Whiskey Business

"Whiskey Business"
The Simpsons episode
Episode no.	527
Directed by	Matthew Nastuk
Written by	Valentina L. Garza
Showrunner(s)	Al Jean
Production code	RABF12
Original air date	May 5, 2013
Couch gag	The Simpsons are carved into a block of ice by three men. Grampa Simpson comes in and turns on the heat. The ice sculpture melts.
Guest actors	Tony Bennett Kevin Michael Richardson Sonny Rollins Ron Taylor
Season 24 episodes September 30, 2012 – May 19, 2013 "Moonshine River" "Treehouse of Horror XXIII"" "Adventures in Baby-Getting" "Gone Abie Gone" "Penny-Wiseguys" "A Tree Grows in Springfield" "The Day the Earth Stood Cool" "To Cur with Love" "Homer Goes to Prep School" "A Test Before Trying" "The Changing of the Guardian" "Love Is a Many-Splintered Thing" "Hardly Kirk-ing" "Gorgeous Grampa" "Black Eyed, Please" "Dark Knight Court" "What Animated Women Want" "Pulpit Friction" "Whiskey Business" "The Fabulous Faker Boy" "The Saga of Carl" "Dangers on a Train" List of The Simpsons episodes
Seasons 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27

"Whiskey Business" is an episode of The Simpsons, its name being a portmanteau of whiskey and Risky Business. It is the nineteenth episode of the 24th season and the 527th episode overall. It aired on May 5, 2013.^[1] In its original airing, "Whiskey Business" was delayed 25 minutes in Eastern/Central Time Zones due to the end of a NASCAR race at Talladega Superspeedway which was delayed more than 3¹⁄₂ hours due to rain.

Plot

Noticing that Moe has fallen into a bout of suicidal depression, Homer, Marge, Lenny and Carl take him on an excursion to Capital City and buy him a new suit to lift his spirits. His enthusiasm restored, Moe fixes up his bar in order to attract a better class of customers and brings out a batch of homemade whiskey. Two venture capitalists stop by the bar, sample the drink, and are so impressed that they offer to become Moe's business partners in marketing it. Shortly before the new company's initial public offering, his suit is destroyed when he gets caught in an elevator door. Moe appears at the stock exchange in his ordinary clothes and addresses the traders for the IPO, but he inadvertently scares them so badly that his stock price plummets and the company becomes worthless. Returning to his once-again-squalid bar, he brightens up enough to sweep up the pieces of a broken beer mug and forgets about committing suicide, at least for the time being.

Meanwhile, Grampa watches the children while Homer and Marge are away. An elaborate prank by Bart, Dolph, Jimbo, and Kearney leads to Grampa being injured, and Bart decides to care for him at home in order to avoid getting in trouble. With Grampa hiding in the basement to avoid being found, the two enjoy playing tricks on Homer. Grampa recovers quickly, but fakes a lingering injury in order to make sure that Bart keeps looking after him. Bart eventually discovers the deception and is angry, but the two reconcile after Grampa explains that he liked getting the sort of personal attention that he never could receive at the nursing home.

In order to keep Lisa from finding out about Grampa, Bart sends her to a jazz club where an all-star jam session is taking place. She is shocked to see Bleeding Gums Murphy among the performers, as she knows him to be dead, and discovers that he is actually a hologram. Outraged, she tries to start a boycott of Murphy's record label; shortly afterward, she is surprised to receive a visit from saxophonist Sonny Rollins at home. Rollins explains that holograms are simply the next step in the development of the entertainment industry. Realizing that he too is a hologram sent by the record company, Lisa gives up her boycott and groans resignedly as she watches commercials that feature Diana, Princess of Wales, Tupac Shakur and Mahatma Gandhi.

Reception

Critical reception

Robert David Sullivan of The A. V. Club gave the episode a C–, saying "I’ve been complaining about the dark humor in many Simpsons episodes this season, but it’s unimaginative dark humor that’s disappointing. I’m a champion of the episode “Homer’s Enemy,” all the way to its grim conclusion, and I love every blood-spurting moment of the Itchy and Scratchy cartoons. But “Whiskey Business” just bangs on the one note of Moe being so depressed he can’t even muster the energy to end it all. An episode that actually depicted a suicide would at least win points for going to extremes."^[2] Teresa Lopez of TV Fanatic gave the episode two and a half stars out of five, saying "In addition to the Moe and Lisa plots, the show also tried to shoehorn another story involving Grampa and Bart bonding when Grampa gets injured on Bart's makeshift waterslide. There were some cute moments between the two, but the episode had far too many threads going to make any of them really satisfactory."^[3]

Ratings

The episode received a 1.9 in the 18-49 demographic and was watched by a total of 4.43 million viewers. This made it the third most watched show on Fox's Animation Domination line up that night, beating Bob's Burgers but losing to American Dad! with 5.00 million.^[4]

References

1. "The Simpsons Episode Guide 2013 Season 24 - Whiskey Business, Episode 19". TVGuide.com. Retrieved 2013-05-07.
2. David, Robert. ""Whiskey Business" | The Simpsons | TV Club | TV". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 2013-05-07.
3. "The Simpsons Review: Capital Idea". TV Fanatic. Retrieved 2013-05-07.
4. "Sunday Final Ratings: ‘The Amazing Race’ & ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ Adjusted Up; ‘Red Widow’ Adjusted Down + Final FOX Numbers". Tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com. Retrieved 2013-05-07.