The War of Art (The Simpsons) on the conversation from Bart's treehouse and tells his parents. The Van Houtens publicly shame the Simpsons for their secrecy, prompting a town-wide division of opinion. As the auction begins, Dawn, a former lover of Kirk's, arrives and claims that he took the painting from her. The auction is suspended until its ownership can be established. Kirk tells Homer that he bought the painting on the island of Isla Verde, home to an artists' community. Homer and Lisa travel to the café at which Kirk made the purchase in order to corroborate Kirk's account and the legality of Homer's purchase.
The Call of the Simpsons realistic with many observational details such as trees, rocks, fences and the way the cars were positioned. Burger King figurines were made out of the camping designs of the Simpsons family in this episode. In its original American broadcast on February 18, 1990, "The Call of the Simpsons" finished third place in the ratings for that day, with a Nielsen rating of 14.6 and a 22 percent audience share. The episode was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1990 in the category "Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy Series or a Special". IGN.com named Albert Brooks' guest performance in this