The Simpsons Thread (Worst. Thread. Ever!)

[el badman]

Just realized we now have contradicting back stories for Skinner

Because of him not being the real Skinner in the first place?

[JaoSming]

no, just that Skinner was never "cool" being a war vet and stuff and when they did the flash backs he was the same dull personality

and of course, Willie being the swim teacher vs the insane ward escapee or whatever the superintendent called him once to Skinner

[Andrew]

Just realized we now have contradicting back stories for Skinner

Because of him not being the real Skinner in the first place?

...which itself contradicted the established history for Skinner, so I prefer to ignore that. Listening to the commentary, I'm not entirely sure Ken Keeler truly got the objections to that episode. This episode just threw in more contradictions, inventing new backstories in a way that's not entirely unlike Family Guy.

[Andrew]

Latest episode was pretty good in my opinion, not quite as good as The Devil Wears Nada but a step up from last week.

[el badman]

I don't know about that one, I wasn't too much into it. I thought Cletus and his fellow hillbillies could've been funnier, and Lisa's part of the story was pretty boring (plus the fact that Lisa feeling "cool" for once has already been done quite a lot too). Her explanation for the "spell" at the end of the episode felt a little weak to me.
On the plus side, another Hans Moleman appearance never hurts.

[benji]

The Simpsons is the worst show on Animation Domination. The fact that every episode looks like the hate crime that was the movie doesn't help its case.

[Andrew]

Worse than Family Guy and The Cleveland Show?

[benji]

It's not even so bad it's good, it's just plain bad.

[Andrew]

Fair enough. Personally, there are still scatterings of episodes that I enjoy but we're a long way past the classic years without a doubt.

[Al Ka Pwn]

Nice one on how people enjoy the anonymity of mobbing up and overreacting.

[el badman]

Was I hallucinating, or was there actually a short South Park parody in this episode? That was just the strangest thing, it felt completely awkward and misguided in my opinion.
I didn't really like that one overall, I thought the story was pretty weak, and there were no particularly funny moments to it.

[Andrew]

I thought it was a decent enough idea for an episode that simply suffered from being done in a time when the show has long since changed from what made it great. It had its moments, seeing the Marx Brothers in Bart's dream got a smile out of me and the South Park parody was alright albeit years too late and a little out of place. The Devil Wears Nada is still my favourite episode of the season.

[JaoSming]

I didnt really like it at all. Good premise and it did have some really funny parts, but overall cant say I'd watch it again when it gets rerun

[Andrew]

Nothing special, by no means classic material but far superior to McFarlane's offerings this week. Someone actually finding Grampa's rants interesting - even for a sinister purpose - was something fresh and Bart's subplot was alright as well (Bart tossing Larry in the frying pan was a great background joke). You could kind of see the "twist" coming a mile away though and it ended with a rather predictable action sequence, saved somewhat by the appearance of Lenny and Carl and a good screw-the-audience joke with Homer "catching up" to the caboose diner/cafe. Not bad, certainly watchable at the very least.

[el badman]

I kinda liked it, at least the first 2/3 or 3/4 of it, the ending being a little weaker. I also thought it was a fairly refreshing main plot, as it's usually (well, it happened a couple of times at least) Homer who would find a different father figure, Grandpa who'd get jealous about it, and the two reconciling at the end. And Grandpa's absurd stories can turn into classics sometimes. Pretty good episode overall.

[Andrew]

I also liked Homer being "allowed" to tell a rambling tale at the end with Grampa half-coaching him through it. It was a nice moment in an odd kind of way and amusing, though the stuff over the credits tried to milk too much out of the joke.

[Andrew]

You know, the "thanks for 20 years, the best is yet to come" message at the end was kind of an unintentional downer for me. I wish I could believe the latter part and if they'd thrown that up there at the ten year mark I'd probably have a much warmer feeling about it but it was kind of a reminder how far the show has fallen and how it's going to be remembered as a show that ran far too long as much as it'll be remembered as a classic.

As far as the episode itself is concerned, I thought it had a reasonably fresh and interesting story to tell that would've been done better years ago; the story of quite a few of the better/more original episodes in recent seasons. Jackie Mason's appearance was a waste but I suppose they're not topping his original appearance in Season 3 but for that many lines, you might as well have Dan Castellaneta doing his Jackie Mason instead of bringing in the real deal. The subplot took away time that could've been used to better develop the main plot but it had its moments and I liked Bart and Milhouse's reaction to all the princess stuff. Decent for Season 21, nothing compared to the classics.

[Dan's Brain]

I thought it was decent enough. Anne Hathaway fit quite seamlessly with the rest of the cast, almost to the point, where it didn't seem like she was a guest star at all. Very surprising that it ended without Krusty completely fucking things up. I assume that will happen in a future episode, if it manages to get to a season 22 or 23

[Andrew]

I believe we're headed to at least a 23rd season so they could do that.

[benji]

I don't know why they hired Morgan Spurlock to do the special, didn't they want it to be about The Simpsons and not "how can Morgan Spurlock appear the most times doing the most boring and stupid things?"

[el badman]

I can't say I liked that episode. Everything just felt too weird and out of place, the side story was pretty much useless and the ending was just very awkward. Not really convinced by the "thanks for 20 years, the best is yet to come" message either...

[Andrew]

How could you be? Even if the show hadn't sunk to the depths that it has, there's no way it could produce its best episodes this late in the series run. Too much ground has already been covered, it's just unfortunate that the fresher stuff is being done in a way that's unsatisfying to older fans who've been watching from the beginning (or close enough to it).

[el badman]

When I compare all those new episodes to the classics like (sorry, I don't know the actual titles) Homer joining the Navy, Grandpa in need of new kidneys, Flanders losing his home to a hurricane, Homer trying to find his soul mate, or the trillion dollar bill,...well, it's just sad.

[benji]

Nobody else watched the 20th Anniversary Special?

BTW, they changed that "20 years tag" due to the special.

The episode, which was broadcast on Sunday, ended with an on-screen display that read, “Thanks for 20 wonderful years. The best is yet to come.” But in a version of the show that was sent in advance to critics, the message read slightly differently: as Alessandra Stanley noted in her review of the episode, it said, “Thanks for 20 wonderful years. Now stay tuned for three Seth MacFarlane shows.”

Since three Seth shows were not following, instead the 20th Anniversary Special was, they changed it:

"Simpsons" executive producer Al Jean said at the Fox winter press tour party Monday that he changed the title simply because it didn't make sense for Sunday - a 90-minute documentary on the 20th anniversary of "The Simpsons" was going to air, not the usual parade of MacFarlane cartoons.

When the episode is rerun Wednesday after "American Idol," it will have quite another kiss-off phrase at the end of the episode (one that Jean would not reveal).

And by the time the third screening for the episode comes around in summer reruns, the original joke will be amended - especially if there are three MacFarlane cartoons following it.

Here's the original:

[Andrew]

I'm honestly not sure which I prefer.