"The Burns and the Bees"
The Simpsons episode
The episode's promotional image featuring Jeff Bezos (left), Mr. Burns and Mark Cuban (right).
Episode no.	428
Prod. code	KABF21
Orig. airdate	December 7, 2008
Show runner(s)	Al Jean
Written by	Stephanie Gillis
Directed by	Mark Kirkland
Chalkboard	Jesus is not mad His birthday is on Christmas.
Couch gag	The family (in Christmas attire) sits on the couch, and the camera pulls out to reveal they are in a decoration on a Christmas tree, as Santa's Little Helper and Snowball II rest nearby.
Guest star(s)	Mark Cuban Jeff Bezos Marv Albert
Season 20 September 28, 2008 – May 17, 2009 "Sex, Pies and Idiot Scrapes" "Lost Verizon" "Double, Double, Boy in Trouble" "Treehouse of Horror XIX" "Dangerous Curves" "Homer and Lisa Exchange Cross Words" "Mypods and Boomsticks" "The Burns and the Bees" "Lisa the Drama Queen" "Take My Life, Please" "How the Test Was Won" "No Loan Again, Naturally" "Gone Maggie Gone" "In the Name of the Grandfather" "Wedding for Disaster" "Eeny Teeny Maya Moe" "The Good, the Sad and the Drugly" "Father Knows Worst" "Waverly Hills 9-0-2-1-D'oh" "Four Great Women and a Manicure" "Coming to Homerica" List of all The Simpsons episodes
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"The Burns and the Bees" is the eighth episode of the twentieth season of The Simpsons. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on December 7, 2008. In the episode, after winning the "Austin Celtics" in a game of poker, Mr. Burns builds a new stadium in Springfield in the place where Lisa has built a bee colony. Lisa's subplot refers to the current world wide disappearance of bees.

The episode was written by Stephanie Gillis and directed by Mark Kirkland. It marks a second use of the Christmas-themed opening, first seen in "Kill Gil, Volumes I & II".^[1] Billionaires Mark Cuban and Jeff Bezos and sportscaster Marv Albert guest star as themselves.^[2] In its original airing, the episode garnered 6.19 million viewers. It received mixed reviews from television critics.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Production 3 Cultural references 4 Reception 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Plot

Mr. Burns attends the annual Billionaires' Retreat, where he wins the fictional Austin Celtics pro basketball team in a poker game against the Rich Texan. After witnessing the antics of Mark Cuban at a Dallas Mavericks game, Burns tries to win over Springfield basketball fans with his own antics. Burns fails miserably, and decides to build a luxurious sports arena. Meanwhile, Jimbo, Dolph and Kearney tell Bart to prank the 2nd Graders by hitting a beehive with a baseball bat. Lisa discovers, however, the bees that should be in the hive are missing. Willy explains the bees are dying all over Springfield by loss of habitat, thus contracting a fatal disease. Lisa seeks help from Professor Frink who has a uninfected queen bee sting Lisa releasing pheromones which attracts many uninfected bees, which form a bee beard. After trying to keep the bees in the Simpson home, Lisa and Marge find an abandoned greenhouse for the bees to live in. However, the site of the greenhouse is exactly where Mr. Burns plans to construct his new Stadium.

Lisa attempts to convince the town to save the bee population, but fails when Burns informs everyone about the amazing features of his stadium. Lisa becomes depressed that the bee population is slowly dying. Homer and Moe attempt to help save the bees by mating a queen bee with Moe's African "killer" bees creating a hybrid bee species. The bees then attack the new sports arena, which resembles a bee hive, and the arena is soon declared a bee sanctuary, enabling the bees to survive. At the next Billionaires' Retreat, Mr. Burns reveals how much the bees cost him. After it is discovered that he is four million dollars short of a billion, and he is kicked out of the Retreat and into the Millionaires' Camp.

[edit] Production

The episode was written by Stephanie Gillis and directed by Mark Kirkland. Billionaires Mark Cuban and Jeff Bezos and sportscaster Marv Albert guest star as themselves.^[2] The episode marks a second use of the Christmas-themed opening, first seen in "Kill Gil, Volumes I & II".^[1]

[edit] Cultural references

• In a scene where Homer imagines a future without honey, a small green robot resembling WALL-E gives him a bottle of honey and then turns Homer into a cube.^[3]
• In the opening sequence, Mr. Burns appears to be Ebenezer Scrooge and Smithers Jacob Marley.^[4]
• Lisa's subplot refers to the current world wide disappearance of bees.^[5] It is revealed the bee contracted Bee "measles".

[edit] Reception

In its original airing, the episode garnered 6.19 million viewers, a significant drop from the previous episode, possibly due to the fact the episode did not air in its usual 8:00 timeslot.^[6] The episode received mixed reviews from critics. Robert Canning of IGN gave the episode 7/10 and said that with an episode like this "I just don't laugh as much as I would have liked".^[7] Ariel Ponywether of Firefox News wrote: "A decent episode, 'The Burns and the Bees' possesses no true flaws, yet feels vaguely pedestrian, a fun romp that's neither flawed nor exceptional. Burns is delightfully himself- and old-fashioned Machiavellian - and it's refreshing to see a plot that revolves almost entirely around him. Lisa's bee subplot is timely, though the cartoony sight of her with a bee beard pushed things a tad too far. Cheers to Mark Cuban for his hilarious self-parody - his VA work proved remarkably solid."^[8] Steve Heisler of The A.V. Club gave the episode a grade of B and said that episode was "okay", but "boring".^[9] Erich Asperschlager of TV Verdict wrote: "Part of me knows that the only way to enjoy the modern incarnation of The Simpsons is to stop expecting its stories to make sense. [The episode is] not straightforward at all. It’s like sometime after the tenth season, The Simpsons writers started using Mad Libs to generate story ideas. In fact, I’ve got a sneaking suspicion the only reason this episode exists is because someone came up with the title 'The Burns and the Bees' and just had to make it work."^[4] Harry Shearer received a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award for Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for his role as Mr. Burns, Smithers, Lenny and Dr. Hibbert in this episode,^[10] but lost to fellow Simpsons cast member Dan Castellaneta.^[11]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• "The Burns and the Bees" at TV.com
• "The Burns and the Bees" at the Internet Movie Database