11th episode of the 30th season of The Simpsons
"
Mad About the Toy
" is the eleventh episode of the
thirtieth season
of the American animated television series
The Simpsons
, and the 650th episode overall. The episode was directed by
Rob Oliver
and written by
Michael Price
. It aired in the United States on
Fox
on January 6, 2019.
The episode won the
Primetime Emmy Award
for
Outstanding Animated Program
.
[1]
[2]
[3]
It was the first episode to win the award for the series in over a decade, with the previous
Simpsons
winner, "
Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind
," airing in 2007.
[4]
Plot
[
edit
]
Homer
and
Marge
celebrate their anniversary, leaving the kids at home with
Grampa
. Marge points out that Grampa needs to be home in an hour, so she and Homer do all their activities as fast as possible. At home,
Bart
and
Lisa
are bored and ask Grampa if they can play a game. Bart finds some plastic
army men
toys in the basement, which causes Grampa to panic.
The family takes him to the VA, but the doctor is unable to find out what is wrong. Lisa notices that the molding of the soldier toys resembles Grampa, then asks if the company that used him for the photos of the plastic army men paid him. Grampa recalls that in 1947 he was paid to model for the original army men, including a promise of a royalty for each toy.
Grampa ends up on Channel 6 news and shortly after reaches national headlines on
NBC
. After the headlines, the toy company that used Grampa for their toys invites him to visit their headquarters in New York City. The chairman tells Grampa that he missed out on millions of dollars because he never signed his contract. Grampa remembers that he ran out of the shoot because the male photographer kissed him. The company then fired the photographer for being gay. Realizing that he may have ruined the photographer's life, Grampa vows to visit him to apologize.
Lisa discovers that the photographer, Philip Hefflin, now lives in
Marfa, Texas
. The drive is long and the family encounters the
Marfa lights
and
Prada Marfa
.
[5]
When they get to Philip's hometown, Grampa stumbles into a gallery filled with paintings of him in his army uniform. Philip greets Grampa, and thanks him for making him realize he was better off being true to himself. They enjoy time together before Grampa has to head back to Springfield.
In the backyard during the final scene, Bart,
Milhouse
, and
Nelson
are playing with the soldier toys. After Bart gets bored, he suggests melting them in the microwave, which the kids end up doing. A montage of Grampa and Philip is then shown.
Production
[
edit
]
Executive producer
Al Jean
was thinking about why Grampa would hang a photo of
Mona
in his room. Writer
Michael Price
had an idea about Grampa being the model for the toy army men and having a relationship with the photographer. The relationship gave the producers a reason to remove the photo and hang a new one for the rest of the season.
[6]
Bryan Batt
was cast as photographer Philip Hefflin partly as a reference to his
Mad Men
character
Sal Romano
, who was fired for being gay. Jean wondered what happened to Sal and the producers gave Philip a positive fate.
[6]
Then New York City mayor
Bill de Blasio
appeared as himself. He was originally approached for another episode but was asked to be in this episode when Grampa visits New York.
[7]
Cultural references
[
edit
]
In flashbacks, Grampa recreates the
V-J Day in Times Square
kiss with a random woman while referring to the original kiss possibly being
non-consensual
. The people in the toy company office behave like characters from
Mad Men
.
[6]
The Simpson family encounters the
Prada Marfa
art installation.
[8]
Reception
[
edit
]
Viewing figures
[
edit
]
"Mad About the Toy" scored a 0.9 rating with a 4 share and was watched by 2.33 million people, making it Fox's second highest rated show of the night, behind
Family Guy
.
[9]
Critical response
[
edit
]
Tony Sokol
of
Den of Geek
gave the episode 3 out of 5 points ranking, stating "
The Simpsons
'
'Mad About the Toy' plays too far to the inside and tries to have it both ways. Like Grampa's stories it takes a very circuitous road, but goes nowhere, besides
Texas
and
New York
. Grampa gets the last word, but like many of his never-ending asides, it is too much rant but not enough rave. That's what they used to say back in his day before raves were raves and Molly was just what you called a girl who went out with a gangster."
[10]
Dennis Perkins of
The A.V. Club
gave the episode B+ ranking, stating "It's a risk?not for addressing homosexuality, but for putting the story in the hands of Grampa, a supporting character used most often for the sort of quick-hit swipes at reactionary codgery mocking internet memes were invented for. But few characters on
The Simpsons
exist just as their initial stereotypes at this point, and there's a longer-than-most history of the show finding just the right touches of grudging humanity in the old coot to make 'Mad About The Toy' work."
[11]
Texas State Representative
Poncho Nevarez
tweeted, "If you ever wondered how Marfa would look like in the world of the Simpsons. Here you go. Nice shot of the Presidio County Courthouse", along with screenshots of Marfa as rendered in the episode.
[5]
Awards and nominations
[
edit
]
On September 14, 2019, "Mad About the Toy" won the
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program
at the
71st Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards
. It marked the eleventh win for
The Simpsons
in the category.
[2]
[1]
It's the first time the show won that award in 11 years. The previous
Simpsons
winner, "
Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind
," won the award back in 2008 for the
60th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards
.
[4]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
Travers, Ben (September 15, 2019).
"
'The Simpsons' Wins Emmy for Best Animated Program"
.
IndieWire
. Retrieved
January 23,
2020
.
- ^
a
b
Haithman, Diane (September 15, 2019).
"A 30th Anniversary Present for 'The Simpsons' With 11th Outstanding Animated Program Emmy Win"
.
Deadline Hollywood
. Retrieved
January 23,
2020
.
- ^
Zahed, Ramin (July 16, 2019).
"Primetime Animation Emmy Nominations Are Announced"
.
Animation Magazine
. Retrieved
January 23,
2020
.
- ^
a
b
Gorman, Steve (September 13, 2008).
"
"The Simpson's" wins 10th best cartoon Emmy"
.
Reuters
.
- ^
a
b
Solomon, Dan (January 8, 2019).
"Marfa Is Now Such a Stereotype They Can Mock It on 'The Simpsons'
"
.
TexasMonthly
. Retrieved
January 10,
2019
.
- ^
a
b
c
Vineyard, Jennifer (August 7, 2019).
"Emmy Contender: The Simpsons showrunner on Grampa getting woke and how Disney will impact the show"
.
Syfy Wire
. Retrieved
June 18,
2023
.
- ^
Goodman, J. David (January 6, 2019).
"Why De Blasio Loves 'The Simpsons' (and Where He'd Take Homer in New York City)"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
June 18,
2023
.
- ^
Satenstein, Liana (January 10, 2019).
"Prada Makes an Unlikely Cameo on The Simpsons"
.
Vogue
. Retrieved
June 18,
2023
.
- ^
Welch, Alex (January 8, 2019).
"Golden Globes adjust up: Sunday final ratings"
.
TV by the Numbers
. Archived from
the original
on January 8, 2019
. Retrieved
January 8,
2019
.
- ^
Sokol, Tony
(January 7, 2019).
"The Simpsons Season 30 Episode 11 Review: Mad About the Toy"
.
Den of Geek
. Retrieved
January 7,
2019
.
- ^
Perkins, Dennis (January 7, 2019).
"The Simpsons finds the sweet spot as Grampa confronts an old wrong"
.
The A.V. Club
. Retrieved
January 7,
2019
.
External links
[
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]
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