Christmas: The Simpsons: Marge Be Not Proud

The Simpsons  Christmas 

          The Simpsons is known for starting off its series run with a Christmas episode , but it didn't do A Christmas episode every season. It's probably for the best to have your series have one big Christmas episode that will be memorable and playable every year. But, eventually, they did take another crack at the holiday being shown for a plot.  The very next time was in Season 7 with "Marge Be Not Proud".

            This episode aired December 17, 1995 which is 6 years to the date of them airing the first episode. Both days were Sundays. It's fitting in a way for them to do this.  

 

              The Krusty special in the beginning is funny in how it both homages the classic Christmas specials like with Bing Crosby would do, but also go off the rails because it's Krusty the Clown. It also is  a good way to bring in something during the commercial break  Bart sees the commercial for a video game for video game Bone Storm. He wants his parents to get it for him. Also Marge saying the game costs $70 which is funny that the price of average video game now $70 so why don't Simpsons predict the future didn't run with this?  

Storm of Bones? Copyright Fox 

            The thing that this episode is really about is Bart and Marge. It was a rarer pairing for this show to take at the time, where most Bart and parent stuff was Bart and Homer.  Bart doesn't like that his mom baby's him , he doesn't want her to tuck him in and sing to him a good night song. It will play well when things get switched up later. 

            Millhouse is funny for refusing Bart a spot to play the game and that he would call his mom just to get rid of him. It plays well into how kids are and yeah I think Bart would have done the same if he was the one with the game.  I love the added sauce of Bart doing minor swears when he was trying to tell Millhouse's mom that he wasn't swearing. This episode really adds in a lot of little things that add to it. 

           Bart goes to the store and he sees some kid who can his mom names and can get the get the game. He sees Nelson and Jimbo who are shoplifting.  The Simpsons acknowledging they are cartoons with 4 fingers is funny.  Bart struggles but with the encouragement of video game characters he decides to steal the game. He forgot he's not a minor character so... uh oh and gets caught by security.  

Bart has gone down/ Copyright Fox 

              Security guy Don Brodka is an interesting character. I like how he looks with his Marine tattoo and clinched cigarette. He shows Bart a shoplifting is bad video but hates it and stops it.  This is a man who loves his job and shows it well. He calls Bart's parents but does it so well to convince Bart he called them live, but only left a voicemail. Lawrence Tierney really plays this role well. He tells Bart a parting  line that if he sees him in that store again- it's over. 

                There's not a lot of Homer in this episode. He takes a back seat to Bart who takes over Act 1 and Marge who will be part Act 2 a lot more. Both of those in Act 3 with Bart getting a little more. He does get some funny moments though. I like his reaction to Bart saying "Go to Hell" and he just says "There's a little thing called please" and his listening to the tape that Bart swapped out for the answering machine and asking Marge if Lisa went to camp Granada was funny.  

            Uh oh guess where Marge wants to have the family picture taken?  He tries to figure out away to make sure that Brodka can't figure it's him. There's a painfulness to wondering to see what happens and does Bart get away with it. Lisa, like Homer, doesn't get much to do this episode. Her moments she does get range from funny to a little charming.  Bart does get found. 

             Marge, because of Bart being able to make sure she and Homer didn't get the voicemail, goes up to bat for Bart and it's sweet that she does. That is until the guy shows her the tape and Bart tries to make her not see it but we get a multiple TV frame instead. 

Woah I don't have time for Home Alone! / Copyright Fox

            This is where the episode changes tone a little.  You can kind of tell Marge feels broken and not happy.  She skips him for the good night song and tuck in and just says good night and closes his door. She tells Homer maybe she mothers him too much.  It's a flip in where Bart feels bad at not having his mother's attention and even ends up hanging out with Millhouse's mom because he misses it.  The episode does this in balance where it doesn't seem that Marge has pushed Bart away it's more she feels that maybe he needs his space and her mothering was bugging him and he realizes that maybe he kind of likes some of it still and doesn't want her to totally detach from him.  

             Bart comes home and looks like he shoplifted, episode has us going in that first half there. But he ended up buying her a gift.  She lets him open a gift early and it's kind of sweet that she got him a video game. It was the wrong one, but done in earnest.  

           I think the episode is fairly good. It stays towards "The Simpsons" tone without getting syrupy or sappy to the point it feels like you'd be watching an episode of "Full House" on Christmas where Stephanie stole something and everyone is concerned she might end up becoming a future murderer.  It does a story that  many can fit with. At some point, a kid feels like they are too old for their parents to be so parental, but then sometimes might miss something that their parent did they weren't expecting to miss if it didn't happen. 

    

            Something that can be noticed in this episode is how Christmas is more the background and not the main plot.  The Christmas special  Bart watches gives the catalyst to him seeing the ad for the video game but that could have really been anything.  If anything, Christmas comes into play really into Bart using his money to buy Marge the gift photo. But Christmas is lightly sprinkled into the episode. It's not a bad thing, I like how it works here for a balance of the story not having to try and force itself around Christmas but still fit the Christmas spirit.  

        A lot of fun of the episode is the Simpsons charm and hallmarks.  It makes you feel for Bart and Marge in what's going on in the episode.  It knows how to keep the beats of funny going as well as sprinkling in the heart.  It's a good one , there's a reason why this one is liked. 

         That's it for now, tune in next time when we stop this shoplifter and force him to write a post.  

                 

        

The Simpsons: Homer at Bat Deserves the Love

The Simpsons 

       I've written about a weak episode of the Simpsons that centers around baseball, now I am going for one that isn't weak. This one is kind of about softball , which close enough.   That's season 3's  "Homer at Bat".  I am also surprised at how there's not a lot of episodes the series has done with baseball/softball. There are at least more than 2.  It also happens to be a second baseball or softball  related plot of season 3. 

             In this episode, the nuclear plant has a softball team because reasons.  Homer had a secret weapon  that  he says will turn the team around.  He's made a special bat that was made from a part of a tree that was struck by lightning and he made a bat.  

          The episode starts kind of showing that the softball games between apparently the police and the plant aren't taken too seriously and have lots of beer.  Homer is able to knock the ball out of the park with his magic bat.  Bart and Lisa are impressed, and  the team starts to win in montages form.   There some fun visual moments in there like the power plant being ahead 33-7 , which um Charlie Brown wishes he had that 7.  

         Mr. Burns has found out the team has done well and made a large bet with another rich guy who also has a power plant, they both bet a million dollars.  The interaction there was fun and the episode gets absurd that Mr. Burns who a) can easily bet a million dollars without worry b) has a successful team  has decided that he needs to make sure his team does win by getting some ringers.   

       For those that might not know , a ringer in sports is someone put in a sporting event , illegally or unfairly.  Like if a high school baseball team used a college player.   Mr. Burns' plan is to hire MLB players and have them be fake employees to play on the team. Thankfully, or unthankfully? Smithers helps him find more alive baseball players.  This episode is a treat for baseball fans who are deep into knowing players.  

            He's got José Canseco, who during this episode's writing and airing was still on the Oakland A's (to the future people the A's used to play in Oakland, unless they still do in the future who knows?) he would soon be playing for the Texas Rangers. He later would admit to taking steroids.  Mike Scioscia,  at the time had been playing for the Dodgers since 1980 and would retire later the year this aired. Ozzie Smith, who ways playing for the Cardinals at the time.  Don Mattingly, who was playing for the Yankees. [ I make it sound like he would play for another team or something]  Steve Sax, who would soon be playing for the White Sox. These were introduced with Smithers finding them and talking to them. I like what they had the baseball players doing when Smithers does find them. Like Steve Sax in a jazz band, Ozzie Smith was at an Elvis tour, etc. This episode decided to use some budget here, they also got Roger Clemens, who was playing for the Red Sox  and has been accused of using steroids.  Wade Boggs, at the time was playing for the RedSox, he'd move on the Yankees the next year. Ken Griffey, Jr. ,who was playing for the Mariners at the time, and Darryl Strawberry, another Dodgers player- at the time. I do like how they went for bench of baseball players and probably went hard on the budget to get them to actually voice them. This is a baseball fan episode. 

The Dodgers or Yankees wish they had this star power at this low cost/ Copyright 20th Television

         Homer and the others are disappointed, rightfully, that Burns will use the baseball players instead of the plant workers. Now Burns also takes an active role in the team. There are some funny moments in this as he is going through the motions to make it pretend that he really is considering anyone but the plant workers.  Mike Scioscia's subplot of he actually really wanted to work at the plant is great and makes a great pay off later. R.I.P  Wonderbat. 

        Mr. Burns should learn not to do a "What could go wrong" type thing.  Steve Sax gets pulled over by the police, Mike Scioscia gets radiation poisoning,    Ken Griffey, Jr. drank too much of  Mr. Bruns' Brain and Nerve tonic,  José Canseco ends up having to save a woman's baby, cat and piano from a fire. The escalation there was great.  Boggs gets into a bar fight with Barney and gets knocked out. Using Ossie Smith's touring Elvis' place earlier was a great way to then have him get tricked into seeing an attraction and falling into a void. The hypnotist thing from earlier affected Clemens into thinking he's a chicken. Mr. Burns gets mad at Mattingly because of side burns and tells him to go home. Everything that happened was done well  Including moments that were used earlier being used as a connecting reason why. 

            That means Mr. Burns has to use the original team, minus Homer, because Darryl Strawberry didn't get affected by anything and he was the one sucking up to Burns earlier too.  It does make you feel bad for Homer, since he was the one who inspired the team in the first place and he was part of what made them get good attention , even from Mr. Burns, and he's not playing here.  

Mr. Burns and Mr. Smithers are short or Darryl is tall/ Copyright 20th Television

        Also it's funny that an amateur team playing another amateur team that has one major league player are tired at 43 runs.  Mr. Burns decides to pull Strawberry for Homer, because Homer is right handed. He wants to confuse a left handed pitcher. Poor Homer gets hit in the head, but he wins the game.  

   Episode ends with a Terry Cashman credits with him doing a parody of his song "Talkin' Baseball" 

            This is a great episode and deserves the praise it gets.  A baseball fan, especially of that era, can love it, with how far out they went with having actual baseball players. I like how the baseball players also seem to have their own characters going on in this.  Having José Canseco be a man who was willing to keep running back into a really long burning fire to rescue pretty much a woman's entire home is pretty funny.  Having  Mike Scioscia be a guy who wanted to look away from baseball and be a nuclear plant worker and work hard there and on.  

            Though to be fair, I myself, enjoyed the plot before the ringers come in a little more. Homer inspiring others to join the team and having a great run going to the championship is a great plot. So it is a little sad he gets put in the backseat, and when he gets a chance to bat he gets hit in the head. It's funny moment, but still kind of sad that he didn't to swing one right out there and win the game that way.   Mr. Burns makes the episode work with the ringers. He and his old fashioned or out of date thoughts play well to the whole he's old thing. His going so hard to work on a bet that is worth a million dollars, pocket change to him, is also very fitting to a man who is greedy.   His interactions with the baseball players were funny. 

            It's a solid episode  and lots of fun and a great rewatch, so yeah it does deserve its praises.  

That's it for now, tune in next time when we put famous baseball players in our sponsored baseball team.   Go Sheep! 

                 

            

The Simpsons: The Boys of Bummer is a Bummer

The Simpsons 

        The title of this post isn't very creative, and neither is this starting sentence. Since it's baseball season's start why not do something about Simpsons and baseball?  Why not also write about an episode people say is a bad one?   "The Boys of Bummer" is  from the 18th season, it's the 18th episode, and aired during the 18th month.... uh it aired in April 2007, the same year as the movie came out.  

        This episode, as stated, is not well regarded, but maybe is aged better as other episodes have come out?   Conceptually, the episode follows the absurdity that some people take sports or this case children's sports way too seriously.  It starts with a high where Bart catches a ball a little league game and the team wins the game. That means they get to the championship.  The episode shows Bart mooning and crowd and they don't care, and the other plays are able to freely egg people. They also seem to enjoy getting egged.  It's a good way to show how again, people  can take sports very seriously and would let a sports star do what they want if their team is winning.  

        The other plotline is Homer lays down on a bed and ends up becoming a mattress salesman.  There's  a championship that looks to be held in a very large baseball stadium and has a large attendance. The town is riding high on wanting to win. Then Bart makes a mistake and costs the team a win and now the entire town is mad at him.    

         Lisa tries to help him get over his loss, which is nice, but not sure that helps him get over a bunch of people in town being mad at him.  Bart has ended up going mad and writing "I hate Bart Simpson" all over the town. He ends up jumping from a water tower. 

            Homer's plot ends up having the Reverend and his wife swap mattress with Homer and Marge  and it helps them, but Marge and Homer aren't sleeping very well on the new mattress. [and other things]  

It's not memory foam, it won't remember a thing/ Copyright 20th Television

        Marge, rightfully, calls out the town for being mean to Bart then they get the bad idea to do a fake rematch game to have Bart make the catch.  They lied to Bart too get him to play and yeah catch time, oh never mind. Bart misses the ball and they keep doing do-overs.  I do find it amusing he ways Bart misses the ball.  Then he does catch it 78 tries later.  Then it skips ahead 60 years to the future and Bart remembers the catch yeah something. 

The person who wrote this episode?  Copyright 20th Television 

       Uh oh, I don't hate episode.  I don't think it's great, but I can kind of think it had an idea there.  The idea that some people can  take sports too seriously- especially youth sports. There's been cases of parents getting into fights at youth games, for example.  I also think it shows how people can go from praising someone  for sports accomplishments then turning against them when they fail.   If you feel the Simpsons should do that with humor, then yeah there's not a lot of that in this episode. 

         Is it mean to Bart? Yeah.  If anything, you can say the episode gets a visceral reaction because it plays it straight of how people can quickly turn against someone for any reason and that's unpleasant. There was no other reason why people should get mad at him, there was nothing he really had done otherwise, and the town was not bothered when he mooned them earlier.   If Bart had been doing things to be more unlikable this episode it could have helped that prove a point of  why the town getting mad at him would at least be more not justified but at least less brunt.   Also I do like that Lisa, Homer, and Marge don't turn against Bart,  defend him at times, and try to help him. 

         I think the episode is weak, but not horrible. The Homer plot is somewhat there, I do like that they really don't  have Marge and Homer devolve into fighting each other  or something really bad happening. They at least kept this part more light-hearted. 

             If  you don't like this episode, well I'm not defending it and really can agree that it's not good. I don't think it's horrible, I think it was trying to do something, but messed up a little bit on how it was executed. 

        That's it for now, tune in next time when I take baseball way too seriously and write mean messages like "You didn't play well at all" to players. 

One Shot Posts: The Simpsons: Uh oh the 1990's

The Simpsons  

        My past posts on The Simpsons have been episodes I think might gems but also not from the early seasons. This one is not that.  This one is a controversial episode from season 19. I'm going to remark that season 19 came out in 2007 and 2008. "That 90's Show" aired in January of 2008,  and time is important for this post. 

           This episode doesn't seem to be well liked. I checked IMDB because I wanted to see how people on that site rank the episodes of season 19. This one isn't the lowest rated, but it's in that zone.  There's reviews from the episode I found from different places, from the time it aired and it also doesn't seem to be well received.  

          I'm not going to be saying people wrong or tearing the episode apart, but giving a look and also a look at some context of why this episode isn't beloved.  (No, Patrick, it's not because it's a season 19 episode) 

            One of the biggest things I've seen as something that brings the episode down is the continuity thing.  The episode has Bart finding Marge's memory box and the kids find out that Marge went to college, that's not the continuity thing that makes the episode less appealing to Simpsons fans. What does is that Homer mentions that he and Marge were a young couple in the 1990's.  

             The Simpsons has and is a current show, its main thing is that it takes place in current times (plus the months it takes to make an animated episode). The series started in 1989. (Yes, and earlier with shorts) That's not to say the show can't and hasn't done things that are timeless and feel timeless, but it is also interlinked with times. The show has never really fully locked the characters into the time the series started, since the characters don't really age.  We, on the other hand, sadly do.  

            This episode is a flashback episode, something the show did before this one and did after this one. The difference though, was that a flashback episode about Homer and Marge in The Way We Was (Season 2; Episode 12) from 1992 told a story of Homer and Marge met and fell and love in 1974. Which works for an episode that takes place in 1991-1992.  That would be hard to work in for an episode that takes place in 2007-2008 and still have the characters meeting in 1974.  Being a network show , and even more at the time this one aired, they wanted a targeted demographic. The broadest part is 18-49.  The youngest viewer in that demo, turning 18 would have been born in 1989 or 1990, if they had a January birthday.  It would also be coming in when 90's nostalgia was really starting to become a big thing, much like how late 60's/ early 70's nostalgia was  in play during the Simpsons' early days.  

           I don't think the continuity thing hurts the episode, because it is kind of understandable why there would be a 90's flashback in a show that started in the 90's , but was on long enough to where if it had ended earlier, there'd probably had been a 90's nostalgia fueled bring up the show to the point it might have been brought back in the 2010's.  I can see how someone would be bothered by the show doing this when the classic stories were the ones that they really attached and loved. 

               That doesn't mean that the episode is strong. Some of the episode is very much like "HEY IT'S THE 90'S REMEBER THE 90'S!"  That's many of the jokes the punchline is the 90's thing. "Heh dial up internet."  Homer, Carl, Lenny, and Officer  Lou are part of an R&B group, which kind of feels like them going with that time Homer was part of a doo-wop group in the 90's in a flashback episode in the 90's. (stop that) That's kind of a nice touch. 

This is how the 90's looked/ Copyright Fox 

        Homer finds out that Marge applied to college and has gotten accepted and finds out that college is expensive. Homer decides he going to work to help her pay for it and his Dad runs a laser tag spot. Marge goes to college. She also has 'The Rachel' haircut because 90's.  Marge has a professor named Stefane August who is like the professors a talk radio host would go after.  

Imagine wearing a jacket, sweater, and shirt/ Copyright FOX 

             The episode, really though, is using the flashback and the 90's to really kind of cover over that it's a basic plot the show has done before in some way.  Homer sees the professor  and that the man is handsome and that Marge seems to be infatuated on him.  Homer gets jealous and maybe he's justified, but it's not an episode that's trying anything new or interesting as a story, except using that hook of the flashback. That actually kind of hurts it more because you really know that Homer and Marge are going to end up together, so whatever happens here in the flashback doesn't matter and doesn't bring anything interesting to the table.     Going back to "The Way We Was" , there we also know Homer and Marge are going to get together, but it presents an interesting story about the characters as teens and why Marge ended up liking Homer and why Homer likes Marge.  

more after the jump

One Shot Posts: The Simspons: Homer the Father

The Simpsons  One Shot Posts 

          I'm once again taking a dip in the period of "The Simpsons"  that aren't called "Classic Simpsons™"  though calling anything after that "modern Simpsons ®"  would be silly if that modern is now like a decade or something  ago. It's also because I want to do something different and take a look at maybe some nuggets of post season 9 Simpsons that can be enjoy and and/or interesting.  Anyway, I did a long thing when I wrote about  a season 33 episode.   I don't feel like almost repeating myself here (you don't want that either).  Let's get started.  This time I'm going with season 22 / episode 11, which came out in 2011. (Ah simpler times)  The episode is called "Homer the Father". 

   

               This episode speaks to me from the start.  First off, remember TV Land? Yeah I still watch it sometimes for some reruns of stuff, but the channel was once an all classics network that brought you shows from the 50's to 80's.  Homer find a channel Tube Town (which also sounds like a place you'd buy a TV from when thought Circuit City was just out of the way. ) which I mean look at it. It' mentions some random old sitcom parodies.  There's a parody sitcom from the 80's the show wants us to notice called "Thicker than Waters" which is a parody of "Growing Pains" I give it more that it's hopefully referencing Alan Thicke from that sitcom.  Later, there's sitcom parody that combines Fresh Prince of Belair and Alf , and I wish we lived in that timeline. 

   

               Homer gets enraptured by  not Growing Pains sitcom rerun like a mad man. (good thing he wasn't watching a true crime show then, for the rest of the plot happenings) Meanwhile, Bart needs to gasoline to the fire of the plot and get this burning. (what?)  He sees a cool mini bike and he wants it.  He asks his father for it, but because of the sitcom he decides to have Bart has to buy himself.  Marge seems to like this new approach Homer is taking. 

Points for keeping 4:3, but points off for not having a screen bug with annoying promo like 2011 TV would do/ Copyright Disney

             Bart talks to Lisa and wonders if he got good grades , Homer would buy him the bike. Also, apparently the sitcom Dad wears a (darn it) Bill Cosby sweater  and Homer now wears one too. Bart decides to study and actually get to work. (wow) 

                Bart gets A. (That's not an episode title) He sadly finds out the reward was the reward of good work. The cheesiness of that works well. Bart is upset because he really wants a bike. Thankfully, the plot needed some help to get something, Apu shows up because Homer left his badge at the store by accident and Bart overhears and gets an idea to sell nuclear secrets to countries in exchange for a bike. (silly scamp, kids these days)  

   

             The CIA finds Bart but it's not the CIA, but China's CIA.  (Also the a stupid joke works for me, so an extra point there)  This CIA is interested in Bart's deal. Bart really starts to doubt the issue. One of the men gives him a loophole.  

            Homer's obsession  with the show made him watch The E! True Hollywood Story about the show. (oh Homer no!)  Bart pretends he's going to spend more time with Homer so he can get the secrets and sell them for the bike. (We're just gonna forget that a nuclear power plant wouldn't have nuke secrets of the government, alright)  There is a nice montage with the two hanging out. I do think Homer and Bart moments are fun, even if he's faking.   Also, we're not going mention that's not how USB thumb-drives work. 

        Bart gives the secrets to China and gets his bike, but wait, there's a twist! Oh sitcoms you always twisting on us! (The Simpsons is a sitcom fight us)  Homer got Bart the bike too. (the studio audience gasps)  Bart now feels bad and decides to go back to the zoo where he got the first bike to get the secrets back.  The not CIA returns just in time , but Bart eats the thumb-drive. Homer comes to stop the men from hurting Bart.  Homer ends up in China and they open a nuclear plant and it explodes. 

            It ends with Homer and Bart watching The Itchy and Scratchy Show to fill up some time and have a nice ending.  

                  This is a not a bad episode. It's fun to see it be on even ground where Homer uses a sitcom to good parent, but it doesn't go so over the top that he becomes unbearable except in Bart's eyes because it was an obstacle to his wanting a bike. I also like that is a Bart and Homer episode and not being something where it's too one sided or a mess. There's some fun in Bart's part where he really just wants a bike, and going the over the top Simpsons way by having him sell nuke secrets to a country. The episode's parodies are fun without being too much.  As someone who loves older TV shows it's fun to see some of the shmaltzy stuff that 80's sitcoms did being featured.  It's a fun episode and from season 22. The jokes are fun.  I actually think the weakest thing in the episode is the China stuff and the selling secrets stuff just because the rest of the episode, it makes it feel more out of place.  It's still a good episode even with that and it doesn't ruin it, so yeah do check this one out. 

        That's it for now tune in next time, not making a state secrets for sale joke. 

                    

                 

One Shot Posts: The Simpsons: Mothers and Other Strangers

The Simpsons  

             I did already do something with Season 33 of  "The Simpsons" which was the most recent season when I did that post, now this one is about 1 season removed at time of making this one.  This is season 33 episode 9 called "Mothers and Other Strangers".  

            Homer's mother   was first actually given a spotlight in the classic ,meaning well known and also very good, season 7 episode "Mother Simpson" . The character , sadly, dies in season 19, so any later appearances are like flashbacks and non-canon needed moments.  I'm  picking this episode since it has her in it, we can dip into another topic that has to do with time, and going into the conversation about season 33 a little more.

             The episode starts more with a focus on Santa's Little Helper as Bart has found a a channel/streaming service something for dogs.   This leads us to the plot's main fuse being set off when Santa's Little Helper's mom is spending time with him on Mother's Day. (See season 31, on more about SLH's mother)  Homer is sad because it is Mother's Day, and misses his mother.  It leads to Lisa suggesting an app where he can talk to someone for help.  The episode uses flashbacks for the story. 

   

            The episode recalls something from that season 7 episode where Mona, Homer's Mother, left when he was a kid because she was wanted by the FBI and where his ad lied to him that his mother died.  Then Homer remembers the time he found a postcard where there was a clue about her being alive still.  I'm going to cut here to mention something, so this episode decided to its own path about Homer's mother. Instead of  him finding out that his mother was still alive in his current age (whatever that means in the show) he found when he was much younger at 16. That was a choice alright. I think it's actually probably more confusing if someone was watching this episode new and maybe was starting to watch this show and then finding out that it changed something that was established. If you already know about the other episode it doesn't come into your mind and wipe memory of it from your head, but it is an interesting direction.

                I think this was another example of the show time correcting again. Because the characters are always in "present time" there's a problem as the show keeps running, the one thing that can't be controlled at all- Time.  Mona's original story in "Mother Simpson" has a straight-laced  World War II vet and his wife who was going through the 60's turmoil and being radicalized fits in with the early to mid 90's setting of that episode and the show's start. When an about 40-year-old man's father would have been a WWII vet and the 60's would be his childhood. The problem with that now is that for the show to be in current time, it has to adjust its past.  Now this episode takes place in 2021 times a nearly 40 year old man would have been a child in the late 80's. (now to make people feel old) Essentially, for the show still do callbacks to the past they had to float the timeline.  It might rub some people the wrong way, but that's how it's going to really be sometimes.  

The Mama's Boy shirt is a laying it on a bit thick/ Copyright Disney 

          Back to the episode,  the flashback has Homer confronting his father and he does find out the truth, the episode keeps the part the where she's wanted by the FBI for doing radical hippie stuff, because that can kind of fit after the 60's too.  He decides to go find his mother, but Abe tries to stop him, but they end up going. There's also the FBI following them.  There are actually some nice Abe and Homer moments, in the flashback moment, it's something sweet.  

             He does catchup to his mother, but so the does FBI and she runs before he can see her and talk to her.  That chance is missed. He also recalls a moment when Bart was born and he was able to see his mother.  So yeah, the episode also doesn't really say if she's dead in this new time line.  It wraps up with Homer taking Marge and the family out on a  Mother's Day dinner and then one last Dog channel thing joke.  

            The episode, on it's own merit, isn't bad, it's not heavy in jokes or being funny, but the emotional story is well done and it is nice.   I don't think it hurts "Mother Simpson" or in any sense tries to take that episode to the back shed and put it out to pasture. (geeze) I think they only way they could have done a Mona story would have to be this way since the other arc is pretty much over and already has the story told.  On some of the little aspects, I think the Muttflix thing at the start went on longer than it should have, they should have just done the full intro and had less focus on the Muttflix stuff.  The Mother's Day tie-in stuff was nice and even has a nice ending for Marge's Mother's Day.   The quick app therapy jokes were alright.  It had a nice heartwarming moment for Homer to see his mother when Bart was born.  Yeah it wasn't bad.  This episode is alright to skip if you really want to keep the other continuity as well. 

        That's it for now , tune in next time when the FBI catches up to us , silly Fried Bread Investors, really want our secret recipe. 

One Shot Posts: Bartless

The Simpsons One Shot Posts FOX Disney 

              I'm actually jumping ahead and doing a post about a more recent episode of "The Simpsons"  from like when I'm posting this- aired on the Sunday the same week. (Wow!) I'm going through the post season 9 episodes of the series since I was never a hard line it dies after season 9 person, but also lost some favor in watching it around season 27 or something around then. I've watched in and out and was looking for an episode from the current season  (2022-23) season 34 to write about. This episode aired on Sunday and it's episode 15 of the season : "Bartless".

                Interestingly the episode starts with Millhouse and Bart reading to younger children, and Bart is reading a story and doesn't like it and makes it better for her. The interaction is nice, he draws on the book and makes a story more entertaining for the little girl.  This episode is going to be a fun outing for the character of Bart and charm of him that sometimes gets lost when talking about him. 

They're reading the credits/ Copyright Disney 

            He does end up inspiring a bunch little kids drawing in books and he gets in trouble for that. Homer and Marge aren't happy. I kind of also find it kind of funny how Marge and Homer are mad at a really something that's wasn't like a super Bart prank that we've seen before. This episode weaves a story and it is doing it well, but the pieces have to come together to make it work. (Need to calm down a bit)

            You'd think Bart's teacher, (Bart has new teacher, in case you are also walking into the Simpsons and wondering what they did after Edna and a few other things going on), would also be annoyed by that, she shows that Bart actually helped the little kids love books and reading. I like the play with the teacher also being helpful in this situation.  (Love the old fashioned cartoon gag of Ralph drawing a stairway in a wall)  Are Homer and Marge in the wrong? I'm going to say there's not wrong and right, it's more that they are used to Bart doing things wrong and reacted on the knowledge, but seeing that is very low level and not even a prank thing was helpful, they kind of needed someone else that wasn't Bart to tell them. I like that because that can happen and it's very well done here. 

            I then like how Marge and Homer are wondering if they like their son. There's a difference between like and love and it's showing they love him and want him to be his best, but they feel they don't like him. There's some good substance to this. They make a wish to see him like others do, and that's again something I think works well. It's a very well done look at these two characters as parents and how they view things.  

More after the jump

One Shot Posts: The Simpsons: Bart, the Mother

One Shot Posts  The Simpsons

This image isn't selling the episode well 

             Here's a season 10 episode of "The Simpsons" I feel this one is a well known one, even if it's not from pre-season 9.  This is part of a look at possible post season 9 gem episodes of the Simpsons.  I do have to point out. I think season 10 does have some very charming and funny episodes  that might be over looked, overall. This is the third episode of that season it's  "Bart, the Mother". 

                 There's a well-known episode called "Marge Be Not Proud" where Bart steals a game and disappoints his mother  and Bart works to get her attention and care back. That's a good episode and a classic, and I do like Marge and Bart stories.  This episode falls in that camp.   

             Marge decides to reward the family by going to the Family Fun Center which leads to Bart trying to hangout with Nelson. Nelson, being the bad boy character,  Marge doesn't like how the boy acts and doesn't want Bart to hang out with him, which of course he does.  Bart really wanted to use the B.B Gun the boy had won and whilst playing around he ends up killing a bird mom. 

                 Bart feels instantly bad and he did try to not aim at the bird. Marge finds out that Bart got out and goes to get him from Nelson's place. She finds out that Bart killed a bird. She's disappointed and decides to let Bart be and goes away. He finds out there were two eggs left in the nest and decides to take care of them. 

                This episode is also historical for the Simpsons, this is the last episode that Phil Hartman had voice acted on in his role of Troy McClure.  

                In the episode  you see how much work and dedication Bart puts into taking care of these eggs.  Marge wonders what Bart is doing and finds out about the eggs. She's happy that Bart took the care. The eggs start to hatch and the episode has a twist, the eggs weren't birds but Bolivian Tree Lizards.  (Those aren't real too)  It's apparently a species of lizard that kills bird eggs then lays its own eggs and eat the mother. 

That's not paper/ Copyright Disney 

             The bird watchers want to kill the lizards because they are evasive species and Bart feels close to them.  Marge understands and decides to let him run, in a sweet moment.  The lizards apparently can glide and don't die off the roof and spread around the town. The episode's takes a dark sense of humor when the lizards spread and start killing the pigeons and the town is so happy that Bart gets an award. 

            This episode is not as good as "Marge Be not Proud" but it does offer a good Marge and Bart story and shows Bart's not all bad side. I think it's always good to give Bart more than  one element to his character and this was good for that. The episode is also good for people who dark jokes, it's kind of a dark joke at the end where the lizards, that are bad, are good for the town because they just hate pigeons.  That and Lisa even points out that Bart was sad he killed a bird but now many many birds are dead.  

            That's it for now, tune in next time when the great lizard vs pigeon war starts. 

One Shot Posts: Simpsons in the Current Times

One Shot Posts Fox  Disney The Simpsons

           I'm not a big on the idea of shows that aren't like soaps running for on and on and on, and of course with "The Simpsons" many would have the same view about why it keeps running and running?  Mentioning "The Simpsons" in general then opens the door to the takes that surround the show.  Personally, I enjoy seasons 1-8, a lot more, but also still watched past season 8, in reruns and premieres, but at some point, around season 28 or sometime around then, I did kind of just stop watching every Sunday. I'd check in once in a while, especially the Halloween ones, but mostly checked out of the show.  

   

    When the multi day marathons on FXX happened, I'd probably be engaged with it for a while, but then around season 14 my engagement drops a little, but there are episodes I like and would be engaged to seeing. Same with TV reruns or streaming reruns. The thing I think that happens in some conversations about the show is the time you first see the show if you liked it, is the time your attachment to it is closest. When the show shifts in later seasons, and sometimes is rough and bumpy, it does feel a little strange and it's like an old friend has lost something about him and makes you feel kind of bad.   

        I think the thing that has to be kind of understood is that the Simpsons is still running, it's not going ever feel like season 4 again, it's impossible. If you want to watch season 4 it's easy to access, so the show continues and tries to find ways to adapt and live in our time. The show was essentially the 90's (including some eighties, just like how the 80's slightly carried into the 90's.)  When the times changed the show had to find ways to adapt to the current times, since the show is always about the current times.  That puts it at odds being what we know the show and characters. I think the best way is to think that the show was so good at connecting us to the characters and concept, that it's hard to see it be not exactly the same. 

This continues after the jump 

Christmas: Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire

Christmas The Simpsons 

           The first episode of the Simpsons produced was  the last aired episode of what became the show's first season, the first aired episode happened to be the Christmas episode. It aried on December 17, 1989.  

  "The Simpsons" was created to go against the grain of what other shows with families were doing at the time period , also a good pairing for Fox's other series "Married with Children"  

       The Christmas special also presents itself something different than standard Christmas television fare, especially at the time.  With this being the first introduced episode this is an introduction to the Simpson family and characters incase you didn't see their shorts on the "Tracey Ullman Show" 

          It starts with a Christmas presentation at the school with kids presenting a pageant. Lisa Simpson does a Christmas dance and Bart gets in trouble for singing different lyrics to "Jingle Bells"  (The Batman Smells version)  Already showing a glimpse of their characters' personalities.   Marge writing a letter gives the viewers more information. 

        

           The main core of the special is to show the Simpsons as a not completely well to do family, the family having Christmas money  saved in a jar and hoping Homer gets his Christmas bonus to provide a nice Christmas.  Bart wants a Tattoo, and using Homer's line of  get one if you use your own money you can get one, he decides to get one.  

     

             These parts intersect when  the president of the company, Mr. Burns, announces their will be no Christmas bonuses; at least there's the jar, but Marge finds out that Bart got the tattoo and she has to use the jar of money to get the tattoo removed.  She's glad for Homer's bonus. It sets a great conflict for the story. Homer is put into a position of  worry.  

      

         He doesn't want to disappoint his family on Christmas and doesn't tell them that he didn't get his bonus. One of the quiet shots I like is when Homer walks out of his house and stands in front of it, the shot of the neighbor's house having the fancy decorations contrasting the Simpson house with the shoddy lights. It says so much without words giving a great impact to the special and shows what will drive Homer for the plot. 

           He doesn't want to tell  Marge about the bonus so tells her he wants to to do the Christmas shopping that year. He goes to a discount store and buys some very low cost gifts.  He bumps into Flanders again, showing the contrast once again. Homer  goes to the the bar to drink his troubles and hears about an idea of  being a Santa Claus and decides to do that for some extra cash.

       He doesn't tell his family about this either. Patty and Selma, Marge's sisters, are also very characterized in this special  where you can really tell that they don't like Homer at all.  Bart goes to the  mall with his friends and notices the Santa Claus (Homer) and his friends challenge him to pull the beard off this is when Bart finds out the truth.     

    

           Homer finds out he only gets $13.00, until he gets an idea from Barney to gamble on a dog track to makes more money.  Bart even mentions that other Christmas specials and stories as a way of hope.  I also like how Lisa corrects her Aunts on their opinions and it's well done where you learn about Lisa's intellect and that she was defending her father from being attacked. 

         Homer decides to gamble on a dog named Santa's Little Helper.  Because Santa, Christmas luck, duh.  The Simpsons decides to be subversive and not let this be a Christmas miracle and they lose money.  Bart even mentions that TV failed him.  The owner of the dog who lost tells his dog to go away and ends up with Homer and Bart. 

        

         The ending is great as Bart shows everyone the dog; the family is happy to see their new pet. It's  a great special and a great start to the Simpsons.  It's a Christmas special with it's own heart and a realism that Early Simpsons really went with well. By itself even, it's a wonderful special.  It has the roughness that Early Simpsons had but yet like "A Charlie Brown Christmas "it helps its charm.  A wonderfully well done Christmas story, yet going for the idea of  not an instant miracle but working out in a way where like Marge says the dog was  great gift because it's a way to share their love.  Homer does what he does in the episode in the drive to hope that his family has just as good of a Christmas has the neighbors ( I can't believe I didn't say Flanders at all)  the charm and heart is there 

        That's it for now tune in next time, when we work as Santa to find a racing dog. 

Halloween: The Simpsons : Three Random Tree House of Horror Segments

Halloween  

    It's funny that I haven't done really anything "The Simpsons" related on this blog,  Here's how this is going to work : we are taking 3 Simpsons Halloween segments since the series divides its Halloween episodes in to three different segments.  But we aren't using one episode, instead a cross section of segments are being picked.  In this post we are taking one segment from Tree House of Horror V  (Simpsons Halloween Special V) (from season 6)  , then a segment from  Tree House of Horror VIII, and one from Tree House of Horror XIX. And talking about them. If this does well, or I think I liked it, may do more in the future, if not, then well that happens a lot here.

     
                The reason for not doing one special as a whole is to allow for a nice cross section and one of the ideas was to go and grab a segment from after season 10 as well.  (Spoilers in this post)

 

            "Simpsons Halloween Special V" - Segment 3: Nightmare Cafeteria (Season 6, Episode 6)

              This is a truly classic Halloween special from "The Simpsons"  the segments all are memorable and fun.  It's hard to just pick one segment from the episode, but we did.  I picked this one because, it knows how to use the Halloween episodes being non-canon for all the fun.

     

             All three segments also worked in a running gag of Groundskeeper Willie getting hit by an ax and killed. 

             This segment  starts with school with having too many kids and not enough money, and not no kids and too much money. Including a lot of kids being in detention and thanks to budget cuts: not enough good food. Due to a revelation after Jimbo knocks sauce on the lunch lady, Principal Skinner gets an idea, that idea being to turn troublesome students into student lunch. (literally)  The episode out right tells you that's happening.  

  

        Skinner starts making up reasons for kids to go to detention. Lisa, being Lisa, kind of wonders what's going on.. One of my favorite lines is Marge telling her kids who worried about being eaten, to just stand  up and say don't eat me. The amount of students have dropped and there are kids being raised for meat.  Willie tries but gets killed completing that gag.The funny part about this segment is that it's aware of what usually happens to main characters in these sort of things. Millhouse dies in the comically large blender.  Bart and Lisa end up falling in.  It was all Barts dream , making you think that everything is fine, and then a random fog turns every one inside out and they dance with blood and the dog attacking Bart.  

          

          This segment is pretty fun. I like how blatant Skinner is in telling the teachers they are eating students, and they don't seem to mind. Marge treating the situation in a light way instead of horror gives it an air of funny horror. The idea that main characters survive is killed then the episode surprises the viewer with a dance number with inside out Simpsons is funny and the strangest thing in sight.  The whole episode is fun, and this last segment brings up a great showing.

              "The Simpsons Halloween Special  VIII"  - Segment 1 : The HΩmega Man (Season 9 , Episode 4)  

                This segment gives us  Homer is the last man on Earth, thanks to the French nuking Springfield.   So most of the segment is Homer left to his own devices. He's having fun  (including not wearing clothes)  until he finds out some people didn't die, they became mutants.   He makes it home after running from the mutants and finds out his family is still alive.  The episode tries to do a heartwarming  ending , then Marge, Bart, and Lisa shoots the mutants.   

         

                 This segment has a lot of quick jokes and gags.It fits Homer well how he would act if the world ended and he was the last guy on Earth  We get a Wacky Races like car , and chase is funny. I like the ending an it's try of being a happy ending and going into them just blasting them away with shotguns.  (Take that peaceful co-existence!) 

        

         More after the Jump 

Fox announces fall premiere dates

FOX  Fall TV 2014 TVLOOK FALL 2014 
                                   
  FOX has announced it's fall line up's premiere dates and times today.  
Sunday , September 7th  , Tuesday September 9th , and Friday September 12th
8/7c-10/9c Sunday :  UTOPIA (Series premiere, Part One)  
8/7c to 9/8c Tuesday: UTOPIA (Part two , and time period premiere)
8/7c to 9/8c   Friday: UTOPIA  and time period premiere)

Wednesday , September 10th
8/7C Hell's Kitchen (New season)

Tuesday, September 16th
8/7c New Episode of Utopia
9/8c  New Girl ( New Season)
9:30/8:30c  The Mindy Project   (New Sesaon )

Wednesday, September 17th
9/8c Red Band Society (new series)

Monday, September 22nd
8/7c  Gothan (new series)
9/8c  Sleepy Hollow (new season)

Thursday, September 25th
8/7c  Bones (new season)

Sunday , September 28th
8/7c The Simpsons (New Season )
8:30/7:30C Brookyln Nine-Nine (New season)
9/8c   Family Guy ( Special  The Simspons Guy - crossover event

Thursday, October 2nd
9/8c Gracepoint (10 part mystery even series premiere)

Sunday, October ,5th
7:30/6:30c Bob's Burgers ( New Season )
8/7c   The Simpsons ( New season)
8:30/7:30c  Brookyln Nine-Nine
9/8c   Family Guy
9:30/8:30c  Mulaney (new series)

Friday, November 7th
8/7C Masterchef Junior (new season)

12 Days of Simpsons ...now that's a marathon

TV  The Simpsons 

wikipedia

   Woo Hoo! , always wanted to start a post with that.   FXX ,which will start airing the Simpsons repeats in August will start their repeats with at 12 day marathon , as the  Chief executive of FX Networks, Jon Landraf said at the upfront "It will be the longest continuous marathon in the history of television". (source: Variety)  So cancel all your plans and sleep.
   FXX paid $750 million  for the cable rights to the Simpsons, which has never been on American TV cable syndication .  They will be airing episodes  alot , we think. That will also start after the marathon.