The Simpsons: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Season 2
3. Itchy & Scratchy & Marge & Jim
In "Itchy & Scratchy & Marge", the Simpson matriarch campaigns against cartoon violence after Maggie goes "psycho" (ha!) and hits Homer with a mallet.
Violence in cartoons is a touchy subject, but The Simpsons had a pretty safe pair of hands to tackle it.
This was director, Jim Reardon's, first episode in charge and the topic suited him extremely well. Before The Simpsons, Reardon worked on cartoons like Mighty Mouse and Tiny Toon Adventures.
He also directed the now-cult classic, Bring Me The Head Of Charlie Brown.
The short film is exactly what you think it is: a parody of the Peanuts cartoons in which the main characters try and murder Charlie Brown in increasingly gruesome fashion.
Highlights of this light-hearted romp include Linus trying to strangle Charlie with his blanket, Snoopy biting Charlie's hand off, and Charlie going on a rampage and gunning all of his friends down.
Yay!
Reardon's real life experience with cartoon violence served him very well on this episode, which went on to gain praise from fans and critics alike.
The Simpsons bigwigs thought so highly of Reardon's directing that they invited him back to take charge of other classic episodes such as "Mr. Plow", "Lemon of Troy", and the delightfully devilish"22 Short Films About Springfield".