Day of the Jackanapes

"Day of the Jackanapes" is the thirteenth episode of the twelfth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons.

In the episode, Krusty announces his retirement due to interference from network executives and the growing popularity of the game show Me Wantee.

In its original broadcast, the episode was seen by approximately 9 million viewers, finishing in 34th place in the ratings the week it aired.

Upon witnessing this, Bob is touched and develops a change of heart, but does not have enough time to stop his original plan from being carried out.

"It's just that we've done so many angles of whether he's, he's good, he's reformed and then his brother came to town..." executive producer and former showrunner Mike Scully said about the difficulty of writing episodes about Sideshow Bob.

These sequences were inspired by Jean's dissatisfaction with some network executives, who he felt took control over a television series he was working on before he returned to The Simpsons in 1999.

[1] It was therefore removed from the episode altogether, and remained unreleased until September 17, 2007, when it was included as a bonus track on the soundtrack album The Simpsons: Testify.

[1] Before filming an episode of his show, Krusty is stopped by the two network executives, who attempt to explain to him why the sitcom Seinfeld worked as a series.

This is a reference to the scene, in the season 5 episode "Cape Feare", where Sideshow Bob steps on rakes a ridiculous number of times.

When asking for Sideshow Bob's forgiveness, Krusty sings a song to the tune of "Mandy" by Barry Manilow.

On the wall behind them are several pictures of guest stars that had previously appeared on The Simpsons, including Mark McGwire, Ringo Starr,[4] Sting,[3] Tom Jones, Brooke Shields and Elizabeth Taylor.

[1] In its original American broadcast on February 18, 2001, "Day of the Jackanapes" received an 8.8 rating, according to Nielsen Media Research, translating to approximately 9 million viewers.

[5] On August 18, 2009, the episode was released as part of a DVD set called The Simpsons: The Complete Twelfth Season.

Mike Scully, Al Jean, Ian Maxtone-Graham, Yeardley Smith, Tim Long, Matt Selman and Michael Marcantel participated in the audio commentary for the episode.

In his review of The Simpsons: The Complete Twelfth Season, Mac McEntire of DVD Verdict described the episode as a "winner".