The Lastest Gun in the West

"The Lastest Gun in the West"
The Simpsons episode
Episode no.	281
Directed by	Bob Anderson
Written by	John Swartzwelder
Showrunner(s)	Al Jean
Production code	DABF07
Original air date	February 24, 2002
Chalkboard gag	"Making Milhouse cry is not a science project".
Couch gag	The Simpsons walk in, and see the Squeaky-voiced Teen making out with a girl on the couch.
Commentary	Al Jean Max Pross Joel H. Cohen Matt Warburton David Silverman
Guest appearance(s)
Dennis Weaver as Buck McCoy Frank Welker as Dog
Season 13 episodes November 6, 2001 – May 22, 2002 "Treehouse of Horror XII" "The Parent Rap" "Homer the Moe" "A Hunka Hunka Burns in Love" "The Blunder Years" "She of Little Faith" "Brawl in the Family" "Sweets and Sour Marge" "Jaws Wired Shut" "Half-Decent Proposal" "The Bart Wants What It Wants" "The Lastest Gun in the West" "The Old Man and the Key" "Tales from the Public Domain" "Blame It on Lisa" "Weekend at Burnsie's" "Gump Roast" "I Am Furious (Yellow)" "The Sweetest Apu" "Little Girl in the Big Ten" "The Frying Game" "Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge"
Seasons
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

Dennis Weaver as Buck McCoy
Frank Welker as Dog

"The Lastest Gun in the West" is the twelfth episode of The Simpsons’ thirteenth season. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 24, 2002. In the episode, Bart, after being chased by a vicious dog, runs into a retired Western star named Buck McCoy, who soon becomes Bart's idol. After McCoy shows the Simpsons some of the films he starred in, the family decides to help him get back into acting.

The episode was directed by Bob Anderson and written by John Swartzwelder, who based the script on a story idea pitched by fellow Simpsons writer Ron Hauge. The episode features Dennis Weaver as the retired Western actor Buck McCoy, as well as Frank Welker as the vicious dog, and Karl Wiedergott as an alcoholic resembling Walter Brennan. When it was first broadcast, "The Lastest Gun in the West" was seen by 5.9% of the American population between ages 18 and 49. It has since been negatively received by fans and has garnered mixed reviews from critics.

When a vicious dog chases Bart, he takes refuge in the garden of a house belonging to former Western actor Buck McCoy. Buck shows Bart a trick to calm the dog, and Bart begins to hero-worship Buck. Naturally, Homer learns about Bart's new idol and demands he worship him instead.

To help him out, Bart gets Buck a job on Krusty the Clown's show, but Buck gets drunk and makes a fool of himself on air, crushing Bart. Seeing this, Marge and Homer decide to help Buck overcome his alcoholism, so they clean out Buck's house and enroll him in an Alcoholics Anonymous program. Despite making progress, Buck is not restored to hero-status for Bart.

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Wikipedia