The Simpsons

I mean normally I'm too busy doing homeless outreach to even think about such things, but sometimes I'll do so much homeless outreach that I have to be hospitalized for exhaustion, so that's usually when I'll kick back and get a few chuckles out of a new Simpsons while the IV rehydrates me

Then I return to doing things so much more important and productive than watching shows that aren't as funny as they used to be, like homeless outreach or (as mentioned) posting to the internet about how I don't think certain shows are funny enough to waste my time on anymore

Then maybe I'll have some pasta

It's when Bart and Lisa find a tape with Martin's voice on it. He's speaking to recently metamorphosized butterflies: "Now if I may mimic your mother's feeding call..." And then he goes into this FUCKING HILARIOUS old granny voice sing-songing something like "Lawdy lawdy clickety clawdy.

I saw this for the first time only recently (a first time rerun - I havent been watching Tv for a couple years now so ive missed a lot of the last 2 seasons). I actually quite enjoyed that episode, even though all the way through I was all "well obviously Martin isnt dead, I wonder how they'll swing this plot".

There's usually a handful of actually good, funny episodes per season. The butterfly one was good, and the one with Jarmusch wasn't too bad, either. Of course all the other episodes are atrocious, but it seems like only the few good ones make it into syndication anyway.

Xpost: Well, for one, you could spend the time you dedicate to watching post season 10 Simpsons watching Season 1-10 Simpsons. Then at least you'll get the opportunity to watch something that's even worth watching, not drivel that's been brought down so many pegs that it's actually tragic.

Is this really a question of productivity? Did the 15 seconds I spent voicing an extremely mild, insignificant criticism (and on ILX? As if!) become such an offence that it turned into a deep moral predicament? Suddenly you can voice your opinion because you do homeless work, and now complaining on the internet about my on the internet is not only productive, but also a valid criticism?

I've watched new episodes of the simpsons, and I can't make it past more than 5 minutes. I don't know how anyone else does it, really. . .

I think I see the Watchmen Babies as Peanuts trick-or-treaters briefly in the commercial for tonight's episode.

OMG, I think Lisa was an incorrect pedant last night: Homer called himself a "xylophobe" and she said that would involve being afraid of xylophones, when in fact I'm pretty sure it would involve being afraid of wood

i feel like it taking u this long to realise that is kind of a simpsons joke irl

like im sitting here laughing really hard at the image of u watching the show then going abt yr daily routine getting ready for work, sitting in a meeting, teaching a class, eating lunch, going back to work and then *lightbulb*

I'm sorry, was I supposed to rush and post this to ILX in the middle of watching the show? Cause I just remarked on it to my gf, although at that point I was thinking "xylo" = "bone"

it means 'boner' or 'woody.'

Lisa has already posted a retraction and an apology in her blog

It does remain however the instrument heard whenever skeletons dance.

I'm sorry, was I supposed to rush and post this to ILX in the middle of watching the show? Cause I just remarked on it to my gf, although at that point I was thinking "xylo" = "bone"

haha no obv not bro it just struck me as funny - the img i had - im sure u were on that shit instantaneously

tbh honest I haven't even watched the show yet; I totally picked up on this before watching it on DVR tomorrow morning

WOW THAT WHO IS GONNA BUILD THE WALL JOKE WAS SO FUNNY WHEN FOUR SEPARATE COMICS TOLD IT

add the simpsons to that highlight reel of hackery

i saw the last ten minutes of the simpsons last night. pretty deadening show now, huh

so lame:

Scottish singing sensation Susan Boyle has inspired cartoon slacker Homer Simpson to audition for a talent show in a new episode of The Simpsons.
Ms Boyle, 48, from West Lothian, became a worldwide sensation after appearing on Britain's Got Talent last month.
In the new episode, Homer appears before judge Simon Cowell, saying "My name is Homer Simpson, I'm 39 years old and, well, I've never been kissed."
He adds: "My dream is to be a great singer like Susan Boyle."
Ms Boyle's rendition of I Dreamed a Dream from Les Miserables on the ITV1 show turned her into a global phenomenon after being posted on YouTube.
She was previously mentioned in cult US cartoon show South Park.
Last week, she appeared on a special episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show.
Her appearance in The Simpsons episode, Springfield's Got Talent, is part of the show's 20th-anniversary season.

no one is even going to remember who she is by the time that episode airs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QkDmqoWQ3M

( 8(1)

=( 8(1)

Watching the Michael Jackson episode last night reminded me how I used to sit in front of the television every Sunday night and just crack up for a half hour. Little things like watching Snoball II's eyes open and close as the cat tried to sleep on Homer's chest or the "You mean there really is a Bart?" line.

Kinda surprised to read that wasn't even Jackson singing though it does fit in with the whole meta-identity motif going on in the show.

Really? Keep in mind the voice was credited to "John Jay Smith", although MJ did it (as for actual singing. . .)

Yeah we caught the show too, my sis and I, and you're right at just how quick the show could be at its best, packing in so many things at light speed.

But I've missed something, that wasn't him singing? Even the a capella "Billie Jean" part?

FYI

They got a MJ impersonator to do the singing because there's a whole clusterfuck of TV sync rights when an artist sings on a tv show.

The official line was that MJ wanted to play a prank on his brothers.

Why oh why is my cat dead? Couldn't that Chrysler hit me instead?

I had a hamster named Snuffy, he died...

lisa on ignorital is the most i've laughed at the simpsons in a decade or more

the ke$ha intro 0_0

yeah that was kinda... um....

Yeah, I have no idea what that was about, but like most reworked Simpsons intros the level of detail is fun. Is the Love Tester machine always in Moe's background scenes? Also liked that Snake has the statue of Jebediah Springfield in the back of his car.

i've always managed to find something to like about the recent simpsons episodes, but the one from last night (s22e01) was unspeakably bad. don't know if the flight on the conchords guys were to blame (haven't seen much of their stuff and have no desire to now) or if the writers have just given up. whole thing felt like some crappy kids tv show, with the odd 'adult' joke crowbarred in, like that weak hash joke at the end. first time i can recall a show i like actually making me feel miserable by the end, due to how bad it was.

Yeah, but you also realize that that's pretty much the last 10 years in a nutshell.

I feel like they missed an opportunity to revisit uter and martin at fatcamp, and maybe they could have had the music teacher expel lisa from the room and she does a very morose sax riff in comparison to the opening credits gag, but other than that i don't feel i could do better with the premise.

yeah it was shit

the quality of simpsons episodes is fairly random (probably less so if you know which are the good writers)

they let those Flight Of The Conchords dipshits on network TV?

I'm usually all for statistical rigor but they should go ahead and fire the bad ones.

In that unauthorized simpsons book, the author claims it's the showrunners? (i'm not sure of the term) that shape the show more than any given writer, and divides the eras up by them.

there's sufficient barriers to entry that whoever ends up a simpsons writer has got to be a bright dude, right?

I've seen a few bright dudes contribute to a clusterfuck or two.

It's shortsighted and incorrect to assume that the decline of the show is the cause of them not having good writers that are capable of coming up with something half good. This is the new mandate of the show; they've abandoned what they were to essentially start anew as a kids show, hence the easy and less esoteric jokes, and more emphasis on something that a 6 year old would find funny (this is the way, no less, to secure an emerging audience, rather than trying to keep your original audience, now in their mid-lives, and without watching TV as a priority).

Moreover, the Simpsons are suffering from their own success in a way, insofar as they largely set the scene for subsequent cartoons of the sort, most of which are hugely indebted to the Simpsons in one way or another (one of the writers in a commentary once expressed his annoyance at how shows like Family Guy have co-opted Simpsons style comedy making the Simpsons theretofore unable to do their own thing). Its especially hard with shows like Family Guy et al. making base, unfunny, and immature humour the popular norm; it seems like a piece of A+ satire like Homer Bad Man (i.e. the hard copy episode) wouldn't be as well received by contemporary audiences.

Its especially hard with shows like Family Guy et al. making base, unfunny, and immature humour the popular norm

this is bullshit. simpsons has been shit since around the turn of the century. family guy debuted 1999. Nu-simpsons is as unfunny as anything on televsion.

Huh? I agree with you on those points, and I don't see how I'm implying the Simpsons haven't been shit for the last 10 years.

I mean to say that the general standards for cartoon comedy shows seems to have lowered in the last 10 years thanks to the popularity of unfunny, family guy type stuff; hence, the Simpsons have if anything lowered their standards, perhaps because there's more of a market for it.

this is becoming like outgrowing Mad magazine where all the references are turning into things that people much younger than me like. I would have no idea what the fuck was going on in this ep if I didn't see the ads boasting that the cast of glee was in it.

saw the season 18 parody of michael apted's Up series of documentaries the other day and enjoyed it.

they let those Flight Of The Conchords dipshits on network TV?

― Gaspar NoAgé (Whiney G. Weingarten), Monday, September 27, 2010 2:45 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

that carefully-curated garden of sophisticated, quality humour?