The Simpsons

This is Kelsey Grammer's best Sideshow Bob performance in years. Mostly because he was finally given great lines again.

Him and Mel meeting and suggesting going to lunch with Krusty was brilliant.

The whole time share thing was the show at its cynical worst. It's been like this for over 30 years. Hey, Simpsons! Not everything is terrible! Lighten up!

As much as Sideshow Bob defines rakes, so does Homer define disappearing into shrubbery. I kind of love the show treating it like a superpower.

We don't see Kent Brockman much anymore, but the show has been on the air since 1990, and basically every Kent Brockman appearance boils down to the character taking TINY amount of time to get me to greatly dislike him. Like he always says something media-shitty RIGHT off the bat. Every damn time. It's his brand. Kent Brockman was Fox News before Fox had a news department.

I bet every person of a certain generation recognized Kent from their local anchor. For me I was like "This asshole is Jack Williams from WBZ Boston." Williams even had a thing going called "Wednesday's Child" in the 1980's, which was the exact same shtick as "Kent's People", only with sick children. I bet if every single fan asks which local anchor Kent is based on, the producers will probably say, "All of them."

I feel like every time the show explores scams and the people they hurt, it fails. Futurama too. Because the joke is on the scammed people. And damn it, that's not actual comedy. The Simpsons would do a lot better (as would Futurama) if it learned to stop fucking punching down! They are right time shares are shitty and a scam. And they still can't help trying to make us laugh at the family's suffering anyways. Stupid TV! Be more funny!

Mixed bag this week. But Sideshows Bob and Mel are friends! 2 1/2.

The Simpsons used to be underground. It was in your face and subversive Now it's totally sold out. You can tell me it's Disney's fault, but Al Jean and the producers have done the show long enough to have clout. If they had put their foot down and said "No, this will hurt the brand," Disney probably would have backed off.

What this tells me is that Jean doesn't actually UNDERSTAND this hurts the brand. He actually thinks this is funny.

Yeah, so, there really is NO excuse for selling out other than, Al Jean doesn't understand comedy anymore. 0 stars.

For these kinds of episodes I ALWAYS take shots at the dumb reasons it turns out Lisa Is Not Allowed Nice Things. Evil criminal mastermind / fraud Tracy Lets, however is a pretty damn good angle. I'll allow it.

I love Chalmers loving being referred to as a balding stallion. Two ladies on lockdown? He kind of is.

Kool-Aid Jesus is a cunning and PG rated parody of Piss Christ. I don't think Piss Christ is made fun of enough in popular culture. It sucks.

I also loved the Truman Capote bits. I know little of the guy other than he was always good for a memorable quote.

The Simpsons is kicking your ass, Futurama. You ought to be ashamed of yourselves. 4 1/2 stars.

But negative continuity still doesn't work for me. 1982? Just... No. The show needs to stop setting stuff in specific years. And if Homer can never get fired due to a deal Burns had with Grandpa, that would have come up earlier. Also, Homer has actually been fired. A lot.

My favorite bit was after Grandpa is told he's a person of interest, Bart is amazed that he's finally interesting. He asks if they can hang out but Grandpa gruffly says he isn't talking. Bart loves that idea. This just gets better and better.

I also love that the doctor's note Wiggum had against running was written by Dr. Nick to get out of jail. The show has still got it when it comes to freeze frame gags.

Brief cameo from Smithers' not dead yet father so not ENITRELY negative continuity. Also didn't miss the crayon that fell out of Homer's nose as a kid.

Lot of clever jokes in this one. But for some reason the negative continuity is bugging me more than usual. 3 1/2 stars.

Wonderful Day Of The Dead homage. Love the crazy animation style. 5 stars.

The Information Rage

Not exactly subtle, is it?

Tox News was all right though. As was the return of the Gay Steel Mill ("Oh, be nice!").

But there is a reason people think The Simpsons oversimplifies their political episodes. Because they do. 3 stars.

The Fall Of The House Of Monty

Usually Treehouse Of Horror has one short in it that is legit scary. That's this one.

The Black Friday thing was pretty good. Maybe the political jokes on the show aren't hopeless if the entire episode isn't about them.

Also loved seeing the return of embiggen. It's a perfectly cromulent word.

Good jump scares in this one. Moe with the Skeletons hands coming out of his eyes was seriously freaky. 4 stars.

Denim

Halfway through I was like, "Oh, it's a Venom parody!"

The live-action jeans were a neat look for sure.

I love the "Spit-takes Anonymous" bit. "No, no. no!"

I thought it was great. 5 stars.

Episode Overall: 4 stars.

Lisa's Narnia thing is weird.

While I enjoyed Homer's humiliation I didn't get the logic of the musical number or know what it was spoofing.

Bart's teacher used Lisa as a ringer! Nice!

Nelson's stuff was sad and not funny.

Luanne's intervention had some good jokes, but the idea is kind of dumb.

Lunchlady Dora is a pure monster. Actually, Agnes has problems too.

I feel like the Malibu Stacy thing could have been its own episode.

Okay Helen Lovejoy has the hots for Moe (!!!!), detests Tim's trains, and wants to punch Ned Flanders. I get the second two things, but I'm having trouble wrapping my brain around the first.

After seeing all those cigarettes, I was like, "So where's the crisis?" And I was like, "Oh. It's that they're horrible. That's the crisis."

The roleplaying scene was a little too arch for this specific show. It's fourth wall-bending rather than breaking, but it's still a little too broad.

Mama-At-Law doesn't work because we don't know who that character is.

For the record, Family Guy couldn't do this. There simply aren't enough female characters there.

Normally I like the show trying new things, but to be blunt, this episode probably should have happened 20 years ago already. Only partial credit. 4 stars.