(first) The family, along with the couch, are launched by a catapult. / (second) Everyone makes it to the couch normally, except for the now-obese Bart, who walks in a few seconds later and suffers a heart attack.
In this episode, Bart gains weight from eating sugary snacks and is forced to attend a camp to lose weight after suffering a heart attack. Meanwhile, the Simpsons turn their house into a youth hostel to pay for the camp. Albert Brooks guest stars in the episode, playing the character Tab Spangler, as well as briefly reprising Jacques from "Life on the Fast Lane". The episode received mixed reviews.
Principal Skinner is looking for a company to sign a vending machine contract with Springfield Elementary, with half of the machine's profits going to the school.[2] After rejecting suggestions of a gumbo machine from the Sea Captain that seriously burned the Sea Captain's hand and a request box from Gil, Skinner is won over by Lindsey Naegle's suggestion of unhealthy vending machines sponsored by hip-hop artists. Most of the students use the machines (save for Lisa, who protests their extremely high sugar content and artificial additives), but Bart is seen using it the most frequently. After three weeks of gorging on the snacks, Bart significantly gains weight and becomes obese and, during an in-show parody of the opening credits, he suffers a heart attack after slowly trying to make it home from school.
Dr. Hibbert informs the family that Bart is addicted to junk food, noting that malted milk balls have clogged his arteries, and that a wad of Laffy Taffy is blocking his liver. Marge tries to put Bart on a diet, although the family's attendance at a milkshake festival fails to persuade him. Lisa discovers that Bart has been hiding junk food in the wall of his room, and the family stages an intervention. When Bart tries to run away, due to his widened and obese frame, he gets stuck in a fence and is caught by two representatives of a maximum security fat camp, Serenity Ranch. Bart ends up there with Apu, Rainier Wolfcastle (who was last seen fattening up for a movie), and Kent Brockman, and the camp's leader is none other than short-tempered former U.S. Marine Tab Spangler. However, whilst Bart is there, the family is faced with an expensive bill. To pay for the camp, the family converts their house into a youth hostel, which attracts German backpackers, who humiliate the family by making Homer sing and dance for change and forcing Marge and Lisa to clean intentional messes while pointing out America's problems one by one.
At the fat camp, Bart cheats by sneaking food that is disposed of, so Spangler takes him home to visit the family to show him how his family is working continually to appease the backpackers staying in their home, and suggests that Bart fight his junk food addiction. Bart takes his advice and returns to the school at night, where he destroys the vending machines and steals all the money from them. When Bart returns home with the money, which the family can now use to pay for the bill, Homer gets revenge by chasing out the Germans. Spangler says that Bart still has three weeks left of non-refundable treatment, and Homer is forced by the family (presumably as payback for calling Bart a "freeloading fatso") to go with Spangler, where the episode ends with them driving in Spangler's car arguing over the cheeseburger Homer is eating.
Production
Albert Brooks guest starred in the episode as Bart's fitness instructor at fat camp in his fifth appearance on the show. It was his first appearance for almost a decade, having previously voiced characters in the episodes "The Call of the Simpsons" (1990); "Life on the Fast Lane" (1990); "Bart's Inner Child" (1993) and "You Only Move Twice" (1996).[5][6] In The Simpsons Movie (2007), Brooks voiced another character, Russ Cargill. Brooks also briefly reprises his role as Jacques during the sequence where an overweight Bart rides his skateboard through the town mimicking the show's opening sequence.
In January 2005, the episode was originally promoted as the 350th episode of the series.[3] News reports also identified the previous episode as the 350th episode.[4]
Release
The episode aired at 8:30 PM ET/PT immediately following the previous episode.[7][8]
Reception
Viewing figures
The episode earned a 4.3 rating and was watched by 11.92 million viewers, which was the 23rd most-watched show that week.[9]
Critical response
Colin Jacobson of DVD Movie Guide did not like the episode for having a moral message but liked the performance by Albert Brooks.[10]
On Four Finger Discount, Guy Davis and Brendan Dando liked the episode. They highlighted the performance by Albert Brooks and thought the story was relatable from both a child's and a parent's perspective.[11]
IGN listed Albert Brooks as the top guest star on The Simpsons for voicing Tab Spangler, along with his previous voice roles.[6]
↑Davis, Guy; Dando, Brendan (November 17, 2022). "The Heartbroke Kid (S16E17)". Four Finger Discount (Simpsons Podcast) (Podcast). Event occurs at 15:15. Archived from the original on May 18, 2024. Retrieved November 16, 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
