(Some spoilers ahead!)
When The Simpsons writer Christine Nangle got a chance to pen the Philadelphia episode that airs Sunday night, the comedian from Oxford Circle knew it was high stakes — and local audiences would be watching closely.
“It was a lot of pressure. I was joking like, ‘If they hate it, they’re gonna burn my parents’ house down, and if they love it, they’re gonna burn my parents’ house down,’” Nangle said with a laugh.
The idea originally came from Simpsons producer Mike Price, who grew up in South Plainfield, N.J., and suggested a visit to Philadelphia as a plot premise to Nangle, knowing she was a native.
The timing worked out serendipitously: Philadelphia is one of the top tourist destinations this year thanks to America 250 and the show is celebrating its 800th episode to air on FOX. Guest stars from Philly were available, too, including Quinta Brunson, Kevin Bacon, and Questlove.
Last summer, Nangle and Price brainstormed what could bring their beloved cartoon family to the city and they landed on a nod to the National Dog Show. It was partially inspired by Nangle’s own 11-year-old rescue pit bull, Philby, who had just died. (Nangle got a shoutout in the episode with a competition sponsored by “Philby’s Poop Bags.”)
Titled “Irrational Treasure,” the episode is a spoof of the 2004 film National Treasure. A group of historians believe that the Simpsons’ family dog, Santa’s Little Helper, is a descendant of Benjamin Franklin’s greyhounds, and holds the key to finding the inventor’s long-lost treasure somewhere in the city.
Before getting to Philly, Santa’s Little Helper gains weight as Homer (Dan Castellaneta) overfeeds and spoils him. When the dog eats Marge’s (Julie Kavner) ambrosia salad full of toxic grapes, they rush to the emergency veterinarian, voiced by The Pitt star Noah Wyle.
Marge consults with Adrienne (Brunson), a canine nutritionist and trainer who gets the dog working out to “Far From Over,” the ‘80s track by Frank Stallone (Sylvester’s brother). The pair enroll Santa’s Little Helper in competitions to help build agility, and he soon becomes a winner who can qualify for the big dog show in Philadelphia.
“I basically wrote this [Adrienne] role for Quinta, and she said yes, which is awesome,” said Nangle, who’s a big fan of Brunson’s Philly-set sitcom, Abbott Elementary. “When we recorded it, I said to her, ‘Thank you for saying yes, because I didn’t have a second choice, and I don’t know what I would have done.’”
Though the whole family wants to go to the show, Marge insists that only she and Santa’s Little Helper attend. But Homer has other plans and he manages to stow away in the trunk for the 18-hour drive.
“Philadelphia, my kind of town,” Homer says with reverence. “Throwing ice balls at Santa Claus, climbing greasy street lamps. The city Lenny Dykstra learned to be crazy, where every steak is cheesed and every tush is pushed. Even though I’ve never been, I feel like I was born there and I never left.”
When they arrive — passing a welcome sign calling the city “The Big Scrapple” — a hotel concierge (Bacon) greets them: “Yo! Welcome to the Hotel Philadelphia. We offer 24-hour room service from our full Boyz to Menu. If you need a wooder or any other jawn just ring the Patti LaBelle and we’ll send a jabroni right up.” (Boyz II Men also contributed their own version of The Simpsons theme song for the episode.)
That legendary Philly accent was essential to his character, and Nangle knew Bacon could do it well. “From [hearing] the first ‘Yo,’ I felt homesick, like, immediately,” she said.
They stay in the graffiti-covered Fresh Prince suite and Marge soon finds Homer’s list of “Awesome things for me to do in Philadelphia,” from head-butting a local, to a Mare of Easttown tour, to ripping off a piece of Jason Kelce’s beard.
“How is a dirtbag tour of the city supporting the dog?” Marge asks, exasperated.
The answer? Distraction tactic. The group of historians, who call themselves H.O.A.G.I.E. Men (Historians of America’s Great Inventors and Enlightened Men), ask Homer to take them to Santa’s Little Helper and he lies, telling them his wife and dog are on a tour of the city.
Cue tourist montage: Homer eats cheesesteaks at Dalessandro’s, Pat’s, and Geno’s, pizza at Down North, Tastykakes at the Navy Yard factory, and cherry water ice on the Schuylkill in front of Boathouse Row. He takes selfies at the Mütter Museum and the Rocky statue, which appears alongside multiple other bronzes memorializing characters from the boxing franchise like Apollo Creed, Ivan Drago, Mickey, and “Hanging Side of Beef.” Of course they stop at Wawa, too — Nangle always makes sure she stops for a soft pretzel when she visits home.
They head to a Phillies game where the Phanatic gives Homer a noogie, and then to a Flyers game where Gritty beats him up on the ice. The mascots then join the group to drink beers and watch The Roots in concert.
At the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the H.O.A.G.I.E. Men don special glasses to show Homer the invisible greyhound in portraits of Franklin, like the 1816 painting Benjamin Franklin Drawing Electricity from the Sky, who looks just like Santa’s Little Helper.
“I didn’t want it to just be tourist spots, I wanted to make it places where actual Philadelphians would go,” said Nangle about selecting which locations to spotlight. “It really feels like a balance, because the show is watched worldwide — I want people to get it, but I also want people who are from the area to appreciate it. And not be mad at me.”
Homer, Marge, Adrienne, and the dog all reunite at a fictional Colonial Firefighting Museum, where Nangle cameos as a security guard (“Get outta here, ya dirts!” she yells.) Turns out the H.O.A.G.I.E. Men weren’t the only ones looking for the special dog — Adrienne reveals that she, too, seeks Franklin’s treasure and she takes Santa’s Little Helper with her to Betsy Ross’ house to unlock the vault.
Marge finally makes the Rocky reference and shouts “Adrienne!” after the dog chooses the trainer over her. She and Homer chase after them, getting interrupted by a Mummers Parade and Segway tour (led by Questlove) that stops to watch a reenactment of “the Battle of Broad Street, also known as the Super Bowl 52 Riot.”
In the end, Marge and Homer save Santa’s Little Helper from Adrienne, who winds up jumping after Franklin’s key into a crumbling pit while shouting “Go, Birds!” on the way down.
Nangle had hoped the episode would’ve aired after a second Super Bowl win for the Eagles this year; instead, she was just happy that the Patriots lost. Out of the dozens of Philly references packed into the episode, her favorite joke is the shot of a beautiful dog park called “Michael Vick Reparation Park.” (The former Eagles quarterback was convicted of dogfighting.)
“I cannot believe we were allowed to do it,” she said. “Of course, as someone who had a rescue pit bull, it’s an issue that I care a lot about, but it was just so fun.”
Out of all the ways to make the episode authentically Philly, there was one more thing that Nangle and The Simpsons team wanted to do: Give beloved Philly journalist Dan McQuade, who died last month, a spotlight.
Nangle and McQuade met back in high school and he was a big fan of the show and planned to write about the Philly episode.
“It’s just so sad that he’s not gonna be able to see this episode,” said Nangle.
Though it was too late to make it into the broadcast version of the episode, the Disney+ version will show an animated McQuade standing behind the Phanatic in the scene at The Roots concert.
The “Irrational Treaure” episode of “The Simpsons” airs Sunday, Feb. 15 at 8 p.m. ET on FOX.
