Funeral for a Fiend

"Funeral for a Fiend" is the eight episode of The Simpsons ' nineteenth season. It features Kelsey Grammer in his tenth guest appearance as Sideshow Bob, as well as David Hyde Pierce in his second appearance as Cecil Terwilliger and John Mahoney makes his first appearance as Dr. Robert Terwilliger Sr., the father of Bob and Cecil. Keith Olbermann also makes a guest appearance as himself.

Plot
The episode begins with Homer and Bart going to Circuit City to buy a camera battery, but Homer ends up purchasing a TiVo because the batteries are free with the purchase of a TiVo. The family enjoys using the TiVo to watch TV without the commercials, especially Marge, who happily skips over them. Late one night, Marge dreams of Keith Olbermann accusing her of not watching the commercials that pay for the TV shows, and convinces her to watch them. One such ad is for a new rib restaurant, owned by a cowboy named Wes Doobner, and the family decides to visit it for its grand opening.

When they arrive they find the building deserted, and the door locks behind them. The cowboy walks out of the shadows and reveals himself to be Sideshow Bob. Bob plans on killing the family by having a PC explode from an overheated battery. While gloating, Bob incorrectly quotes William Shakespeare, and Lisa tells him to look up the correct phrase on the computer, which explodes in Bob's hands. Bob is then arrested and taken to prison.

During Bob's trial, Bob's father, Dr. Robert Terwilliger Sr. is brought to testify. He explains Bob has a rare heart condition, and also suggests that Sideshow Bob's psychosis is because of Bart. This convinces Springfield that Bart is to blame, and they turn against him. Bart, however, tries to tell the town that they are being played by Bob. Bob then takes out a vial labeled nitroglycerin, which Bart snatches and throws out the window, thinking it an explosive. The vial was actually Bob's heart medication and he collapses on the floor and is pronounced dead.

Bob's family and many people of Springfield attend Bob's funeral. Bart shows little remorse for Bob despite Krusty and the rest of Springfield grieving. After Bart speaks to Bob's brother Cecil, he decides to go to the Springfield Funeral to make peace with Bob's corpse before it gets cremated; however, Bob leaps out of the coffin, very much alive, and traps Bart in the coffin to be incinerated, all the while gloating about what he was accomplishing. Back at home, Lisa discovers that everything was an elaborate plot put together by Bob's entire family, explaining that he was put in a temporary death-like state with a special drug injection by his father. The Simpsons race to the parlor and narrowly save Bart from being burned alive by blinding Bob with unclaimed ashes. Bob asks Lisa how she knew of his scheme, and Lisa explains that she was suspicious that Bob's coffin had extra room for his large feet, which the family would not bother to put in if Bob was really dead. Bob and his family are arrested and taken in jail, where Bob imagines himself killing the Simpson family, and goes completely insane.

Cultural references

 * The episode title is a reference to the Elton John song "Funeral for a Friend".
 * The family layout in the popular series Frasier is repeated in this episode; Kelsey Grammer and David Hyde Pierce play brothers in both series, while John Mahoney plays their father.
 * A reference to Clippy, the Microsoft Word helper is also shown.
 * The Itchy and Scratchy cartoon short that the family views on the new TiVo is titled "Spherical on 34th Street", a reference to the Miracle on 34th Street films.
 * In "Spherical on 34th Street", Scratchy's demise comes about as a result of Itchy filling him up with hydrogen and igniting him with a flaming arrow. As Scratchy burns up, showering the crowd with viscera, Itchy exclaims, "Oh, the hilarity!", a reference to broadcaster Herbert Morrison's famous cry of "Oh, the humanity!" during the Hindenburg disaster.
 * Marge Simpson, for skipping commercials while watching shows on TiVo, is named Keith Olbermann's Worst Person in the World.
 * After showing The Simpsons family his evil plot, Sideshow Bob says that the commercial gained him position as director of "The Hills Have Eyes 3: The Hills Still Have Eyes.
 * At the funeral, Krusty the Clown plays the piano and sings to Sideshow Bob, in a parody reminescent of Elton John playing "Candle in the Wind" for Princess Diana at her funeral.
 * Moe runs behinds the Hibbert's car and watches Sesame Street where Derek Jeter guest stars.

Reception
Robert Canning of IGN gave the episode a 6.2/10, saying "there were some enjoyable scenes, but the half hour lacked in the number of laugh-out-loud moments, and Bob's ultimate scheme wasn't very surprising."