In a flashback, Eliza discovers an evil slave owner (Mr. Burns) bribes her father (Homer) to give up Virgil, a slave hiding in their shed, for fried dough bits (donuts). Eliza runs to Virgil to warn him and they escape from the slave owners men, hiding in the bushes. As Lisa reads the final pages of the diary, the pages turn to dust. Lisa can’t stand that she doesn’t know the rest of the story. When Marge suggests they go to the library to do more research on Eliza Simpson, Lisa is hopeful they will find more about their family tree.

At the library, Marge and Lisa find a published cookbook of one of Eliza’s relatives with icky recipes of animal parts and more of the story of Eliza Simpson. The cookbook story by Eliza’s relative suggests Eliza was successful in helping Virgil escape. Lisa proudly presents her report, extolling the virtues of her relative. Milhouse ruins Lisa’s report by telling her Virgil and Eliza are caught and Eliza gives up.

Lisa is crushed by Milhouse’s news and heads home, dejected. Seeing Lisa so upset, Grandpa tells the family he knows the real ending to Eliza’s story but swore he would never tell them the truth but the family convinces grandpa to tell them everything he knows. Grandpa continues the story in another flashback. Eliza tries to stand up against her father to help Virgil but is reminded that girls should not question men but stay silent as was expected during that time. Eliza’s mother (Marge) confronts her husband and the evil slave owner, then flees with Virgil to Canada to help him escape slavery. During the journey Eliza’s mother and Virgil fall in love and marry, settling in Canada.

Lisa is estatic with the news that her ancestors Eliza and Eliza’s mother are heroes after all and that Virgil escaped slavery to become part of the family by taking the family name when married. Homer celebrates the news by claiming he’s of french ancestory, then drinking a bottle of wine.

Soon Homer and Marge are practicing curling with the local team. The curling team consists of Principal Skinner, his mother, and the Wiggims. Principal Skinner’s mother spends quite a bit of time berating him as they practice curling. The story goes that years ago at the Olympics, Principal Skinner as a fetus kicked against his mother’s stomach as she vaulted over the pole vault, knocking down the top rung and disqualifying her at the Olympics. Ever since then she has resented the kick that ruined her chances to win a medal. Soon Homer and Marge replace the Wiggums on Skinners’ team. The Springfield curling team is so good they end up qualifying for the Olympics in Vancouver, so its off to Vancouver to compete in the 2010 Olympics.

While Homer and Marge practice their curling, Bart and Lisa check out the Olympic ice rink. Lisa meets a little girl who convinces her to look over the vast array of Olympic pins. Lisa sees the assortment and is intrigued, buying a pin then going for a second pin. The little girl is actually a guy in a wig dressed as a little girl to hook unsuspecting girls into buying Olympic pins from the concession stand. Lisa is hooked and starts buying Olympic pins left and right, running out of space on her clothes to pin them on.

As the competition for curling begins, Homer is the weak link on the team. Marge over compensates for Homer after he slides the stone, sweeping with all her might to right the wrong direction of the curling stone. After a big mistake made by Homer, Marge does everything in her power to sweep the stone back to the middle of the target, in the process spraining her right arm. The team is in trouble with Marge’s injury and they break until the next day’s competition.

Lisa has no more money and pawns the pearls her mother gave her for more Olympic pin swag. Bart finds Lisa wearing an Olympic pin dress, playing on the street for pocket change so she can buy more pins. Lisa realizes she has a pin problem and swears them off. Bart decides to help Lisa get her pearl necklace back. Bart cuts the bottom chin off of Homer’s license then attached a back pin, turning the chin upside down to create a weird “rare” pin to offer the concession stand guy. Bart presents his “rare” pin, which is strange enough that the concession guy must have it. Bart and Lisa come back to the Olympics to watch their parents, with Lisa wearing her treasured pearls once again.

Homer watches Marge ably do her daily chores with her left arm, while her right arm is tied up in a sling. Homer suggests to Marge she can play left-handed and Marge agrees. Principal Skinner’s mother forgives him at last for his fetal kick and they look forward to competing together. At the next competition Marge plays left-handed and the team wins the competition, winning the gold medal. At the awards ceremony Marge and Homer proudly accept their gold medals for the Springfield curling team.

In the hospital Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie are grateful Homer wakes up from his coma. Homer wakes up just in time to find out his lottery ticket has the winning numbers, making him a millionaire.

Homer realizes if he tells Marge about the lottery money she will know he missed their duet because he was buying a lottery ticket instead. Fearing Marge’s anger, Homer has his friend Barney accept the lottery money for him. Homer hides his money in a tree in his yard. The washing machine breaks down and Marge laments how they can’t afford a new one. Homer realizes the only way he can spend his money is to set up situations where he and the family “accidently” find items they want or need.

Lisa visits Grandpa at his retirement community and finds their cable is out and all they can see on the TV screen is static, depressing the retirees. Lisa decides to buy a Zii (a take on Wii) and the seniors are enthralled with the new game.

Bart discovers Homer’s secret lottery money and the two decide to do fun things together. When Homer worries they are spending too much of the lottery money, Bart blackmails his dad telling him he will rat on him to Marge. Homer and Bart spend oodles of money, including buying out a Coldplay concert with only Homer and Bart in attendance.

Lisa returns to visit Grandpa and finds out the nurses have destroyed the game. The seniors became too active using the Zii game and the nurses decided they had to work too hard so they ran the Zii game through the dishwasher to ruin it.

Homer gets fed up with Bart’s threats, buys a hot air balloon and takes Marge on a surprise ride in the air. Homer tells Marge about his lottery winnings, Marge could care less about the duet and is excited to hear about the money. Homer admits he spent all the winnings already but still loves Marge.

Mr. Burns decides to enforce budget cut-backs by taking away employee donuts. Homer, Lenny and Carl decide they can’t live without their daily donut fix and complain to Mr. Burns, who ignores their request. A headhunter from Capital City Nuclear encourages Homer, Lenny and Carl to leave their jobs for better donut conditions at another plant.

Princess Penelope confesses to Krusty that he is her childhood idol. Krusty is surprised to hear this from the lovely young woman. When Princess Penelope professes her love for Krusty, they become a happy couple onscreen to the horror of Homer, Bart and Milhouse. After Krusty proposes to Penelope on the TV show, Bart and Milhouse plot to ruin their upcoming wedding.

Homer, Lenny and Carl leave Mr. Burns nuclear plant to his dismay. Mr. Burns begs Homer, Lenny and Carl to come back, enticing them with high end expensive donuts. Once Homer, Lenny and Carl taste the specialty donuts they give in to Mr. Burns and return to work.

Bart invites Krusty’s previous wives to the wedding and encourages his ex-wives to talk about what a lousy husband he was. Penelope doesn’t care about his past and wants to marry him; Krusty decides he can’t hurt Penelope the way he did with his past wives and leaves Princess Penelope at the altar.

Princess Penelope follows Krusty to Europe. As Krusty laments his lost love, Penelope appears and convinces Krusty they should be together. The happy clown and princess embrace each other while they ride down the river in a romantic gondola ride.

Larry the lamb is the stuffed animal that Bart’s classmates get to take turns taking home for the weekend. Everyone but Bart wants to take Larry the lamb home, Bart could care less about Larry. Bart’s name gets chosen to take Larry the lamb home. Nelson bullies Bart into writing in Nelson’s journal about how great Larry the lamb is.

Homer cooks up bacon then pours some bacon grease into his morning coffee. As Homer drinks his coffee Flanders shows Homer the human interest news article about his dad Abe. When Homer reads the article he is shocked that his father is actually interesting.

Marshall the reporter visits Grandpa Abe and asks him for more stories. Grandpa talks about being a shoeshine boy at Springfield station. Grandpa met many old time movie stars. Grandpa talked to Clark Gable who wasn’t famous yet and gives him a book to read called “Gone With The Wind”. Grandpa tells Marshall he gave Gable his best role ever by giving him the book.

Homer complains that Grandpa never shared the newspaper stories with him. Marge tells Homer Grandpa is always sharing his old time stories but Homer never listens. Bart is manhandling Larry the lamb and Lisa tells him to knock it off. Lisa rescues Larry the lamb and takes Larry out for a walk in a stroller. As Lisa waxes on about Jazz music the stroller rolls out into the street. Lisa grabs the stroller but Larry flies through the air and lands down the sewer.

The author of “Tuesdays With Morrie” tries to get a story from Grandpa but he tells him to scram. Homer visits Grandpa who tells him he only visits him twice a year and that the reporter Marshall is more of a son to him than Homer is.

When Bart goes to retrive Larry the lamb Lisa tries to pretend he’s in a bag. Bart finds out Larry is missing. Nelson walks by and tells Lisa and Bart he can’t wait to see Larry again at school. When Lisa asks Nelson how he would feel if Larry were missing, Nelson tells them a very dark side of him would appear if so since Larry helps keep him sane.

Marge and Homer discuss Grandpa’s rejection of Homer. Homer talks to Mr. Burns hoping he can become another father to him. Mr. Burns tells Homer what a nice visit they had then releases a vicious dog to chase him down. Bart and Lisa try to get Larry the lamb back. Lisa lowers Bart into the sewer by rope. When Bart reaches for a furry object in the sewer water he thinks is Larry it turns out to be a live rat. Bart becomes scared in the sewer as rats surround him.

Homer visits the local newspaper and finds Marshall’s office. Homer discovers a novel Marshall has written about Homer’s father Abe. He reads in the novel that Abe passes away that very day. Abe and Marshall are scheduled to ride an old time train. Homer realizes Marshall is willing to kill Grandpa in order to win a pulitzer prize. Homer runs next to the train yells at Grandpa trying to warn him against Marshall.

As Bart is chased by a gang of sewer rats the rats suddenly stop in fear and run away. Bart turns around to find a gang sewer cats who start to chase Bart. He sees Larry the lamb at the top of a grate and holds onto Larry’s arms to slide down the metal bar to the sewer pipe. Bart is grateful to Larry for saving his life. Larry breaks apart as Bart flies out of the sewer pipe to safety and Bart starts to cry.

Marshall sneeks up to Grandpa to smother him with a pillow as he sleeps on the train. Homer jumps into the railway cabin and fights with Marshall. Grandpa was pretending to sleep and confronts Marshall to save Homer. As the train screeches to a halt, Marshall flies back against the wall and is covered by dozens of old fashioned hat boxes. Homer and Grandpa apologize to each other and embrace.

Grandpa begins to tell Bart and Lisa about saving Homer. Grandpa tells Homer he should tell his own story. Homer starts rambling about an Elvis and Godzilla story as the children listen intently.

Gervais has previously appeared on HBO in “Extras,” winning him an Emmy as best comedy actor. Gervais starred in and created the British TV series “The Office,” which was adapted for the hit series for the American audience on NBC.

“The Ricky Gervais Show debuts on HBO a month after the Globes,” Gervais blogged recently, mentioning the launch of the show follows his upcoming gig as host of the host of the Golden Globe Awards January 17. “I think it could be bigger than Extras. Big words. Well to Karl they’re big words.”

Gervais, Merchant and Pilkington serve as producers for the half-hour animated show, with animation created by Wildbrain, the company behind the popular preschool show Yo Gabba Gabba.

Gervais stated he wanted to keep the new show running long term because of Pilkington – “a global village idiot, but the funniest man alive”.

“Karl is a bottomless well of stupidity, so unlike my other shows The Office and Extras, which I stopped prematurely through fear of going stale and running out of ideas, I want this to run and run like The Simpsons. The world has a new Homer, but this one is real,” said Gervais.

Gervais is known for creating and starring in British comedies. The successful American spinoff of The Office is produced by Gervais. Gervais has starred in the films “Ghost Town” and “The Invention of Lying”. His children’s book series is a bestseller and is being adapted into a 3-D animated feature film.

The Ricky Gervais Show will premiere February 19th on HBO.

“We always knew at the end of the campaign we’d go yellow,” said FOX VP of Marketing Joe Earley who has been in charge of the celebration campaign. Other ongoing celebrations of The Simpsons have included a viewer creating a new Simpsons character, on-air scavenger hunts, viewers creating Simpsons posters and the new Simpsons postage stamps.

The final part of The Simpsons celebration is a one-hour documentary special “The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special: in 3-D! on Ice” about the animated series, directed by Morgan Spurlock (”Super Size Me” and “Thirty Days”) airing on Sunday, January 10, at 8:30. Prior to the documentary The Simpsons will show its 450th episode “Once Upon a Time in Springfield,” featuring the voice talent of the late Eartha Kitt, Anne Hathaway, and Jackie Mason (reprising his role as Krusty’s father, Rabbi Hyman Krustofski). The Simpsons documentary will explore the cultural influence of The Simpsons, including interviews with the cast of the show. Spurlock stated that contrary to the film title the documentary “most likely will not be in 3-D nor on ice.”

FOX has had an extensive marketing plan in the works to celebrate The Simpsons. Even though The Simpsons is not their highest rated series (that honor goes to “Family Guy”), the show is revered for its creativity and longevity.

“For a show to hit its 20th anniversary in today’s universe is such a feat, and it still has such a resonance in the zeitgeist,” Earley said. “The show has viewers who have viewed it for three generations. Besides, it’s such a creative property that it’s fun to come up with ideas for it.”

The Simpsons appeared in 1987 as part of shorts by Matt Groening shown during “The Tracey Ullman Show”. After gaining popularity through The Tracey Ullman Show The Simpsons premiered on FOX as a half-hour Christmas special December 17, 1989, then as a series January 14, 1990.

Catch the 450th episode of The Simpsons at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT and “The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special: in 3-D! on Ice” documentary at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT on FOX January 10, 2010.

Mr. Pewterschmidt finally comes out of his coma to discover Peter is in charge of his company. Mr. Pewterschmidt meets with Peter at the office to regain control of his company but Peter will not give Mr. Pewterschmidt back the power and has Mr. Pewterschmidt thrown out of the office. Lois argues with Peter about giving back the company to her father but it does no good. Peter arrives home in a jet, landing on his street and tearing down power lines, setting Joe’s home on fire. As Joe yells at Peter, Peter goes into the house without a care in the world.

Mr. Pewterschmidt has always treated Peter with no respect. Now that the tables are turned Peter decides to make Mr. Pewterschmidt do the most gross and menial jobs in the company. Peter goes on a power trip and flaunts his power in front of Mr. Pewterschmidt. Peter decides what better position for Mr. Pewterschmidt to have than the office janitor position. Mr. Pewterschmidt is humiliated and horrified but goes along with Peter’s demands.

Lois cooks up a scheme with her father to scare Peter into signing off his power in the corporation. Lois knows Peter is terrified of monsters and plans for her father to dress in a monster costume to scare Peter. Lois visits Peter in his office, telling him a monster is attacking and killing all the corporate bigwigs in town and convinces him to sign his name on a contract giving back the company to her father. Peter signs and runs out of the office, terrified. Lois turns to find her father in a monster costume saying he’s ready to scare Peter. Lois and her father realize the real monster is right in front of them and run for their lives.

Bart asks his dad if he can have a little brother. After Homer turn Bart down, Bart plans to trick his mom into getting pregnant. Bart replaces Marge’s birth control pills with tic tacs. Marge finds Bart tampering with her birth control. Bart throws the tic tac container with birth control pills out the window. Nelson finds the tic tac container and starts taking the birth control pills. Nelson starts getting very emotional and has PMS symptoms. Marge tells Bart she and Homer are happy with three children and think it is the perfect number. Marge reminds Bart if she did get pregnant there would be no guarantee that Bart would end up with another sister instead of a little brother.

Bart has a dream that he is carrying shopping bags for his three sisters and absolutely hates life while being their pack mule. As Bart dreams he dislikes the idea of another sister as they force him to obey their commands and enjoy sister-like closeness. Bart dreams of different famous brothers like the Blues Brothers, the Mario Brothers, the Manning brothers, the Wright brothers, the Smith cough drop brothers, and last but not least the Smothers brothers, who then go into one of their comedy routines.

Bart decides to visit the Springfield orphanage to find a brother for himself. After getting turned down to adopt a brother, Charlie, one of the boys, escapes and meets up with Bart who promptly declares him his new little brother. Bart takes Charlie to watch Sever V. Charlie is so terrified of the scary movie he curls up in a fetal position. As Bart and Charlie head home from the movie Charlie is frightened by all the noises surrounding them. Lisa finds Bart has brought Charlie home and that Bart wants to have Charlie adopted into the family. Lisa tries to convince Bart they shouldn’t adopt Charlie. Bart and Charlie run away from home and hide in a hole dug out of a snow hill. Lisa joins them and warns them the snow plow is going to cover up the hole. Bart argues with Lisa and the escape hole is covered up by the snow plow. Lisa is frantic but Bart tells Lisa its no problem as he and Charlie pee into the snow, melting an escape hole. Charlie runs up to Chief Wiggum, begging him to take him back to the orphanage because Bart has scared him so much.

Bart and Lisa goes to the orphanage to visit Charlie. They find out Charlie has been adopted into a family with six very bossy, talkative, active sisters. Charlie gets shoved into the family car and looks out the back window in terror as the family drives away.

The family recovers and discovers the hillbilly lifestyle. Homer finds out they have pretty good moonshine from their stills and imbibes with the local guys club. Bart finds live grenades the hillbillies have stored away and uses them as bowling balls to blow up snowmen. Lisa hides from the other girls in a hide and seek game. As it gets dark she realizes no one is coming for her and tries to find her way home. Lisa runs into a coven of witches, a group of three teenage girls who consider themselves Wiccans and practice casting spells. Lisa is impressed and feels accepted by the pagan group. The Wiccans cast a spell to help Lisa as she laments about her teacher. At school, Lisa hurries to create a pipecleaner sculpture that is due today. Lisa finds out her teacher is home sick. The substitute teacher gives them all an A on the pipecleaner project. Lisa believes the Wiccans cast a spell on her teacher, saving her from flunking her pipecleaner project.

Homer decides to go back and hang out with the hillbilly guys to drink moonshine. As they drink, police sirens are heard and the hillbillies dump their moonshine into the river. Half the people in Springfield suddenly go blind. The town decides the Wiccans have cast a spell on them and take the girls to court. Lisa sticks up for the Wiccans, saying its the first time she felt cool and was treated well by the girls. The judge dismisses the case but the angry mob decides to take matters into their own hands. As the town prepares to dunk the teenage witches into water (shades of The Crucible) Lisa tells the town that the hillbilly stills leaked moonshine into the local drinking water and the blindness the people are experiencing is temporary. Lisa saves the day and the Wiccans are released.