The Front (The Simpsons)
"The Front" is the nineteenth episode of the fourth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons.
Inspired by the sight of Homer accidentally slicing Marge's hair off with hedge shears, they write a script titled "Little Barbershop of Horrors" and send it to Roger Meyers Jr., head of Itchy & Scratchy International.
Bart and Lisa's cartoons are met with acclaim from audiences, resulting in Meyers firing Itchy & Scratchy's entire writing staff except for Grampa.
When Grampa sees Itchy & Scratchy for the first time in a clip show introducing the award's nominees, he is appalled at the violent humor.
The episode concludes with a self-contained segment, complete with its own theme song, titled The Adventures of Ned Flanders.
In the sketch, itself titled "Love That God", Ned is upset with his sons for not wanting to go to church, until they inform him that it is Saturday, and he laughs at his mistake.
In the early 1990s, Lapidus saw a news report on television about three 13-year-old girls—Renee Carter, Sarah Creef, and Amy Crosby—who had written a script for Tiny Toon Adventures, titled "Buster and Babs Go Hawaiian".
He wrote a spec script, which made its way via executive producer James L. Brooks to the Simpsons staff, who hired Lapidus to work with them on the episode.
[4] "The Front" is the only Simpsons episode written by Lapidus, causing some dispute among the show's fans whether he actually exists or was perhaps a pseudonym.
The first issue was with a dream sequence in which Bart points a machine gun at Santa Claus and hijacks his sleigh.
[14] Lisa is also seen reading a book titled How to Get Rich Writing Cartoons by John Swartzwelder, a Simpsons writer credited with nearly sixty episodes of the show.
This was a counterattack against Ren & Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi, who had attacked The Simpsons staff by saying that "the show succeeded despite the writing", and similarly derogatory comments.
Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, the authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, praised "The Front" as "an ironic look at the animation industry, with a higher than average Itchy and Scratchy count.
