Well, it's that time of year once again... when The Simpsons leaves us for another summer only to improbably re-emerge for yet an umpteenth kick at the can 4 months from now. Probably on Sunday, September 25th. At its usual 8pm Sunday timeslot.
The premiere episode will be none other than Monty Burns' Fleeing Circus... just the second shared writing credit for Seinfeld alums Tom Gammill and Max Pross. It's directed by Matthew Nastuk (best director in the regular rotation) and their first ep from Season 24, Hardly Kirk-ing, was pretty decent... so I'm optimistic.
The ep focuses on Monty's childhood and upbringing via flashback. Hopefully it doesn't feature modern-era Simpsons characters moonlighting as people from his past... but it probably will.
Hopefully the premiere winds up solid because we have some stinkers lined up afterwards. Dan Castellaneta and his wife have another indulgent episode lined up focusing on Cuba. The same crew that worked on this year's terrible Treehouse of Horror have landed the gig again. We have a J. Stewart Burns ep that's attached to a lousy director which tells me it's one of the eps where he doesn't care (those always turn out bad). I believe this will be the episode where Burns isolates himself in an Oculus Rift simulated environment where he becomes the head of the Simpson family. And we have the baseball playoffs to endure.
The good news is that after a slow start Season 28 looks promising. Harry Shearer writes an episode for the first time. Matt Selman has an episode lined up to close out the VABF production run prior to that two-part ep written by Dan Greaney I noted earlier (which, as it turns out, will actually be an HOUR LONG episode - so no arbitrary cliffhanger shenanigans here). And there are some compelling storylines in the pipeline that will hopefully be executed well and not turned into publicity stunts which fail to draw in any sort of audience.
And why am I talking so much about next season, you ask? Well, I expect this weekend's finale to be terrible... Marge goes back to jail but this time doesn't want to leave and commits crimes so she doesn't have to. And Homer whines about having to be a single parent while she's gone. How horrible for them. Think Homer Alone meets Marge in Chains where Homer and Marge are written selfish and awful instead of as devoted parents. Bleh.
ORANGE IS THE NEW YELLOW - Sunday, May 22nd | Episode Production Code =
VABF15 / Writer =
Eric Horsted
MARGE PREFERS THE BIG HOUSE OVER THE SIMPSON HOUSE
FOX Promo - Season Finale Sunday
Couch Gag courtesy of Michal Socha (The Prophet)
Clip #1 - Not Going Home
Clip #2 - Secret Alcoholic
When Marge gets arrested for letting Bart go to the park unsupervised, she serves time only to realize that prison is a welcome break from the demands of her life as a mom and wife. In her absence, Homer struggles to manage all of the parenting responsibilities that Marge usually handles.
FXX Marathon Theme - Jailbirds Not Named Snake (3:30pm special start time)
3:30pm
Marge in Chains (S4E21 / 9F20 / 1993)
4:00pm
This Little Wiggy (S9E18 / 5F13 / 1998)
4:30pm
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Marge (S11E21 / BABF18 / 2000)
5:00pm
The Frying Game (S13E21 / DABF16 / 2002)
5:30pm
The Wandering Juvie (S15E16 / FABF11 / 2004)
6:00pm
The Seven-Beer Snitch (S16E14 / GABF08 / 2005)
6:30pm
I Don't Wanna Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (S19E4 / JABF19 / 2007)
7:00pm
American History X-cellent (S21E17 / MABF08 / 2010)
Some bonus Marge arrests not included in the above slate of episodes...