7G11 - Life on the Fast Lane (March 18, 1990)

Summary: Homer gives Marge a bowling ball for her birthday, leading her to take up bowling lessons and consider adultery with her instructor.

References to Time:
- It's Marge's 34th birthday
- Maggie walks
- Homer thinks it's his birthday
- Previous gifts from Homer (tackle box, Connie Chung calendar)
- Homer gives the HOMER bowling ball to Marge, who has never bowled before
- There's a sign for League sign-ups at the bowling alley
- Bart notes that Wednesday is Hoagie Night
- Helen Lovejoy introduces herself to Marge
- Homer once gave Bart advice to keep his mouth shut to prevent things from getting worse

References to Other Episodes:
- Barney's Bowlarama has a sign that says "NEW." In a previous episode (Moaning Lisa?), the news mentioned that it had caught on fire.

SLH Presence:
- SLH is not present
- Homer does not appear to be safety inspector at the plant

Minimum Time Spanned: 5 days (Sunday - Thursday)

Canon: Canon, yes.

Favorite Moments:
- Marge holding the bowling ball over her head and asking "Where do I throw this?" at the alley
- Lisa wallows in stage 5 (self-pity) while Bart is in stage 3 (fear), and thus, cannot help him
- Homer talking about Marge's PBJ sandwiches

Review: Now this is a much better Homer/Marge story than the previous episode. Probably because it has Albert Brooks, and Albert Brooks is great. Homer's PBJ monologue is very touching and one of the best "I love you" moments I've ever seen out of him. A-

7G10 - Homer's Night Out (March 25, 1990)

Summary: Homer gets photographed by Bart while dancing with a stripper at a stag party.

References to Time:
- At the beginning of the episode, Homer has an assistant named Eugene Fisk who made a fool of himself to a girl who worked in another dept at an office party
- Homer is 239 lbs at the beginning
- 6 months later, Eugene Fisk (Homer's supervisor) is marrying the girl
- Homer says the party is "this Friday"
- Every day for the last 6 months, Bart has pestered the mail carrier

References to Other Episodes:
- Bart smashes his pre-smashed piggy bank (Homer smashed it in Homer's Odyssey)

SLH Presence:
- SLH is not present

Minimum Time Spanned: 1 morning, followed by 6 months later, 2 days (Thursday-Friday), cut to 3 days later (Monday - Wednesday)

Canon: Apu doesn't know Homer, contradicting later episodes showing that they've known each other before Maggie was born. So, that part is not canon (although at the moment, it is unrefuted).

Favorite Moment: Bart: "Uh-oh, it's the fe-mailman" Lisa: "Fe-mail carrier, Bart"

Review: I don't particularly like this episode. The premise is very odd. Why do people care so much about the picture of Homer? Maybe 1990 was a different time, but it just doesn't translate well to today. The moral is okay, but the Marge/Homer rocky-relationship plot is better executed in later episodes. D

7G09 - Call of the Simpsons (February 18, 1990)

Summary: After destroying their new RV, the Simpsons get lost in the wilderness.

References to Time:
- The Simpsons own a manual mower, the Flanderses have a riding mower
- Flanders has a new RV
- Maggie walks
- Bart's lucky red hat floats away
- "Last week's capture of Bigfoot..."

References to Other Episodes: None

SLH Presence:
- SLH is not present
- Dr. Marvin Monroe is alive

Minimum Time Spanned: 9 days (Saturday - next Sunday, possibly during the summer)

Canon: All canon

Favorite Moments:
- In an attempt to calm a frightened Maggie, Lisa points out some vultures circling overhead. "Look, Maggie! Birdies!"
- After covering the story of a possible Bigfoot sighting, the newscaster ends with "We now return you to the president's address, already in progress."

Review: This is the first episode featuring Albert Brooks as a guest voice (Bob the RV Salesman). Brooks always makes any episode he's in better. The story is fun too, but not very many brilliant moments. It's an okay epsiode. B

7G08 - Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire (December 17, 1989)

Summary: With no money for Christmas presents, Homer secretly tries to make enough money so Christmas won't be ruined.

References to Time:
- Lisa is in second grade, Bart is in fourth
- Snowball I was run over earlier in the year, so now they have Snowball II
- "Maggie is walking by herself"
- Lisa got straight A's
- Bart doesn't believe in Santa
- Lisa wants a pony, like she's asked for for the past 3 years
- Burns mentions that safety has increased at the plant
- Bart gets a tattoo
- Homer asks Patty and Selma how their trip went (probably refering to their car ride, implying they live out of town)

References to Other Episodes: None

SLH Presence:
- Homer appears to be doing something that could qualify as safety inspector work at the plant
- SLH is introduced

Minimum Time Spanned: 4 days (Dec 21st - 24th, most likely Thursday-Sunday)

Canon: Yes, except for the Patty and Selma being from "out of town"

Favorite Moments:
- Son and father at the racetrack. "Can we open our presents now, Dad?" "You know the tradition: not until the 8th race."
- Lisa's speech to Patty about trashing her father is pretty poetic, especially since Lisa had just finished enjoying a Happy Little Elves Christmas special.
- "I don't wanna leave until our dog finishes."

Review: I grew up with this episode and have seen it many times. So the effects of the episode are a bit lost on me. I know the entire dialogue by heart. However, after having not watched it for several years, I found myself enjoying the episode again. I even felt a little bit of emotion rise up at the end when Homer says that SLH is a Simpson. B+

7G07 - The Telltale Head (February 25, 1990)

Summary: Bart cuts off the head of the statue of Jebediah Springfield in order to be popular.

References to Time:
- Maggie walks
- Space Mutants 4 is in theaters
- Jimbo, Kearney, and Dolph meet Bart. Bart already knows them.
- Jimbo's been kicked out of all 4 Space Mutant movies
- Jebediah supposedly built the first Springfield hospital out of logs and mud during the Great Blizzard of '48
- Jebediah supposedly killed a bear with his bare hands in 1838 as he traveled west (the bear probably killed him though)
- Snowball II is present
- Burns doesn't know Bart
- Sideshow Bob is on the Krusty Show

References to Other Episodes: None

SLH Presence:
- SLH is not present
- Dr. Marvin Monroe is alive
- Retirement home looks nice

Minimum Time Spanned: 2 days (Sunday - Monday)

Canon: Sure, all canon

Favorite Moment: "When I was your age, I pulled a few boners." Also, the scenes in church where Homer is listening to the football game as Lovejoy gives his sermon and the kids harass their Sunday School teacher with questions about heaven.

Review: Great episode. Funny lines. Classic story. Heartfelt moral. What The Simpsons should be like all the time. A

7G06 - Moaning Lisa (February 11, 1990)

Summary: Lisa has the blues and Bart and Homer play a boxing video game.

References to Time:
- Bart implies Homer is at least 30 years old
- Lunch is at 12:00 in Springfield Elementary
- Bart has beaten Homer 48 times at Super Slugfest at the beginning of the episode
- Maggie walks
- Marge remembers how her mother approached her sadness when she was Lisa's age
- Saddest day of Homer's life was when he realized he could beat his dad at most things (Bart experienced this at the age of 4)
- Lisa's the saddest kid in grade #2
- Lisa has band practice...in addition to music class? Band practice for Saturdays, I'm assuming
- The kid in the arcade has had over 2000 fights and is still on his original quarter
- Homer appears to have gone through all his quarters at the arcade before Lisa arrives at band practice. Maybe some scenes were shifted for better dramatic tension. Maybe they happened simultaneously.

References to Other Episodes: None

SLH Presence:
- SLH is not present
- Lisa meets Bleeding Gums Murphy
- Bart prank calls Moe
- Moe's TV is color

Minimum Time Spanned: 2 days (most likely Friday & Saturday)

Canon: All canon

Favorite Moment: Bleeding Gums Murphy's song "I Never Had an Italian Suit Blues" and his quote, "The blues isn't about feelin' better. It's about making other people feel worse. And makin' a few bucks while you're at it."

Review: Nice first big Lisa episode. Not the greatest, but not the worst. Very average when compared to the big Lisa episodes that will follow. B

7G05 - Bart the General (February 4, 1990)

Summary: Bart wages war against Nelson Muntz after getting routinely beat up by him.

References to Time:
- Lisa makes cupcakes for Miss Hoover's birthday
- Bart meets Nelson's weasel friend
- Fight after school at 3:15
- Nelson's in all the same special classes as Bart
- Lisa remembers the fight Grampa put up when they put him in the home
- Bart meets Herman
- Herman lost his arm after sticking it out the bus window as a kid
- Grampa reminisices about the war
- The weasels betray Nelson
- Some sailor-hatted kid kisses Lisa (her first kiss?)
- Treaty: Nelson is never to raise his fist in anger, Nelson recognizes Bart's right to exist, Nelson remains a figurehead of menace

References to Other Episodes: None

SLH Presence:
- SLH is not present.
- The retirement home looks nice (Grampa spruces it up in Old Money)

Minimum Time Spanned: 4 days (my guess is Wednesday - Saturday)

Canon: All canon, except for Bart's epilogue about war

Favorite Moment: I found a lot of my favorite lines came from Bart's fantasy about his funeral, especially Milhouse's joy that they got to miss school for the funeral followed by Homer's joy that he got to miss work. It's a shame they cut this part out in syndication.

Review: Usually when I think about this episode, I remember a lot of the moments that fall flat. But rewatching it, I found a lot of cute touches, like one of the kid's water balloons popping right before the war starts, or Bart coughing his hat out in the treehouse, or Herman shouting "You'll need more!" after Bart tells him he has no soldiers. Moments like these boost this one up a few notches from my original score. A-