"Podcast News" is the sixth episode of the thirty-second season of the American animated television series ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a Satire (film and television), satirical depiction of American life ...

''. It originally aired on the

Fox network Fox Broadcasting Company, LLC (commonly known as Fox; stylized in all caps) is an American commercial broadcast television network serving as the flagship property of Fox Corporation and operated through Fox Entertainment. Fox is based at Fo ...

in the United States on November 15, 2020. In the episode,

Grampa Simpson Abraham Jebediah "Abe" Simpson II, better known as Grampa Simpson, is a recurring character in the animated television series ''The Simpsons''. He made his first appearance in the episode entitled " Grandpa and the Kids", a one-minute Simpsons s ...

is accused of murdering his girlfriend, and

Kent Brockman Brock Kentman, more commonly called Kent Brockman, is a fictional character in the animated television series ''The Simpsons''. He is voiced by Harry Shearer and first appeared in the episode " Krusty Gets Busted". He is the grumpy, self-cente ...

creates a podcast about it. Brockman's podcast is able to convince the town that Grampa was guilty of the crime, including Grampa himself, who confesses to the police. However, after the discovery that Grampa's girlfriend is still alive, he is exonerated and set free. "Podcast News" was directed by

Matthew Faughnan Matthew Faughnan is an American animation director with ''The Simpsons'' and has directed twenty four episodes. Prior to that, he was an assistant director with the show and won a Primetime Emmy Award in the category Primetime Emmy Award for Outst ...

and written by David X. Cohen. The episode marked the first time that Cohen had written for the series since 1998. The episode guest stars

Morgan Fairchild Morgan Fairchild (born Patsy Ann McClenny; February 3, 1950) is an American actress. She began acting in the early 1970s and has had roles in several television series since then. Fairchild began her career on the CBS daytime soap opera '' Searc ...

as Grampa's girlfriend, Christine Nangle as Tabitha Shingle, and

Stellan Skarsgård Stellan John Skarsgård (, ; born 13 June 1951) is a Swedish actor. He is known for his collaborations with director Lars von Trier, appearing in ''Breaking the Waves'' (1996), ''Dancer in the Dark'' (2000), '' Dogville'' (2003), ''Melancholia' ...

as himself. Series cast member

Yeardley Smith Martha Maria Yeardley Smith ( ; born July 3, 1964) is an American actress. She stars as the voice of Lisa Simpson on the animated television series ''The Simpsons''. Smith began acting in 1982 after graduating from drama school. She moved to ...

, who voices

Lisa Simpson Lisa Marie Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television sitcom series ''The Simpsons''. She is the middle child of the Simpson family. Voiced by Yeardley Smith, Lisa was born as a character in '' The Tracey Ullman Show'' short ...

, also makes an appearance as herself in the episode. "Podcast News" features numerous references to real-life podcasts, including ''

Doughboys "Doughboy" was a popular nickname for the American infantryman during World War I. Though the origins of the term are not certain, the nickname was still in use as of the early 1940s, when it was gradually replaced by "G.I." as the following gene ...

'', '' Serial'', and ''

My Favorite Murder ''My Favorite Murder'' is a weekly true crime comedy podcast hosted by American comedians Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. The first episode was released in January 2016. The podcast debuted at #25 on the iTunes podcast charts and peaked ...

''. The title of the episode is a reference to the film '' Broadcast News''. In its original broadcast, "Podcast News" was watched live in the United States by 3.50 million viewers. It generally received positive reviews from television critics. The episode was dedicated in memory of

Alex Trebek George Alexander Trebek (; July 22, 1940 – November 8, 2020) was a Canadian and American game show host and television personality. He was best known for hosting the syndicated general knowledge quiz game show ''Jeopardy!'' for 37 seasons ...

, who died on November 8, 2020.

Plot

While

Marge Marge is a feminine given name, a shortened form of Marjorie, Margot or Margaret. Notable Marges include: People * Marge (cartoonist) (1904–1993), pen name of Marjorie Henderson Buell, American cartoonist * Marge Anderson (1932–2013), Ojibwe ...

and

Lisa Lisa or LISA may refer to: People People with the mononym * Lisa (Japanese musician, born 1974), stylized "LISA" * Lisa, stagename of Japanese singer Lisa Komine (born 1978) * Lisa (South Korean singer) (born 1980) * Lisa (Japanese musician, b ...

become addicted to true crime podcasts,

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

and

Bart Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is a rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area in California. BART serves List of Bay Area Rapid Transit stations, 50 stations along six routes and of track, including eBART, a spur line running t ...

go to visit Grampa at the Springfield Retirement Castle and find that he has a new girlfriend named Vivienne St. Charmaine, a former TV star. Later, during a romantic getaway cruise, Vivienne is reported dead from a fall aboard the cruise ship, and Grampa, who does not remember what happened, is the top suspect. After noticing the popularity of

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

s in Springfield,

decides to create a podcast called ''Guilty Grampa'' about the incident in order to stay relevant. The podcast convinces Springfield, the

Simpson family The Simpson family are the titular main characters featured in the animated television series ''The Simpsons''. The Simpsons are a nuclear family consisting of married couple Homer and Marge and their three children, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. ...

, and even Grampa himself that he is guilty of the crime. Kent discovers that Vivienne had left all her money to Grampa in her life insurance policy, giving him a motive for murder. Grampa confesses and gets locked away in jail, though later, Dr. Hibbert reveals to the Simpsons that Vivienne is alive: he had been tracking both hers and Grampa's movements via GPS chips he had implanted during their colonoscopy, and she had faked her death and fled to a Mexican resort. Hibbert and the Simpsons then confront Kent with the information ahead of the ''Guilty Grampa'' live finale, and successfully pressure him to reveal the truth. Though Grampa is released from prison, he is upset as he believed that Vivienne was the last love of his life. In the final scene, Grampa encounters Vivienne, who reminds him that he was supposed to meet her in Mexico with the insurance money as they had earlier planned. The pair decide to hide out unnoticed together in the Springfield Retirement Castle until the publicity of the case dies down.

Production

Writing

"Podcast News" was directed by

and written by David X. Cohen. The episode marked the first time that Cohen had written an episode of the series since 1998, when he wrote the "Starship Poopers" segment of " Treehouse of Horror IX."

Guest appearances

The episode featured multiple guest appearances. Actress

appeared in the episode as Grampa's girlfriend Vivienne St. Charmaine. Christine Nangle, a writer for ''The Simpsons'', appeared as podcaster Tabitha Shingle. Swedish actor

appeared as himself. Series regular

, who voices

, also appeared in the episode as herself, host of the podcast ''Small Town Dicks''. She is the third regular cast member to appear in animated form, the first being

Harry Shearer Harry Julius Shearer (born December 23, 1943) is an American actor, comedian, musician, radio host, writer, and producer. Born in Los Angeles, California, Shearer began his career as a child actor. From 1969 to 1976, Shearer was a member of The ...

, who guest starred as

Derek Smalls Derek Albion Smalls is a fictional character played by Harry Shearer in the spoof rockumentary '' This Is Spinal Tap''. He is the bassist for mock British heavy metal group Spinal Tap, playing alongside guitarists Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Gues ...

in the episode "

The Otto Show "The Otto Show" is the twenty-second episode of the third season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It first aired on Fox in the United States on April 23, 1992. In the episode, Bart wants to become a rock star after ...

", and the second being

Dan Castellaneta Daniel Louis Castellaneta ( ; born October 29, 1957) is an American actor. He is best known for voicing Homer Simpson on the animated series ''The Simpsons'' (as well as other characters on the show such as Grampa Simpson, Krusty the Clown, ...

, who guest starred as himself in the episodes " Homer Simpson, This Is Your Wife" and "

He Loves to Fly and He D'ohs "He Loves to Fly and He D'ohs", also known as "He Loves to Fly", is the nineteenth season premiere of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It was the first episode to air after the release of ''The Simpsons Movie'', having ...

Cut appearances

Podcaster and sports analyst

Bill Simmons William John Simmons III (born September 25, 1969) is an American podcaster, Sports journalism, sportswriter, and cultural critic who is the founder and CEO of the sports and pop culture website ''The Ringer (website), The Ringer''. Simmons fir ...

was originally scheduled to have a guest appearance in the episode as himself, however, he never appeared in the episode. Singer and songwriter

Billie Eilish Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell ( ; born December 18, 2001) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She first gained public attention in 2015 with her debut single "Ocean Eyes (song), Ocean Eyes", written and produced by her broth ...

was originally supposed to sing the intro music to the ''Guilty Grampa'' podcast, however, her appearance was cut for time, and the staff of the show never reached out to her about the part.

Promotion

In 2020,

Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

released eight promotional pictures from the episode.

Cultural references

The title of the episode is an allusion to the

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

film '' Broadcast News'', which was written, produced and directed by

James L. Brooks James Lawrence Brooks (born May 9, 1940) is an American director, producer, screenwriter and co-founder of Gracie Films. He co-created the sitcoms ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'', ''Taxi'', and ''The Simpsons'' and directed the films '' Terms of ...

, one of the developers of ''The Simpsons''. The restaurant in the episode, Streami's, features the hosts of

Matt Selman Matt Selman (born ) is an American writer and producer. Early life Selman is a native of Watertown, Massachusetts. He graduated from Beaver Country Day School in 1989 and the University of Pennsylvania in 1993. Career After considering a car ...

's favorite podcasts, including Michael Lombardi from ''The GM Shuffle'',

Karina Longworth Karina Longworth (born July 10, 1980) is an American film critic, author, and journalist based in Los Angeles. Longworth writes, hosts and produces the podcast ''You Must Remember This'', about the "secret and/or forgotten histories of Hollywoo ...

from ''You Must Remember This'', and

Nick Wiger Nicholas Frank Wiger (born August 28, 1980) is an American comedian, improviser, podcast personality, and television writer. He is the co-host (with actor and comedian Mike Mitchell) of the popular weekly podcast ''Doughboys'', which reviews c ...

and Mike Mitchell of ''

''. Additionally, the wall of the restaurant features caricatures of

Desus Nice Daniel Baker (born May 18, 1981), known professionally as Desus Nice (), is an American television, YouTube, and Twitter personality. He rose to prominence alongside The Kid Mero, with whom he worked as comedy partners for over a decade; they ...

and

The Kid Mero Joel Armogasto Martinez (born May 15, 1983), professionally known as the Kid Mero, is a Dominican-American writer, comedian, television host, actor, and internet personality. He rose to prominence alongside fellow Bronx native Desus Nice with t ...

of ''Bodega Boys'',

Sarah Koenig Sarah Koenig (; born July 9, 1969, in New York City) is an American journalist, public radio personality, former producer of the television and radio program ''This American Life'', and the host and executive producer of the podcast '' Serial''. ...

of '' Serial'', Dan Carlin of ''Hardcore History'', and

Karen Kilgariff Karen Kilgariff (born May 11, 1970, in Petaluma, California) is an American writer, comedian, singer, author, actress, television producer, and podcast host. She began her career as a stand-up comedian in the early 1990s and later became a televi ...

and

Georgia Hardstark Georgia Hardstark (born June 8, 1980) is an American television host and podcast personality. She is the co-host of the true crime-comedy podcast '' My Favorite Murder'' along with comedian Karen Kilgariff. In 2018, Hardstark and Kilgariff co-fou ...

of ''

''. "Podcast News" was dedicated to

, the longtime host of

Jeopardy! ''Jeopardy!'' is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead g ...

who died on November 8, 2020, a week before the episode's first airing.

Reception

"Podcast News" originally aired on the

on November 15, 2020, from 8:00 to 8:31 p.m. In the United States, the episode was watched live by 3.50 million viewers.

Critical response

Tony Sokol Tony Sokol (born March 23, 1963, in Brooklyn, New York, United States) is an American playwright, writer and composer, best known for writing the theatrical horror series La Commedia Del Sangue: Vampyr Theatre in New York City. As a musician, So ...

with ''

Den of Geek ''Den of Geek'' is a UK and US-based website covering entertainment with a focus on pop culture. The website also issues a biannual magazine. History ''Den of Geek'' was founded in 2007 by Simon Brew in London. In 2012, DoG Tech LLC licensed ' ...

'' said, "'Podcast News,' named for the comedy drama ''Broadcast News'', is a good parody of the podcast craze. In spite of its similarity to 'Bad Homer,' the episode is very current, a little tricky, and comes at us from a different kind of angle. ''The Simpsons'' have given us stories about Abe’s shady pasts. He's been around almost longer than anyone but Monty Burns, so he has a lot more past to shade. It's to his credit, Abe can bear the weight of the blame, especially at his age. The most frightening concept of the episode, however, is the level of personal information can be gleaned from colonoscopy technology. Filled with singularly funny one liners, 'Podcast News' manages to keep a sense of tension throughout, and ends on a satisfying morally ambiguous note." He also gave the episode four out of five stars. Jesse Bereta of ''Bubbleblabber'' gave the episode an 8.5 out of 10. He hightlighted the murder mystery theme and the appearance of Yeardley Smith as herself. He thought that writer David X. Cohen "exceeded the expectations," and the episode was reminiscent of episodes from the 1990s.

References

External links

* {{The Simpsons episodes, 32 2020 American television episodes The Simpsons season 32 episodes Television episodes written by David X. Cohen Television episodes about crime Television episodes about murder Television episodes directed by Matthew Faughnan