The Seven-Beer Snitch
Encyclopedia
"The Seven-Beer Snitch" is the fourteenth episode of The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...

' sixteenth season
The Simpsons (season 16)
The Simpsons 16th season began on Sunday, November 7, 2004 and contained 21 episodes, beginning with Treehouse of Horror XV. The season contains six hold-over episodes from the season 15 production line....

, first aired on April 3, 2005 in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

Plot

The Simpsons go to Shelbyville to see a musical. The musical paints Shelbyvillians as smart, sophisticated people and Springfielders as hicks and morons. After the play, a furious Lisa declares that Springfield is not nearly as fitting of the Shelbyville stereotype
Stereotype
A stereotype is a popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals. The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings...

 as suggested, and an equally angered Marge goes to Springfield's Cultural Advisory Board to brainstorm a plan to make Springfield more sophisticated. During a free word association, Marge gets the idea to create a concert hall and hire Frank Gehry
Frank Gehry
Frank Owen Gehry, is a Canadian American Pritzker Prize-winning architect based in Los Angeles, California.His buildings, including his private residence, have become tourist attractions...

 to build it. Gehry refuses at first, but is soon inspired after he crumples Marge's letter and hurls it to the ground. The $30 million project is eventually finished, but opening night proves to be a bust when everyone in Springfield leaves after hearing the first five notes of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony
Symphony No. 5 (Beethoven)
The Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67, was written by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1804–08. This symphony is one of the most popular and best-known compositions in all of classical music, and one of the most often played symphonies. It comprises four movements: an opening sonata, an andante, and a fast...

. Not even the symphony sticks around after Marge tells them about the next performance: an atonal piece by Phillip Glass.

At the town meeting the next day, Mr. Burns swoops in with an idea of his own: take over the space and turn it into a state prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...

. Homer applies for a job as a guard, but is rejected after Otto
Otto Mann
Otto Mann is a fictional character on the animated TV series The Simpsons, voiced by Harry Shearer. He is the school bus driver for Springfield Elementary School...

 switches his urine sample with Homer's and Mr. Burns mistakes Otto's sample for Homer's. To make more money off the prison, Mr. Burns forces Chief Wiggum to reinstate old and forgotten laws
Dumb laws
Dumb laws, also weird, strange, or unnecessary laws, are laws that are perceived to be useless, no longer applicable , or humorous. There are relatively few real "dumb laws" on the books, but large amount of hoax or exaggerated dumb laws are circulated on the internet and in the print media...

 in order to fill his prison with convict
Convict
A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison", sometimes referred to in slang as simply a "con". Convicts are often called prisoners or inmates. Persons convicted and sentenced to non-custodial sentences often are not termed...

s. Homer becomes one of those convicts after getting caught kicking a can five times down the street (which, according to an old law, is considered illegal transportation of litter).

Homer is sent to work in the prison kitchen—and becomes a prison snitch after unwittingly alerting the guards of Snake's escape attempt. Soon, Homer is rewarded with food, special treatment, and a new plasma TV, while the other prisoners try to find out who keeps ratting out their secret plans (which is made easy after Homer admits to Marge that he is being paid to snitch in the visitation room). The other prisoners get wind of this, and stage a plan to get back at Homer. In the prison library, Snake tells Homer about an upcoming breakout
Prison escape
A prison escape or prison break is the act of an inmate leaving prison through unofficial or illegal ways. Normally, when this occurs, an effort is made on the part of authorities to recapture them and return them to their original detainers...

, which Homer informs to one of the guards. While all the guards wait outside for the breakout, the prisoners attack Homer. Using the key to the concert hall given to her as head of the Springfield Cultural Activities Board, Marge finds Homer in the prison kitchen with the other prisoners close on his tail. They take refuge in the gas chamber
Gas chamber
A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or animals with gas, consisting of a sealed chamber into which a poisonous or asphyxiant gas is introduced. The most commonly used poisonous agent is hydrogen cyanide; carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide have also been used...

 where Marge scolds Homer about the lives he ruined with his tattling. Before the prisoners can attack Homer and Marge, the guards come in with tear gas and riot gear. As they are released, Homer uses his snitching for good by telling Governor Mary Bailey (last seen on "Bart vs. Lisa vs. The Third Grade
Bart vs. Lisa vs. the Third Grade
"Bart vs. Lisa vs. The Third Grade" is the third episode of The Simpsons fourteenth season. It aired on November 17, 2002.-Plot:The family is bored with the terrible reality shows inundating the six major networks, so Bart has a suggestion: buy a satellite dish...

") about the prison's deplorable conditions and food. Eventually, Homer is released and the governor
Governor (United States)
In the United States, the title governor refers to the chief executive of each state or insular territory, not directly subordinate to the federal authorities, but the political and ceremonial head of the state.-Role and powers:...

 sentences the other prisoners to serving their time on a floating garbage barge where they will bare-knuckle fight each other to the death. Marge is glad that Homer is out of prison, and Homer escapes to Moe's, where he finds an obese Snowball II (see "Subplot") and tells her not to breathe a word about Homer going to Moe's.

Meanwhile, Bart
Bart Simpson
Bartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by actress Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...

 and Lisa
Lisa Simpson
Lisa Marie Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons. She is the middle child of the Simpson family. Voiced by Yeardley Smith, Lisa first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Cartoonist Matt Groening...

 find out that Snowball II has been gaining weight. Initially in denial, Lisa soon decides to follow her and discovers she has been regularly visiting and eating food from another family, who believe she is theirs and nicknamed her "Smokey." Snowball prefers her second family to the Simpsons, to Lisa's dismay. Bart goes in to set the record straight, but instead the family fills up him with good food and teaches him the same trick they had taught Snowball.

During the end credits, Homer runs into the concert hall, claiming the building is a death trap. Bart tells Homer that the entire scene is a dream conjured up by Homer's mind after he fell asleep watching The Towering Inferno
The Towering Inferno
The Towering Inferno is a 1974 American action disaster film produced by Irwin Allen featuring an all-star cast led by Steve McQueen and Paul Newman.A co-production between Twentieth Century-Fox and Warner Bros...

, at which point Homer asks Bart how he knows the name of his prophetic vision.

Production

Frank Gehry
Frank Gehry
Frank Owen Gehry, is a Canadian American Pritzker Prize-winning architect based in Los Angeles, California.His buildings, including his private residence, have become tourist attractions...

 guest starred in the episode of himself, becoming the first architect to appear on The Simpsons. According to Matt Chaban of The New York Observer, "Because of his successful style, Frank Gehry sometimes comes under criticism for being a hack whose buildings all look the same—even if in their 50th iteration, those waving bands of metal still look amazing, fresh and different. This sensibility was, like so many other things, immortalized on The Simpsons." The episode makes fun of Gehry's architectural style in a throwaway gag, which sees Gehry becoming unintentionally inspired for the design of the concert hall after crumpling up Marge's letter and hurling it to the ground. The crumpled letters becomes the model for the building. As a result of the scene, according to Gehry, many people believe this is how he actually received the inspiration for his real-life buildings, particularly the Walt Disney Concert Hall
Walt Disney Concert Hall
The Walt Disney Concert Hall at 111 South Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, California is the fourth hall of the Los Angeles Music Center. Bounded by Hope Street, Grand Avenue, 1st and 2nd Streets, it seats 2,265 people and serves as the home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestra and the...

, though this is not the case. He told the public affairs show Fareed Zakaria GPS
Fareed Zakaria GPS
Fareed Zakaria GPS is a weekly public affairs show hosted by journalist and author Fareed Zakaria. As of November 2011, the show airs Sundays at 10am Eastern Time and 1pm Eastern Time on CNN. The show also airs Sundays at 1200 and 1900 GMT on CNN International...

on CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...

 in September 2011 the gag was just "a fun – fun thing. But it has – it has haunted me. People do – who've seen The Simpsons believe it." He also commented that "Clients come to me and say crumple a piece of paper, we'll give you $100 and then we'll build it."

Reception

In 2007, Simon Crerar of The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...

listed Gehry's performance as one of the thirty-three funniest cameos in the history of the show.
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