Brother from Another Series

The Simpsons episode
"Brother from Another Series"
Bob with Cecil.
Episode no.	169
Prod. code	4F14
Orig. airdate	February 23, 1997[1]
Show runner(s)	Bill Oakley Josh Weinstein
Written by	Ken Keeler[2]
Directed by	Pete Michels[2]
Couch gag	The living room is on the ceiling. The Simpsons sit down, but fall to the "floor" (the ceiling).[2]
Guest star(s)	Kelsey Grammer as Sideshow Bob David Hyde Pierce as Cecil Terwilliger and "Man in crowd"
DVD commentary	Matt Groening Josh Weinstein Ken Keeler Kelsey Grammer Pete Michels
Season 8 October 27, 1996 – May 18, 1997 "Treehouse of Horror VII" "You Only Move Twice" "The Homer They Fall" "Burns, Baby Burns" "Bart After Dark" "A Milhouse Divided" "Lisa's Date with Density" "Hurricane Neddy" "El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer (The Mysterious Voyage of Homer)" "The Springfield Files" "The Twisted World of Marge Simpson" "Mountain of Madness" "Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious" "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show" "Homer's Phobia" "Brother from Another Series" "My Sister, My Sitter" "Homer vs. the Eighteenth Amendment" "Grade School Confidential" "The Canine Mutiny" "The Old Man and the Lisa" "In Marge We Trust" "Homer's Enemy" "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase" "The Secret War of Lisa Simpson" List of all The Simpsons episodes
Seasons 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10 · 11 · 12 13 · 14 · 15 · 16 · 17 · 18 · 19 · 20 · 21

"Brother from Another Series" is the sixteenth episode of The Simpsons' eighth season and originally aired February 23, 1997. Sideshow Bob is released from prison into the care of his brother Cecil and claims to be a changed man. However, Bart does not believe him and tries to find out what Bob is up to.^[1] It was the first episode directed by Pete Michels and was written by Ken Keeler.^[2] Guest starring Kelsey Grammer in his sixth appearance as Sideshow Bob and David Hyde Pierce as Cecil.^[1] The title is not only a pun on the movie The Brother from Another Planet (This has appeared previously), but also a reference to the fact that guest stars Kelsey Grammer (Frasier Crane) and David Hyde Pierce (Niles Crane) also play bickering brothers on the sitcom Frasier.

Plot

Former criminal Sideshow Bob is declared a changed man by Reverend Lovejoy and released from prison, despite the protests of Bart. Bob is released into the care of his brother Cecil, who is Springfield's chief hydrological and hydrodynamical engineer. The two had previously not spoken for ten years. A flashback reveals the cause of this rift: Cecil had auditioned to become the new sidekick for Krusty the Clown, a job he had long desired, but Bob was chosen instead. Cecil and Bob plan to build a dam in a river near Springfield, while Bart, believing that Bob is still evil, continuously follows him around. Bob begins to become upset over Bart's investigations and his incompetent employees (Cletus and his family) and expresses a desire to see the dam blow up and obliterate Springfield.

Meanwhile, Bart enlists Lisa to help find out what Sideshow Bob is up to, much to the annoyance of Bob. They decide to go to Bob's trailer at the dam construction site and discover a briefcase full of money, evidently stolen from the dam construction funds. They are soon discovered by Bob and the children run away and hide inside the dam's turbine room, but are cornered. When confronted with the money, Bob denies knowing anything about it. Cecil shows up and reveals that he embezzled the money by cutting back on construction; now he plans on framing Bob and using him as a scapegoat. He locks Bob, Bart and Lisa in the dam and prepares to blow it up, taking the money with him (though he privately admits his motivation is over the Krusty's assistant incident).

Bob helps Bart and Lisa escape and they try to save the dam. Bart jumps on Cecil's back; Cecil attempts to swat him off with the briefcase of money, but the case bursts open and the money is lost. Cecil throws Bart off the dam, whereupon Bob grabs Cecil's dynamite and cord and dives down in an effort to save him. He manages to save Bart and the town by cutting the cord on the dynamite. The police arrive and Cecil is immediately arrested. Bob gloats over his victory and wins over Bart and Lisa's respect, but Chief Wiggum suddenly arrives and arrests Bob, believing him to be involved in the plot as well. As they are taken away, Cecil tricks Bob into swearing revenge on Bart and Springfield again, and upon realizing that he has made Bart his enemy and destroyed his reputation with Springfield again, Bob angrily blames Cecil for it. Just after the arguing brothers are taken away, the dam crumbles and releases a torrent of water on Springfield. Bob and Cecil are put in the same prison cell, where Chief Wiggum muses on the evil they could concoct locked up together: in reality, the brothers continue to bicker childishly over who gets the top bunk.^[1][3][4][5]

Production

A deleted scene featuring Hans Moleman. The money and gun from Cecil's briefcase falls on Moleman. Moleman thanks God for the money, then grabs the gun and demands God hand over the rest.

The episode was written by Ken Keeler, who had been watching a lot of Frasier at the time and had been assigned to write a Sideshow Bob episode and he thought it would be a good idea to mix the two.^[6] Pierce was cast as Sideshow Bob's brother, causing Pierce to joke, "Normally, I would not do something like this. But how often do you get a chance to work with an actor like Kelsey Grammer and, more importantly, play his brother?"^[7] While Sideshow Bob is addressing the crowd, a man near the back raises his hand and says "probably"; he is also voiced by David Hyde Pierce, who had wanted to be a man in a crowd.^[8]

An early draft of the episode originally featured an Opera house explosion,^[6] which was changed because the writers felt using a dam would be more exciting.^[8] An early rule of Sideshow Bob episodes was to recap what had gone on in previous Bob episodes, in case the viewer had forgotten who he was.^[8] The original script was run by the Frasier producers to make sure they were okay with it, and they only had one problem. There was a very brief scene in which Cecil talks to a visible character and refers to her as "Maris", who in Frasier is an unseen character, and the producers of Frasier said the scene should go.^[6] The writers spent a long time trying to figure out a civilization that considered chief hydrological engineer a true calling and chose the Cappadocians, who were famous for underground cities although not specifically dams.^[8]

Cecil was drawn to resemble David Hyde Pierce, but still look similar to Bob.^[9] According to director Pete Michels, it was difficult to draw Bob and Cecil standing together because their feet are both so big.^[9] There was a scene featuring Hans Moleman and his house, which was cut, but his house can still briefly be seen in the scene where Cecil throws Bart off a cliff.^[8] The sequence was cut in order to make room for the explanation of why Bob was sent back to prison.^[8] Ken Keeler has said that it is his favorite deleted scene.^[6]

Cultural references

The "Krusty the Clown Prison Special" is based on Johnny Cash's 1968 appearance at Folsom Prison. Krusty's song is a parody of Folsom Prison Blues.^[8] The episode contains several references to Frasier, with the intention of making it obvious that The Simpsons was parodying the series. These include a title card just before the start of the second act which says "Frasier is a hit show on the NBC Television Network" in the same font and style as Frasier's intertitles, and when Bart jumps on Cecil and says "guess who," Cecil replies with "Maris?" Cecil's inability to see Bart also refers to the fact that Maris, Niles' wife in Frasier, is never actually seen.^[10]

Reception

Beforehand, the media said the episode "looks promising,"^[11] and afterwards journalist Ben Rayner called it one of director Peter Michels' "classics."^[12] This episode was nominated for an Emmy Award for Sound Mixing For a Comedy Series or a Special.^[13] In a 2008 article, Entertainment Weekly named David Hyde Pierce's role as Cecil as one of the sixteen best guest appearances on The Simpsons.^[14] Pierce and Grammer ranked second on AOL's list of their favorite 25 Simpsons guest stars.^[15]

References

External links

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The Simpsons portal

• "Brother From Another Series" episode capsule at The Simpsons Archive.
• "Brother From Another Series" episode page at The Simpsons.com
• "Brother From Another Series" at the Internet Movie Database
• "Brother From Another Series" at TV.com