The Road to Cincinnati

"The Road to Cincinnati" is the eighth episode of the thirty-second season of the American animated sitcom The Simpsons, and the 692th overall. It aired in the United States on Fox on November 29, 2020.[1] The episode was directed by Matthew Nastuk,[2] and written by Jeff Westbrook.[3]

"The Road to Cincinnati"
The Simpsons episode
Episode no.Season 32
Episode 8
Directed byMatthew Nastuk
Written byJeff Westbrook
Featured music
Production codeZABF20
Original air dateNovember 29, 2020 (2020-11-29)
Guest appearance(s)

Hannibal Buress guest-stars as Principal Finch and Jason Bateman appeared as himself.

The episode featured Superintendent Chalmers and Principal Skinner going in Cincinnati. It received mixed reviews and was watched live in the United States by 1.63 million viewers.

Plot

Superintendent Chalmers is selected to give the keynote speech at an administrators' convention in Cincinnati, taking along popular Principal Finch as his plus one. During detention, Bart urges Principal Skinner to step up his game to win the spot, and when Finch falls ill, Skinner takes his chance, and Chalmers agrees reluctantly.

Things get off to a rocky start when Skinner checks the bag with Chalmers's anxiety medicine at the airport, causing him to have a panic attack and be thrown off the flight. Skinner volunteers to drive the 800 miles to the convention. The pair face a number of obstacles, including a hitchhiking Shakespearean improv group they pick up when Chalmers gets bored on Skinner's discussions about chili, along with an angry gang of cyclists, and a traffic court. At a bed and breakfast, Chalmers realizes he and Skinner are becoming friends. That night, Skinner overhears a phone conversation with Finch, revealing that Chalmers was planning on firing Skinner and replacing him with Finch. Furious, Skinner confronts his boss, admitting he'd deliberately poisoned Finch to keep him off the trip. The two brawl, and Chalmers heads to Cincinnati alone. At the keynote speech, Chalmers realizes he'd left his notes with Skinner, and starts to choke. However, he is able to bond with the other superintendents over tales of inept underlings, and ends up praising Skinner, who had arrived to deliver the notes.

Back in Springfield, Marge surprises the family with tickets to the improv group, much to their dismay.

Production

Casting

Hannibal Buress guest-stars in the episode as Principal Finch and Jason Bateman appeared as himself.[1]

Release

On 2020, Fox released eight promotional pictures from the episode.[4] The episode was originally scheduled to air on November 8, 2020,[5] however, due to being preempted by "The 7 Beer Itch", which was preempted by "Treehouse of Horror XXXI", which was preempted by game seven of the 2020 National League Championship Series, the episode was rescheduled to air on November 29, 2020.[1]

Pop culture reference

The song that plays in an endless loop in Skinner's car is "Timothy", a 1970 song about starving miners who kill and eat a man after a cave in.

Reception

Viewing figures

In the United States, the episode was watched live by 1.63 million viewers.[6]

Critical response

Tony Sokol with Den of Geek said, "As god as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly, and believe one of the good things about choosing Cincinnati as the setting is the excuse to hear the two WKRP in Cincinnati theme songs. Sadly, that’s a highlight of a fairly lame trip. This is what remote learning does to The Simpsons. “The Road to Cincinnati” is paved with too many good intentions. The Springfield faculty gets to get out of town but ultimately there's nowhere to go but Cincinnati." He also gave the episode three out of five stars.[7]

Jesse Bereta with Bubbleblabber said, "The most exciting thing to come out of this episode was that it allowed the supporting characters the full run-time to tell their story. We have become accustomed to two-plot episodes that feature characters like these having their adventure whilst something else is occurring in the Simpsons home. Not surprisingly, this was preferable." Bubbleblabber's Review System gave the episode score 9/10.[8]

References
  1. "(SI-3120) "The Road to Cincinnati"". The Futon Critic. November 4, 2020. Retrieved November 5, 2020.
  2. @AlJean (May 4, 2020). "Matthew Nastuk" (Tweet). Retrieved October 15, 2020 – via Twitter.
  3. @AlJean (November 18, 2019). "Jeff Westbrook" (Tweet). Retrieved October 15, 2020 – via Twitter.
  4. "The Simpsons". FoxFlash. Retrieved January 22, 2021.
  5. "(SI-3120) "The Road to Cincinnati"". The Futon Critic. October 15, 2020. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
  6. Metcalf, Mitch (December 2, 2020). "Updated: ShowBuzzDaily's Top 150 Sunday Cable Originals & Network Finals: 11.29.2020". Showbuzz Daily. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  7. "The Simpsons Season 32 Episode 8 Review: The Road to Cincinnati". Den of Geek. 2020-11-30. Retrieved 2021-01-11.
  8. "Review: The Simpsons "The Road to Cincinnati" | Bubbleblabber". www.bubbleblabber.com. Retrieved 2021-01-13.
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