[The long and short of it]
After reading the premise for this show -- Homer starts a day-care center -- it's tempting to conclude you've seen this story before. Homer stumbles on another wacky wealth-building scheme, Marge objects, but Homer goes ahead anyway. Several theoretically hilarious misadventures with the kids ensue, until it's time to wrap up. Then something brings the plan crashing down, and Homer abruptly calls it quits. Fade to black. It practically writes itself!
Fortunately, things don't go according to that plan.
The story begins when Homer is sidelined by a basketball injury -- the dreaded ACL tear. (The fact that a plausible injury was chosen is in itself a good sign.) While he's on the mend, Homer is confined to the couch and bored senseless. His rescue comes from an unexpected source, when Ned Flanders' baby-sitter cancels, and Ned leaves his sons with Homer for the evening. The surprising twist is Homer actually likes the job, and Rod and Todd enjoy Homer's company. Despite Homer's lax disciplinary standards (he lets the boys eat jelly-and-candy sandwiches, and call him by his first name), Ned is satisfied with Homer's work. This is what inspires Homer to start Uncle Homer's Day Care Center.
The promotions for this episode suggested Homer would spend most of his time as a boor, mistreating the children in his "care," so it was refreshing to see how well they all got along. Homer draws a nifty temporary tattoo on Milhouse's chest, shows his healing knee to Ralph, serenades the kids with torch songs, and generally acts more like a permissive older brother than a day-care attendant. He even succeeds in getting his day-care officially certified -- I'd be surprised if anyone saw that coming. It's nice to see that, even this late in the series' run, lead writer Al Jean found a novel way to approach the story.
The other interesting angle involves Bart and Lisa. Even as Homer takes care of his charges, he neglects his own children, and they're not forgiving. They plot to undo Homer, which is a reasonable reaction, but "Children" stumbles with this development. In one scene, Bart and Lisa conspire to end Homer's day-care career, and virtually in the next scene their plan is in motion. It would have been better if we had seen a few false starts first, building suspense for the final conflict. As it is, it unfolds too abruptly. Furthermore, there was something about their plan to make Homer seem like an uncaring ogre that had an unsettling undercurrent, and this took some of the edge off the humor.
There were plenty of other jokes in this show, although the humor was uneven. Some scenes were heavy-handed, like Carl's strutting after making a free throw, or a shot of Homer's friends having fun while he was stuck in the house. The show's last scene had a perfunctory feel, as if the producers weren't quite sure how to end. Other jokes were right on target. There's a nifty misdirection joke when Homer is presented with a big hospital bill. Near the end of the show, Arnie "In the Sky" Pie narrates a chase in "Children's" funniest moment.
There's an old saying that goes, "The cobbler's children are the last to get shoes," and this episode certainly illustrates that belief. The show itself is, well, "cobbled together" isn't right because there was clearly some thought put into it. It's a mix of interesting plot points and a few good gags that make "Children of a Lesser Clod" a better show than I expected.
Grade: B-
[DYNs]
... CBG is wearing a Muttley [?] T-shirt? ... Flanders has two tickets to the Chris Rock concert? Was Rachel going with him? ... Maggie and the unibrow baby are not seen together? I guess they still don't get along ... ... Homer actually applied for and got official certification for his center?
[References]
"Children of a Lesser God" (movie) - title a spoof
Mother's Day Mothra (movie monster) - Bart's blackboard gag parodies both of these in one swoop
Bela Karoli [?] (gymnastics coach) - girls' gymnastics coach at the Y modeled after his personality and looks
Michael Jordan (basketball virtuoso) - Lenny apes his style -- down to sticking his tongue out -- when going for the dunk - he also says he's "Air Lenny" (cf. "Air Jordan")
"The Jetsons" (TV series) - during Homer's daydream, George Jetson bumps into his leg - Homer says "Jetson!" like Homer's boss Mr. Spaceley
~Sci-Fi (cable TV network) - Homer slam-dunking the planet Saturn similar to one that airs on this network, showing a basketball player dunking in space
"Dr. Dolittle" (children's book and movie) - Homer rents "Dr. Screwlittle" at the hospital
[Previous Episode References]
[2F05] Springfield YMCA seen [4F22], [AABF15] The rich socialite woman appears [CABF14] Mr. Teeny subtitled
[FFF]
YMCA sign:
SPRINGFIELD YMCA
NOW 30 PERCENT
LESS STANK!Sign at Abe's basketball league:
OVER
85
BASKETBALL
LEAGUEBanner at Lisa's class:
YMCA
GYMNASTICS CLASSWriting on the blackboard:
The
Proper
Young
Man
======Sign at Homer's basketball league:
OVER 35
BASKETBALL
LEAGUEFlanders' tickets:
R 2 G
O 6 A E
W D N 0
CHRIS ROCK V . 0
IN A 5
CONCERT N A 4
C D 0
E M 1
5 I
0 N The vertically-running writing should actually be rotated ninety
degrees to the left. Also, on Flanders' second ticket, the words
"SEAT FLO" can be seen in the spot above where the "50" is on
the first ticket. The two ticket number might also be different,
but I had a hard time deciphering them.Bill Cosby's show:
KIDS SAY
THE
DARNDEST
THINGSHomer's day-care sign:
[balloons] UNCLE [balloons]
HOMER'S
DAY CARE
CENTERMARGE SIMPSON, OWNER
"UNCLE HOMER'S ..." is in color, the "MARGE SIMPSON ..." part
is in smaller black lettering.Milhouse's tattoo:
[Homer on vintage cruiser]
HOMER RULES
Teamsters' "quiet" sign:
QUIET
TEAMSTERS [man sleeping on]
NEED THEIR [ pile of boxes ]
SLEEPAwards show sign:
THE
GOOD GUY
AWARDS"POINTLESS" -- N. Y. TIMES
The reason Skinner couldn't make it:
HAVING MINOR SURGERY
[Oops!]
After travelling to the bottom of the stairs, Bart's skateboard would have had to make a sharp right turn to bump into Homer's foot.
[Personal Comments & Observations]
I don't know if this holiday has jumped to other countries, but in the United States, Mother's Day is designated as a day on which to honor dear old Mom by visiting her (or calling her, if you can't make it in), sending her cards and presents, and so on. Many people, including the man who founded it, think it has been co-opted by the greeting card people to sell those cards and presents. There's a discussion of this in the capsule for "Trash of the Titans (5F09)" so I'll just hand you off to that.
Mother's Day this year fell on the Sunday this episode premiered, so Bart's punishment was quite appropriate.
Mothra, on the other hand, was a campy Japanese science fiction monster. I think he was, as the name implies, a giant moth. One comedian suggested you could get rid of him by building a giant light bulb ...
Around the turn of the century, a Dr. Naismith in charge of a YMCA. It was cold where Naismith worked, and one winter he was looking for a way to keep people active and occupied indoors. According to legend, he nailed two peach baskets to opposite sides of a gym, several feet up on the wall, like the ones at Springfield's "Over 85" league. The goal for the two opposing teams was to get the ball into the basket. This was the start of modern basketball.
When anybody scored, action stopped while the ball was retrieved from the basket, just like in Abe's and Burns' game. Baskets with holes in the bottom were soon introduced, just like in Homer's "over 35" league.
Homer sings "Is That All There Is?", which lyrically is a dark, depressing song. If I remember right the song's "character" is seriously contemplating suicide by the end.
The Teamsters are best known as the union representing truckers. In Hollywood, they represent the people who haul equipment to the set, and schlep it on and off the trucks. The Teamsters have a reputation, deserved or not I can't say, of being lazy, which explains the "Quiet!" sign on Bart's door and the closing joke about the snack table.