Rate/Review "Homer Simpson, This is Your Wife" (HABF08)

[Green_Peaness]

Well, this is pretty middle-of-the-road to me. The premise is the worst part of this episode. There were funny moments peppered throughout the episode, but too many of the jokes were based on awkward moments without punchlines. And, like with the rest of season 17, there were several jokes based on having OFF say sentences in a weird syntax, or taking something very literally, or just saying sentences that nobody would ever say given the context. The joke seems to be that it IS something nobody would say (example - Marge: "That seems strange for a man who's uninterested in me to say"). It's hard to explain. Anyway, I think that is the biggest problem with season 17. Putting awkward things in OFF's mouths and passing them off as jokes.

The writers need to get it through their heads. The only way to make the Simpsons great again is to keep the dialogue real. The situations don't have to be realistic at all, but the dialogue must ring true for the show to be consistently funny. That's why most sitcoms suck, nobody talks in constant "witty" one-liners. I hate to say it, but these new episodes aren't a big step above those sitcoms if you ask me.

C

[That Jerk]

I missed the first half of the live intro because i was hooking up my tv! gah! And by the way, it was pretty funny watching an episode that focused on plasma TV on my shitty little 15 inch with lousy reception.

Anyway, about the episode... I was wondering how much of Ricky's humor would come through in the episode. I was surprised to find quite a bit, although I'm still not sure how well it fit in with the Simpsons universe. His writing style is slow developing and lots of backpedaling, where as The Simpsons is rapid-fire. Some of it stuck (Charles' "Donald Trump" impersonation, Marge's "I'll do it" edit- which I see many of you hated. I can't see why. It was perfect for Marge's character, and I thought it was a great little jab at the phoniness of reality TV), but some of it felt forced (Charles' genie joke and Homer's marriage backpedal in the car).

I also must mention that the animation of this episode felt very... throwback. I don't know if they are adding more go-betweens now, or using different profiles of the characters, but they just seemed to be more "cartoony" than I'm used to these days (in a good way).

The episode had a slow start, rather than getting to the plot, we saw a long string of hollow character gags (That Moe one being the worst). But once Lenny adressed the crowd, is was a pretty fun and refreshing episode from there on.

Some things that stuck out to me...
- This was the third episode (to my recollection) that has The Simpsons doing reality TV, and the 2nd of those three to feature Lenny's apartment.

- An unfortunately untimely gag involving a car wreck.

- What was up with the Family Circus gag? As fun as it is to bash them, it had a rather awkward set up. Was this something Homer was doing to pass the time until the contest people called, or something he had been making his whole life?

- Homer's interaction with Charles' wife was fun. And it was smart to realize who's story was more important at this point of the episode (Marge's).

- The best scene by far was Charles' song. One line had me laughing for a while, something like "This is no time for logic." I think the visual gags ruined the scene a bit though.

- The episode ended nicely. Didn't see Patty coming, that was a funny twist. And nice of the writers to tie up loose ends for once (the plasma tv).

Well, the episode didn't wow me all that much to be honest. I don't think this was the strongest of the season, and not the best episode in years by far. This episode was a lot more fresh and fun than the Idol episode last year. But I still think The Simpsons' first stab at reality TV (Helter Shelter) was the sharpest and had the best parody. ... yes, I liked Helter Shelter! So stone me!

3/5

The writers need to get it through their heads. The only way to make the Simpsons great again is to keep the dialogue real. The situations don't have to be realistic at all, but the dialogue must ring true for the show to be consistently funny. That's why most sitcoms suck, nobody talks in constant "witty" one-liners. I hate to say it, but these new episodes aren't a big step above those sitcoms if you ask me.C

While I do agree that this is the no 1 problem with the show right now, this episode was not a good example of that.

[The Governor]

I noticed in the live action theme Marge and Maggie were switched positions around in the car to make it Americanized. They also eliminated Homer's butt crack in the garage. I think it would've been a lot more fun if it wasn't already revealed on the internet weeks ago.

One other thing, IMO, it looked like at the speed Marge was travelling, it looked like she ran over Bart off-screen just after Bart weaved his way through the crowd.

[Green_Peaness]

While I do agree that this is the no 1 problem with the show right now, this episode was not a good example of that.

Maybe I should download this and rewatch it then. I don't remember there being any good dialogue except maybe a few lines between Marge and Ricky. I think I could've made a similar post in almost any R&R thread this season.

[TransponderHut]

This episode was okay, not as great as the hype would make me believe, but at least it made up for that horrible "Mattress that fell from heaven" subplot on this week's Malcolm. 4/5.

[Matt B.]

I liked this episode alot
Couch Gag: I loved seeing the live action British ad as the gag.
Act 1: This episode got to a strong start at Lenny's party. Homer jumping on the couch and spending all his time there made me laugh out loud.Homer and his Family circus collection was good. I was glad to see Dan do a small comeo.The American Idol Holding Pen and Homer Gone Wild was another laugh out loud moment. The only low point was Marge trying to say I'll do it.
Act 1:4/5
Act 2: Meeting Charlie and his family was great. Good introducing his wife as a total bitch and Charlie as good humored guy. I loved Homer's joke about Notre Dame football. Bart writing a report about Ichy and Scrathy and CSI:Miami was the episodes best joke.Charlie trying to make a joke to Marge was good.
Act 2:5/5
Act 3: Best act of the episode. The songs were very enjoyable. Homer's joke about spening time with the kids was the 2nd best joke. I really hope Charlie's wife doesnt stay with Patty.
Act 3 5/5
Overall 5/5 Very enjoyable episode

[DotheBartman]

So here we have the much anticipated Ricky Gervais episode. The outcome? A generally pretty funny episode that probably could have used some rewrites.

I have no idea if this has anything to do with Gervais' style (having never seen much of his other work), or if it's just the usual modern-Simpsons problem, but there was just too much going on. Nothing was ever really developed well-enough to be interesting, and the episode had the same problem as a lot of others this season: that things would seem to just sort of "happen" and there wasn't any particular logic or buildup most of the time, let alone any real development. And while I realize that unrelated openings and plot tangents and all that have become sort of a Simpsons staple by now, it's when you have as much going on as in this episode that I think you really need to drop stuff like Lenny's plasma tv and just cut right to the main story. And speaking of which, what exactly was the main story? Was it supposed to be a satire of reality shows (done decently here, and certainly better than "Helter Shelter", but not exactly bitingly enough to be worth going back to yet again)? Is it about something threatening Homer and Marge's marriage again? Or is it more about Charlie's problems? There just wasn't any cogent enough story for any of this to be developed properly, which is especcially a shame with Charlie as he actually was a pretty charming and interesting character, and very well voiced at that (the whole sequence where he attempts to tell a joke to Marge was just perfectly done). It's these kinds of problems that especcially makes this Simpsons fan long more than usual for the days of season two, where there was one story with a logical beginning, middle, and end, and complete development of it. On a side note, I also thought it was too much of a leap of faith to believe that Marge would so impulsively sign up for the reality show....yet more reason to cut that entire plastma tv tangent and work on making that believable instead.

With that said, this is kind of one of those episodes that's just entertaining despite the obvious story problems. Again, Gervais' character was good, and overall the episode is funny. There were several big laughs (Itchy and Scratchy, the cutaway to the pub which was especcially hilarious, the whole love song sequence), relatively few duds (Marge's "I'll do it!" that gradually became more and more painful is the main thing I can think of), and in general it was just entertaining enough to overcome the story. Another reviewer compared this to season eight, and in a way, that's spot on: much like a number of shows that season ("The Twisted World of Marge Simpson", "The Canine Mutiny", "The Old Man and the Lisa", "Hurricane Neddy", etc.) this episode had a somewhat rambly and pointless story, but at the same time was just simply funny enough that I can't say I wasn't entertained. And even though this review probably seems harsh, it was certainly entertaining enough that I'd be willing to watch again. B

BTW, did anyone else notice that the live-action opening (which was certainly cool to see again) seemed a little "zoomed in" compared to the one on the 'net? I noticed that one of the cooling towers, and a lot of other surrounding details (such as Smithers) seemed to be completely cut out.

[Wasteland]

It was good. The British really know their humor, and Gervais proved that. But I was disturbed by the dancing cold sore singing "Breakout".

4/5 (because of the first act).

[Tomacco]

BTW, did anyone else notice that the live-action opening (which was certainly cool to see again) seemed a little "zoomed in" compared to the one on the 'net? I noticed that one of the cooling towers, and a lot of other surrounding details (such as Smithers) seemed to be completely cut out.

I also noticed that, and I dunno what the reason was. It almost looked like it was transferred off the internet, since the picture quality was a bit subpar too.

[barfly]

Nothing was ever really developed well-enough to be interesting, and the episode had the same problem as a lot of others this season: that things would seem to just sort of "happen" and there wasn't any particular logic or buildup most of the time, let alone any real development.

I was having a difficult time summarizing my thoughts on that episode with so much going on, but that review pretty well does it.

I kept wondering when the real plot was going to start - was Marge going to fall for Charlie, was Homer going to somehow attract towards his complete opposite? Alas, nothing was developed - things happened, then there were commericials, then more things happened.

Near the end of the episode when Homer starts singing to Marge I immidiately recalled the last scene of "Colonel Homer" when Homer returns to Marge. I remembered how that episode actually had a conflict, a real crisis, and how sweet the ending put everything in perspective.

This episode was pretty funny - Gervais's character brought a much needed spark to the show. But in the end, that's all the episode had going for it. A fresh voice, but a bunch of disconnected scenes.

[Jeremy]

I watched my tape of it expecting something great and was just blown away. Outside of the "I'll do it!" joke at the beginning, I loved every single thing in this episode. It's easily the best one of the season, and therefore the best one in many years. 5/5. Ricky Gervais was a fantastic guest star and crafted a fantastic story. What a perfect episode.

[Valhum]

I really loved this episode, a 5/5.

It had really good jokes, i laughed at the ABC joke and the TV reports made me laugh so much, oh and also the whole TV love, hahaha, it reminded me of me and how i am dying to get a HD plasma tv

[Radioactive Man]

This episode was kind of bland. Probably because there were so many different stories going on. The FOX jokes pretty much saved it, but overall it wasn't even that funny. A very average 3/5 episode.

[Jeff]

meh, it really didn't convince me to keep my eyes on the tv ...pretty boring and did anyone else find marge's voice excruciatingly annoying in todays episode? is that just because she had a big part in the episode because i don't remember her being so annoying compared to my season 7 dvd. anywho i give it a 3/5, didn't really care for it, it's a very forgetabble episode IMO.

oh and worst couch gag. ever. period.

[schwnj]

Not as good as I'd hoped, but not bad either. Meh+

[Maddog53]

This looks like it may indeed be a pretty divisive episode. However, I really enjoyed it. I can understand DoTheBartman's grievences about too much going on at once, however I just didn't have a problem with it too much this go around. What I took away from it was that the main story arc was Homer trying to get a plasma TV, which isn't the best plot in the world I agree, however "The Big Lebowski" worked as a movie with the plot being the Dude trying to get his carpet back. What I'm trying to point out is that in this episode the plot was not necesarilly what was important but the journey to the end, where Homer eventually got his TV.

Another thing I would like to point out is this quote:

There were funny moments peppered throughout the episode, but too many of the jokes were based on awkward moments without punchlines. C

I'm guessing the UK version of "The Office" would be similar to the US version (which I love) where there are a lot of these types of jokes. It boils down to whether you enjoy them or not. This is another case of different strokes for different folks. I enjoy them immensely, and I really need to view the UK office sometime in the near future.

Tomacco summed up all that I found hilarious in the episode, and I also agree that the first act break was horrendous.

That being said I am giving this episode a 5/5 and am glad the last three episodes have been so good. To me people can't tell me that "The Simpsons" no longer put out a quality product, because too many times these past few years have I felt that they've nailed it perfectly. I agree not up to classic standards, but how many shows ever attain that level?

Maddog.

[Corkus]

Coming into this episode, I didn't know what to expect, since I'm not too familiar with Gervais' (whose name I cannot pronounce) humor. What I got wasn't really anything special, though leaps and bounds ahead of the dribble that was "Helter Shelter". The episode started off pretty slow, with no real laughs until they arrived at FOX Studios ("Number 2 with prisoners!" was funny). The Dan Castellaneta appearance was hilarious, particularly with Homer yelling "Hey, jerk! Say something funny!". I can't say I liked the "I'll do it!" joke, though. If they wanted to make fun of that kind of reality TV stuff, two takes of that would have sufficed.

Act 2 was pretty unbalanced. Certain scenes involving Marge and Charlie seemed stretch out for the purpose of making sure the episode emphasized on them, with the Homer/Bart/wife from hell plot not really reaching its highest potential. The genie joke...I honestly have to idea how to feel about. So I just won't. I giggled at Charlie revealing that he was an office manager, but that was all. Act 3 was probably the funniest, and if you paid attention to the song's lyrics, you'd realize why it was so great (from a comical standpoint, of course). It also had the biggest laughs of the episode - Homer taping pizza under his pants and "Don't Waste Signs".

Mainly, the problems were structural. I wouldn't mind seeing Gervais write again, but it's not like he would bring the show back to its glory years or anything. I'm just glad this didn't turn into another "marriage on the rocks" episode. B

[joaopedro1]

3/5, satisfactory, good. The song were really good too!

[Stackhouse]

i wont type my review again, but..

While quite a weak first act, when Gervais' character is introduced the show picks up quite a lot, and the character of Charles is a great one, even if he is very, very similar to David Brent - i would definitely like to see this character again. another weak sendup of reality programs in the vein of helter shelter, but at least that's not spent too much time on, and when the character dynamic is brought in further the show gets very good. just some great dialogue and gags, and most were not so in-your-face. not a huge breath of fresh air into the show, but a enjoyable episode nonetheless. A-

[Radioactive Man]

did anyone else find marge's voice excruciatingly annoying in todays episode? is that just because she had a big part in the episode because i don't remember her being so annoying compared to my season 7 dvd.

Do you watch many new episodes? Her voice today was pretty good compared to some recent efforts. Sometimes she gets extremely hard (cringe worthy) to listen to.

[That Jerk]

Was anyone else missing these two things about tonights episode?...

1) No scene with Homer and Charles at Moe's. I wanted to see those two characters interact more.

2) No dynamic between Lisa and Charles' wife. The moment she was introduced I was interested in seeing how they would interact more than anything else, and got nothing.

[Upgrayedd]

The episode was OK all around. There was a decent amount of great jokes (by the way, loved the Fox tour and the ABC sweater gag) and a decent storyline. However, there was a good amount of bad eggs. Gervais's character was annoying at times and his song to Marge was way too long and boring. Also, act 1 was a train wreck. The Lenny party and Homer's plasma TV obsession seemed like a latch ditch idea to kick off the main story. The first act had a good amount of bombed gags (Homer in slo-mo jumping into the couch was stupid). Also, like any other S17 ep, it had its ran-way-to-long joke: The "I'll do it" gag. In my opinion, more bad than good, but still worth watching. (C+/B-)

[Ryan]

First let me say: Where the HELL is everyone?!! Back when I used to regularly review (probably S14), these threads were up to page 6 before I could even say an honest word! Did everybody die, or did I miss a memo?

Back on topic:
Last week I wrote that the Simpsons plot and writing has gone down the tubes, but the joke writing was still painfully excellent. Well, isn't ironic that the next episode would be written by Ricky Geravis, and while the plot and writing was spot-on, all the humor was drier than the Saraha desert!

Not that I don't like British humor (I'm a Python fan myself, and I love the original Office), but man, that was a huge difference from the last insipid, but hilarious episode. I loved a lot of it, though, I just wasn't a fan of Ricky really pushing hard to make his character like his Office character, so far enough to make him an office manager. Still, it was nice. 4/5...

[Cartoonnetwork]

Yeah, I also find there are few people commenting the episode, considering how anticipated it was and how many people was commenting and excited about it in the Preview/Speculation thread.

[Jolly Bengali]

HABF08 "Homer Simpson, This is Your Wife"
There's a lot to talk about here. For those of you not in the loop, this episode was scripted by Ricky Gervais, who also guest stars as Charlie, Marge's new "husband." Gervais is famous, in certain circles, for his creation and creative guidance of "The Office", a brutally funny British sitcom that gets its laughs out of the horribly awkward, Gervais-played office manager. The character from that show, David Brent, is transplanted with very few changes into the world of "The Simpsons", making for the closest thing to a crossover the series has seen since Season 6's infamous "A Star Is Burns" and the appearance by "The Critic"'s Jay Sherman. Whether any of this backstory was known to more than 10% of the audience is doubtful, but for fans of "The Office" this certainly added quite a bit of interest to an episode whose main plot concept - a rather lame "Trading Spouses" steal - isn't the stuff of legend. Charlie made for a very interesting creation, and for the most part the episode avoided focusing too much on him. Especially impressive was the way that Gervais' characters' real-life tics and mannerisms were translated into animation; seeing Charlie play with his tie or bite his lip in perfect fascimile was quite amusing. On that note, all of the animation for the episode was excellent - shadowing was tastefully used many times, numerous visual gags worked well, and all of the character designs seemed especially on-point. The plotting for the episode, minus the general concept being less classy than one might like for "The Simpsons", was well-handled - the guest characters got ample screen time, the situations in both houses moved forward nicely, and the HD tv motivation smartly showed up at the end of the episode, tying it all together. Marge's line about Homer having loved her from the first moment he saw her was one of the best explanations for Marge's love for Homer that I've heard in years. The big weakness, as in so many Al Jean-produced episodes, was the humor. The first act and the beginning of the third act were the worst-affected by bad jokes, but throughout there were at least a half-dozen more clunkers than one might normally expect for the series. Marge's "I'll do it" bit and the unfortunately over-extended genie joke from Charlie were the worst offenders. That being said, the episode also delivered more than its fair share of good laughs - Gervais' character infused the episode with a lot of fresh humor, and the aforemnetioned visual gags and one-liners from all in the Simpsons family had a fair amount of success. But the humor still bombed too frequently, and one or two moments even painfully so - Homer mentioning that he doesn't know why he married Marge, or remarking upon the delicious smell, knocked me away from the episode instantly. But even with the humor for the most part a definite weakness, the episode deserves a lot of credit for the freshness of the writing and the hilarity that ensued when the writing did click comedically. I don't know if I'd want to see Ricky Gervais take control of the series (purely hypothetically), but to have him drop in for an episode and use the existing characters alongside a creation of his own makes for an entertaining and altogether fascinating episode. This is certainly not the strongest episode of the year, but it may be the most interesting - and when a major problem with "The Simpsons" in its later years has been a creeping boredom with the show's proceedings, originality and a new take on things is priceless.

Grade: B+

Funny when it worked, but didn't work all the time, good plot for being a sort of crappy concept, whole thing lifted up by Gervais' involvement. DtB's opinion, as is normally the case, is one I could easily agree with.

[blueguy]

I also noticed that, and I dunno what the reason was. It almost looked like it was transferred off the internet, since the picture quality was a bit subpar too.

I didn't notice any of that. I wasn't paying attention to the cooling towers, but I KNOW I saw Smithers. As far as the image quality goes, it didn't seem that good to begin with, which is why I noted earlier that it seemed out of place. Should have been done in an American setting with better quality. Carbon rod being everywhere he should be, Marge and Maggie driving should all be there, the quick pan showing characters before Homer pulls up to the garage, etc...

[Jeff]

Do you watch many new episodes? Her voice today was pretty good compared to some recent efforts. Sometimes she gets extremely hard (cringe worthy) to listen to.

yes i do, most of them when i can. i remember in season 16's "all's fair in oven war" she was extremely hard to listen to but i'm not all that bothered in episodes where she doesn't have big parts so yeah i guess the more you listen to her voice, the more annoying it is.

[Tomacco]

Continuity DYN: The exterior shots of Lenny's apartment keep in continuity with his apartment sharing a common wall with Springfield Jai Alai, as demonstrated only from within the apartment in "Helter Shelter".

[Dark Homer]

rick gervais was great
last two acts good, first act meh
"ill do it": fuck that

best of the season, 9/10

[Channel Surfer]

As much as I don't like it, my feelings on this episode are directly tied to how I feel towards Ricky Gervais' role as Charles here. Which are fairly mixed to be honest.

I think most of my issue comes down to the simple fact that Charle's role in the episode I'm already familiar with, if only for having seen the UK version of "The Office". His absorption into his bad comedy routines, his gutless confidence in himself, his general awkwardness in his conversations, all of it I was more than used to, and it had far less of a purpose here than in his show. Not to mention that writing himself as himself (for all intents and purposes) in a fairly center-staged role with a comedy routine that is not just fairly unique but almost clashing with more traditional "Simpsons" humor, it comes off as Mary Sueish in execution. And even if I do like Gervais and "The Office", that's not something I really want to see. Well OK, that's a little harsh, his role is still meant to be funny, and to be fair a lot of the Gervais-ish mannerisms I did find to be funny in a "Simpsons" context, even if I'm familiar with them. That and I'm partly not sure what the point would be of specifically asking him to write an episode if you don't want some of his trademarks to slip into the episode. Still, my impression of seeing Gervais here is akin to my impression of Sherman's appearance in "A Star is Burns", in that I do like "The Critic" and Sherman's characters, but it's still a little cheesy all the same.

The rest of the stuff that didn't surround him was about typical (good, but still...) Jean era quality. A nice 2001 parody with Homer, a really messy drawn-out Marge gag to end act 1, more-or-less decent character writing, and a generally light but pointless, messy story. Fun enough essentially, but nothing that's going to be a favorite of mine, even if limited to just Jean's episodes. B-