Today in TV History: ‘The Simpsons’ Revisited Homer’s Doomed Brother Herb

Of all the great things about television, the greatest is that it’s on every single day. TV history is being made, day in and day out, in ways big and small. In an effort to better appreciate this history, we’re taking a look back, every day, at one particular TV milestone. 

IMPORTANT DATE IN TV HISTORY: August 27, 1992

PROGRAM ORIGINALLY AIRED ON THIS DATE: The Simpsons, “Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes?”  (Season 3, Episode 24) [Watch on Simpsons World]

WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: While “Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes” isn’t really a standout episode of The Simpsons, there are two extenuating circumstances that make it very notable: 1) it’s a Simpsons episode from the season 3 – season 6 span, quite possibly the highest percentage of quality in a four-year span from a TV comedy ever; there are no losers in this bunch; and 2) it was the rare Simpsons episode to air in the summertime. The only other one would come a few years later, when Lisa befriended a popular girl voiced by Lisa Kudrow and Homer and Bart decided to strike up a side business selling grease. That episode is legitimately mediocre, whereas “Two Dimes” really only dims because it’s a direct sequel to a better episode: “Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?”

“Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?” introduced the character of Herb Powell, voiced by Danny DeVito, long-lost brother of Homer Simpson and, when we first meet him, a successful auto manufacturer. That first episode details his fall from grace, abetted and accelerated by Homer’s awful decisions. The moral of that story: Herb was an unqualified success … and then he learned he was a Simpson.

“Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes” was a redemption arc, which you wouldn’t think a show as unabashedly silly as The Simpsons would bother going for. But according to the DVD commentary, many fans were sad about Herb’s fate in his first episode, so star writer John Swartzwelder wrote this episode that saw Herb climb back to the top by inventing a baby translator. Though perhaps the episode is most notable for one of its throwaway gags, as Homer is presented with a trumped-up First Annual Montgomery Burns Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence. As far as fakey-fake awards go, it beats the Critics Choice Awards.

[You can watch “Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes” on Simpsons World]

Joe Reid (@joereid) is a freelance writer living in Brooklyn. You can find him leaving flowers for Mrs. Landingham at the corner of 18th and Potomac.

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