A dirty word, "smoo", is said on television, making Earl, Charlene, and Robbie laugh. However, the whole family becomes shocked and annoyed when the Baby keeps repeating the word. Fran washes Baby's mouth out with soap and then tells Earl not to let the Baby watch television. After being annoyed with his time spent with the Baby, Earl goes against Fran's orders and turns on the TV, only for the show that happens to be on being "The Smoo Show". Earl decides that they won't watch television again until the networks put an end to using profanity. Earl and some other parents, who had to actually spend time with their kids instead of watching television, have a meeting on what to do. They dismiss Fran's suggestion that they monitor what their kids watch and deal with such problems themselves, and they go to the network to protest. Their protests, however, results in The Smoo Show airing seven nights a week, along with more profanity-titled shows. They then go to the government, where they convince the elders to outlaw bad language on television. They quickly agree, but then the other parents suggest banning other words and actions from television, things that Earl wasn't ever bothered by, and then it is decided to not just outlaw this stuff on television, but also in real life. Dinosaurs are given a list of words that replace different words that rhyme with "smoo" (for example, the number two will now be called "not one", while cows will start speaking proper English as opposed to saying moo), and male dinosaurs are required to wear pants, while the women have to wear panty hose. Earl is embarrassed at having to wear pants, and then Ethyl gets Baby to stop saying smoo by refusing to read to him otherwise. Earl realizes that he didn't have to go through all he did and could have easily gotten Baby to stop, becomes convinced that it'd be better for parents to deal with what their kids do themselves, and decides to read to the Baby.
Includes examples of
- An Aesop: That parents should monitor what their kids watch on TV and deal with having their kids when they misbehave themselves, as opposed to protesting.
- Bait-and-Switch Time Skip: Fran has Earl babysit Baby for an hour while she cooks dinner, but she doesn't want Baby to watch television due to Baby repeating the dirty word, "Smoo", which was shown on Don't Lift that Heavy Object! the night before. Earl does everything he can to entertain Baby without having to resort to using television, which includes singing and dancing, playing with puppets, making balloon animals, and attempting to spin plates on sticks. It is then revealed that all of that only took two minutes.
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: After spending the episode crusading into banning the use of dirty words on television, Earl is astounded when his mother-in-law Ethyl gets Baby to stop saying "smoo" just by asking him to stop.
- Follow the Leader: In-Universe example. The success of The Smoo Show leads to the creation of other shows with dirty words in the titles.
- "Kick Me" Prank: Mr. Richfield tapes a "Kick Me" sign to Earl's back as punishment for having Baby call him "A big fat smooey smoo". Robbie notices this when Earl arrives home that evening, and asks him why he can't just remove it. Earl tells him he would if it weren't covering an unsightly wound.
- Gosh Dang It to Heck!: This show has the alternate dirty words "smoo", "flark", and "glick".
- Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Played with; in the series, most of the characters, both male and female, wear anything but pants. When censorship goes amuck, Earl shows Fran the pants he is forced to wear as part of the push for censorship, to Fran's horror. He then shows Fran the pantyhose that she is forced to wear.
- Innocent Swearing: Baby can't stop saying "smoo", which at one point proves embarrassing for Earl and Fran when he calls Mr. Richfield "smoo".
- Moral Guardians: Earl leads a group of moral guardians in protesting dirty words on television, and then things become ridiculous when things also get censored in real life.
- One-Joke Fake Show: "The Smoo Show" consists of dinosaurs saying "Smoo!" over and over again.
- Swear Word Plot: This episode revolves around Baby saying "smoo" after hearing it on Don't Lift That Heavy Object!. In response, Earl gets "smoo" outlawed from television, but things get out of control when other parents get other dirty words and actions outlawed not just from television, but from real life as well. At the end of the episode, Ethyl gets Baby to stop swearing by refusing to read to him until he stops, and this works.
