Original air date: 4/19/1998 (produced in 1997)
Production code: 5F15
Because of the FCC's push for more educational programming for children, Krusty is forced to cut ten minutes (out of three hours) of his show for a kids' news program. Lisa is hired as the head anchor, but it's Bart who becomes famous when his over-the-top sports news segment gets him the co-anchor seat and he uses his new position to report sappy human interest stories instead of news stories that matter. Meanwhile, Homer adopts a helper monkey named Mojo after seeing a wheelchair-bound Apu use one, but Homer ends up turning the monkey into a slob.
This episode has the following tropes:
- Accidental Misnaming: The executive gets Lisa's name wrong:Executive: You could learn a lot from him, Mary Ann.
Lisa: It's Lisa.
Executive: (cheerfully) Mary Ann's better! - Always Introduces Themselves: Bart becomes this due to imitating Kent Brockman ("I'm Bart Simpson").
- Always Someone Better: Lisa is a better anchor than Bart and Kent Brockman reveals with much loathing that he has a sister of his own that is a White House press representative. When Bart uses schmaltzy human interest reports to turn this around, Lisa becomes jealous of Bart's popularity.
- Bad People Abuse Animals:
- After Grampa is taken advantage of to get Homer a helper monkey without getting anything, he loses a great deal of sympathy when he mentions he wants to eat Mojo.
- It's more stupidity and sloth than actual evil, but by the end of the episode Homer has turned Mojo the helper monkey into just as much of a messy fat animal as he is and he drops the poor monkey back at the agency in a ding-dong-ditch fashion (at Marge's orders, because she was sick of and concerned about Mojo). It's implied that Mojo may not survive his failing health from extreme obesity.
- Burns makes clear that he's crying of joy at the fact his plant's contamination exterminated all of the ducks in a nearby pond.
- The Crazy Cat Lady doesn't seem like she loves her pets at all, considering both her appearances consist of her chasing Lisa and tossing cats at her for no other reason than senseless rage.
- Bait-and-Switch: At first it looks like Grampa is happy to have Mojo for his helper abilities, but when Homer drives away with Mojo, Grampa says to himself, "I can't wait to eat that monkey!"
- Bait-and-Switch Sentiment: After Bart's segment on a pond that no longer has ducks swimming in it, we cut to Mr. Burns watching the show at his mansion.Mr. Burns: (wiping tears) Smithers, do you think maybe my power plant killed those ducks?
Smithers: There's... no "maybe" about it, sir.
Mr. Burns: (sniffs) Excellent. - Big "WHAT?!": Willie lets out a big one when Lisa tells him that Bart is his "son."
- Borrowed Catchphrase: Mimicking Kent's "I'm Kent Brockman," Bart caps his editorializing with "I'm Bart Simpson" throughout the episode. Then Lisa borrows it from him when she defends him to Groundskeeper Willie, highlighting the fact that she's using his tactics.Lisa: I'm Lisa Simpson.
- Brick Joke: At the beginning of the episode, Krusty suggests adding "The Mattel and Mars Bar Quick Energy Chocobot Hour" to the program, but Lindsey Naegle rejects the idea, stating that the show is "barely legal as it is" and they decide to go with "Kidz Newz" instead. Towards the end of the episode, "Kidz Newz" suffers from poor ratings and gets cancelled after Lisa and Bart stop fighting and decide to work together and the barely legal Chocobot show becomes its replacement.
- Cancellation: In-Universe: The ultimate fate of the kid's news show. Played with, in that no sooner do Bart and Lisa agree to work together instead of against each other, that the show is canned. The Mattel and Mars Bars Quick Energy Chocobot Hour (which was initially rejected because it was too Merchandise-Driven to air on children's television) takes its slot.
- Crazy Cat Lady: The woman Lisa tries to do a news story on. And yet another recurring Simpsons character is born.
- Conflict Killer: A pretty literal example in the third act, when Lisa discovers that her ploy to get rid of Bart by scaring him with Willie is going to go horribly wrong thanks to Willie wanting to kill Bart instead, forcing her to come to his rescue and finding out that if they work together, they can do pretty good work as co-anchors.
- Continuity Nod: When Bart discovers that Nelson is on her news team, Lisa explains that they used to date. ("Plus, he threatened me.")
- Couch Gag: The family sits, and a live action hand spins the screenshot around, smearing the shot's paint.
- Curse Cut Short:Lisa: I can't believe they canceled us for this sh-Bart: Shut up! I'm trying to watch this!
- Disproportionate Retribution: Three cases:
- First, Willie confiscates Bart's skateboard because it ruined his leaf pile. Furthermore, he intends to use it for his furnace.
- Bart then fills Willie's shack with cream corn and almost kills him, ending with his shack blown up and Willie homeless. Willie then screams bloody murder against Bart.
- Finally, Lisa decides to send Bart to the junkyard for his segment, knowing that Willie is now living there and will want to murder Bart for making him homeless. She regrets this when she realizes this is true to a more literal level than she expected.
- Dung Fu: Implied:And in schoolyard fights, the highly anticipated match between Kearney and Mr. Largo ended in a disqualification for use of dog-doo on a stick.
- Embarrassing Damp Sheets: Milhouse has a segment giving advice on how to cover this up (this later becomes a Brick Joke when soiled bedsheets are pointed out in a landfill site).
- Everyone Has Standards: Lisa gleefully expected something bad to happen to Bart when he encountered Willie, but the fact Willie wants to kill Bart is enough to make Lisa regret her actions and save Bart.
- Evil Laugh: Lisa provides one at the end of act two when she gets an idea of how to upstage Bart. She is joined by Mojo in short order.
- Gilligan Cut: Immediately after Lisa and Bart agree to work together to improve Kidz Newz, the scene cuts to an announcement that the "new and improved" show has been canceled, implying their efforts crashed the ratings.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Lisa. She ends up super jealous of Bart and intentionally sabotages him and nearly gets him in a bloody puddle in the process. Fortunately she sees her error and makes amends.
- Gross-Out Show: A lot of the humor in this episode teeters on this, such as: Grampa wanting the helper monkey to eat instead of care for him, Bart's sports report on the fight between Kearney and Mr. Largo ending with use of "dog-doo on a stick," Marge spitting out the orange juice Mojo made, Homer eating the doughnut Mojo bit and threw on the ground, Milhouse's news report on what to do with soiled mattresses and sheets (implying that he's a bedwetter), the scene of Mojo and Homer lying in their own filth (with suspicious looking brown smears on the walls), and Nelson making armpit noises when he takes over the anchor chair.
- Happy Dance: When Marge calls out Homer for letting Mojo get overweight to the point where he's struggling to breathe, Homer tries to prove her wrong by telling Mojo to do his happy dance. It's then subverted when Mojo turns out to be so out of shape that he's unable to do anything more than stumble into a wall.
- Hypocrite:
- The station executive forces Krusty to add more educational content to his show by incorporating a news show for kids, then goes on to promote Bart and encourage his emotionally-manipulative human interest stories despite them having no educational value either.
- Lisa initially opposes the Bart's People segments for being low-information schmaltz, but then she attempts to do her own in retaliation, implying she's really bitter about being upstaged.
- Hypocritical Humor: When Lisa and Bart argue over whether Bart should join Lisa's news crew:Bart: (whining) Mom!
Marge: Oh, let your brother do sports.
Lisa: (whining) Mom!
Marge: That "Mom" stuff doesn't work on me! - I Ate WHAT?!:Marge: Why didn't you tell me you were bringing home a filthy monkey?
Homer: This "filthy monkey" made the orange juice you're drinking!
(Marge, mid-sip, spits it out) - Immoral Journalist: Kent Brockman reveals to Bart that he only cares to make "feel-good" news stories because they are a ratings booster.
- Instantly Proven Wrong:
- Lisa tries to do a story on the Crazy Cat Lady. Standing before her house, she says: "They call her the Cat Lady. People say she's crazy just because she has a few dozen cats. But can anyone who loves animals that much really be crazy?" The Crazy Cat Lady then comes out and throws cats at Lisa, forcing her to flee.
- Lisa then tries a train story, standing next to some railroad tracks: "The old Union Pacific doesn't come by here much anymore..." Cue heavily labelled 'Union Pacific' train going by for a very long time. (Not to mention the Crazy Cat Lady chasing Lisa yet again once the train is gone.)
- Jerkass Ball:
- Bart himself does so when he blows up Willie's shack and almost kills him only to get his skateboard back. He even acknowledges that he has probably gone too far... only to laugh at Willie's predicament later.
- Willie does this by taking away Bart's skateboard for accidentally falling into a pile of leaves. Later, he would attempt to hurt him for leaving him homeless until Lisa came to Bart's defense.
- Lisa. While you could argue that she's just trying to protect her show, at least at first, she's quick to sabotage Bart the second he gets promoted, calling him "dumb" and trying to talk the higher-ups out of it, and when his segment gets popular, she plots an encounter between him and Groundskeeper Willie, who is violently enraged at him (though she doesn't know how violently). Even Marge calls out the fact she has no reason to be jealous since she's still on the show.
- Kent Brockman News: Bart actually goes to the Trope Namer for help and discovers that his highly successful career as a newscaster has largely been fueled by emotionally manipulative human interest stories, which explains many of his Worst News Judgment Ever moments.
- Lazy Bum: While Homer is trying to get a helper monkey at the Animal Assistants Program:Man: May I inquire as to how you are... differently abled?
Homer: Oh, I'm not handicapped, I'm just lazy! - Let's See YOU Do Better!: Lisa, upset at Bart's use of glurge-based stories, attempts to bring him down with her own human-interest stories, intending to "pump 'em so full of sap they'll be blowing their nose with a pancake". However, the stories she tries to do end up backfiring on her.
- Luke, You Are My Father: Parodied. The first thing that Lisa thinks to spit out to stop Groundskeeper Willie from murdering Bart is "He's your son!" This takes him aback enough for Lisa to come up with an eloquent defense of Bart on the fly, saying that she meant the claim as a metaphor for the fact that Society Is to Blame for Bart's misdeeds.
- Mischief-Making Monkey: Mojo the helper monkey, who steals donuts on Homer's orders and scares Lisa with an Evil Laugh.
- Overly Long Gag: The Union Pacific freight train passing by during one of Lisa's reports. Once it finally exits the screen, the Crazy Cat Lady is revealed to have been standing on the other side of the tracks, ready to chase Lisa again.
- Padding: In-universe, Krusty the Clown's show is definitely this.Krusty: Well you're not taking any time out of my show. It's jammed up as it is. There's the monologue, those idiot puppets, Krusty's Nap Time, the second monologue, Paul Harvey, Senor Papino, I tell ya, it's the tightest three hours and ten minutes on TV!
Executive: We're cutting ten minutes from your show.
Krusty: Well, I guess we can trim the Hobo Parade to a lean twenty. - Parental Favoritism: Bart is clearly Marge's favorite in this episode, constantly siding with him over Lisa.
- Perfectly Cromulent Word:Executive: Lisa, Bart's got something you can't learn in school. Zazz!
Lisa: What is 'zazz'?
Executive: Zing! Zork! Kapowza! Call it what you want, in any language it spells mazuma in the bank!
Lisa: "Zork"? What is "zork"?
Executive: I didn't say "zork". - Pet the Dog: Kent Brockman helps Bart with figuring out how to outshine Lisa, if only because of his own issues with his sister.
- Potty Failure: Milhouse does a bit on the kid's news show about how to hide the evidence when you've accidentally wet the bed.
- The Prima Donna: Kent Brockman.Kent: (to stage hand) WHERE THE HELL'S MY GRILLED CHEESE?!
- Product Placement: The Mattel and Mars Bar Quick Energy Chocobot Hour is clearly designed to sell the titular toys and chocolates by constantly making extremely obvious plugs for them.
- Rhetorical Question Blunder: "They call her the Cat Lady. People say she's crazy just because she has a few dozen cats. But can anyone who loves animals that much really be crazy?" Turns out she can.
- Riddle for the Ages: Just why is there a fight between Kearney and Mr. Largo?
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: In the end, the news show is canceled, Lisa and Bart are no longer in any position to cooperate, the latter is too indifferent to even let the lesson he learned sink in, and everything is back to square one.
- Shout-Out: At the news studio, Bart does a Chair Reveal on one of the anchor chairs, saying "We meet again, Mr. Bond...", and when Lisa's annoyed with this, he says "Silence, Octopussy!".
- Society Is to Blame: Echoing the manipulative slant of Bart's stories, Lisa successfully defends Bart to Willie by arguing that this is the case for him.
- Too Dumb to Live: In an attempt to lure Bart out of hiding from him, Willie pretends to be a policeman, saying that Willie was caught and he was planning to give Bart a medal; despite Willie not even bothering to speak in a different voice, Bart still falls for it.
- Whole-Plot Reference: The subplot about Mojo was inspired by Monkey Shines; Mike Scully asked the staff to consult the film for reference when they were making the episode.
- Would Hurt a Child: Willie is pushed to the point of attempted murder after Bart destroys his shack.
- Yet Another Baby Panda: Kent Brockman teaches Bart to do human interest stories of this kind. Bart's stories become a hit, but only Lisa sees them as what they really are.
