The Simpsons in Australia, January 1998

Network Ten Broadcasts in January

The Sunday timeslot continued to screen merged repeats from Seasons Four and "Seven," but Ten showed little understanding of what constitutes a season of The Simpsons by screening episodes 3F23 and 3F24 (from Season Eight) as if they belonged to Season Seven. The following week, Season Four repeats moved to 8:00pm, while 7:30pm saw the return of Season Three (from somewhere in the middle). Stripping resumed on the 12th January at 6:00pm, with Season Six being stripped for the first time. But still no sign of the three missing episodes from this season.

With the kids at home for the summer holidays, FOX8 upped the ante yet again, rescheduling their daytime programming during the week. Each day was dedicated to a particular "children's" show, and Monday was Simpsons Day (I personally question the wisdom of screening The Simpsons as a kids show). Each Monday was dedicated to a particular character (Bart, Lisa, Krusty and Homer), and episodes were chosen relating to that character. The other streams continued as before, weekdays showing the remainder of Season Eight, all of Season One, and into Season Two. Weekend mornings screened from the end of Season Four through to the start of Season Seven. And weekend evenings completed Season Five and started on Season Six. Of course, that would all be too simple, so last-minute changes were made to Sunday evenings on the 25th January. The 6:00pm timeslot was moved to 6:30pm and extended to a full hour (two episodes), starting in the middle of Season Six with Bart vs Australia ("commemorating" Australia day). This fourth stream, not shown in the February Foxtel Guide because of its late addition, is to continue in this timeslot, and is repeated twice, at midnight and 5:00am. Saturday evenings, meanwhile, continue to screen the episodes previously scheduled, until the printed Guide can catch up. With four streams screening The Simpsons on FOX8 every day, you can be forgiven for thinking that Foxtel don't have any other programming! But the fact of the matter is the show is extremely popular (after all, you're reading this, aren't you?). At the height of their power, in the last week of January, 47 episodes of The Simpsons were shown, with 33 of them being "unique!" January also saw some changes to the graphics used with The Simpsons. Most noticeable was a new pre-ad bumper. Rather than the bizarre, coloured graphics used previously, the new bumper borrowed couch gags, much like Ten has done all along. Secondly, a Hot Fox post-ad bumper was produced, as had previously been done for other shows introduced at the start of the summer. This bumper showed the ubiquitous red chili being turned over with a set of tongs while Homer agonised with: "What's that smell? [...] It's chili! Oh, my God, I'm missing the chili cook-off! I'm missing the cook-off..." The sound byte was taken from the beginning of 3F24. Finally, the Fox Kids logo saw some additional use, featuring as the permanently-displayed station logo during the Monday character day episodes, and also being used on weekend mornings as of the 24th January. The latter was particularly annoying, as the logo is strongly coloured and largely opaque -- a combination guaranteed to clash with an animated programme.

Date	Time	Episode	Code
Sun 4 Jan 1998	7:30pm	Duffless	9F14 RM
Sun 4 Jan 1998	8:00pm	You Only Move Twice	3F23 RM
Sun 11 Jan 1998	7:30pm	Last Exit to Springfield	9F15 RM
Sun 11 Jan 1998	8:00pm	El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Homer	3F24 RM
Sun 18 Jan 1998	7:30pm	Burns Verkaufen der Kraftwerk	8F09 RM
Sun 18 Jan 1998	8:00pm	The Front	9F16 RM
Sun 25 Jan 1998	7:30pm	I Married Marge	8F10 RM
Sun 25 Jan 1998	8:00pm	So It’s Come to This: A Simpsons Clip Show	9F17 RM

Week Starting		Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri
12/1/98		2F01	2F02	2F04	2F05	2F06
19/1/98		2F07	2F08	2F09	2F10	2F11
26/1/98		2F12	2F13	2F14	2F15	2F18

The evening timeslots repeat the morning's episodes.

Date	Episode	Title
Thu 1/1	4F05 4F06	Burns, Baby Burns Bart After Dark
Fri 2/1	4F04 4F01	A Milhouse Divided Lisa’s Date with Density
Mon 5/1	4F07 3F24	Hurricane Neddy El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Homer
Tue 6/1	3G01 4F08	The Springfield Files The Twisted World of Marge Simpson
Wed 7/1	4F10 3G03	Mountain of Madness Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala-D’oh-cious
Thu 8/1	4F12 4F11	The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show Homer’s Phobia
Fri 9/1	4F14 4F13	The Brother From Another Series My Sister, My Sitter
Mon 12/1	4F15 4F09	Homer vs the Eighteenth Amendment Grade School Confidential
Tue 13/1	4F16 4F17	The Canine Mutiny The Old Man and the Lisa
Wed 14/1	4F18 4F19	In Marge We Trust Homer’s Enemy
Thu 15/1	4F20 4F21	The Simpsons Spin-off Showcase The Secret War of Lisa Simpson
Fri 16/1	7G08 7G02	"The Simpsons Christmas Special" Bart the Genius
Mon 19/1	7G03 7G04	Homer’s Odyssey There’s No Disgrace Like Home
Tue 20/1	7G05 7G06	Bart the General Moaning Lisa
Wed 21/1	7G09 7G07	Call of the Simpsons "The Telltale Head"
Thu 22/1	7G11 7G10	Jacques to be Wild Homer’s Night Out
Fri 23/1	7G13 7G12	The Crepes of Wrath Krusty Gets Busted
Mon 26/1	7G01 7F03	Some Enchanted Evening Bart Gets An F
Tue 27/1	7F02 7F04	Simpson and Delilah "The Simpsons Halloween Special"
Wed 28/1	7F01 7F05	Two Cars in Every Garage, Three Eyes on Every Fish Dancin’ Homer
Thu 29/1	7F08 7F07	Dead Putting Society Bart vs Thanksgiving
Fri 30/1	7F06 7F09	Bart the Daredevil Itchy & Scratchy & Marge

Date	Episode	Title
Sat 3/1	9F16 9F17 9F18 9F20 9F21 9F22 9F19	The Front So It’s Come to This: A Simpsons Clip Show Whacking Day Marge in Chains Homer’s Barbershop Quartet Cape Feare Krusty Gets Kancelled
Sun 4/1	1F02 1F01 1F04 1F03 1F05 1F06 1F07	Homer Goes to College Rosebud "The Simpsons Halloween Special IV" Marge on the Lam Bart’s Inner Child Boy-Scoutz N The Hood The Last Temptation of Homer
Sat 10/1	1F08 1F09 1F11 1F10 1F12 1F13 1F14	$pringfield Homer the Vigilante Bart Gets Famous Homer and Apu Lisa vs Malibu Stacey Deep Space Homer Homer Loves Flanders
Sun 11/1	1F15 1F16 1F17 1F18 1F19 1F21 1F22	Bart Gets An Elephant Burns’ Heir Lisa’s Rival Sweet Seymour Skinner’s Baddasssss Song The Boy Who Knew Too Much Lady Bouvier’s Lover Bart of Darkness
Sat 17/1	1F20 2F33 2F01 2F02 2F03 2F04 2F05	Secrets of a Successful Marriage Another Simpsons Clip Show Itchy & Scratchy Land Sideshow Bob Roberts "The Simpsons Halloween Special V" Bart’s Girlfriend Lisa on Ice
Sun 18/1	2F06 2F07 2F08 2F09 2F10 2F11 2F12	Homer: Bad Man Grampa vs Sexual Inadequacy Fear of Flying Homer the Great And Maggie Makes Three Bart’s Comet Homie the Clown
Sat 24/1	2F13 2F14 2F31 2F15 2F18 2F19 2F32	Bart vs Australia Homer vs Patty & Selma A Star is Burns Lisa’s Wedding Two Dozen and One Greyhounds The PTA Disbands ’Round Springfield
Sun 25/1	2F21 2F22 2F16 2F20 2F17 3F01 3F02	The Springfield Connection Lemon of Troy Who Shot Mr Burns? — Part One Who Shot Mr Burns? — Part Two Radioactive Man Home Sweet Home-Diddily-Dum-Doodily Bart Sells His Soul
Sat 31/1	3F03 3F04 3F05 3F06 3F08 3F31 3F07	Lisa the Vegetarian "The Simpsons Halloween Special VI" King-Size Homer Mother Simpson Sideshow Bob’s Last Gleaming "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular!" Marge Be Not Proud

Date	Episode	Title
Sat 3/1	1F18	Sweet Seymour Skinner’s Baddasssss Song
Sun 4/1	1F19	The Boy Who Knew Too Much
Sat 10/1	1F21	Lady Bouvier’s Lover
Sun 11/1	1F22	Bart of Darkness
Sat 17/1	1F20	Secrets of a Successful Marriage
Sun 18/1	2F33	Another Simpsons Clip Show
Sat 24/1	2F01	Itchy & Scratchy Land
Sat 31/1	2F03	"The Simpsons Halloween Special V"

Date	Episode	Title
Sun 25/1	2F13 2F14	Bart vs Australia Homer vs Patty & Selma

Bart Day!

Monday, 5th January 1998, 12:30pm to 3:00pm.

Episode	Title
7G02	Bart the Genius
7G07	"The Telltale Head"
8F03	Bart The Murderer
8F11	Radio Bart
1F05	Bart’s Inner Child
2F04	Bart’s Girlfriend

Lisa Day!

Monday, 12th January 1998, 12:30pm to 3:00pm.

Episode	Title
8F06	Lisa’s Pony
9F13	I Love Lisa
1F12	Lisa vs Malibu Stacey
1F17	Lisa’s Rival
2F15	Lisa’s Wedding
3F03	Lisa the Vegetarian

Krusty Day!

Monday, 19th January 1998, 12:30pm to 3:00pm.

Episode	Title
7G12	Krusty Gets Busted
8F05	Like Father, Like Clown
8F24	Kamp Krusty
9F19	Krusty Gets Kancelled
1F11	Bart Gets Famous
2F12	Homie the Clown

Homer Day!

Monday, 26th January 1998, 12:30pm to 3:00pm.

Episode	Title
7F05	Dancin’ Homer
8F14	Homer Alone
9F21	Homer’s Barbershop Quartet
1F02	Homer Goes to College
2F09	Homer the Great
3F14	Homer the Smithers