Real Housewives of Springfield: Mrs. Muntz

Hey there Addicts. In this little game of ours, we tend to forget those characters that are few and far between. We get so involved in the game, so into the latest events…that we sometimes forget to pay attention to the little things. The little details that make the Springfield world go around. The thing that seems to be really lacking/missing from Springfield.

What exactly is it I am going on about? What is so terribly important to the game that would draw such attention. WOMEN OF COURSE! To be a bit more specific, The Real Housewives of Springfield (and maybe a stripper too… gotta have the drama aspect in any series, right?).

So keep your eyes on our blog as we take you on a journey into the lives of each of the women currently and NOT currently available in the game.

For this edition, the Fuzzball is back to dish on a Classy Lady.  You’d think the Lady Addicts would be better equipped to talk about the women of Springfield but I suppose I got this seedy lady because I begged to do her and no that isn’t supposed to sound the way you thought it lol.  For this edition, we’ll be spending time with Mrs. Muntz.  Poopy mother, exotic dancer, drunk, etc.  Let’s delve in to her character and see what we can find out.

So when it falls to me to write about one of the ladies of Springfield, I always want to show you both the good and bad sides of the character.  Unfortunately, Mrs. Muntz is pretty one dimensional.  I mean, the show’s writers haven’t even bothered to give her a first name yet and she’s often mentioned just as Nelson’s Mom (even on the building she came with).  That being said, it is interesting to see just how “classy” a lady she is, right?  Just because we try to keep this site PG, I’ll throw a DISCLAIMER out now that Mrs. Muntz is not the most PG character from the Best. Show. Ever.  If you don’t like strippers, poor mothering, smoking, drinking and/or other shady character traits, I’d stop reading now.

We know Nelson’s mom from the game in her bathrobe and fuzzy slippers but I CAN say she owns more outfits and has been seen with different hair styles/coloring. I won’t point out each but the pictures should show her “different” sides. Mrs. Muntz actually wasn’t an animated character until Season 15 if you can believe it.  Prior to her first on-screen appearance there are a few things we learned about her:

“A Milhouse Divided” (S8:E6) – Nelson: “My mom left my dad after she got hooked on cough drops. At the end her breath was so fresh, she wasn’t really my mother anymore.”

“Bart Star” (S9:E6) – In a conversation with his Dad, Nelson is offered a celebratory meal at Hooters.  Nelson doesn’t want to bother his mom though.  SO the first job we know she has is as a Hooters girl.  Seems a tad old but what do I know?

“Bart the Mother” (S10:E3) – When Bart visits Nelson to play with his BB Gun, Nelson is carving a note for his Mom in the picket fence next to their outdoors phone line. His dad called re: bail.  Nelson’s states his mom has bigger problems than him carving in the fence… but what are they?

“Wild Bart’s Can’t Be Broken” (S10:E11) – As the kids sneak out to see The Bloodening at the drive-in, Nelson tells his Mom he’s breaking curfew.  She hollers back that they’re out of Skoal so we know she likes her chewing tobacco and apparently doesn’t care about her son breaking the rules.

So she was hooked on cough drops, might be a single mother, has problems and chews tobacco.  Man… could it get worse?  Well, saying yes isn’t as fun as diving into the murky depths of her appearances.  Mrs. Muntz made her first on-screen debut in “Tis the Fifteenth Season” (S15:E7).  Like our favorite show, Mrs. Muntz’s first actual appearance was in a Christmas episode.  After Homer steals all the presents of Spingfield Grinch-stlye, Nelson and his mom think it might have been his Dad.  His dad also stole Mrs. Muntz’s gold tooth and never came back after going out for Pop Tarts. (Yes I know other episodes say cigarettes… I’m not responsible for continuity lol.)

Once Nelson’s Mom appeared in the show, it seems the writers loved having her pop in whenever they wanted to diss on her or explain more about Nelson and why he is the bully we know and love/loathe. In her next showing in “Sleeping with the Enemy” (S16:E3), we see Nelson’s mom at home with a gentleman caller… Moe. Not only might her taste in men be questionable but she ignores her son in the episode and we see Nelson eats tadpoles out of the zoo fountain for brunch and admit he has never had a hot dog. Nelson tells Marge that his Mom still works at Hooters but her dream is to go to Vegas and work at a fancy strip club.

Mrs. Muntz doesn’t like Marge spending so much time with her son. They don’t need her charity. Marge scolds her to go home and try not to have intercourse on the way. Mrs. Muntz abandons Nelson and goes to Hollywood to be an actress even though her range is limited. Nelson’s mom ends up getting a job playing MacBeth from the 3rd director she slept with. She doesn’t have to take her top off… but she does anyways. She returns for Nelson at the same time his dad returns. He never meant to ditch them, he just became a horrible mutant after mistakenly eating a peanut candy bar (he’s allergic) and being kidnapped by a circus.

We next see Mrs. Muntz in “The Haw-Hawed Couple” (S18:E8) at Nelson’s birthday party. It’s pretty extravagant complete with pizza, a bounce house and Spiderman and Dr. Octopus impersonators. Mrs. Muntz could afford it because a carnival ride hit her in the head. Could this explain a lot of her issues? She also has switched to brown for her hair color. I’m guessing she’s not a bottle brunette. Later, she asks Nelson to help Mr. Mooch (their cat) when his eyes are runny. Apparently she also makes dresses for when she sings karaoke out of window curtains.

In “Any Given Sundance” (S19:E18), we see more of Nelson’s mom when Nelson screens a movie for Sundance entitled “Life Blows Chunks”.  The film shows his trailer home and the impound lot it gets towed to every night. We learn Nelson and his mom steal clothes from the laundry mat when Mrs. Muntz needs a new bra. She syrups her pancakes with vodka, organizes her Laramie cigarette bucks in the hopes of earning a golf umbrella and when Nelson comes home, is passed out on the couch drunk. Before you get too sad though, Nelson and his mom do enjoy the jeering and attention they receive at Sundance after the screening. Why does this make me think of countless reality shows and documentaries about seedy white people?

Nelson’s mom isn’t all bad.  Sure she uses her feminine wiles to secure Nelson a gig as Krusty’s new Krusketeer in “All About Lisa” (S19:E20) but some people have no choice but to work with what they’ve got going on. Besides… Krusty is a selfish lover.

“No Loan Again, Naturally” (S20:E12) – Mrs. Muntz has changed her hair color again and must really like Moe because we see her making out with him at Homer’s Mardi Gras party. She’s really in to him cuz he’s like some kind of talking dog. Well, maybe not.  She is obviously drunk slurring her words and is seen dancing in the background later with some blonde dude.

If you really wanted to see Mrs. Muntz at her respective career, “Bart Gets a ‘Z'” is the episode for you. I initially decided to spare your eyes and sensibilities from the image but for honesty and transparency, decided it needed to be seen in all it’s ugliness. I will say one thing, she does not seem happy at her line of work.

“Treehouse of Horror XX” (S21:E4) – The beginning of this Halloween episode shows us Dracula, Frankenstein, the Mummy and Wolfman incognito in Springfield as Iron Man, Spongebob, Captain Jack Sparrow and Harry Potter respectively. They happen upon the Simpsons’ Halloween Party where the Universal monsters get frisky with the single women of Springfield. Mrs. Muntz remarks “Beer good” and makes out with Frankenstein.  Sure it’s non-canon but she did pick the coolest Universal monster to be a homewrecker with, right? Mrs. Frankenstein whoops her later so I wouldn’t judge her too much.

In“Loan-a Lisa” (S22:E2), Lisa loans money to Nelson whose dream is to build custom bicycles. Mrs. Muntz’s dream is to remove the rest of her Classy Lady tattoo. She must really be poor considering she needs to pawn Nelson’s computer to buy White Castle for dinner. Nelson ends up making money hand in fist. He’s finally able to treat his mom the way she deserves. He takes her to the Gilded Truffle where the ketchup packets are made of glass lol. Now if only that tattoo could be removed or she could act classy.

Mrs. Muntz attends Monty Burns’ announcement of his impending death in “The Fool Monty” (S22:E6). She’s also among the townspeople deciding Burns’ fate later. Interesting she’s nowhere to be seen when Nelson is treating Mr. Burns as his surrogate father.

So where the heck is Mrs. Muntz’s husband?  Well, in “How Munched Is That Birdie in the Window?” (S22:E7), we learn from a dejected Nelson that his mom ran off with his birthday clown. At first this just seems like a joke at Nelson’s expense but we later see Mrs. Muntz and her beau and find out the clown is Nelson’s new father.

“Homer Scissorhands” (S22:E20) – in the opening sequence, Mrs. Muntz is on the billboard. Mother’s Day special – I’m half off.

After Nelson is injured on a learning retreat with Chalmers in “Bart Stops to Smell the Roosevelts”, Ms. Muntz hires a Hispanic lawyer she saw on a bus stop advertisement. Her abogado will sue the school for viente por siento. She’s after every peso Chalmers has.  From what we’ve seen previously, I’m sure she needs the dinero. Of course, this is an example of her caring about her son too if seen from a glass half-full perspective.  She went to school classy though. Nothing says respectable mother like a blue mini skirt and pink halter top, right?

Of course, Mrs. Muntz as a TSTO addition came with the Classy Girls Strip Club. In “The Food Wife” (S23:E5), her workplace is shown in a quick screen pan between 1501 West Oak Street (El Chemistri) and 1501 East Oak Street (Meth Lab). It’s on the eastern side so you should know what its “classy” level is.

“The Man in the Blue Flannel Pants” (S23:E7) – At the Absolut Krusty party held by the Simpsons, Mrs. Muntz is among the invitees. She’s seen chatting with Brockman and later Lenny and LuAnn.  She’s actually wearing a nice light blue cocktail dress and looks well put-together.  You think she used to have light blue curtains? Also an appearanace involving alcohol… hmmmm.

In “How I Wet Your Mother” (S23:E16), Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie enter Homer’s dreams. Completely non-canon but Mrs. Muntz is among the Mother’s For Drunk Driving. Another jab at her drinking?  In fairness, most of the other mothers and wives were there too.

When the kids all take bed bugs from the Simpson house home with them in “Pulpit Friction” (S24:E18), we see Nelson get sweetly tucked in by Mrs. Muntz who then leaves the bed (which is on stage) to dance on the pole. We also see Mrs. Muntz in church later with her son so she’s not a complete heathen I suppose. She’s also one of the congregation attacked by Bart’s plague of frogs. Man I love writing sentences like that. Who’d have guessed by this point that Nelson’s mom owned church clothes?

“The Fabulous Faker Boy” (S24:E20) – Mrs. Muntz and her son attend Bart’s piano recital. Probably the classiest thing I have in this post. Of course, it’s not completely true because Nelson is later getting a lesson from Bart’s piano teacher and Nelson states he has to learn his mom’s stripper music by midnight.

“Dangers on a Train” (S24:E22) – Mrs. Muntz and Nelson are seen at the Towne Centre at Springfielde Glenne during Homer and Marge’s younger days. After Nelson’s first word (Haw-Haw), she pulls out champagne to celebrate and gives it to Nelson in a sippy cup? Man… She never was a good mother, was she? Bonus points, there’s strippers later in the episode and she’s not one of them.

So we see them in their youth so I guess it makes sense that the next appearance is in a flashback sequence of Homer’s in “Homerland” (S25:E1) and Mrs. Muntz is mourning next to Bart and Nelson’s graves after a nuclear explosion. I think of the above image as the life cycle of Nelson. Are we surprised she even mourns as a stripper? I’m sure by now you’re getting the gist of how the writer’s view her.

“Yolo” (S25:E4) – After a cheating scandal is uncovered by Kent Brockman, the parents of the Springfield Elementary kids attend a PTA meeting to express their outrage. Mrs. Muntz is among them. “What kind of moral example is this dump for my boy?” She then belches like Barney and her top falls off. I think the funniest thing about this is she sits down but I’m not sure everyone realizes she never puts her top back up. Oh PTA meetings… classy parenting… good times.

“The Winter of His Content” (S25:E14) – Poor Nelson, his Mom can’t afford to buy him clothes so he has to wear her hand me downs. There’s a kind of poverty that toughens you up but that’s just sad.  Not only that but we see her in her car/trailer home later after she drops Nelson off at the bully conference.

“Nelson! I might have to move the trailer house while you’re gone. Look for me downhill… I ain’t got much gas. Smell ya later.”

For our last mention, although we don’t see her, she is in the dialogue of “Blazed and Confused” (S26:E7). When Mr. Larsen is making fun of Nelson, aka Smellson, he asks Nelson which exotic location his fat mama dances at? Nelson admits she is an exotic dancer at A Touch of Class but the C-L fell off. Larsen knows the place but there never was a C-L.  Somehow Nelson always knew that.

Wow… from all that you probably need a degree or something to psychoanalyze this woman.  Mrs. Muntx has worked in several different “clubs”.  She’s not up for Mother of the Year and has had several different relationships and at least one failed marriage.  She drinks, chews tobacco and is definitely poor.  She mainly lives in a dilapidated house but also owns a trailer home.  AT one point, she was a topless Shakespearean actor and she has a thing for clowns. She owns several outfits but prefers bathrobes or skimpy outfits. What more is there to say?  As a kid who was raised by a single mom, I know she’s doing the best she can with what she has available.  Can we forgive it all because she at least takes her son to church?

Mrs. Muntz joined our games in Level 46 as the freemium character offering. Here are her tasks in TSTO:

Truly, I think it must be said that Mrs. Muntz is less a full-fledged character herself than she is a view into the character of Nelson Muntz.  Looking at all her appearances, they lean more to what her son is doing and has done.  By no means is it an explanation or defense of either of them, but it needs to be said.  I for one feel deeply for poor Nelson.  I’ve known kids in similar situations and they all didn’t become doctors or finance geniuses.

Anywho… that’s about enough for this particular Housewife of Springfield. What do YOU think of Mrs. Muntz? Like her? Hate her? Surprised at all her appearances in the Best. Show. Ever.? Got a favorite appearance I didn’t mention? Wish it was a different lady that was brought in the game? Sound off in the comments below.

I think we can round out this post with this little snippet of Nelson dialogue from “Dial ‘N’ for Nerder” (S19:E14): “Well… I better get going.The Mrs. is cooking meatloaf tonight. My mom, Mrs. Muntz.”

Y’all stay classy and TTFN… Wookiee out!