The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show

Plot
When the ratings for "Itchy and Scratchy" are dropping, Roger Meyer's Jr. gets a suggestion from Lisa that they should rejuvenate the show with the addition of a new character. They follow the animal enemy chain by going "mouse-cat-dog", and then a new character, Poochie is born. Homer gets the job of the voice of Poochie. When his debut cartoon premires, it gets the worst reviews ever. Everyone hates Poochie, but Homer. He overhears the staff saying they should kill him off. At the episode's recording, Homer reads his own lines that he prepared about how just because no one likes him, they should give Poochie another chance. But, when the episode airs, they edit Homers speech out and put in new diolouge about Poochie leaving to his home planet and dies along the way. Everyone is excited about Poochie dying, but Homer isn't but he gets over it. Itchy and Scratchy goes back to their basics and their ratings are better than ever.

Quotes

 * Homer: "Uh, is this episode going to air live?"
 * June: "No, Homer. Very few animated shows brodcast live, it's a terrible strain on the animator's wrists."
 * Troy McCulre: "Ruff, ruff. I'm Poochie the rockin' dog. Hi, I'm Troy McCulre. You may remember me from such animated shows as Christmas Ape and Christmas Ape Goes to Summer Camp."

Trivia

 * Many of the Itchy an Scratchy staff members are caricatures of the actual Simpsons staff.
 * The addition of Roy is a parody of the actual problem in the show. Since the network adds Poochie to boost ratings, as a joke on the show, Roy is added as an attempt to boost ratings.
 * The episode is a commentary on "jumping the shark" - doing outlandish things to a show, like adding a new character, in order to boost ratings and save the show from cancellation.