Original air date: 9/11/2005
Production code: GABF-18
Homer gets into trouble over his football gambling debts and allows the Springfield Mafia to shoot a porno film in the house; Marge leaves for the beach—and encounters a marine biologist named Caleb (voiced by Alec Baldwin) who has dedicated his life to saving manatees.
Tropes:
- Artistic License – Biology: Caleb claims manatees and dugongs are the same animal, when they aren't. Manatees are also portrayed as being able to climb onto dry land, whereas they are purely aquatic dwellers.
- Artistic License – Sports: Homer watches games between the Seattle Seahawks and the Denver Broncos as well as the Pittsburgh Steelers and Oakland Raiders. In actuality, the two pairs of teams weren't scheduled to play each another in 2005, although the Seahawks, Steelers, and Broncos all made it to their conference championships, with the Broncos falling to the eventual Super Bowl XL champion Steelers in the AFC Championship Game, and the Seahawks falling to the Steelers at the Super Bowl.
- Bullying a Dragon: After Homer convinces some bullies on jet skis to leave the manatees alone, Homer insults them.
- Call-Back: The episode starts with Homer watching a Seattle Seahawks x Denver Broncos football game, holding up a fan flag that says "My Team"note .
- Celebrity Paradox: Caleb is voiced by Alec Baldwin who previously played himself in Season 10's "When You Dish Upon a Star".
- Comically Missing the Point:
- When Lisa explains how the Professor Pigskin scam works, Homer's takeaway was that he has money and buys a subscription.
- A beaten Homer gets asked How Many Fingers?. Homer assumes the asker was sincere and couldn't count.
- The Con: Homer, after watching the Denver Broncos win, regrets not having followed the gambling advice of "Professor Pigskin" (PP), a pamphlet that guesses winners in advance. Lisa states PP mails two sets of pamphlets each week (half picking one team, half picking the other) until a small group receive only the correct picks, assume PP will be always right, and purchase a subscription (which he does, via phone, on his credit card). Afterwards, he watches a Oakland Raiders x Pittsburgh Steelers game and, with PP's advice, bet on the former, who lose because all players have the flu, so the managers desperately nab random drunks from local pubs and sloppily put equipment on them. Unsurprisingly, the people behind the con are never found out, nor does Fat Tony care when Homer tries to tell him about it.
- Cultural Translation: Carl says he has a tatoo of Foghorn Leghorn. In foreign dubs, he instead has a tatoo of other cartoon characters:
- In the European French dub, Carl says he has a tatoo of Wile E. Coyote.
- In the Quebec French dub, the tatoo is of Snow White instead.
- Epic Fail: Homer doesn't know if the pizza guy takes checks, where he and Marge keep their check books, or how to write a check.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Mr. Burns goes out of his way to save a manatee from dehydration with the help of Smithers to the tune of Car Wash.
- Everyone Has Standards: Notorious Big Eater and Extreme Omnivore Homer finally discovers his line when he puts down a strip of jerky at Moe's upon learning that it's made from sleigh horses that died at a Santa's Village.
- Evil Debt Collector: Fat Tony "hammer[ed] out a payment plan", that is, kidnapped Homer, restrained him and beat his hands with a hammer. When Homer mentions that he lost due to following Professor Pigskin's advice, he annoys Fat Tony and his mooks wack him with two hammers.
- Exact Words:
- When, after the Raiders lose, Lisa hesitantly asks Homer how much money he had bet on the game, Homer states he did not bet any of their money, but rather borrowed it from Fat Tony.
- When Fat Tony tells Homer they can "hammer out a payment plan", he means hitting Homer's hands with a hammer until they agree on a plan.
- He Was Right There All Along: Fat Tony was right by the window looking at Homer watching the Raiders game and losing the bet.
- How Many Fingers?: Homer is asked this after being beaten up by some bullies and assumes the asker can't count.
- I Can Change My Beloved: Deconstructed. Marge is fed up with Homer acting the same way he always does. However Caleb points out that Homer isn't at fault. He's still the same man she fell in love with. The problem is that she still expects him to change.
- Irony: The Santa village where Homer sends his family to so they won't know he's allowing the local mafia to make a porn movie at their home doesn't open during Christmas.
- Mistaken for Gay: Homer believes that Fat Tony and his crew are the 'gay mafia.' They aren't amused.
- Money Dumb: Homer, in addition to falling for a gambling-related scam and having to pay back money he borrowed from the mafia, has no idea how to even write a check.
- Parallel Porn Titles:
- The porn movie Fat Tony is producing is called Lemony Lick-It's A Series of Horny Events.
- When Lenny and Carl go to Homer's and they're filming the previous film, Lenny asks whether that was a cast reunion of Fahrenheit 9-on-1.
- Pet the Dog: Mr. Burns becomes fond of the manatee posing as Homer at the plant, even washing it like a car with Smithers to keep it from dehydrating.
- Pick on Someone Your Own Size: Homer says this to the guys who are hassling the manatees. They point out that the manatees are at least their size if not larger.
- Rule of Three: When Homer says he thinks Fat Tony and his crew are the 'gay mafia', they hit him with three hammers.
- Shout-Out: Carl has a Foghorn Leghorn tattoo.
- Show Within a Show: Billionaire Versus Bear.
- Trapped by Gambling Debts: After the Raiders lose, Homer is in debt to Fat Tony, who waives his debt in exchange for being allowed to shoot a porn video in Homer's living room.
- What Happened to the Mouse?:
- Thanks to the Halfway Plot Switch, we never hear anything about the porn shoot after Marge finds out and leaves.
- Maggie disappears from the story after Marge leaves and Homer heads out to find her with Bart and Lisa in tow. We never find out where she is, even after Homer decides to stay at the beach with Marge for a while since "the kids" are with them.
