Dental plan (The Simpsons)

[#40 :]

"Super Franchise Me" was just horrible. So, so, so horrible. The best part was Marge saying “It’s like they don’t care if you make money as long as they make money. What kind of company does that?” and then the FOX logo and fanfare briefly appearing. The plot was just so ridiculous and shitty, and that ending was so abrupt and odd.

In regards to last week's episode, I enjoyed Nick Offerman's guest role, but the B-plot was super weak. The main plot was fairly weak, too, to be honest.

I thought both episodes were pretty decent, but I literally cannot recall the subplot of the Offerman episode whatsoever. I've been sitting here for at least five minutes trying to recall ANYTHING from the episode I watched just a week ago. That's the problem with modern Simpsons, it's very rarely awful but it's often just incredibly dull and uninspired, offering some funny moments that you won't recall a couple hours after viewing.

[#41 :]

The subplot involved Marge running Homer's fantasy football team. I actually thought most of the best lines from the episode came from that story.

"But no amount of refreshing could alter the facts: Despite a breathtaking ignorance and a powerful dislike of the sport, a rookie housewife had defeated a savvy veteran, proving conclusively that fantasy football is basically just luck."

[#42 :]

"Super Franchise Me" was basically just "The Twisted World of Marge Simpson" minus everything good about "The Twisted World of Marge Simpson.

That montage where Homer waited for Marge to make sandwiches, set to "The Ecstasy of Gold" was particularly painful. Mostly because, not only was it not funny but it felt like a joke written by somebody who doesn't have a sense of humour. Like, as if they had studied the rules of comedy and had a basic understanding of the structure of a joke from a technical stand point but didn't actually find anything funny themselves.

I see a lot of people championing Matt Selman's occasional episodes as showrunner as if his work is still good and he should take over from Al Jean, but I don't understand it. That was every bit as bad as the previous episode. Awful.

[#43 :]

Not really original or anything, I'd say it was a bit better than either of episodes so far, because this one didn't leave a bad taste in my mouth. Yeah, the montage wasn't really funny, but I didn't not like it, just not so good choice for music there.

[#44 :]

I see a lot of people championing Matt Selman's occasional episodes as showrunner as if his work is still good and he should take over from Al Jean, but I don't understand it. That was every bit as bad as the previous episode. Awful.

Selman was behind "The Wreck of the Relationship", not "Super Franchise Me".

[#45 :]

The Rabi being the infamous death was something I kinda saw coming... I mean I wouldn't have minded seeing Krusty actually die (we have 26 years of memories with this guy, and he's even more dried up than the show is), but the Rabbi is kinda welcome as well.

So far that episode and the rest of Season 26's episodes have been pretty awful. Nothing particularly great or let alone good stood out, and I always find myself falling asleep partway through the episodes..... Sad, really. But that's just The Simpsons as of today...... Nothing can be done about it at this point.

[#46 :]

I see a lot of people championing Matt Selman's occasional episodes as showrunner as if his work is still good and he should take over from Al Jean, but I don't understand it. That was every bit as bad as the previous episode. Awful.

Selman was behind "The Wreck of the Relationship", not "Super Franchise Me".

Oh right. Well, my point still stands as "The Wreck of the Relationship" was equally terrible.

The Rabi being the infamous death was something I kinda saw coming... I mean I wouldn't have minded seeing Krusty actually die (we have 26 years of memories with this guy, and he's even more dried up than the show is), but the Rabbi is kinda welcome as well.

A lot of us called it back when they announced that a character was going to die (given that they also said the character was played by an actor who won an Emmy for the role).

[#47 :]

What was the point of killing off Krusty's father? Was Jackie Mason just tired of doing the voice? Or was it to pull in ratings?

[#48 :]

If I remember correctly, Al Jean briefly mentioned in an interview that someone was going to get killed off. The media took it and ran with it. Then of course, since they were getting all that attention, the producers didn't do anything to make it seem less spectacular than it was made out to be.

It's my interpretation anyway.
The episode itself was because they wanted to see where the plot would take them, I guess.

[#49 :]

Jackie Mason has voiced that character, what, three times in total? Including the episode where he dies?

I doubt it's anything to do with him. They probably just felt that it was a legitimate reason to kick off yet another Krusty's Krisis of Konfidence episode and, as Lambda said, the media kind of took the whole "someone's going to die" thing to be a huge deal, despite Al Jean specifically saying it wasn't an iconic character that they were going to kill. I mean, it generated huge amounts of publicity for them so, why not just roll with it?

[#50 :]

Just as expected, the final segment of this year's TOH was the most fun. Haven't they gone to Hell and made fun of Clockwork enough?

Seems like they kind of wasted a lot of jokes based on the Ullman incarnations by adding yet another Homer/Marge love story. I wish there were more scenes between the then & now versions of the family, as they've changed so much, instead of uninteresting 'drama'.

Anyways, I'm glad they got the rubbery animation right; right down to Bart's mouth-turn. The late gag with the family photo was a nice touch, too.

Again, though, I think they could've done more with the Ullman characters. But, hey, griping won't improve it; at least it was a fun segment.

[#51 :]

"The Others" was okay, but like MRM said, it focused on Marge & Homer's relationship too much.

I enjoyed "School is Hell" quite a bit. However, "A Clockwork Yellow" was the worst segment for me, probably because I have yet to see A Clockwork Orange, so most of the references were lost on me.

I also liked the South Park-versions of the Simpsons at the end.

[#52 :]

I'm pretty much along the same lines that first segment was good (maybe best one, for me), hard to say about second one as I haven't seen A Clockwork Orange and last one was fine, except it should've focused on something else, more to dynamic between old and new.

All in all, not bad.

[#53 :]

That was awful but it was better than most recent episodes of the show. Possibly the best episode since the Lego one.

"School is Hell" was crap but less offensively crap than they often are these days and it had one or two jokes that worked.

"A Clockwork Yellow" was crap, but A Clockwork Orange is a masterpiece, so they scored browny points merely through association. I'd say it was better than the first segment.

"The Others" was definitely the best segment, but it was still crap. It wasted a good premise and ended on a stupid, cheap joke. I've said it before, but as soon as a principal member of the cast dies, causing the show to end, then two years later, they'll start making CGI films starring the Simpsons with a new voice cast as seen with the John Ratzenberg cameo at the end.

Haven't they gone to Hell and made fun of Clockwork enough?

I can't speak for seasons 13-26 because I don't tend to remember them at all - they instantly fall from my mind because there's nothing worth remembering - but they only referenced A Clockwork Orange something like three times in seasons 1-12 and, even then, it was usually very brief and small. Bart was dressed as Alex at the Halloween party in "Treehouse of Horror III", for instance... a minor detail.

[#54 :]

Eh, I thought it was just okay. A few chuckles, nothing special, but nothing actively terrible either. Obviously the best bit was seeing The Simpsons animated in so many different styles at the end... This one had a bit of an old-school Treehouse of Horror vibe, in the sense that it wasn't afraid to venture to some pretty dark places, which was much appreciated. I honestly thought that last year's ToH was better, though.

[#55 :]

I'll leave this here...

[#56 :]

Got to say I loved the gag with Willie dragging away the corpses of Bart, Lisa and Maggie, only for Lisa to question how Maggie died, resulting in Willie looking around anxiously then running away.

[#57 :]

This week's episode was actually pretty good by current Simpsons standards. It didn't get too bogged down in the satire and just played as a classic "Mr. Burns concocts an elaborate evil plan" episode - and let's face it, it's been aaaaaages since we've had one of those, much less one this funny. What would the last somewhat decent one have been? Fraudcast News? Midnight Rx?

At any rate, it made me laugh harder than the show usually does these days, so that alone made it pretty enjoyable.

Oh, and I loved the back-and-forth between Mr. Burns and Jane Fonda's character at the end, too. See also: "Our. Water. Was. On. Fire!"

[#58 :]

Saw the Season 26 premiere on Sky, pretty shit really and boring. Krusty's father dying was a bit pointless. What the hell was up with that couch gag though? Dragged on longer than the average Family Guy joke and wasn't funny at all!...

[#59 :]

It wasn't funny, but it was fantastically bizarre. I guess if the insanely weird doesn't stimulate you at all, then it must have been torture. For me it was the only interesting part of the episode.

[#60 :]

I agree that this week's was much better than usual, so I get why people go on about Matt Selman. I mean, it was still really shit, but substantially less so that the show tends to be nowadays.

The plot wasn't one I felt like I've seen a million times before. I mean, I've seen "evil Mr. Burns plan" multiple times and "Mr. Burns gets a girlfriend" multiple times but this is the first time they've smushed them together to create something vaguely complex. And the awful jokes seem to be reigned back to only a handful that were cringe-inducing, unlike usual where every other joke makes me wince.

[#61 :]

I agree that this week's was much better than usual, so I get why people go on about Matt Selman.

Matt Selman's episodes are generally very strong (by current Simpsons standards, of course). They should just put him in charge of the entire show already, especially seeing as Al Jean checked out somewhere around season 17 (not that his previous seasons were brilliant or anything, but you could at least tell he was trying). Unfortunately, I can't see Jean ever stepping down at this point...

I miss the days when Simpsons show-runners used to only ever serve two year stints.

[#62 :]

Ok, it was a good one, like one of two or so epidoes per season that aren't meh. The plot with Homer and his characterisation I'm not sure about, but Mr. Burns plot was good. Yeah, the jokes were generally enjoyable, too, for a change.

[#63 :]

Didn't think much of the latest episode, don't know why it's getting so much praise.

[#64 :]

I'd like to make it clear that I thought it was really shit; it was just considerably less really shit than most episodes of the show these days... just in case anybody thought I liked it.

[#65 :]

I did think that, and I'm judging you so hard.

[#66 :]

Picture from The Man Who Came to be Dinner.

[#67 :]

Airing in 2018!

[#68 :]

I think they may finally be taking this whole crossover business too far

[#69 :]

Too far?

A Simpsons/Family Guy/Futurama/Beavis and Butt-head/Ren and Stimpy crossover would be amazing.

And, like, I'd genuinely be down for a Family Guy/Beavis & Butt-head crossover. They sort of toyed with such things with that weird King of the Hill opening, recently.

[#70 :]

I can't wait for The Simpsons/Angry Birds crossover!

[#71 :]

I think they may finally be taking this whole crossover business too far

The one crossover I would pay a fortune to watch is a crossover of "Ed, Edd and Eddy" and "The Brothers Grunt".

[#72 :]

Offtopic, but a Futurama/Rick and Morty crossover would be brilliant.

[#73 :]

If it's written by the Rick and Morty writers, then yeah, that'd be the best thing ever.

Eh, at least we have a Rick and Morty couch gag coming up to look forward too, so that's something.

[#74 :]

Eh, at least we have a Rick and Morty couch gag coming up to look forward too, so that's something.

For real? When was this confirmed?

[#75 :]

Eh, at least we have a Rick and Morty couch gag coming up to look forward too, so that's something.

For real? When was this confirmed?

http://spinoff.comicbookresources.com/2014/10/14/nycc-rick-and-morty-cast-crew-get-stranger-in-season-2/

[#76 :]

Wow, that's awesome news.

Though nothing will beat Don Hertzfeldt's couch gag.
"I AM SIMPSON!"

[#77 :]

Thanks for the link Snake, I look forward to seeing this couch gag.

Though nothing will beat Don Hertzfeldt's couch gag.
"I AM SIMPSON!"

Beamer is right, that couch gag was flawless.

[#78 :]

So, "Blased and Confused" wasn't actively awful which made for a nice change. It was just aggressively mediocre.

[#79 :]

I agree on Blazed and Confused, it was surprisingly decent given the target of the satire, which The Simpsons normally fumbles these days... Granted, to a large extent, they still did - but the end product was at least watchable and entertaining, which was a pleasant surprise. I was really dreading this episode.

Annnyway, moving swiftly along to Covercraft - I actually quite enjoyed it. The only big laugh for me was the last few moments of the sequence over the end credits, and the storyline was hardly original (seemed like somewhat of a cross between Homer's Babershop Quartet and Team Homer), but again, it was a pleasant 20 minutes with few-to-no moments that made me cringe in disgust.

Come to think of it, this season's actually been surprisingly decent. The worst episode so far was Clown in the Dumps, which still wasn't completely terrible. I'm also seeing Matt Selman's name on more and more episodes now, which is always a plus (his episodes tend to feel more fleshed out and generally make some use of their ideas, rather than Al Jean's which feel like scraps of ideas thrown together haphazardly). I'm still doubtful they can surpass this level of quality for more than one or two episodes a season, but hell, even if they just retain it, it'll be the best season the show's had in years.