Eight Misbehavin'

Plot

The Simpsons visit Shøp, a store that spoofs IKEA, and encounter Apu and Manjula. Manjula becomes captivated by Maggie, inspiring the couple to try for a baby. Using fertility drugs, Manjula delivers octuplets. The news spreads through Springfield, and local businesses shower the Nahasapeemapetilons with free merchandise.

But when a Shelbyville family has nonuplets, the donors redirect all the gifts to them. Overwhelmed by the cost and exhaustion of raising eight infants, Apu and Manjula accept an offer from Larry Kidkill, the Springfield Zoo owner, who promises help if they sign a contract allowing him to exhibit the children. They reluctantly agree, only to learn he plans to feature them in a show called "Octopia" multiple times daily. Apu wants to rescue them, but Kidkill refuses to void the contract, and Chief Wiggum—bribed with free peanuts—declines to intervene.

Apu and Homer sneak into the zoo at night and steal the babies back. They rush the octuplets to the Simpson house, but Kidkill follows them.

Homer strikes a deal: he will perform in the children's place. He rides a tricycle with Butch Patrick on his shoulders, both dressed as Eddie Munster, surrounded by venomous cobras. Onstage, the cobras and a mongoose brought in to control them viciously attack Homer and Patrick.

Production and themes

Matt Selman wrote the episode and Steven Dean Moore directed it as part of the eleventh season. Guest stars included Jan Hooks as Manjula, Garry Marshall as Larry Kidkill, and Butch Patrick as himself.

Jonathan Gray, in his 2006 book Watching with The Simpsons: Television, Parody, and Intertextuality, observed that the episode parodies the "conflation of real time and occasional predilection for time jumps" common in sitcoms, noting that to fit a pregnancy into one episode, nine months are skipped. Gray wrote that the episode offers a parody of how awkwardly time jumps are proposed, how irrelevant sitcom time ultimately is, and the sorts of plots that traditionally fill sitcom time. The title references the song "Ain't Misbehavin'" by Fats Waller.

Cultural references

The episode loosely follows the story of the Dionne quintuplets. The store Shøp is a spoof of IKEA, with its name taken from the similar business STØR.

The "Octopia" sequence features "Drop a Beat" by Moby, "Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns N' Roses, Ride of the Valkyries by Richard Wagner, and "R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A." by John Mellencamp. Homer performs to "Danger Zone" by Kenny Loggins. A picture in the octuplets' room shows Babar the Elephant dressed as Jawaharlal Nehru, former Prime Minister of India.

Release and legacy

The episode first aired on Fox on November 21, 1999. It was released on DVD on October 7, 2008, as part of The Simpsons – The Complete Eleventh Season box set. The DVD audio commentary included staff members Mike Scully, George Meyer, Matt Selman, Julia Thacker, and Steven Dean Moore, as well as guest voice Garry Marshall. Deleted scenes and concept drawings were also included.

Critical reception has been mixed. Colin Jacobson of DVD Movie Guide wrote that despite a silly concept, the episode works fairly well, with its best moments featuring the children at the zoo. Nancy Basile of About.com listed it among the season's worst, citing blatant gimmicks and outlandish plots. The episode has been used as study material for sociology courses at University of California Berkeley, where it is examined for what it tells audiences about American society and, to a lesser extent, other societies.

Homer's line "Kids are the best, Apu. You can teach them to hate the things you hate. And they practically raise themselves, what with the Internet and all" entered The Oxford Dictionary of Modern Quotations in August 2007.