The Simpsons

I liked all the halloween episodes the best.

NRA4EVER

NRA4EVER is from the 138th Episode Spectacular in response to conservative accusations that The Simpsons are/were the most liberal show on the air.

I am the ILx-ly incarnation of Matt Groening, heathen! I excommunicate you with dogs! Pay me my tithes already!

Bender: "Look, Fry! I'm steering with my ass!"
Fry: "That's the greatest thing I ever saw!!"

Simpsons - I can't think of a favourite ep. Anything out of the mouths of Milhouse, Ralph or Grandpa makes it all worthwhile.

aww..milpool

Yeah, I know!

I'm not so sure that this season is the worst, but when they had that on the radio, I didn't quite get it.

Whereas Simpsons: Hit & Run is more fun than a tank of nitrous and a sack of monkeys. Infinite replay value. Hell, you can spend hours just exploring the town.

I loved the Prisoner reference in the Movementarian episode.

i absolutely cannot watch the latest episodes as i've said before - i don't think a show like this is meant to go on as long as this one has and the attempts to do something fresh always come off 'half-cock' to me. old jokes cynically rehashed mutter mutter, characters lost all charm yadda yadda, saw a clip of the new one where they visit England - Tony Blair is there to greet them at the airport, Homer gives him a dollar...sigh...

King of the Hill kicks all y'alls asses. I've said this before, but I think it's weird when people trash the Simpsons because they say it doesn't have "heart" anymore, but then they don't watch KOTH, which has more "heart" than the Simpsons ever had, and plus, it's now funnier than the Simpsons. Peggy fucking rulz.

Do we really need that kind of dismissive benhaviour?

Mission Hill is not.

"Dum dum dum dum dum!"

This thread is great! I'm sure to be raking in the royalty money soon! *waits patiently @ paypal*

this annoys me and i now shudder to think what else UK viewers may have missed.

Seth Macfarlane shows are getting really dumb, lowbrow, and actively offensive

i was just happy they finally brought a musical sequence up to par. it was actually kind of good jazz!

Can someone explain to me a line from last Sunday's episode? It's when Bart and Lisa find a tape with Martin's voice on it. He's speaking to recently metamorphosized butterflies: "Now if I may mimic your mother's feeding call..." And then he goes into this FUCKING HILARIOUS old granny voice sing-songing something like "Lawdy lawdy clickety clawdy." Even though I have been laughing to tears since I first heard it and have been repeating it ad nauseum, I have no clue what the hell it means. Does it mean anything in particular? Or is it just funny on the surface, i.e. as an impossible approximation of a butterfly momma's feeding call (does a butterfly momma even have a feeding call?)? Help?

the new york episode was on again sometime in the last six months

But never again will it have the "They put the idiots in Tower 1!" joke.

EW! I'll have the crab juice!

I fed the baby while watching last night's "Family Guy", and even with jokes like "Welcome to Texas: The Fuck-You State", I couldn't laugh.

-- Pleasant Plains, Monday, April 30, 2007 12:24 PM (10 months ago) Bookmark Link

http://www.serems.org/docs/ChildAbuseHotline.gif

"Welcome to Texas: The Fuck-You State"

http://www.hulu.com/watch/12140/the-simpsons-dial-n-for-nerder

^^ definitely one of the best episodes i've seen the last few seasons, the Nelson private eye stuff cracked me up.

never give up on the simpsons. even if you watch an episode for only 5 jokes/hilarious quotes or to see Martin fall off a cliff.

But never again will it have the "They put the idiots in Tower 1!" joke.

Wait, that gets cut now? Do they also cut the bit with ppl leaning out thw windows in each tower yelling at each other? I was thinking Ive seen that recently but then I remembered its on my DVD.

last time i saw that episode that stuff was intact, i'm pretty sure. WTXF are such a bunch of fuck-ups that they'd probably show the wrong ones, though, so it may have been in error.

they haven't shown a good simpsons episode in about a year now. just the last 5 seasons or something.

"These are not tears, we are vomiting from our eyes!"

Why does anyone even bother to still watch new (last 8 years) episodes, anyways?

Yes, clearly it's a more productive use of one's time to spend that time posting to the internet about how the Simpsons fell off a while back

challops alert

I mean normally I'm too busy doing homeless outreach to even think about such things, but sometimes I'll do so much homeless outreach that I have to be hospitalized for exhaustion, so that's usually when I'll kick back and get a few chuckles out of a new Simpsons while the IV rehydrates me

Then I return to doing things so much more important and productive than watching shows that aren't as funny as they used to be, like homeless outreach or (as mentioned) posting to the internet about how I don't think certain shows are funny enough to waste my time on anymore

Then maybe I'll have some pasta

It's when Bart and Lisa find a tape with Martin's voice on it. He's speaking to recently metamorphosized butterflies: "Now if I may mimic your mother's feeding call..." And then he goes into this FUCKING HILARIOUS old granny voice sing-songing something like "Lawdy lawdy clickety clawdy.

I saw this for the first time only recently (a first time rerun - I havent been watching Tv for a couple years now so ive missed a lot of the last 2 seasons). I actually quite enjoyed that episode, even though all the way through I was all "well obviously Martin isnt dead, I wonder how they'll swing this plot".

There's usually a handful of actually good, funny episodes per season. The butterfly one was good, and the one with Jarmusch wasn't too bad, either. Of course all the other episodes are atrocious, but it seems like only the few good ones make it into syndication anyway.

Xpost: Well, for one, you could spend the time you dedicate to watching post season 10 Simpsons watching Season 1-10 Simpsons. Then at least you'll get the opportunity to watch something that's even worth watching, not drivel that's been brought down so many pegs that it's actually tragic.

Is this really a question of productivity? Did the 15 seconds I spent voicing an extremely mild, insignificant criticism (and on ILX? As if!) become such an offence that it turned into a deep moral predicament? Suddenly you can voice your opinion because you do homeless work, and now complaining on the internet about my on the internet is not only productive, but also a valid criticism?

I've watched new episodes of the simpsons, and I can't make it past more than 5 minutes. I don't know how anyone else does it, really. . .

I think I see the Watchmen Babies as Peanuts trick-or-treaters briefly in the commercial for tonight's episode.

OMG, I think Lisa was an incorrect pedant last night: Homer called himself a "xylophobe" and she said that would involve being afraid of xylophones, when in fact I'm pretty sure it would involve being afraid of wood

i feel like it taking u this long to realise that is kind of a simpsons joke irl

like im sitting here laughing really hard at the image of u watching the show then going abt yr daily routine getting ready for work, sitting in a meeting, teaching a class, eating lunch, going back to work and then *lightbulb*

I'm sorry, was I supposed to rush and post this to ILX in the middle of watching the show? Cause I just remarked on it to my gf, although at that point I was thinking "xylo" = "bone"

it means 'boner' or 'woody.'

Lisa has already posted a retraction and an apology in her blog

It does remain however the instrument heard whenever skeletons dance.

I'm sorry, was I supposed to rush and post this to ILX in the middle of watching the show? Cause I just remarked on it to my gf, although at that point I was thinking "xylo" = "bone"

haha no obv not bro it just struck me as funny - the img i had - im sure u were on that shit instantaneously

tbh honest I haven't even watched the show yet; I totally picked up on this before watching it on DVR tomorrow morning

WOW THAT WHO IS GONNA BUILD THE WALL JOKE WAS SO FUNNY WHEN FOUR SEPARATE COMICS TOLD IT

add the simpsons to that highlight reel of hackery

i saw the last ten minutes of the simpsons last night. pretty deadening show now, huh

so lame:

Scottish singing sensation Susan Boyle has inspired cartoon slacker Homer Simpson to audition for a talent show in a new episode of The Simpsons.
Ms Boyle, 48, from West Lothian, became a worldwide sensation after appearing on Britain's Got Talent last month.
In the new episode, Homer appears before judge Simon Cowell, saying "My name is Homer Simpson, I'm 39 years old and, well, I've never been kissed."
He adds: "My dream is to be a great singer like Susan Boyle."
Ms Boyle's rendition of I Dreamed a Dream from Les Miserables on the ITV1 show turned her into a global phenomenon after being posted on YouTube.
She was previously mentioned in cult US cartoon show South Park.
Last week, she appeared on a special episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show.
Her appearance in The Simpsons episode, Springfield's Got Talent, is part of the show's 20th-anniversary season.

no one is even going to remember who she is by the time that episode airs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QkDmqoWQ3M

( 8(1)

=( 8(1)

Watching the Michael Jackson episode last night reminded me how I used to sit in front of the television every Sunday night and just crack up for a half hour. Little things like watching Snoball II's eyes open and close as the cat tried to sleep on Homer's chest or the "You mean there really is a Bart?" line.

Kinda surprised to read that wasn't even Jackson singing though it does fit in with the whole meta-identity motif going on in the show.

Really? Keep in mind the voice was credited to "John Jay Smith", although MJ did it (as for actual singing. . .)

Yeah we caught the show too, my sis and I, and you're right at just how quick the show could be at its best, packing in so many things at light speed.

But I've missed something, that wasn't him singing? Even the a capella "Billie Jean" part?

FYI

They got a MJ impersonator to do the singing because there's a whole clusterfuck of TV sync rights when an artist sings on a tv show.

The official line was that MJ wanted to play a prank on his brothers.

Why oh why is my cat dead? Couldn't that Chrysler hit me instead?

I had a hamster named Snuffy, he died...

lisa on ignorital is the most i've laughed at the simpsons in a decade or more

the ke$ha intro 0_0

yeah that was kinda... um....

Yeah, I have no idea what that was about, but like most reworked Simpsons intros the level of detail is fun. Is the Love Tester machine always in Moe's background scenes? Also liked that Snake has the statue of Jebediah Springfield in the back of his car.

i've always managed to find something to like about the recent simpsons episodes, but the one from last night (s22e01) was unspeakably bad. don't know if the flight on the conchords guys were to blame (haven't seen much of their stuff and have no desire to now) or if the writers have just given up. whole thing felt like some crappy kids tv show, with the odd 'adult' joke crowbarred in, like that weak hash joke at the end. first time i can recall a show i like actually making me feel miserable by the end, due to how bad it was.

Yeah, but you also realize that that's pretty much the last 10 years in a nutshell.

I feel like they missed an opportunity to revisit uter and martin at fatcamp, and maybe they could have had the music teacher expel lisa from the room and she does a very morose sax riff in comparison to the opening credits gag, but other than that i don't feel i could do better with the premise.

yeah it was shit

the quality of simpsons episodes is fairly random (probably less so if you know which are the good writers)

they let those Flight Of The Conchords dipshits on network TV?

I'm usually all for statistical rigor but they should go ahead and fire the bad ones.

In that unauthorized simpsons book, the author claims it's the showrunners? (i'm not sure of the term) that shape the show more than any given writer, and divides the eras up by them.

there's sufficient barriers to entry that whoever ends up a simpsons writer has got to be a bright dude, right?

I've seen a few bright dudes contribute to a clusterfuck or two.

It's shortsighted and incorrect to assume that the decline of the show is the cause of them not having good writers that are capable of coming up with something half good. This is the new mandate of the show; they've abandoned what they were to essentially start anew as a kids show, hence the easy and less esoteric jokes, and more emphasis on something that a 6 year old would find funny (this is the way, no less, to secure an emerging audience, rather than trying to keep your original audience, now in their mid-lives, and without watching TV as a priority).

Moreover, the Simpsons are suffering from their own success in a way, insofar as they largely set the scene for subsequent cartoons of the sort, most of which are hugely indebted to the Simpsons in one way or another (one of the writers in a commentary once expressed his annoyance at how shows like Family Guy have co-opted Simpsons style comedy making the Simpsons theretofore unable to do their own thing). Its especially hard with shows like Family Guy et al. making base, unfunny, and immature humour the popular norm; it seems like a piece of A+ satire like Homer Bad Man (i.e. the hard copy episode) wouldn't be as well received by contemporary audiences.

Its especially hard with shows like Family Guy et al. making base, unfunny, and immature humour the popular norm

this is bullshit. simpsons has been shit since around the turn of the century. family guy debuted 1999. Nu-simpsons is as unfunny as anything on televsion.

Huh? I agree with you on those points, and I don't see how I'm implying the Simpsons haven't been shit for the last 10 years.

I mean to say that the general standards for cartoon comedy shows seems to have lowered in the last 10 years thanks to the popularity of unfunny, family guy type stuff; hence, the Simpsons have if anything lowered their standards, perhaps because there's more of a market for it.

this is becoming like outgrowing Mad magazine where all the references are turning into things that people much younger than me like. I would have no idea what the fuck was going on in this ep if I didn't see the ads boasting that the cast of glee was in it.

saw the season 18 parody of michael apted's Up series of documentaries the other day and enjoyed it.

they let those Flight Of The Conchords dipshits on network TV?

― Gaspar NoAgé (Whiney G. Weingarten), Monday, September 27, 2010 2:45 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

that carefully-curated garden of sophisticated, quality humour?

either sophisticated or artsy, but I liked it

how much better would that have been with Tenacious D?

Quite an intro bit by Bansky:

<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/DX1iplQQJTo?fs=1&;hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/DX1iplQQJTo?fs=1&;hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>

Dammit.

All you have to do is paste the url.

http://www.youtube.com/v/DX1iplQQJTo

whut? Why didn't that work?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DX1iplQQJTo

Hah, thanks.

The something of something is never the anything of anything.

they really wanted us to make sure that it was banksy huh

also an important political statement

that's capital "I" important, Jordan.

i seriously need to avoid the internet whenever banksy does anything

I thought that was pretty neat but I wasn't aware of its existence until three minutes ago so I can't make prissy claims to have been put off by everyone talking about it, maybe others will enjoy that luxury

i've been hating banksy for a long time but this is funnie imo

i objected to my rss feeds posting this video as if it were BREAKING NEWS but mostly it was the wooster collective quote that pushed me over the edge, calling this "one of the most closely guarded secrets in TV history"

http://www.drudgereport.com/siren.gif"one of the most closely guarded secrets in TV history"http://www.drudgereport.com/siren.gif

That was a good intro but wtf did it have to do with Banksy apart from BANKSY written a few places and the "I will not write all over the walls"?

Oooh, Rough Draft use Korean slave labour.

Banksy storyboarded it, apparently. Not a fan of the Cult of Banksy myself either, but this is pretty good (except for the BANKSY BANKSY tags everywhere)

i've been hating banksy for a long time but this is funnie imo

^

now we just need a picture of korean animators drawing themselves drawing themselves drawing themselves....x100 on the Simpsons

this comment was news to me: http://www.metafilter.com/96526/I-Must-Not-Write-All-Over-The-Walls#3320604

I knew that Simpsons had most of its animation work done somewhere in Asia ahead of time and that was partially why it such a funny intro last night. Specifically the intro got really good when they introduced the dolphin head and the unicorn - self-admitted absurdity. I don't know who Banksy is and I don't care.

I thought it was a boring attempt to reacquaint themselves with the audience they've lost.

koreans?

too subtle imo

I knew that Simpsons had most of its animation work done somewhere in Asia ahead of time

Unlike other, more moral programs that have their animation drawn in America as it goes live-to-air? 0_o

It's a terrible strain on the animators' wrists iirc

It occurs to me that a Futurama episode could pull this kind of thing off and no one'd bat an eye. Its interesting doing the same on the Simpsons has caused such a fuss.

cause people watch the simpsons

Ha.

jesus man, is dissecting my informal typing for humorous reinterpretation really that funny? cause I get that a lot here

Lorax, you could write War and Peace and the ilxors who have decided they don't like you would just say "tl;dr". Sorry man, you know that's just how it is.

Bill James was on the show. yawn Banksy.

xp
quite the contrary, I get certain ilxors reading into my posts like they are wearing x-ray spectacles... looking for something as lol as a pun

no offense CL but you do on occasion talk a certain amount of bollocks

Host: Okay, Ron, which one of our girls said the following about you: ‘He looked so sexy, I hoped that we would have sex?’
Ron: Well, that’s a tough one since I did the deed with Uda, Candy and Shasta…
Shasta (giggling): It’s true alright!
Ron: …But I’m gonna have to go with Shasta since she liked makin’ bacon on the beach.
Homer (watching TV): Ooooh, me too….

http://simpsonitos.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/67-4-08-9f06-new-kid-on-the-block1.jpg?w=300&h=220

`he looked so sexy, i hoped that we would have sex` is so perfect it kills me

gawd this is just a perfect episode p much

been watching like 4 episodes a night lately - gf grew up w/o cable and it's alllll new for her. the things she loves the most so far (itchy and scratchy, lisa, jasper beardly) are def different from my favorites and in some ways watching w/ her gives me a new perspective. pretty great to see someone watch 'stop the planet of the apes, I want to get off!' for the first time.

ended up learning I was dating someone on the wrong side of the vikings argument but I didn't push it

i grew up w/o cable and still managed to watch simpsons...

tell her to watch this episode tho its p killer

xp Wait, which side was the wrong side again?

yeah we're working through the first 10 seasons, I'm just picking randomly, prob gonna get to that one soon

wrong side is 'viking means good at sleep'

You need to dump her posthaste.

Also, this just made me LOL in my office:

http://deadon.files.wordpress.com/2007/04/waiting.jpg?w=460

fav thing that I only noticed this time around: snake wearing a middlebury shirt in "22 Short Films About Springfield"

I had such a huge crush on laura because of this episode when I was young. I think it probably did more to shape my 'ideal girl' than anything else

Lfc_all_da_way At least when we lost with Rafa, his interview would make me feel better. This guy is just a joke. He should take over from Krusty #simpsons

laura is mint in this episode yah but the b story w/ the all u can eat seafood is what makes the episode classic imo

although no he poked it w/ a stick is just

really so many quotable lines

"you can see our house in that picture!" just

Moi_normal Sarahbabiixxx Spider pig spider pig #simpsons about 2 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®

omg louis srsly

is it this episode or another one where the neon sign for the restaurant is a man tossing fish into the giant maw of a fat dude

haha yah thats the sign for 'the frying dutchman' all u can eat seafood joint

other killer gag: marge breaks down admits homer drove around for hours and then went fishing "does that sound like a man who had all he could eat" cut to a bunch of really fat ppl in the jury box murmuring in agreement

"Please, sir, don't take the steam tray!"

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ldqs2slObk1qfa84uo1_500.gif

Know what, a couple of the really recent ones I've seen have shown improvement... Obviously it's still bloated and self-congratulatory, but there've been some pretty funny jokes in there.

rerun of dustin hoffman ep is on right now and i'm weeping freely

I watched the trillion dollar bill episode the other night. first Simpsons thing I've watched in at least a few years. still rofl'd at most of Mr. Burns' lines ("they're going to hunt us down like a couple of common snow leopards!").

can't even imagine watching the show now tho

^^ Castro: Comrades, our nation is completely bankrupt! We have no choice but to abandon communism!
All: [sighs]
Castro: I know, I know, I know... but we all knew from day one this mumbo jumbo wouldn't fly! I'll call Washington and tell them they won.
Man: But presidente, America tried to kill you!
Castro: Ah, they're not so bad. They even named a street after me in San Francisco!
Man 2: [whispers in Castro's ear]
Castro: It's full of <what>?!

some great, great bits from seasons long after you'd expect, like:
"oh no! my scrimpings!"

Castro: Ah, they're not so bad. They even named a street after me in San Francisco!
Man 2: [whispers in Castro's ear]
Castro: It's full of <what>?!

Hahaha yeah I love that bit.

My current SN is thanks to watching the doorbell episode while drinnking, and changing it to Senor DingDong for lols and then forgetting all about it and making a post the next day and going "lol wut"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogaJ0CygjnI

this is such a perfect, simple gag.

Hahah I have to confess I say "I... don't know!" ALL THE TIME :(

great things about that scene:

the guy can see he's not mr burns, so why put on the voice?
and it's nothing like mr burns voice anyway!

i never noticed the epic painting before the millions of times i've seen this. what is it parodying?

Sistine Chapel, looks like.

Da Vinci, I guess, but something else too maybe?

I thought it might be some famous Chicago or Detroit public works mural but with a mailman instead of a brawny steelworker or automaker. Most of the writers are from Chicago though? So I'd bet Chicago?

According to SNPP its just a pastiche of the Sistine thing.

man it'd be so awesome if someone or some group of people came up with a really discriminating guide to later seasons of the Simpsons or picked the very best episodes of those years. it'd be great to just have all those occasional great ones collected and never play rerun roulette with random shitty/forgettable episodes.

I just buy all the DVDs and watch the ones I like! So far it's all been good but now we've hit S13 for the first time I've found an episode so excerable I couldnt finish watching it (the clip show ep "Gump Roast")

hey if you're watching them all anyway, feel free to suggest your picks for the cream of the crop.

I feel like with later seasons it's rare that there really is a 100% gold episode, I mean almost all of the show premises are just horrible...but there are ones with good jokes and there are some with lots of good jokes.

from whence do you feel it went downhill? It wasnt til S12-13 for me, so I'm happy with p much all of whats on DVD. I'm partial to all the halloween episodes tho - especially the one with the 3D bit.

A random list from those last few seasons tho:

- Computer Wore Menace Shoes
- Skinners Sense of Snow
- HOMR
- Faith Off
- Behind the Laughter

I feel like with later seasons it's rare that there really is a 100% gold episode, I mean almost all of the show premises are just horrible...but there are ones with good jokes and there are some with lots of good jokes.

― iatee, Wednesday, February 9, 2011 9:19 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark

that's kinda true, but in my experience there are a decent number of episodes where i just laugh through the whole thing and get to the end and go wow, they killed that one, i didn't even think "that plot's been done" or "wow they're running out of Moe jokes" or whatever

i guess i would put anything after the first decade as a 'later' season although it's been too long since the episodes originally ran for me to claim any memory of whether season 8 or season 11 or season 14 or whatever represented any particular drop off

Ah yeah, I can see how if you've consumed it all via TV reruns that might be more confusing. I stopped botghering watching it on TV about 3 years ago. I dont think Ive seen a single new episode in at least 2 years. Certainly nothing since they changed the starting theme imagery.

i've watched the first run episodes on and off throughout the whole history of the show, although less and less consistently over the last decade -- i'm just saying i'll be damned if i know how good or bad it was in 2001 compared to 2003 etc.

I was like that until recently - as I mentioned upthread I'm watching tons of episodes each week w/ the gf. looking through the seasons trying to pick an episode, night after night, has definitely given me a feel for the differences season by season. I consider the first few episodes of the 10th season classic era simpsons, the rest of the 10th/11th/12th still very funny but definitely the cynical/crass mid-period. there's something about the animation that changes too, the colors seem brighter? is that a thing?

more computers

Two random favorite jokes:

When everyone's in the bunker waiting for the comet, and Moe suggests playing a game where you make an animal sound and people try to guess that sound, and he leads off with some bizarre, unidentifiable yelp/bleat/garble.

And then from Lionel Hutz, when Marge suggests they should tell the truth, "Yeah, but what is truth? If you follow me."

Both season 2. Golden, delicious season 2.

One of mine is:
Flanders( to Homer, driving the car): "Oh no! I think we hit something!"
Homer: "I hope it's Flanders!"

And yeah nothing'll ever top Phil Hartman's work on the show, which is so sad.

ilx thread revives as of late are eerily corresponding with my life. just in the past few days i've been revisiting the show after not having watched it in rerun or first run format in eight years or so.

from whence do you feel it went downhill? It wasnt til S12-13 for me

for me, too. the ones where the family went to africa, brazil i especially recall being stinkers which led to me giving up on the show and wishing that they would just pack it in

i think the first few seasons are kind of "meh", but the show really begins to get Great around season five

re-watching the years of greatness (say, 1993-2000) i was pleasantly surprised by how well the show's humor held up...after sitting through some of the dreggy episodes from the crap years, i wasn't sure that i'd ever find any of the characters amusing again

there are some not great episodes before it, but the africa one is the first 100% horrible, 'why am I watching this shit' episode

tho weirdly the next episode is the run, lola, run parody which is 100% classic

i don't remember that one now, but i am interested in seeing more of the ones from then and beyond, such as the standouts from the stinker years that trayce mentioned

one interesting and cool thing about the ones i've been watching (i've started with 95-96) is that so far there's only been one or two especially dated-seeming references that might cause younger viewers to scratch their heads. the idea of doing a run lola run parody, while i have faith that it's funny, just seems like a bad move in that sense, as opposed to say the pulp fiction one, which i think most latter-day casual viewers would have no trouble picking up on

yeah I agree, having rewatched it recently I realized that I barely remembered rlr and had no interest in watching it again (tho the simpsons episode is great regardless)

"Skinners Sense of Snow" wins entirely for the one line "Nibbles! Chew through my ball sack!"

...I am 12.

The reworked opening sequence is there to warn you that your favorite characters will be desperately referencing pop culture and current technology, blatantly rolling their eyes or staring extra blankly to be totally sure you know you were supposed to laugh at whatever just happened, and relying on successful beer commercials to cue them in on what type of overly cartoonish physical humor they think today's young people respond to.

Honestly though, I like a lot of the new stuff on it's own, but I'm sick of seeing the same 15 episodes of the most current seasons constantly replayed, and its just so much cheaper than the best, older seasons were. I especially hate when it seems like they've done market research to appeal to younger demographics with hip references or unsubtle physical comedy.

Just please play older episodes too! And not just when it is "Valentines day episodes week" or something!
That felt good to vent.

There must be some contract obligating them to not just run through any season besides the last couple, which is frustrating because they've always been on FOX and I just want to see older ones rerun.

there are two quotes from the Simpsons that are circulating in my current vocabulary - first is "well that's the end of me", which no one gets and it thus seems excessively dark, and second is "I'm on my way!", which obviously no one recognises as a 'joke', or anything but me saying that I am indeed on my way. When it comes to catchphrases I'm Lisa-esque.

YES. For me and my housemate "I'm on my way!" is shorthand for taking the piss out of him because he is always so slow to get anywhere/put on his shoes/leave the house/etc.

(much like homer was in that episode. Pickabar? Whats pickabar?)

So does anybody know why they won't replay old episodes? Unless there is an occasion?

i don't know if it's that they won't but that there's so many episodes now that the % of them from early seasons gets smaller and smaller and the odds of you seeing one from those years gets less and less as they add to the pile. but then i gave up watching it in syndication regularly a couple years ago, maybe they really have stopped playing oldies much at all.

No but it has been really like one or two seasons at the most over and over and over.

It has to be some obligation because Seinfeld is finished and any and every episode plays.

We get the old ones a billion times a week.

Trade

I still watch the new ones hoping for the increasingly rare brilliant episode, or at least a couple of genuine belly laughs, but they're few and far between.

One of the most telling things to me is the fate of SNPP, one of the earliest and longest-running fan sites. For the longest time, they'd provide detailed capsules of every single episode, with production notes, "Did You See?" trivia, transcripts, just about everything you can think of. Halfway through Season 13 - specifically, right after the episode with Reese Witherspoon as Rainier Wolfcastle's daughter - they simply stopped, and have never started up again.

I think about where the show is now, then think about the fact that one of the best fansites around gave up nine years ago. At this point, they've had more bad seasons than great ones. The last DVD set I bought, the last season I think contained more unequivocally good episodes than bad ones, was season 11. I can't imagine buying any after that, even though season 12 has three or four episodes that I love (Lisa the Tree Hugger, Hungry Hungry Homer, Trilogy of Error and, uh . . . that season's Treehouse of Horror was good?)

but the africa one is the first 100% horrible, 'why am I watching this shit' episode

They showed this here a few nights ago. It was the first time I'd seen it and came to the same conclusion as you. And last night I caught the one where they go to China, and that was almost as bad. The episodes where the Simpsons visit foreign countries are so fucking grim.

With the exception of Australia and the one where Bart is a foreign exchange student in France.

A recent-ish episode that takes off 'Goodfellas' (including Homer quoting 'I get to live the rest of my life as a shnook...' at the end) was pretty good, but yeah, pretty terrible overall.

Although searching for that ep found this, which is kinda brilliant

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RyqtrGnicc

Ugh, hated that episode, which tried to pull an Armin Tamzarian with Fat Tony, only stupider. I think the only joke I laughed at was Homer's camera wig bursting into flames.

Only family trip ep. that I recall being any good is Australia. Brazil sucks, Africa sucks, China sucks. Japan sucks.

The NYC one is when I started to tune out. Also recall getting off the boat after the Johnny Cash/chili trip ep, which may also be the one with Bart shoveling mini-pony poop and commenting "how can all this come out of such a small horse?" or something like that. I was, like, poop jokes? Really?

Ha, the NYC and chili trip ones are two of my all-time Top 10. So quotable.

otm both in my top 10 no doubt

Yeah, the chili thing is all-time.

chili one is 'tv as work of art' territory

it's "maybe if you didn't go to the bathroom so much you wouldn't be so small"

which is in the upper echelons of 'clever' as poop jokes so I think

Do you think poop jokes have to do more with laziness or this point that I made: "I especially hate when it seems like they've done market research to appeal to younger demographics with hip references or unsubtle physical comedy."?

Maybe both.

I mean, the whole trip thing aside, there's

Hello? Is this... [reads his paper] GBM? Uh, yeah. I read in the personals that you were seeking a soulmate. Well, I also like rainy days and movies. Uh-huh... [apprehensively] Uh, no, I don't like that... Or that... No, it's not that I'm afraid. [very quickly] I'm going to hang up now, bye-bye.

looking at snpp.com -

Gradually, alt.tv.simpsons and Simpsons-L became more and more quiet. Additionally, the number of the kind of Simpsons fans who love the show enough to find a place to discuss it has decreased in general.

horse poop is from the carnie episode, isn't it?

Do you think poop jokes have to do more with laziness or this point that I made: "I especially hate when it seems like they've done market research to appeal to younger demographics with hip references or unsubtle physical comedy."?

Maybe both.

― Evan, Thursday, February 10, 2011 10:43 AM (47 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

how i yearn for the more sophisticated "eat my shorts" era

They certainly didn't depend on those things in the earlier ones.

Only family trip ep. that I recall being any good is Australia. Brazil sucks, Africa sucks, China sucks. Japan sucks.

Their trip to England sucks too - a parade of poor gags about British celebs, and the stereotypes didn't have the surreal OTTness which made the Australia one funny.

Japan had the odd funny bit as I recall.

I like the japan one

England one is especially terrible I thought, it doesn't even pretend to have a storyline for the majority of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuNahIa2Gxo

Blair guesting on the British episode is an all time low for me

The one Simpsons quote that will always make me laugh, no matter what is going on in my life: "It feels like I'm wearing nothing at all! Nothing at all!! Nothing at aaaallll!!!"

I like how there's a joke about the simpsons going to too many stupid places in the behind the music ep but then, no, they just keep on making those eps after that.

haha yeah that's classic. stupid sexy flanders. (xpost)

Simpsons go to Australia and Homer goes to NY are all-time classic eps imho

stupid sexy flanders is one of the best/most quoted 00s jokes (and it's from the 99/00 season right?)

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/stupid_sexy_flanders.jpg

My biggest gripe about the newer episodes is that they started turning the characters into stereotypes, I mean Flanders at one point was really a pretty complex character, at one point even having a full blown crisis of faith; I can't imagine they'd ever do anything like that now. He's now just another Family Guy-type character whose only purpose is to make fun of the Catholic church with dumb, broad stereotype humor. The great part about the character through the good seasons is that I knew people like that, always thought they were a bit crazy or weird but they were super nice and welcoming so you'd never say anything bad about them. Now he doesn't really resemble a real person. The show went downhill around the time they killed off Maude, which I always thought was senseless. Yep, it's all about Flanders.

XP So what season was that from?? Like 10/11? That episode was great. South Park also had a great skiing episode; "if you french fry instead of pizza, you're gonna have a bad time". Classic

"I wash myself with a rag on a stick."

Marge's line about "pimps and CHUDs" in the NY episode is like GOAT territory. And Homer's whole phone call to the NY police department, too. "Your plea has been . . . REJECTED. Please wait by your car for Detective Steve . . . GRABOWSKI." And the street vendor!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Skurheg3P6I&feature=related

xxp He's now just another Family Guy-type character whose only purpose is to make fun of the Catholic church with dumb, broad stereotype humor.

Uh, of all the things Flanders is, "Catholic" is not one of them.

Yeah I probably should have put "Christian" there but he typically stands with them on a lot of hot-button issues

lol yeah as soon as someone mentioned the nyc one, i immediately thought of the street vendor bit

man it'd be so awesome if someone or some group of people came up with a really discriminating guide to later seasons of the Simpsons or picked the very best episodes of those years. it'd be great to just have all those occasional great ones collected and never play rerun roulette with random shitty/forgettable episodes.

― some dude, Thursday, 10 February 2011 02:12 (14 hours ago) Bookmark

challenge accepted

clam juice

http://twitter.com/#!/simpsonsguide

as you can tell i am going to be spending the next six months poor and need cheap ways to kill time. could be worse ways than watching the simpsons and listening to wu-tang. also learning how to draw.

clam juice

that's how i remembered it, but it's actually crab juice!

lol whoops

The Japan episode has this exchange I loved:

Marge: Come on, Homer. Japan will be fun! You liked Rashomon.
Homer: That's not how *I* remember it.

And FWIW, one of the last recent eps I remember finding super-funny was "The Seemingly Never-Ending Story," which was 2006.

There's this brief reaction of stammering existential crisis when Homer encounters Mr. Spakeru for the first time that's hard to encapsulate as a joke or catchphrase, but it's just tops!

What are more bits like that?

"Marge vs. The Monorail" is just breathtaking for the sheer quantity & quality of jokes, all from so many different angles. I'd start a poll but narrowing it down to 50 gags would be difficult enough.

the cosmic ballet... goes on

it's an excellent episode but you can see the beginnings of bad use of celebrities in the nimoy-quimby exchange.
"you don't know who I am, do you?" is the joke! Then he beams out, breaking a long-standing "no cartoon logic" rule.

weirdly the later seasons handled the rock camp cameos fairly OK, and Ludacris nails the "you'll be hearing from my lawyer, Ms. Melissa BurlinGAME" line.

breaking a long-standing "no cartoon logic" rule.

this was a rule? seems like this gets violated pretty often

it's called "flexible reality"

they used to go out of their way to have fun with it -- like when bart and lisa get surprised by their news and their caps fly vertically off their heads, and they pull back to reveal it's because of some faulty ceiling fan.

there's some scene really early on where Bart and Lisa are talking about how cartoons are unrealistic and you see Homer walk by a window outside, even though he was just inside a couple frames ago or something like that

I know there's more this is jsut the first one that springs to mind

Top 50 Marge vs. the Monorail gags, go!

1. "Homer, I've brought someone who can help you?"
"Is it Batman?"
"No, it's a scientist."
"Batman's a scientist."
"It's not Batman!"

2. "I call the big one 'Bitey.'"

3. "I shouldn't have stopped for that haircut."

I call animals Bitey all the time. there's a Life in Hell series of strips where Groening has some pet ducks that uses the same gag

Another one of my favorites, taken from SNPP:

Taylor: Hi, Lisa, I'm Alison's father, Professor Taylor. I've heard
great things about you.
Lisa: Oh, really? I --
Taylor: Oh, don't be modest. I'm glad we have someone who can join us
in our anagram game.
Alison: We take proper names and rearrange the letters to form a
description of that person.
Taylor: Like, er...oh, I don't know, uh...Alec Guinness.
Alison: Genuine class.
Taylor: Ho ho, very good. All right, Lisa, um...Jeremy Irons.
Lisa: [looks with consternation] Jeremy's...iron.
Taylor: Mm hmm, well that's...very good...for a first try. You know
what? I have a ball. [pulls one from his pocket] Perhaps you'd
like to bounce it?

yeah that's great. I wonder how long the writers took to find a celebrity name that more or less can't be anagrammed

well I guess there's this one ha

worra jerk that Professor Taylor was.

I think I use the affectionate name 'Stitchface' a little more than I do 'Bitey'.

Yeah, Homer's nicknames for things are great. And then there's this:

http://deadhomersociety.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/picture21.png

Repeated from memory, a couple of pearls from maligned travel eps:

England-

Homer observing things he sees looking over the city: "Jimmy Page, one of the greatest living thieves of black American music."

Africa-

The tourguide detailing dictator Muntu's rise to power: "It was a bloodless coup--all smotherings!"

I've always wanted to name a pet Stompy.

it's STAMPY

which is the one where homer goes, "first, I'll become a cop. Then... over time... (punches fist into hand) a dirty cop." ?

Was it when they emigrated back to America from France?

wasn't time travel involved, too?

x-post Well, I've always wanted to name a pet STOMPY! It's not like I'm keeping an elephant tied up in the backyard or anything.

it's an excellent episode but you can see the beginnings of bad use of celebrities in the nimoy-quimby exchange.
"you don't know who I am, do you?" is the joke! Then he beams out, breaking a long-standing "no cartoon logic" rule.

this was a conan episode and apparently breaking the long-standing no-cartoon-logic rule was his biggest influence on the show

x-postSpeaking of France, one of the only good things from that ep where Homer and Carl went to Paris was when Homer called Sarkozy and he answered, "Hello, you are getting cozy with Sarkozy." Dumb, but I laughed.

The tourguide detailing dictator Muntu's rise to power: "It was a bloodless coup--all smotherings!"

Followed by Marge's "Just like Jimmy Carter!"

Also this:

Attention passengers -- please prepare for our landing in Tanzania.
[someone in the cockpit hands her a note] I'm sorry, it is now called
New Zanzibar. [she is given another note] Excuse me, it is now called
Pepsi presents New Zanzibar.

I remain baffled as to why people like the Aus episode but none of the other overseas ones. Groening didnt even TRY to make it look like australia. Nothing - not one single bit of the episode - had any actual reference point, or even landmark (no, not even the parlament house was right). It just looked like rural america. It was insultingly shitty and he actually said "well admittedly I know nothiing about Autralia" which is just pathetic idk?

I love the Japan epsisode, but it had some great jokes in it! Battling Seizure Robots!

Ugh excuse all the typos. I need to clean my keyboard.

favourite line in the Monorail episode, as the plane lands in Shelbyville

"there he is! seat 3F!"

Australia one is meant to be some absurdist version of Australia...same w/ the France episode

feel like it was probably funnier *because* there were no landmarks

"you don't know who I am, do you?" is the joke! Then he beams out, breaking a long-standing "no cartoon logic" rule.

the real joke was that quimby thought nimoy was one of the little rascals so wasn't even confusing star wars with star trek when he said "may the force be with you".

would start a thread for earlier examples of that kind of bait-switch-switch in comedies but feels like only the simpsons ever did it on that level

I remain baffled as to why people like the Aus episode but none of the other overseas ones. Groening didnt even TRY to make it look like australia. Nothing - not one single bit of the episode - had any actual reference point, or even landmark

THIS IS THE JOKE - it is entirely about Americans' stereotypes of Australia, it has nothing to do with ACTUAL Australia.

I remain baffled as to why people like the Aus episode

"so let your children run wild and free, for as an old man once said...let your children run wild and free"

+ knifey spoony obv

Yeah that and chuzza wuzzas was funny but I dunno, idgi. The overall premise with the boot thing was boring, to me. Though I know it was a riff on a recent (at the time) incident where an Australian had been punished in indonesia by being caned or something.

THIS IS THE JOKE - it is entirely about Americans' stereotypes of Australia, it has nothing to do with ACTUAL Australia.

exactly--the "australia" being mocked in the simpsons ep is essentially the "australia" sold to americans through crocodile dundee movies, fosters beer commercials, outback steakhouse etc.

WELL YOU ALL SUCK THEN

"Well, it's pretty big . . . I guess . . . "

http://deadhomersociety.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/bartvs-australia1.png

also c'mon, Homer tearfully saluting the toilet flushing the proper "american way"

Also the bit with Homer and Bart escaping in the kangaroo pouches, then climbing out covered in slime and amniotic fluid, is amazing.

also Marge doing her little speech, handing the phone back and the diplomat guy's "so we're agreed, she won't be allowed to speak again"

Yeah I thought that was pretty obvious. "Coff-ee!" "Bee-eer?"

I mean

http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/7066/2f13schleim.jpg

If it makes you feel better, Trayce - I don't remember The SImpsons Go To Toronto particularly resembling Toronto at all (with possible exception of the CN Tower in the background of a shot)

"the real joke was that quimby thought nimoy was one of the little rascals"

that doesn't really save it. what could save it is if they switched to Quimby's POV and for some reason for this particular episode he needs glasses, so everything is fuzzy, and in this fuzzy vision Nimoy actually resembles Alfalfa, and does some signature Alfalfa mugging, but when someone finds his glasses for him, he reverts to stern, unblinking Nimoy. Then, to save the beamout joke, Nimoy could go, "My work here is done" and appear to beam out, but when Quimby puts his glasses back on, it's actually a cloud of dust from the defunct monorail, and Nimoy coughs and goes, "can I get a ride" then the Little Rascals show up in a funnycar and say, "hop in, Luke Skywalker!" and Nimoy gives an exasperated grunt

There's just a lot of joke doctoring needed before they can bring this up to par!
Also, the conan cameo. "only I can dance" that's the joke?

dude that's a pretty convoluted way to 'save' a decent double switch

I would've liked Simpsons go to England a lot more if had been absurdist riffs on ridiculous stereotypes TBH.

i liked the beamout mostly because that is pretty much the greatest sound ever made

Nimoy was better in the "X-Files" episode anyway.

Hello. I'm Leonard Nimoy. The following tale of alien encounters is true. And by true, I mean false. It's all lies. But they're
entertaining lies. And in the end, isn't that the real truth? The answer is: No.

They also squandered Patrick McGoohan's cameos, but Moleman getting faced by Rover was excellent.

my favorite gag in the Aussie episode is the prime minister

http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ3G6Xre6s4XBZaS9r55d1N3OKC2xDF_lX6bowd2jWCot5KCUJ9

If it makes you feel better, Trayce - I don't remember The SImpsons Go To Toronto particularly resembling Toronto at all (with possible exception of the CN Tower in the background of a shot)

― she started dancing to that (Finefinemusic), Thursday, February 10, 2011 4:24 PM (40 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Ha, this was such a joke (and I don't mena joke in the *it's funny* sense).

I like the made-up Australianisms, too:

"These bloody things are everywhere. They're in the lift, in the lorry, in the bond wizard, and all over the malonga gilderchuck."

(C&P from SNPP. I always heard the third word as one thing, bondwhizzer.)

I woulda called them snazzwozzers

http://www.grumpydodo.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/yahoo-150x150.png

Saving grace of the Brazil episode:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_6ai5mauc2j4/TCyM9gdClmI/AAAAAAAAE3M/gJ4Zt6LE48M/s200/try%20and%20stop%20US%20-%20simpsons%20screen%20grab%20-%20uncle%20sam%20gorging%20pigeat%20earth.jpg

I liked the Brazil episode fine!

"He's got the Stockholm Syndrome"
"they let me stay up ALL NIGHT! :D"

Minibar hat!

"I'm Chiquita banana and I'm here to/I will take this Toblerone and I will not pay!"

australia, japan, france and brazil episodes - all really spot on and hilarious.

found the UK one inaccurate and offensive, tho.

i lol'd at the two posh gentlemen in top hats smooching

australia, japan, france and brazil episodes - all really spot on and hilarious.

found the UK one inaccurate and offensive, tho.

I see a pattern forming...

I don't know how anyone could think the depictions of France or Australia are "spot-on"

"I need more wine! Wiiiine for my children!"

"My last paycheque bounced! My children need wine!"

I don't know how anyone could think the postings of max arrrrgh are "sincere"

"australia, japan, france and brazil episodes - all really spot on and hilarious."

Brazil one is quite funny iirc but just in that post-Family Guy way where it's more flattering for everyone if you think of it as a sketch show

Come on, I rode to work on a chuzzwozzer this morning, wtf are you all on about.

;)

surprisingly good use of celebrity guest:
http://www.samplereality.com/gmu/spring2009/660/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/pynchon-simpsons.jpg

I liked Amy Tan's bit.
"that is NOT what I was saying at all. Just sit down, I'm embarrassed for both of us"

was also surprised to hear robert pinsky bring more vigor and youthful energy to his cameo than tony hawk and 50 cent.

50 Cent's never brought energy or vigor to anything

have you seen his pump & dump stock tweets?

Man, even the Treehouse of Horror eps are lame these days, aren't they? And they used to be the saving grace of even the dud seasons.

When the sleb episodes started to be the building block of a show is when I started to get a bit tired of it.

That Alec Baldwin/Kim Basinger one was risible, and so was the tennis episode.

That Alec Baldwin/Kim Basinger one

aw i liked this one. "you've killed ron howard!"

Hahah yeah and like, how they clumsily say the star's WHOLE NAME like we dont know who they are or something?

I did like that Howard was a boozer in a robe tho.

still waiting for Ron Howard to make that movie about the robot driving instructor who goes back in time for some reason, along with his sidekick the talking pie.

luke perry being cemented in canon as krusty's half-brother has had surprisingly few repercussions.

the australia episode is A+++ trayce, what are you on about

marge vs. monorail is classic but I'm getting a bit tired as how it's referred to as the peak of the simpsons

Alec Baldwin/Kim Basinger one is genuinely funny but I feel bad watching it cause it's really what opened up the floodgates

It received mixed reception in Australia, with some Australian fans saying the episode was a mockery of their country.

I wasnt offended by the ep as a mockery, I just thought the jokes were lame and really lazy cliches.

the only thing that bothered me about the ep was that it promoted the idea we drink fosters

^^

what's a good beer to get in australia then - james boar?

who gives a xxxx

james boar? itym boag. And no.

Mountain Goat is p good beerz.

How is it we're having a beer discussion in the simpsons thread when there is a beer thread *right there* *points at ILE new answers*

arf

soz

2. "I call the big one 'Bitey.'"

Yeah, that line's funny enough on its own...but it gets funnier later on, when it lodges itself into Marge's train of thought: I've sold monorails to Brockway, Ogdenville and North Haverbrook!...Is there a chance the track could bend?...I call the big one Bitey!...I've sold monorails to Brockway, Ogdenville and North Haverbrook!...Is there a chance the track could bend?...I call the big one Bitey!

Also, who can forget:

http://static.punknews.org/frontpage/homer-smokes.jpg

DENTAL PLAAAAAAAAAAAN lisa needs braces DENTAL PLAAAAAAAAAAAN lisa needs braces DENTAL PLAAAAAAAAAAAN lisa needs braces DENTAL PLAAAAAAAAAAAN lisa needs braces DENTAL PLAAAAAAAAAAAN lisa needs braces DENTAL PLAAAAAAAAAAAN lisa needs braces DENTAL PLAAAAAAAAAAAN lisa needs braces DENTAL PLAAAAAAAAAAAN lisa needs braces DENTAL PLAAAAAAAAAAAN lisa needs braces

I DO NOT FIND THAT DENTAL PLAN JOKE FUNNY AND NEVER HAVE NOR THE RAKES JOKE ARGHHHHH.

YOU SUCK

^^ That dental plan moment may be when I first realized the Simpsons had ascended to become an all time classic. Right down to the "why are we all laughing" ending.

xp sorry you don't appreciate it, trayce.

I DO NOT FIND THAT DENTAL PLAN JOKE FUNNY AND NEVER HAVE NOR THE RAKES JOKE ARGHHHHH.

― Senor DingDong (Trayce), Friday, February 11, 2011 12:09 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark

...this...this is where I defriend you on fb

ah cah man DENTAL PLAN is awesome.

I must admit that I have no idea what you're all referring to when you talk about the France episode, as I assume you aren't talking about the season 1 episode where Bart did a student exchange with Adil Hoxha of Albania.

Last Exit to Springfield is utterly flawless. Anyone who disagrees is headed straight for the disgusting savage thread.

the albanian exchange student was definitely not season 1

i think the best gag in last exit is where a squeaky, unctuous keeps voting 'nay' @ the union meeting until homer, exasperated, finally asks 'who keeps saying that' & it pans to a pair of guys at the back of the room. one of them is a shrimpy dude in a willy loman sack suit the other this buff germanic dude. the small guy in the same squeaky voice points at the larger, blaming him, exhorts everyone to beat the other dude up & laughs

it is dan

the albanian exchange student was definitely not season 1

no, it totally is

s1 isnt really that good but i kinda think it & s2 get a strangely bad rep - there are some really good moments in most of those episodes

Exch student one was def S1. I am looking at the DVD.

their bad rep is mostly just the contrast w/ what comes next

if the show had only lasted 2 seasons it'd still be classic, just some cool cult cartoon

oooh - the albanian student episode is the same as bart goes to france

best part of last exit to springfield is when he does the chicken dance on the floor

woooooooooooooooooop woopwoopwoopwoopwoopwoop. I have laughed embarrassingly hard at that many times. Also at Homer's yelp when Kent Brockman calls organised labour a 'lumbering dinosaur'.

Last Exit to Springfield is utterly flawless. Anyone who disagrees is headed straight for the disgusting savage thread.

― Antoine Bugleboy (Merdeyeux), Friday, 11 February 2011 15:21 (13 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

That and Marge v the Monorail are a stark reminder of just how far this show has fallen.

May I clarify I did not say I think "Last Exit to Springfield" is a bad episode - its not, its great, and so is the monorail episode. I just dont get much out of jokes of extreme repetition.

(cf Peter Griffin whacking his knee)

This is perhaps rather lolworthy irony seeing as I watch my Simpsons DVDs so regularly I have probably seen every single episode of S1-13 about 15-20 times each.

When everyone's in the bunker waiting for the comet, and Moe suggests playing a game where you make an animal sound and people try to guess that sound, and he leads off with some bizarre, unidentifiable yelp/bleat/garble.

And then from Lionel Hutz, when Marge suggests they should tell the truth, "Yeah, but what is truth? If you follow me."

Both season 2. Golden, delicious season 2.

That first one is from Season 6, actually.

That line from Lionel Hutz "if you lived here, you'd be home by now!" was used on a billboard once, which is funny because I thought the point of the line was to prove how ridiculous real estate agents get in their advertising

i think the best gag in last exit is where a squeaky, unctuous keeps voting 'nay' @ the union meeting until homer, exasperated, finally asks 'who keeps saying that' & it pans to a pair of guys at the back of the room. one of them is a shrimpy dude in a willy loman sack suit the other this buff germanic dude. the small guy in the same squeaky voice points at the larger, blaming him, exhorts everyone to beat the other dude up & laughs

i like to claim that bob dylan provided the 'nay', uncredited

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sd9Yibf_UXE

That line from Lionel Hutz "if you lived here, you'd be home by now!" was used on a billboard once, which is funny because I thought the point of the line was to prove how ridiculous real estate agents get in their advertising

― frogbs, Friday, February 11, 2011 9:42 AM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this line existed as a real estate slogan loooooong before the simpsons was even an idea

"Lenny, can you get this sugar daddy off my back?!"

xp Had no idea; I always assumed that Simpsons did it first...more power to 'em I guess

1.1 - it starts

i'm excited! followed you. sixredfeet.

"What did he say?"
"I dunno, something about being gay."

That line from Lionel Hutz "if you lived here, you'd be home by now!" was used on a billboard once, which is funny because I thought the point of the line was to prove how ridiculous real estate agents get in their advertising

There is a real estate sign in my town that says this – even more confusingly, it is in front of an office plaza.

It's a good thing, a hoy hoy, but you need an icon.

oh ok, give me a minute. not used to this "twitter" thing.

you've been gallivanting around with that floooooozy of a bigger brother of yours, havenchoo? HAVENCHOO?

^ I have had this circulating in my head all day.

lol i followed u as well, this could be amusing =)

Grandpa Simpson's story in Last Exit To Springfield is their finest hour imo

give me five bees for a quarter, you'd say

http://www.oldmansimpson.com/frames/full/9F15/cap002.jpg

Man, tonight's episode is full of utterly insane metajokes.

that wasn't even the first time they've done a Jessica Simpson gag, was it?

favorite 'monorail' moment:

lyle lanley: i'm here to answer your questions about the monorail!
milhouse: can it outrun the FLASH?
lyle lanley: you bet!
other kid: can superman outrun the flash?
lyle lanley: uh...sure, why not.

also homer's "we MONORAIL CONDUCTORS are a CRAZY breed..." speech.

True or false: Riding the monorail can give you mono...

"the know it all of the protocol of the booty call" was a nice line

xpost "False!...No wait, true!"

"And so, 'mono' means 'one', and 'rail' means 'rail'. And that concludes our intensive three-week course."

I really liked the Valentine's ep last night. "A bottomless pitcher of beer and a circumferenceless plate of nachos..." was another nice line.

watching the first season i have to say Homer is a TOTALLY different character. He has just started an episode watering the plants and telling Bart not to be jealous of the Flanders!

don't have a twitter but iirc, a hoy hoy, the nelson HA HA was only introduced in the episode where grampa is left watching the children while homer and marge go to the marriage retreat?

(x-post) It's interesting how the voice actors took a while to find their footing, too. The first year Dan Castellaneta was kinda doing Walter Matthau for Homer. Moe and Burns also sound pretty different in the early eps.

so in watching some of the episodes from the really good seasons i've come across a couple of episodes that i have little or no memory of-- the one in which burns loses his fortune and has to live like a regular joe ("i'm riding the bus!" ... "i'm shopping!") and the one in which the neighbors re-build the flanders'es house after it gets destroyed by a hurricane and via flashback we see ned as a child and his beatnik parents

the one in which burns loses his fortune and has to live like a regular joe ("i'm riding the bus!" ... "i'm shopping!")

oh man this one is so great. Catsup? Ketchup?

basically if it's a Mr. Burns episode from the golden age, it's gonna be awesome

the one in which the neighbors re-build the flanders'es house after it gets destroyed by a hurricane

Hurricane Neddy, one of my very favorites. I still occasionally use the phrase "hostility-iddily-diddily."

"Wadded beef? CORN nog??"

That whole shopping thing is one of my favorite bits. Krusty coming in to buy "Krusty-O's," Burns asking where the Burns-O's are and Krusty telling him they don't put nobodies on cereal boxes. Then Burns deciding that Count Chocula looks enough like him to count.

Like, his only understanding of cereal is that you buy the one with your picture on the box. Amazing.

we see ned as a child and his beatnik parents

Doc, you gotta help us! Like, we've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas!

Is there a greater 10 or so clip of the show than the "Booo-urns" one?

*10 second

oh yeah, and the Bort license plates. that scene is hilarious even in Spanish.

Doc, you gotta help us! Like, we've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas!

love this line so much.

That whole hurricane episode is a treasure trove of great jokes. So far as I can tell this is the only episode credited to writer Steve Young, but it's simply amazing. Everything from Rev. Lovejoy in that episode is golden, all the stuff in the psychiatric hospital is great, Rod and Todd in the "Butthole Surfers" and "I'm With Stupid" t-shirts . . . that so much is packed into one 22-minute episode is almost beyond belief.

I'm a surfer!

Lookin' good, Rod, lookin' good.

i also love when they're touring the upstairs of the house...the electrical room, etc.

Apu: This is the room with electricity. But it has too much electricity. So, I don't know, you might want to wear a hat.

http://www.simpsonslol.com/thumbnails/watch-simpsons-online-simpsonslol-808.jpg

Almost literally every line in this episode is an A+ joke.

Ned: I just attacked all my friends and neighbors just for trying to help me. I'd like to commit myself.
Nurse: Very well. Shall I show you to your room, or would you prefer to be dragged off kicking and screaming?
Ned: Ooh, kicking and screaming, please.
Nurse: As you wish.
[two men in white grab hold of him and drag him away]
Ned: Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Dr. Foster: Yes, Dr. Foster here. ... Ned Flanders? You're sure? No, no, no, I'll come right over. And may God have mercy on us all.
[hangs up]
Darling, there's an emergency at the hospital, uh, where are my shoes?
Mrs. Foster: [sleepily] I think they're in the den.
Dr. Foster: The den? May God have mercy on us all.

he screams but he doesn't kick. :(

"may god have mercy on us all" is something that gets in my head a lot. also i am blaming homer's richard burton thing in the bigger brother episode for my (documented elsewhere) incident of getting flummoxed when trying to think of a word to use instead of 'gallivanting' in a job interview yesterday.

I like the hallway they built that gets really small.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nttfzwiwtV8&feature=related

i was literally just thinking about the nacho hat.

it was tailing off even at Series 7 i think. peak was pretty much series 3-6. imo.

Yeah Hurricaine Neddy is def a brilliant episode. "You folks are free to roam the grounds. Uh, just remember, one of our patients is a cannibal. Try to guess which one! I think you'll be pleasantly surprised."

And the stuff Homer has to infuritate Ned with!

Homer: Ned Flanders, I mock your value system. You also appear foolish
to the eyes of others.
Ned: Well howdy, Homer! [partition slides up] Ooh, thanks for
dropping by!
Foster: Hmm. He's not responding. [into microphone] Proceed to level 2
antagonism.
[slides down partition]
Homer: Past instances in which I professed to like you were fraudulent.
Ned: Oh, well, I'll just have to try harder. Heh heh. [partition
slides up] Ooh! Thanks for dropping by!
Foster: Ah, he's still repressing. [into microphone] Maximum hostility
factor.
[slide down partition]
Homer: I engaged in intercourse with your spouse or significant other.
Now that's psychiatry! Eh? Eh?

ALso the two psychiatrists!

"He just said he hates his parents! Do you realize what that means?"

"Uhhh . . . what do YOU think it means?"

Dr. Foster: I can't find what Homer's saying. Did you write that?
Doctor: Um, did you like it?

One line from that ep that's entered my own personal repertory is when Ned yells at Moe.

Ned Flanders: You ugly, hate-filled man!
Moe: Hey, hey! I may ugly and hate-filled, but I... uh... what was the third thing you said?

For some reason, I always find myself saying, "There! You found a floor!" to, say, drivers who finally pass me on the left after a mile or so of tailgating me in the right lane (when the left lane is completely clear).

(Homer to Santa's Little Helper in "King-Size Homer")

Thanks to this I've just watched "El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer" which is also a fucking brilliant episode. The Johnny Cash as coyote bit is just special and all the chilli acid-trip art work is icredibly awesome.

"I hope I didnt brain my damage"

at first i thought the space coyote was laurence fishburne :/

"I'm just your memory, Homer. I can't give you any new information."

That episode also has:

Marge: It's like I'm from Venus and you're from Mars.
Homer: Fine, give me the one with all the monsters.

um hello werner herzog

johnny cash coyote might be my fave simpsons.

'i said woof'

Mentioned this to N the other night, he looks at me and goes "THATS JOHNNY CASH?!". We've only seen the episode 8766453453 times...

I've seen this ep a million times but this was the first time I noticed the Janis Ian reference in the opening bit. They're watching the pageant on television and all the girls break out into a showtuney version of "Seventeen." which is pretty lol + subtle

Oh, it's Streetcar Named Marge ep btw

"You look like Grandma when we saw her sleeping in her forever box" made me kinda sad

I always crack up thinking about Skinner fooling Lisa with a fake state comptroller and then going "and now...the REAL comptroller!" to the comptroller's confusion. If it wasn't totally lame and Fall Out Boy-ish to name a band after a Simpsons reference I'd start a band called The Real Comptroller.

nothing wrong with following in the footsteps of fall out boy

i like FOB i'm just saying Simpsons ref band names are corny

says the guy with a forkclovestofu pun in his dn!

display names are a milder level of lame that i'm comfortable with

Perhaps linked upthread. Perhaps not. Either way:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehCfWXEUHJc

Christ. It's like Bart The General re-imagined by DoctorLegua.

Essentially:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6HwSq3sp8o

+

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyKIE5t6ykM

= ARGH

Homer: "Don't feel bad, Lisa, Judas may have betrayed Jesus, but he still got paid"

That line from Lionel Hutz "if you lived here, you'd be home by now!" was used on a billboard once, which is funny because I thought the point of the line was to prove how ridiculous real estate agents get in their advertising

There is a real estate sign in my town that says this – even more confusingly, it is in front of an office plaza.
― Peter Pepsi (Abbbottt), Friday, February 11, 2011 7:12 PM

abbott, i just realized that since you live in my town you must be talking about the office plaza i used to work across the street from!

watched 'monorail' early this morning and followed it up with the commentary and groening et al were talking about how they used to walk by conan o'brien's office and notice him 'doing shtick' by himself, at his desk.

In the Fight Over Late Night book it says that when Conan was living briefly with Jeff Garlin the two would make up characters and then basically do shtick together for their own benefit (ie they never debuted the material or recorded it) just to entertain each other. Conan really is like a thirteen year old who never lost his sense of imaginative play.

When Conan did the week of "Late Night" in Chicago, one of the taped bits they did was him and Garlin going back the apartment they lived in and entertaining the current resident with stories about the old days. At one point, they go into this extended riff on the numerous events through history that happened in that very apartment, starting with the table read for The Posiedon Adventure (IIRC, the remake had just come out) and working backwards. It's amazing footage (not on youtube :-( ), and now I wonder how much of it was stuff they had already worked back then^

Trying to remember -- in which episode does Homer open a dryer and there's a little Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe homage where Mr. Tumnus is running away with Homer's socks? (We are only pretty sure that it's from the Simpsons...)

lol thats a family guy gag

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHemwSzS8_4

lulz, thx for helping place it.

for that cretinous confusion, you are going to get a Phillies flameout this year.

Saw a newish ep the other day on TV that I'd never seen before, where Lisa makes a movie and it gets into Sundance. It was actually good! I may have already mentioned this, I get confused with the 876675564 Simpsons threads.

the creationism episode had at least one all-time lol exchange:

flanders: we want you to teach alternative theories to darwinian evolution!
skinner: (pause) you mean lamarckian evolution?

best think about the Sundance ep is "ChalmSkin", by miles

I love stuff like that. "I'm AWARE of the works of Pablo Neruda"

NV: hahah yeah that was a good bit. Also the Jarmusch exchange with Homer where Homer makes him eat an onion and he starts crying and says "I'm not crying because of this! I'm crying because we'll never see each other again".

there should be a site that has a screencap of every visual gag in the first seven seasons so that we can c/p them conveniently into threads and demonstrate our encyclopedic recall of obliquely relevant cultural situations

It doesn't cover every gag but I've made good use of http://eyeonspringfield.tumblr.com/

that clips from the simpsons aren't readily available on youtube is one of the great tragedies of the internet.

Hey thats MY schtick dayo!

http://images.wikia.com/simpsons/images/5/5a/Gabbo.jpg

OK that won.

the fact that the worthless fucksticks Tim & Eric were in a Simpsons episode that mentioned hipsters makes me feel like I could have made a lot of better decisions in my life

like, you could've been the celebrity guest star in the hipster episode of the Simpsons if you'd played your cards right?

i know, right?

maybe someday they'll need a new dog and you can show up with Santa's Little Hipster

:D

the fact that the worthless fucksticks Tim & Eric were in a Simpsons episode

OK wahhht!? It was bad (good?) enough when fotc were on the simpsons, geez. At least Futurama dont pull this shit.

(ok yes heads in jars that doesnt count somehow)

Simpsons seasons 2-8 vs. 8-now = John Lennon dying, so they replaced his Beatles role with one of the Fat Boys.

which is an immeasurable improvement?

Pappa, I love you to death, but people who leave out season 1 when talking about the series' golden years are literally worse than Jerry Sandusky

season 1 is horrible

ugly animation, ugly voices, ugly ugly ugly

oh hey i just googled jerry sandusky

http://i.imgur.com/7WOj5.gif

homer looks really disappointed there

http://board.muse.mu/picture.php?albumid=745&pictureid=7277

http://omgface.com/verysad/sad%20homer8.jpg

why so sad

as great as the simpsons are i really can't imagine being a fan on the pappawheelie level of auteurism where if someone turned on a perfectly good season 9 episode you'd be like "ARGH FUCKING MIKE SCULLY ERA TURN IT OFF"

yeah but the question is how do you know it's a good season 9 episode

great season 1 eps

bart the genius
there's no disgrace like home
bart the general
telltale head
life on the fast lane
crepes of wrath
krusty gets busted
some enchanted evening

That New York episode at the start of Season 9 was last episode I ever saw

is that the one where they say 'malparkage'?

Maybe? I remember Homer got a clamp put on his car + it was the first episode I'd seen that had computer generated visuals

But I vividly remember, the next day, talking about it at school, and consensus opinion was one of disillusionment with the series.

you didn't like kal kalash?

Simpsons seasons 2-8 vs. 8-now = John Lennon dying, so they replaced his Beatles role with one of the Fat Boys.

― ███★★★███ (PappaWheelie V), Saturday, November 19, 2011 10:56 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

More like if one of the Fat Boys died and was replaced with Paul McCartney

ringo was on season 2, george was on season 5, paul was on season 7. OMG GUYS THEY GOT BAD WHEN THEY RAN OUT OF BEATLES, DAMN YOU MARK DAVID CHAPMAN

^ that s5 episode, the barbershop quartet one, is class.

yeah one of my all-time favorites

reat season 1 eps

bart the genius
there's no disgrace like home
bart the general
telltale head
life on the fast lane
crepes of wrath
krusty gets busted
some enchanted evening

― tracy mcgr8080 (dayo), Sunday, 20 November 2011 04:36 (10 hours ago)

So otm! I think people underestimate s1 simply due to the voice actors still finding their groove and the Klusky-Czupo (sp?) animations. Who cares though? "Life on the Fast Lane" was great, and there are some BRILLIANT vocal outtakes on the DVD of Al Brooks mugging it up for his role as Jaques, just throwing out loads of cheesy pickup lines one after another with all the crew giggling in the background.

And Krusty gets Busted is an essential episode! Without it, the entire Bart/Krusty nemesis plot doesn't have its basis.

(I in fact always forget thats even a season 1 ep, it seems like it is from sometime later)

the story that homer was a crappy dad but will be an awesome grandfather is kind of the best moment the show's has in like a decade

So otm! I think people underestimate s1 simply due to the voice actors still finding their groove and the Klusky-Czupo (sp?) animations. Who cares though? "Life on the Fast Lane" was great, and there are some BRILLIANT vocal outtakes on the DVD of Al Brooks mugging it up for his role as Jaques, just throwing out loads of cheesy pickup lines one after another with all the crew giggling in the background

yeah they're starting to show these on TV and I'm very impressed with how different the show was back then. not as many jokes but the great moments really are earned. plus there were some pretty serious themes - IIRC two of the episodes dealt with adultery which is a far cry from the wackier "oh that Homer" episodes of the last 15 years. but maybe I'm biased since they kinda stopped showing the real early eps when I was watching the show a bunch so watching them now brings a ton of nostalgia...

Whiney OTM. I'd go so far as to say it's the best episode since at least season 9.

"District 10" was the hardest I'ver laughed at anything in a while

as great as the simpsons are i really can't imagine being a fan on the pappawheelie level of auteurism where if someone turned on a perfectly good season 9 episode you'd be like "ARGH FUCKING MIKE SCULLY ERA TURN IT OFF"

― some dude, Saturday, November 19, 2011 12:17 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I agree with this. I do own 9&10 boxes, for a couple episodes.

BTW, Scully was a hell of a script writer -- just a terrible show runner. He didn't know when to say when. And he also lost a slew of the good writers before he took over.

listening to the commentaries it sounds to me that he just didn't really care as much as the previous show runners did, or in the same way. Where the others all seemed to have very strong ideas about what they wanted from the show and tortured themselves and everyone else to get it perfect, he seemed happy to occasionally have bits that didn't really make sense or to have lazy jokes here and there, and with a process as long and complicated as making any single Simpsons episode, that seems like a recipe for rapid decay.

Anyone else catch that after this Sunday's ep, number 500 (!), the show is up there with Gunsmoke and Lassie as the longest running TV series.

but of course Lassie maintained the quality all the way through its run

kinda surprised any shows have been on longer than the Simpsons tbh

I don't think that's necessarily something they should be proud of.

the story that homer was a crappy dad but will be an awesome grandfather is kind of the best moment the show's has in like a decade

This was on tv here the other night - I missed the start and thus the premise tho, why were we seeing the future (yet again!)?

But yeah, I v rarely see current-Simpsons now, and I actually quite liked this one, it had some heart to it. Lisa and Bart drunk up in the treehouse was suprisingly jarring and realistic!

And for once everyone's futures made *sense*, rather tha have Lisa-as-president or Bart as a rock star or some crap, they were just normal struggling adults.

well maggie's didn't :/

but yeah, bart and lisa's seemed to make sense

http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2012/feb/16/the-simpsons-top-10-episodes

"surprisingly"

Anyone else catch that after this Sunday's ep, number 500 (!), the show is up there with Gunsmoke and Lassie as the longest running TV series.

you might want to add about a dozen qualifiers there

http://msnbcmedia1.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photo_StoryLevel/071106/071106_mtplist_hmed_12p.standard.jpg

500th show ended with this:

http://i.huffpost.com/gen/505730/SIMPSONS-500-EPISODES.jpg

using the phrase 'logging on the internet' is half the problem imo

haha before i saw your comment i kept rereading that logging on the internet part and wondering why my head couldn't accept it.

Internet should be capitalized too.

I gave up capitalising that a while ago.

I agree with that, but rules are rules.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_capitalization_conventions

The Internet standards community has historically differentiated between the Internet and an internet (or internetwork), the first being treated as a proper noun with a capital letter, and the latter as a common noun with lower-case first letter.

They made that thanks look like a silent movie title card. Imagine it in Burns' voice saying "logging on to the internetrola."

I still play by the rules that the Internet is the Internet, but it's inconsistent with other similar items, like "interstate".

You call it Interstate 40, but your car breaks down on the interstate. If your car broke down on an interstate, that would be one thing.

"Homer At The Bat" aired 20 years ago tonight, and won the ratings for the first time ever, beating both Cosby and the Winter Olympics.

http://deadspin.com/5886723/the-making-of-homer-at-the-bat-the-episode-that-conquered-prime-time-20-years-ago-tonight

Homer At Bat was an event when it aired. Baseball fans had been hearing about it for months prior.

I had no idea who any of the players were when i first saw Homer At The Bat (still don't with most of em) but it was the best thing ever

i think the closing song explains everything about the ep pretty succinctly

All of the players were cooperative except for José Canseco, who was intimidating.[4] He disliked his original part and insisted it be rewritten, and the writers grudgingly[5] made him as heroic as possible.[4] He was originally slated to wake up in bed with Edna Krabappel and miss the game, but Canseco's then-wife, Esther Haddad, objected.[8][9] He disliked his caricature, stating that "the animation looked nothing like (him),"[8] but that he found the acting was very easy.[10] When asked in 2007 about his part by the San Jose Mercury News, he responded, "that was 100 years ago," hung up the phone and did not answer any of the paper's subsequent calls for an interview about his guest spot.[8]

If I didn't already know what an ass Canseco was I'd think he was quite an ass right now.

Ken Griffey, Jr. did not understand his line "there's a party in my mouth and everyone's invited" and got quite frustrated when he was recording it

What's great is that it's a funny, well written episode with solid jokes even without the ballplayers, but with them, it just goes to the next level. (Even today, when watching a boring baseball game, either my wife or I will bust out, "… and the next man wants to hit the ball, too. And he does, and everyone is happy.")

See I didnt get any of the jokes relevamt to the players themselves. I didnt even know they were specific refs, til the SNPP entry I just read (stuff like the 'get a haircut!' rant for eg). It all worked regardless, I figured there was another layer I was mising tho.

i read somewhere that the 'get a haircut!' line / incident was actually an odd coincidence - the real life version of it actually came after the voice recordings for the episode.

actually actually.

Homer Simpson: Hey Clemens, did I make the team?
Roger Clemens: You sure did.
Homer Simpson: Woo-hoo! In your face, Strawberry!
Roger Clemens: Wait a minute. Are you Ken Griffey Jr.?
Homer Simpson: No.
Roger Clemens: Sorry. Didn't mean to get your hopes up.

I love that Ozzie Smith really got into it. I always thought there was something more considered about his delivery than that of the other players.

Also:
Marge: Children, tell me when your father stops scratching himself.
[long pause]
Marge: Kids?
Bart: We'll tell you, Mom.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcXWsibiiPk

http://www.lasertimepodcast.com/2012/02/21/laser-time-simpsons-sing-the-blehs/

On a related note, going thru the tracks of "Sing the Blues" and "The Yellow Album"

i listened to a solid minute of that and have no idea what it is

'not once, not twice, but thrice!'

http://a.espncdn.com/media/pg2/2004/0123/photo/straw_sp.jpg

i like the intro this week

^^^ Rest of the show was abominable, tho.

what did you think of the rabbit?

I decided, out of I dunno, masochistic curiosity, to watch the latest episode, about everyone at the nuclear plant being replaced by robots. Christ it was bad. The storyline hopped from one nonsensical point to another with reckless abandon, and not even in the usual bad Simpsons way of nothing connecting acts together and so on, but in simple terms of NOTHING MAKING SENSE, either across the entire narrative or at any individual point. So many bad jokes, non-jokes, unfunny interminable repetitions. So much Homer being an utter irredeemable dick. No one's really a character any more, they all just seem to float around while stuff happens for some reason. GOD. Who still watches this??

I don't, makes me very sad. I also don't understand the love for new South Parks, new Office. Too many shows lose sight.

I respect the voice actors always fighting for money, because they're the only reason this show has survived, but holy shit do they sit on piles of money when recording their lines to remind themselves of why they bother?

Some of the actors have been vocal about how crappy the episodes have been, particularly Harry Shearer. And Dan Castellenata has written a couple, but nothing to think about writing home about.

But thinking about how Groening refused to put his name on the film festival episode (because he hated the Critic crossover) and yet still tacitly endorses the last 13-14 years of crapulence, it's hard to imagine too many people involved in the day-to-day of the show even notice the colossal downturn in quality.

when is the last season? is there any definitive answer?

Just saw the Lady Gaga episode, the first new episode I've seen in years (lol UK) and I am very unimpressed and saddened by it.