Simpsons Top 100 Countdown

#53 The Day the Violence Died
Season 7, Episode 18 (Guide from the Simpsons Archive)

When Bart tries to tag along in a parade honoring Itchy and Scratchy, he meets a bum who claims to have created them. Bart is skeptical, but when shown a film of Itchy which predates the earliest “known” Itchy cartoon, Bart believes him and helps him get money from the studio that produces the cartoons. Unfortunately, the film is destroyed after he shows it to Bart and Milhouse. After Bart and the bum are unceremoniously tossed out of the studio, they retain the imminent lawyer Lionel Hutz to argue their case in court. The court case looks lost until Bart remembers seeing a cell from the film on sale at the comic book store; it has the signature and date to back up the story. The studio pays the bum $800 million and closes due to lack of funds. Bart and Lisa then set to work on finding a way to get more Itchy and Scratchy cartoons, but by the time they’ve figured out a solution, the brother-and-sister duo of Lester and Eliza (who look strangely similar to Bart and Lisa) have already presented their solution, leaving the Simpson kids with mixed feelings. Memorable moments include Lionel Hutz, Comic Book Guy, various parade stuff, the bum’s previous conning of other characters, the 1919 film, Steamboat Itchy (which had been the “original” Itchy cartoon), and, of course, Amendment to Be.