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The Simpsons Season 21 Episode 20

To Surveil, with Love

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8.2

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Episode Summary

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AIRED: 5/2/10

Chief Wiggum and the police force become overvigilant and install security cameras all over Springfield after a bomb scare. Meanwhile, Lisa, sick of blondes being stereotyped as dumb compared to brunettes, decides to dye her hair.

Fan Episode Reviews (5)

Big Brother...

9.0

By futuramarama, Nov 10, 2011

OK, first off, I find the hatred of the song in the opening credits hilarious. People calling it one of the worst things the show has done... really? Makes me laugh.

Anyways, this episode wasn't very interesting, at least not until Flanders becomes Big Brother to all the citizens, and Bart and Homer find a spot where they can get away with anything. Overall I liked the plot but I didn't like Rod being force-fed hamsters, Cletus' "I do have sex with animals" line, or the ending, which to me, seemed to try to hard to be funny and genuinely failed. But, still good, B+moreless
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Springfield over reacts to a bomb scare and allows a British security firm to install surveillance cameras everywhere. Elsewhere, Lisa joins the school debate team and gets berated because she has blonde hair.moreless

8.5

By meathead704, Aug 24, 2010

With the season winding down, "The Simpsons" seems to have saved the best for last. This episode, along with the previous one, is one of the funniest episodes of the season. The dialogue is razor sharp, the sight gags are terrific and all that occurrs at "Chaos Corner" pretty much speaks for itself. The storyline concering Lisa's troubles was less than perfect. I saw echoes of "The Brady Bunch" there. I was also reminded of a season two episode where Homer grew hair and became an executive at the power plant. Despite that, this episode is definitely worth your time.moreless
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Flanders is Big Brother, and God

10

By doguineta, May 27, 2010

In a quest to find the world's best mac and cheese, Homer accidentally leaves his sports bag after leaving it Shelbyville. That would be OK, if Burns hadn't made Smithers inserts some plutonium there. A woman, freaked out, shouts: "UNATTENDED BAG!!!" and the bomb squad blows up the place. To prevent it from happening again, Quimby invites some British guy who after showing how strict security is in England, decides to do it there. (Shary bobbins was in the montage, turning into Terminator). Cheif Wiggum wants to use this to watch prevent stuff, but Lou tells him to live the job to the kind citizens. After a while every volunteer left, leaving only Marge & Ned. Lisa joins debate team, after the debate teacher sees her arguing with Doris. But she is not taken seriously because of her blondness. She decides to dye her hair brunette and realizes how stereotypical the worl is becuase, like this, everyone finds her smarter than before.

MArge decides to live becuase Maggie was watching a gay bar very similar to Sesame Street. Ned takes over the city when he learns he can talk to people apart from seeing them. While being watched, Bart decided to show his butt to Ned, but he can't see it. Bart discovers that their backyard is the only blindspot iin Springifield, and he and Homer charge people to come in. Marge accidentally reveals the blindspot on the front yard, and Ned goes to stop it, but changes mind when Homer tells him he was playing God. It's revealed that the cameras where filming "The american oafs" the most popular reality in England, and the Queen says she'll miss Ralph, becuase he reminded her of his son.moreless
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this was a good ep

8.0

By cube2k8, May 21, 2010

in this ep of the simspons the town has a meeting after they blow up a building and the bag had a nucler materals in them and then the town voted to have cameras put up everywere so they could help keep the town safe and the cops got people to watch all the cameras and then ned flanders started to talk into the cameras and it got people angrey and lisa joins a debate team and then people think she is stupid even though she is really smart . then she dyes her hair brunet so she is not sterotyped. and so all the towns people coem to the simpsons back yard were the cameras cant see and do all theses illgal things and turns out after homer and ned destroy all the cameris it was reality tv series for england this was a good epmoreless
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Big Brother has a name, FLANDERS!

8.0

By Lauper_Wash_86, May 04, 2010

While Lisa had enough of being taunted for being blonde, the people of Springfield have a bigger problem… Ned Flanders and they can thank Burns for putting nuclear waste in Homer's bag. The bag is destroyed, but so is the plutonium. Now, with the threat of terrorism, Springfield has resorted to Big Brother like security cameras. Of course, since he can't use the camera for kicks, Wiggum gets a group of citizens to work the cameras… unfortunately that includes Ned Flanders. Days past, Flanders starts to bother others' behaviors. Bart soon had enough and decides to moons the cameras in disgust in the Simpsons backyard, only to discover it's a blind spot. Homer and Bart take advantage of this and people come to be freed. Marge isn't happy and soon Flanders finds out. However, Homer gives Flanders a lecture on how the people rather have their freedoms, and they join to restore Springfield to its own sinful self. Lisa had set out to end the stereotypes during the debate rounds.moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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Dan Castellaneta	Homer Simpson, Grampa Simpson, Barney Gumble, Krusty the Clown, Groundskeeper Willie, and others
Julie Kavner	Marge Simpson, Patty Bouvier, and Selma Bouvier
Nancy Cartwright	Bart Simpson, Nelson Muntz, Ralph Wiggum, Todd Flanders, and others
Yeardley Smith	Lisa Simpson
Hank Azaria	Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, Moe Szyslak, Chief Wiggum, Comic Book Guy, Lou, and others
Harry Shearer	Mr. Burns, Ned Flanders, Principal Skinner, Waylon Smithers, Kent Brockman, and others

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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Eddie Izzard	Prince Charles	Guest Star
Marcia Wallace	Edna Krabappel	Recurring Role
Pamela Hayden	Milhouse Van Houten, Rod Flanders, Jimbo Jones, and others	Recurring Role
Tress MacNeille	Agnes Skinner, Brandine Del Roy, Dolph and others	Recurring Role

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (2)
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- Sign seen at Town Hall
  
  Tonight:
  Discuss Terrorist Threat
  Tomorrow:
  Regret Actions Taken Tonight
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- Music from this episode
  "Get Ready For This" by 2 Unlimited
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QUOTES (6)
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- Mayor Quimby: I admit it! Everything I've said about terrorism 'til now was fear-mongering! But today, I monger the truth!
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- Lunchlady Doris: Kid, you've been staring at these gelatin desserts for 15 minutes. Pick one!
  Milhouse: It's so hard to decide. Is the yellow one lemon or pineapple?
  Lunchlady Doris: It's your pet canary; now scram!
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- Ned: I feel a little like I'm the Tom Voyeur to these Huckleberry Sinners.
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- Bart: Blonde guys aren't dumb; they're evil, like in Karate Kid. Or World War II.
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- Chief Wiggum: All right, boys. Let's see the dark underbelly of our fair burg. (Lou turns on the surveillance cameras system, broadcasting the town on the roomful of screens) Okay, we got a litterbug on F-6, double-homicide in progress on Q-20, a woman sunbathing topless on R-15.
  (Wiggum has all the cameras, with the exception of one, switch to Edna.)
  Lou: Uh, Chief, I Think we got a misuse of police equipment on ZZ-99.
  (Wiggum looks, before switching the cameras back to normal.)
  Chief Wiggum: Killjoy.
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- (After seeing Nelson trip Milhouse)
  Lisa: Hey!
  Nelson: Haw haw! You're a spaz!
  Lisa: That's not true. First of all, Milhouse fell because you tripped him. Secondly, spaz is short spastic diplegic, someone who suffers from a serious medical condition. Thirdly, your "haw haw" through overuse has lost its power.
  Nelson: Wow, I bow before your logic.
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NOTES (1)
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- This episode deviates from the usual opening as it shows a music video of the cast performing the Ke$ha song "Tik Tok". The sequence begins with Lisa waking from her bed singing joined by Bart and Milhouse. The video continues from the school bus to various other locales, including Moe's Tavern. Eventually, toward the end, Marge signals Homer it's time to go home and they race back to their house to see the kids already there. They all then sit on the couch, all tired out, as it's lifted by a few men marking the end of the music video.
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ALLUSIONS (3)
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- Diary of a Wimpy Kid
  Lisa is reading a book called Sally Circle in Rectangu-land and the drawings and entries are in the style of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, written by Jeff Kinney.
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- 1984
  The company that installs the camera is called "Orwell Surveillance" and was "Est. 1984", a reference to George Orwell's novel 1984 of which this episode is partially based.
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- To Sir, with Love
  The title of this episode refers to the song by Lulu from the movie of the same name, To Sir, with Love starring Sidney Poitier.
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