Here are some short opinions by me about the new S15 episodes. I hope it´s no problem that I don´t use the official rate&review thread. I always get the episodes later so I have to review three of them in one post. It´s also no real review but just a first impression without grade.

EABF21 "The Regina Monologues"

The S15 vacation episode and unfortunately an episode in the typical "a bunch of stuff happens to fill 20 minutes of running time" style. First an overlong introduction, then some visual gags in a row and rather late a thin vacation story. We have enough guest stars for an entire classic season and it also seems as if the writers didn´t really know what to do with all the guests - as the overly stretched Ian McKellen joke shows.

On the other hand: the episode has some good ideas, oneliners and signs but there´s too little time and imagination for a real satire about the British Way of Life vs the American Way. So even with some good ideas, EABF21 is not really able to fill the vacation background with content (like "Special Edna" in S14 did) and is on the whole not much more than a yellow sketch parade with amusing moments. Meh.

EABF19 "The Fat and The Furriest"

The episodes shows us another try to mix old and new elements of the show. We have partly more character-driven aspects and more classic humor (bible movie with vegetables, "Mmmmmh, Moses") but in strong contrast also too much crude S11/S12 elements - silly humor, smoking eyes, blood and electric shocks. And that´s a real nuisance.

However, the episode comes surprisingly fast to its point and the story flow seems also better than in EABF21. Some of the "normal" jokes are even quite amusing and imaginative, e.g. Homer´s bizarre bear fantasy ("Are you a carebear?", "I´m an intensive-care-bear".) But the satire of the episode seems to me more like an alibi function to justify some Homer wackiness. Result: as episode too uneven and often too crude.

FABF01 "Today, I am a Clown"

The first FABF episode is clearly better. We have a lot of good ideas (e.g. "Where The Chosen gets chosen" or Homer´s weird Lincoln fantasy) with little silly stuff and good use of the character potential. Mr. T and his strange appearance on Krusty´s FOX-sponsored Bar Mitzva is also amusing. I pity the fool who doesn´t like...he.

The unrelated introduction seems again somehow pointless and stretched and I have the feeling neither the media satire with Homer nor the story about Krusty and his cultural problems have all the running time they would deserve. While Rabbi Krustofky was an important character back in S3, he isn´t much more than some guy in the background here (which is reflected in Jackie Mason´s voice performance which hasn´t the same effect it had back in "Like Father Like Clown".) Despite of many good and classic ideas, FABF01 thus always seems a little rushed to me - like so many new episodes even in the Jean era.