liked- the cameo by the characters of Archer, Stampy being one of the pets that supposedly voted for Bob, Bob laughing evilly at the end of act 2 (Look how happy he is!), Bart and Lisa thrawting his plot at the end of the episode and him going back to jail, the satire of the episode as a whole is really nice.
    good episode. great political satire and very funny, like most of Bob's episodes, i loved every minute of it. definitely have to give this episode a final grade of an A+moreless

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    1 0

  • season 6 was an excellent season , this episode tried to kill its charm

    4.4
    "Poor"
    By heylin_prince, Jun 25, 2010 Report Abuse
    season 6 was an excellent season , this epsidoe tried to kill its charm . seriously . i gave this epsiode to many chances . maybe i'd have a change of heart . if you'd ask me i'd watch any of season 18's ( which was a really bad season) than this dumb episode . i dont really think it is a part of the classic era of the simpsons . trust me this is not a good episode . so i'll say it again if you see the name " sideshow bob roberts " on your tv find something else to watch because this was nothing special .moreless

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    0 3

  • Perhaps the best Sideshow Bob episode.

    9.9
    "Superb"
    By joeyissoweird, Jun 25, 2010 Report Abuse
    All the other Sideshow Bob episodes are dull and a annoying thing to see when my DVR captures that recording on the Simpsons. It's boring. But this is an episode I can enjoy since I didn't see it that often. It was funny, and witty. It was a clever idea for Sideshow Bob and not very predictable, except when he admits everything right out of the blue. Well, at least everything went back to normal.

    Sideshow Bob has done it again. He's out of prison after convincing a conservative radio station to help him get out of prison by forcing the current mayor to do so because he didn't want to see so many people probably didn't protesting outside. Well, Sideshow Bob runs for mayor by rigging the election by using dead people's names to vote, and its getting the Simpson's house knocked down to make way for some highway, freeway, road, or whatever it's called with the word, "Matlock" in front of it.a a

    This was a very interesting episode, and the plot just explodes through the episode. It starts right away, basically with Homer driving Lisa to school (at one point she drives but switches back.) We also get a new character which is the host for the radio show. Will we see him again?moreless

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    0 1

  • this was a good ep

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By cube2k8, May 20, 2010 Report Abuse
    in this ep of the show the simpsons there is a radio broadcast show and there talking about politics and lisa is listening to it and she hears the voice of sideshow bob and how he plans to run in the rublican party. and he beomes mayor and he deices he wants to build a overpass where the simpsons house stands. lisa who does some digging learns that how bob got his election all done by fraudulent ways. and he is thwarted once again and sent back to jail this was a very good bob ep i usuly like when they do his charater there always good onesmoreless

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  • Sideshow Bob is back, but still the comedy from him delievers to make yet another great episode...

    9.4
    "Superb"
    By Iverson82094, Jan 26, 2008 Report Abuse
    After getting released from prison yet again, Sideshow Bob attempts to land the only job suited for a two-time felon: Mayor of Springfield. Backed by a cabal of Republicans led by Mr. Burns and the corpulent talk radio blow-hard Birch Barlow, Bob takes on Mayor Quimby in a dirty fight for the job. Fearing that Bob will try to kill him yet again, Bart, with Lisa's help, begins to aggressively campaign for Quimby. All their efforts are wasted, however, when Bob wins and decides to build a freeway right through the Simpsons' home. As the demolition trucks roll towards her home, Lisa does some last-minute investigating and discovers that Bob and his powerful backers rigged the election. Armed with the facts, Lisa tricks Bob into publicly admitting his crime and gets him sent back to jail.moreless

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • Trivia

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    • Music From This Episode "St Elmo's Fire" by John Parr (Used briefly in the scene where Lisa is driving the car.) Edit
    • Smithers meets Bart & Lisa at the "Pay & Park & Pay." Edit
    • We learn that Sideshow Bob's middle name is Underdunk. Edit

  • Notes

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    • Blackboard Joke: None. Couch Gag: None. Edit

  • Quotes

    ADD QUOTES
    • Sideshow Bob: It's high time people realized we conservatives aren't all Johnny Hatemongers, Charlie Bible Thumps, or even - God forbid - George Bushes. Edit
    • Lionel Hutz: Mr. Mayor, is it true you rigged the election? Sideshow Bob: No, I did not. Lionel Hutz: (to Bart and Lisa) Kids, help. Edit
    • Bart: You were just Barlow's lackie! Lisa: You were Ronny to his Nancy! Bart: Sonny to his Cher! Lisa: Ringo to his rest of the Beatles! Edit

  • Allusions

    ADD ALLUSIONS
    • Big Bopper The tombstone for the Big Bopper has a likeness of him with a phone saying, "Gooooodbye, baby." This is a reference to his hit "Chantilly Lace" where the song opens with a phone ringing and B.B. saying "Helloooooo, baby!" Edit
    • Lisa: You get to go back to the fourth grade! Bart: Aw, tomorrow we were gonna find out who the dish ran away with. Lisa: The spoon, Bart. This refers to an old (and nonsensical) children's nursery rhyme that goes, "Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle, the cow jumped over the moon, the little dog laughed to see such sport, and the dish ran away with the spoon." Edit
    • All the President's Men There are several references to the Watergate scandal. Bob's advisors look like Haldeman and Ehrlichman and the overhead shot of Lisa in the hall of records references All the President's Men - a 1976 film about the scandal. The scene where Bart and Lisa meet their informant in the parking garage also references the scenes in the film when Woodward and Bernstein meet with their inside source, who is nicknamed "Deep Throat." In the movie, Deep Throat says, "Follow the money." Here, the informant, who turns out to be Smithers, says, "Follow the names." Edit

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