History YMMV / TheSimpsonsS1E8TheTelltaleHead

** The bullies (Dolph, Jimbo, and Kearney) state that they were only imagining cutting off the statue's head and are shocked when it happens for real, but the show's new HD opening actually has Jimbo and Kearney cutting Jebediah Springfield's head (and it landing on Ralph Wiggum).

** This episode is the the first in which Sideshow Bob appears. It's also the first in which he tries to kill Bart, long before that motivation became an integral part of his character from "Cape Feare" onward.

** This episode is the the first in which Sideshow Bob appears. It's also the first in which he tries to kill Bart, long before that motivation became an integral part of his character from "Cape Feare" onward. Maybe he wouldn't have been talked out of it with the rest of the mob if he'd known what was coming...

** This episode is the the first in which Sideshow Bob appears. It's also the first in which he tries to kill Bart, long before that motivation became an integral part of his character since "Cape Feare." Maybe he wouldn't have been talked out of it with the rest of the mob if he'd known what was coming...

** This episode is the the first in which Sideshow Bob appears, and it's also the first in which he tries to kill Bart before that motivation became an integral part of his character since "Cape Feare." Maybe he wouldn't have been talked out of it with the rest of the mob if he'd known what was coming...

** This episode is the the first in which Sideshow Bob appears, and it's also the first in which he tries to kill Bart before that motivation became an integral part of his character in later appearances. Maybe he wouldn't have been talked out of it with the rest of the mob if he'd known what was coming...

** This, the first episode in which Sideshow Bob appears, is technically also the first in which he tries to kill Bart! Maybe he wouldn't have been talked out of it with the rest of the mob if he'd known what was coming...

* HarsherInHindsight: It's harder to buy into the townsfolk's reverence for Jebediah Springfield, the town's founder, after "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E16LisaTheIconoclast Lisa the Iconoclast]]." There, Lisa would uncover his true identity, that of an unscrupulous pirate who lied about every good deed he'd be known for in the present.

* HarsherInHindsight: It's harder to buy into the townsfolk's reverence for Jebediah Springfield, the town's founder, after his true identity is discovered in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E16LisaTheIconoclast Lisa the Iconoclast]]." There, Lisa would discover that he was an unscrupulous pirate who lied about every good deed he'd be known for in the present.

* HarsherInHindsight: It's harder to buy into the townsfolk's reverence for Jebediah Springfield, the town's founder, after his true identity is discovered in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E16LisaTheIconoclast Lisa the Iconoclast]]." He was far from the idealized hero the Springfielders know him as; he was an unscrupulous pirate who lied about every good deed he'd be known for in the present.

* HarsherInHindsight: Seeing what a cool, heroic guy that Jebediah Springfield, the town's founder, is portrayed as in this episode is this after his true identity is discovered in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E16LisaTheIconoclast Lisa the Iconoclast]]": as a conman and a scoundrel who tried to kill UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington.

* HilariousInHindsight: The bullies (Dolph, Jimbo, and Kearney) state that they were only imagining cutting off the statue's head and are shocked when it happens for real, but the show's new HD opening actually has Jimbo and Kearney cutting Jebediah Springfield's head (and it landing on Ralph Wiggum).

* ValuesDissonance: This is the episode of the first season, Bart's high-water-mark as a controversial figure, that focuses most heavily on Bart doing a bad thing. At the time, his actions were far outside the norm for a young boy on television, and many were calling him a bad role model. Yet if you watch the episode today, he doesn't read as a particularly bad kid at all. Messing with the Sunday school teacher just surprises you that he goes to Sunday school at all, he clearly objects to things that Jimbo's crew wants to do and gets peer-pressured into them, and his attempt to impress them by cutting the head off is framed as completely negative and has immediately bad consequences. MenaceDecay and all, if this episode aired today, people would probably be ''praising'' Bart as a good role model for ultimately defying peer pressure and realizing it's a bad thing. At the time it was airing, though, frank depictions of this sort of thing were ''very'' rare.

* ValuesDissonance: This is the episode of the first season, Bart's high-water-mark as a controversial figure, that focuses most heavily on Bart doing a bad thing. At the time, his actions were far outside the norm for a young boy on television, and many were calling him a bad role model. Yet if you watch the episode today, he doesn't read as a particularly bad kid at all. Messing with the Sunday school teacher just surprises you that he goes to Sunday school at all, he clearly objects to things that Jimbo's crew wants to do and gets peer-pressured into them, and his attempt to impress them by cutting the head off is framed as completely negative and has immediately bad consequences. MenaceDecay and all, if this episode aired today, people would probably be ''praising'' Bart as a good role model for ultimately defying peer pressure and realizing it's a bad thing. At the time it was airing, though, frank depictions of this sort of thing were ''very'' rare.

* AlternateAesopInterpretation: In this episode, Bart's minor bad deed of cutting the head off the statue is treated very as a very serious crime by the townspeople, with them getting very emotional about the act and forming a lynch mob to punish Bart when the problem is very easily fixed by just putting the head back on and Bart already felt bad about it. This is shown to largely be the result of the large amount of respect people have for Jebediah Springfield, with them speaking extremely highly opf him and his (apparent) actions, this includes a rather outlandish story about killing a bear with his bare hands (which a TV special even mentions probably isn't true, but seems to gloss over it.) Couple that with the HarsherInHindsight entry and this episode can be viewed as a message against the dangers of glorifying historical figures and also of being too quick to punish others based on emotional moral judgements.

* HarsherInHindsight:
** Seeing what a cool, heroic guy that Jebediah Springfield, the town's founder, is portrayed as in this episode is this after his true identity is discovered in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E16LisaTheIconoclast Lisa the Iconoclast]]": as a conman and a scoundrel who tried to kill UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington.

** Seeing what a cool, heroic guy that Jebediah Springfield, the town's founder, is portrayed as in this episode is this after his true identity is discovered in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E16LisaTheIconoclast Lisa the Iconoclast]]": [[spoiler: as a conman and a scoundrel who tried to kill UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington.]]
*** Building on the above reveal, this accidentally foreshadows the 2020 riots due to statues being defaced or destroyed due to them honoring [[spoiler: slavers and other corrupt, abusive figures who were previously lionized for their roles in history]].
** Furthermore, the town forgiving Bart once he told his story and Homer's comment about how most mobs usually aren't as understanding as they were becomes much, much more difficult to hear after the events of "The Boys of Bummer" where the town harasses him so badly [[DisproportionateRetribution losing a little league baseball game]] that he has a mental breakdown and nearly kills himself.
** Also, the heartbreak, anger, outrage and strong desire for revenge over seeing an important monument being destroyed that the citizens of Springfield felt is reminiscent of how Americans felt after the 9/11 attacks (although that was ''much'' worse due to the thousands of people killed on that day in New York, Washington D.C. and Shanksville, Pennsylvania).

* HilariousInHindsight: The bullies (Dolph, Jimbo, and Kearney) state that they were only imagining cutting off the statue's head and are shocked when it happens for real, but the show's new HD opening actually has Jimbo and Kearney cutting Jebediah Springfield's head (and it landing on Ralph Wiggum).

** Seeing what a cool, heroic guy that Jebidiah Springfield, the town's founder, is portrayed as in this episode is this after his true identity is discovered in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E16LisaTheIconoclast Lisa the Iconoclast]]": [[spoiler: as a conman and a scoundrel who tried to kill UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington.]]

* HilariousInHindsight: The bullies state that they were only imagining cutting off the statue's head and are shocked when it happens for real, but in the later series openings, they are seen doing it themselves.

** Furthermore, the town forgiving Bart once he told his story and Homer's comment about how most mobs usually aren't as understanding as they were becomes much, much more difficult to hear after the events of "The Boys of Bummer" where the town harasses him so badly [[DisproportionateRetribution losing a little league baseball game]] that he has a mental breakdown and nearly kills himself.

* HarsherInHindsight: Seeing what a cool, heroic guy that Jebidiah Springfield, the town's founder, is portrayed as in this episode is this after his true identity is discovered in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E16LisaTheIconoclast Lisa the Iconoclast]]": [[spoiler: as a conman and a scoundrel who tried to kill UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington.]]