Mad About the Toy

Did You Know?

• In flashbacks, Grampa recreates the V-J Day in Times Square kiss with a random woman while referring to the original kiss possibly being non-consensual.
• The people in the toy company office behave like characters from Mad Men.
• The Simpson family encounters the Prada Marfa art installation.

Plot

Homer and Marge celebrate their anniversary, leaving the kids with Grampa. Marge insists Grampa be home in an hour, so the couple rushes through their activities. At home, Bart and Lisa are bored and ask Grampa to play a game. Bart finds plastic army men toys in the basement, causing Grampa to panic. The family takes him to the VA, but the doctor cannot determine the cause. Lisa notices the toy soldiers resemble Grampa and asks if the company paid him for using his likeness. Grampa recalls modeling for the original army men in 1947, with a promised royalty per toy. Grampa appears on Channel 6 news and then national headlines on NBC. The toy company invites him to New York City, where the chairman reveals Grampa missed millions because he never signed his contract. Grampa remembers fleeing the photo shoot after the male photographer kissed him; the company fired the photographer for being gay. Grampa vows to apologize. Lisa discovers the photographer, Philip Hefflin, lives in Marfa, Texas. The family drives there, encountering the Marfa lights and Prada Marfa. Grampa stumbles into a gallery filled with paintings of him in uniform. Philip thanks Grampa for helping him realize he was better off being true to himself. They spend time together before Grampa returns to Springfield. In the backyard, Bart, Milhouse, and Nelson play with the soldier toys; Bart suggests melting them in the microwave, which the kids do. A montage of Grampa and Philip is shown.

Production

The episode's story began when executive producer Al Jean questioned why Grampa would keep a photo of Mona in his room. Writer Michael Price suggested Grampa had been a model for toy army men and had a romantic relationship with the photographer, which gave the writers a reason to swap out the photo for a new one for the rest of the season. Director Rob Oliver spent months crafting the paintings for Philip Hefflin's gallery, studying the character to define his artistic style and signature. Oliver’s work was shaped by Peter Max, an artist he met as a child. Bryan Batt was cast as Hefflin partly as a nod to his Mad Men character Sal Romano, who was fired for being gay. Curious about Sal’s fate, Jean and the producers gave Hefflin a happy ending. New York City mayor Bill de Blasio played himself; he was initially approached for a different episode but was brought in for this one when Grampa visits New York.

Reception

Mad About the Toy scored a 0.9 rating with a 4 share and was watched by 2.33 million people, making it Fox's second highest rated show of the night, behind Family Guy. Tony Sokol of Den of Geek gave the episode 3 out of 5 points, stating it plays too far to the inside and tries to have it both ways, taking a circuitous road that goes nowhere besides Texas and New York. Dennis Perkins of The A.V. Club gave the episode a B+, noting the risk of putting the story in Grampa's hands but finding the show's history of finding humanity in the character made the episode work. Texas State Representative Poncho Nevárez tweeted screenshots of Marfa as rendered in the episode, commenting on how it looked in the Simpsons world. On September 14, 2019, the episode won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program at the 71st Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards, marking the eleventh win for The Simpsons in the category and the first time the show won that award in eleven years.