"All's Fair in Oven War" is the second episode of the sixteenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 14, 2004. In the episode, Marge gets her kitchen remodeled and the dishes she makes inside it get rave reviews. The suggestion of Ned Flanders leads her to enter a cooking contest. However, Marge realizes the competition is harder than it seems. Meanwhile, Bart finds Homer's vintage Playdude magazines and decides to adopt the lifestyle he sees within the articles.
Matt Selman wrote the episode, and Mark Kirkland served as director. Thomas Pynchon and James Caan guest starred as themselves. The episode features cultural references to songs such as "Separate Ways", "Boplicity", and "Take Five", as well as references to the film The Godfather and various fictional food mascots. The episode received positive reviews from critics.
Plot
Discovering that the house next to theirs is up for sale, Homer and Marge marvel at its extensive kitchen. Marge asks Homer to hire a contractor to upgrade their kitchen, but Homer decides to save money by doing the job himself. His ineptitude leads Marge to hire a contractor; the upgrade ultimately takes two years and costs the family $100,000. The first dish that Marge cooks in the completed kitchen earns rave reviews from many Springfieldians, as well as author Thomas Pynchon.
While shopping at the Kwik-E-Mart, Marge learns that the Ovenfresh company is sponsoring a baking contest in which the grand prize winner will become Auntie Ovenfresh, the company's spokeswoman. Encouraged by Ned Flanders, she enters her recipe for a dessert styled as hot dogs and is accepted. Angered at the other contestants' mockery and sabotage of her food, Marge secretly taints theirs with Maggie's ear medicine to ruin the taste. Lisa sees Marge cheat and confronts her, but Marge defends herself by saying that the others bullied her into it.
Marge reaches the finals, competing against Brandine Spuckler, and considers cheating again. She changes her mind after finding a note from Lisa, admits her wrongdoing, and withdraws from the contest, restoring Lisa's faith in her. Brandine becomes the new Auntie Ovenfresh and leaves her husband Cletus for James Caan. Cletus' friends ambush Caan at a tollbooth and shoot him repeatedly, reminiscent of the death of Sonny Corleone, Caan's character in the film The Godfather. He survives the shooting and angrily says that he will fly instead of drive the next time he needs to travel.
Meanwhile, Homer finds his old stash of Playdude magazines while trying to remodel the kitchen, but throws them away after Marge cuts out all the nude pictures. Bart and Milhouse find the magazines in the trash and, after reading them, decide to remodel their treehouse and adopt the lifestyle espoused in the articles. They develop an interest in luxurious living and jazz music and begin speaking in sexual innuendos without understanding their meaning, and the treehouse quickly becomes a popular hangout similar to the Playboy Club. Learning that Bart has read the magazines, Homer has a talk with him about sex. Horrified at what he learns, Bart quickly spreads the word to the other children of Springfield, unsettling them as well and bringing their Playdude fascination to an end.
Production
The episode was written Matt Selman, his eleventh writing credit for The Simpsons. The episode was the first season sixteen episode that Mark Kirkland directed.
Reclusive novelist Thomas Pynchon guest stars as himself in the episode, wearing a paper bag over his head. His role is reprised from the season 15 episode "Diatribe of a Mad Housewife". According to executive producer Al Jean, Pynchon helped write the jokes for his appearances. James Caan also guest stars in the episode, first seen in Bart's treehouse. He is then shown dating Brandine Spuckler, and he is later shot by hillbillies at a toll booth. Thomas Pynchon offers insight on Marge’s cooking. Pynchon contributes his own jokes—including a pun he made on his best-known work, The Frying Of Latke 49. Pynchon refused to call Homer a "fat-ass" as he did not want to speak ill of him.