Dental plan (The Simpsons)

[Reply #200 on:]

Say what you will about Al Jean, but he's a master of drumming up unwarranted hype.

Not only has this information been readily available for months, but, as some of you guys have said, it's also obviously something that will be undone within the same episode and something the show has already done to various different degrees countless times already.

Every year, he finds something to tease the mainstream press with and they always seem to fall for it. I mean, it was obviously Krusty's dad that was going to die.

Hopefully, next year, he'll run out of cheap ways to keep people interested and go back to the Futurama crossover well.

[Reply #201 on:]

Very well put. Hasn't he been Executive Producer for about half the series now? You know, the bad half?

[Reply #202 on:]

Hopefully, next year, he'll run out of cheap ways to keep people interested and go back to the Futurama crossover well.

"In the season 28 premiere it turns out that...um...all three of the kids were adopted!"

[Reply #203 on:]

Very well put. Hasn't he been Executive Producer for about half the series now? You know, the bad half?

Not including his Seasons with Mike Reiss, he has been showrunner since Season 13's She of Little Faith, showrunning as of Season 26 289 episodes, excluding the Selman episodes in between, coming out to over half the series.

And just for fun, with the show's renewal, almost a 3rd of the series will be made up of HD episodes (195/625, making about 31.2%). *shudders*

[Reply #204 on:]

You heard it here first!

Again, not like it makes any difference or anything...

[Reply #205 on:]

You heard it here first!

Again, not like it makes any difference or anything...

So they're not breaking up forever? WHAT?!?
What could this mean for the future of the Simpsons?!?!

[Reply #206 on:]

They're not breaking up, but their roles will henceforth be voiced by special guest star Harry Shearer.

[Reply #207 on:]

I still can't believe how stupid some of the fans are for thinking this will be anything more than a one episode gimmick. I'm guessing those same people were very worried one of the family members were gonna be the dead character last season

[Reply #208 on:]

HOLY SHIT, HOMER'S GETTING A NEW JOB!?!!!

[Reply #209 on:]

The Springfield Nuclear Power Plant must have a really lax system of employment. They let him come back to his old job every time!

I honestly expected Homer to be stranded in space when he became an astronaut and the rest of the show would be about him trying to re-establish contact with Earth. Bart would grow up to become an astronaut so as to search the stars for his father. They had me really worried there!

Show spoiler

Fool me 574 times, shame on you.
Fool me 575 times, shame on me.

I remember when they killed off Maude. This was before the internet was quite so ubiquitous, so there was some actually mystery there. I deduced that it had to be Maude based on what they were showing in the commercials (Ned was shown looking over the rails) and common sense (they weren't going to kill off a main character). I had no idea Maggie Roswell was leaving he show, so that information did not influence me. I shared my deductions and my siblings got mad at me for "ruining the (obvious) surprise."

[Reply #210 on:]

Watching S7/Ep18, The Day the Violence Died.  If I hadn't seen the detailed description, I would have had NO CLUE that the Lampwick character was voiced by Kirk Douglas!

[Reply #211 on:]

Yeah, that was very shortly before his stroke

[Reply #212 on:]

I don't remember who the Lampwick character was and I don't know who Kirk Douglas is... but I'm glad you brought this up.

Show spoiler

Was Lampwick the Disney spoof?

[Reply #213 on:]

Kirk Douglas:

Show spoiler

[Reply #214 on:]

Show spoiler

Iiinnnteresting!

[Reply #215 on:]

Sorry; I sometimes forget how much of a pain it is, fighting with absurd copyright laws from another country.  And on your phone, too.

edit: (and media plugins)

It's the "I AM SPARTACUS" scene from the 1960 film (imdb).

[Reply #216 on:]

I actually get unfettered access to everything on YouTube. The terrible internet access is the main problem. The lack of plug-ins would be a fairly simple fix if I had better internet (which might change in just a matter of hours).

Your written clue is helpful, too, though.

[Reply #217 on:]

Lampwick is the hobo who actually created the character of Itchy.

[Reply #218 on:]

Lampwick is the hobo who actually created the character of Itchy.

To be fair to him, he wasn't a hobo at that time.

[Reply #219 on:]

I will not be fair to a fictional character. Burn him alive!

[Reply #220 on:]

Shearer is back: http://www.ew.com/article/2015/05/15/harry-shearer-simpsons-returns?hootPostID=c9207bc716489e677082ac3971988718

[Reply #221 on:]

Who?

[Reply #222 on:]

That one guy. winna I think.

[Reply #223 on:]

...anti-climatic, but nice to know he's still on now.

[Reply #224 on:]

Ugh, what a little bitch. I would have had a degree of respect for Harry Shearer if he'd framed his contract dispute as an objection to the show's shit-tastic quality - if he'd acted from a place of artistic integrity - and might have even encouraged his jumping ship. Didn't he flat-out say the show had gone to hell 10 years ago during the last The Whole Cast is Gonna Be Fired and Replaced debacle? It's certainly still a valid argument!

But this whole "not enough time for side projects" excuse was so silly; at this point, The Simpsons is his side project. This retroactively seems like such a crass publicity stunt on Shearer's part, and that's just so yucky. I guess I'm glad he's sticking around, if only because his characters are so iconic and central to many people's enjoyment of the show - but the part of me that's been hoping for something to put this show out of its misery already is quite bummed. Oh well...

[Reply #225 on:]

Well, at least Shearer got his wish for cast recognition (said in a tweet just before "leaving" how the cast is never mentioned in news articles).

But anyway, yeah, just a case of miscommunication between Jean and Shearer. Here's to 30 more years, woooot.

[Reply #226 on:]

Yeah, I guess this is good news.

Didn't he flat-out say the show had gone to hell 10 years ago during the last The Whole Cast is Gonna Be Fired and Replaced debacle?

He's made a lot of vague statements that would certainly imply that's his opinion, but I've never been able to find a quote of him outright saying the show is terrible now.

...The part of me that's been hoping for something to put this show out of its misery already is quite bummed.

To be fair, as much as I'd like to see The Simpsons put out of its misery, it doesn't look like that would've been the case even if Shearer had quit for good. At this rate, I'd say it's going to take a major cast death before they even consider it.

[Reply #227 on:]

Shearer is back

Who?

Hairy Shearer. A man with Samson-length hair who, out of sheer jealousy, wants to ensure his hair is longer and more abundant that of any other living being. So he travels the world clipping the hair, fur, and wool of anyone and anything in his path.

But this whole "not enough time for side projects" excuse was so silly; at this point, The Simpsons is his side project. This retroactively seems like such a crass publicity stunt on Shearer's part, and that's just so yucky.

You know, I have to agree. I was unaware of his other projects before this whole "misunderstanding." However, I will forever associate his other projects with his blathering lies. That is, if I even remember about his other projects seven months down the line.

[Reply #228 on:]

I feel like his 'leaving' wasn't meant to be publicized and wasn't nearly as big as it was played up to be, and Al Jean just saw the attenton it could garner for the show and sent out the news anyways.

[Reply #229 on:]

Negatory. This whole thing became public when Harry Shearer tweeted that he was leaving.

[Reply #230 on:]

D'oh... in that case, I reject my statement!

[Reply #231 on:]

Well, that was one of the worst episodes the show has ever produced.

[Reply #232 on:]

Honestly, I thought it was better that most of their recent stuff.

Obviously, it was dreadful and, the ending in particular, was a complete and utter mess that completely undermined any attempts at emotion or character development throughout the rest of the episode, but a handful of jokes were actually passable for a change and, for the first two acts, they actually took the show into some somewhat new territory. I wish they'd spread this out over a few episodes as an arc and had given it the room to breath and gravitas that such subject matter probably deserves.

Anyway, it was awful, but I think it was less awful than a lot of what the show does these days.

[Reply #233 on:]

Yeah, it's sad to see news stories reporting on "big changes" in the show and knowing it's gonna be the same old status quo routine without even having to watch the episode. Actually, maybe it's not such a bad thing to not have to suffer through

[Reply #234 on:]

Weird, it actually sounds like they do have a multi-episode story arc planned for this season.

But yeah, I think the cop-out dream ending definitely brought this one down a few pegs, but even then, I only chuckled once the entire episode, and groaned many times. It wasn't quite "talking dish rag" bad, but it was definitely up there for me.

[Reply #235 on:]

Your URL doesn't appear to be working. In an attempt to Google what you were talking about (was it that Smithers thing?) I stumbled upon this:

Season 27 will also see an uncharacteristic story arc for Marge Simpson, who will end up in jail in an episode titled “Orange Is the New Yellow” – a nod to prison drama series Orange Is The New Black.]Season 27 will also see an uncharacteristic story arc for Marge Simpson, who will end up in jail in an episode titled “Orange Is the New Yellow” – a nod to prison drama series Orange Is The New Black.

Yes, so uncharacteristic that it already happened in "Marge in Chains". Couldn't they at least throw a different character in jail?

[Reply #236 on:]

Yes, it was the Smithers thing. Here's the link I was trying to post:

www.avclub.com/article/waylon-smithers-will-come-out-mr-burns-simpsons-se-225974

And that OitNB episode already sounds cringe-worthy.

[Reply #237 on:]

Interesting. Especially as Al Jean specifically said they don't do mutli-episode arcs when asked about the Homer / Marge split. Just more proof that they flail around doing whatever they feel like in that particular moment, these days.

[Reply #238 on:]

I wouldn't be surprised if the term "multi-episode story arc" is being used quite loosely here - I highly doubt we're going to have episodes ending on cliffhangers and plots continuing over consecutive episodes or anything like that. Much more likely, I'd say we get one episode where Smithers coming out to Mr. Burns is the main story, and then another episode later in the season with a B-plot pertaining to Smithers now being out of the closet.

The show doesn't do multi-episode arcs in the way that, say, South Park or Archer sometimes does, but they have had sequel episodes before (ie. Alone Again, Natura-diddily and I'm Goin' to Praiseland, Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? and Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes?, etc.) - and some minor characters have had continuity with their stories, such as the Apu episodes in seasons 9 through to 13, the relationships with Edna and Skinner (and later Flanders), the early Sideshow Bob episodes, and those terrible episodes with Cletus's daughter that no one gives a shit about.

[Reply #239 on:]

Eyes are wrong, but otherwise pre good reference, honestly hope for more Bender references later.