The General Discussion Lounge

[Adam R]

I actually agree with most of what you said when analysing the jokes, TFD. There are a few jokes that I really like that weren't mentioned (pretty much in order of funniness :P):

- "Is it? Or is it just that you girls can't admit you have a problem?"
- "I was saying boo-urns"
- Homer asking for 10 beers. It's not funny on paper and it's an easy joke, but the timing makes it, not to mention the quantity of Homer's order.
- "Don't eat pork, not even with a fork." scene. Silly, but makes me laugh.
- "It was a gummi bear."
- "I vote for Barney Gumbel's sensitive yet unfortunately-titled film... "Pukahontas"."
- "Let's just say it moved me...to a bigger house!"
- "Just hook it to my veins!" (hilarious reading)

[grissom]

Homer: Whatcha doing, Marge?
Marge: Making out the jury list for the film festival. Mayor Quimby, Krusty, Jay [giggles]...
Homer: Marge, do you respect my intelligence?
Marge: [long pause] Yes.
Homer: OK. [turns over] Wait a minute...why did it take you so long to say yes?
Marge: [long pause] No reason.
Homer: OK. [turns over] Wait a minute...are you humoring me?
Marge: [long pause] [resigned] Yes.
Homer: OK. [turns over] Wait a minute...that's bad!

That's the one scene that sort of pisses me off. Never found it very funny.

[Imperciph]

I've been thinking of doing a poll : please nominate episodes you think can be called as the best farcical gagfest of the Jean Era.

[Disgruntled Goat]

I had no idea "A Star Is Burns" was a crossover the first few times I saw it. It's weird because Bart's crossover line should have pointed it out to me, but I guess I just thought they were meeting someone from a TV show in their own universe. Anyway I don't have a problem with the episode now I do know.

[brody]

I've been thinking of doing a poll : please nominate episodes you think can be called as the best farcical gagfest of the Jean Era.

I am Furious (Yellow)
Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge
Simple Simpson

[Postmaster]

Fat Man and Little Boy
Mommie Beerest
Home Away From Homer

[Stevie V. Scrivello]

Kiss Kiss Bang Bangalore
Simple Simpson
The Seemingly Neverending Story

PS: Sorry to steer this off-topic, but I ran across this on Snopes.com, and was unaware if anyone has seen it. It's hillarious and it totally makes me want to copy this woman (albeit with a different character and episode) to see if Abby would fall for it again.

Claim: A 'Dear Abby' advice column was pulled because it included a letter taken from an episode of The Simpsons.

Status: True.

Origins: One attribute we here at snopes.com have in common with advice columnists is that we both receive a fair amount of rather bizarre mail — most of it sent in earnest, but some of it sent by pranksters trying to see if they can trick someone into publishing their bits of inventive fiction. We probably have a bit of an advantage over the advice columnists in that the false and the apocryphal are as much our stock in trade as the true and genuine — we deal with the kinds of things people believe to be true; whether or not folkloric tales are actually true is usually irrelevant. Columnists, on the other hand, generally prefer not to be doling out advice to readers seekinganswers to phony, contrived problems.

The bogus biographical bug bit advice columnist "Dear Abby" in March 2004, when Universal Press Syndicate pulled her upcoming 15 March column after a newspaper editor who read it in advance noticed that one of the letters she had answered sounded a bit too . . . familiar.

(Despite Universal Press Syndicate's having rescinded the column, a few newspapers chose to run it anyway.)

In a column entitled "Wife meets perfect match after husband strikes out," Abby proffered advice to a woman who signed her letter "Stuck in a Love Triangle." Mrs. "Stuck" described herself as a 34-year-old woman with three children who had been married for 10 years to Gene, her "greedy, selfish, inconsiderate and rude" husband. So inconsiderate was Gene that his birthday present to his wife was a bowling ball — one drilled to fit his own fingers, with his name embossed on it (and presented, of course, to a woman who didn't even know how to bowl).

But "Stuck" decided to spite her selfish husband by keeping the ball and learning how to bowl, leading to her meeting Franco — a man who was "kind, considerate and loving" — at the local lanes. One thing led to another, they fell in love, and Franco proposed, putting "Stuck" in a quandary: "I no longer love Gene. I want to divorce him and marry Franco. At the same time, I'm worried that Gene won't be able to move on with his life. I also think our kids would be devastated. What should I do?"

Abby's solution was for "Stuck" to admit her infidelity to her husband: "To save the marriage, he might be willing to change back to the man who bowled you over in the first place."

"Stuck"'s dilemma may sound so familiar to some readers — it was taken directly from the plot of a first-season of the animated TV series The Simpsons ("Life on the Fast Lane," also known as "Jacques to Be Wild," first aired 18 March 1990), synopsized by TV Guide thusly: "Homer's birthday present 'for Marge' is a bowling ball, prompting Marge to teach him a lesson by taking up the sport — and maybe also a handsome instructor."

This wasn't the first time a prominent advice columnist had been tripped up with a recycled plot. In 1994, a mischievous reader (all right, I'll confess — it was me) sent Abby's sister, Ann Landers, a letter based upon a well travelled urban legend to see if she'd fall for it. She did, printing and answering the letter in her 1 May column.

[Adam R]

I've seen that, I look at Snopes a lot. Good read though.

Oh and on the subject of Snopes, It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad Marge lied, birds don't die from eating rice.

[Postmaster]

But they will if you give them enough cola.

[koolchris90]

throughout many episodes in the simpsons there is a background music played, like in episode 9F15-Last exit to springfield when mr. burns and smithers are running the power plant themselves. the song has no lyrics and i beleive it is an older song. if anyone has an idea, your help is appreciated.

[Dark Homer]

throughout many episodes in the simpsons there is a background music played, like in episode 9F15-Last exit to springfield when mr. burns and smithers are running the power plant themselves. the song has no lyrics and i beleive it is an older song. if anyone has an idea, your help is appreciated.

I think the name of the song is "Off Broadway" but I could be wrong

[koolchris90]

no thats not quite it

[brody]

I decided GD-Lounge needed a bump.

So, am I the only one who thinks that Homer and Apu is very overrated? I enjoy things like James Woods, and the musical number, and while there aren't really any poor jokes, none really stand out for me. I couldn't really get into the plot all that much either. For me it is probably about a B+, what exactly is wrong with me?

[Green_Peaness]

^That's what I'm talking about in my other thread :P. If you don't look forward to seeing it, why give it a B+?? "Meh" means C or C+ imo (which still isn't a bad grade)

Anyway, I can't tell you what you're missing exactly. I used to not care for it either but it grew on me, maybe you just need to see it a few more times. The plot isn't even that great but it's hilarious throughout. Things like the Monstromart, where shopping is a baffling ordeal, the dirty hotdog seen up close and Homer's sting are classic. A-

[grissom]

I actually really like Homer and Apu. I haven't watched it in a while, but there are a lot of great jokes outside of the obvious ones, like James Wood. Plus the musical number is really catchy, and the Monstromart scene is awesome.

[Adam R]

^Barney in the Monstromart is hilarious.

I watched the commentary for Marge vs. the Monorail last night, the bonus one with Conan O'Brien. I'd heard a lot of criticism of the Conan commentaries (or that era in general) before, because everyone else spends too much time kissing his ass. They've always entertained me since I'm not bothered about the content of the commentaries as long as entertainment value is good. Don't get me wrong, I love it when they provide insight into the show, like how various jokes were pitched and the problems they faced making it, but as long as it entertains me, I like it. And Conan is pretty consistently funny throughout his commentaries. I suppose the only thing I found annoying was how Conan would say something (anything) and then all of the other commentators would simultaneously laugh for a few seconds, then Conan would say something else and they'd do it again and continue to laugh at everything he says, with the rest saying little. Still, no matter what, the whole commentary is worth it for "We call him Coney!"

[coltonwiggum]

Soon there's going to be terrible amounts of new members and buzz going around here with the movie, the 400th episode, and the season 10 DVD coming up and I was just wondering; has there ever been a time in nohomers history with what I assume will be extreme amounts of excitement/disappointment? I was thinking maybe the 300th episode, but I have no idea since I am relatively new here.

[brody]

I just watched In Marge We Trust w/ commentary on, and I can't decide what I think of the ending of it. I don't think it was a very ambitious way to go out, and definitely was a precursor to Scully and Jean endings, but I find it somewhat amusing. Anyways, what do you think? (and by you, I mean Veryjammy ).

[Adam R]

Yeah, I'm not Veryjammy, but I was watching the episode a week or two ago with commentary. I applaud Bill and Josh for being bold enough to try something different and I agree with their reasoning behind doing so, but IMO it doesn't really work. I can't really think of why I don't like it, it's not really a cop-out and the zaniness isn't too much, I think it's just the fact that I hate things being solved by near death experiences.

[Imperciph]

Ah ok, in that case I won't reply to that one.

I'll instead reply to your Homer and Apu question. Gag-wise it is fine but plotwise it is not very deep (for a classic season the storytelling on a whole feels quite uneven) and in terms of developing Apu's character it sort of abandons that job halfway, opting for being a full-on joke-based outing. Your final grade on it depends on what you were expecting of the episode : if you wanted a consistently funny episode with some light-hearted character-based conflict there is little to keep you unsatisfied. On the other hand if you were expecting a little more tightly plotted, slightly more dramatic character-based episode, it may leave you desiring for more.

Off-topic, if anyone cares (which most probably no one does), I maybe gone for a while. My computer is on its last breath and die anyday now and it'll be sometime till I buy a new one.

[brody]

I just watched "Guess Who's Coming to Criticize Dinner," and I honestly don't see why it is regarded as highly as it is, it's just typical season 11 crap. Let's see the list of Scully era cliches that appear:

-Homer gets a job
-Homer gets hurt, repeatedly
-Homer acts like a jerk for no reason
-The plot turns into one about a scheme to kill Homer
-It contains one of the worst and most obvious lines of all time "Wait, there's no cane in Citizen Kane."

To top it off, it's absolutely boring! While watching it, I was fidgeting because I was so uninterested. Continuously the same thing would happen again and again. Homer writes a review again and again that I honestly did not care whatsoever. Only genuine laugh I got was Wiggum's "smoking crater" line.

[Imperciph]

Yes, it is one of the many "Homer gets a job and hilarity ensues" plots of the Scully era, which mainly feature the zany antics of Captain Wacky Homer Simpson but what allows it to be more distinctive in nature is that it has better gag-writing compared to the rest. It has some extremely quotable lines like "Groin-grabbingly transcendent" "This receives my lowest review ever...Seven Thumbs Up". Some other jokes are funny enough too : ""A rude Frenchman, well I've never,", Homer's definition of palate being "it's a ... special time in a boys life when ...", Krusty's hilariously bad rendition of King Lear (Oh. Tough crowd. They're booing Shakespeare!). Also, it has a featuring of an endearingly characterised Lisa in the main conflict , which is absent in most of s11, which too is praiseworthy.

Credit can also be given for this one to actually have a satirical premise of how peer pressure causes critics to be excessively negative even though preference is given to the less likeable premise of various zany and jerky antics of Homer Simpson which ends on the "evil" chefs hiring a french assassin to kill him.

In conclusion, it is yet another "Homer gets a job and hilarity ensues" episode filled with usual characterisation problems and storytelling cliches of the Scully Era, but presence of a satirical premise, a likeable characterisation of Lisa and more consistent gag writing add together to make it a relatively better episode than the rest of them.

[Nebuchanezzar]

Off-topic, if anyone cares (which most probably no one does), I maybe gone for a while. My computer is on its last breath and die anyday now and it'll be sometime till I buy a new one.

Ciao fer a while then, sir.

[luben]

Off-topic, if anyone cares (which most probably no one does), I maybe gone for a while. My computer is on its last breath and die anyday now and it'll be sometime till I buy a new one.

I really hope it won't happen because it would be a dramatic loss for GD.

But don't take this as a love declaration.

[Green_Peaness]

Would anyone be interested in a rate/review one episode per day thread...everyone would rate the same episode on one day, then it would move to the next in order of the episodes' original air dates. It would give us something to do for the next 420 days or so.

[Adam R]

I think it (or something similar) has been done before, but it might be interesting. I can't find a similar thread by searching, but I did find a few threads where people compared an episode from 2 seasons each day (for example, comparing every episode, one a day, for season 6 and 7).

[Imperciph]

Am sure you are referring to this one :

The Official Rate and Review An Episode everyday thread

[Green_Peaness]

^I've actually never seen that, but something exactly like that yes.

[Nebuchanezzar]

Could be kinda fun I guess.

[Stevie V. Scrivello]

I like the idea.

So...who's going to start one?