THE SIMPSONS - WILL GOP HAVE A COW OVER SIMPSONS EPISODE?

WILL GOP HAVE A COW OVER SIMPSONS EPISODE?

An episode of Fox's The Simpsons scheduled to air two days before next month's midterm elections has stirred up a political flap. As reported by the online Radar magazine, the episode, titled "The Day the Earth Was Stupid," a spoof of The War of the Worlds, shows an invasion of the Simpsons' home town of Springfield, a prelude to an occupation of the entire planet. "Well, the Earthlings continue to resent our presence," one of the aliens says. "You said we'd be greeted as liberators!" The other replies, "We still have the people's hearts and minds." At which point, he holds up a heart and brain. Al Jean, the show's executive producer, told Radar that Fox raised no objection to the episode. Although Rupert Murdoch, the network's owner, is regarded as a conservative and a supporter of America's policies in Iraq -- his News Corp also owns the conservative-leaning Fox News Network -- he has maintained a hands-off policy towards The Simpsons, arguably the most profitable program the network has ever aired. "I'd like to take credit for being adventuresome," said Jean, "but I think we're expressing a viewpoint 69 percent of the country agrees with."

24/10/2006