History Recap / TheSimpsonsS3E13RadioBart

* AluminumChristmasTrees: The line "Hey, good-looking, we'll be back to pick you up later" in the ad for the radio microphone is taken word-for-word from a 70s-era Ronco Mr. Microphone commercial.

* AgelessBirthdayEpisode: ZigZagged. Bart--who has been portrayed as 10 years old prior to this point--is cut off by the animatronics when he's about to state his age, but earlier in the episode we see Homer measuring him against a door frame and marking his 10th birthday, and when he's pretending to be Timmy O'Toole he claims that he's "just" turned 10 years old.

* NoSympathy: Springfield is compelled by the story of Timmy O'Toole, a 10-year-old HeartwarmingOrphan they believe to be trapped in the well, and a media frenzy results. When Bart's prank is revealed and Bart himself ends up trapped in the well at the same time, he proves to be a less-appealing victim and the whole town shrugs him off until his parents take matters into their own hands.

* MyNewGiftIsLame: Besides the Superstar Celebrity Microphone, Bart opens up a series of lame gifts including a pair of socks, a cactus, a hat and jacket from Martin Prince, and a label maker from Patty and Selma. {{Downplayed}} in that he winds up having fun not only with the microphone but with the label maker, labeling everything in the house.

* MyNewGiftIsLame: Besides the Superstar Celebrity Microphone, Bart opens up a series of lame gifts including a pair of socks, a cactus, a hat and jacket from Martin Prince, and a label maker from Patty and Selma.

* WholePlotReference: The concept of this episode evokes ''Film/AceInTheHole'', a Creator/BillyWilder-directed film in which an accident trapping a shopkeeper in a cave sparks a media frenzy. Both stories even involve someone making a pop song about the victim, and a carnival becoming formed at the site of the disaster. Although the reference was intentional, Jon Vitti never saw the film until after he wrote the episode, stating that Matt Groening gave him the whole plot.

* WholePlotReference: The concept of this episode evokes ''Film/AceInTheHole'', a Creator/BillyWilder-directed film in which an accident trapping a shopkeeper in a cave sparks a media frenzy. Both stories even involve someone making a pop song about the victim, and a carnival becoming formed at the site of the disaster.

* CuttingTheKnot: The townspeople come up with all sorts of weird ideas for how to free "Timmy", ranging from using a fishing line baited with chocolate, to having him carried out by a falcon, to even cryogenically freezing him. In the end, Homer is the one who comes up with the simplest and most obvious solution-just grab a shovel and ''dig'' Bart out of there. As Willie lampshades:

* DidntThinkThisThrough: No one in Springfield considered just digging "Timmy" out of the well until Homer tried, looking into other more convoluted (and less successful) methods.

** However, it might've been one of the other lame gifts that Bart recieved in his birthday photos, like socks, or a cactus.

* WorstNewsJudgmentEver: This episode provides the trope image with the Lincoln Squirrel. And later on, as the town proceeds to dig Bart out of the well, Kent Brockman reports, "This just in: the Lincoln Squirrel has been assassinated!"

* AnAesop: Practical jokes may seem cute and funny, but they can have serious consequences, especially if you [[AGodAmI pretend to be God]] in order to get your neighbors to give you what you want and later trick the entire town into panicking over a child's safety.

Late one night, Lisa happens to be walking by Bart's room when she overhears him doing his "Timmy" act and then getting into a fight with Santa's Little Helper over the microphone. Lisa realizes that Bart is playing a cruel practical joke on the town and warns him that he will be exposed. Bart – after hastily explaining [=SLH=]'s growling – scoffs, until Lisa reminds him that he used a label maker (one of the other gifts he was bored with) to put his name on the radio. Bart realises that if the radio with his name on it is retrieved from the well, he'll be in big trouble, so he sets out to get it. As he's descending the well, Bart slips and loses the grip on his rope. The rope falls to the bottom... and now, Bart is trapped for real.

!!This episode provides examples of:

* WereLiveRealization: Bart falls down the Springfield Well for real after tricking the citizens of Springfield into thinking that a little boy named Timmy O'Toole fell into it. When Kent Brockman interviews Homer and Marge during a news report, Homer says that he and Marge didn't want Bart and that he was an accident, which prompts Marge to scold him for it. Homer asks Kent if he can edit what he said out, and Kent tells him he can't since they're live.

* CryingWolf: People who play unfunny practical jokes, lie, etc. all the time -- as Bart has done -- tend to be ignored when a real crisis arises.

* WouldHurtAChild: The town was perfectly willing and able (up until Homer took things into his own hands) to leave Bart in the well, sentencing him to a slow and painful death and an equally ignoble eternal rest, as payback for his prank.

* DisproportionateRetribution: ''A little boy'' makes you all look bad with a prank, is genuinely sorry for having made said prank, is suffering karmic retribution from said prank, and is ''tearfully begging for help because he doesn't wishes to die in the well''? Well -- and perhaps because Springfield residents are well aware of some of the pranks Bart has pulled in the past -- he can ''rot'' down there!

* SuckECheeses: Wall E. Weasel's. Downplayed, as the place isn't egregiously bad, but it does have ill-maintained animatronics, crummy video games (cf. Bart playing "Larry the Looter" and losing after a shop owner shoots off his head), and a short scene shows that it's stupid easy to cheat at skeeball (Nelson standing on the game and dropping the balls in the center hole).

* VeryFalseAdvertising: Downplayed: when Bart goes to use his coupon from "Phineas O. Butterfat's 5600 Flavors Ice Cream Emporium", the coupon advertises a whimsical, old-fashioned experience out of UsefulNotes/TheGayNineties, and the poster shows a wonderful-looking sundae. They do give out free birthday sundaes that look like the ones on the poster, but the sundae in question is smaller than a chicken egg, and the employee, far from a whimsical old-timey gentlemen, is a surly teenager who gives the usual response to a customer demanding free food: that is, "Eat it and get out."

* VeryFalseAdvertising: Downplayed: when Bart goes to use his coupon from "Phineas O. Butterfat's 5600 Flavors Ice Cream Emporium", the coupon advertises a whimsical, old-fashioned experience out of UsefulNotes/TheGay90s, and the poster shows a wonderful-looking sundae. They do give out free birthday sundaes that look like the ones on the poster, but the sundae in question is smaller than a chicken egg, and the employee, far from a whimsical old-timey gentlemen, is a surly teenager who gives the usual response to a customer demanding free food: that is, "Eat it and get out."

* AsHimself: Music/{{Sting}} and Creator/CaseyKasem.

* EpicFail: The song "We're Sending Our Love Down The Well" gets a literally meteoric fall down the hit charts thanks to the discovery that Timmy O'Toole is a fake, all the way to rock bottom. Creator/CaseyKasem (making a cameo on his role as the narrator of ''Radio/AmericanTop40'') mentions that this is something he's never seen before.

** ''America's Top 10'' -- Creator/CaseyKasem hosts the program, announcing "We're Sending Our Love Down the Well" reaching No. 1, and then its record-setting fall nearly off the charts.

* AsHimself: Music/{{Sting}}.

In 1987, an 18-month-old girl named Jessica [=McClure=] fell down a narrow well casing and remained trapped inside for 58 hours. Her story, and the rescue effort mobilized to get her out, got national headlines and made Jessica the darling of the media.

About 4 1/2 years later, in the fictional world of Springfield, Bart pulls a prank inspired by the Jessica [=McClure=] story, by fooling the town into believing a little boy had fallen down an uncapped abandoned well.

The whole story begins at Wall E. Weasel's, a place known for mediocre pizza, ill-maintained animatronics and bad video games. The birthday party there is even worse: Bart is annoyed at Wall E.'s attempt to sing him "Happy Birthday," the guests aren't who Bart wants at his party (Martin is one of the invitees) and he is especially disappointed in the gifts. One of those gifts (which Homer bought earlier after watching a TV commercial) is a microphone called the Superstar Celebrity Microphone, which can tap into localized AM radio systems. Homer persuades Bart about the Superstar Celebrity Microphone's potential... and eventually, Bart realizes it can indeed be ''lots'' of fun, especially with his knack for creating practical jokes. He tricks Rod and Todd Flanders into believing God is talking to them, while he gets his dad to believe that martians are invading the Earth.

Then, one day while bored, Bart gets an idea: by throwing his transistor radio down a narrow well shaft, and keeping it tuned to the correct frequency, he can get people to believe that a little boy had fallen down the well. Which he does. When he begins a "crying for help" act and gets a response, he tells his potential rescuers that he is an orphan named Timmy O'Toole has fallen down the well. A rescue operation is mobilized – but it quickly becomes a circus, with people setting up a carnival, and they realize they can't get poor Timmy out. Meanwhile, Krusty the Clown gets musician Music/{{Sting}} to join Springfield celebrities in recording a charity single, "We're Sending Our Love Down the Well." The charity single soars to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

** Bart scares Homer with his radio broadcast into thinking that Martians have landed, in reference to the panic that erupted after the famous 1938 radio broadcast of ''Literature/WarOfTheWorlds'' by Creator/OrsonWelles.

** Superstar Celebrity Microphone -- Based on "Mr. Microphone," a real-life version of a microphone, which could be broadcast on AM frequencies, was marketed, also via a TV commercial with 1-800 number to order.

** "We are the World" by U.S.A. for Africa -- "We're Sending Our Love Down the Well" and its music video is a parody.

-->'''Willie''': ''(seeing Homer digging)'' Ach, now why didn't I think of that?!\\

'''Willie''': ''(to his shovel)'' Agnes... we've got work to do! ''(rips off his shirt and top part of his overalls)''

* SuddenlyVoiced: This was the first speaking role, or rather singing role, for Sideshow Mel.

* WholePlotReference: The concept of this episode evokes ''Film/AceInTheHole'', a Creator/BillyWilder-directed movie in which an accident trapping a shopkeeper in a cave sparks a media frenzy. Both stories even involve someone making a pop song about the victim, and a carnival becoming formed at the site of the disaster.