Arnold William "Arnie" Pye is a disgruntled, somewhat eccentric helicopter traffic reporter for Springfield’s KBBL-TV (Channel 6). His segments are titled Arnie Pye with Arnie in the Sky. His accent implies that he may have originated from New York or New Jersey. His name is a play on "Ernie Pyle", a famous news reporter. He was called Bill Pye in "Some Enchanted Evening", and his name is spelled Arnie Pie in some of the Simpsons Comics issues. A running gag is when he is envious of Kent Brockman's TV fame, and argues with him on the air. Arnie Pye is 37 years old.

Biography[]

Dislike of Brockman[]

He has an apparent dislike of anchorman Kent Brockman, with whom he often gets into arguments on the air, because Kent is a much bigger and luckier star. This hatred of Kent first became apparent when, during a newscast, Arnie tried to throw his shoe at Homer from his helicopter, leading Kent to tell him "now's not the time" before Arnie lashed out at him. Arnie then proceeded to respond sarcastically to Kent when asked if the children in the vehicle Homer was driving were safe, claiming he can't see through metal.

Accidents[]

Pye’s helicopter once crashed; he managed to say “Tell my wife I love—” before the live feed was lost. The incident was dismissed with a chuckle by the oblivious Brockman. However, he survived and has been seen in several episodes afterward.

Pye later crashed his helicopter again when he was flying too close to a tornado. He shouted that the worst of all was the fact that Kent Brockman's voice would be the last one he would ever hear, and called him a "pompous snow monkey".^[2]

Arnie Pye was also involved in a crash that saw his helicopter stuck on a major road, causing a traffic jam "as far as this reporter (Arnie Pye) could see". Luckily, many Stonecutters were able to bypass the traffic jam due a secret tunnel under a nearby bridge.

Replacing Brockman[]

When Kent was demoted to a Weatherman and eventually fired, Arnie briefly became the new head anchor. He briefly took some joy in usurping Kent Brockman as News Anchorman by drawing a "Kent Stinks" graffiti on the Weather Map while Kent was broadcasting the weather.

However, his joy was short-lived when he learned that in addition to Kent Brockman being demoted, the entire station had to suffer a $10,000,000 dollar fine for Kent Brockman's "shameful swear-nami", especially when the fine also cost their mascot, Newshound, laser eye surgery to fix his lazy eye.

Pye hated Brockman even more as a result, and was also present when Kent Brockman was fired from the station for suspected cocaine use. During his stint as News Anchor, he spoke in a deeper, smoother voice, but returned to his normal register when he got excited near the end of the report. (A similar gag was used in a previous episode with Bumblebee Man, who took over Brockman's desk and spoke perfect English as he delivered the news, right until the end.)^[3]

He later temporarily replaced Brockman again, this time as a result of Kent Brockman revealing he lied throughout his news career after someone blew the whistle on him about his claim of serving in Iraq on a late night show. To add insult to injury for his long time rival, Arnie Pye also made sure to broadcast the last words of Brockman's last words and show footage of him being escorted out by security as well as point out his being disgraced. Arnie Pye then stated he will make sure to restore Channel 6's credibility as a result of Brockman's firing, also citing that corporate taxes are too high. He later gave up his seat as news anchor to Kent Brockman after he exposed a genuinely newsworthy report about Krusty the Clown selling tainted candy.^[4]

Behind the Laughter[]

"Arnie in the Sky" is a deliberate zigzag away from the more natural title "Pye in the Sky," a play on words with the expression "pie in the sky". Despite this, the segments are commonly referred to as "Arnie Pye in the Sky".

Appearances[]

Note: Many of his appearances are brief, background roles. Episodes in which he has an actual role are in bold.

Citations[]