YMMV / The Simpsons S7 E21 "22 Short Films About Springfield"

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Was Superintendent Chalmers fooled by any of Skinner's lies? Or was he merely going along with it for entertainment value? The writer of the skit, Bill Oakley, has said that Chalmers knows almost everyone in Springfield is crazy, but avoids asking too many questions in order to get by. He may just be playing along at least partly because trying to make sense of Skinner's behaviour and unravelling his lies isn't worth the effort. At least one other writer has also mentioned that Chalmers is the closest thing to a regular person that would be able to survive and keep their sanity in Springfield, so Chalmers may be shielding himself from the insanity by going along with it but keeping his incredulous stance. The original draft of the segment, then titled "Chalmers vs. Skinner", has a slightly different ending exchange, suggesting Chalmers knew Skinner was lying the whole time.
  • Some have argued Chalmers may genuinely like Skinner's company, given the genuine curiosity about the blatant lie of the Northern Lights and his rather friendly goodbye. As crazy as Springfield may get, Chalmers may actually consider Skinner a friend and sometimes plays along not for trolling purposes but because he's genuinely amused.
  • Did Skinner mistakenly give Chalmers the wrong directions, or did he do it on purpose to buy himself more time to prepare?
• Aluminum Christmas Trees: One of Chalmers' questions is why Skinner calls hamburgers "steamed hams" when they were obviously grilled. Making a steamed hamburger is actually possible (though they wouldn't have grill marks).
• Catharsis Factor:
  • It's very satisfying to hear Agnes Skinner getting helplessly burned alive in her own house after how horrendously she's treated Skinner in the past and since. The fact that Skinner casually throws her under the bus just to save his luncheon is just the icing on the cake.
  • Nelson being humiliated by Ian and everyone in Springfield giving him a "Haw-Haw" is considered very satisfying.
• Fan Nickname: "Steamed Hams" for the "Skinner and the Superintendent" skit, after Skinner trying to pass "steamed hams" off as a colloquialism for hamburgers, to the point the many memes that spawned it tend to use names like "Steamed Hams But [x]"
• Fountain of Memes: Pretty much the entirety of the "Skinner and the Superintendent" skit is a goldmine of quotable lines.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Snake robbing Moe to pay off his student loans can be considered poetic justice after "The Seemingly Never-Ending Story" revealed that Snake's Start of Darkness was Moe robbing him of a bag of Mayan coins back when Snake was an Adventurer Archaeologist.
  • After not getting his own segment here, Frink got his own time in the spotlight 20 seasons later (if not counting one Treehouse of Horror non-canon segment, Frinkenstein).
• Memetic Badass: While Principal Skinner only acts like a Professional Butt-Kisser in his segment, many jokes make him the legitimate creator of an aurora borealis localized entirely within his kitchen.
• Memetic Mutation: In late 2017 and early 2018, the Skinner and the Superintendent segment, now better known as Steamed Hams, took a life of its own, and has been reinvented over and over on YouTube. Though nobody knows why. It's a go-to pop culture reference in YouTube and Reddit comments, as well.
• One-Scene Wonder: Tall Guy (whose name is Ian, according to The Simpsons Wiki) for giving Nelson his comeuppance.
• Parody Displacement: These day any attempt to parody the Dinner with the Boss trope will inevitably get compared to Steamed Hams.
• Sacred Cow: This episode, and especially "Skinner and the Superintendent", is considered one of the finest installments of the Simpsons.
• Signature Scene:
  • The entire "Skinner and the Superintendent" skit, particularly the "Aurora Borealis" part, for its memetic status.
  • The final skit with the tall driver in a small car punishing Nelson for mocking him is also pretty famous, as it's Nelson's ultimate comeuppance for mocking everyone in general.
• Vindicated by History: According to Bill Oakley, the Steamed Hams skit originally had a lukewarm reception and he didn't quite understand why it became suddenly popular 20 years later.
• Watch It for the Meme: Thousands of people watch the episode just for Steamed Hams.
• Woolseyism: The Latin American translation of the episode changes Dr. Nick's reason to pull an Of Corpse He's Alive scheme with the corpses in the hospital's morgue and his car from "I get here faster in the carpool lane" to "I was bored and there was nothing else to do around here (in the hospital)".

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