E My Sports

Last updated

"E My Sports"
The Simpsons episode
Episode no.Season 30
Episode 17
Directed by Rob Oliver
Written by Rob LaZebnik
Production codeYABF09
Original air dateMarch 17, 2019 (2019-03-17)
Guest appearances
Episode chronology
 Previous
"I Want You (She's So Heavy)"
Next 
"Bart vs. Itchy & Scratchy"
The Simpsons season 30
List of episodes

"E My Sports" is the seventeenth episode of the thirtieth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons , and the 656th episode overall. The episode was directed by Rob Oliver and written by Rob LaZebnik. It aired in the United States on Fox on March 17, 2019.

Contents

In this episode, Homer coaches Bart and his team in a computer game tournament when he learns there is prize money involved. Ken Jeong, Natasha Lyonne, and David Turley guest starred. The episode received mixed reviews.

Plot

The Simpson family is peacefully enjoying some board games with Patty and Selma on a rainy day, which they all find strange until they realize it is because Bart is not with them. Homer reveals that he bribed Bart into behaving better by buying him a gaming computer after Bart jammed the ice cream machine at a mall food court. Bart has been using the computer to play a game called Conflict of Enemies with Milhouse, Sophie, Nelson, and Martin. At Marge's insistence, Homer attempts to get Bart to play less, but when he realizes they are playing for a $1,000 prize, he relents. The team wins, and when Homer learns they qualified for a tournament with a $500,000 grand prize, he allows Bart to continue playing the game.

Homer becomes the team's coach. He convinces Marge to let Bart continue gaming and hires a video game expert to improve the team's video game skills. Homer has a dream where he joins a club of fathers with children who are famous athletes. The team beats a Canadian team to qualify for the world championship in Seoul. Learning that Homer and Bart are going to South Korea, Lisa begs Marge to bring her along to Seoul, seeing an opportunity to fulfill her desire to visit the Jogyesa Temple.

In Seoul, Homer tells Milhouse to step down from the team so that he can be replaced with a better player. At the monastery, the family creates salt mandalas and destroys them. The act teaches Homer the futility of material gain, and he sabotages the tournament by cutting off all power to the stadium. Bart is blamed by his angry teammates for costing them their shot at victory.

On the way home, Homer has another dream where the club of fathers rejects him.

Production

In an interview with The Verge , Riot Games' co-head of e-sports Whalen Rozelle talked about the making of the episode: "As the show is a satirical comedy, we knew they would present their own take. While we were heavily involved as consultants, we were comfortable giving The Simpsons team full control over how they wanted to present e-sports in the show, given their tradition of excellence."

In the interview, Rob LaZebnik talked about the collaboration: "I remember reading that something like eighty million people viewed the 2017 World Championship play-in stage, which is more than the NBA finals. I also watched the Free to Play documentary, and it all felt ripe for Simpsonification.", and how they made it feel like the language and visuals feel "authentic", but also "to poke a bit of fun at some of the stereotypes people have about gamers.", like when the announcer talked about Bart not giving the GG to the other team. [1]

LaZebnik told CNBC that e-sports were inevitable because of the ubiquity of video games and how everyone is online and using smartphones. He said the episode represented a "cultural tipping point" about the future of sports and entertainment. [2]

Cultural references

The game Conflict of Enemies that the characters are playing is a parody of games such as League of Legends and DOTA 2 . [3] When the Simpson family is in South Korea, there are signs that say "BTS here today" and "BTS ARMY recruiting center" in English and Korean, referring to the South Korean boy band. [4] [5]

Reception

Viewing figures

"E My Sports" scored a 0.8 rating with a 4 share and was watched by 2.08 million people. [6]

Critical response

Dennis Perkins of The A.V. Club gave the episode a B−, stating, "If only because of the lessons provided by 30 years of pop cultural scrutiny, The Simpsons’ Esports episode, ‘E My Sports,’ avoids most of the most obvious pitfalls such a storyline suggests. Leading up to the episode, the overlapping group of Simpsons fans and avid gamers were publicly assured that the show had enlisted the folks at Riot Games to ensure that Bart's foray into the competitive gaming world didn't creak with old guy jokes about those kids and their blipping and their beeping, and so forth." [7]

Tony Sokol of Den of Geek gave the episode 4 out of 5 stars. He called the episode "formidable and forward thinking." [8]

The Korea Times had professor David A. Mason and history researcher Matt VanVolkenburg analyze the accuracy of the depiction of South Korea in the episode. VanVolkenburg criticized the used of the M*A*S*H theme music because the television series angered Koreans at the time for showing the country as "poor and war-torn." Mason thought the salt mandalas were only newly seen in South Korea and the Jogye Temple is not known for them. He also said many themes were generalized to East Asia and not Korean specific. VanVolkenburg also questioned why the episode needed to show South Korea. [9]

Related Research Articles

"Marge Be Not Proud" is the eleventh episode of the seventh season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on December 17, 1995, exactly six years after the series premiere episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire". In the episode, Marge refuses to buy Bart the new video game Bonestorm, so he steals it from a local discount store. Bart is estranged from his mother after he gets caught, so he works to regain her love and trust.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lisa on Ice</span> 8th episode of the 6th season of The Simpsons

"Lisa on Ice" is the eighth episode of the sixth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It was the first broadcast on Fox in the United States on November 13, 1994. In the episode, Lisa discovers that she possesses a skill for ice hockey. A rivalry between her and Bart ensues.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Homer Defined</span> 5th episode of the 3rd season of The Simpsons

"Homer Defined" is the fifth episode of the third season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on October 17, 1991. In the episode, Homer accidentally saves the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant from meltdown by arbitrarily choosing the emergency override button using a counting rhyme. Homer is honored as a hero and idolized by his daughter Lisa, but feels unworthy of the praise, knowing his apparent heroism was blind luck. Meanwhile, Bart is downhearted after learning that Milhouse's mother forbids the boys to play together anymore because she thinks he is a bad influence on her son.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Bart of War</span> 21st episode of the 14th season of The Simpsons

"The Bart of War" is the twenty-first and penultimate episode of the fourteenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 18, 2003. In the episode, Bart and Milhouse badly damage Ned Flanders' collection of Beatles memorabilia. Under adult supervision, they are then placed in separate youth groups, but the groups go to war.

"Summer of 4 Ft. 2" is the twenty-fifth and final episode of the seventh season of the American animated television series, The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 19, 1996. In the episode, the Simpson family stay in Ned Flanders' beach house. Hanging around with a new set of children, Lisa becomes popular, while Bart is left out. Bart tries to sabotage his sister's newfound acceptance, but fails.

"Milhouse of Sand and Fog" is the third episode of the seventeenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox network in the United States on September 25, 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bart's Friend Falls in Love</span> 23rd episode of the 3rd season of The Simpsons

"Bart's Friend Falls in Love" is the twenty-third episode of the third season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on May 7, 1992.

"Little Orphan Millie" is the sixth episode of the nineteenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 11, 2007. This episode represents a milestone in Simpsons' history as it sees Kirk and Luann remarry after initially divorcing eleven seasons earlier in the episode "A Milhouse Divided". It was written by Mick Kelly, production assistant to Al Jean, and directed by Lance Kramer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treehouse of Horror XXI</span> 4th episode of the 22nd season of The Simpsons

"Treehouse of Horror XXI" is the fourth episode of the twenty-second season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 7, 2010. This is the 21st Treehouse of Horror episode, and, like the other Treehouse of Horror episodes, consisted of three self-contained segments: In "War and Pieces", Bart and Milhouse discover a real-life board game that they must win to return home; in "Master and Cadaver", Marge and Homer go on a honeymoon on a sailboat, and rescue a mysterious castaway named Roger; and in "Tweenlight", Lisa falls in love with a vampire named Edmund.

"The Daughter Also Rises" is the thirteenth episode of the twenty-third season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. The episode was directed by Chuck Sheetz and written by Rob LaZebnik. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 12, 2012.

"Hardly Kirk-ing" is the thirteenth episode of the twenty-fourth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons, and the 521st episode overall. The episode was directed by Matthew Nastuk and written by Tom Gammill and Max Pross. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 17, 2013.

"Luca$" is the seventeenth episode of the twenty-fifth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons and the 547th episode of the series. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 6, 2014. It was written by Carolyn Omine and directed by Chris Clements.

"Let's Go Fly a Coot" is the twentieth episode of the twenty-sixth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons, and the 572nd overall episode of the series. The episode was directed by Chris Clements and written by Jeff Westbrook. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 3, 2015. The episode's title is a parody of the song "Let's Go Fly a Kite".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barthood</span> 9th episode of the 27th season of The Simpsons

"Barthood" is the ninth episode of the twenty-seventh season of the American animated television series The Simpsons, and the 583rd episode of the series overall. The episode was directed by Rob Oliver and written by Dan Greaney. It aired in the United States on Fox on December 13, 2015. The episode parodies the 2014 film Boyhood.

"The Burns Cage" is the seventeenth episode in the twenty-seventh season of the American animated television series The Simpsons, and the 591st episode of the series overall. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 3, 2016.

"Dad Behavior" is the eighth episode of the twenty-eighth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons, and the 604th episode of the series overall. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 20, 2016. The plot revolves around Homer discovering an app that makes his life easier, and Grampa learning that he's about to become a father again. It was the first episode to be written by Ryan Koh, and was directed by Steven Dean Moore. Matt Leinart makes a guest appearance as himself.

"22 for 30" is the seventeenth episode of the twenty-eighth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons, and the 613th episode of the series overall. The episode was directed by Chris Clements and written by Joel H. Cohen. It aired in the United States on Fox on March 12, 2017.

"I'm Dancing as Fat as I Can" is the thirteenth episode of the thirtieth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons, and the 652nd episode overall. The episode was directed by Matthew Nastuk and written by Jane Becker. It aired in the United States on Fox on February 10, 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treehouse of Horror XXX</span> 4th episode of the 31st season of The Simpsons

"Treehouse of Horror XXX" is the fourth episode of the thirty-first season of the American animated television series The Simpsons, and the 666th episode overall as well as the thirtieth Treehouse of Horror episode. It aired in the United States on Fox on October 20, 2019. The episode was written by J. Stewart Burns, and was directed by Timothy Bailey.

References

  1. Liao, Shannon (March 21, 2019). "How League of Legends ended up on The Simpsons". The Verge . Archived from the original on November 7, 2020. Retrieved June 3, 2023.
  2. Pei, Annie (March 18, 2019). "Esports just made its way onto 'The Simpsons' — here's why that matters". CNBC . Archived from the original on June 19, 2023. Retrieved June 18, 2023.
  3. Zwiezen, Zack (March 16, 2019). "The Simpsons Is Going To Have An Esports Episode". Kotaku . Archived from the original on June 19, 2023. Retrieved June 18, 2023.
  4. Krol, Charlotte (March 18, 2019). "There's a nod to BTS in a new episode of 'The Simpsons'". NME . Archived from the original on June 19, 2023. Retrieved June 18, 2023.
  5. Benjamin, Jeff (March 18, 2019). "BTS Get a Shout-Out On 'The Simpsons'". Billboard . Archived from the original on June 19, 2023. Retrieved June 18, 2023.
  6. Welch, Alex (March 19, 2019). "'Good Girls,' 'God Friended Me,' 'The Simpsons,' everything else unchanged: Sunday final ratings". TV by the Numbers . Archived from the original on March 27, 2019. Retrieved March 19, 2019.
  7. Perkins, Dennis (March 17, 2019). "Bart's Esports career makes for an intriguing but disappointing Simpsons family journey". The A.V. Club . Archived from the original on October 18, 2020. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
  8. Sokol, Tony (March 18, 2019). "The Simpsons Season 30 Episode 17 Review: E My Sports". Den of Geek . Archived from the original on September 30, 2023. Retrieved June 18, 2023.
  9. Dunbar, Jon (March 19, 2019). "Simpsons' visit to Jogye Temple misses mark". The Korea Times . Hankook Ilbo . Retrieved March 26, 2019.