Podcast News

"Podcast News" is the 6th episode of the 32nd season of The Simpsons. It was first shown on television on November 15, 2020. In the episode, Grampa Simpson is accused of doing a murder. Kent Brockman makes a podcast about the murder.

"Podcast News"
The Simpsons episode
Episode no.	Season 32 Episode 6
Directed by	Matthew Faughnan
Written by	David X. Cohen
Production code	ZABF22
Original air date	November 15, 2020 (2020-11-15)
Guest appearances
Morgan Fairchild as Vivienne St. Charmaine Stellan Skarsgård as himself Christine Nangle as Tabitha Shingle
Episode chronology
List of episodes

Story

Marge and Lisa get an addiction for listening to podcasts about crime. Homer and Bart visit Grampa at a retirement home. Grampa shows them his new girlfriend, Vivienne St. Charmaine. On the next day, the Simpson family watch news on television and learn that Vivienne is dead. Grampa is a prime suspect, but he says he does not remember what happened. Kent Brockman makes a podcast about the murder called "Guilty Grampa". The podcast makes everyone in Springfield think that Grampa killed Vivienne. Grampa thinks that he did do the murder and confesses. He is taken to jail. While the last episode of "Guilty Grampa" is being recorded, Dr. Hibbert says that Vivienne did not die. She went to a resort in Mexico so that Grampa could give her money for insurance.

Production

This is the first episode that David X. Cohen wrote since 1998.^[1] Morgan Fairchild voices Vivienne St. Charmaine in the episode. Christine Nangle voices Tabitha Shingle. Stellan Skarsgård is in the episode as himself.^[2] Yeardley Smith (voice actor for Lisa Simpson) is shown in the episode as herself.^[1]

Reception

3.50 million people watched the episode when it was first shown on television.^[3] Tony Sokol of Den of Geek said that the episode has "a sense of tension throughout" and thought the end of the episode was satisfying and "morally ambiguous" (saying that more than one lesson is shown in the episode).^[4]