Cape Foure: The Simpsons Madness Goes On...

[on:]

BAM! Started yet another new Simpsons thread now that the old one's done. I didn't really want it to be a review thread or Season 16-centric. This thread's open to all Simpsatalk.

[Reply #1 on:]

Hooray! You used my title! We still need a new one when season 16 starts, though.

Um, to keep this post from being offtopic, here's a pic of the upcoming season 5 DVD.

Picture courtesy of Simpsons Crazy

For those who missed the old thread, it comes out December 21st. Ah. Just the thought of owning great episodes like "Cape Feare" and "Homer's Barbershop Quartet"...

[Reply #2 on:]

And deleted scenes on BOTH of those no less!  *drools a lot*


*passes out from dehydration*


But, yeah, for those just joining us, apparently the first five episodes (those two, Rosebud, Homer Goes to College, and THOH) all have deleted scenes, while Marge on the Lam sadly doesn't.  For HGTC, maybe we'll see some actual scenes from some of the end-credits screengrabs.  There's certain to be some more deleted scenes as well, those are just the ones we know so far.  And of course there's more commentaries (presumably on all episodes as usual), this time with David Mirkin and Greg Daniels being among the new participants.

[Reply #3 on:]

Any chance of Conan O'Brian popping in for Homer Goes to Collage and THOH IV?

[Reply #4 on:]

He's on both of them, if I remember correctly.

I'd have to say I'm happier about that here then I was when I heard he was going to be on season four, too.  I was afraid those commentaries would turn into Conan monologues....but he stayed remarkably on topic (while still being funny of course, which is a plus) and told lots of interesting/funny stories about working on the show. 

[Reply #5 on:]

I've still yet to buy any of the Simpsons DVDs... not that I hate the first 4 seasons or anything, it's just that I've seen every episode so many times I know quite a few of them off by heart, without even owning them. Hell, we get an old episode air every weekday here at 6:00pm (Seasons 2-9 are on rotation there), and then a "classic" episode airs every weekday in The All Time Greatest Simpsons at 7:00pm... and it's often had 7:30pm slots on random days over the past few years, too - usually to air more recent episodes that can't be aired in the G-rated slots... not to mention the new episode at 7:30pm on Wednesdays, and this is on Free-to-air TV.

Now, if you've got Foxtel (Australian cable TV), the channel Fox 8 just might as well be called The Simpsons Channel. They air an episode in the morning at 5:40am, an episode at 4:00pm and another episode at 5:00pm every weekday (the 4:00pm one also airs during weekends, too)... these are going by Western Australian times, they air 2 hours later in the eastern states. Although if you have Foxtel Digital, there are 2 Fox 8 channels, both air the same thing but are 2 hours behind - so I can catch an episode at the W.A. timeslot, or the intended timeslot. Then there's the weekend Simpsons Marathon on both Saturday & Sunday, airing 7 episodes between 7:00am and 10:00am. They also air a recent Season 15 episode at 6:00pm on Sundays, too. With the exception of the 6:00pm Sunday slot, each different timeslot contains the first 14 seasons on rotation. Right now, the weekday morning timeslot is on Season 10, the 4:00pm slot is on Season 12, the 5:00pm weekday slot is on Season 14, and the weekend marathon is also on Season 14.

Adding up all of these numbers, we currently have 11 episodes air every week on Free-to-air TV, and a whopping 32 episodes air every week on Foxtel. As you can guess, with this many episodes accessable to me every week, I'm in no hurry to buy the DVDs. 

I'll probably be more inclined to get some of the better seasons (such as 4 & 5) on DVD in a year or so, when they've gone down in price a little bit. Either way, I'm not going to pay more than $45AUS for a collection of episodes I've seen dozens upon dozens of times.

[Reply #6 on:]

Perhaps that's why us Aussie's have never lost our sense of perspective regarding the quality of the old eps vs the new eps... and the reasons therein. Mmm... surealism.

[Reply #7 on:]

There's reasons the newer (as in Jean) episodes aren't as good as the classics, but surrealism isn't really one of them.

[Reply #8 on:]

That was my point. Forgive me for not making it clear.

[Reply #9 on:]

Oh, I see now.  Never mind then.

[Reply #10 on:]

I have some of the earlier seasons on some ancient tapes, the quality is pretty crap. They were taped in 1993, so I might get a few DVD season box sets.

[Reply #11 on:]

There's also good news in that there's supposed to be lots of syndication cuts in season, 5.
In fact on the commentary Al says, Mirkin shows often ended up long So I guess thats why there should lots of deleted scens.

Speaking of that does it seem weird to anyone else, on the commentaries they talk about "The Front" Being short so they put the Ned Flanders Short on the end, Why not use some of the deleted scenes. Same with Cape Feare If there's deleted scenes why not use them instead of the extended rake scene.
Oh well it was probably for the best anyway.

[Reply #12 on:]

In Newfoundland, we can catch the Simpsons on:

CBC at 5:30 5 days a week

Fox at 7:30 5 days a week

Fox at 8:30 5 days a week

Comedy Network at 10:30 7 days a week (no syndication cuts, repeat at 1:30)

Classic episode on Global at 7:00 on Saturdays and Sundays (No cuts, not even cuts that are made in subsequent primetime Fox airings).

Classic episodes on Global from 8:30-9:30 on Sundays and Saturdays (No cuts, not even cuts that are made in subsequent primetime Fox airings).

Global also has random Simpsons airings placed haphazardly throughout it's schedule, for example there's one coming on tonight at 12:30.

New episode on NTV at 8:00 Sundays

Same new episode on FOX at 9:30 on Sundays

Except for the NTV airing, the trend is pretty much the same throughout Canada. Our Television networks are Simpsons whores.

[Reply #13 on:]

 

Originally posted by leelaholic:
Hooray! You used my title! We still need a new one when season 16 starts, though.

Ummm... I think one Simpsons thread will suffice.

[Reply #14 on:]

We don't get any of the syndication cuts made in the U.S., although I often notice several of the more offensive jokes get cut out of our G-rated 6:00pm airings on Free-to-air TV. For example, in Homerpalooza, I've noticed the following cuts made:
* The dialogue just after the pig flies off is cut earlier, just before they start repeating the phrase "pissed off".
* When Bart asks Homer what religion he says, and Homer replies "Oh, you know - that one with all the well-meaning rules that don't work out in real life... Christianity!" they cut it just after he says the word "life".
* When Homer's in the vet and the vet says he's going to die, they cut out the bit where Homer stands up and says that "dying would be a soul groove".

However, 2 of these cuts made absolutely no sense to me... Why did they just cut out Homer announcing his religion, and leave the rest of that line in? They've mentioned in many other episodes that the Simpsons are christians, so that line could still be offensive to christians, even if he doesn't say what religion they are in this episode.

Secondly, that "soul groove" cut is made while Homer is standing up, so it'll suddenly cut from a shot of Homer sitting to a shot of the doctor looking at him while he's just suddenly standing up, making it obvious there's been a cut. I also found it strange that even though these cuts were made, virtually all of Cypress Hill's drug references were kept in...

Oh well. At least the episodes remain 100% untouched for Foxtel, with the exception of The City Of New York vs Homer Simpson, which they skip in the rotation. But that episode still airs on Free-to-air, so I'm okay with it.

[Reply #15 on:]

 

Originally posted by leelaholic:
For those who missed the old thread, it comes out December 21st.

Crap!  I still don't have season 4!  Well, I don't have any spare money until after November 21st, and not much then.  Guess I'll be waiting a long while.   

[Reply #16 on:]

 

Originally posted by Beamer:
I also found it strange that even though these cuts were made, virtually all of Cypress Hill's drug references were kept in...

Who can second guess Channel Ten's decisions? Family First is probably behind it.....

[Reply #17 on:]

Now you're just being silly.

Meet me in the alley 'round back in at 02:00. We have much to disscuss.

[Reply #18 on:]

I bought the Season 4 box set back in August, it brought back all the memories  I've been meaning to buy the other boxsets too, especially season 3 

[Reply #19 on:]

 

Originally posted by Shadowstar:
Ummm... I think one Simpsons thread will suffice.

Yeah, you're probably right.

Anyways, this is kind of old news, but it hasn't been posted here yet. Christmas With The Simpsons 2 is set to come out on November 2nd.

• "Skinner's Sense of Snow"
• "Homer Vs. Dignity"
• "Dude, Where's My Ranch?"
• "Tis the Fifteenth Season"

Damn. Two bad episodes, one mediocre episode, and only one really great episode. But I still might buy it if I have some money to blow.

[Reply #20 on:]

Great news on the Season 5 set (it blows my mind that we're getting two in the same year), and the deleted scenes make the package even sweeter. Can't say I'm upset about "Marge on the Lam" being the only episode thus far without deleted scenes...I'm just glad to see them on three of my favorites: "Homer's Barbershop Quartet", "Cape Feare", and "Rosebud". Awaiting more news, as always.

As for the Christmas with the Simpsons thing...meh. I liked "Skinner's Sense of Snow" and "'Tis the Fifteenth Season" (the latter is really the only "outstanding" one), but the other two are pretty bad. Still, thanks for the news, leelaholic.

[Reply #21 on:]

 

Originally posted by Beamer:
I've still yet to buy any of the Simpsons DVDs...

I'll probably be more inclined to get some of the better seasons (such as 4 & 5) on DVD in a year or so, when they've gone down in price a little bit. Either way, I'm not going to pay more than $45AUS for a collection of episodes I've seen dozens upon dozens of times.

I agree with you Beamer, I'm not gonna be buying until at least Season 6-7....Everything before that I've seen so many times it's not worth it....
Also the later seasons haven't been shown as much here, and there are eps that I've only seen a handful of times that I'd like to see again and again....

Also Sunday night at 6 they showed the ep where Homer gets hair, the one with Karl, and I swear not even 2 weeks ago they showed that same ep....stupid Channel 10....

[Reply #22 on:]

Yeah, but that's only because the later episodes can't be censored down to get in the 6:00pm slot, so they can only show them either on the 7:30pm slot... this is also one of the reasons I think they made The All Time Greatest Simpsons. Quite a lot of the episodes aired in that are from Seasons 10-12.

Anyway, about Christmas With The Simpsons 2... I dunno how the hell Homer Vs Dignity & Dude, Where's My Ranch? got on there. I mean, I know they're set in December, but the Christmas themes in those episodes only plays a small part. The same with Skinner's Sense Of Snow, too... even though they mentioned Christmas a few times, and had that "Merry Christmas" thing at the end, the episode is just more-or-less based around Winter than Christmas.

'Tis The Fifteenth Season is the only real Christmas-y episode in that collection, and I'm not too fond of that episode anyway. It lacks humour in a lot of places, and the claymation/real life puppet shows REALLY pissed me off.

As far as I'm concerned, the best Simpsons Christmas episode is Marge Be Not Proud.

[Reply #23 on:]

 

Originally posted by leelaholic:
Hooray! You used my title! We still need a new one when season 16 starts, though.

Um, to keep this post from being offtopic, here's a pic of the upcoming season 5 DVD.

Picture courtesy of Simpsons Crazy

For those who missed the old thread, it comes out December 21st. Ah. Just the thought of owning great episodes like "Cape Feare" and "Homer's Barbershop Quartet"...

Leelahoic - Thanks for the pic/info.
season five has some of my fave Simpson eps, like "Deep Space Homer".   

BTW - Recently, watching a repeat of the ep where Grandpa Simpson gets an Emmy for 'writing' an Itchy and Scatchy cartoon, when he tells animators to stop wasting time on junk, one guy in the audience says, "He's right -- I'm going to finish my cartoon about that sassy robot!"
(A reference to Bender/Futurama?)   

[Reply #24 on:]

Its just a coincidence, though certainly a hilarious one.  The episode was many years before Futurama was even in development.  But they note it on the commentary as a funny coincidence.  Incidentally, that writer was modeled after Al Jean.

As for "Christmas with The Simpsons 2" or whatever its called, I'd pass on it easily....except that apparently "Tis the Fifteenth Season" has an animatic and I think maybe a storyboard too.  I still wouldn't buy it at full price, but if there's some deleted scenes in that animatic....I may have to pick it up when I can find it cheap.  Too bad about the episode selection, but what're ya gonna do....

[Reply #25 on:]

Matt(mopey): I wrote a sitcom about a sassy robot...

 

For some bizzaro reason, Fraudcast News was not shown here this week. I'm amusing that it's being held over 'til next season.

So, I guess that's the end of my Simpsons reviewing career, for now. But buck up, fellows, I'll be back with my own brand of vagueness and bile next year! And what a glorious year it will be, what with the chance of more non-crummy episodes to come!

[Reply #26 on:]

I'm worried that season 16 will lack enthusiasm.  Given the low morale among the cast and the increasing disputes with the network, I feel like the show might not be in a good place right now.  And last season was... meh, okay, so I was hoping they'd continue to improve.

[Reply #27 on:]

I saw some article pointing out the last few episodes (of which season, I'm not sure) were suprisingly good, but I haven't watched a new one in ages...

The last new one here was on Sky One with Homer as Pie Man, and I missed it! D'oh.

Was it any good?

[Reply #28 on:]

 

Originally posted by leelaholic:
 Anyways, this is kind of old news, but it hasn't been posted here yet. Christmas With The Simpsons 2 is set to come out on November 2nd.

• "Skinner's Sense of Snow"
• "Homer Vs. Dignity"
• "Dude, Where's My Ranch?"
• "Tis the Fifteenth Season"

Damn. Two bad episodes, one mediocre episode, and only one really great episode. But I still might buy it if I have some money to blow.

I think I am gonna waste my money on this comp, I've decided. I love Skinners Sense of Snow (except for that horrible abstract ending). And most of these eps will probably never make it onto DVD in there own seasons anyway, because of new formats by that time...

Also, it come out earlier here, October 25th  :p It hardly makes up for Season 5 most likely being later, but it's a small consolation...

[Reply #29 on:]

   

Originally posted by canned eggs:
I'm worried that season 16 will lack enthusiasm.  Given the low morale among the cast and the increasing disputes with the network, I feel like the show might not be in a good place right now.  And last season was... meh, okay, so I was hoping they'd continue to improve.

There isn't really a low morale among the cast (barring possibly Harry Shearer, but as it turns out his comments WERE misquoted and taken very out of context).  They simply requested more money for their renewed contracts (something anyone with any sense would do in Hollywood), and the sensationalistic media portrayed it as a "strike".  They all clearly still love doing the show.

As for "increased disputes with the network", I'm not really sure what you're talking about.  There's disputes but I haven't seen any evidence that they're worse then before.  And the show's producers win most of the disputes anyway.

EDIT: DVD info from the Amazon page.

Director: David Silverman, Klay Hall

Encoding: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. This DVD will probably NOT be viewable in other countries. Read more about DVD formats.)

Rated: Unrated
Studio: Fox Home Entertainment
DVD Release Date: December 21, 2004
DVD Features:
Available subtitles: English, Spanish
Available Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)

Commentary by Matt Groening, Al Jean, Hank Azaria, Jon Lovitz, Jeff Martin, and Mark Kirkland on Homer's Barbershop Quartet

Commentary by Matt Groening, Al Jean, and Jon Vitti on Cape Feare

Commentary by Matt Groening, David Mirkin, James L. Brookes, Conan O'Brien, Jim Reardon, and David Silverman on Homer Goes to College

Commentary by Matt Groening, David Mirkin, Wes Archer, and David Silverman on Rosebud.

Commentary by Matt Groening, James L. Brookes, David Mirkin, Conan O'Brien, Greg Daniels, Bill Oakley, Josh Weinstein, and David Silverman on Treehouse of Horror

Commentary by Matt Groening, David Mirkin, Mark Kirkland, David Silverman on Marge on the Lam

Commentary by Matt Groening, David Mirkin, Dan Castellaneta, Yeardley Smith, George Meyer, Bob Anderson, and David Silverman on Bart's Inner Child

Commentary by Matt Groening, David Mirkin, Dan Castellaneta, Yeardley Smith, George Meyer, Bob Anderson, and David Silverman on Boy-Scoutz N the Hood

Commentary by Matt Groening, David Mirkin, and David Silverman on The Last Temptation of Homer

Commentary by Matt Groening, David Mirkin, Bill Oakley, Josh Weinstein, and Wes Archer on Springfield

Commentary by Matt Groening, David Mirkin, and David Silverman on Homer the Vigilante

Commentary by Matt Groening, James L. Brooks, David Mirkin, Conan O'Brien, Susie Dietter, and David Silverman on Bart Gets Famous

Commentary by David Mirkin, Greg Daniels, Mark Kirkland, and David Silverman on Homer and Apu

Commentary by Matt Groening, David Mirkin, Bill Oakley, Josh Weinstein, and David Silverman on Lisa vs. Malibu Stacey

Commentary by Matt Groening, David Mirkin, Mark Silverman, and David Silverman on Deep Space Homer

Commentary by Matt Groening, David Mirkin, David Richardson, Wes Archer, and David Silverman on Homer Loves Flanders

Commentary by Matt Groening, David Mirkin, and David Silverman on Bart Gets an Elephant

Commentary by Matt Groening, David Mirkin, Jace Richdale, Mark Kirkland, and David Silverman on Burn's Heir

Commentary by Matt Groening, David Mirkin, Bill Oakley, Josh Weinstein, Bob Anderson, and David Silverman on Sweet Seymour Skinner's Badasssss Song

Commentary by Matt Groening, David Mirkin, and David Silverman on The Boy Who Knew Too Much

Commentary by Matt Groening, David Mirkin, Bill Oakley, Josh Weinstein, and Wes Archer on Lady Bouvier's Lover

Commentary by David Mirkin, Greg Daniels, and David Silverman on Secrets of a Successful Marriage

Animation Showcase

Audio intro with Matt Groening and montage

Commercials

Tree House of Horror sketches

Deleted scenes

100th episode featurette

Special language feature

Number of discs: 4

[Reply #30 on:]

Sorry for the double post, but that thing is long enough as it is....

Its worth noting that not only are Dan Castellenetta and Yeardley Smith back, but O'Brien felt compelled to do "Bart Gets Famous".  I'm not really sure what he can add for that episode, but hopefully he'll have something useful (and funny) to say.  Groening is also missing from a couple episodes, and Jim Brooks is back again for a few.

[Reply #31 on:]

Awwwwwwwwww dip! That freakin' rocks!

[Reply #32 on:]

It's nice Oakley and Weinstein get to do a commentary track.  Their run with the show was some of the most memorable I can remember.

Perhaps it's just me, but I thought it would have been great if Kelsey Grammar managed to record for "Cape Feare."  Sideshow Bob is a pretty popular character, and that's by far his best episode.

[Reply #33 on:]

Im quite sure that you are all super fans off the show discused above but can any of you tell me just as a quick quo what is the second thing on the billboard that Homer sees at the start of Homie the clown !!classic i think!!!

[Reply #34 on:]

 

Originally posted by SlackJawedMoron:
For some bizzaro reason, Fraudcast News was not shown here this week. I'm amusing that it's being held over 'til next season.

Nah, I doubt Channel 10 would do that... they've never done something like that before, from what I can recall. Maybe they're just taking it off for 2 weeks? I've noticed that they usually only show repeats during the "new episode" timeslot on school holidays, so that might be a reason why (even though holidays began October 2 in Perth).

Also, Octinadiablo - Homer sees 2 billboards before seeing the one for Clown College. The first one says "This year, give her English muffins", and the second is an ad for barbeque sauce, that says "Best in the West". Hope that helps you out.

[Reply #35 on:]

 

Originally posted by DotheBartman:
Its just a coincidence, though certainly a hilarious one.  The episode was many years before Futurama was even in development.  But they note it on the commentary as a funny coincidence.  Incidentally, that writer was modeled after Al Jean.

I rather like the one on the "Itchy and Scratchy : The Movie" commentary:

*The other commentators are discussing how Matt didn't like the ending, because it insinuated that Bart was going to end up as Chief Justice*

Matt : I just think cartoons about the future don't work.

*laughs*

 

[Reply #36 on:]

This doesn't add much to the topic, but I just caught myself fondly remembering the good old days when the new season would start before frickin' November.

[Reply #37 on:]

Oh, when they actually showed the Halloween episodes on or around Halloween?  Those were good times.

[Reply #38 on:]

Yeah... what the hell is up with that?  If THoH was shown before Halloween I'm sure the feeling of Simpsons itself would return... 

[Reply #39 on:]

Heh, how do you think we feel? The new seasons don't start around here until a few months into the year - so we get the new Halloween episodes airing in February or March.