Another Simpsons Clip Show

Marge is reading The Bridges of Madison County one night and wakes up Homer to ask if he thinks the romance has gone out of their marriage.

[N 2] Lisa recounts the story of her doomed relationship with Ralph Wiggum[N 3] and Bart remembers his first crush,[N 4] both of which ended in heartbreak.

[3][1] The episode also includes contributions from John Swartzwelder, Frank Mula, David Richardson, Jeff Martin, Bill Oakley, Josh Weinstein, Matt Groening, Sam Simon, Al Jean, Mike Reiss, Jay Kogen, Wallace Wolodarsky, Nell Scovell, David M. Stern, George Meyer, Conan O'Brien, Robert Cohen, Bill Canterbury, and Dan McGrath.

[9][10] The plot of the episode is kicked off by Marge reading the 1992 book The Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller.

That leaves us with a good collection of clips, but since we can already watch them in their original episodes, why bother with this cheap excuse for product?

"[14] Lisa's comments — "romance is dead, it was acquired in a hostile takeover by Hallmark and Disney, homogenized, and sold off piece-by-piece" — have been used in case studies of the cultural representations of organizations.

[15][16] Scottish indie-rock band Arab Strap referred to this episode in the lyrics of their debut single "The First Big Weekend" ("Sunday afternoon we go up to John's with a lot of beer in time to watch The Simpsons - it was a really good episode about love always ending in tragedy except, of course, for Marge and Homer.

[18] The episode was the fourth highest rated show on the Fox network that week, beaten only by Beverly Hills, 90210, The X-Files, and Married... with Children.