"Thursdays with Abie" is the ninth episode of the twenty-first season of the American animated television series The Simpsons.
The episode was written by Mitch Glazer & Don Payne and directed by Mike Frank Polcino.
Abe is thrilled that Marshall is interested in hearing his rambling anecdotes, and tells of the time he sat on and Animal trained a real shark during World War II, after the warship he served on was sunk by a torpedo (which they themselves fired earlier) in the Pacific Ocean.
In his next anecdote, Abe tells of giving a not-yet-famous Clark Gable a shoe shine at the Springfield railway station and lending him a copy of Gone with the Wind, but still remembers his anger at not being paid.
Insulted at the not-so-false suggestion, Homer listens to Mr. Burns' anecdotes, writes his own column and takes it to the Springfield Shopper (where it is quickly shredded).
The two struggle, and then Abe pulls the emergency brake and Marshall is knocked out by a vast load of hat boxes.
The episode was written by Mitch Glazer & Don Payne and directed by Mike Frank Polcino.
The opening Flyby gag is a parody of the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
The two had some great episodes in the show's early going, as the series examined the way that Abe's inability to be a good single parent reverberated down through the years (in a much, much funnier way than that sounds).
"[6] Jason Hughes of TV Squad stated in his review "I didn't find the episode particularly funny, but I appreciated that The Simpsons did bring a bit of that emotion back to the character's relations".