The Frensky Family Fiasco

Summary
Francine wants the Frenskys to be closer, so she proposes a weekly Family Night. But spending quality time together turns out to be complicated than expected.

Plot
The show begins with Pal and Francine running. Then Arthur shows up and stops the music. Francine starts the music again, but Arthur stops it again. Francine asks him why he does the show opener and why can't someone else do it. D.W. suggests the show should be called "D.W." Buster suggests the show be called "Buster." Francine tells him to be quiet and that he already has his own show. D.W. thinks its a great name, but Buster tells her no one knows what it stands for. D.W. replies it stands for Dora Winifred. Arthur states that on the show that they're one happy family. He pauses when Francine asks Buster "Shouldn't there be one episode where we don't mention aliens?" Then Binky announces the episode as "The Binky Show," tells Arthur to move it, and rolls the tape.

The Frensky Family Fiasco

One day in Mr. Ratburn's classroom, the class is watching a movie about the strong family ties of baboons. A young baboon is saved from a lion because its family took the liberty to save it.

At her apartment, she greets her mother as she is leaving for her bowling night. Her father is out biking, and Catherine is on the phone. A Chickin Lickin' commercial plays, in which Beauregard Poulet is commemorating the values of family. Francine sighs and walks off, feeling miserable.

At breakfast the next morning, Francine is presenting a plan to bring her family closer to each other. Her parents agree, although Catherine disagrees. Catherine envisions a beach party, and then a boring game of cards, but then reluctantly agrees when her mother gets offended.

For the first family night, the Frenskys go out for Japanese food. Francine accidentally eats a very hot mustard, and drinks soy sauce. At home, everyone is watching Starcast, and the phone rings. It is Muffy, and Francine answers it. She takes Muffy's idea of playing games. As a result, she misses the finale of Starcast.

Francine plans for the next family night, and goes to the Supermarket to buy pizza ingredients, picks fresh ingredients, learns pizza baking skills from Mrs. MacGrady, and finds a board game to play.

Next Tuesday, the Frenskys begin baking their pizza. Catherine admits that this activity is fun. Francine begins making a salad with a ketchup and mayonnaise dressing, which Catherine thinks is disgusting. They get into an argument, and forget about the pizza. But when they finally remember, they are surprised to observe that the pizza is burnt.

They order a pizza, and after dinner Francine presents Megalopolis, a game they can all play. Everyone starts bickering over various moves in the gameplay. The family concurs that this should be the last family night.

That night, Francine has a nightmare in which her family are baboons, and their family ties are not strong enough to save them from a vicious lion. The next morning, Francine observes her bowling jersey, and suggests to her family that they go bowling once a week. Oliver, Laverne and Catherine agree to this activity.

Major

 * Francine Frensky
 * Laverne Frensky
 * Catherine Frensky
 * Oliver Frensky

Minor

 * Muffy Crosswire
 * Leah MacGrady (Doesn't speak)
 * Nigel Ratburn (Doesn't speak)

Cameo

 * Arthur Read
 * D.W. Read
 * Jane Read
 * Buster Baxter
 * Angi
 * Debi
 * Tami
 * Nemo
 * Jenna Morgan
 * Maria Pappas
 * Sue Ellen Armstrong
 * George Lundgren

Trivia

 * Catherine's revealed to be a vegetarian in this episode.
 * Reruns of this episode are rare following the Lance Armstrong doping case, since it is paired with "Room to Ride" which features Lance Armstrong as a special guest.
 * In the beginning when Buster told Francine he should have his own show, Francine says to Buster he already has a show, and he does, which is a reference to the Arthur spin-off show,.
 * Although the Frenskys are Jewish, Laverne ate eel and Francine ate pepperoni, neither of which are foods.
 * In Postcards from Buster, Francine stated that her family is not Orthodox, which means they can eat non-Kosher foods.
 * The calendar which Francine shows her family has thirty-one days. This gives a wide range of months which the episode could have taken place in: January, March, May, July, August, October, and December.
 * However, Francine was in school when she watched the baboon video, which rules out July and August, but some schools start in August.
 * Arthur and D.W. only appear in the intro and the title card, but are absent from the entire episode.
 * During the intro, Francine does the walking down the street thing with Pal exactly what Arthur does in the theme song.

Cultural references

 * Megalopolis is a parody of .
 * Starcast is a parody of .
 * Binky makes a brief reference to P.T. Barnum and his circus when he says "How about the Binky show, the greatest show on Earth!"

Errors

 * When Oliver offers Catherine and Francine $20 from his "reserve" in the Megalopolis game, the bills appear to be yellow. When the camera zooms out, the bills are purple.
 * When Francine's family looks at the burnt pizza, Francine's mom is wearing an adult-sized version of Francine's clothes.
 * Catherine says she is a vegetarian, but earlier in the episode she is seen eating.
 * However, it's possible she could be eating vegetarian sushi, especially since it was green in the middle. Also, not all sushi has meat/fish in it, as the word "sushi" comes from an old Japanese word basically meaning "sour/soured rice."