text: poppa 's got a brand new badge " poppa 's got a brand new badge " is the twenty - second episode and season finale of the simpsons ' thirteenth season . it first aired on the fox network in the united states on may 22 , 2002 . in the episode , a massive heatwave causes the residents of springfield to install large air conditioning devices in their homes . this leads the springfield nuclear power plant to overload , causing two town - wide blackouts to occur . the springfield police department are powerless to the riots that follow , prompting homer , dissatisfied with the police 's incompetence , to start his own security company called springshield . " poppa 's got a brand new badge " was directed by pete michels and written by dana gould , who also pitched the idea for the episode . it features american actor joe mantegna as recurring character fat tony , and includes references to dragnet , high noon and the sopranos . in its original broadcast , the episode was seen by approximately 5 . 3 million viewers , finishing in 53rd place in the ratings the week it aired . following its home video release on august 24 , 2010 , the episode received mixed reviews from critics . plot springfield is in the midst of a massive heat wave . every building in the town has installed a large air conditioning device . however , this draws a lot of power from the springfield nuclear power plant . despite the safety measures mr. burns has taken ( cutting power to the orphanage ) , the plant is at full power . at home , without an air conditioning device , the simpsons have to follow an old - fashioned fan . homer decides to give them a taste of winter by plugging in his dancing santa claus . this overloads the plant and causes a town - wide blackout . eventually , widespread rioting and looting occur . the police try to intervene , but are powerless to stop the massive crime wave . the next day , springfield has been devastated by the crime wave . mayor quimby decides to take action by forming a blue ribbon committee . at the simpsons ' house , someone steals lisa 's malibu stacy collection . homer decides to take action by looking for it . he finds the culprit , jimbo jones , and later foils a robbery by snake jailbird at the kwik - e - mart . he goes through a very long list of his previous jobs ( during which marge puts curlers in her hair offscreen ) and decides that he likes the idea of combining his love of helping and hurting people . homer forms his own security company called " springshield " . although it only has homer , lenny , and carl , it is more efficient and more successful than the springfield police department . when quimby sees chief wiggum trying to shoot a piñata with a shotgun while blindfolded , he dismisses wiggum and ( in a fit of rage ) makes homer the chief of police . after stopping one of fat tony 's operations , homer practically rids springfield of crime . however , fat tony escapes and vows to kill homer unless he leaves town . homer is unable to get protection from the citizens he protects ( only ned flanders volunteers , but homer ignores his offer ) and lenny and carl lock themselves in a jail cell . when homer does not leave , fat tony arrives with a few of his own henchmen ( including johnny ) , as well as mafia muscle — the characters of the sopranos series . just before they are about to kill homer , someone shoots the mobsters and injures them . safe again , homer resigns as police chief and offers the job to the first person who comes along , which is wiggum ( who notes that an identical situation is how he became chief in the first place ) . when marge thanks him for saving homer , wiggum says that he did not shoot anyone , having lost his gun , badge and nearly his squad car . unbeknownst to them , the person who saved homer was maggie , who fires at the mobsters from her window with a scoped sporting rifle . production " poppa 's got a brand new badge " was written by dana gould and directed by pete michels . it was first broadcast on the fox network in the united states on may 22 , 2002 . the idea for the episode was also pitched by gould , who had just moved to southern california with his wife . after moving in , the two decided to install an alarm system because , gould quipped , " the police aren 't enough . too many people wanna kill you . " when meeting the other writers , gould pitched an episode in which homer becomes the owner of a security company , which then became " poppa 's got a brand new badge . " although current showrunner al jean found it " very funny , " the episode 's first draft was heavily altered after the first table - read , a process in which the script is read out loud to the other writers . during the blackout , lenny and carl accidentally crash their cars into a store , causing a riot to erupt . the sequence was conceived by gould who , after the 1992 los angeles riots , was " somewhat obsessed " with civil unrest issues . in the dvd commentary for the episode , he said " i love the idea of , ' all you need is for the power to go out and slowly the fabric of society unravels . " while trying to determine who stole lisa 's malibu stacy car , homer holds bart as his prime suspect . unbeknownst to bart , who is eating an apple , homer tells lisa " look at him over there , eating that apple . what is he planning ? " originally , the scene would show homer suspecting lisa , but because it bothered the character 's voice actor , yeardley smith , the scene was changed . american actor joe mantegna reprises his role as fat tony in the episode . in another scene in the episode , homer shows his family an advertisement for his security company . in it , a monster is seen breaking into an elderly woman 's house . when the woman screams , the screen freezes and homer is composited to the screen , instructing the audience about springshield 's telephone number . in order to homer into the screen , director michels made use of a greenscreen . the advertisement resumes and the monster is subdued by homer , lenny and carl . confused , the monster turns to homer and asks , " friend ? " to which homer replies " the only friend you need is springshield , " and holds a business card in front of the camera . the monster then puts the card in his wallet and says " monster put in wallet . " the monster 's last line was written during one of the episode 's rewrites , but none of the writers on the simpsons ' writing staff has taken credit for it . the line has since become very popular with the series ' writing staff ; jean said that it was " very funny and unusual for a television show , " and gould considers it to be his favorite joke in any episode he has ever written . at the end of the episode , maggie saves homer by shooting fat tony 's gang members with a rifle . the scene was conceived by series co - creator and executive producer james l. brooks while writing notes during the episode 's first table - read . cultural references in a scene in the episode , homer tells marge about all the jobs he has had , referencing several episodes of the series . according to jean , the scene was added during a rewrite of the episode 's script . in another scene , homer , in the springfield church , attempts to recruit companions for his security company . the scene is a reference to the 1952 american western film high noon , although the line " you all know me " was taken from the american horror / thriller film jaws . when visiting the clothing store wooly bully , homer has a rapid , monotone conversation with the cashier . the two speak in a similar manner to the characters in the american 1950 's television crime drama dragnet , of which gould was a " big fan " . when noticing that one of his ferrets is wearing a wire , fat tony tells it " you 're not a pet , and you 're not a friend . you 're nothing to me . " the line parodies a similar conversation between michael and fredo corleone in the american gangster film the godfather part ii . near the end of the episode , fat tony drives to the simpsons house in what seems to be a white dodge caravan , while shots of springfield are shown on the way . the scene parodies the title sequence of the american television drama series the sopranos , and features alabama 3 's song " woke up this morning , " which is also used in the sopranos ' title sequence . michels stated that the parody was " very fun " to animate ; " being from new jersey , it was a labor of love , " he said in the episode 's dvd commentary . release while " the frying game " was originally thought to be the last episode of the season , " poppa 's got a brand new badge " was later revealed to be the real season finale . although new episodes of the simpsons usually air on sundays , " poppa 's got a brand new badge " aired on wednesday , may 22 , 2002 . in its original american broadcast , " poppa 's got a brand new badge " received a 5 . 0 rating , according to nielsen media research , translating to approximately 5 . 3 million viewers . the episode finished in 53rd place in the ratings for the week of may 20 - 26 , 2002 . together with the first half - hour of celebrity boxing , the shows averaged a 3 . 9 rating among adults between ages 18 and 49 , pushing fox to number two for the night , just behind nbc . on august 24 , 2010 , " poppa 's got a brand new badge " was released as part of the simpsons : the complete thirteenth season dvd and blu - ray set . al jean , matt selman , carolyn omine , dana gould , joe mantegna and pete michels participated in the audio commentary of the episode . following its home video release , " poppa 's got a brand new badge " received mixed reviews from critics . writing for 411mania , ron martin gave the episode a mixed review , calling it " passable . " he wrote that " poppa 's got a brand new badge " is " far from memorable as season finales should be . " dvd movie guide 's colin jacobson wrote " like many s13 episodes , “ badge ” feels more than a little derivative , " describing the episode as a combination of the season 4 episode " mr. plow " and the season 5 episode " homer the vigilante " . he continued by writing " that doesn ’ t mean the show lacks amusement , but it ’ s too rehashed to end the year with a real winner . " nate boss of project - blu described it as " a random episode , without many laughs , " however , he added that it " could have been worse . " giving the episode a positive review , jennifer malkowski of dvd verdict gave it a b + , billing " homer 's ' you know i 've had a lot of jobs ' list " as the episode 's " highlight " . writing for screen jabber , stuart o 'connor was favorable as well , describing it as a " first - rate ep [ ] " .