"The Longest Marge" is the eleventh episode of the thirty-third season of the American animated television series The Simpsons, and the 717th episode overall. It aired in the United States on Fox on January 2, 2022. The episode was directed by Matthew Nastuk and written by Brian Kelley.

This episode is dedicated to John Madden, who appeared in a 1999 episode "Sunday, Cruddy Sunday."^[3] He died five days before the episode aired.

The episode was broadcast at 9:00 pm EST instead of the usual 8:00 pm EST slot.^[4] The title of the episode is a reference to the 2005 sports comedy "The Longest Yard."^[5][6]

Plot

At the Power Plant, everyone is gone from their workplace, following the sports channel's On the Clock where Anger Watkins is presenting the Springfield Atoms's draft, picking Grayson Mathers. The workers start rioting the town right afterwards in celebration while Mr. Burns and Waylon Smithers are reviewing corporate revenue going down where his liquor company Mr. Gentleman Brandy is having all the losses due to their ad campaign.

To reinvent the brand, the branding expert Warburton Parker is brought in. Ultimately, Burns overhears the cheers for Grayson and he hires him as the new face of the company. The Simpson family goes to the Springfield Atoms Stadium for the match against the Chargers where they find him a complete mess after drinking so much liquor and everyone boos him.

To prove his worth, Grayson is brought to the Springfield Elementary for a speech, but all goes down when the bullies start offending him and he starts throwing books at them. He chugs another bottle of Brandy and passes out to urethra pains, waking up in the infirmary, where Marge Simpson is taking care of him and tells him to slow down. A partnership is then formed with Burns where Marge takes care of his home needs while Burns takes care of the rest.

Marge takes him home for the family dinner where he tells the story of how just as a little kid he was brought in the football career and he tells them how he never sees his parents in person afterward, so Marge starts teaching him how to be in a family and invites him to stay for a while as she teaches him how to use the dishwasher, get his drug test all negatives, go to a normal church, and giving him a birthday party.

At the party, Mr. Burns arrives ready to take him on party night, but Marge stops him by having him rememberhow he has a football match the next day. The next, day his match was a success, but Burns notices how he has become a mama's boy. At home, Marge and Burns start arguing and have him breakdown after they put him on a choice between the two.

Grayson leaves in his Ferrari and then sends Marge a ticket for the Sports Channel's annual awards show at The Draft Pigs Center for the Performing Arts, happy she's his plus one. In the Draft Pigs Center, she finds out that Burns was given the invitation too.

When Grayson is shown for the award for Most Inspiring Athlete, Marge and Burns start connecting instead of fighting as Grayson wins. When Grayson thanks the person that inspired him, he mentions his fiancée Kaitlyn, whom he met 3 days before, that he made his business manager. Marge and Burns find out they've been replaced by her.

Production

John Mulaney reprised his role as Warburton Parker.^[1] He previously appeared in this role in the thirty-first season episode "The Winter of Our Monetized Content."^[7] Sports writer Adam Schefter appeared as himself.^[2] Beck Bennett guest starred as Grayson Mathers.^[1]

The episode was dedicated in memory of football coach and sports commentator John Madden. Madden appeared in the tenth season episode "Sunday, Cruddy Sunday."^[2]

The episode aired in the 9:00 pm timeslot after the series premiere of Next Level Chef.^[4][8]

Cultural references

When an opposing team loses to the Springfield Atoms, their players board a bus to join the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League. The Blue Bombers won the 108th Grey Cup the previous month. The Twitter account of the Blue Bombers acknowledged the nod after the episode aired.^[9]

And Marge gives children's books in the library scene such as Captain Underpants, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and Goosebumps.

Reception

Viewing figures

The episode was watched by 2.02 million viewers, scoring a 0.7 demo rating, which was the second-most watched show on Fox that night.^[10]

Critical response

Tony Sokol of Den of Geek gave the episode 3.5 stars out of five stating, "'The Longest Marge' ultimately plays too safe a game to do a victory dance in the end zone. It works on every level, but not quite hard enough. There are excellent individual gags, exchanges, and visual puns. The premise, promise and preface set up all the makings of a killer payoff, and then it cops out with a boozy Parent Trap scenario which doesn't quite satisfy. The installment almost pulls off a seditious treat when Grayson throws it all away for his trophy future wife Kaitlin, the guru of a faith-based yogurt yoga chain which you eat while doing yoga. It is only a tease, however, to the savage satire which could have been delivered. One Hail Mary pass should have done it."^[5]

Burkely Hermann of Bubbleblabber gave the episode 5.5 out of 10 stating, "It was a bit weird to have an episode where Bart nor Lisa has that many lines, with more lines by Homer and Marge than either of the kids. The guest stars, Beck Bennett (voicing Grayson Mathers), John Mulaney (voicing Warburton Parker), and Adam Schefter were a nice touch. I suppose I liked this episode, but I didn’t really laugh during it. The drama and story was good, but the comedy was dull. I hope that will improve in the future, although I’m not entirely sure it will."^[1]