Talking Simpsons - The Computer Wore Menace Shoes With Travis View

Just in reference to using wikipedia in classes since something Bob said triggered some memories : In some of college courses (c. ~2008) professors still had to say don't ONLY use wikipedia over and over again. One class where this was said, particularly stands out (a PSYCH 400 level course to fulfill gen-ed requirements I took) because the assignments all literally spelled out sources you were supposed to use to build your arguments (various studies on the topics, I guess the graders were lazy and wanted to simplify things). Students still apparently used wikipedia instead. So even then laziness and "Mr. X"s trumped even the smallest amount of work. Though I can't help but think wikipedia was actually harder to use to build evidence for the topics than the studies.

Micah

My first exposure to Lyndon LaRouche came when... Billy Corgan promoted him on the official Smashing Pumpkins message board. At the time, I didn't realize that was a red flag.

Erin Hardy

I remeber years later learning the episode was a Prisoner reference because of Chris Jericho's band Fozzy's cover of the Iron Maiden song. But my brother and I always loved this episode. We always were fans of the fakeout endings and it's never been a thing that bothers me continuity wise.

Mark Lee Marcheschi

I was a fan of The Prisoner--Number 6 is one of the only characters I've cosplayed-- so when this episode first aired I let out a Webbygale style squeal of delight. I believe at one point Patrick McGoohan was being considered as a James Bond but he turned it down because he was a devout Catholic. That's one reason John Drake or Number 6 was rarely if ever seen physically involved with a woman or using deadly force. There is debate whether or not Drake from Dangerman is really Number 6. The producers intentionally kept it vague though one reason as I understand it they didn't actually have the rights to the Drake character. There is a two person Prisoner tribute band called Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling and they did an amazing shot for shot remake of the intro for their song Arrival, using Boston instead of London. https://youtu.be/GbUhmwSObto I won a bitchin Ibanes electric guitar at one of their concerts.

Stephen C. Nedell

Thanks for explaining this episode. I remember being very confused when this episode originally aired. Now that I understand the references, I can enjoy it.

katie lamont

I wonder if this is a Canada thing since we got more content from Europe but I remember recognizing the 3rd act as a big Prisoner parody before I had actually rented that show from my local library. So just through osmosis growing up in a small Canadian town I knew what they were referencing.

Galen Ryder

Weirdly, for what I think is not a great episode I quote this episode more than most. "I'm a new tie wearing" and "Yes tis" it's not a successful episode, but some of the writing has stuck with me. I have, being British been to the place they filmed the Prisoner "Portmeirion" an Italian village built in Wales.

Dvdmike

This is the only episode of The Simpsons my best friend watched as she has 0 interest in this show. We watched it after watching all of the original The Prisoner (not to be confused with the Australian prison soap opera Prisoner Cell Block H) so it definitely hits so much better when you watch the show. I reccomend watching Prisoner then rewatching this episode.

Angel

When bob mentioned steakandcheese.com I got whiplash to being a child and being witnessed to the many horrors that site had

Mike Champagne

To piggyback on the conservative talking point that Drudge has become a *tool* of the left: when Biden was announced the winner of the election on November 7, his front page announced it, in his typical lo fi style, by plastering an unflattering photo of Trump with the words "You're Fired!" written across. Even though my dad, a staunch conservative and Trump supporter, used to listen to Drudge's radio show before he broke the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, I hadn't thought about this person til last November in twenty years, and I reveled a little more seeing this (former?) conservative darling shit on Trump.

This episode is still one of my absolute favorites. Like the internet stuff is fantastic, but the part of me that adores bizarre non-sequiturs finds the Prisoner parody stuff in the last act just absolutely perfect. Definitely an episode that got a lot of quote-time among my friends in high school.

Kevin Bunch

More fun things about Druge, he works with different mainstream outlets to throw traffic their way in exchange for a few bucks here and there. And it definitely makes a big difference. I'm not sure how much of it is bot influenced, but sites can see their traffic increase by a few thousand active users simply by having one of their stories linked to his page. The CBS owned and operated local stations (branded CBS Local) have been doing this for years to boost their numbers. Kind of funny how his story starts with CBS and continues with CBS to this day.