Rate & Review: Dial 'N' for Nerder (KABF07)

[Raymond]

I also don't remember "Quincy, M.E." being part of the "Mystery Movie," either, but "Banacek" was part of the "Wednesday Mystery Movie,"with "Cool Million" and something else (which I also didn't watch), not the Sunday/original edition. "Hec Ramsey" may have been a component for a while.

[Cartoonnetwork]

I feel like if every episode of the show were as good as this season's best episodes ("Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind", "Dial N For Nerder", and "The Debarted"), people in general would really get into The Simpsons way more again. It's kind of amazing how sometimes you can feel like you're watching an entirely different show just a few episodes apart (mainly referring to "That 90s Show" and then "The Debarted" and this week's episode just a couple weeks after).

Actually I think That 90s Show has only one major flaw, continuity. Other than that I think it was quite good and not so different in quality to the other episodes you quoted. The Debarted was especially good, since it really have a more complex story and a subplot. Dial N For Nerder had interesting elements but it felt a little rushed and the subplot included pretty lame gags.

Eternal Moonshine is incredibly overrated too. It had its moments but TSNES was much better for example, with a more interesting story, better jokes, characterizations and use of new and old characters in a perfect way.

Still it does seem that they are making an effort lately and I hope they keep it that way cause the start of the season was very uneven and stuff like Homer Of Seville was quite weak. And even the more ambitious episodes like the Milhouse one were a little mixed.

[CMYK]

Great episode. Slow at the start. I laughed my head off at the bit where Homer goes crazy with the meat. But I think the bit when he calls spoiled the joke a little.
It was interesting to see how Lisa dealt with guilt of martins murder.
Good episode, but could have being a tiny bit more. B++

[ThaSimpsonz]

Not a good episode, especially the directing was mostly crappy. The main story (which once again started after the (lame) subplot) also went in all kinds of directions, and the whole ending is one of the lousiest I've seen on the show in a while. 2.5/5

[CousinMerl]

My expectations of this episode were good and nothing more, but when I watched it recently, I found it to be an excellent new episode with two good plots and great characterizations (Now it has been two great episodes in a row and thats great). The jokes, gags and funny bits were almost top notch, such as Chief Wiggum's scene with Martin's torn shirt, the scene where Bart says that everyone love jokes "even Dr. Hibbert" and the doctor himself comes by and says "I hate pranks" and of course Homer's twisted affair with the meat and when he screams with that high pitched yell and hides under the skin of the soup. I must admit that the photo with a drunken Homer riding a ferris wheel while armed with a shotgun gave me a big laugh. The Martin Prince tribute video with clips from older episodes was a really nice touch and to see Nelson as the detective type was also interesting. I too missed to see Martin's parents in this episode, they should certainly have been in the episode, but that's just a minor problem in this very good episode.

5/5

[BeyondBeyond]

It was a very well animated episode with some good laughs and main plot's premise was rather interesting. Generally, first act was really good and I'd give it 4.5/5. However then the episode went quite down the drain. Both main- and sub-plot quickly started to be really repetitive, with Homer being filmed and Lisa and Bart being paranoic. Humor was pretty stagnant as well and Homer's making out was plain out gross. I don't like when writers change characterizations for the sake of plot and this exactly happened to poor Lisa. Detective Nelson was fine though.
In this episode, writers came up with an interesting premise but failed to develop it creatively. They even had to add the half-assed subplot. At least it shared some similar themes. I don't like the fact that almost every recent episode has a subplot. Autors probably aren't capable to stick to one topic, view it from different angles, study characters more in depth and squeeze good laughs from it. This episode would be great without the subplot, with proper story and character developement. Sadly, writers went dry with the main plot even though it lasted for about 12 minutes.
To wrap it up, second and third acts were generally failures with some bright spots in them, such as Nelson or some film noir "atmospheres". The ending of subplot was pathetic, the main plot ended somehow clunky, the Columbo credits fekt forced but I have to admit that I enjoyed them quite a bit nevertheless.
I'm feeling quite bitter about this episode because I think it could be much better if done more creatively and entusiastically. Animation and music was great throughout but the main premise was terribly underdeveloped and subplot unnecessary and often obnoxious. 3/5 does Dial 'N' for Nerder justice in my opinion.
P.S.: Homer's rollecoaster photo was hilarious.

[Whip-Smart]

I did not like all that much, it had appealing moments and plots but nothing jumped out. The Lisa and Bart sub plot was good enough to keep my interest even though the Homer and Marge story was really rather weak. 2/5 Another middle of the road new episode.

[Cartoonnetwork]

It was a very well animated episode with some good laughs and main plot's premise was rather interesting. Generally, first act was really good and I'd give it 4.5/5. However then the episode went quite down the drain. Both main- and sub-plot quickly started to be really repetitive, with Homer being filmed and Lisa and Bart being paranoic. Humor was pretty stagnant as well and Homer's making out was plain out gross. I don't like when writers change characterizations for the sake of plot and this exactly happened to poor Lisa. Detective Nelson was fine though.
In this episode, writers came up with an interesting premise but failed to develop it creatively. They even had to add the half-assed subplot. At least it shared some similar themes. I don't like the fact that almost every recent episode has a subplot. Autors probably aren't capable to stick to one topic, view it from different angles, study characters more in depth and squeeze good laughs from it. This episode would be great without the subplot, with proper story and character developement. Sadly, writers went dry with the main plot even though it lasted for about 12 minutes.
To wrap it up, second and third acts were generally failures with some bright spots in them, such as Nelson or some film noir "atmospheres". The ending of subplot was pathetic, the main plot ended somehow clunky, the Columbo credits fekt forced but I have to admit that I enjoyed them quite a bit nevertheless.
I'm feeling quite bitter about this episode because I think it could be much better if done more creatively and entusiastically. Animation and music was great throughout but the main premise was terribly underdeveloped and subplot unnecessary and often obnoxious. 3/5 does Dial 'N' for Nerder justice in my opinion.
P.S.: Homer's rollecoaster photo was hilarious.

I concur with everything you said.First act was very well done and first scenes with Bart, Lisa and Martin were very good, with Bart trying to insult Martin in clever ways and Lisa saying he's not going to get it. But later,after that "dark Lisa" shot they decided to go on a different direction with Lisa and it was forced. I didn't hate it cause it was apparent that they were doing that on purpose and they sort of make up a justification for it (the imaginary sequence in the jail) but it still seemed as if Lisa was playing a role instead of being herself. On the other side, Nelson was literally playing a role too, but his behaviour was a lot more similar to his usual self, even though he usually don't care about things and we haven't seen him investigating anything before it's not so far fetched that he could eventually have concerns or suspictions of some sort, but he still acted like the tough boy he usually is and in fact his characterization has been more odd in episodes like Haw Hawed Couple. Some sort of motivation would have been ok, like him missing Martin for some reason, but the randomness of him being the detective is also funny, as long as he acts in character like he was here. Using Nelson there was actually a pretty nice touch since they incorporated a secondary character into the plot, which is one of the things they should do more. In fact I think Nelson could have been used even a little more.

[sacrelicious]

I'm surprised at the amount of love this episode got on the first couple of pages. Luckily people got more realistic later on in the thread. OK story, but not very well developed. Not for one second did I believe Martin was actually dead. Pretty much everything Homer did was obnoxious. 2/5

[kupomog]

Holy shit I laughed so hard at Lisa poking Martin over the edge. I don't even know why. I knew it was coming, and I still cracked up. Anyway, I love Cheaters, so this ep was one I somewhat looked forward to despite it being just a subplot. I can't believe how much I liked the whole thing in the end. The subplot could've cut a few things out, I liked it but it felt out of place at times. Yeah, I didn't think Martin was dead either, but I didn't think I was ever supposed to. The first act was so bad ass but I didn't like that ridiculous stretching fat joke. Homer in the motel room was..disturbing to say the least. But entertaining. I liked Lisa bringing up how she and Nelson dated and I just plain loved Lisa's paranoia and Nelson's sleuthing. I hated Nelson talking to the audience at the ending. Overall I'm rating 4/5 So this is like two episodes in a row I've actually enjoyed, I believe. Nuts.

[Yankeesfan21]

Ign gave the episode 8.5 saying its the best episode of the season. Review here. http://tv.ign.com/articles/858/858043p1.html

Funny that they said that its the best since they gave Enternal Moonshine Of Simpson Mind a 8.8.

[Xt'Tapalatakettle]

It's funny how they call an episode memorable and one for the ages, but mediocre episodes of other shows score 8.6. Simpsons bias much?

[ominousorb]

Just watched this. Yeah, I know, two days late. Anyhoo -- hot damn! Okay, this episode was pretty crazy, but you know what? I don't mind. The writers seemed to have a very clear idea of what they were doing in this episode, and did bring it back home with realistic emotions. I say that the Simpsons can do whatever crazy things they want, as long the way the characters believe is realistic, for the most part (gags can be excused if they're good enough.) And I just effin love how they put so much effort into showing how the characters felt, and they didn't just ignore serious situations ... the whole episode was pretty much them freaking out, and I always love stuff like that. And when it wasn't being all crazy, there were many subtle tinges of old-school Simpsons flare. Some of the shots were SO refreshing to see ... I can tell they wanted this episode to look good. The animation was even a lot slicker in some parts. And the backgrounds at the park, with the mountainous landscape was just a pure joy to see. It looked so influenced by the Simpsons Movie, and the backgrounds for that were obviously stellar. Obviously they couldn't put as much time into these, but it still showed. Amazingly, I have very few complaints on this one. My only major one would be the Homer fat joke with his fat stretching across the house ... that was too much in my opinion. I'm sure whoever pitched that got a kick out of it though, so good for him. And no, I wasn't off-put by the hotel scene and the follow-up phone call. They were fricking INSANE, but you know what, I'll give that one to the writers, because that was hilarious. I mean, humor is humor, and the writers are clearly just doing stuff for the show that interests and amuses them, regardless of whether or not it's something "The Simpsons would do." Of course, nowadays the Simpsons has become a lot more permissive with what fits in the canon, but this crazy stuff was clearly just that, crazy stuff the writers thought were funny, and they're really just evolving the show. And I'm okay with that, when there's still that sense of realism inbetween all the chaos. What annoys mean is when the characters cosistently act artificially, and they just didn't here ... for the most part, again, but it can't be perfect.
The quality of the jokes on this one was really consistent in my opinion, and added to the emotional conflict, I give this episode best of the season status (so far, of course.) Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind, say hello to spot #2.

5/5 even thought in terms of the series this should be more like a 3, just because I'm going to give more leeway to these modern episodes.

EDIT: oh, but I will admit the attacks on crappy television were way too obvious to be witty -- but that didn't really affect my score because the part I loved was the Bart and Lisa story. Not to say I didn't enjoy much of the Sneakers story. I mean, that was the wacky part, the other story was the more down to earth one.

[CMYK]

I love this shot of Evil Lisa.

[Dave Shutton]

I liked that shot but it didn't really transition well, all of a sudden it was bright again and the tension was never fully obtained. I wish they would used this type of darkness and shot for whole scenes again.

[Joon]

It embodies everything that is current Simpsons:

Pointless retread of a subplot (which managed to squeeze a marriage crisis, bitchy Marge, and food monster Homer into one)

How was it a marriage crisis? She didn't threaten to throw him out and they didn't have a big fight. She was suspicious of his cheating on a diet. Any conflict between the two isn't a "marriage crisis."

A "dark" twist involving death

A twist reversing a "dark" twist involving death

How was it a twist? It was just how the story progressed. It didn't turn out that it was all a dream, Martin faked the whole thing or any thing resembling a twist. Kids were screwing around, thought they screwed up royally, and it turned out okay. Oh lord what a twist.

Punny dialougue

I'd have to watch it again.

Reversal of a characters personality (Bart and Lisa)

When you think you've killed someone, you might act strangely. Shit, just killed Martin, I better get to that PETA conference though.

Unfunny callbacks to past episodes

I'd have to watch it again, I forgot whichever ones there may have been.

Desecration of a character's fundamental element for the sake of a cheap joke (Sideshow Mel)

They had his hair put down briefly. "Desecration"? A character's appearance changes for three seconds and you sound off like someone pissed in the Pope's mouth.

Forced controversial humor that draws attention to itself. "He was like Jesus, only real" (and I'm an atheist)

Eh, fair enough.

Obvious attack on bad television

Extended cultural reference (Columbo), etc...

The Columbo thing was 25 seconds, a bit long. Obvious attacks on bad television is hardly "current Simpsons." It's just "Simpsons." Good thing those classic episodes never make a point of what terrible shows are on or take blatant shots at shows on FOX. No sir, a plague of "current" Simpsons to be sure.

The same could be said for almost every recent episode. It was better than a lot of what we've been subjected to this season, but that doesn't make it good.

2/5

"Subjected to"? Turn it off, ya martyr. You go into it looking for things to dislike and come out disliking it. It's a wonder.

[burnin']

I liked the A story. A fun and interesting episode. Hated the B story. I think i will add Homer having sex with a rack of lamb to my panda rape list of things i never wanna see on the simpsons again.....

[Green_Peaness]

I think i will add Homer having sex with a rack of lamb to my panda rape list of things i never wanna see on the simpsons again.....

Same here. That was just wrong, and not in a funny south park way. By the way I'll raise my grade to 1.5/5 for Wiggum informing the parents on tv

[Itchy]

Did anyone else recognize the waitress from Maximum Homerdrive?

[Xt'Tapalatakettle]

Same here. That was just wrong, and not in a funny south park way. By the way I'll raise my grade to 1.5/5 for Wiggum informing the parents on tv

Ironically, I thought that was one of the worse jokes in the episode. Chief Wiggum's appearance just wasn't good Chief Wiggum this time around, and he's been pretty consistent over the years.

[Kiyosuki]

I haven't said anything about this yet because of you know what video game, as well as some other life things but anyways.

Ok I liked the story idea a lot, and generally I liked it. It had certain things here and there that are a bit of a drag, or are just plain weird...things that are kinda synonymous with current Simpsons but generally nothing overwhelmingly annoying. Nelson was really awesome in this, that kid is brilliant...even if this was obviously a bit of a reference to Columbo. (this is the second time that's been referenced in this series.) It wasn't high on the laughs again but like I said last time, I like that it's not trying so hard to put in humor and jokes as much as humanly possible to the point its forced as hell. This way there's an actual narrative. I also did like how Bart was the one with more integrity generally in this ironically though Lis did come around.

Paranoid Lisa to me was the most amusing thing in this episode, I really cracked up at evil Lisa face. Martin picking his nose after the shadow doing it was amusing too. Nothing too heavy again, in fact it's a very light feeling episode despite how dark the premise is but I guess it's nice to have another somewhat regular episode again. My only gripes were while I thought the subplot was enjoyable and fun which was good, I kind of wish the main plot had free reign of the whole thing. I know they have similar themes, you know...keeping secrets you shouldn't, but still I would have preferred if the main were the whole thing still.

Also it was kind of funny how Nelson felt he had to point out that his mom was Mrs. Muntz...like its reminding us. Thing's done that before, making a very big deal out of referencing a characters' name. It's kinda weird. -shrug- Nelson's personality is awesome though. The end was a bit on the Family Guy side and kind of drove the Columbo thing home but generally I can't deny I enjoyed it. I think a much deeper life satire could have been dug out of the main plot, but maybe the show just doesn't want to do that kind of atmosphere now. 4/5 I think I may be being a bit too nice but like I said I enjoyed it.

Oh and Choccy mentioned Mel's long hair, I remember that comic too. It's interesting they may have actually referenced the comic for once.

[CMYK]

How was it a marriage crisis? She didn't threaten to throw him out and they didn't have a big fight. She was suspicious of his cheating on a diet. Any conflict between the two isn't a "marriage crisis."



How was it a twist? It was just how the story progressed. It didn't turn out that it was all a dream, Martin faked the whole thing or any thing resembling a twist. Kids were screwing around, thought they screwed up royally, and it turned out okay. Oh lord what a twist.



I'd have to watch it again.



When you think you've killed someone, you might act strangely. Shit, just killed Martin, I better get to that PETA conference though.



I'd have to watch it again, I forgot whichever ones there may have been.



They had his hair put down briefly. "Desecration"? A character's appearance changes for three seconds and you sound off like someone pissed in the Pope's mouth.



Eh, fair enough.



The Columbo thing was 25 seconds, a bit long. Obvious attacks on bad television is hardly "current Simpsons." It's just "Simpsons." Good thing those classic episodes never make a point of what terrible shows are on or take blatant shots at shows on FOX. No sir, a plague of "current" Simpsons to be sure.




"Subjected to"? Turn it off, ya martyr. You go into it looking for things to dislike and come out disliking it. It's a wonder.

[ThaSimpsonz]

BTW, call me nitpicky (and off-topic), but I have a some complaints about the poll options this time. I mean, (Semaj,) I especially have a problem with a 3 being "good" and a 2 "average". A 3/5 score isn't that "good" (I voted 3/5 myself, and I didn't think the episode was good), certainly not for a show like "The Simpsons". And the "average" grade for a Simpson episode is definitely not a 2/5! (Using a 1-5 scale, you could technically compare those grades with the 1-10 scale (just two times the grade), or compare "5,4,3,2, and 1" to respetively "A,B,C,D, and F.")

I'd personally go with more like this:
5/5 - excellent/great
4/5 - good
3/5 - average
2/5 - poor
1/5 - extremely poor

[CMYK]

I love this shot of Evil Lisa.

I would like to see more evil lisa. maybe in a THOH.
Lisa is such the good person sterotype, and it would be pretty amusing to see it.
Or a some moments when Lisa judges herself for using her smartness to get what she wants, and not for the greater good.

(thats right, I quoted myself.)

[Phil K]

Caiaphas - a/ did you actually watch it ? b/ where you in a shitty mood ? (Very apt name - he was humourless too)

I regard this as the best episode this series, (well, on a par with "Eternal Moonshine" anyways) and best since "The seemingly never ending story" ....very decent writing
I will agree that most of the last two series have been poor, "Bonfire of the manatees" utterly disasterous. But this one was good.
My eyebrows raised at what Lisa was up to with Nelson to try to get him NOT to shop her ! "I never let you cherry-bomb my Malibu Stacy...you can do it now..." Secret message in there or something ?

I liked the A story. A fun and interesting episode. Hated the B story. I think i will add Homer having sex with a rack of lamb to my panda rape list of things i never wanna see on the simpsons again.....

I agree with every word there. The panda thing was repugnant and not funny. Nor was the rack of Kebab meat or whatever it was.

[The Governor]

I would like to see more evil lisa. maybe in a THOH.
Lisa is such the good person sterotype, and it would be pretty amusing to see it.
Or a some moments when Lisa judges herself for using her smartness to get what she wants, and not for the greater good.

(thats right, I quoted myself.)

Find the 5th Treehouse of Horror comic. It has a story called "Dark Lisa" that's a spoof of the movie "Carrie."

[CMYK]

Find the 5th Treehouse of Horror comic. It has a story called "Dark Lisa" that's a spoof of the movie "Carrie."

Not only have I seen it, I OWN IT.
that story's ok, but I rather see something on TV.
Like maybe an Evil double. Or something.

[Cartoonnetwork]

Also it was kind of funny how Nelson felt he had to point out that his mom was Mrs. Muntz...like its reminding us. Thing's done that before, making a very big deal out of referencing a characters' name. It's kinda weird.

That was another Columbo reference I believe. Columbo used to talk about his wife, that's why Nelson says "Mrs" and then clarifies he's talking about his mom. I thought it was a pretty funny joke.

[Scavenger]

Evil Lisa? Heh, that would be a nice twist, her smartness would make some great situations to manipulate people into doing her bidding. As a THOH it would fit the extremes nicely, imagine her getting "revenge" for being treated as the outsider most of the time in such an episode, heheh.

The evil double thing would work possibly. Lisa has a more sophisticated style of evil that would work for THOH. I think something like that for a regular episode would be far too extreme for her. She would regret it, THOH is just a fun take on such things, a nice suggestion by chimp. The idea has never been used that much, when the family was turned into vampires for example, she was the victim, yet again... Make it the other way around now.



Little dramatized?

[Robbie]

I seem to remember reading a story from a THOH comic collection awhile ago about an "Evil Lisa", or at least an angry one; it was an Exorcist spoof.