Critic’s Corner – #NABF16

Bypassing the obligatory introduction yet again, my feelings on “The Falcon and the D’ohman” were generally predictable, as I had thought I would not enjoy this episode whatsoever and lo and behold, I was right. Let’s roll the tape.

The Comic Book Guy cold open was an “okay” use of his character; the Poochie doll and the Bart lamp with Blinky inside were, as aforementioned, “okay”; on the subject of lackluster jokes, the opening ‘number’ featuring Homer was unneeded but I did chuckle at the “60s Day” qu0te-unquote joke. As predicted, Kiefer Sutherland’s performance was not needed and the trying-to-make-him-appear-edgy character development didn’t work whatsoever. The “Moe’s Tavern” scene featuring Wayne and Homer is filled with unfunny lines and, as usual, bland storyline. The entire “training” scene, as described by Wayne, lasted entirely too long and, reminiscent of “Stop or My Dog Will Shoot!” referenced several pop-culture movies that may or may not be dated in the years to come.

The “Next Media Animation” reference wasn’t terrible, but then again it wasn’t funny either; it reminded me too much of Family Guy. The Lauren Bacall reference was a nice touch to a generally unfunny and soon-to-be-dated season premiere. The quote-unquote clever hiding of the results of the Nedna poll were nicely hidden but overall the I suspect the relationship will fail and its ending will be reminiscent of the end of “Homer Loves Flanders”, except unfunny and post-reanimation.

As for the B-plot, featuring Marge’s ‘dream’ to become a Top Chef, was, as suspected, a failure. Despite a promotional image featuring the bit and its seeming to have a high involvement in the episode, it ended after only a minute or two. Back to the A-plot, the Ukranian YouTube reference wasn’t funny, then again what was in this episode?, and unneeded; those two adjectives describe the entire episode, really. So, Nedna stay together, the B-plot failed (horribly), and the ending joke lasted too long. We’re off to a great start in season 23; I rate this episode a C+|2.5/5.

Thanks for reading,

Judy

“I’m sorry, young man, you’re just not ready. Pick up your check at the front office, and for God’s sake, put some clothes on!” –  Dave Rosenfield

With great respect, Marge Simpson

In 1990, First Lady of the United States Barbara Bush stated that “the dumbest thing [she] had ever seen” in a People magazine interview was “The Simpsons.” A short time afterward, ol’ Barb herself received a letter from matriarch Marge Simpson, who expressed her distress at the First Lady’s harsh criticism of her family. Shot out of the blue, the First Lady realized her “mistake” and sent a reply to Marge’s letter apologizing for her words. Here’s the full story from Letters of Note; the story of the First Lady receiving a letter from the blue-haired, green-dressed mother of three surfaced online before and was recalled in a “The Simpsons” boxset, but it’s always fun thing to read.

P.S. The framegrab featured on the right comes generously from Last Exit to Springfield!

Thanks for reading,

Judy

“Excuse me, is there an Orange Julius stand on this floor?” – Seymour Skinner

“I’ll sell you this one, it’s almost full.” – Lionel Hutz

“Why don’t I drink out of a toilet bowl?” – Seymour Skinner

Airing Tonight

On yet another watered-down, reanimated addition of “Animation Domination”, The Simpsons premieres their 23rd season. For any reason you haven’t read the synopsis of tonight’s episode, here it comes; yoinked from Wikipedia:

The Springfield Nuclear Power Plant hires a new security guard named Wayne and Homer soon become friends with him. Meanwhile, Marge dreams of appearing on the reality series Top Chef.

Not much to the imagination; there really isn’t room to interpret that this episode will be good considering the guest stars. Kiefer Sutherland and Tom Colicchio are two irrelevant guest stars; us writers expect the entirety of the A-plot with Sutherland to be swimming with “24” references. As aforementioned, not much to the imagination other than I believe this episode will fall into the normal ‘bland’ category. To quote Smooth Jimmy Apollo: when you’re right 52% of the time, you’re right 48% of the time.

Thanks for reading,

Judy

Sunday Cartoons

“Num-num, good salt lick.” – Lisa

As I was rewatching “The Simpsons”, I came across the eighth episode of the third season, “Lisa’s Pony”, in which Lisa spirit is cheered when given a long-awaited pony by her father in response for his forgetfulness to get her a saxophone reed in time for a school talent show; nearing the third act, Homer, in desperate need of money due to the expenses of the horse, takes a job at the Kwik-E-Mart. Shortly after he takes the job, there is a scene between Lisa and her horse, Princess, where Lisa states that Princess hasn’t taken a taste of her salt lick therefore Lisa takes a lick to convince her and the horse begins to lick with her; when the scene ends there, it seems, to me at least, a fairly poignant moment in which you see how attached Lisa is to her horse and when you pair it with the concluding scene of her giving Princess up to the stable-owner to help her father’s well-being, it’s heartbreaking. The writers here at ES miss these moments in the era of reanimation; in this scene no more words than necessary are used, the lighting is done perfectly, and the story transitions.

Thanks for reading,

Judy

P.S. The framegrab featured above comes generously from Simpsons Park!

“Homer, I don’t think this fish is quite dead yet.” – Marge

“Marge, please, I’m having enough trouble with the lobsters.” – Homer

[gasp] “Do you mind?” – First Lady Barbara Bush

“Barbara Bush!” – Lisa

“Ugh, you have those damn badges. Okay, this tub was installed in 1894–” – First Lady Barbara Bush

FOX releases promotional images for season 23 premiere

Guest star Kiefer Sutherland.

Guest star Tom Colicchio.

Woohoo, more guest-star filler! The Simpsons Zombie Simpsons’ 23rd season opens with yet another guest-star episode ordinary season premiere, “The Falcon and the D’ohman.” I vote for this episode to be a semi-failure, but we’ll just to wait and see.

Thanks for reading,

Judy

Critic’s Corner – #5F05

Lisa unearths an angel-like skeleton.

Bypassing the usual obligatory introduction, I say that “Lisa the Skeptic” starts out with a shaky plot; the opening with the motorboat scam to catch felons is a part I enjoy, Homer’s rendition of “Up, Up, and Away” is chuckle-worthy as well. As the family heads home from the scam, Lisa discovers construction occurring over the site where several fossils where found. Lisa’s hiring of Lionel Hutz to show her condemnation of the construction of the mall is another ‘chuckle-worthy’ moment; I always find Lionel Hutz joining in the laughter of the heads of the construction against Lisa a hilarious bit, and Hutz revealing that only an eaten apple is in his suitcase is another bit worthy of a mention. Unexpectedly winning over the heads of the construction of the new mall, Lisa, along with Principal Skinner, schedules an archaeological dig to be undertaken with the students of Springfield Elementary. Just as the dig is about to end, Lisa uncovers a skeleton that appears to have wings. Jumping to conclusions, the townspeople of Springfield believe Lisa has unearthed an angel. Lisa’s characterization deteriorates as the episode progresses; she is shaky in the beginning but still legible, however as the episode gets to the middle of the second act, she has become a highly-critical, ‘militant atheist’ type. Her line of ‘I feel sorry for you, mom’, more so the entire exchange between Marge and Lisa in the kitchen, is a moment where Lisa’s characterization has become plain bad, for lack of a better term, and she only declines from there. The meeting between the townspeople of Springfield who believe the skeleton Lisa discovered is an angel, however, is a funny scene; Moe’s voice signal of “TV off” after stating that science hasn’t done anything worthy gets me every time. Ned’s analogy of science to the person that tells the ending of a movie and then says there are some things they don’t want to be aware of, ‘important things!’ is always funny.

After the results of a scraping from the skeleton Lisa took to Stephen Jay Gould come back inconclusive, the angel disappears; Homer’s shaking of Marge (‘Marge stop panicking!’) is always a moment to laugh at. As Lisa is arrested for the supposed destruction of the angel, it reappears outside of the courthouse with the saying ‘the end will come at sundown’. Lisa’s criticism of those with religious beliefs is more so higher than the end of the first act, her tantrum to Marge as Marge dresses her in her Sunday best for the apocalypse (Marge’s line to Bart, ‘the best steakhouse in the universe’, is a nice quip) shows she refuses to accept any belief other than her own; a truly ‘bad’, once again for lack of a better term, moment for Lisa’s characterization.

As the townspeople gather on the hill where they discovered the angel with the message, Chief Wiggum counts down to the sunset. As it sets and nothing happens, Lisa mocks the townspeople’s beliefs that it was a real angel with a real message for the apocalypse; before she can finish her lecture, the angel yells out ‘prepare for the end’, causing Lisa to gasp and run for her mother, ‘the end of high prices!’ the angel yells out to finish the sentence and then is placed in between the logo of the new Heavenly Hills mall. Lisa’s anger with the heads of the mall seems highly hypocritical to me (‘you exploited people’s deepest beliefs’); as she mocked the religious beliefs of the town and refused to believe anything other than her own beliefs. The end seems like a quasi-failure; Lisa does not apologize for her overly-critical lectures to the town (likewise for the overly-religious, who destroyed the Museum of Natural History against Lisa) nor does she personally apologize to her mother for mocking her religious values. As Marge points out that Lisa squeezed her hand ‘extra hard’ as the angel began to speak, the episode ends; albeit on a slightly heartwarming note, with Marge referring to Lisa as her ‘angel.’

Overall, I’m certainly not the biggest fan of this episode but it is a treat to watch every now and again. Discussion (you either don’t like this episode or you do) is diverse in the “Simpsons” fan community which is a strong-point; along with the episode’s humor. I’d give this episode a 3.5/5, B+.

Everyone knows leprechauns are extinct.

Thanks for reading,

Judy

P.S. The framegrab featured above comes generously from The Simpsons Park!

“That was the first time I ever saw ‘Itchy & Scratchy’ and I didn’t like it one bit! It was disgusting and violent. I think all of you people are despicable . . . for shame!” – Abraham ‘Grampa’ Simpson

“Marge, pour vous.” – Homer

“Would you mind if I took it off now? The oil is burning my finger.” – Marge

Happy birthday, Julie Kavner!

We’ve been featured!

… by The Springfield Connection and Springfield! Springfield!, that is. What I’m talking about is that we’ve been featured on the “Links” page of The Springfield Connection (we’re not sure when we were featured but we just discovered it today) and my retrospective of “The Simpsons” on the internets, one of the (hopefully) many essay/retrospective/what have you -things I plan to write, was featured on Springfield! Springfield! We’re sincerely grateful for the inclusion of our dinky little website!

Thanks for reading,

Judy