Blame It on Lisa

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The Simpsons episode

"Blame It on Lisa"

Episode no.

284

Prod. code

DABF10

Orig. airdate

Show runner(s)

The Simpsons are marionettes, who fail to reach the couch when they get caught up in each other's strings. The camera pans up to reveal Matt Groening as the puppet master, who throws down his marionettes in frustration.

Season 13
November 6, 2001 – May 22, 2002

List of all The Simpsons episodes

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Blame It on Lisa is the 15th episode from the thirteenth season of The Simpsons in which the family goes to Brazil in search of Lisa's pen pal, a Brazilian orphan named Ronaldo. Writer Bob Bendetson received an Writers Guild of America Award nomination for the episode.^[1]

1 Plot
2 Cultural references
3 Trivia
4 Reaction in Brazil
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Plot

When Homer and Bart are watching Itchy & Scratchy, Marge tells Homer that someone has been calling Brazil and Marge does not want to pay the phone bill. Homer and Marge then go to the phone company and are amused to find robots working there and Mr. Moviefone there. They then see Lindsey Naegle who cuts off their phone service. Afterwards, Lisa tries to call Janey however she can't. Homer then tries to fix the phone line and only gets shocked. Lisa then reveals she was making phone calls to Brazil to support an orphan named Ronaldo. She has been donating money to the orphanage however a few months later Ronaldo went missing and Lisa has been trying to call Brazil. Apparently, the only choice for the Simpsons is going to Brazil. The Simpsons go and leave Maggie with Patty and Selma.

When the Simpsons get to Brazil at the hotel Bart is seen watching a Xuxa parody named Teleboobies. Afterwards, Lisa plans the search at a restaurant and the Simpsons look around Brazil but have no luck. During the search Homer and Bart see a taxi however there are two kidnappers in there who kidnap Homer. Apparently, the Simpsons don't have enough money to save Homer and try to find him. On the way they run into a parade featuring a Teleboobies float and Lisa is surprised to find out Ronaldo has become the show's flamingo because the shoes Lisa gave him earlier made him good at dancing. Ronaldo then gives the Simpsons the money to save Homer. The Simpsons then go on a lift and see Homer on the opposite and give the kidnappers the money. Homer is then saved but Bart gets eaten by a snake.

[edit] Cultural references

The blonde host of the risque children's variety show Bart calls "Teleboobies" (a play on Teletubbies) is a reference to Brazilian entertainer Xuxa. Xuxa is referenced in another episode (Marge Be Not Proud) wherein "Xoxchitla" stars in a Krusty the Clown special.
A sign seen on top of an all-you-can-eat meat-on-a-sword restaurant, called Churrascaria ("steak house") in Portuguese, mistakenly uses the plural, Churrascarias.
The sign Aeroporto International de Galeão is a misspelled reference to Rio's international airport, Galeão—Antônio Carlos Jobim International Airport (also known as Aeroporto Internacional do Galeão).
Homer and Bart sing the Chiquita Banana song, butchering the lyrics with "I'm Chiquita Banana, and I'm here to say, I will eat this Toblerone and I will not pay!".
The title "Blame It on Lisa" is a reference to the movie Blame It on Rio.
The Itchy and Scratchy cartoon that opens the show has a parody of A Trip to the Moon.
After Itchy drives Scratchy's head into the moon, he drops several dollar bills onto Scratchy's carcass, referencing Rodney Dangerfield's character in Caddyshack.
At one point Homer says "Don't you know the boys from Brazil are little Hitlers? I saw it in a movie whose name I can't remember", although ironically, he says the title of the movie in that line. This is a reference to the film The Boys From Brazil, which revolves around Josef Mengele raising clones of Adolf Hitler.
The book Lisa is reading on the plane, titled Who wants to be a Brazillionaire?, is a reference to the game show Who Wants to be a Millionaire?.
When the kidnappers and Homer are riding down the Amazon River, the theme song from Miami Vice plays.
The song playing just as Homer and Bart are strolling down the beach is the 1939 tune Aquarela do Brasil (usually just known as "Brazil" around the world), previously featured prominently in the film Brazil.
When Lisa mentions the slums have been painted so that the tourists are not offended a stream of multicoloured rats run out in front of them. Homer claims they look like Skittles.
Homer believing that nuns can fly comes from The Flying Nun.

[edit] Trivia

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

Bart claims that he will have gone to every continent except Antarctica in this episode. This is true because he lives in North America (and traveled to several states in many past episodes), went to Africa in Simpson Safari, Europe in The Crepes of Wrath (and later to England in The Regina Monologues and Italy in The Italian Bob), Asia in Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo and Bart on the Road (when he delivered human eyes to Hong Kong and would later go to China in Goo Goo Gai Pan), and Australia in Bart vs. Australia.
Ronaldo claims he tried to send a letter to Lisa but did not know what state she lived in. A reference to the recurring gag where the location of Springfield's State is unknown.

[edit] Reaction in Brazil

Even before the episode was aired in Brazil, Rio's secretary of tourism protested on how the city was portrayed (monkeys everywhere, rampant street crime, slums, kidnappings). Producer James L. Brooks apologized, and said that if needed, Homer would like to invite Brazil's then-president Fernando Henrique Cardoso to Celebrity Boxing.

The writers made a running gag of the situation:

Homer’s references "the monkey problem getting worse" in Rio in The Regina Monologues.
Krusty the Clown's revelation in Mr. Spritz Goes to Washington that immigration officials are constantly hounding him because his monkey sidekick, Mr. Teeny, is from Brazil. Krusty comments "His uncle was the Head Monkey on the Bureau of Tourism".
In season 18's The Wife Aquatic, Lisa mentions that Barnacle Bay is "the most disgusting" place the family has been. Bart asks about Brazil and Lisa replies "After Brazil". This gag was cut from the Brazilian dubbed version.