When a position opens at Springfield Nuclear Power Plant by the enforced retirement of Jack Marley after 45 years of service, Marge decides to apply for the position to pay for expensive repairs for the foundation of the Simpsons house. Mr. Burns is enchanted by Marge. He promotes her ahead of Homer's position, but when she tells him that she is married he fires her from her position and sexually harasses her. She threatens a lawsuit and enlists the help of Lionel Hutz, who is completely unsuccessful and flees from Burns' army of real lawyers; but Burns yields after Homer defends his wife. Homer and Marge enjoy a private show performed by the singer Tom Jones, who is being held captive by Burns following Marge's revelation that she is a fan of Jones's music.
Meanwhile, Bart, after making several excuses to avoid taking a test, is forced to take the test by his teacher, Edna Krabappel. She places him alone outside the classroom, hands him the test, and leaves. A captive wolf escapes from a taping of The Krusty the Clown Show and attacks Bart outside the classroom. He cries "Wolf!" but Edna, who advised him to read "The Boy Who Cried Wolf", ignores him. Groundskeeper Willie rescues Bart by fighting the wolf, giving Bart time to return to his classroom. Since he feels that he will not be believed if he tells the truth, Bart says, with apparent honesty, that he made up the story. He then passes out and Edna realizes that Bart really was attacked.
Production
Singer Tom Jones guest stars and Marge is revealed as a huge fan.
The idea for the show came from Conan O'Brien, who thought of Marge getting a job at the power plant and that Mr. Burns has a crush on her.[1] The animators had trouble animating Marge with the suit and lipstick.[2] Director Jeff Lynch said there were a few scenes where Marge "looks like a monster".[2] All the jargon used by Troy McClure was taken from a Time–Life foundation repair book and used accurately.[3] The original subplot for the episode was Mr. Burns telling Homer to dress up as Mister Atom and have him go to schools to talk to the children.[2] The cast really liked Tom Jones as a guest star.[3] They said he was fun to work with, and was really nice, and even offered to perform a concert after he was done recording lines.[3]
The animators had originally drawn three different versions of Bart after he was attacked by the wolf.[3] They picked the version that looked the least scary, as they did not want Bart to look too "beaten up".[3] An animation error during the dream sequence with Mr. Burns also caused issues when dealing with network censors, mistaking a "lump in his bed" as an erection, which was supposed to be Mr. Smithers' knee.[4]
Cultural references
The restaurant "The Spruce Caboose" is a reference to Howard Hughes's plane The Spruce Goose. Homer's fantasy of life in the woods is a parody of Henry David Thoreau's Walden. Mrs. Krabappel asks Bart if he has read "The Boy Who Cried Wolf", and he replies “I glanced at it. Boy cries wolf. Has a few laughs. I forget how it ends.” Mr. Burns asks Smithers if he can dig up Al Jolson.[5] The song performed for Mr. Burns at the retirement party is based on the song and dance number in Citizen Kane (1941).[3] The photo of Mr. Burns meeting Elvis Presley is modeled on the photo of Richard Nixon meeting Elvis.[3] While Mr. Burns is looking through the surveillance cameras, "The Imperial March" from the Star Wars films is played in the background.[3]
Reception
Critical reception
Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, the authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide commented, "We like Bart's fantasy of the radioactive Marie and Pierre Curie, and Smithers' fantasy of his loved one flying through the window. A collection of wonderful set pieces rather than a story, which fizzles out without any real attempt at an ending."[6]
Empire placed the "Mister Burns" dance number as the show's fourth best film parody, "the pick of a big bunch" from the show's many Citizen Kane parodies, coming "replete with Wellesian camera angles and subtly altered lyrics".[7]
Nathan Rabin writes that “'Marge Gets A Job' is just about perfect. There is not a wasted sequence or unfunny gag. It’s head-spinningly smart in a way that doesn’t call attention to itself—like setting the retirement party at The Spruce Caboose, a giant, unwieldy, trainwreck-themed eatery whose name and conceit are brilliant parodies of Howard Hughes’ giant wooden airplane, the Spruce Goose. In its golden prime, The Simpsons did things no one else would and did them better than anyone else possibly could. In the process, it created a legacy that is still unmatched two decades on.”[8]
Ratings
In its original broadcast, "Marge Gets a Job" finished 25th in ratings for the week of November 2–8, 1992, with a Nielsen rating of 13.6, equivalent to approximately 12.7 million viewing households. It was the highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, beating Beverly Hills, 90210 and The Simpsons episode "Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie", which aired on Tuesday in the same week.[9]
Alternate version
In the original airing of this episode, Mrs. Krabappel names several different diseases Bart has faked in order to get out of taking his English test, one of which is Tourette's syndrome. After Bart claims that he is not over it, he begins barking and snarling and mutters, "Shove it, witch!"[10] This scene garnered many complaints from people who thought it was tasteless of the writers to make fun of an actual condition[10] and Joshua Smith, a boy in Renton, Washington began seeking legal action. Smith demanded that they "not repeat the episode and have Bart Simpson befriend somebody with Tourette's on the show" and include an apology from Bart at the end.[11] Executive producer Mike Reiss replied with an apology saying "We kind of feel like we made a mistake this time. We felt bad about this."[10] In a move that was unprecedented for the show, the producers agreed to remove the scene from future broadcasts.[11] However, Smith's other requests went unfulfilled.[12] In the version of the episode released on the season four DVD boxset, the part with Bart demonstrating his supposed Tourette's syndrome to Mrs. Krabappel was kept intact, but Krabappel's line about Bart having "...that unfortunate bout of Tourette's syndrome" was replaced with "...that unfortunate bout of rabies."[13]
Additionally, during Smithers' dream sequence with Mr. Burns, censors demanded the cutting of several seconds of animation that showed "Mr. Burns land[ing] in a particular position on Smithers anatomy".[14]
