Rate and Review "Don't Fear the Roofer" (GABF10)

[Rowdy]

4/5...........quite good..........the Stephen Hawking bit at the end had me crying in laughter.

[bovine_university]

I found this episode to be below average. This episode had a good story and a nice guest voice performance, but that was pretty much it. I laughed at a few of the jokes (like the Knockers joke) but otherwise I wasn't impressed. The subplot with Santa's Little Helper (if you can call it a subplot) was too short and completely unnecessary to the point that you wonder why the writers even bothered. I enjoyed the plot at first, with things getting started right away with Homer feeling unloved, and it was very engaging with the idea that Ray may not be real (so what if it's cliche?) but the third act brought the plot to a screeching halt. The ending was quite anticlimatic and they spent way too much time explaining everything to us (why not just leave the circumstantial events to our imaginations?). The jokes felt long (like Homer dancing on the roof and "Pizza Pizza") but the story kept the show going, but by the third act even that suffered. I give this episode a 2/5.

[Corkus]

This wasn't a bad episode by any means, but there have been quite a few better ones this season. The plot was pretty lame, and the explanations at the end were fairly hokey. The Homer as president gag would have been funnier if it stopped before the basketball part. I suppose the best part of the episode was Hibbert, which every joke around him was spot-in. And as a bonus, he's not a character I generally find that funny.

Overall: 3/5

The 2nd one was much funnier.

[ScottNak]

Hm... I don't remember which episode it was exactly... I think it was this episode... the return of the D'oh? Yay! =D

[Semaj]

Very nice. It's too bad we won't be seeing that roofer anymore (like how we never saw that Drew Carey-like friend Hank had from King of the Hill beyond that one episode). I liked that rule against looking at the waitresses' enormous hooters.

There were also a lot of twist gags, some of which managed to dodge cliched jokes (where you see the visual right after a character describes it).

Also, did the "old" Santa's Little Helper look a bit like Hans Moleman?

There's nothing really regrettable about this episode at all. I liked it all around.

5/5

P.S. Tune in to CBS on Mondays at 9PM while there's still time!!!

[Stackhouse]

really enjoyed this, the plot and the flow of this thing was alot stronger than had been noticeable in recent eps. the plot was clear-defined and well-planned and it set up the final outcome really well. blisteringly funny for the most part as well. ray did excellent. i didn't care for the shock gags or the old lisa gag or the old subplot at all for that matter, but this doesn't need to be expanded on. great episode.

A-

[Corkus]

Hm... I don't remember which episode it was exactly... I think it was this episode... the return of the D'oh? Yay! =D

He said it in the recent "Mobile Homer" as well. It's more sporadic than before (It's been replaced by "Dammit!" on several occasions), but it's still there.

[thrilling bargains]

4/5. I probably would have given it a 5/5, but I'm trying to give episodes harsher ratings.

The banter over the credits had me laughing so hard. It reminded me of Homer's discussion with that lady over 'VIP' in 'Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington.' Is there anywhere I could download that... like, minute of dialouge? It was just too funny.

Oh, and the clues were very well placed.

[Bart1CC]

4/5, wished I hadn't missed the first 5 or so minutes. Came in right as Homer was meeting Ray.

Anyways, Romano is IMHO the best celeb guest voice to appear on the show in a long time. His character fit in really nicely and Romano just has that perfect awkward yet likeable everyman voice (well, at least when he's not being whiny as Ray Barone sometimes is, ha). The homage to a Beautiful Mind was executed very nicely, glad to see they both got the last laugh on everyone and stayed friends (I'm all for Ray returning once in awhile, hey Al howzabout giving him an A Brooks occasional 'special guest' placement of sorts?). It was also great to see Dr. Hibbert being forced to roof and getting some comeuppance for a change.

Also, it was a hoot to see the staff as always going out of their way to annoy Fox and Murdoch with the credit sequence promo bit about Everybody Loves Ray/CBS.

[That Jerk]

The banter over the credits had me laughing so hard. It reminded me of Homer's discussion with that lady over 'VIP' in 'Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington.' Is there anywhere I could download that... like, minute of dialouge? It was just too funny.

Here you are

[ScottNak]

He said it in the recent "Mobile Homer" as well. It's more sporadic than before (It's been replaced by "Dammit!" on several occasions), but it's still there.

Mm... If its the part where Homer accidentally locks himself out of the motorhome... he said "dammit" not "d'oh"

[Channel Surfer]

I was kind of hoping for more. Very compelling idea, of Homer conceivably going insane with imaginary Ray Magini. But the events themselves seemed unnaturally forced, or just wasted, and fail to make for an interesting execution. While we can assume Marge pieced together the clues that suggest Ray is imaginary off screen during the night for instance, the way that the episode just springs the idea of him being imaginary, and a few seconds and an act break later throws Homer into a mental hospital seems a bit rushed to me, with little actual time spent on considering if Homer's mind really has tipped...moreso. Worse, Homer's grasp over his sanity at the mental hospital, something that could have been really engrossing, is pushed aside, wasted really for some lame (even if "A Beautiful Mind" inspired), repeated shock gags that have been done so many times before on the show. Even the external conflict, with Marge and the kids understandably upset at Homer not being able to keep a sturdy roof over their head, and Homer understandably feeling alienated from them, seems somehow contrived. Compared to the somewhat similar opening in "Colonel Homer", where Marge lashes out for something Homer distinctly does when going MST3K style on the movie, the connection here seems less direct, that it is somehow all Homer's fault that the roof is leaking. Plus, some of the grievances, particularly of the kids, seem purposely overplayed and "jokey", which doesn't lend itself well to establishing any sort of conflict.

Still, in case I sound like I'm being too negative, it was still pretty funny, and I still did enjoy it if only for the (somewhat hit or miss) humor. A fair amount of sight and other visual gags, the hamster on the hot wheels chute, the cake stool, Marge's hair collecting with water, even the nail war were all enjoyable to watch. Stephen Hawking was probably better here than in "They Saved Lisa's Brain", if only because of his explanation on why Bart didn't see Ray. Ray Romano did a good job as Ray Magini (though considering I've only seen a handful of "Everybody Loves Raymond" episodes, I do wonder if I missed any jokes regarding Romano's own show, excluding of course the end credits thing). And any of Homer's trips to a new bar, in this case "Knockers" are always worth a laugh. Still, even here, some of the humor didn't work very well IMO, the already mentioned overdone shock treatment which took up too much time, the so incredibly strained "Everybody Loves Raymond" plug, and the incredibly tiny subplot at the Retirement Home (especially the oddball conclusion with SLH and especially Lisa becoming old). Direction stood out, particularly Hawking's explanation near the end, and I have to admit that Ray Magini being an anagram was very clever.

Good, but still a bit disappointing, without much of an interesting plot and occasionally messy humor, especially with "The Heartbroke Kid" airing right after it.

Grade: C+

[Nameless]

5/5. Great episode, nearly the best of the season, but not quite.

[prince jafar allah]

a bit too silly for its own good at times, and as channel surfer said the whole insanity angle seemed a bit rushed (they could have done with perhaps another short scene demonstrating his apparent insanity before marge decided to commit him), but generally a fun episode. B

[thrilling bargains]

Here you are

Fantastic. You're the coolest.

[Butters]

Just above average episode. Jokes in this episode were all pretty decent, excluding one or two pretty bad ones. The plot was quite good, too. Stephen Hawking's appearance was unnecessary and a waste of time, and the "worm-hole" solution really had me upset. I was expecting a decent answer to why Bart couldn't see Ray, not just more whoring of Hawking's guest-role (also, the entire "worm-hole" reflection thing was a really bad set-up, Bart shouldn't have been able to see, parts of, Homer either). The nail-fight was probably my least favourite part of the episode, mainly because it was just pain-gags, but also because it mirrored the much worser nail-gun scene in "Bye Bye Nerdie". Homer attacking Flanders' lawn-mower was good, though. Characterisations were good, too, Ned was finally his normal self (his "Raytheist" line was great). It did go down in quality in the 3rd act, and I disliked most of the Electro-Shock treatment gags, but I did like the "Robin Hood isn't real" joke. Although, most of Season 16 are getting the same grade, I'd certainly have a string of above average episodes to "one good one followed by a few bad ones" that we had in some other seasons. B+

Did anyone else realize that "Ray Magini" was an anagram for "Imaginary" before the episode aired? I did...

[Gleeding_Bums]

4/5 for me just because of the damn shocking gags. I'm sorry, but enough with the electrocution. It got old the second time you did it. Lisa and Santa's Little Helper getting strangely old was a pretty odd gag, but I guess it had that Twilighty Zone effect.

As far as plot is concerned, I thought that this one was well thought out. The first act was great plot wise, Knockers and Moe's done really well. I thought the second act developed pretty well. I thought, knowing Ray Romano, that he was just ditching homer all the time, acting like a Jerk, but I was wrong.

Third act was where it failed to earn a 5/5 from me. I just hated the damn electrocution gags. It’s been done by the show already, come on. They could have done something really meaningful, like spoofing how crappy our mental institutions are without the pain gags by keeping Homer without food and water and treating him like shit until he admitted Ray was imaginary There wasn't a need for the pain gags.

I guess what I am saying is that aside from the pain gags, the episode was pretty good. I did like Hibberts comments between the pain gags.

I like Hibbert going bad, as it seems a lot of Doctors burn out and then get into shady and shaky business. I just hope it doesn't make him into a one gag character, where whenever we see him, he is being a little shady. The parking validation gag was pretty funny. A funny line after that could be Hibbert saying, “That’s why you don’t elect a trial lawyer as vice president).

Characterization was pretty good, Homer wasn’t a jerk, Marge was worrying and getting angry without being grating to the viewer. In fact, in a nice twist, Marge was more of a jerk than Homer. Wow!

So, to sum it up, funny throughout, first and second acts really superb, third act a little meh because of pain gags. I love the explanations for why nobody saw Ray, and then how Stephen Hawking’s explanation had to be validated by Lisa for everybody to accept it. Ironic.

Stephen Hawking, while kind of useless, but was done better than most guest stars recently. Ray was great, as usual. I hope he gets a return ep. (well, maybe, knowing how easily they could screw up the character).

As for the ending, the staff is going to do anything to prevent advertisements from taking over. And I say, whatever prevents FOX from bastardizing the Simpsons is a good thing. Plus the Raymond on CBS thing was pretty funny although it got annoying. They could have cut it short a little earlier.

4/5

This season looks good!

[Butters]

I like Hibbert going bad, as it seems a lot of Doctors burn out and then get into shady and shaky business. I just hope it doesn't make him into a one gag character, where whenever we see him, he is being a little shady. The parking validation gag was pretty funny. A funny line after that could be Hibbert saying, “That’s why you don’t elect a trial lawyer as vice president).

This reminds me, where the hell is Dr. Nick? Have we even seen him this season?

[Alpha]

Hilarious episode! 5/5

[Nameless]

This reminds me, where the hell is Dr. Nick? Have we even seen him this season?

IIRC no, which is a shame.

[vox]

IIRC no, which is a shame.

He hasn't spoken since Margical History tour, and before that...Sweets and Sour Marge?

[Butters]

He hasn't spoken since Margical History tour, and before that...Sweets and Sour Marge?

Pray Anything.

His character has just vanished. He's had 2 roles in the last 3 seasons...

[Dennis]

I liked this episode. I think it helps when you watch an episode with a group of people that aren't even fans, just casual viewers like most of America who owns a TV. It makes you appreciate it more for the humor, and it makes you ignore the totally contrived and sitcommy plot that seemed really unneccessary. OK, so I guess it was a little worse than I thought. But, I enjoyed it.

3.5/5.

[KevinB]

Plus the Raymond on CBS thing was pretty funny although it got annoying. They could have cut it short a little earlier.

I don't think it got annoying at all.I laughed so hard I woke my Dad up.

4/5 for the 1st episode but 5/5 for the 2nd one.

[Homer J Brannigan]

Pretty good episode. Stephen Hawking's guest apperance was hilarious. 4/5

[thrilling bargains]

For the 3/5 vote... was that meant to be a direct line from the show, or is that a happy accident?

[The General]

I didn't really like this one. I just didn't find any of the jokes laugh out loud funny. The only part I really enjoyed was Steven Hawking's explaination of why Bart couldn't see Ray.

I can only give it a 2/5

[StrideR]

I respect the fact that the writers tried to put together a coherent story that was actually smart. Funny? eh... I don't know about that.

5.5/10

[Woogie31]

Another stupid Homer episode. You nerds are nuts out there if you think this episode was even average. 2/5

[Sarcastic Guy II]

Another stupid Homer episode. You nerds are nuts out there if you think this episode was even average. 2/5

Yes sir, Woogie31!

Thank you for another brilliant zinger at us nerds out here.