The Simpsons episode
"The Telltale Head"
A guilty Bart watches on as Springfield residents discover the beheaded Jebediah Springfield statue
Episode no.	8
Prod. code	7G07
Orig. airdate	February 25, 1990
Written by	Al Jean Mike Reiss Sam Simon Matt Groening
Directed by	Rich Moore
Chalkboard	"I did not see Elvis"; one line reads "I did see Elvis"
Couch gag	Bart is squeezed off the couch, flies out of frame, and lands in front of the TV.
DVD commentary	Rich Moore Al Jean Mike Reiss
Season 1 December 17, 1989 – May 13, 1990
Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire Bart the Genius Homer's Odyssey There's No Disgrace Like Home Bart the General Moaning Lisa The Call of the Simpsons The Telltale Head Life on the Fast Lane Homer's Night Out The Crepes of Wrath Krusty Gets Busted Some Enchanted Evening
List of all The Simpsons episodes

"The Telltale Head" was the eighth episode of The Simpsons. The episode deals with Bart pulling a questionable stunt that shocks the entire town. The title is a play on Edgar Allan Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart. Simpsons redirects here. ... Image File history File links SimpsonsMPG_7G07. ... Bart and his sister Lisa Simpson as news anchors. ... Springfield is the fictional American city in which the animated American sitcom The Simpsons is set. ... Decapitation (from Latin, caput, capitis, meaning head), or beheading, is the removal of a living organisms head. ... This page provides information on characters on The Simpsons who do not have their own articles. ... February 25 is the 56th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1990 (MCMXC) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1990 Gregorian calendar). ... The Simpsons writing staff in season 13, including current show runner Al Jean (fourth from left in middle row) and previous show runners Mike Scully (first from left in back row), David Mirkin (sixth from left in back row), and Mike Reiss (fourth from left in back row). ... Al Jean is a TV comedy writer most known for his work on The Simpsons. ... Mike Reiss is an American TV comedy writer. ... Sam Simon was one of the original developers of The Simpsons, along with Matt Groening and James L. Brooks. ... Matthew Abram Groening (born February 15, 1954[2] in Portland, Oregon;[3] his family name is pronounced ) is an Emmy Award-winning American cartoonist and the creator of The Simpsons,[4] Futurama and the weekly comic strip Life in Hell. ... The three people are caricatures of (left to right) Rich Moore, Wes Archer and David Silverman[1] The following is a list of directors who have worked on the Fox animated television series The Simpsons. ... Rich Moore is an animation director whose credits include The Simpsons, Futurama, Baby Blues, and The Critic. ... Bart writes The Pledge of Allegiance does not end with Hail Satan The chalkboard gag is a running visual joke that occurs during the opening credits of many episodes of The Simpsons. ... The couch gag is a running visual joke in the opening credits of the animated television series The Simpsons. ... The Simpsons DVD season boxsets have been released since 2001 in different regions all over the world. ... Rich Moore is an animation director whose credits include The Simpsons, Futurama, Baby Blues, and The Critic. ... Al Jean is a TV comedy writer most known for his work on The Simpsons. ... Mike Reiss is an American TV comedy writer. ... The first season of The Simpsons originally aired between December 1989 and May 1990. ... December 17 is the 351st day of the year (352nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar). ... May 13 is the 133rd day of the year (134th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1990 (MCMXC) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1990 Gregorian calendar). ... Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire, also known as The Simpsons Christmas Special,[2] is the first episode of The Simpsons to air. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Homers Odyssey is the third full length episode of The Simpsons, that originally aired January 21, 1990. ... Theres No Disgrace Like Home is the fourth full length episode of The Simpsons. ... Bart the General is the fifth full length episode of The Simpsons. ... Moaning Lisa is the sixth full-length episode of The Simpsons. ... The Call of the Simpsons is the seventh episode of The Simpsons. ... Life on the Fast Lane is the ninth episode of The Simpsons first season. ... Homers Night Out is the tenth episode of The Simpsons from the first season. ... “The Crepes of Wrath” is the eleventh episode of The Simpsons first season. ... Krusty Gets Busted is the 12th episode of the first season of The Simpsons. ... This article is about the Simpsons episode; for other uses see Some Enchanted Evening (disambiguation). ... The following is an episode list for the Fox animated television series The Simpsons. ... Simpsons redirects here. ... Edgar Allan Poe (January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American poet, short story writer, editor, critic and one of the leaders of the American Romantic Movement. ... Illustration by Harry Clarke, detail from He shrieked once -once only The Tell-Tale Heart is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, which was first published in James Russell Lowells The Pioneer in January 1843; Poe republished it in his periodical The Broadway Journal for August 23, 1845. ...

Plot

Homer and Bart are chased through the streets of Springfield by an angry mob. Someone has sawn off the head of the statue of town founder Jebediah Springfield. Surrounded by the surly crowd, Bart pleads for understanding and relates the events of the previous day. As the story unfolds, Bart borrows $5.00 from Homer and sneaks away to see Space Mutants IV at the local movie theater. On his way, he runs into a gang of troublemakers. One of them, Jimbo, invites Bart to sneak into the movies with him and his buddies. Homer Jay Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons, voiced by Dan Castellaneta. ... Bart and his sister Lisa Simpson as news anchors. ... This page provides information on characters on The Simpsons who do not have their own articles. ... Corky James Jimbo Jones (voiced by Pamela Hayden) is a character from the TV show The Simpsons. ...

Later, as the boys throw rocks at Jebediah's statue, Jimbo wishes someone would cut off the statue's head. When Bart tries to defend the town's hero, Jimbo and the boys laugh at him. To be cool, Bart sneaks out of the house that night and saws the statue's head off.

The next day, all of Springfield grieves the decapitation of the town founder. Bart finds Jimbo and his pals and discovers they are as distraught as everyone else. Jimbo tells Bart that the decapitating was just cloud talk and they decided to meet the 'one' who done this, so they can break every bone on his body. Feeling scared, Bart decides not to tell. Feeling remorse, Bart returns home and confesses to his family. As Homer (who also feels more than a little responsible for this incident) takes Bart to place the head back on the statue, they are confronted by the angry mob. Bart tells the crowd that his act has united the town and taught people to appreciate their heritage. The townspeople agree, the head is placed back into the statue, and Bart is forgiven.

Cultural references

• The episode title is a reference to the short story "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe. In addition, Bart actually hears the head talking when he is overcome with guilt. The story is also very similar to Paul Jennings' "Headley Hopkins".
• The Bridge over the River Kwai - the line "What have I done?"
• When Bart awakes to a find the head of Jebediah Springfield in bed next to him, it is reminiscent of the scene from "The Godfather" where Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall) "persuades" Woltz to cast Fontane in the movie by leaving the head of the producer's prize racehorse in his bed.
• Homer reads about a bowling ball called "The Hammer of Thor" that will "send your pins to Valhalla."
• When Bart wakes up, he says "Top of the world, Ma!", referring to the final scene of White Heat.

Illustration by Harry Clarke, detail from He shrieked once -once only The Tell-Tale Heart is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, which was first published in James Russell Lowells The Pioneer in January 1843; Poe republished it in his periodical The Broadway Journal for August 23, 1845. ... Edgar Allan Poe (January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American poet, short story writer, editor, critic and one of the leaders of the American Romantic Movement. ... The Bridge over the River Kwai taken in June 2004. ... The Godfather is a 1972 crime film based on the novel of the same name by Mario Puzo and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, with screenplay by Puzo and Coppola. ... Robert Selden Duvall (born January 5, 1931) is an Academy Award and four-time Golden Globe winning American film actor and director. ... A ten-pin bowling ball and two pins A bowling ball is a round ball made from rubber, urethane, plastic, reactive resin (solid, particle, or pearl) or a combination of these materials which is used in the sport of bowling. ... Drawing of an archeological find of a gold plated hammer in silver. ... a bowling pin is laurens mom ... “Valhall” redirects here. ... White Heat is a 1949 crime film starring James Cagney, Edmond OBrien and Virginia Mayo. ...

Debut Appearances

Characters making a first appearance in this episode are:

• Reverend Timothy Lovejoy
• Jimbo
• Kearney
• Dolph
• Ms. Albright (Sunday School Teacher)

Voiced by Harry Shearer, Reverend Timothy Lovejoy is the local minister in the long-running animated TV show The Simpsons. ... Corky James Jimbo Jones (voiced by Pamela Hayden) is a character from the TV show The Simpsons. ... Kearney Zzyzwicz (voiced by Nancy Cartwright) is one of Springfields many bullies in the long-running animated TV show The Simpsons. ... Dolphin Starbeam, known as Dolph (voiced by Tress MacNeille) is a character of the TV show The Simpsons. ... This page provides information on characters on The Simpsons who do not have their own articles. ...

Trivia

• Announcer: "Wolodarsky takes it at the 5... oh my, he fumbles," reference to show writer-producer Wallace Wolodarsky.
• This is the first episode in which Tress MacNeille takes part.
• Sideshow Bob's hair evolves from a huge red afro.
• This is one of five Simpsons episodes to display the title on the screen, excluding the Treehouse of Horror episodes. The others are "Bart Gets Hit by a Car", "22 Short Films About Springfield", "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase" and "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular".
• This episode has been referenced twice in the television series South Park. In "Simpsons Already Did It", Butters, as "Professor Chaos" cuts the head off a statue in South Park to wreak havoc on society, but is foiled when he realizes that, not only have The Simpsons already done this, but the townspeople would prefer to leave the statue headless in order to be reminded of The Simpsons. Second, in "Cartoon Wars Part II", Cartman visits the FOX studios in order to convince the network prsident to cancel Family Guy, but, before he can have a meeting with him, he finds Bart Simpson (in a reference to the fact that many of The Simpsons writers, like Matt Stone and Trey Parker, also dislike Family Guy) has an appointment ahead of him. When Cartman asks Bart what the worst thing he's ever done is, Bart replies "I cut the head off a statue once."
• The Season 1 DVD boxset is missing two scenes from the episode: one where Bart told the crowd that, after decapitating the town statue, he realized he was taking his heritage for granted (an issue that would later resurface in Season 7's "Lisa the Iconoclast"), and another with church bells ringing. It is rumoured that these scenes, which add up to 28 seconds, were added to comply with an FCC regulation that all cartoons must include this length of educational content.
• The DVD does, however, contain two scenes that were not in the original broadcast; an extended remark from Otto ("It's beautiful, man!"; "man" was not in the original broadcast), and Homer telling Bart that "most lynch mobs aren't this nice". These scenes add to five seconds; note, however, that the run time for this episode on the Season 1 DVD set is 22:42, and the run time for its original broadcast is 23:05. Bart mentions earlier in the episode that the story takes "about 23 minutes and five seconds" to tell; the story itself is only 17 minutes and 10 seconds, though this more likely refers to the length of the full episode.
• This is the first episode where Bart is seen skateboarding outside of the introduction.
• In The Simpsons Road Rage, if you drive into the Jebediah Springfield Statue, the head falls off.

Tress MacNeille (born June 20, 1951) is an American voice actress best known for providing various voices on the animated television shows The Simpsons and Futurama, and Animaniacs. ... Robert Underdunk Terwilliger, better known by his stage name Sideshow Bob, is a fictional character on The Simpsons. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Treehouse of Horror. ... Bart Gets Hit by a Car is the tenth episode of The Simpsons second season. ... 22 Short Films About Springfield is the twenty-first episode of The Simpsons seventh season, airing on April 21, 1996. ... The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase is an episode in the eighth season of The Simpsons, featuring clips from non-existent television series derived from The Simpsons. ... The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular is the tenth episode of The Simpsons seventh season, and is, as the title suggests, the 138th episode. ... This article is about the animated television series. ... Simpsons Already Did It is the seventh episode in the sixth season of the Comedy Central series South Park. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Cartoon Wars Part II is episode 1004 of South Park which aired on April 12, 2006. ... Eric Cartman on his tricycle Eric Theodore Cartman, voiced by Trey Parker, is a fictional character in the animated series South Park. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... Family Guy is an Emmy award winning American animated television series about a nuclear family in the fictional town of Quahog (IPA or ), Rhode Island. ... Matthew Richard Stone (born May 26, 1971) is an Emmy-winning American animator, film director, screenwriter, actor and voice actor. ... Randolph Severn Trey Parker III (born October 19, 1969) is an Academy Award-nominated and Emmy-winning American animator, screenwriter, film director, voice actor, actor and musician. ... The Simpsons DVD season boxsets have been released since 2001 in different regions all over the world. ... Lisa the Iconoclast is the sixteenth episode of The Simpsons seventh season, and is probably the most important episode for Jebediah Springfield since The Telltale Head. // Spoiler warning: As Springfield celebrates its bicentennial, Lisa Simpson makes the shocking discovery that the towns beloved founder, the late Jebediah Springfield, was... A cartoon is any of several forms of illustrations with varied meanings that evolved from its original meaning. ... The Simpsons Road Rage is a video game that was released in 2001 by Electronic Arts. ...

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

The Telltale Head

The Simpsons Portal

• "The Telltale Head" episode capsule at The Simpsons Archive
• "The Telltale Head" at the Internet Movie Database