Sneakers

Sneakers is a tabloid-style TV show produced in Springfield.

The premise of Sneakers is that one partner in a relationship suspects the other of cheating, and the show investigates to find out whether it's true. The investigation uses tactics of questionable legality, such as stalking suspected cheaters everywhere they go and planting spy cameras in places such as motel room showers. In reality, however, the show is all about the ratings. They exploit the couple's situation for maximum dramatic effect; whether the couples are actually helped is entirely irrelevant.

When Homer gains weight after starting a new diet, Marge wonders whether Homer is cheating on the diet. Then she sees a Sneakers ad on TV and decides to call the show, thinking that they might also work with diet cheating. The host (who appears in the show's ads) agrees to air Marge's story, and the crew gets to work on surveilling Homer. They videotape him taking a stack of syrupy pancakes (disguised as a woman) into a motel room and eating on the pancakes in bed and in the shower. The shower footage disgusts even the host, and for the first time in his career, he orders the cameras to be turned off.

Finally, the show stages the confrontation between Homer and Marge, where Homer is supposed to be exposed as a cheater while Marge tears into him. However, Marge finally sees through the show's tactics, and delivers a resounding slap to the host instead of to Homer. Then she calls him out for trying to split up her and Homer instead of helping them.

The host, however, is totally unfazed. After Marge slaps him and chews him out, the host announces that he's going to get to work on editing the footage to make Marge look more insane.