Moms I'd Like to Forget

"Moms I'd Like to Forget"
The Simpsons episode
Episode no.	474
Prod. code	NABF03[1]
Orig. airdate	January 9, 2011[2]
Show runner(s)	Al Jean
Written by	Brian Kelley
Directed by	Chris Clements
Chalkboard gag	January is not Bart History Month
Couch gag	The family couch prepares for a day of being sat on by the Simpsons.
Season 22 September 26, 2010 – May 22, 2011 "Elementary School Musical" "Loan-a Lisa" "MoneyBART" "Treehouse of Horror XXI" "Lisa Simpson, This Isn't Your Life" "The Fool Monty" "How Munched is That Birdie in the Window?" "The Fight Before Christmas" "Donnie Fatso" "Moms I'd Like to Forget" "Flaming Moe" "Homer the Father" "The Blue and the Gray" "Angry Dad: The Movie" "The Scorpion's Tale" "A Midsummer's Nice Dream" "Love Is a Many Strangled Thing" "The Great Simpsina" "The Real Housewives of Fat Tony" "Homer Scissorhands" "500 Keys" "The Ned-Liest Catch" List of all The Simpsons episodes
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"Moms I'd Like to Forget" is the tenth episode of The Simpsons' twenty-second season. It aired on the Fox Network on January 9, 2011. In the episode, Marge reveals that she used to be in a group called "The Cool Moms" and decides to reconnect with the group. It was directed by Chris Clements and Brian Kelley. "Moms I'd Like to Forget" received mixed reviews from critics and acquired a Nielsen rating of 6.9. The name of this episode also plays on the acronym MILF.

Plot

The episode opens with a dodge ball match between the 4th and 5th graders. Bart ends up hitting the last 5th grader, but he catches it after it comes back down, making the 5th graders win the match. In the days that follow, the 4th graders harass the 5th graders to the point that they organize a fight after school. Before the fight begins, however, Bart realizes that one of the 5th graders has the same scar as he does, in the shape of a sword on his fist.

Bart confronts Marge about the scar. Marge explains that when he was in preschool, he was in a "Mommy and Me" class with three other kids. Marge became very close with the other mothers, and they became "the Cool Moms." However, the other kids were a bad influence on Bart. But she does not explain the scar. Marge then decides to get back together with her old group.

Marge's old friends reconcile while Bart gets together with the other kids, where he realizes he still does not know where the scar came from. Marge and her friends decide to get together every Tuesday. Meeting with the other kids every week, their antics become more and more dangerous, so Bart decides to break up the group. Knowing they broke up before, Bart realizes it must have something to do with the scar and consults Dr. Hibbert, who suggests he ask Comic Book Guy.

Comic Book Guy is reluctant to explain but, after some coercion, he reveals what happened: About seven years ago, on the 4th of July, he was in charge of the fireworks. While Marge and the other moms talked, Bart and the boys stumbled off towards the fireworks controls and pressed all the buttons, setting off all the fireworks. In the fiery explosion that followed, Comic Book Guy's sandwich was hit by a firework, sending the burning hot sword-shaped skewers onto the boys' fists, branding them.

Knowing it was an explosion that split the group apart, Bart and Milhouse create a big ball of firecrackers to break them up again. When Marge catches them in the act, Bart confesses. That evening, Marge tells the group of Bart's scheme to break them up, and they tell her Bart was always a bad influence to their kids. Marge becomes angry and leaves the group. Afterwards, the women all start making out with each other.^[2]

Production

"Moms I'd Like to Forget" was written by Brian Kelley making it his sixth writing credit for the series.^[3] The episode was also directed by series regular, Chris Clements also making the episode his sixth credit for the series.^[3]

Reception

In its original American broadcast, "Moms I'd Like to Forget" was viewed by an estimated 12.65 million households and received a 5.7 rating/14% share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49 ranking first in its timeslot.^[4] The episode marked a 78% rise in the ratings from the previous episode, "Donnie Fatso". The larger-than-normal viewership was a result of the episode following the National Football League's playoffs.^[4] It became the highest Nielsen rating of the show since the season twenty-one episode, "Once Upon a Time in Springfield" and finished 5th in the ratings for the week of January 3 to January 9, 2011.^[5] The episode also became the highest rated scripted program of the week it aired and the highest rated show on Fox.^[5]

Rowan Kaiser rated the episode with a C+ writing that if felt "The entire episode just seems to be hurtling towards a reset button: Of course Marge isn't going to end up with three new best friends, and of course Bart isn't going to have an entirely new crew to hang out with. The writers seem to know this, and the resolution is half-assed at best."^[6]

Censorship

Towards the end of the episode shown in the UK where Bart gathered lots of firework in the garage which he blew up in the uncut version but had been cut in the UK version.^{[citation needed]}

References

1. ^ Reg. #PAu003439516 in the U.S. Copyright Records database Retrieved on March 18, 2010.
2. ^ ^{a b} "Schedule (January 2 - January 8)". FoxFlash. http://www.foxflash.com/div.php/main/page?aID=1z4&mo=13&d=2. Retrieved 2010-12-20. 
3. ^ ^{a b} ""The Simpsons" - Episode #22.10 - Cast & Crew". IMDB. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1628649/fullcredits#cast. Retrieved 2011-01-11. 
4. ^ ^{a b} Seidman, Robert (January 10, 2011). "TV Ratings Sunday: With Help from NFL Fox Animations Surge, 'Bob's Burgers' Strong ; 'The Cape' Premieres OK; Housewives, Brothers & Sisters Stable". TVbythenumbers.zap2it.com. http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2011/01/10/tv-ratings-sunday-with-help-from-nfl-fox-animations-bobs-burgers-strong-the-cape-premieres-ok/77871. Retrieved 2011-01-10. 
5. ^ ^{a b} Seidman, Robert (January 11, 2011). "TV Ratings Broadcast Top 25: NFL Wildcard Simpsons, Modern Family, Family Guy and Two and a Half Men Lead Week 16 Viewing". TVbythenumbers.zap2it.com. http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2011/01/11/tv-ratings-broadcast-top-25-nfl-wildcard-simpsons-modern-family-family-guy-and-two-and-a-half-men-lead-week-16-viewing/78060#comment-729950. Retrieved 2011-01-11. 
6. ^ Kaiser, Rowan (January 10, 2011). ""Moms I'd Like To Forget"/"New Kidney In Town"/"Ain't Nothin' But Mutton Bustin'"". The A.V. Club. http://www.avclub.com/articles/moms-id-like-to-forgetnew-kidney-in-townaint-nothi,49788/. Retrieved 2011-01-10. 

External links

• "Moms I'd Like to Forget" at TV.com
• "Moms I'd Like to Forget" at the Internet Movie Database