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[Agent Unknown]

Yeah, I didn't like how quickly the family wanted to throw Homer under the bus, it's like most of the gags in so many modern episodes are there just to push the episode into the next scene with little thought of how it reflects on the characters.

They were going to make a space based sequel to the movie? Also had no idea Dan C and his wife occasionally write now, hmmm.

Gave up on tonight's episode 15 min in and have been playing Mario Maker since then.

 

[UberTag]

Yeah, I didn't like how quickly the family wanted to throw Homer under the bus, it's like most of the gags are there just push the episode into the next scene with little thought of how it reflects on the characters. They were going to make a space based sequel to the movie? Also had no idea Dan C and his wife occasionally write now, hmmm.

Thankfully that tandem hasn't written an episode in a while. Their track record is especially unremarkable and typically consists of being over-indulgent with a Dan character at its forefront.

Here are the episodes they've written...
- Days of Wine and D'oh'ses (the Barney gives up drinking episode)
- Gump Roast (the worst of the clip shows)
- The Ziff Who Came to Dinner (probably their best episode - and it still wasn't that good)
- Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore (Homer gets mad with power after running the nuclear plant's outsourced division in India)
- The Fight Before Christmas (that Christmas trilogy episode with Katy Perry and the Simpson muppets)
- A Midsummer's Nice Dream (Homer goes on tour with Cheech Marin to recreate classic Cheech & Chong bits)
- The Ten-Per-Cent Solution (Krusty gets fired from his show and hooks up with his old agent voiced by Joan Rivers)

 

[Agent Unknown]

^^^^

Thanks, really enjoy your breakdowns, this is a very helpful thread to follow as I (tenatively) get back into the show and will save me a lot of time that would have been wasted on trash episodes.

Edit: I have the sudden urge to start putting Futurama back into my viewing lineup too.

 

[UberTag]

^^^^

Thanks, really enjoy your breakdowns, this is a very helpful thread to follow as I (tenatively) get back into the show and will save me a lot of time that would have been wasted on trash episodes.

That's the point. Feel free to let me suffer on your behalf. No need for everyone to watch the episodes that are garbage to find the hidden gems like Halloween of Horror that are worth watching.

 

[Agent Unknown]

That's the point. Feel free to let me suffer on your behalf. No need for everyone to watch the episodes that are garbage to find the hidden gems like Halloween of Horror that are worth watching.

Ha, will do.

Sometimes I seriously wonder when the show is ever going to end or if someone at Fox will ever take the initiative to try and cancel it. Several years ago I read a quote from Al Jean saying he'd like to see it go on for fifty years, maybe he was joking but who knows considering how content he seems to just let it float on at this point with mostly poor episodes.

 

[UberTag]

Ha, will do.

Sometimes I seriously wonder when the show is ever going to end. Several years ago I read a quote from Al Jean saying he'd like to see it go on for fifty years, probably joking but who knows.

It's an easy gig for him. Of course he wants it to go on forever. He's in full-time milk mode. Which, unfortunately, shows in the on-screen product which goes to pot whenever Jean doesn't have a pet project episode unless he steps aside to allow Selman to throw together something halfway competent.

 

[Joni]

It is nice they remembered YVAN EHT NIOJ but they ruined it by overexplaining the joke.

 

[UberTag]

It is nice they remembered YVAN EHT NIOJ but they ruined it by overexplaining the joke.

Yeah, this mirrors my reaction to the gag that I shared elsewhere...

Referencing 'Yvan eht nioj" = Good
Over-explaining the joke = Not Good

They need to start listening to the writer in the back of the room who chimes in and says, "Don't you think this joke would better stand on its own without spending an extra 5 seconds to explain it. Those 5 seconds would give us time to tell another joke."

For an example from last night of a clever visual gag that WASN'T over-explained, I'll direct you to the name of the yacht being "Harper's Ferry".

 

[UberTag]

No new episode this week but I neglected to pass along the review consensus of last week's episode from NoHomers.net. I've been pretty active in this thread offering constructive criticism and suggestions on how Friend with Benefit could have been improved with a little more focus on character development and a little less time on indulgent jokes and references that go nowhere.

5/5 Rich in hilarity 4.88%
4/5 It would benefit you to watch this 12.20%
3/5 I am friends with this episode 39.02%
2/5 You are entitled to dislike this episode 31.71%
1/5 It would benefit you to skip this episode 12.20%

For those of you looking for suggestions of episodes to watch from the past 7 years, there's some in-depth polling going on in this thread of the HD era's best examples of satire, emotion, hilarity, excitement, one-time guest characters, delightful subplots and iconic episodes for each of the core members of the family.

My picks were as follows... (winner is bolded, honorable mention is italicized)

Best satirical episode: The Book Job / Steal This Episode
Best emotional episode: The Squirt and the Whale / I Won't Be Home for Christmas
Episode with the best one-time character(s): Eeny Teeny Maya Moe / Once Upon a Time in Springfield
The funniest episode: The Book Job / Homer Goes to Prep School
Best Homer episode: Homer Scissorhands / Halloween of Horror
Best Marge episode: Dangers on a Train / Sky Police
Best Bart episode: O Brother, Where Bart Thou? / A Totally Fun Thing That Bart Will Never Do Again
Best Lisa episode: The Great Simpsina / Halloween of Horror
Episode with the best subplot: Waverly Hills, 9-0-2-1-D'oh / Homer Scissorhands
The most exciting episode to watch: Gone Maggie Gone / The Bob Next Door

Best episode overall: Holidays of Future Passed / Halloween of Horror

Lastly, a word of warning... the next two episodes set to air arguably have the worst premises of the entire season. So if you're not excited to see Homer loan out Lisa to settle a poker debt or to see Homer and Marge think Bart is a sociopath, I would recommend you steer clear. We'll get to more exciting episodes like Bart growing a mustache and having a crush on his teacher (whom Skinner is also attracted to) and Lisa befriending a heroin addict soon enough.

Actually, those episodes sound pretty terrible too.

 

[Tapejara]

Bart having a crush on his teacher sounds like it could work, but Lisa befriending a heroin addict sounds awful.

 

[Agent Unknown]

Didn't realize they did a Futurama crossover episode last year, watching now.

Edit: That was pretty good I'd say with a nice little ending with Homer and Bender.

 

[inm8num2]

 

[UberTag]

Didn't realize they did a Futurama crossover episode last year, watching now.

Edit: That was pretty good I'd say with a nice little ending with Homer and Bender.

Yeah, Bender is now a permanent resident of the Simpsons basement. Marge stashes extra money inside him for emergencies.

 

[UberTag]

Normally I wait until closer to Sunday night to hype up a new episode but as I'm tied up this weekend and largely expect this episode to be crap, I'm getting this out of the way now.

LISA WITH AN 'S' - Sunday, November 22nd | Episode Production Code = TABF20 / Writer = Stephanie Gillis

LISA BECOMES A BROADWAY BABY

FOX Promo - Subway Issues
Clip #1 - A Lady of the Night
Clip #2 - Little Boy's Room

When Homer loses $5,000 at a poker game with Broadway legend Laney Fontaine, the only way he is able to settle the bet is if he loans Lisa to Laney for a month. Then, Laney turns Lisa into a show biz kid and Marge and Homer fear they made a mistake letting her go. So they head to New York to get her back.

FXX Marathon Theme - Fame is Fleeting

4:00pm Bart Gets Famous (S5E12 / 1F11 / 1994)
4:30pm A Star Is Torn (S16E18 / GABF13 / 2005)
5:00pm Girly Edition (S9E21 / 5F15 / 1998)
5:30pm Yokel Chords (S18E14 / JABF09 / 2007)
6:00pm All About Lisa (S19E20 / KABF13 / 2008)
6:30pm Elementary School Musical (S22E1 / MABF21 / 2010)
7:00pm New Kids on the Blecch (S12E14 / CABF12 / 2001)
7:30pm Helter Shelter (S14E5 / DABF21 / 2002)[/QUOTE]

 

[Joni]

Will become the greatest episode this season, just to spite all of us.

 

[crackhead_bob]

Can anyone hazard a guess what the ratio is in terms of good/bad episodes/seasons?

 

[Joni]

Well, the losing Lisa in a bet is not as bad as expected considering Lisa wanted to go herself.
Best joke is Lenny sitting in the poker game. Amish Flanders is also okay.

 

[UberTag]

Haven't posted in here about this past Sunday's episode but if you've noted the OP update I made, you can see I wasn't especially enamored with it. Came off as terribly forced and unfocused.

We have another break this week due to the Turkey Day weekend hangover and to avoid the juggernaut that is The Walking Dead mid-season finale. But here is the review consensus for Lisa with an 'S' from NoHomers.net.

5/5 Rich in hilarity 5.88%
4/5 It would benefit you to watch this 26.47%
3/5 I am friends with this episode 26.47%
2/5 You are entitled to dislike this episode 23.53%
1/5 It would benefit you to skip this episode 17.65%

Lastly, the hype cycle has already begun for the airing of Barthood which is still close to three weeks away. I'm pretty stoked for this one.

 

[Tapejara]

I ended up skipping this past Sunday's episode. Looks like I didn't miss much; guess I'll catch it again when they do a re-run.

 

[UberTag]

So we have a bit of an interesting scenario developing. There's a new episode of The Simpsons airing tonight... and yet it's very likely going to wind up getting pre-empted and/or delayed in a number of markets due to Obama's booked time to address the nation about the evils of terrorism in the wake of Wednesday's tragedy in San Bernardino.

On the bright side, this isn't shaping up to be an episode worth watching so perhaps it's for the best. We'll have something much more promising to look forward to next Sunday.

'PATHS OF GLORY - Sunday, December 6th | Episode Production Code = VABF01 / Writer = Michael Ferris

LISA TRIES TO SAVE THE REPUTATION OF A LOCAL FEMALE INVENTOR

FOX Promo - Going Insane
Clip #1 - Shuffle Off
Clip #2 - American Football

Lisa sets out to restore the tarnished reputation of Springfield’s first female inventor. To find her invention, she scours an abandoned asylum and a restaurant that caters to men. Bart joins Lisa at the asylum, stealing one of the homicidal patient’s notebooks, and bragging to the boys at school that he wrote the entries himself. This revelation causes Homer and Marge to believe he is a sociopath, which Bart decides to use to his advantage until things go too far.

FXX Marathon Theme - Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs

4:00pm Stark Raving Dad (S3E1 / 7F24 / 1991)
4:30pm Hurricane Neddy (S8E8 / 4F07 / 1996)
5:00pm I Am Furious (Yellow) (S13E18 / DABF13 / 2002)
5:30pm Don't Fear the Roofer (S16E16 / GABF10 / 2005)
6:00pm The Good, the Sad and the Drugly (S20E17 / LABF07 / 2009)
6:30pm The Scorpion's Tale (S22E15 / NABF08 / 2011)
7:00pm Love is a Many Strangled Thing (S22E17 / NABF10 / 2011)
7:30pm Diggs (S25E12 / SABF08 / 2014)

I'd be remiss if I failed to mention that as this week kicks off the new production run expect these next few episodes to be light on content for Harry Shearer characters as they were conceived during his most recent holdout.

 

[Joni]

They just now realized he is a psycho. Bad Doctor Monroe.

 

[UberTag]

Sometimes when you have low expectations you can be surprised.
I've gotta say this was probably the 2nd best episode of the season tonight.
Not anywhere close to Halloween of Horror-calibre or anything but most of the jokes connected.

The absence of Harry Shearer's voice was rather noticeable but not surprising.
The show will likely remain thin on dialogue from him for the next while.

 

[Tapejara]

Sometimes when you have low expectations you can be surprised.
I've gotta say this was probably the 2nd best episode of the season tonight.
Not anywhere close to Halloween of Horror-calibre or anything but most of the jokes connected.

The absence of Harry Shearer's voice was rather noticeable but not surprising.
The show will likely remain thin on dialogue from him for the next while.

I'm glad you said to give this one a chance. I'm catching it on time shifting and it's pretty good so far.

Edit: Yeah, great episode. Definitely not Halloween of Horror but still quite enjoyable.

 

[hateradio]

I'm not sure why I started watching this season. I can't remember the last time I actually watched The Simpsons, but today's episode wasn't bad at all. :]

 

[Joni]

It is nice to see other characters get used a bit more.

 

[UberTag]

What is arguably the most anticipated episode of the season airs later tonight as we both flash back and flash forward into Bart's life...

BARTHOOD - Sunday, December 13th | Episode Production Code = VABF02 / Writer = Dan Greaney

BART GOES FROM BOYHOOD TO MANHOOD

Couch Gag
Clip #1 - Think About It
Clip #2 - Lesson Learned

Bart's coming of age story, a la "Boyhood," chronicles his life from six years old to his time as an accomplished young man. Along the way, his tense relationship with Homer, an overly uncaring version of himself, and Lisa, who overshadows him in every way possible, shape Bart more than he realizes.

FXX Marathon Theme - Don't Judge a Book By Its Cover

4:00pm Cape Feare (S5E2 / 9F22 / 1993)
4:30pm Rosebud (S5E4 / 1F01 / 1993)
5:00pm Bart of Darkness (S6E1 / 1F22 / 1994)
5:30pm The President Wore Pearls (S15E3 / EABF20 / 2003)
6:00pm The Debarted (S19E13 / KABF06 / 2008)
6:30pm Moe Letter Blues (S21E21 / MABF13 / 2010)
7:00pm How I Wet Your Mother (S23E16 / PABF08 / 2012)
7:30pm Brick Like Me (S25E20 / RABF21 / 2014)

That wraps it up for new Simpsons content in 2015. Our favorite family will be back to kick off their 30th year on primetime network TV on January 3rd.

 

[Chips Fission]

Today's episode sounds good. I do have a hunch they end up cramming too much into one episode. Still, I'm actually waiting to see this one. I guess there won't be future episode this season besides this one? I have enjoyed more or less the future episodes, so I hope there is going to be another one.

 

[UberTag]

Today's episode sounds good. I do have a hunch they end up cramming too much into one episode. Still, I'm actually waiting to see this one. I guess there won't be future episode this season besides this one? I have enjoyed more or less the future episodes, so I hope there is going to be another one.

I believe this should do it for episodes set in either the past or future for this season.

 

[Tapejara]

So what was everyone's thoughts on Barthood? I thought it started off strong, but the third act ended up being the weakest which really brought down the episode. Disappointing considering the good word of mouth surrounding the episode, as well as the promising premise.

If the story hadn't had to be squeezed into twenty two minutes it would have given them some more breathing room, and it really shows that this should have been explored in a longer episode format - though I know that's not common for The Simpsons.

 

[Big Baybee]

Should have been an hour special.

 

[Dishwalla]

Interesting episode. Liked how it included elements from "Dazed and Confused" as well, most notably the kegger in the forest.

 

[UberTag]

I felt it executed on its core concept within the time allotted quite effectively... which is more than I can say for a lot of other ambitious attempts at episodes of late. It was rather light on humor and, when they did tap that well, the jokes almost all seemed to revolve around Chief Wiggum or Milhouse and barely touched on anyone else. Both the voice acting and animation were solid and there was restraint exercised on the part of the writers to not go overboard with future humor the way they have in past episodes which I appreciated. An extra 22 minutes might have helped but, like the movie on which this episode was based, I'm not sure that time would have been used effectively but would just instead hammer the same points over and over again without much in the way of subtlety.

 

[Tapejara]

Barthood spoilers:

Spoiler

My issue really stems from the third act, and how abrupt Bart's transition from angry highschool graduate to fulfilled business owner was. Lisa says one sentence and suddenly everything in Bart's life is okay. The plot with Homer is largely ignored as well - though they do at least return to it in the smile-inducing ending scene - it's one plot thread I really would have liked to seen explored more.

I guess my issue is that the conclusion came off as abrupt despite the preceding scenes being quite well done; it was really awesome to see Bart growing up, getting into trouble, etc. I don't think they'd need an extra twenty two minutes of run time, but maybe if they had enough time for five acts instead of three then they could have expanded on the parts I mentioned in the spoiler tags.

 

[Jackpot]

Did it touch on Lisa's bisexuality?

 

[rrc1594]

How come Lisa could never do better then Milhouse or Nelson?

 

[Chips Fission]

Ok episode. To be honest, it wasn't all that special, better then most, but it felt bit shallow overall. Not something I remember when the season ends.

It's annoying that some of the future episodes are connected and some are only loosely connected, like this episode. I mean some of this stuff works with the already seen future episodes, but other stuff doesn't.

 

[Joni]

Fun episode. Maggie seemed very tiny when kissing the unibrow kid.

How come Lisa could never do better then Milhouse or Nelson?

Too focused on career.

 

[BodiesWithoutOrgans]

This season is so good last week episode was brilliant Simpsons still great 27 seasons in

 

[Maffis]

I have to say this episode was actually one of the best I've seen in years.

 

[FloppyDelux]

Did it touch on Lisa's bisexuality?

Spoiler

Nope.

 

[UberTag]

It's annoying that some of the future episodes are connected and some are only loosely connected, like this episode. I mean some of this stuff works with the already seen future episodes, but other stuff doesn't.

The big wrinkles for this one contrasted against the future timeline introduced in Future-Drama, Holidays of Future Passed and that terrible episode that shall not be named is that Lisa graduated from high school at the same time as Bart and that Abe was killed off. Both of these events directly contradict Holidays of Future Passed even though you can make plausible arguments for everything else being connected.

 

[Joni]

Some of those future episodes are now set in our past. They won't keep them all canon.

 

[UberTag]

Some of those future episodes are now set in our past. They won't keep them all canon.

Consensus was that the future timelines "predicted" in both Lisa's Wedding and Bart to the Future (along with Bart's stint as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court from Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie) were wiped from the continuity a long time ago. But they've made a concerted effort to link Future-Drama, Holidays of Future Passed and Days of Future Future through continued references to Bart's ex-wife Jenda and a number of other consistent plot threads. So there was justifiable rationale to consider that as a canon future timeline... at least up until now.

 

[Joni]

Consensus was that the future timelines "predicted" in both Lisa's Wedding and Bart to the Future (along with Bart's stint as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court from Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie) were wiped from the continuity a long time ago. But they've made a concerted effort to link Future-Drama, Holidays of Future Passed and Days of Future Future through continued references to Bart's ex-wife Jenda and a number of other consistent plot threads. So there was justifiable rationale to consider that as a canon future timeline... at least up until now.

It might also be that this one that remains out of canon.

 

[Sou Da]

I think I found a 2011 episode I like "Moms I'd like to forget" or something like that.

It's a genuinely decent episode that doesn't fall apart in the third act like a lot of recent ones do.

It's weird though, there's a lot of animation in this that feels like they wanted to make a bunch of shorts.

 

[Aaron Strife]

I just watched Barthood. It was really pleasant and nice to see modern Simpsons do a dramatic story without ruining it with bad jokes, and the jokes that were there were pretty funny (yay Moleman).

I was also a little surprised by how fluid some of the character animation was, like Sherri (or was it Terri?) in the closet with Bart.

 

[UberTag]

Okay... normally I wait until the weekend to bump this thread to hype up a new episode that's about to air. But circumstances surrounding this Sunday's new episode just got interesting in a GAF-worthy way that make it impossible to hold off. In fact, this may potentially be branch-off thread worthy in its own topic but, as this is fueled entirely by fan speculation, I'm going to keep things isolated here for now.

First off, here's the episode synopsis...

THE GIRL CODE - Sunday, January 3rd | Episode Production Code = VABF03 / Writer = Rob LaZebnik

MARGE'S SOCIAL MEDIA POST COSTS HOMER HIS JOB

Stephen Merchant ("Hello Ladies") and Kaitlin Olson ("It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia") Make Guest-Voice Appearances

After a photo Marge posts on social media gets Homer fired, he returns to the best job he ever had, a dishwasher at a Greek restaurant. This same post inspires Lisa to code an app that predicts the real-life consequences of anything you post online, only to create sentient artificial intelligence.

Seems rather innocuous, doesn't it?
Oh look, Homer lost his job again.
Oh look, Lisa did something brainy again.
Ho hum yawn.

First off, the good news. This is a Selman-showrun episode... already the third one this season.

Now the reason for the early bump. There has been early chatter on both NoHomers and YouTube (with Reddit likely soon to follow) fueled by this special guest preview trailer that we may well be looking at a Gamergate parody episode.

Kaitlin Olson's voicing a coding instructor at Springfield Elementary named Quinn for the familiar assortment of 4th grader geeks and nerds (with Martin as their apparent ringleader) who express openly hostile and male chauvinistic remarks towards both her and 2nd grader Lisa who joins their class. Lisa feels compelled to show off her skills to earn their respect by creating a new A.I. driven app named Conrad (voiced by Portal 2's Wheatley) that is able to speculate on the potential reaction (positive or negative) of social media interactions in advance to prevent unwanted misfortune.

Needless to say, the combination of sexist remarks from a threatened male-dominated majority within a programming storyline and a character one could argue is named after Zoë Quinn has fueled chatter that this is indeed Gamergate-inspired. So it'll be highly interesting to see how deftly writer Rob LaZebnik and showrunner Matt Selman handle this material.

Behind the Scenes - Recording w/ Guest Stars Kaitlin Olson and Stephen Merchant
Clip #1 - Trending
Clip #2 - We Dance
Clip #3 - Spring Field
Clip #4 - You're Not Crazy

FXX Marathon Theme - Homer Gets a New Job

4:00pm Dancin' Homer (S2E5 / 7F05 / 1990)
4:30pm And Maggie Makes Three (S6E13 / 2F10 / 1995)
5:00pm You Only Move Twice (S8E2 / 3F23 / 1996)
5:30pm Bye Bye Nerdie (S12E16 / CABF11 / 2001)
6:00pm Children of a Lesser Clod (S12E20 / CABF16 / 2001)
6:30pm The Boys of Bummer (S18E18 / JABF11 / 2007)
7:00pm Midnight Towboy (S19E3 / JABF21 / 2007)
7:30pm Sex, Pies and Idiot Scrapes (S20E1 / KABF17 / 2008)

 

[Joni]

That sounds like an app that should exist.

 

[Sou Da]

.

Lisa's really channeling her daughter's look there.

 

[UberTag]

Lisa's really channeling her daughter's look there.

Yeah, there's an undeniable resemblance to Zia's look.
Although, Lisa's overdoing it with the eyeliner, eye shadow and mascara in this ep.