This 'Simpsons' Moment Was Quietly Cut by FOX Over a Joke That You Probably Missed

The early seasons of The Simpsons truly represented a golden age for the series, producing some of the animated sitcom's most iconic episodes and classic storylines. Among the gems was the comical Season 4 episode, "The Front," which finds Bart (Nancy Cartwright) and Lisa (Yeardley Smith) believing they can do a better job writing the Itchy and Scratchy cartoons than the current writers. However, "The Front" features an interesting gag that didn't make it into the final cut, and the reason why is hilarious. It's time to look back at the deleted gag from The Simpsons Season 4.

This Episode of 'The Simpsons' Featured an Implied Swear Word

During the scene in question in "The Front," Roger Meyers Jr. (Hank Azaria), the belligerent head of Itchy & Scratchy Studios, is seen berating one of his writers before his secretary walks in with a script and letter sent by Bart and Lisa. He dismissively reads their letter briefly before calling his writer back into the room to throw the crumpled-up letter into the writer's mouth. The scene eventually transitions back to Bart and Lisa, who read that their script submission got rejected. However, the beat with Meyers originally went much longer.

In the deleted version, Meyers begins dictating a rejection letter for Bart and Lisa, staunchly exclaiming, “In my opinion, you kids don’t know–,” and the scene then cuts to Bart and Lisa at home. Lisa reads the letter and says to Bart, "I know what this word means, but what's Shinola?" The obvious implication is that Meyers wrote to Bart and Lisa, "You kids don’t know **** from Shinola!" No one actually utters the curse word in either version, but the meaning of Meyers’ statement is clear from the dialogue. It seems to be a rather harmless joke, and Lisa’s response is hilarious since most viewers would likely understand the meaning of the curse word more than Shinola. For anyone wondering, Shinola refers to an old, defunct brand of shoe polish, so it makes sense that Lisa or almost everyone wouldn’t have a frame of reference for what the word means, except for the playful alliteration.

33 Years Later, This Deleted 'Simpsons' Joke Seems Pretty Tame

It's weird that this joke in particular got jettisoned, considering no one utters the swear word in the scene, and it's only implied based on the dialogue... which is part of the joke. However, its deletion represents how different television standards and practices were back in 1993 when "The Front" originally aired. At that time, even implied curse words were absolutely restricted.

The deletion also shows how silly television network standards and practices could be back in the 1990s, considering far edgier content would always make it into the series. (Case in point, the Itchy and Scratchy segments, which are outrageously violent.) The Simpsons got away with a lot in terms of cartoon character nudity, sex, and violence, but it always came across like network censors were more concerned with naughty language. In retrospect, the later Season 6 episode, "Two Dozen and One Greyhounds," seems even funnier when Bart swears, and Marge (Julie Kavner) attempts to chastise him. However, Bart points out that he properly used the term to describe the dog named She's the Fastest, as that is the dictionary's clinical use of the word. The strict Marge remarks, "Well, I’m going to write the dictionary people and have that checked!" Marge's response seemed indicative of network standards and practices.

"The Front" Remains a Classic Episode of 'The Simpsons'

Although "The Front" had to remove a perfectly funny and acceptable joke, it remains a wildly entertaining episode. Hilarious high jinks ensue when Bart and Lisa have their grandpa, Abe Simpson (Dan Castellaneta), submit their script under his name. Also, Homer learns he never graduated from high school, so he retakes remedial courses to earn his diploma. One amusing aspect of the episode occurs in the final scene, which depicts an elderly Marge and Homer attending their 50-year high school reunion in 2024.

Here we are in 2026, and The Simpsons is still on the air, having blown past the 2024 epilogue. Except in 2026, Marge and Homer are still around the same age as they were in the present timeline of 1993. Even the Marvel and DC Comics universes contain a bit of a sliding timeline, but in The Simpsons, characters' ages are perpetually frozen for all time! Nevertheless, "The Front" is an all-time classic episode, which can be revisited now on Disney+ in the U.S.