The Simpsons
The Good, the Sad and the Drugly
TV Flash files “The Good, the Sad and the Drugly” as hour 437 of 802 in the TV Flash guide — The Simpsons (1989–present) on Fox, season 20, episode 17, aired 2009-04-19, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S20E17: listed hour 437 of 802 in the The Simpsons guide, hour 17 of 21 in season 20. It aired 2009-04-19 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Eeny Teeny Maya Moe” (S20E16). Next is “Father Knows Worst” (S20E18). Broadcast log — titles and dates, not a plot bible.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
When Bart and Milhouse pull off a prank at Springfield Elementary, Milhouse takes the fall and gets suspended from school. Homer forces Bart to sign in under Homer's name and visit Grampa at his retirement home, and Bart soon becomes smitten with a delightful 11-year-old volunteer named Jenny. Hoping to impress Jenny, Bart offers to volunteer at the home. But as Bart and Jenny's relationship progresses, Milhouse emerges from his suspension and is less than thrilled about Bart turning his back on him for a girl. Meanwhile, Lisa does a report on what Springfield will look like in 50 years and becomes very depressed at the dreary outlook. A concerned Marge takes Lisa to a psychiatrist who diagnoses Lisa with Environment-Related Despair and puts on her on an antidepressant to cure her eco-blues. Blackboard: 'I will not mock teacher's outdated cell phone'.
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Good, the Sad and the Drugly sit in the The Simpsons guide?
S20E17 is listed hour 437 of 802 — hour 17 of 21 in season 20, season 20 episode 17.
When did The Simpsons S20E17 air?
The Good, the Sad and the Drugly aired 2009-04-19 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Where should I start if I am not watching all 800 episodes?
Start with the 1989 Christmas premiere, then a handful of golden-age hours from seasons four through eight. Treat the rest as a library, not a novel.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Watch it as a living joke encyclopedia, not a series you owe from pilot to present. The early years still teach how American satire learned to reset weekly; the later catalog is optional weather. You already speak Springfield. This is how the grammar got written.
The first image is a couch, and then it is not. The Simpsons treats the opening gag as a weekly contract: we will reset the living room, and we will still find a new joke about the country that owns it. Fox put a yellow family on Sunday nights in 1989 after the Tracey Ullman shorts, and the half-hour that followed did not merely popularize adult animation. It installed a shared vocabulary. People who stopped watching still speak Springfield.
Filed against
- Dan Castellaneta as Homer Simpson
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- Nancy Cartwright as Bart Simpson
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- Yeardley Smith as Lisa Simpson
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- Hank Azaria as Moe / Chief Wiggum
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- Harry Shearer as Mr. Burns / Ned Flanders
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