Wild Barts Can't Be Broken

"Wild Barts Can't Be Broken"
Couch gag		A parody of a scene from the film Dr. Strangelove; the Simpsons (wearing cowboy hats) straddle the couch as it drops from a bomb bay door towards the ground.
Commentary	Matt Groening Mike Scully George Meyer Larry Doyle Matt Selman Tom Martin
Episode chronology
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The Simpsons season 10
List of episodes

"Wild Barts Can't Be Broken" is the eleventh episode of the

The episode received an 8.9 Nielsen rating, and mostly positive reviews from critics.

Plot

The

Springfield Elementary School

.

The next morning, Homer discovers his now badly damaged car, oblivious that he and his friends were responsible. Chief Wiggum jumps to the conclusion that the vandalism at the school is the work of "no good punk kids", and immediately enforces a curfew on all of Springfield's children, prohibiting them from being on the local streets after dark. The kids do not react well to the new rules, and soon rally together to break curfew so they can see a 1950s drive-in horror movie which they saw advertised on television, called The Bloodening. While at the movie, the screening is suddenly stopped by Chief Wiggum. As punishment for breaking curfew, the children must clean a police billboard with Chief Wiggum on it.

To get even with their parents and the other adults, the children set up a late night pirate radio show called We Know All Your Secrets, in which they expose the adults' secrets all through Springfield, similar to the children in the movie. They are tracked down at the billboard by

and the other senior citizens trying to get some sleep. To get even with both groups, they take the measure of voting a brand new curfew, sending everyone under the age of seventy to their own homes before sunset. It is passed by a single vote, due to Homer refusing to cast a ballot, claiming "it wouldn't have made a difference". Elderly residents including Abe, Jasper, Old Jewish Man and others have a great time in the undisturbed dusk streets of Springfield.

Production

Cultural references

• The episode's title is a reference to the movie Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken.
• The movie The Bloodening is a parody of the 1960 film Village of the Damned.^[2][5]
• The sequence showing the children taking the equipment to build their radio transmitter is a recreation of a sequence from the short comedy films
  Alfalfa.^[2][5]
• The review Marge reads of Talk to the Hand – "The writing snaps, crackles and pops" – was how Variety reviewed the sitcom Just Shoot Me! when it first aired in 1997.^[3]
• The set of "Don't Go There" is similar to Central Perk on Friends.
• The musical argument between kids, adults and seniors is a parody of the song "Kids" from the musical
  Bye Bye Birdie.^[3][5]
• When
  Infamy Speech
  can be heard.
• In the
  Carl sing a medley of Queen songs consisting of "We Are the Champions" and "We Will Rock You".^[1]
• When Cyndi Lauper sings "The Star-Spangled Banner" it is to the tune of her hit song "Girls Just Want to Have Fun".^[1]
• In one scene, when Chief Wiggum orders the children to go inside, he says, "Achtung, babies!" This is a reference to the album Achtung Baby by Irish rock band U2

Reception

"Wild Barts Can't Be Broken" finished tied for 40th in the weekly ratings for the week of January 11–17, 1999 with a

Nielsen rating of 8.9.^[6]

In his review of The Simpsons' tenth season, James Plath of Dvdtown.com noted "Wild Barts Can't Be Broken" as "pretty decent".[7]

Peter Brown of

Homer Simpson in: 'Kidney Trouble'" as "some of the best episodes of the season".^[8]

The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, wrote that the episode was "a curiously unmemorable episode with a good chunk in the middle. Neither the opening with The Isotopes nor the finale with the rather dire song help this one at all, and frankly, if it wasn't for the superb parody of Village of the Damned, and the kids' revenge by revealing their family's secrets, it'd sink without trace."[1]

In 2007, Simon Crerar of The Times listed Lauper's performance as one of the thirty-three funniest cameos in the history of the show.^[9]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Martyn, Warren; Wood, Adrian. "Wild Barts Can't Be Broken". BBC. Retrieved 2008-08-23.
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} Scully, Mike (2007). The Simpsons The Complete Tenth Season DVD commentary for the episode "Wild Barts Can't Be Broken" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
3. ^ ^{a b c d} Doyle, Larry (2007). The Simpsons The Complete Tenth Season DVD commentary for the episode "Wild Barts Can't Be Broken" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
4. ^ Meyer, George (2007). The Simpsons The Complete Tenth Season DVD commentary for the episode "Wild Barts Can't Be Broken" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
5. ^
   ISBN 978-0-00-738815-8
   .
6. ^ "60 Minutes II Keeps CBS Ticking in Ratings". Orlando Sentinel. Sentinel Communications Co. Associated Press. 1999-01-20. p. A2.
7. ^ Plath, James (August 17, 2007). "Simpsons, The: The Complete 10th Season Special Edition". Dvdtown.com. Archived from the original on February 6, 2009. Retrieved 2008-08-23.
8. ^ Brown, Peter (August 7, 2007). "DVDs: What iF Picks: 'ROME THE SECOND SEASON' ONE OF THE TOP 5 DVDs TO OWN FOR AUG. 7, 2007". If. Archived from the original on 2009-03-02. Retrieved 2008-08-23.
9. ^ Crerar, Simon (2007-07-05). "The 33 funniest Simpsons cameos ever". The Times. Retrieved 2010-08-09.

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to "Wild Barts Can't Be Broken".

• "Wild Barts Can't Be Broken episode capsule". The Simpsons Archive.
• "Wild Barts Can't Be Broken" at
  IMDb