The Call of the Simpsons

[2] Albert Brooks made his first of ten guest appearances on The Simpsons franchise in this episode as the voice of Cowboy Bob.

After Homer ignores Marge's suggestion to drive back to the main road, the Simpsons find themselves teetering over a precipice.

While watching news coverage of his ordeal, Homer worries his co-workers will mock him until Marge consoles him by calling him "my brilliant beast."

[5] A lot of resources were spent on the backgrounds, trying to make them look realistic with many observational details such as trees, rocks, fences and the way the cars were positioned.

[6] In its original American broadcast on February 18, 1990, "The Call of the Simpsons" finished third that day, with a Nielsen rating of 14.6 and a 22 percent audience share.

[8] The episode was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1990 in the category "Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy Series or a Special".

The early stuff at the RV Round-Up is much better than the main camping story, although there's some nice Marge-Lisa bonding, and who could resist Maggie and the bears?

"[2] In a DVD review of the first season, David B. Grelck rated the episode a 1+1⁄2 (of 5), adding "the surrealism of Homer as bigfoot is a major misstep.

"[10] Jon Bonné at MSNBC called the episode "a perfect example of the first season's bizarre and fruitful balance between edgy humor and softly-drawn neuroses" and said "it was this combination that made Groening's shorts for the Ullman show so compelling, and ultimately what made it possible for The Simpsons to break the molds of network television".