The Simpsons Episodes with Nuke Jokes Pulled in Europe

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Mar 28, 2011, 16:47 by Greg Stacy

The Simpsons episodes featuring jokes about nuclear power are being pulled by European broadcasters following the crisis in Japan.

Germany, Austria and Switzerland plan to pull any episodes featuring jokes about nuclear disaster. Austrian network ORF has already pulled two episodes, 1992's "Marge Gets a Job," which features scientists Marie Curie and Pierre Curie dying of radiation poisoning, and 2005's "On a Clear Day I Can't See My Sister," which include jokes about nuclear meltdowns.

Al Jean, executive producer of The Simpsons, tells Entertainment Weekly that he doesn't object to the episodes being pulled.

"We have 480 episodes, and if there are a few that they don't want to air for awhile in light of the terrible thing going on, I completely understand that," says Jean. "We would never make light of what's happening in Japan."

Twentieth Television, the syndication division of Fox Television, has offered U.S. TV stations that air syndicated reruns of The Simpsons wih a list of episodes that contain material that could be seen as being in poor taste, given the ongoing disaster in Japan.

Jokes about the hazards of nuclear power have permeated the show throughout its long history. Even the opening credits feature the famous sequence where Homer Simpson is driving home from work at Springfield's nuclear power plant, only to discover a glowing fuel rod tucked in his shirt which he then casually tosses out the window of his car.

Jean says that there are upcoming episodes where we see Homer working at the plant, but there are no jokes about nuclear power planned.

"Some of them are workplace shows, but they are just about Homer being at work," he says. "They're not about nuclear power."

Jean adds that Homer isn't going to leave his job at the plant.

"He's still going to work there," says Jean. "We have a rich universe in which we can do a million things and not touch on that."

The first Simpsons shorts aired on The Tracey Ullman Show in 1987, a year after the Chernobyl disaster.

Source: Entertainment Weekly

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The Simpsons’ Nuclear Jokes Edited in Germany

German Television has put a moratorium on meltdowns in The Simpsons.

Reacting to the real-life nuclear disaster unfolding in Japan, Pro7, the channel that airs The Simpsons in Germany, will be screening current and future episodes of the show and remove or replace any that feature a disaster at Mr. Burns' nuclear power plant. Berlin's Tagesspiegel newspaper reports that networks in Austria and Switzerland have followed suit.

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Austria's ORF has already pulled two episodes set to broadcast:? Episode 66, Marge Gets a Job, which features scientists Marie Curie and Pierre Curie dying of radiation poisoning; and Episode 346, On a Clear Day I Can't See My Sister, in which characters joke about a nuclear meltdown. Tagesspeigel says ORF has held back eight Simpsons episodes until the end of April, when it will review its Springfield disaster policy.

So far, neither Pro7 nor Swiss network SF have pulled any Simpsons episodes but both channels say they are screening shows for "unsuitable" references to nuclear disaster.

But the danger of nuclear power is a core theme on the long-running cartoon. The Simpson's opening sequence features Homer tossing a radioactive fuel rod out of his car on the way home. The first Simpson shorts aired on The Tracey Ullman Show in 1987, just one year after the Chernobyl disaster.

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