{{Distinguish|New Kids on the Blecch}} {{About|the Simpsons episode|the band|New Kids on the Block|the interactive book|Living Books series}} {{Use American English|date=January 2025}} {{Good article}} {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2023}} {{Infobox Simpsons episode | image = New Kid on the Block Simpsons.jpg | caption = Bart dancing with Laura | season = 4 | episode = 8 | director = [[Wes Archer|Wesley "Wes" Archer]] | writer = [[Conan O'Brien]] | production = 9F06 | airdate = {{Start date|1992|11|12}} | guests = * [[Sara Gilbert]] as Laura Powers * [[Pamela Reed]] as Ruth Powers * [[Phil Hartman]] as [[Lionel Hutz]] | blackboard = "I will not bring sheep to class" | couch_gag = The Simpsons sit on the couch and it falls through the floor. | commentary = [[Matt Groening]]<br>[[Al Jean]]<br>[[Mike Reiss]]<br>[[Conan O'Brien]]<br>[[David Silverman (animator)|David Silverman]] | prev = [[Marge Gets a Job]] | next = [[Mr. Plow]] }} "'''New Kid on the Block'''" is the eighth episode of the [[The Simpsons season 4|fourth season]] of the American animated television series ''[[The Simpsons]]''. It originally aired on [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] in the United States on November 12, 1992. After meeting his new neighbor, Laura Powers, [[Bart Simpson|Bart]] falls in love with her, only to later discover that she has a boyfriend, [[Jimbo Jones]], whom he attempts to scare off so that he can have a relationship with Laura. Meanwhile, [[Homer Simpson|Homer]] sues the [[List of recurring The Simpsons characters#Sea Captain|Sea Captain Horatio McCallister]] after being kicked out of his all-you-can-eat restaurant while still hungry.<ref name="BBC">{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/simpsons/episodeguide/season4/page9.shtml|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030623215923/http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/simpsons/episodeguide/season4/page9.shtml|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 23, 2003|title=New Kid on the Block|access-date=2008-03-15|last1=Martyn |first1=Warren |author-link1=Gary Russell |last2 = Wood |first2=Adrian |author-link2=Gareth Roberts (writer)|publisher=[[BBC]]}}</ref>
The episode was written by [[Conan O'Brien]] and directed by [[Wes Archer]].
==Plot== The Simpsons' elderly neighbors, [[List of recurring The Simpsons characters|the Winfields]], move to [[Florida]] because of [[Homer Simpson|Homer]]'s antics. The Winfields' old house is purchased by divorced mother [[List of recurring The Simpsons characters#Ruth Powers|Ruth Powers]] and her teenage daughter Laura, with whom [[Bart Simpson|Bart]] falls in [[love at first sight]].
After seeing a television advertisement about an all-you-can-eat seafood restaurant called "The Frying Dutchman", Homer decides to go and take [[Marge Simpson|Marge]] with him, and Bart suggests that Laura should babysit him, [[Lisa Simpson|Lisa]], and [[Maggie Simpson|Maggie]]. While Laura babysits the Simpson children, Bart attempts to impress her. However, Laura tells Bart that she is dating [[Jimbo Jones]], one of the bullies at [[Springfield Elementary School]], much to Bart's dismay.
Meanwhile, at the restaurant, Homer quickly enrages the [[Sea Captain (The Simpsons)|Sea Captain]], devouring nearly all the food in the buffet, and is eventually hauled out before he has finished. Enraged, Homer sues the restaurant for false advertising, as the ad that he heard on the television prior to the incident claimed that it was "All You Can Eat", despite Homer not being full before being kicked out.
Homer hires [[Lionel Hutz]] to represent him in court, and the case is successful after Hutz convinces the jurors (who are all obese) that Homer had not had all he could eat. To avoid further legal trouble, the Sea Captain and Homer eventually strike a deal together that Homer will be displayed in the restaurant as "Bottomless Pete: Nature's Cruelest Mistake" to lure in more customers ("Come for the freak, stay for the food!"), much to Marge's embarrassment.
While Homer and Marge appear in court, Laura babysits the Simpson children again and invites Jimbo to keep her company. Bart, in an attempt to make Jimbo look bad, prank-calls [[Moe's Tavern]], giving his name as "Jimbo Jones", and giving [[Moe Szyslak|Moe]] the Simpsons' address. Believing Jimbo to be the one who has been pranking him all along, Moe rushes to the Simpson house brandishing a large, "rusty and dull" kitchen knife. He finds Jimbo, who begins crying and begging for his life; Moe spares him out of pity. Laura is disappointed that Jimbo is not the "tough outlaw" she believed him to be and breaks up with him. She tells Bart that she would certainly date him if he were older, and the episode ends with the pair laughing after prank-calling Moe again.
==Production== [[File:Conan_O%27Brien_-_Simpsons_(cropped).jpg|thumb|[[Conan O'Brien]] wrote the episode.]] The episode was written by [[Conan O'Brien]] and directed by [[Wes Archer]].<ref name="BBC"/> The episode's original subplot was intended to include American actor and comedian [[Don Rickles]] as a guest star presenting a comedy show and Homer laughing excessively at his jokes, until Rickles ridicules him.<ref name="O'Brien">{{cite video | people=O'Brien, Conan|date=2004|title=The Simpsons: The Complete Fourth Season Commentary for the Episode "New Kid on the Block"| medium=DVD|publisher=20th Century Fox}}</ref> The pair were intended to start fighting and end up having to go to court.<ref name="O'Brien"/> Despite O'Brien and other production staff being sure that Rickles would appear in the episode, he was reportedly upset by the concept of the storyline, as he did not wish to be portrayed as a "mean guy".<ref name=Groening>{{cite video | people=Groening, Matt|date=2004|title=The Simpsons: The Complete Fourth Season Commentary for the Episode "New Kid on the Block"| medium=DVD|publisher=20th Century Fox}}</ref>
When attending a [[Fox Broadcasting Company]] publicity event in [[New York City]] with [[Rupert Murdoch]], show producer [[Matt Groening]] was introduced by Murdoch to Rickles. Rickles began shouting at Groening, accusing him of spying on his Las Vegas act and using material from that for the episode.<ref name=Groening/> The cast actually had been receiving recordings from Rickles from the 1950s to use as ideas on how to get the style for his animatic portrayal.<ref name="O'Brien"/> Another side story the writers produced was for Homer to become an outstanding barber and hair dresser, but this was not used until the season 22 episode "[[Homer Scissorhands]]".<ref name="Jean">{{cite video | people=Jean, Al|date=2004|title=The Simpsons: The Complete Fourth Season Commentary for the Episode "New Kid on the Block"| medium=DVD|publisher=20th Century Fox}}</ref>
"New Kid on the Block" features first time appearances from Laura Powers, [[List of recurring The Simpsons characters#Ruth Powers|Ruth Powers]], and [[List of recurring The Simpsons characters#Sea Captain|The Sea Captain]]. [[Hank Azaria]] based the Sea Captain's voice on that of actor [[Robert Newton]].<ref name="Jean"/>
== Cultural references == The title is a standard phrase, but plays on the name of the band [[New Kids on the Block]]. This is the first of two episode titles to be named as a pun on the group, with 2001's "[[New Kids on the Blecch]]" being the second. The theme from ''[[Northern Exposure]]'' plays when the moose appears in the driveway. Bart's fantasy of dancing with Laura is based on [[Fred Astaire]] and [[Ginger Rogers]] in ''[[Top Hat]]'' (1935). Homer likens his case to [[Don Quixote]]: "this is my quest. I'm like that guy. You know, that Spanish guy. He fought the windmills?" "Don Quixote?" Marge asks. "No, that's not it. The [[Man of La Mancha]]." Bart asks Grandpa about having a crush on an older woman, and he tells Bart "I had a crush on the oldest woman. Here's a picture of her delivering [[Eubie Blake]]." The courtroom scene in which numerous sacks of letters to [[Santa Claus]] are delivered to court is a parody of ''[[Miracle on 34th Street]]'' (1947).<ref name="O'Brien"/> Hutz tells Homer that his case is “the most blatant case of fraudulent advertising since my suit against the film [[The Neverending Story (film)|''The Neverending Story'']].”<ref>{{cite news| last=Rabin| first=Nathan| title=The Simpsons (Classic): "New Kid on the Block"| work=[[The A.V. Club]]| url=https://www.avclub.com/the-simpsons-classic-new-kid-on-the-block-1798172942}}</ref>
==Reception== In its original broadcast, "New Kid on the Block" finished 23rd in ratings for the week of November 9–16, 1992, with a [[Nielsen ratings|Nielsen rating]] of 14.4, equivalent to approximately 13.4 million viewing households. It was the highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, beating ''[[Beverly Hills, 90210]]''.<ref>{{cite news |title=Jackson 5? Nope, it was no. 3 last week|work=Sun-Sentinel|author=Elber, Lynn|page=4E|date=November 19, 1992}}</ref>
In 1998, ''[[TV Guide]]'' included it in its list of the top 12 ''Simpsons'' episodes.<ref>{{cite news |title=A Dozen Doozies |work=[[TV Guide]] |date=January 3–9, 1998 |url=http://www.simpsonsarchive.com/other/articles/dozendoozies.html|access-date=January 13, 2019}}</ref>
[[Gary Russell]] and [[Gareth Roberts (writer)|Gareth Roberts]],<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=http://doctorwho.org.nz/archive/tsv51/garyrussell.html|title=Gary Russell: From Peladon to Placebos|author=Preddle, Jon|date=June 1997|magazine=Time Space Visualiser|issue=51|access-date=20 August 2020|publisher=The New Zealand Doctor Who Fan Club|quote=I've just done my first non-fiction book, Oh No It's A Completely Unofficial Simpsons Guide for Virgin, co-authored with Gareth Roberts which has, to be frank, been more of a nightmare than it needed to be [the book was published as I Can't Believe It's An Unofficial Simpsons Guide, with Gary and Gareth writing under the pseudonyms Warren Martyn & Adrian Wood].}}</ref> the authors of the book ''I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide'', commented that it was "a fun episode, introducing the Powers family [and featuring] the last appearance of the Winfields".<ref name="BBC"/>
==References== {{reflist|2}}
==External links== {{wikiquote|The_Simpsons/Season_4#New_Kid_on_the_Block|New Kid on the Block}} {{portal|The Simpsons}} * {{snpp capsule|9F06}} * {{IMDb episode|0701189}}
{{The Simpsons episodes|4}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:New Kid On The Block}} [[Category:The Simpsons season 4 episodes]] [[Category:1992 American television episodes]] [[Category:Television episodes written by Conan O'Brien]] [[Category:Television episodes directed by Wes Archer]]