Season 17 Information

[CMQ]

Homer Simpson, This Is Your Wife is an example of an Simpsons episode that uses parts of episodes to piece together a new episode. For example the reality TV plot was used in Helter Skelter and The Frying Game, the other man that falls in love with plot Marge was used in Life on the Fast Lane or any Artie Ziff episode and the Homer and Marge marrige troubles has been used too many times to count.

[Sloppy Jimbo XOX]

ugh. reality shows are to sitcoms what amnesia is to soap operas

perhaps one thing you should remember jafar is that gervais' first show, the office was actually a mock reality show (well, a documentary, but essentially the same principle). so who knows, maybe that angle will keep things fresher than expected.

[vox]

i assume fox will promote this as a special episode of trading spouses?

[DotheBartman]

Agreed with Jafar, really. I also don't find it all that encouraging that Gervais is going to be playing a character similar to his "Office" character. Whenever a guest plays a "character" that's really just themself (or a famous character of theirs from another work) it comes off as a little hokey and some of the appeal is diminished (examples being episodes like "Burns, Baby Burns"). I'd rather he play a genuinely original character instead of just reprising his Office character with a different name and annoying "wink wink" jokes attached.

[Sloppy Jimbo XOX]

have you ever seen the office, DtB?

[Veryjammy]

Am I the only one who likes the premise of this one then? If you really wanted to you could take any new episode and use old ones to piece it together, that's the stage the show is in right now. There still isn't any indication Homer and Marge will have any marital problems, in fact it sounds more likely that Gervais' character is going to have exactly the opposite effect on Marge, while The Simpsons home will provide more of the obvious comedy

[prince jafar allah]

perhaps one thing you should remember jafar is that gervais' first show, the office was actually a mock reality show (well, a documentary, but essentially the same principle). so who knows, maybe that angle will keep things fresher than expected.

i dont see your point, the simpsons is not a mock documentary and the office was a real office not a reality show...i dont see how him using a reality show as a plot device is any more encouraging when you consider his writing style than if he wasn't using a reality show as a plot device. sticking the characters in a reality show is such a hackneyed and lazy way of creating a conflict, which usually turns out unrelatable and forced and has been done to death on the simpsons alone....thats my point

and dtb is spot on with the rodney dangerfield comparison

[Snack Related Mishap]

Am I the only one who likes the premise of this one then? If you really wanted to you could take any new episode and use old ones to piece it together, that's the stage the show is in right now. There still isn't any indication Homer and Marge will have any marital problems, in fact it sounds more likely that Gervais' character is going to have exactly the opposite effect on Marge, while The Simpsons home will provide more of the obvious comedy

No, you aren't. I like the premise, and I am hoping for some good parodies of reality shows, but Trading Spouses in particular.

[Simpsons Forever!]

I've always thought The Simpsons should go on Wife Swap - there are so many possibilities and with Gervais writing AND starring in the episode, I think this has just become my most anticipated episode of Season 17!

[Maxime]

I've always thought The Simpsons should go on Wife Swap - there are so many possibilities and with Gervais writing AND starring in the episode, I think this has just become my most anticipated episode of Season 17!

I agree with you and, once again, with Matt_G and Veryjammy, this episode sounds absolutely great.

[Nifty Gibbon]

Yeah, I don't see why any of you should be complaining- the episodes you are comparing this upcoming Gervais episode are all below average.

Gervais is a writer, a long-time fan of the Simpsons, and also a comedian- someone who know's what's funny and isn't.

Stop all your compaining, cause you're going to eat your words when you find that this will be the best Simpsons episode in a long time. Just think about it.

[Flimpson Tide]

the episodes you are comparing this upcoming Gervais episode are all below average.

It's all a matter of opinion.

[Postmaster]

Gervais is a writer, a long-time fan of the Simpsons, and also a comedian- someone who know's what's funny and isn't.

.

You haven't seen his stand up I presume.

[Drunk Barney]

Judging my SNPP writers site, here's my predictions to how many episodes we should see from each writer during the HAB period.(Plus the fact there's a bunch of new writers on board)

Tim Long- 1. He wrote three in the G line, i'm guessing he'll only do one this Season.

Ian Maxtone- Graham. 1 Seems to be writing one a Season in the Jean era. Expect this to continue.

Matt Selman- 2 He wrote 2 this GAB and 2 in FAB. Expect anouther 2 this HAB

Joel. H Cohen.2 Like Selman seems to have gone to 2 each Season.

Marc Wilmore- 2 Has been writing 2 each line, I expect he'll continue this.

J. Stewert Burns and Micheal Price-1 Both writing 1 everyline (GAB etc). Again expect this to continue.

This is the same for Dan Greaney, Matt W, Bill O, Kevin C, John Frink and Don Payne. Though I'm guessing one of these will switch to 2 episodes.

That's 16 episodes. But I expect anouther episode from the new writers such as Patric M. Verrone, Daniel Chun, Stephanie Gillis and Jeff Westbrook and there will be a guest writer, Ricky Gervais. Total- 22

If Greaney, Frink etc ALL stay at one episode then that opens the door for anouther writer. Will that be a new one or could that be the return of John Swartzwelder or Jon Vitti. Who knows it may even be a 23 episode HAB line.

[Mr Black]

It better be better than S16 Crapp-orama, cause apart from S1, it was my worst. The writers should stop milking Sideshow Bob now, there are enough episodes with him in it, its getting boring.

[Nameless]

Tim Long- 1. He wrote three in the G line, i'm guessing he'll only do one this Season.

Ian Maxtone- Graham. 1 Seems to be writing one a Season in the Jean era. Expect this to continue.

Matt Selman- 2 He wrote 2 this GAB and 2 in FAB. Expect anouther 2 this HAB

Joel. H Cohen.2 Like Selman seems to have gone to 2 each Season.

Marc Wilmore- 2 Has been writing 2 each line, I expect he'll continue this.

J. Stewert Burns and Micheal Price-1 Both writing 1 everyline (GAB etc). Again expect this to continue.

This is the same for Dan Greaney, Matt W, Bill O, Kevin C, John Frink and Don Payne. Though I'm guessing one of these will switch to 2 episodes.

That's 16 episodes. But I expect anouther episode from the new writers such as Patric M. Verrone, Daniel Chun, Stephanie Gillis and Jeff Westbrook and there will be a guest writer, Ricky Gervais. Total- 22

If Greaney, Frink etc ALL stay at one episode then that opens the door for anouther writer. Will that be a new one or could that be the return of John Swartzwelder or Jon Vitti. Who knows it may even be a 23 episode HAB line.

No.

Marc Wilmore - 1 per line
Selman - 1 in FABF's
Long - 2 in GABF's

really we can't make any accurate predictions. and swartzwelder at least is returning this season.

[Drunk Barney]

There's no need to say no like the whole things wrong. But yeh we can't really make accurate predictions and my predictions should be taking with a pinch of salt.

[Galalimit]

Carolyn, you're being nasty to Drunk Barney today. First in the voting booth, now in this thread. Enough already. You complained about how I was being an asshole to you(which I've since stopped doing awhile back), now you're doing the same thing to Drunk Barney. What a hypocrite.

[Nameless]

what? how am I being an asshole to him? I'm correcting him that he's made a mistake in his post. Please don't start a huge argument.

[Veryjammy]

I hereby declare an end to this madness before it gets out of hand.

And really, I don't think it's at all possible to judge how many episodes each person will write.

[Drunk Barney]

Yes we just cleared that up VeryJammy

Thanks Silverlimit but there was really no need. Carolyn was being a tad cheeky at most.

Sliding back on topic...

[Flimpson Tide]

John Swartzwelder is coming back for sure?

[ultraderecho]

Hey , are there any news of the next THoH?

[Flimpson Tide]

All we know is that it will air in November and the opening segment is about Kang and Kodos accidentally sucking up the universe into a vortex while trying to speed up Major League Baseball. One of the Treehouse of Horrors already had a meta-reference about Halloween episodes starting late when they already have Christmas decorations up, so another reference really isn't needed, but oh well.

[Butters]

Ugh, that sounds pretty weak. I mean, now, are Kang and Kodos only allowed to appear in the opening titles to a THoH? What has happened to the good ol' days when they'd laugh at the plot and call humans pathetic? Guh.

[Corkus]

Ugh, that sounds pretty weak. I mean, now, are Kang and Kodos only allowed to appear in the opening titles to a THoH? What has happened to the good ol' days when they'd laugh at the plot and call humans pathetic? Guh.

They called humans pathetic in ThoH14's opening for airing a Halloween special in November. But yeah, I'd like to see them in another segment.

But then again, Starship Poopers was a pretty weak effort.

[Disgruntled Goat]

I've loved all the Kang and Kodos segments, it would be nice to have a whole segment with them again. And didn't they appear halfway through last year's THOH (in the Sherlock Holmes segment)?

Gervais' episode sounds pretty good. I'm not gonna think about it in too much detail cos that will probably spoil it. But regarding the "meshed plots" comment from someone...it always seems that the best episodes of recent Seasons are the ones that combine some previous plot directions together - case in point: "Poppa's Got A Brand New Badge".

[Flimpson Tide]

This may not mean too much, but in the newest article posted on The Simpsons Channel, Al Jean says that they've been making a lot of Grampa episodes lately. Don't know if he means the last few seasons or upcoming one or both.

[Simpsons Forever!]

He also mentioned the upcoming assisted suicide episode again, but didn't reveal plot details.

One of the Grampa episodes must be the one where Homer believes Abe isn't his real father.

[Drunk Barney]

Well the last Grampa episode was The Old Man and the Key. So He's talking about Season 17. There's already 2 confirmed episodes which involve him. The one Simpsons Forvever mentions above and one of the Stories in " Simpsons Christmas Stories " involves Mr Burns and Grampa in World War II.