text: rosebud ( the simpsons ) " rosebud " is the fourth episode of the simpsons ' fifth season . it first aired on the fox network in the united states on october 21 , 1993 . the episode begins by showing how on the eve of his birthday , mr. burns starts to miss his childhood teddy bear bobo . the bear ends up in the hands of maggie simpson and burns does everything in his power to get bobo returned to him . " rosebud " was written by john swartzwelder and was the first episode to be executive produced by david mirkin , who was the show runner for the fifth and sixth seasons of the show . directed by wes archer , supervising director david silverman describes the episode as " one of the more challenging ones " to direct . the ramones ( joey ramone , johnny ramone , c. j. ramone and marky ramone ) guest star in the episode as themselves . the episode is largely a parody of the 1941 film citizen kane and the title references charles foster kane 's dying word " rosebud " . the episode also contains references to the wizard of oz , planet of the apes , actor george burns , charles lindbergh , and adolf hitler . critical reaction to " rosebud " was largely positive and in 2003 entertainment weekly placed the episode in second place on their list of the 25 best episodes of the simpsons . plot smithers finds mr. burns having a nightmare in which he constantly murmurs the name " bobo " . in a flashback , it is revealed that as a child , burns lived with his family and cherished his teddy bear bobo , but he dropped it in the snow when he left to live with a " twisted , loveless billionaire " . meanwhile , preparations for burns ' birthday are underway and , after the ramones perform , homer is chosen to entertain the party guests with a comedy routine ; however , burns finds homer 's routine offensive and angrily orders his security guards to break up the party . burns reveals to smithers that he misses his cherished bear bobo and desperately wants it back but has no idea where it is . another flashback reveals bobo 's history : after burns leaves it behind , the bear eventually finds its way to charles lindbergh , who tosses the bear into a crowd , where it is caught by adolf hitler . in 1945 , hitler blames bobo for losing world war ii and tosses him away . bobo is seen again in 1957 on board the uss nautilus headed for the north pole . bobo becomes encased in a block of ice until picked up by an ice - gathering expedition in 1993 . the bag of ice with bobo in it is sent to the kwik - e - mart in springfield . bart buys the bag of ice , finds bobo inside and gives it to maggie to play with . mr. burns starts looking for his bear , and homer finally realizes that maggie 's new toy is bobo . homer negotiates with burns and agrees to give it back in exchange for " a million dollars and three hawaiian islands . the good ones , not the leper ones . " however , when maggie refuses to give bobo up , homer decides to stick up for his daughter and sends burns away . mr. burns is outraged and promises vengeance on homer unless he gets his teddy bear back . after many failed attempts to steal the teddy bear , in desperation , burns has smithers literally beg homer for the bear . homer tells burns that it is maggie 's now , and she is the only one that can return it . burns decides to talk to maggie and becomes deeply depressed and asks maggie to look after his bear . maggie , in an act of pity , lets the desperate burns have the bear . production " rosebud " was written by john swartzwelder and was the first episode to be executive produced and run by david mirkin . mirkin enjoyed working on the episode so much that he spent " an enormous amount of time on post production " experimenting with various elements of the episode . originally , the backstory for bobo included several much darker scenes , including one where the bear was involved in the assassination of john f. kennedy . the scenes were cut because the writers felt it was in bad taste . the ending of the episode was originally longer , but two segments were cut . the first saw washington d.c. destroyed by invading canadian troops , who found bobo . the second featured the entire planet being overrun by giant redwoods and spotted owls . david silverman describes the episode as " one of the more challenging ones " to direct . guest stars the ramones were " gigantic obsessive simpsons fans " and their characters were designed by wes archer . marky ramone later called their appearance " a career highlight " . cultural references the episode is largely a parody of the 1941 orson welles film citizen kane . the title is a reference to charles foster kane 's dying word " rosebud " ; the teddy bear bobo is a substitute for rosebud in this episode , even down to the fact that burns discards it in the snow when offered a new life of riches and power . the scene where he drops a snow globe , while whispering the name of his lost toy , also parodies kane 's death scene at the start of the film . the guards outside mr. burns 's manor chant and march similarly to the wicked witch of the west 's guards from the 1939 film the wizard of oz . the last scene where mr. burns 's robotic body runs off with bobo is a reference to the film planet of the apes in which herds of humans are enslaved by humanoid apes . burns and smithers ' attempt to steal bobo from the simpsons mirrors mission : impossible , and their sitcom is similar to the honeymooners . both mr. burns and homer make references to the cancellation of the tv series the misadventures of sheriff lobo . mr. burns ' brother is revealed to be comedian george burns , and both charles lindbergh and adolf hitler were once in possession of bobo . during the tribute to burns , the curtain portrays his visage in a more youthful manner , evoking the characteristic style of illustrator al hirschfeld . reception in its original american broadcast , " rosebud " finished 33rd in the ratings for the week of october 18 – 24 , 1993 . it acquired a nielsen rating of 11 . 9 . the episode was the second highest - rated show on the fox network that week after married ... with children . in 2003 , entertainment weekly 's placed " rosebud " second on their top 25 the simpsons episode list , writing that " despite being one of the simpsons ' most spectacularly overstuffed episodes , " rosebud " has plenty of heart " . ign.com ranked the ramones 's performance as the fifteenth best guest appearance in the show 's history . in 2007 , vanity fair named it the best episode of the show , calling it , " a perfect episode . mr. burns 's lamentations for his childhood bear , bobo , lead to a show - long parody of citizen kane . at once a satire and a tribute , the episode manages to both humanize mr. burns and delve deep into homer 's love for his oft - forgotten second daughter , maggie . " in his book planet simpson , author chris turner listed " rosebud " as one of his five favorite episodes of the simpsons , calling the episode " genius " . he added that the ramones gave " possibly the finest guest musical performances ever . " david silverman and matt groening describe the sequence where homer eats 64 slices of american cheese as " one of the most hilarious segments ever done " . the episode 's reference to rosebud was named the 14th greatest film reference in the history of the show by total film 's nathan ditum .