Yokel Chords

"Yokel Chords" is the fourteenth episode of the eighteenth season of The Simpsons, which originally aired on March 4, 2007. It was written by Michael Price, and directed by Susie Dietter. Guest starring Meg Ryan as Dr. Swanson, Peter Bogdanovich as a psychiatrist and Andy Dick, James Patterson and Stephen Sondheim as themselves. This also marked the return of director Susie Dietter who had taken a hiatus to work on Futurama and the film Open Season. This was her first episode in nearly nine years.

Plot
Marge oversleeps, and not having made the children's lunch for the day, Homer makes the lunches instead. He gives them inedible food and Bart decides to scare an alternative lunch out of his friends by making up a story about a cannibal cafeteria worker named Dark Stanley, who killed all the students in the cafeteria and put them in his stew when their teasing of his inability to graduate from college had taken its toll on him. At lunchtime, Bart pretends to be killed by Dark Stanley, causing all of the students to run screaming into the woods while he takes their lunches. Groundskeeper Willie is sent to fetch them all back, but he brings seven extra kids who are Cletus's children. Their names are Whitney, Jitney, Dubya, Incest, Crystal Meth, International Harvester, and Birthday. Principal Skinner tells Superintendent Chalmers that the kids have been refused education, which Lisa overhears. To appease Lisa, Skinner and Chalmers appoint her tutor of the children.

Meanwhile, Skinner punishes Bart by having him spend five sessions with a qualified psychiatrist. Bart develops a close bond with his psychiatrist, Dr. Stacey Swanson (Meg Ryan), who uses a Mad Libs-like game and violent video games to get Bart to open up. When his sessions end, Bart starts to miss the time he spent with her and enters into a state of depression in which he talks about his problems to an empty chair while lying in bed. He peeks into her window and sees her counseling Milhouse. He hangs his head while biking in the rain when he looks through a window and sees her dancing with the married owner of the Chinese restaurant that Homer had visited earlier in the episode. Marge, worried, pays for one more session with Dr. Swanson. When it ends, Bart feels that he has been able to get everything off his chest, and Dr. Swanson begins to obsess about him and goes to see her own psychiatrist (Peter Bogdanovich). It is revealed during this discussion that "Dark Stanley" was in fact real, and had killed her own son.

Lisa's initial tutoring efforts are unsuccessful and so she decides to take them to downtown Springfield to introduce them to culture in the outside world. However, Lisa's plans are diverted when Krusty spots the kids singing, decides to use them as a musical act for his show, and offers them a contract, which Cletus signs with an "X". Lisa is worried about the way that Krusty and Cletus are exploiting the children, so she sends an e-mail to Brandine, who's currently a soldier in Iraq. She arrives by helicopter to tell Krusty that the contract Cletus signed is null and void, since he is only the father of the two untalented ones, and that he signed the contract with an X mark rather than a real signature. The story ends with Cletus telling Brandine that they owe Krusty $12,000, but Brandine tells him that they can live off that.

Cultural references

 * The whole storyline involving Lisa shows many references to The Sound of Music. When Lisa gets told she can be a tutor, she dances on a hill (similar to the opening sequence of the film) and when she introduces herself, Cletus' children walk forward and state their name (a reference to Maria's introduction to the children). Some of the songs they sing are based on songs from the film, including the song performed by Superintendent Chalmers and Principal Skinner, which is inspired by "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?" Lisa sings part of a song resembling "The Sound of Music", and later while showing the children the culture of Springfield sings a song based on "My Favorite Things.".
 * The relationship Bart shares with his psychiatrist is reminiscent to the way that Tony Soprano and his psychiatrist form a unique bond, with Bart in depression wanting to see her, and the doctor wanting to see more of Bart. Dr. Swanson's psychiatrist also resembles the character of Dr. Elliot Kupferberg from The Sopranos, who was Dr. Melfi's psychiatrist. Peter Bogdanovich plays both roles.
 * The style of the artwork in the sequence in which Bart tells his classmates a story about a murderous cafeteria worker resembles the work of Edward Gorey. A piece of music is used in this scene that is reminiscent of a piece of Astor Piazzolla's music from the suite "Punta del Este" used in the film Twelve Monkeys.  This same music is used later when Bart's psychiatrist sees her psychiatrist. The clip is also comparable to that of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd.
 * The music played when Groundskeeper Willie rounds up the kids is the main title theme to the 1965 John Sturges film The Hallelujah Trail, composed by Elmer Bernstein.
 * The video game, Death Kill City II: Death Kill Stories, played by Bart and the psychiatrist is a reference to the Grand Theft Auto  series of video games, notably the city stories prequels (Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories). The rating for Death Kill City II is "Bad for Everyone," which spoofs the ESRB rating, "E for Everyone".
 * During "My Favorite Things," the beginning of the surrealist film, Un Chien Andalou plays.
 * The ending, with Cletus saying, "Baby, you're the greatest," Cletus and Brandine kissing, the pan to the skyline and moon, with Cletus's face, and the music are all a direct reference to the 50's sitcom The Honeymooners.