The family that doesn't know the meaning of the word "cancelled" - The Simpsons!

[Reply #600 on:]

The plot was kind of a reverse of the movie (father wanting to keep playing with his daughter instead of son wanting to play with father), but felt pretty much like it's own thing as a Homer/Lisa episode.

Overall, while not overly spectacular, I though it was a really great episode. Pretty much all of the Lego jokes hit, without feeling too much like they were taking from the movie. The plot, while not the most original, kept a consistent tone to it, and even had some decent emotion put into it between Lisa and Homer. It was sweet episode, and enjoyable all the way.

An 8.5/10, top 5 of the HD era.

[Reply #601 on:]

Finally saw Brick Like Me. I agree with the general consensus here, it was pretty great by modern Simpsons standards. Consistently funny, all the Lego jokes worked (I haven't seen The Lego Movie yet so can't really compare them to the jokes in that), and it actually had some genuine heart. Easily one of the best episodes of recent years.

[Reply #602 on:]

I liked Brick Like Me as well. I'd give it a 8/10 at best. Fairly Solid. Best in years and whatnot, up to par with maybe Holidays of Future Passed, which is always welcome.

If more episodes were like this, The Simpsons would become tolerable at the least.

[Reply #603 on:]

Good episode this week... Not the best of the season by any means, but it had quite a few laughs, a nice emotional component, and even some traces of the clever cynicism that made the golden era so great. A solid effort, despite a very iffy structure.

Plus, a storyline the show's never done before, too!

[Reply #604 on:]

Plus, a storyline the show's never done before, too!

The Simpsons already did it...

[Reply #605 on:]

I thought it was as crap as ever. Far from the worst that the show has given us, but also far from good.

It also annoyed me that it was about Lisa not having any friends when the previous episode was about Lisa having a load of cool, older friends.

[Reply #606 on:]

I gotta go with Cyber-T on this one. Episode wasn't that good, not at all really. I was actually hoping for the ending with Marge crying to mark a important moment in the show's history, or at least mean something, like give us real emotion, but nope. They shat on that golden opportunity by giving it shitty Zombie Simpsons dialogue. Rest of the episode felt like crap filler. I mean, I will praise the episode for finally exploring something between Marge and Lisa's relationship, since it's so unused on the show.

5/10.

Also, I just saw a picture of the whole Family Guy/Simpsons Crossover on this website. http://www.pedestrian.tv/news/arts-and-culture/the-simpsons-and-family-guy-crossover-episode-is-c/c3ff71b9-b4bd-4172-88de-053a5fd9a45b.htm

I'm hoping this episode turns out to be at the least something decent.

[Reply #607 on:]

I was actually hoping for the ending with Marge crying to mark a important moment in the show's history, or at least mean something, like give us real emotion, but nope.

I kind of like how bleak it all was. Marge resigns herself to a life without friends, and Lisa learns the power of emotional manipulation. I mean, just... Wow. That's territory The Simpsons hasn't had the balls to enter for a while now. And sure, there was the usual iffy dialogue and plenty of jokes that fell flat, but even the absolute best episodes these days have that. You two are being far too hard on this one. It was fine.

Also, I just saw a picture of the whole Family Guy/Simpsons Crossover on this website. http://www.pedestrian.tv/news/arts-and-culture/the-simpsons-and-family-guy-crossover-episode-is-c/c3ff71b9-b4bd-4172-88de-053a5fd9a45b.htm

I'm hoping this episode turns out to be at the least something decent.

I don't have very high hopes, but I will watch it out of morbid curiosity. I still think the basic idea of a Family Guy/Simpsons crossover actually works better than the Simpsons/Futurama one, if only for the fact that Family Guy has pretty much no grip on reality to begin with. It's much easier to accept as a fan if this is all just a dumb Family Guy episode.

[Reply #608 on:]

I think it's a great idea, personally.

As you said, it's an episode of Family Guy so it doesn't cause any real issues with the show's internal logic. It all makes sense within the world of Family Guy and Family Guy has been in a position for the last few years where it seems as if they put all of their effort into about 2 or 3 episodes a year - and these episodes still end up being very good, most of the time. This is clearly one of those episodes.

Plus, it's Family Guy, so it won't shy away from breaking the 4th wall. I expect lots and lots and lots of jokes about how bad The Simpsons is these days.

I predict that it'll be better than any episode of The Simpsons since "Holidays of Future Passed", at very least.

[Reply #609 on:]

"...I guess what I'm trying to say, I like cake."

Pay Pal (I'm glad the name of episode had a double meaning) wasn't too bad and had some good jokes.

despite a very iffy structure.

I can't believe how much problems there is with structure or dialogues nowadays, isn't Simpsons supposedly done by several rewritings and whatnot? I think it's possibly biggest problem with new episodes along uninteresting/uninspired plots.

[Reply #610 on:]

I wouldn't be remotely surprised if it turns out they stopped rewriting to the same extent a good decade or so ago. It would actually explain a lot.

As for the episode's structure, the show has NEVER been consistent on that front - even some of the "golden age" episodes are guilty of this, but it was just less noticeable back then because the episodes would have you laughing the whole way through (that, and, if you've grown up with The Simpsons like I have, it can sometimes be difficult to remove the rosy nostalgia goggles and examine the classics critically). It sticks out a lot more when the laugh rate is "once every couple of minutes at best."

[Reply #611 on:]

For me, I'm amazed if modern episodes of the show can manage as many as three laughs per episode. Once every couple of minutes would be a miracle.

[Reply #612 on:]

Hence the qualifier "at best."

[Reply #613 on:]

Watched Brick Like Me. On the advant calender my birthday matched up with Lunchlady Doris.

[Reply #614 on:]

You mean Lunchlady Dora, right?

[Reply #615 on:]

Some Simpsons Season 26 info because boredom.

Simpsorama will be the first November episode of Season 26.

https://mobile.twitter.com/AlJean/status/469144443275067392

The Man Who Came To Be Dinner will finally air this Season as the first 2015 episode.

https://twitter.com/AlJean/status/469129977011527680

Known titles for Season 26 so far are:

Clown in the Dumps (death episode, Season premiere).
Treehouse of Horror XXV (The Others inspired segment with the ghosts of the Tracey Ullman Simpsons, a Kubrick parody segment)
Simpsorama
The Wreck of the Relationship
Super Franchise Me
Opposites A-Frack
I Won't Be Home For Christmas
Band of Dads
The Musk Who Fell To Earth
Blazed and Confused

The hilarious adventures continue this fall, when KRUSTY (Castellaneta) plans to retire; Homer and Bart attempt to solve some father/son conflicts; Marge opens a sandwich franchise; MR. BURNS (Harry Shearer) finds a girlfriend in Democratic Assemblywoman Maxine Lombard (guest voice Jane Fonda); Bart schemes to bring down his new teacher, MR. LASSEN (guest voice Willem Dafoe), who is a terrible bully; Homer has a mid-life crisis; and “Futurama’s” “Bender” (guest voice John DiMaggio) makes an appearance in Springfield in a hilarious cross-over episode. Additional guest voices next season include Nick Offerman, David Hyde Pierce, Jeff Ross and Matthew Sweet.

[Reply #616 on:]

The Man Who Came To Be Dinner will finally air this Season as the first 2015 episode.

I'm pretty sure every Simpsons fan has been dreading this one since it was first announced... The fact that Fox have held it back for so long certainly isn't doing anything to alleviate my concerns.

Clown in the Dumps (death episode, Season premiere).

So, I'm guessing it's Krusty's father who dies?

Homer and Bart attempt to solve some father/son conflicts

Simpsons already did it... Many, many times.

Marge opens a sandwich franchise

Community did it.

MR. BURNS (Harry Shearer) finds a girlfriend in Democratic Assemblywoman Maxine Lombard (guest voice Jane Fonda)

30 Rock did it.

Bart schemes to bring down his new teacher, MR. LASSEN (guest voice Willem Dafoe), who is a terrible bully

The Simpsons did this exact plot with Lisa just last season.

Homer has a mid-life crisis

Seriously, how many mid-life crisises can one man have?

Additional guest voices next season include Nick Offerman, David Hyde Pierce...

I'm excited about the former, who is always hilarious (and has voice-over experience as Axe Cop). I'm guessing the latter means another Sideshow Bob family episode? *shudders*

[Reply #617 on:]

Why was 'The Man Who Came to be Dinner' held off?

[Reply #618 on:]

Presumably because it's just as terrible as it sounds.

[Reply #619 on:]

Clown in the Dumps (death episode, Season premiere).

So, I'm guessing it's Krusty's father who dies?

Not necessarily, it may just be the same episode in which Krusty retires (again) and the title a reference to why.

Marge opens a sandwich franchise

Community did it.

lol, Not to mention all the other franchises she's had.

[Reply #620 on:]

Clown in the Dumps (death episode, Season premiere).

So, I'm guessing it's Krusty's father who dies?

Not necessarily, it may just be the same episode in which Krusty retires (again) and the title a reference to why.

This is true - however, it was also stated that the Springfield resident who dies is voiced by somebody who has previously won an Emmy for that specific role on the show. That narrows it down quite significantly, and given that Jackie Mason received an Emmy for his guest role as Hyman Krustofski in Like Father, Like Clown, he fits the bill perfectly.

[Reply #621 on:]

If Krusty retiring is the death episode, he could be retiring because of his father dying, or Sideshow Mel dying (lets not forget that he is Krusty's sidekick although I don't even remember last time any episode referring to that). Or then Krusty dies, who knows.

[Reply #622 on:]

Maybe you should read the post directly above you and see why that's probably not the case.

[Reply #623 on:]

Dan Castellaneta has won an Emmy for voicing "various characters" in the episode Today I Am a Clown, which includes at least Krusty. Haven't seen the episode in a while, but I'd say Mel spoke also in the episode.

[Reply #624 on:]

Clown in the Dumps (death episode, Season premiere).

So, I'm guessing it's Krusty's father who dies?

Not necessarily, it may just be the same episode in which Krusty retires (again) and the title a reference to why.

This is true - however, it was also stated that the Springfield resident who dies is voiced by somebody who has previously won an Emmy for that specific role on the show. That narrows it down quite significantly, and given that Jackie Mason received an Emmy for his guest role as Hyman Krustofski in Like Father, Like Clown, he fits the bill perfectly.

Just proposing* that the title is a red herring   a lot of secrecy spoiled by the title.

Otherwise I already agree with you

I've been guessing Hyman Krustofsky for a while, and if any emmy award winning character is known by few, and is anticlimatic to kill off - this is where my money's at. He's not even been voiced by Jackie Mason in most of his appearances either.

_{*suggesting, that was the word I was looking for...}

[Reply #625 on:]

How exactly did Box know that would be the death episode anyway? Was that an official announcement, or just a guess?

[Reply #626 on:]

At least in Wikipedia it says "one of the characters will die", I don't know if that's official.
Also, how many times Krusty will try to retire...

The Man Who Came To Be Dinner will finally air this Season as the first 2015 episode.

I'm pretty sure every Simpsons fan has been dreading this one since it was first announced... The fact that Fox have held it back for so long certainly isn't doing anything to alleviate my concerns.

I think it's their way to say "We're done."

[Reply #627 on:]

I'm holding out hope that the episode ends with the reveal that it actually isn't canon. Like it was Fry's dream or something.

[Reply #628 on:]

How exactly did Box know that would be the death episode anyway? Was that an official announcement, or just a guess?

EW confirms the death episode to be the Season 26 premiere.

http://insidetv.ew.com/2014/01/22/simpsons-character-death-hank-azaria/

Al Jean on Twitter confirms Clown In The Dumps is the Season 26 premiere.

https://twitter.com/AlJean/statuses/468184607318220800

Why TMWCTBD has been delayed this long, I have absolutely no idea. Maybe animation concerns with David Sliverman (apparently the episode looks awesome, says Jean), or the writers trying to find a way to make it canon in the end as a dream, the world may never know.

As for who's going to die, I honestly hope they're just going to kill Krusty here. They've already seemed to have done all of the plots they wanted to with him...twice, and doing it could actually spark a lot of interest with fans and add more possible plots for the show, yet not enough to affect the show drastically.

Oh, and here's a TV Line interview with Jean and Selman (Yellow Wedding indeed).

http://tvline.com/2014/04/29/the-simpsons-death-clues-season-26-premiere/

[Reply #629 on:]

How exactly did Box know that would be the death episode anyway? Was that an official announcement, or just a guess?

It's been confirmed.

Dan Castellaneta has won an Emmy for voicing "various characters" in the episode Today I Am a Clown, which includes at least Krusty. Haven't seen the episode in a while, but I'd say Mel spoke also in the episode.

In this article, Matt Selman was quoted as saying “What we told the performer is, ‘This does not mean the end of your participation in The Simpsons.’” This would rule out people who do multiple voices.

Now, we already know it's not Edna. And I HIGHLY doubt they would kill off Lisa Simpson. So, this leaves us with just three actors who have won an Emmy for voicing a single character on the show:
Jackie Mason (Hyman Krustofski)
Kelsey Grammer (Sideshow Bob)
Anne Hathaway (Princess Penelope)

Al Jean also said the following, in the same article: "People who reported on it then reported we were killing an ‘iconic’ character; I’d like to say it’s a great character, but I never used the word ‘iconic.’ It’s a terrific character and it [happens in] our premiere this coming year.”

I'd say Krusty is pretty damn iconic - as is Sideshow Bob. I don't recall Princess Penelope having even appeared since that episode she was in, and it was a pretty damn forgettable role, so I highly doubt it's her. This leaves Krusty's dad - which the title of the episode would seem to back up. However, I should acknowledge, the three characters mentioned above all have connections to Krusty, so the title isn't ultimately definitive proof here.

Though having said that, I don't think that the current Simpsons writing staff is clever enough to throw out red herrings, or even do a half-decent job at concealing the secret successfully. So, I'm sticking with the Krusty's dad theory.

EDIT: D'oh! Somehow I missed Box Incorporated's link, which is pretty much the same thing. Oh well. I can't be bothered re-typing this now.

[Reply #630 on:]

Also, I just saw a picture of the whole Family Guy/Simpsons Crossover on this website. http://www.pedestrian.tv/news/arts-and-culture/the-simpsons-and-family-guy-crossover-episode-is-c/c3ff71b9-b4bd-4172-88de-053a5fd9a45b.htm

Oh yeah, the other cross-over. I'll just say I'm lucky I don't care how it turns out.


As for the last episode of this season 20-something; it could have been better.

[Reply #631 on:]

The Man Who Came To Be Dinner will finally air this Season as the first 2015 episode.

I'm pretty sure every Simpsons fan has been dreading this one since it was first announced... The fact that Fox have held it back for so long certainly isn't doing anything to alleviate my concerns.

I'm really looking forwards to it, actually. The show has run itself so far into the ground, it's melting down in the Earth's core, so I enjoy seeing their stupid gimmicky episodes now purely because they're not boring like a lot of new Simpsons episodes are - even if they are all terrible.
Plus my understanding is that this is the first episode written by Al Jean in a long, long time, and the first directed by David Silverman in a while, too.
I'm sure it will be terrible, but so is every episode these days.

Clown in the Dumps (death episode, Season premiere).

So, I'm guessing it's Krusty's father who dies?

I've been saying it will be him since they announed that they were going to do a death episode.
To add to the evidence for it being him, they said that the actor that voices him/her didn't even know yet, a while back. If it was a series regular or someone as iconic as Sideshow Bob, they'd definitely have the good nature to have let the actor know, just out of common decency. In this instance, it makes sense that they wouldn't have spoken to the actor yet - especially if the character dies offscreen without any new dialogue - just, like, a message arrives at Krusty.
Al Jean also specifically said that it's a great character but definitely not an iconic character.
I suppose it could just as easily by Anne Hathaway's character since she was Krusty's girlfriend, briefly, but I really doubt they'd hype everyone up for such a crap character that almost nobody remembers.

Marge opens a sandwich franchise

Community did it.

The Simpsons basically already did it; just swap sandwiches for pretzels.

MR. BURNS (Harry Shearer) finds a girlfriend in Democratic Assemblywoman Maxine Lombard (guest voice Jane Fonda)

30 Rock did it.

Again, The Simpsons already did at least one "Mr. Burns gets a girlfriend" episode.

Bart schemes to bring down his new teacher, MR. LASSEN (guest voice Willem Dafoe), who is a terrible bully

The Simpsons did this exact plot with Lisa just last season.

And they've already had Willem Dafoe on the show.

[Reply #632 on:]

I'm really looking forwards to it, actually. The show has run itself so far into the ground, it's melting down in the Earth's core, so I enjoy seeing their stupid gimmicky episodes now purely because they're not boring like a lot of new Simpsons episodes are - even if they are all terrible.
Plus my understanding is that this is the first episode written by Al Jean in a long, long time, and the first directed by David Silverman in a while, too.
I'm sure it will be terrible, but so is every episode these days.

I still think "terrible" is a bit too harsh a word for the majority of episodes these days (granted, there are a few god-awful ones, but for the most part, I'd describe the show's quality as "aggressively mediocre"), but I see your point.

If they come up with a satisfying enough explanation to have it still be engaging while making it 100% clear that it's non-canon, I guess I can get on board.

[Reply #633 on:]

Fantastic poster for Simpsons Comic Con panel.



Sideshow Mel's family from TABF02.

https://twitter.com/mattselman/status/488895641083314177

[Reply #634 on:]

Sideshow Mel's family from TABF02.

https://twitter.com/mattselman/status/488895641083314177

Come on! This is why I cannot consider Simpsons episodes canon anymore. Didn't they explain the bone was stuck in his hair because he tried to dig out gum and it got worse?

[Reply #635 on:]

lol, canon in the Simpsons universe.

[Reply #636 on:]

Mel's bone in hair is one of the least canon things anyway.
Also, I hate that arbitrary design with bones for his family.

[Reply #637 on:]

lol, canon in the Simpsons universe.

well, they managed to make it work the first nine or even fifteen seasons, of course excluding Springfield's layout being different depending on what the story required.

I say The Simpsons is what it is because they wanted to keep the characters living in the present (imagine - today's Homer was roughly Bart's age when the show first started). Also today's writers didn't work on the show when it first started - they're probably not too familiar with all the 550+ episodes.

[Reply #638 on:]

The Simpsons isn't a serialized show. All the episodes could be in a vacuum for all I care.

[Reply #639 on:]

It's like a vacuum all right, cuz it sucks