Hey, look at that! We’re at the end of season one!
The episode, “Some Enchanted Evening,” gives us two funny plots: one involving Marge and Homer out on the town, the other involving the kids dealing with a criminal.
Actually, I don’t think the series could have gotten a more disparate set of plots if they tried. Homer and Marge’s date is a fairly standard–though funny–romantic outing after Homer learns (by listening to Marge talk to Dr. Marvin Monroe on the radio) that Marge feels unappreciated, so after getting some advice from Moe, he treats her to a great night out.
The problem then is finding a sitter for the kids. Enter Ms. Botz. Too bad Bart flipped channels to an America’s Most Wanted style of TV show where he and Lisa learned she was really the Babysitter Bandit, a crook who ties up kids then robs their homes while the parents are out. She more or less tries to do that when Bart’s bowling ball trap doesn’t work (using the “Homer” ball Homer bought Marge back in “Life on the Fast Lane”) and Lisa can’t get past hold long enough to alert the authorities by phone.
But with a little help from Maggie, who can untie knots but can’t work a TV remote, Bart and Lisa manage to subdue Botz. It only then falls to Homer to let her go before the cops and the media show up. And pay her triple her fee.
Homer never gets on the news for good reasons.
But really, there’s a reason the Simpsons are on a list of banned families at the babysitter service.
The Simpsons weren’t into full time guest stars yet, but they got a good one here with Penny Marshall as the voice of the Babysitter Bandit. Her low grade disgust at the family’s stuff and their kids registers well. Oh, there’s also some voice work from veteran voice actor June Foray, who’s always a welcome touch.
Over all, season one was more entertaining than I had thought it would be. The show will get better, and hopefully soon. Season two is twice as long as this one was…
Though the Happy Little Elves don’t seem to appear as much in the future. I think they were banned under the Geneva Convention.
Gabbing Geek 
I thought this episode was a major step back animation wise. It seemed like a show they had in the can from earlier and just found the time to air it. Which apparently it was, having been the first episode that was actually produced, but that turned out so poorly they completely overhauled it. An unfortunate end to a better than I expected it to be season one.
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All I know is the Babysitter Bandit looks like she wandered in from a different cartoon.
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