Dirty Magazine

"Dirty Magazine" is the second episode in the fifteenth season of North Springs, and the 202nd episode overall. In the episode, Ben steals a men's magazine belonging to Greg's father after finding out that it has  character on the cover. Meanwhile, Tommy and Makowski attempt to make a science fiction film.

Written by Don Grayman and Rob Farlane, episode's plot was made in response to the controversy caused by Marge Simpson's appearance in  in 2009, respect.

"Dirty Magazine" premiered on on May 12, 2010, and is rated TV-PG DL in the United States.

Plot
Ben is at Greg's house after school. The boys are reading comic books and holding a contest to see who can write "the best short story ever written in the history of everything". Eventually, Ben realizes it is time to go and leaves, promising to continue his story tomorrow.

As Ben is leaving, he looks to his right and sees an issue of Cuties magazine. The cover shows Marge Simpson naked with a bed sheet censoring her breasts and genitals. Ben swiftly looks around, unzips his backpack, puts the magazine in, zips it again, and leaves.

In the meantime, at Makowski's house, Tommy is thinking of ideas for a movie, and Makowski is drawing a picture of an alien. Tommy asks Makowski for ideas, and Makowski simply replies with, "I have no idea." Immediately afterward, the two look at the drawing and decide on making a sci-fi movie.

Later, at the Sears house, Ben is look at the "Cartoon Curves" section of the magazine when he hears his mother walking down the hall, telling him dinner is ready. Ben quickly hides the magazine in his closet and goes to eat dinner. At the table, Bryan is talking about how he thought a man at his workplace was "nasty" for keeping an issue of Cuties, and he says that anyone who keeps a men's entertainment magazine should "die for keeping such filth". This makes Ben start to regret his choice.

After dinner, while Ben is in his closet trying to find the magazine, Cheryl says she needs to check his backpack. Ben gives her the backpack while attempting to clear space. However, when she opens it and starts pulling his things out to she if he has anything inappropriate, she spots something purple. She pulls it out and finds out it is the issue of Cuties Ben had lost.

A few minutes later, Ben's parents give him a talk about how "dirty magazines are dirty", and they state that not all cartoons are intended for children. Then, his parents ask him where the magazine came from, and he states he stole it from Greg's house.

The next morning, when the boys are at school, Ben tells Philly about his situation. Philly says, "Don't worry, I gotcha covered." He then hands Ben a copy of the magazine issue, and tells Ben that he got three copies from a fifth grader named Seth Snyder, who started selling bootleg copies to other students. Philly then gives Ben a Spanish-language version, saying "Take this, too. Just... in... case."

Within a matter of minutes, nearly every child in school has a copy of the issue. At lunch, as Makowski and Tommy are putting their trays down, they spot Philly reading the Cuties issue. As Philly laughs Cole Makowski asks, "Where the hell did you get that from?" Philly says he got it from Seth Snyder. Tommy shakes his head in disapproval and walks to a table with Makowski, and the two begin discussing film story ideas. Eventually, Tommy decides that the film should be about aliens.

Later that day, Tommy films the first scene of the film in his backyard. Makowski stars in the film as an agent, with Vince Leavey playing the agent's sidekick. After Tommy is done filming the scene, Vince goes home, and Tommy show the footage to Makowski, who is pleased with the outcome.

On Thursday morning, the staff at North Springs Elementary are confiscating any copies of the controversial Cuties issue, and they contact the parents of the children who have them. This includes Philly, who sat on his copy to hide it. However, the copy slid out from underneath his rear end. Eventually, so many Cuties copies are confiscated that they have filled the janitor's closet, making it difficult to close the door.

Later on, most of the staff members are in the teacher's lounge trying to figure out where the copies are coming from. Mrs. Charleston and Principal Beachel immediately rule Philly out because if he was where the copies were coming from, he would have hidden them in obvious locations. Then, the teachers think about what Seth Snyder has done in the past and come to the conclusion that he was behind the fiasco.

Later, Philly runs into Seth and tells him, "Dude, we've got a problem." He then talks to Seth about how the staff members are confiscating the magazines, and they may have discovered that he is the source. Philly shows Seth the one copy he has left and says, "This is all we have left." Seth says, "Uhhh... I'm outta here!" and runs into the boys' restroom. Afterward, Philly hears Mrs. Charleston say, "What do we have here?" She snatches the issue and smirks, saying "I'll be taking that!" Philly drops to his knees with his eyes teary, and screams "No!" with his fists up.

On the school bus the next morning, Ben, sitting next to Philly, is crying, and he states he just wanted to feel grown up, and that he thought the magazine would do it. Greg gets on the bus, walks over to Ben, and punches him in the arm for stealing the magazine. Greg says, "The hell is wrong with you?! I trusted you and in the end you steal my dad's sex mag?! The hell?!" Ben apologizes, and Greg replies, "Dude, if you get turned on by cartoon women, then fine. We all do. But keep that to your self, and don't let that gross crap influence you. They're just jumping the shark!" Ben tells Greg that the magazine was trying to aim itself at younger readers, and Greg tells him that they meant "twenty-somethings", and tells Ben that he is an idiot. After this, the  theme music starts as Greg continues to scold Ben, and his voice fades out as the episode zooms out of a bird's eye view of the bus.