At Long Last Leave! - The Simpsons

[Reply #760 on:]

I don't know, but I just watched "Behind the Laughter" and Ozzy Osbourne bit the top off of a Grammy award, causing it to bleed.

I agree that it was lame. Though it's a brief, throwaway gag in a silly non-canon episode, so who cares?

Uh, he was replying to me.

[Reply #761 on:]

Uh, he was replying to me.

I was already aware of that on account of being able to read and knowing how a message board works, and my comment "I agree that it was lame" was actually directed towards you. But, you know, thanks for assuming I was a complete and utter retard.

[Reply #762 on:]

I never actually said it was lame, though.

[Reply #763 on:]

Goddamnit, guys! get back on topic. Behind the Laughter is obviously non-canon.

[Reply #764 on:]

What about Bart's Girlfriend? Amazing underrated episode.

[Reply #765 on:]

What about Bart's Girlfriend? Amazing underrated episode.

Nice using a Golden era episode as one of your choices. A better example would be an episode from Season 9-12 where the episodes are hit and miss, but are still funny unlike Season 13.

EDIT - In all seriousness, I wouldn't really know how to grade every Simpsons episode. Alot of the modern ones I might be rating much higher than I should be just because... it's a decent fucking episode in an otherwise mostly mediocre season. It's like me trying to work out where the hell something like Holidays of Future Passed or Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind would be graded or placed on a list at the same scale as older Simpsons Season 1-12.

[Reply #766 on:]

I never actually said it was lame, though.

You brought it up during a discussion about lame moments in The Simpsons. How was anyone to know that it was a completely unrelated segue as opposed to a continuation of the topic at hand?

Anyway, Bart's Girlfriend is probably around the middle of the range for me... as far as the classic era is concerned, of course. It's definitely got its moments ("here comes the glue now!"), but there are so many better episodes surrounding it that I just kind of forget about it a lot of the time. I actually remembered hating is as a kid because I thought it was too unfair to Bart in the third act... I still kind of get a little uneasy during some of those scenes with the townsfolk. Though I did love the ending as a kid, and still love it now.

[Reply #767 on:]

What about "Marge not be Proud"? I barely ever hear people talk about that one. That episode hit me right in the feels the first time watching it.

[Reply #768 on:]

What about "Marge not be Proud"? I barely ever hear people talk about that one. That episode hit me right in the feels the first time watching it.

It's one of my 10/10 rated episodes of the show. I noticed many episodes in Season 6 and 7 had quite a bit of heart and emotion in them like Lisa on Ice and Mother Simpson.

[Reply #769 on:]

Marge Be Not Proud would definitely be in my top 20. It was on one of those 4 episode VHS collections I had as a kid, so I've seen it... well, a LOT. But yeah, lots of laughs, great storyline, and plenty of huge emotional punches. Really great episode.

[Reply #770 on:]

I love Marge Be Not Proud; it's very nostalgic for me, as well, because it was actually one of the first episodes I'd ever seen. I never watched Simpsons during the 90s, but after a while I gave in and bought the 'Bart Wars' DVD as a sort of sampler to see if I would like the series. Bart Wars has Be Not Proud as the second episode on the disc, by the way.
But since that was one of the first episodes I had ever seen, I consider it to be one of the very best episodes of the series; partly because of nostalgia, yes, but mostly because it had great writing, and a lot of good jokes. I also have to give it a 10/10.

[Reply #771 on:]

I never watched Simpsons during the 90s, but after a while I gave in and bought the 'Bart Wars' DVD as a sort of sampler to see if I would like the series.

That was the same collection of episodes I had, only on VHS!

[Reply #772 on:]

I've been rewatching some of Season 9 lately. One of the episodes I watched today was "Lisa the Simpson," the last episode run by Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein. This episode truly was amazing, and reminded me of the days when Lisa was a relatable character. Oakley and Weinstein did a great job exploring the show's characters, which is one of the many reasons why they are some of my favorite show runners. This episode had a great storyline and some pretty good jokes as well. 9/10

[Reply #773 on:]

Lisa the Simpson is definitely a stand-out for season 9, though I'm personally very partial to The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson. Sadly, it hasn't exactly aged well for obvious reasons, though I remember watching it when it aired in Australia for the first time back when I was about 10, and me and my dad just laughing our asses off at it. Girly Edition is also another great episode from that season.

"PRAY. FOR. MOJO..."

[Reply #774 on:]

Yeah, my favorite Season 9 episodes were:

The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson
The Cartridge Family
Dumbbell Indemnity
Lisa the Simpson
This Little Wiggy
Girly Edition
Natural Born Kissers

I think "New York" has been removed from syndication over here, but I'm not sure. It's possible that the scene that might be considered offensive was removed. Not that I'd know, because my local Fox affiliate only syndicates Season 23 episodes. I remember the days when I could turn on my TV every evening and watch an hour and a half of Classic Simpsons. Ah, those were the days.

[Reply #775 on:]

Season 9 is a really weird season looking back. It has a few leftover episodes from various golden era runners, but then the tone of the episodes change completely at around Bart Carny. Anyone else noticed that? It's still very funny at this point, though.

[Reply #776 on:]

I would argue that the tone changed around Realty Bites, but yes, I would agree. The second half still has plenty of good episodes, though (King of the Hill, Lost Our Lisa, Natural Born Kissers, and the aforementioned Lisa the Simpson and Girly Edition), and it's easily the best of the four Scully seasons.

[Reply #777 on:]

Season 9 is a really weird season looking back. It has a few leftover episodes from various golden era runners, but then the tone of the episodes change completely at around Bart Carny. Anyone else noticed that? It's still very funny at this point, though.

The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson and Lisa the Simpson are my favorite Season 9 episodes, and they're both holdovers from Season 8. The Principal and the Pauper was another Season 8 holdover, but that obviously didn't get very good reception.

Lisa's Sax, which was held over from Season 7, wasn't one of my favorites of the season, but I still enjoyed it. On the other hand, I didn't really like Simpson Tide, which was also held over from Season 7.

And then there were All Singing, All Dancing and The Joy of Sect, which were produced by David Mirkin for Season 9. I really didn't enjoy these two, although I hate the former with a passion. I was disappointed to see that my favorite show runner had produced two of my least favorite Season 9 episodes.

So yeah, you're right. Season 9 had four different show runners (or pairs of show runners): Mike Scully, who was hired as show runner for the season; Al Jean & Mike Reiss, whose contract with Disney had allowed them to produce four episodes for Season 7 (which ended up being held over to Seasons 8 and 9); Bill Oakley & Josh Weinstein, who had been the show runners for Season 8, from which three Season 9 episodes were held over; and David Mirkin, who had been hired to run two episodes for the Season 9 production line.

[Reply #778 on:]

I'm a pretty big fan of season 9, myself. Other than 'All Singing', which I consider to be one of the very worst 'Classic Era' episodes, I felt like it was a fairly strong season, as it was consistently both funny and enjoyable. My favorites from the season are "New York v. Homer Simpson", "Das Bus", "Lost our Lisa", and "Miracle on Evergreen Terrace".

[Reply #779 on:]

"Lost our Lisa"

This is honestly one of my favorite episodes of the series, period. It is not your typical cutesy Homer/Lisa episode, but rather this really silly, madcap story with two adventures (Lisa being lost, Homer trying to find her) running on parallel tracks for most of the episode. When the stories intersect in the final few minutes, we are treated to a genuinely sweet daddy-daughter (end-of-)day where the two of them break into a museum and listen to a really funky music box. So the episode provides the best of both worlds: it's a really fun, kooky episode that pulls off a seamlessly sweet ending. Oh, how I love it.

[Reply #780 on:]

I've also noticed that Lisa Gets an A in Season 10 is an odd one as it feels more like a Golden era episode, but almost half of Season 10 involves Homer getting a new job, which is funny.

[Reply #781 on:]

"Lost our Lisa"

This is honestly one of my favorite episodes of the series, period. It is not your typical cutesy Homer/Lisa episode, but rather this really silly, madcap story with two adventures (Lisa being lost, Homer trying to find her) running on parallel tracks for most of the episode. When the stories intersect in the final few minutes, we are treated to a genuinely sweet daddy-daughter (end-of-)day where the two of them break into a museum and listen to a really funky music box. So the episode provides the best of both worlds: it's a really fun, kooky episode that pulls off a seamlessly sweet ending. Oh, how I love it.

On Dead Homers they hated that episode because Homer's a lunatic in it and the ending is horribly schmaltzy. They said it was the second worst Season 9 episode, after "The Principal and the Pauper".

[Reply #782 on:]

Edit button, stum!

Personally, I dug it, but not so much after Dead Homers criticized it.

Why would your opinion change after you learned of anyone else's?

Also, I really, really like The Principal and the Pauper, though I've already given a long explanation as to why earlier in this thread. I saw it as a very meta satire on television, and I think it's one of the funniest of season 9.

[Reply #783 on:]

But it was so convincing!

Mike Amato of Me Blog Write Good hated it as well. He said the ending was catastrophous and ruined Homer's character forever by making him a daredevil rather than a slob who loves watching TV and eating food.

[Reply #784 on:]

Oh, well if some guy I've never heard of didn't like it, I'm DEFINITELY changing my opinion to match. Fuck that lousy episode!

[Reply #785 on:]

I know, but what he said was true, really.

Also, the ending at the museum feels bizarrely tacked on. It feels like the episode ended a few minutes earlier than it did. I get the same feeling with "Homer Goes to College".

[Reply #786 on:]

It didn't feel tacked on at all. They'd established Lisa's goal of wanting to go to the museum very, very early on in the episode, they spent the entire episode showcasing Homer's more reckless side (which, by the way, had been an aspect of his character long before this episode), and the ending brings those two elements together in a very sweet way.

And the ending of Homer Goes to College was a perfect homage to the material it had been referencing the entire episode. As far as parodies go, the ending was arguably the most spot-on part of the episode.

Very strange that you would cite these two episodes for having shitty, out-of-left-field endings when there are so, so, SO many worse offenders, too. 

[Reply #787 on:]

"Homer Goes to College" has a clever idea, but I think they kinda beat you over the head with "See, college isn't what Homer expects it to be like!!!" Still good, though.

[Reply #788 on:]

Season 9 was brilliant. Best ones in that season for me are Simpson Tide, Das Bus, Dumbbell Indemnity, King Of The Hill, Girly Edition, This Little Wiggy, and The Trouble With Trillions.