At Long Last Leave! - The Simpsons

[Reply #440 on:]

Cyber-Turnip has a very valid/good point. Makes ya wonder, what would we do without Cyber-T?  

Also, the new episode sucked. Nothing new.

TOTTD

[Reply #441 on:]

Top of the Tage Dance?

1st.) I didn't say he never did, I said rarely. He definently made me laugh more in the earlier seasons, I'm just saying I wouldn't be upset if he died.

Shame on you, Mr. cartoonlover27. Shame on You.

"We can't bust heads like we used to, but we have our ways. One trick is to tell 'em stories that don't go anywhere - like the time I caught the ferry over to Shelbyville. I needed a new heel for my shoe, so, I decided to go to Morganville, which is what they called Shelbyville in those days. So I tied an onion to my belt, which was the style at the time. Now, to take the ferry cost a nickel, and in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on 'em. 'Give me five bees for a quarter,' you'd say... Now where were we? Oh yeah: the important thing was I had an onion on my belt, which was the style at the time. They didn't have white onions because of the war. The only thing you could get was those big yellow ones..."

[Reply #442 on:]

Homerland was quite good, it was interesting and enjoyable. Although the result wasn't overall that great, it was very good for a new episode.

[Reply #443 on:]

I thought it was horrendous. I feel like it was bad, even by new episode standards, but I don't know if that's just because the show's been off the air for a while and I've been watching classic episodes lately.

[Reply #444 on:]

Well, it wasn't very funny and there was couple stupid aspects, but I liked how the plot advanced. I don't know, maybe it was just the mystery element I liked in it.

[Reply #445 on:]

So far I've only seen their parody of the Homeland intro, which was spot-on and actually quite funny.

My hopes for the episode itself aren't as high, though.

[Reply #446 on:]

I disliked the episode as I had not seen the material it was parodying. It seemed completely over the place and stupid but, again, that's probably because I have never seen Homeland. I yearn for a new episode that works on two levels, for people who have and haven't see the source material - is that really too much.

I'm sure I'd enjoy it more if I did watch Homeland, but should I really? I mean, I've heard its great but I shouldn't have to watch a show to get some enjoyment out of a Simpsons episode...

[Reply #447 on:]

They've done more than their fare share of parodies, though the best parodies are always the ones where you don't need to see the source material to appreciate. The Sherry Bobbins episode is the only one from the classic era that really sticks out as not meeting this criteria.

[Reply #448 on:]

Kinda dreading/hoping for this night's premiere. It's become such a hit-or-miss show for me. Don't screw this up, Simpsons writers.

cartoonlover27 is crazy. If he just said that Grandpa never made him laugh, he obviously never watched Seasons 1-10.

1st.) I didn't say he never did, I said rarely. He definently made me laugh more in the earlier seasons, I'm just saying I wouldn't be upset if he died.

2nd.) Why does everyone assume I'm a guy? 

Grampa is awesome.

"The family name is my legacy to you. I got it from my father, and he got it from his father. And he traded a mule for it. And that mule went on to save spring break."

That's actually really funny. 

Dont worry, most PEELers believe I'm a guy aswell

[Reply #449 on:]

Kinda dreading/hoping for this night's premiere. It's become such a hit-or-miss show for me. Don't screw this up, Simpsons writers.

cartoonlover27 is crazy. If he just said that Grandpa never made him laugh, he obviously never watched Seasons 1-10.

1st.) I didn't say he never did, I said rarely. He definently made me laugh more in the earlier seasons, I'm just saying I wouldn't be upset if he died.

2nd.) Why does everyone assume I'm a guy? 

Grampa is awesome.

"The family name is my legacy to you. I got it from my father, and he got it from his father. And he traded a mule for it. And that mule went on to save spring break."

That's actually really funny. 

Dont worry, most PEELers believe I'm a guy aswell

I didn't even watch it, and I doubt I will anytime soon. Why purposefully watch utter crap?

[Reply #450 on:]

I watched The Simpsons last night mainly because:

1. There wasn't anything to do or watch.

2. Sunday Night Football wasn't on yet (look at one).

3. I wanted to see if this episode would be not bad, let alone good.

And I gotta say, just a meh episode.

[Reply #451 on:]

They've done more than their fare share of parodies, though the best parodies are always the ones where you don't need to see the source material to appreciate. The Sherry Bobbins episode is the only one from the classic era that really sticks out as not meeting this criteria.

I would say Spinoff Showcase, too. You'll at least understand it on some level if you get general TV cliches, but it really helps to have some knowledge of a specific era of television and, at times, the specific (terrible) shows that were being mocked. Which is a broad enough thing in the sense that people of a certain age-range all remember the terrible Brady Bunch spinoff, but most people in any other age range probably have no clue what's going on in that segment. (Very similar, I would argue, to the Futurama Saturday morning cartoons episode.) Sherry Bobbins at least benefits from the fact that it's a well-known, historically-important "classic" (I think it's pretty bad, but in terms of its reputation and that everyone has seen it) film that most anyone in America born since its release has probably seen. Spinoff Showcase is still one of the more controversial Simpsons episodes, certainly among the classic-era ones anyway.

Along with what's been said by you and a few others, I think the issue with Homeland is that it's just the latest "thing" that's popular now but may not really be in a couple years (imagine if they'd done an entire "Dexter" episode in 2007 or so). Not that they should be precluded from doing really recent stuff, but if you're going to do an entire episode spoofing a TV show, it should probably be something a little more universal and significant. Homeland is just the latest well-received cable drama to gain a cult audience; it just doesn't have the impact of a Mary Poppins-type thing.

[Reply #452 on:]

So basically Simpsons hired funny writers and now the show is good again?

[Reply #453 on:]

Along with what's been said by you and a few others, I think the issue with Homeland is that it's just the latest "thing" that's popular now but may not really be in a couple years (imagine if they'd done an entire "Dexter" episode in 2007 or so). Not that they should be precluded from doing really recent stuff, but if you're going to do an entire episode spoofing a TV show, it should probably be something a little more universal and significant. Homeland is just the latest well-received cable drama to gain a cult audience; it just doesn't have the impact of a Mary Poppins-type thing.

It depends how well the parody still plays without knowledge of the source material. I mean, The Springfield Files was made during the classic era back while The X Files was all the rage, but that's still a very funny episode either way (minus a few short scenes that would go over the viewer's head). I still haven't seen the new season premiere in full yet, but from what I've read, it seems to still work, aside from the very specific parody of the Homeland intro at the start, which was only about 20 seconds long anyway.

[Reply #454 on:]

So who's getting killed off this season? My guess is Sideshow Bob.

So basically Simpsons hired funny writers and now the show is good again?

What? Hell no.

[Reply #455 on:]

I'm going with Herschel Krustofski, but it could easily be Sideshow Bob, Grampa or Mrs. Krabappel or one of pretty much any of the countless secondary characters voiced by Dan Castelanetta or Hank Azaria that they officially won the emmy for.

[Reply #456 on:]

That "Swag" song is really catchy from that last episode.

[youtube]t8sFul66eq4[/youtube]

[Reply #457 on:]

My local Fox station actually talked about this killing-off-a-Simpsons-character thing on their newscast this morning (like it's actually news). They said that the character being killed off is voiced by someone who won an Emmy for their work on The Simpsons. Of course, you all probably know that already (as did I). But that means we can rule out any characters voiced by Harry Shearer.

You all seem to be convinced that it is either Sideshow Bob or Grampa. I personally hope it is Sideshow Bob; killing off a family member like Grampa after all these years would be pretty pointless.

[Reply #458 on:]

I don't think it would be pointless at all - quite the opposite, in fact. It'd finally open up some avenues for a handful of storylines that the show hasn't done yet. Well... they've touched on these things, but still, they can get a lot of material out of it.

What does Grampa leave them in his will? How does the family cope with its grief? Does it kickstart them discovering another secret aspect of his past?

And I still think it's going to be Herschel Krustofski. The whole "they won an emmy for the role" titbit is really odd unless it's one of the guest characters, which is why I'm leaning towards Herschel Krustofski, Edna Krabappel and Sideshow Bob.

[Reply #459 on:]

I don't think they'd kill off Edna so soon after introducing the whole Ned/Edna story. There is still a lot of unmined potential from that story well (not that the writers ever go to it more than once a season, but still).

[Reply #460 on:]

Very good point.

Unless they were trying to do some sort of incredibly dark Ned Flanders can never be happy thing, but I can't imagine that'd be the case.

[Reply #461 on:]

[youtube]CtgYY7dhTyE[/youtube]

This is a really cool THOH opening! The Hypnotoad's even in it!

[Reply #462 on:]

[youtube]CtgYY7dhTyE[/youtube]

This is a really cool THOH opening! The Hypnotoad's even in it!

Never take drugs while watching The Simpsons.

[Reply #463 on:]

Very good point.

Unless they were trying to do some sort of incredibly dark Ned Flanders can never be happy thing, but I can't imagine that'd be the case.

Golden era Simpsons could do that pretty capably. It'd come off weird in this era of safety and going through the motions.

[Reply #464 on:]

I've never been disappointed by a Treehouse of Horror. This looks really good.

[Reply #465 on:]

"Treehouse of Horror XIX" is one of the show's very, very worst episodes.

[Reply #466 on:]

I was never really a fan of THOH. Only the first 7, but I just lost interest for any further than that.

Still, that opening is actually pretty cool. Even though the episode could be complete garbage, the cool opening just doesn't sell me into watching it.

[Reply #467 on:]

Yeah, the biggest problem with modern THOH is that there's usually one or two of the segments that fall flat, and that kind of compromises the entire episode

[Reply #468 on:]

I don't think they'd kill off Edna so soon after introducing the whole Ned/Edna story. There is still a lot of unmined potential from that story well (not that the writers ever go to it more than once a season, but still).

Apparently a LOT of people think it's going to be Edna. A LOT.

Personally, I'm betting on Grampa. That's probably the closest to a main character that they could kill off without going into something incredibly dark. And, honestly, it really COULD lead to a lot of interesting stories. I'd be interested in seeing if Homer's mom would come back and how that would work. Then again, I haven't watched the Simpsons in years, and apparently they've killed off a lot of people since I stopped. Maybe they already killed her and I didn't know about it.

[Reply #469 on:]

Yup; I'm pretty sure that Homer's mother was killed off for good in her last appearance.

They could definitely get some mileage out of Homer having to come to terms with his mortality after realising that he's the oldest living Simpson, though.

Edit: I forgot about Homer's brother. But there we go, it's a perfect reason for them to bring Herb back for an episode. I don't know anyone who wouldn't be a little bit interested in that.

[Reply #470 on:]

Last year's Treehouse of Horror was surprisingly not terrible, and I loved the "all the board cames come to life" segment they did a couple of seasons ago, but other than that, I haven't been impressed by a Treehouse of Horror episode since, like, season 9.

[Reply #471 on:]

Yes, the last one was fairly good and I like that opening sequence a lot. For once it's dark themed without being too silly. Even though that's what Simpsons do, I don't like that Treehouse of horror and future episodes usually turn out too silly, like the horror and technology aspects are used only for jokes.

[Reply #472 on:]

Yeah, the classic-era ToH episodes freaked me the fuck out as a kid. I remember having nightmares about the cafeteria one in particular.

[Reply #473 on:]

I didn't care for the last Treehouse of Horror. The last one I remember not outright hating was XX, but even that wasn't exactly good.

But I was also freaked out by them as a kid. "Dial 'Z' for Zombie" SERIOUSLY fucked me up, actually. I was only 4 or 5 when I saw it. It wasn't the episode, itself, so much as that was the first time that I'd really encountered the concept of zombies, properly. It was the concept of flesh-eating zombies that really got under my skin, and honestly, for literally years, I couldn't go for more than a few minutes at a time without thinking about the possibility of zombies attacking and being scared by the prospect. I would constantly be aware of my nearest potential makeshift weapon and the best exit to any room or area I was in. I basically lived in eternal fear for, like, 3 years of my childhood, thanks to The Simpsons.

The problem was made worse by how I sort of avoided horror films for most of my youth, basically on the assumption that I'd be terrified of them because that Simpsons episode freaked me out so much. When I eventually did come round to watching some zombie movies, I realised that they weren't even remotely as scary as my imagination had made them.

Fun fact: I've now seen well over 100 zombie movies.


Also, "Bart Simpson's Dracula" creeped me out a bit, too. I think there's something quite eerie and unsettling about seeing characters that you know and love being killed and attacked by monsters, and stuff, as a child. It's fucking with the safe, normal status quo, if that makes sense.

Also, Auf Clausen is a brilliant composer and the Halloween music in these specials has been consistently wonderful. I think the theremin music we got in those specials also played into freaking me out as a child.

I also found parts of "Terror at 5 1/2 Feet", "The Shinning", "Time and Punishment", "Nightmare Cafeteria" and "Attack of the 50-Foot Eyesores" quite creepy.

[Reply #474 on:]

Grandpa won't die. Though Dan C. has won several Emmys for his Simpsons work, he has never won one for voicing Grandpa, officially.

The possibilities would be restricted to those listed here (be careful to note wins vs. nominations, of course):

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Simpsons_cast_members

There is one award for "various characters" for Dan, but I would assume Jean was referring to a character specifically listed for the win (also, my memory is foggy, but I don't recall Grandpa featuring in that one).

[Reply #475 on:]

I'm just glad the Simpsons is good again.

[Reply #476 on:]

I don't think it would be pointless at all - quite the opposite, in fact.

I shouldn't have used the word "pointless". The best word I can currently think of that would describe my feeling if Grampa were to be killed off is just "odd". I just can't imagine that happening, but it is definitely a possibility.

...which is why I'm leaning towards Herschel Krustofski, Edna Krabappel and Sideshow Bob.

I think there is a possibility (though a very slim one) that Edna will die, considering that her voice actress, Marcia Wallace, is turning 71. But as someone mentioned above, she did just marry Ned a year or two ago, so I doubt she'll be going anytime soon.

Show spoiler

[youtube]CtgYY7dhTyE[/youtube]

This is a really cool THOH opening! The Hypnotoad's even in it!

That is a very cool opening. It may actually be enough to convince me to watch it.

I'm just glad the Simpsons is good again.

Since when?

[Reply #477 on:]

FOX picked up The Simpsons for a 26th Season.

Just, why?

[Reply #478 on:]

That's likely an extra 4 months we have to wait for "Simpsorama".

Edit: Nope, it's the season 25 finale.

[Reply #479 on:]

It'll probably be Grandpa who dies.