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[AniHawk]

I thought the commercials for it had a bit of potential and I was right. The show's animation has been downgraded (one of my gripes- it was getting to look very cartoony). Homer was more of a bad father instead of a stupid loon. Neither one Simpson took the spotlight of the entire show. Every joke didn't fall flat.

If I were to rate it out of ten, I'd give it a 7.5. Better than the average ep last season, and as good as some eps of the 8th season. I'm not sure, but I think Al Jean returned last year, and since eps take 8 months to create, this might've been one of his.

I hope the rest of the season is as good or better. A nice start compared to the last several years.

 

[yoshifumi]

for some reason, fox in my area went dead for the first 15 minutes or so. but from the 15 minutes i did see, it was a little better than two seasons ago, maybe they're improving.

or maybe not.

 

[IAmtheFMan]

I only caught the last half, but it really wasn't all that bad; there were some jokes in there that I actually responded to. The whole Marge running to slide under the door thing, talking to herself saying that she must've been the last one in, then having the imprint of Skinner's Mom crash into the door was actually pretty funny. The James Caan/Sonny Corleone tollbooth thing was okay too.

 

[beerbelly]

I turned it off shortly after Homer repeatedly hammered that power switch and got electrocuted. There is something that's not right in these recent episodes. Even though Homer has been historically dumb, there was something about that part that didn't seem right to me. Maybe it is because every 'funny' moment is too exaggerated and ridiculous for me.

 

[Luscious LeftFoot]

Meh... it was alright.

I liked the Apu/Steve Barnes newspaper headline though.

Edit* Yeah, I almost turned if off at the homer electrocution scene too. God that was dumb.

 

[IAmtheFMan]

^^

Yeah seriously; Homer has always gotten hurt and been dumb, but it seemed smarter in the earlier seasons. When Homer's going to jump over Springfield Gorge, and keeps getting hit, the whole thing is juxtaposed by the fact that moments earlier, he was having a heartfelt moment with Bart. Now they're satisfied with Homer getting shot/sliced up/bleeding for minutes at a time.

 

[AniHawk]

James Caan: We're going to go and play backgammon, if you know what I mean.
Bart: Uh, not really, but I hope you win!
Mrs. Krabappel: Oh, he'll win.

As far as Homer getting hurt, that was the only moment in the show. In fact, I wonder if it was poking fun at earlier Simpsons eps where he just does slapstick for the sake of slapstick (because of his line before the second time).

Homer was smarter in this episode than he was in previous seasons, though.

 

[BobbyRobby]

I liked Marge's comment about the Pope, "...letting a lot of things slide" recently.

 

[Tortfeasor]

So... The whole kitchen remodeling thing went nowhere... Do you think they will revert back to the old kitchen in later episodes?

 

[Phoenix]

I thought the episode was actually pretty good for a change. It nowhere near its classic standing, but its also not the consistent level of steaming shit that we normally get on Sunday evenings.

 

[way more]

I thought it was ok, that Thomas Pynchon cameo seemed really odd and stupid, "The Frying of Lot 49?"

 

[White Man]

My dear friend told me that Pynchon made a cameo in this episode. That makes 2 Pynchon cameos on the Simpsons. What happened? WERE THERE CRYING OF LOT 49 REFERENCES? It's easily one of my favorite books. What did Pynchon say, and what did he look like?

 

[metsallica]

He looked the same as he did last time, with the question-mark bag over his head. He said he wanted to put Marge's recipe into his new cookbook, "The Frying of Lot 49" (as mac already said). It was fairly pointless.

 

[firex]

personally I didn't like this episode. It set up some stupid subplots that never ever materialized, like the whole homer giving bart the birds and the bees speech bit. and once again it felt like they were borrowing a plot from a south park episode (with that bit, it was heading down the path to a total ripoff of the sex ed SP). and honestly, it looked like they were going to try an iron chef ripoff, but cancelled it at the last moment because they ran out of any funny material for it and just skipped straight to marge's confession.

it wasn't terribly unfunny, but I just wound up appreciating the arrested development that came on afterward even more.

 

[AniHawk]

So... The whole kitchen remodeling thing went nowhere... Do you think they will revert back to the old kitchen in later episodes?

I hope not. At least it wasn't as pointless as Lisa losing three cats in a single episode to get another one that looked EXACTLY like Snowball II *huge fucking rolleyes*

The series has the potential to get on its feet and become more of something showing a dysfunctional, poor family. The biggest reasons I grew to dislike the last seasons were 1) The extreme stupid Homer 2) Homer being seriously injured left and right in every episode 3) The animation and colors used becoming brighter and more cartoony 3) everyone working as a bunch of people (friends, almost) with quirks inside a house instead of a dysfunctional family 4) the Simpsons all of a sudden had money and 5) poor immitations of Family Guy and South Park humor.

Now, this episode, as I've already addressed, went lengths to remedy some of these problems I saw (colors being duller, Homer not being a complete moron, The Simpsons acting as more of a family, the house falling apart because the Simpsons are poor or always tight on money, and at least funny jokes). It was very refreshing to see all of that in a *new* Simpsons episode, and I really hope the rest of the series holds up.

Things I disliked about it: The end with the hicks shooting James Caan, the walk-in microwave and bread-maker-maker, and the fact that they were able to afford a brand new luxury kitchen.

I wonder if some people had left The Simpsons in 1998 to work on Futurama, and just returned last year to start again. I sure hope that's the case.

 

[Ghost]

i thought that was the best ep in a long long time, some truly funny moments

 

[borghe]

I said this before (though I think it was in another forum). Last season and this season are the comeback season for the simpsons... last season was the start with a number of genuinely funny and clever episodes and I knew (or at least strongly hoped) that this season would continue it..

though the THoH episode was pretty lame overall, this episode was pretty funny. I don't know if the simpsons will ever hit the levels they did ten years ago, but at least this show is finally receiving the respect and writing that it deserves from Fox.

 

[Lucky Forward]

He looked the same as he did last time, with the question-mark bag over his head. He said he wanted to put Marge's recipe into his new cookbook, "The Frying of Lot 49" (as mac already said). It was fairly pointless.

Actually, it was "The Frying of Latke 49". Latkes are potato pancakes.

 

[White Man]

Pynchon is the new Sideshow Bob!

PS Pynchon - Write another damned book already.

 

[Memles]

Saw nothing of interest in the first 25 minutes (Power went out)...and they won't keep the kitchen. Face it, the show is falling apart. It won't turn into something different now.

 

[AniHawk]

Saw nothing of interest in the first 25 minutes (Power went out)...and they won't keep the kitchen. Face it, the show is falling apart. It won't turn into something different now.

Oh ye of little faith.

Last season and this season are the comeback season for the simpsons... last season was the start with a number of genuinely funny and clever episodes and I knew (or at least strongly hoped) that this season would continue it.

Last season had some decent eps (like when Bart went to Juvy). Probably because the majority of the episodes were being written as season 14 was airing.

 

[firex]

I'm still giving next week's ep a chance. I did think some of last season was good.

 

[mattx5]

I thought Sunday's ep was a huge improvement. I didn't like the fact that they messed with the classic kitchen (That's like when they messed with Snowball). And I thought the whole Bart subplot was a bit stale, as it really only led to one funny joke.

But everything else was hilarious, from the Apu thing, to the bread-maker maker, to James Caan getting shot up at the end ( :lol ).

I look forward to next week's episode

 

[0wn3d]

Can you taste the thumb-tacks? :lol :lol

 

[cvxfreak]

Can you taste the thumb-tacks? :lol :lol

:lol

 

[enjoy bell woods]

Pynchon is the new Sideshow Bob!

PS Pynchon - Write another damned book already.

He should write an illustrated children's book.

 

[SFA_AOK]

"I hope not. At least it wasn't as pointless as Lisa losing three cats in a single episode to get another one that looked EXACTLY like Snowball II *huge fucking rolleyes*"

I thought that was funny, it's obviously a joke as to how (nearly) everything gets reset every week.


"Ralphie wants to start taking the pill!" :lol