Episode 4F12
Written by David S. Cohen
Directed by Steven Dean Moore
Also starring: Pamela Hayden, Tress MacNeille
Special guest voices: Phil Hartman (as Troy McClure and Lionel Hutz), Alex Rocco (as Roger Myers)

Premise: Itchy and Scratchy need a new co-star - and a super-cool dog is created, for which Homer provides the voice. Trouble is, nobody likes Poochie.

Features: Krusty, Sideshow Mel, Ralph, Nelson Muntz, Muhouse, Hans Moleman, Miss Hoover, Otto, Jimbo Jones, Kearney, Troy McClure, Lionel Hutz, Android's Dungeon Guy, Grampa, Patty and Selma, Moe, Jasper, Ned Flanders, Barney, Lenny, Carl, Kent Brockman.

Couch: The sofa is replaced by a pastiche of the cover collage from the Beatles' 1967 album Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Hi, I'm Troy McClure, you may remember me from: Such cartoons as Christmas Ape and Christmas Ape Goes to Summer Camp.

Itchy and Scratchy in: Why Do Fools Fall in Lava'

Itchy and Scratchy and Poochie in: The Beagle has Landed.

Look out for: June's story about voicing Roadrunner. 'Cheap b******s!'

Notes: The inclusion of Roy is a clever dig at the whole concept of adding hip characters to a line-up for no reason other than ratings, and then dropping them, mirroring the entire Itchy and Scratchy plot. A very neat episode which, like The Front, is a good parody of the cartooning business. Poochie might not have worked (his ultimate fate is inspired) but let's hope we see June Bellamy again.