The Simpsons: Bart of Darkness

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(S06E01) The year was 1994. I was starting my senior year of high school and The Simpsons was starting its sixth season with an episode about Homer giving in to the demands of his children and buying a pool for his family. Everyone enjoys the new pool, but Bart tries to show off for his friends and ends up falling from the treehouse and breaking his leg. As he becomes more and more reclusive (and increasingly insane) he convinces himself that Flanders has murdered his wife and recruits Lisa to sneak into Flanders' house and find evidence. Of course, the whole idea is an homage to Rear Window, which becomes obvious when Bart peers into the apartment of a Stewart lookalike who exclaims some sinister kid is spying on him.

The Simpsons is a funny program, there's no denying that, but it can also be very touching, uplifting, and even scary (the "Treehouse of Horror" episodes). The final scene in which Lisa must hide from a supposedly murderous Ned Flanders may not seem that suspenseful when you've seen it a hundred times already, but nevertheless, the creators know how to build suspense and actually make you care about what might happen to the characters. As it turns out, Maude was just away at Bible camp, where she was learning to be more judgmental.

Some of my favorite moments from this episode include Homer building a "fridge tent" to keep cool (he got the idea when he realized the fridge was cold); Bart being rushed quickly through the hospital corridors after he breaks his leg, only to be left alone in the waiting room; the ice cream man, sans ice cream, being closely followed by the chili man; and the awesome Busby Berkeley-style dance sequence in the pool. I also loved the sign at the pool store which read "Pool Sharks: Where the buyer is our chum."