The Simpsons Thread (Worst. Thread. Ever!)

[Andrew]

Apocalypse Cow was alright. I liked the Tress Macneille references and the shot at the third Pirates of the Carribean movie was an example of a zinger done right: a quick joke that only takes up a few seconds, rather than dragging out the swipe over a full minute or more as Family Guy is doing more and more often. Admittedly it helps that I thought At World's End was a bit weak whereas some (but certainly not all) of Family Guy's targets are superior to the show that's trying to ridicule them.

The episode as a whole wasn't anything special though. For the most part, the episode steered clear of the jokes and character traits that I don't particularly like which was good (for me, anyway) but the story was still kind of bland. They had a similar episode where Bart is forced into marriage last season, maybe that was it.

[benji]

The rest was worthless, but Homer was unstoppable in the episode.

[el badman]

I was pretty much as disappointed with this episode as with Family Guy's...
The story was just as basic as it gets, with nothing of the usual twists and turn during the first part of the episode that typically turn into the real story. Cletus is my favorite character in the Simpsons, and he and his family weren't even used as they could have been I think. Mediocre episode at best.

[Andrew]

I thought Any Given Sundance was one of the better Season 19 episodes. It wasn't really laugh out loud funny but I liked that they tried something relatively fresh with the family being upset at Lisa having been offended and embarrassed by her film. It was a pretty down to earth concept that they haven't really gone with much compared to Bart getting in trouble, Homer being boorish or the marriage being on the rocks or Lisa being militant in her activism, albeit somewhat sensationalised by the use of Sundance as the setting rather than the film being screened at Springfield Elementary and the Simpsons feeling humiliated in front of the rest of the town.

There were some funny bits though. I liked the foley scene, Homer's "film festival" fantasy, "Death to Maggie!", pretty much all of the Skinner/Chalmers stuff, The Simpsons Movie references and Nelson's film, which I thought was true to the character while taking a shot at independent movies with cliched lines, such as the one about crying in the ocean. I also liked Marge's line "Call me unfashioned" line about humiliating her family. It's not exactly up there with "Anyone who beats you up for wearing a shirt isn't your friend" but it kind of reminded me of lines like that in the delivery and the way she good naturedly stated the obvious.

The guest stars didn't do a lot for the episode and I thought the episode should have ended with the family walking away rather than tossing in one more joke, though it wasn't too bad. Nothing spectacular in the grand scheme of things but as I said, for me it was one of the more enjoyable episodes of Season 19.

[el badman]

It was enjoyable indeed, the Skinner/Chalmers scenes are always worth it. I thought the pacing was a little unusual compared to regular episodes, but I guess the new season as a whole seems to fit this feature. Nothing phenomenal, but more inspired stuff than last week's episode to say the least.

[Andrew]

The only Skinner/Chalmers seen I thought was a bit weak was the very first one, since Chalmers shouting "Skinner!" and appearing to be enraged when he actually isn't has been done before, though Chalmers getting hurt that Skinner jumped to that conclusion was a decent twist on that.

[el badman]

I liked last night's epsiode, it had the old-school kind of pacing, ultimately quite enjoyable. Homer wasn't as annoying as he'd been lately, everything he said and did was pretty hilarious, just like in the good ol' days.[spoiler]I was surprised that one the characters did actually die though...[/spoiler]

[benji]

The episode was watched in 6.02 million homes and garnered a 2.9 Nielsen rating and a 9% share, placing it third in its timeslot. This makes it the lowest watched episode in the history of The Simpsons.

[el badman]

Holy shit, people are really starting to lose interest in the Simpsons. Consequences of the last 2 or 3 mediocre seasons I guess (and the movie didn't seem to help either)...

[Andrew]

That makes two weeks in a row where the show has set a new mark for its lowest ratings. The show's current state and age no doubt shares in the responsibility but perhaps a greater number of people downloading the episodes is contributing to the low ratings as well.

As for the last episode, I didn't much care for it. I thought it stooped to Family Guy's level with the shot at Scrubs (though Homer's word play was bit smarter than the average FG swipe), so I guess it's the new trend in comedy: when you lack material, make fun of someone else. I disagree about the pacing, I definitely wouldn't have described it as old school. Not when old school refers to episodes like "Stark Raving Dad" where Homer is in the asylum by the end of the first act and is still there at the beginning of the third.

I would have preferred if they'd centred the episode around Homer's conflict with his mother, her trying to make peace with him throughout and then Homer trying to come to terms with her passing through the third act. That's what would have been done back in the day, not a cheesy action sequence. There were a couple of good jokes - the scene in Moe's comes to mind - but on the whole, I didn't much care for the episode.

[Andrew]

All About Lisa

Kind of a mixed bag for the season finale. The use of Sideshow Mel as the narrator was something new and the idea to finally explore his past a little was good too. The main plot was pretty much a re-hash of "Bart Gets Famous" mixed with "Today, I am a Clown" though and there weren't a lot of funny lines that packed a lot of punch but on the whole it was alright. I'm a fan of Drew Carey so I enjoyed his cameo as well.

[benji]

http://www.cracked.com/article_16566_5- ... cters.html

Don't know about that number one pick...but whatever...

[Andrew]

I see the point they're trying to make with Lisa but I think she's got a big enough following and "Lisa's Substitute" is a favourite of most longtime fans so I don't know about her being all that underrated.

even Crazy Old Cat Lady is due her leading role

Ugh, I don't relish the thought of that episode. Tress Macneille in a starring role is a fine thing but not with that character.

[el badman]

I guess that would be old Gil for me. But really, I'm much more fond of Cletus, Sideshow Mel or Bumblebeeman.

[shadowgrin]

Uhm yeah, I think mine's obvious.

But I'm really interested to see more character story for Lou and Eddie.

[Andrew]

Honestly, if you'd told me 15 years ago that The Simpsons would last for twenty seasons, I would have been skeptical even considering its quality at the time. Around about Season 12/13, I thought they might be getting close to the end but now I wouldn't be surprised if they go at least another five, with another feature or two in the meantime. As long as the show is making money and the cast keeps signing on, more milestones would appear to be within their reach.

Anyhow, the 20th season is set to premiere on September 28th with an episode in which Homer becomes a bounty hunter and features the return of Snake's girlfriend Gloria, voiced by Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Once again the season will consist of 20 episodes, due to delay caused by contract negotiations with the cast. Upcoming guest stars include Joe Mantegna (reprising his role as Fat Tony), Denis Leary, Brian Grazer, Mark Cuban, Jeff Bezos, Matt Damon, Seth Rogen (who co-wrote the episode with Evan Goldberg), Merl Reagle, Shohreh Aghdashloo and Marv Albert.

As usual, I'll be entering the season as open-minded as possible but I haven't really enjoyed the last few seasons from start to finish and Season 19 in particular kind of hit a new low in my book as far as reminding me that it isn't the show I became obsessed with all those years ago. Nevertheless, I'm hoping to be pleasantly surprised and certainly intend to approach each episode with as little cynicism as possible.

[el badman]

Here's to a better upcoming season than what we've had to endure these past few years

[Andrew]

Hear, hear.

Simple, more down-to-earth plots with more sympathetic characterisations would go a long way as far as I'm concerned. And of course, no more marriage crisis episodes for some time.

[el badman]

And of course, no more marriage crisis episodes for some time.

Oh yeah, tired of these as the overused underlying frame of each episode

[Andrew]

They worked a lot better when the characterisations weren't so shallow and Homer wasn't so lecherous, let alone being grossly overused.

[Andrew]

Season premiere is only a matter of hours away. Once again, here's hoping for an improvement over Season 19.

Groening disagrees with the critics

He disagrees with critics who question the quality of the show as it ages.

"We've had our ups and downs, but it seems like most people who say the show has gone downhill don't watch it," he says. "The latest episodes are as clever, complicated, sophisticated and wild as any we have ever done."

His comment doesn't surprise me, as it's unlikely he'd come out and bash the show or the staff. And if that's his honest opinion, fair enough, he's entitled to it even if we don't agree. It wouldn't surprise me too much if those are his true feelings towards the current episodes, Matt Groening strikes me as someone clever enough to carefully word his remarks if he wasn't happy with the show but wanted to protect/defend it.

What irks me about the comments is the slight smugness, the deflection of any criticism by categorising critics as being ignorant of the current episodes or being "Comic Book Guy" types. I wouldn't go so far as to say there isn't at least a little bit of CBG in the geekiest of us Simpsons fans but that doesn't mean there isn't anything valid in our criticisms or that the show is currently "as clever, complicated, sophisticated and wild as any (they've) ever done".

[benji]

The episode that I probably mentioned at some point, the "It's a Wonderful Life" take, where Homer can't remember what just happened. That. THAT. Is on par with or better than anything they've ever done.

If they deliver just four or five episodes of that caliber, I won't complain. They need to stop trying to be "culturally relevant" and look to KOTH on how to own bitches.

Sorry, Simpsons writing staff, but having Homer's Obama vote switched to McCain = weak sauce. Stop trying to out Family Guy, Family Guy and give us what we want, which is SPRINGFIELD TO THE MAX.

[Andrew]

"Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind"? I liked it, I wouldn't say it's on par with my favourites from the classic era though.

[Andrew]

Sex, Pies and Idiot Scrapes

Another "Homer gets a new job after losing his own to somehow get that out of the way" plot which I've grown a bit bored with, but frankly anything that isn't a marriage crisis episode these days is fresh enough for me to be open minded about it. The opening joke about the green river was badly telegraphed and overexplained, it would've worked much better to pan over to the nuclear plant or have Burns mutter uncomfortably rather than gleefully announce it then threaten them.

The St Patrick's Day stuff was fairly ordinary, the shock humour with the IRA reference didn't offend me but fell a bit flat all the same. "Wolf the Bounty Hunter" felt a bit redundant, if you're going to have that obvious a parody you might as well try and get the real person to make a cameo. The explanation of how Homer could become a bounty hunter and his confrontation of Snake desperately tried to be witty but just felt like padding. Padding can work sometimes (I remain a huge fan of the rake scene) but it didn't work for me here.

Homer's characterisation was a bit shallow but Ned's was surprisingly good for the current era, with only the "harder to swallow than evolution" being a bit cringeworthy. Their teaming up was pretty fun though, Homer's failed attempt to get Ned to avoid using his "Flanderisms" (for lack of a better word) was entertaining and I loved the AC/DC parody. I cringed a little at first but then when Homer enthusiastically joined in it somehow became very funny. Go figure.

The montage was entertaining but if they hadn't padded so much with the St Patrick's Day opening, Homer's confrontation with Snake and a couple of overexplained jokes they could have used that time to better build towards the conflict between Homer and Ned. Still, I liked that Ned was then forced to hunt down Homer and while the action sequence was perhaps a bit much, it had its moments particularly the cut to Homer jumping in the elevator for no reason. Homer's expression while Ned quoted the Bible was hilarious too, I enjoyed that scene even if it was a little silly. The ending with Homer in jail was a bit abrupt and unresolved, but nice all the same.

Marge's subplot wasn't too bad but the risque humour felt a bit forced; not dirty enough to be funny, but about as dirty as The Simpsons can be with the tone of the show. The episode probably could have done without it, all the more time to flesh out the main plot and build the conflict up a little better than Ned being upset because Homer frequently resorts to putting a bag over people's heads.

All in all, a little better than I was expecting and it had some funny parts but on the whole I'd have to say it was a decent episode at best. Nothing horrible, but it could've been better.

[el badman]

I wasn't really convinced with that one. It did show some highlights of their better days, but the Homer/Ned team was just not what I was expecting, and their "break up" was too abrupt for me, more stuff should have been shown to lead to this situation I think.
And I agree that Marge's part felt a little forced, it didn't really seem to add anything to the episode.
But still, overall it was a bit more enjoyable that what we got used to lately...