Episode no. 477 Written by Rob LaZebnik Production code NABF06 | Directed by Bob Anderson Showrunner(s) Al Jean Original air date February 13, 2011 | |
"The Blue and the Gray" is the thirteenth episode in the twenty-second season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 13, 2011.
Contents
Plot
After spending another Valentine's Day alone, Moe attends a seminar led by Dr. Kissingher in the hopes of gaining more confidence with women. Moe takes the doctor’s advice and asks Homer to be his wingman. Meanwhile, Marge discovers her first gray hairs, only to find out from her hairdresser that she is completely grey and the fumes from the chemical he used blanks her memory of the dye job. Seeing a grey-haired couple having a good time unworried about their hair, Marge surprises both her family and the neighborhood by going completely gray and sporting a brand new mature hairdo. Amidst mixed reactions, Bart is not happy when the neighborhood kids tease him about Marge’s look, and Marge is annoyed when neighborhood women believe she is older than she really is.
Unhappy about Marge's look, Homer initially tells her she is his "silver bell" to appease her; but subsequently spends more time helping Moe with women in order to avoid looking at her, during which he becomes increasingly popular with the young ladies. Later, Patty and Selma point out to Marge Homer's true feelings about her look (noting that Homer would not try to be "clever" if he really liked it), this only being made the more obvious to her when two women gossip about his appearance at a club that night. A jealous Marge heads to the club to surprise Homer, but suffers increasing mishaps resulting in her having a witch-like appearance. At the club, she confronts him upon seeing a crowd of women flirting with him, but Homer helps Marge realize that he only has eyes for her and proves that love is still in the Springfield air. Eventually, Marge changes her hair color back to blue to combat her jealousy issues, and Homer dyes his hair blue for her.
Continuity
Marge is shocked in this episode to discover that her hair is graying, even though the season 5 episode "Secrets of a Successful Marriage" established that Marge already has gray hair, and indeed went prematurely gray ("she's been gray as a mule since she was 17"). However, the writers acknowledge the continuity issues by having Marge's hairstylist explain that the fumes from the blue hair dye he uses cause partial memory damage, so she simply forgot that her hair was already gray.
Reception
In its original American broadcast, "The Blue and the Gray" was viewed by an estimated 5.618 million households and received a 2.7 rating/7% share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49. This episode marked a 10% drop from the previous episode, "Homer the Father". This might have been due to the episode airing against the 53rd Grammy Awards.
The episode was met with lukewarm reviews from critics, who called it "funny" but "unmemorable". The "Worst Episode Ever" Simpsons podcast has, as of September 2016, deemed this its "worst episode ever."