R&R: MABF15 - "Judge Me Tender"

[The Governor]

Well, that was mostly aimless. <lots of good stuff snipped>.

Holy shit...you nearly said word-for-word what I was thinking.

[The Wiggs]

Meh...2/5. Better than I thought it was gonna be though...

[HRH Sir Prince Charles]

Bland, pointless, not unfunny but not laugh out loud either. Quintessential late Jean episode, a fitting way to end what may go down as the worst season in the show's history.

I did like how small the Idol portion was, and I appreciated the current event gags. That being said, the editing was awful on the Leno joke... and did anyone notice they referred to it as the Jay Leno Show? Methinks that was an outdated reference they never bothered to fix.

Overall, 2/5

[Ryan]

what a pointless episode made just to advertise a show that doesn't need the help.

everything seemed built around the AI stuff, almost disturbingly so. a great deal of the story beats felt forced and awkward, as well as the "nobody likes me" beginning with moe which was done infinitely times better in "moe baby blues". nothing felt like a natural story, as if it was happening just because it has to happen in order for the story to occur. "oh look, simon and moe are now best friends!" ugh. the actual AI scene was atrocious as well. I'm not sure if expanding this would've improved things, it would've added more depth to this wafer-thin story, but then again...we'd have to listen to the judges say more corny lines. and nobody wants that.

the homer and marge subplot was actually handled better than moe's in that there were a couple of humorous moments here and there (the sports bar bit especially), but filler all the way. yet, it's a bit of an insult when the FILLER has filler in the little SLH thing. god, that was dumb. the quick shot of him hiding in the doghouse was cute, but it should've ended there.

there was only one bit that was actually laugh-out-loud funny, and that was lisa asking simon to purchase candy in the thought bubble, if only it was a well-timed callback to what was ironically a bad joke the first time around.

yeah, pretty bad. what a fitting way for this awful season to go out, with jay leno.

see you in september, simpsons. you keep on...yeahhhh.

2/5

[Financial Panther]

Why don't you like me, nobody likes me, Moe, Moe, Moe...

[jscottstroup]

I thought the evolution joke between Flanders and Lisa was amusing as well.


p.s. I love your avatar, Brodie.

[Gatorgod]

This episode had what it takes to keep me watching. My trap was shut and my eyeballs were peeled as I sucked in all that this season ender had to offer. I deem it a good one through and through! 5/5

I bid another fine season of Simpsons a fond farewell for the summer. I will wait longingly for their return next season.... counting the minutes till we meet again....

[mostlywatcher]

I missed a lot of the first act, but the rest was ok. It met my low expectations that I have from the show now, except for the golf subplot. Homer is aware of / good at golf, from Scenes from the Class Struggle where no less than Tom Kite gives him some tips, so that "risk" didn't play for me. The Simon angle was very predictable. I know we can't get someone to perfectly imitate everyone, but Leno is a pretty easy voice to do and it sounded terrible.

I still get one or two laughs an episode, and the familar look of the characters will keep me watching, but the past few years have been forgetable. I'd have better luck referencing Invader Zim than a line from this season and getting recognition from someon.

[That Don Guy]

3/5 - pretty much a pile of meh. Except for the opening part of the storyline with Moe, nothing really went anywhere, and all of the storylines came to their own screeching halts, with what seemed to be that bit with Rupert Murdoch tagged on at the end. If they were going to tease American Idol so much, they should have done more with it (and not just with Simon, who's leaving the show anyway).

-- Don

[Redem]

You know what suprise me the most when Homer sprayed Flander with water he only did it once

I came to expect animated show to do it a few more couple times

but this time just once

now that's refreshing

[bovine_university]

Wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but it was a pretty average way to end the year.

The plot seemed a little too broad at times. I was afraid that the Santa's Little Helper thread would be a C plot of sorts to the other two, thankfully it ended early. But that just begs the question, why did they bother? Then there's Homer and Marge's story, which was kind of amusing at first, since you wouldn't expect Marge to be against the idea of Homer spending less time at Moe's and more time around the house. And yet, by the end when Marge was diving to stop Homer from hitting the golf ball, I really just didn't care anymore about what was going on between the two of them. Moe's plot was thankfully the best of the bunch, and I have to admit I did not see the twist with Simon at the end coming. Though even without the Simpson family around, the jokes about L.A. felt like the thin gags you see vacation episodes these days.

And as far as the humor itself went, I have to ask the same question I did with To Surveil with Love: "Isn't the show a little late making these jokes?". There really wasn't anything special about the American Idol gags, and they are the kind of jokes that everyone else has already made about the show already. The show is about 5 years too late making an episode like this. Still, I have to say that the humor wasn't that bad (long labored gag about naming the reality shows notwithstanding). The season kind of ends on a meh with this one, but I have to say I wasn't let down by this year. 3/5

[Mira]

"it's like new york after someone stepped on it and scrapped it off on the beach"

"Hey, Marge what are you reading?- by homer simpson"

"krusty's one year sobriety special. CANCELLED."

yea... so it had it's moments, but the plots just kind of sat there and didn't do much at all. i suppose there were enough decent lines to make it watchable. 3/5

Also, why was lisa playing the trumpet instead of the sax at the beginning?

[altoids30]

Lisa should have been outraged by the "wack a real mole" game. She was there, right? I can't recall.

Anyway, this episode was alright. Pleasantly mediocre with a few gags that made me laugh. Nothing too offensive. About the best I can expect from recent Simpsons... 3/5

[Orange Harrison]

Lisa with a trumpet... can someone explain what was going on there?
Also, does anyone else think that the intro to the Homer-Marge plot was VEEEERRRRY similar to the 'sidler' episode of Seinfeld?
Meh, too lazy for a full review.

3/5.

[Real Melvin]

The Sidler was probably making some reference to cartoons anyway.

[Cartoonnetwork]

I liked the episode. It wasn't the most mind-blowing thing they've ever done, but I enjoyed it enough.

1. Surprisingly, my favorite part was the Homer and Marge subplot. It had a good deal of observational humor about having Homer around the house. They did get a bit over-the-top with some of his antics, but nothing too egregious. I think Homer was characterized just right in this subplot. He could've been written irritable and angry about being home, but they instead went the "helpful but misguided" approach. It was a good decision.

2. I liked that they included that short scene between Lisa and Santa's Little Helper. It was a case of the writers acknowledging and wrapping up a loose end from the opening set piece. The scene proved that you can wrap up a loose end in a quick, efficient way. It doesn't really advance the story that much, but it makes the substory with Santa's Little Helper more complete and less pointless.

3. The main plot fared a little worse. Making Moe into a Master Judge type I can kind of buy... Moe is a very judgmental character, so it works alright within his character. Still, it feels like a strange concept for an episode in general. Of course, we pretty much know they wrote the episode backwards, starting with American Idol and then working to find a way to get there. So the plot choice felt like it was manipulated a bit much.

4. I predicted the Simon sabotage angle in advance, but I'm not sure if that's the episode's fault. They thankfully didn't have Simon laughing maniacally in the background or giving shifty eyes or anything. The only real clue would be if you really thought about Simon's motivations in the episode. Of course, the ending is a little confusing since Simon is supposedly leaving American Idol after this season... But whatever. Let's not throw American Idol continuity into this mess.

5. The Ralph Wiggum joke was hilarious. Please don't ruin the joke by doing it in the future, writers.

6. Jokes were above average by this season's standards. I liked the fakeout joke with the sand castles a lot, the Ralph Wiggum joke mentioned above, and the first "selling candy in the thought bubble" joke. Those three were my favorites, but a lot of the jokes made me smile. The candy one, in particular, was a nice absurd joke. The more I think about it, the more I like it. I didn't like the final one as much with Simon... Seemed like a bit of overkill... But it wasn't awful or anything.

7. Short couch gag. Yay.

Overall, I'll give it a generous 4/5. I voted 3 and was going to give it a 3.5, but as I wrote the review, it reminded me that they did a lot of small stuff right in the episode.

I basically agree with this. The plot was a little pointless, but Moe was hilarious in it and Homer was pretty funny. The episode was entertaining because of the gag writing which was remarkably good for today standards. It wasn't the best plot ever but it kept me laughing all around and even though the American Idol bit seems too short in the plot progression I prefer it to be only a small part of it.

Jokes I liked:

-The candy joke
-Homer appearing everywhere
-The sand castle/bully contest
-"But here it's a very good song about Alabama"
-Moe being happy cause he won't have to watch Fox
-Barney "driving" the toilet

A generous 4/5. It's more like a 3,5/5 though.

After seeing that blackboard gag...maybe the American Idol thing was just a desperate attempt to compete with Lost . Heh.

[Mr. Krikt]

Jeez. I was hoping they'd end it on a high note.

Anyway, this episode was filled with tropes they can't seem to escape. It seemed intentional that to mark the end of the season, they shoehorned in as many of their modern series clichés as possible. For example, we are subjected to not one, but two list jokes. First of all, they use the format when Krusty is judging the dogs and then later when the list of TV reality shoes go on for an obscenely long time. Then to match the two list jokes, we have the two musical montages. They seem to have died down as of late, so this episode has attempted to help the average with Moe's montages when he is judging the contests and in the limo ride.

The show seemed more one-dimensional than its earlier incarnations. For example, when the Simpsons are driving into the festival, it takes the whole screen to show us the "hilarious" sign about the dog from Frasier. Sign jokes have always been common but before they were more subtle and were a reward to the viewer but yet they're now the opposite.
Similarly, the characterisation seemed just as thoughtless. We have the Simpsons writing team to thank for the term "Flanderisation" and this episode was a perfect example. Flanders isn't just a good neighbour and he's not just a Christian; he's now a bible-thumping creationist.
Moe is also a shadow of his former self. He's now hated by everyone and rejected by society which isn't a very interesting theme, especially when it's been "explored" this many times. How often has Moe found an "unexpected" acceptance by society, followed by an inevitable downfall?

In terms of humour, there were too many flat jokes to list (although to the writers, that would be a joke in itself). For example, Moe was supposed to find fame (or perhaps infamy) through his sterling wit. Yet, every time he came out with a line, it lacked the humour and snappiness necessary to make the plot function. Perhaps I'm expecting too much from the writers, but I'm surprised the lines made it to the final script.

Another theme in the writing that was painfully obvious was their inability to end a scene. The first particular annoyance was when Lisa wandered into the bar. It was completely unrelated but they clearly had no idea how to otherwise end with a gag. Either that, or it was worth it to set the chocolate bars up as a running joke.
The second scene-ending joke that was noticeably poor was when Homer and Marge were in the kitchen. At this point Marge tells Homer that the kind of ventilating that she is doing is "hyper". There is arguably no joke and it's one of the most awkward ways to end a scene that they've exhibited.

In wider terms, one must wonder why they chose this particular plot. Was it an attempt to boost their rating numbers? Or perhaps it was a way to seem relevant? It's funny that long after reality shows were a sudden craze, the Simpsons have chosen it as a situation with which to end the season. Of course, this is the same season to use a Pokemon joke and to focus episodes on superhero movies and surveillance fears. It seems like it desperately wants to be relevant but keeps focusing on things too far behind. Conversely, they're on the ball by including Obama references but they've had roughly five and have featured a cameo by his wife which I would consider overkill.

It would be wrong (and fairly impossible) to overlook the celebrity cameos. There were so many that it just seemed like an opportunity to parade them rather than to integrate them with the plot. In fact, all but Simon's were superfluous since they added nothing but fairly poor and insignificant jokes. Ignoring the other "celebrities", this was of course Simon Cowell's second appearance and yet his voice acting was dull and dead. It is almost as bad as Ronaldo's from Marge Gamer. I see they also managed to get him to record one of the jokes where a character keeps repeating a line for too long. I thought an ego as large as Simon Cowell's would have placed him above such petty jokes but apparently not.

Finally, I would forgive anyone who forgets that this episode contained a B-story. Whenever they actually return to it towards the end, it's almost as if it never existed since it was never properly developed. Homer needs a distraction so Grandpa suggests golf and the next time we see them, within twenty seconds Homer begins to play but Marge regrets it and stops him.
It's almost insulting how poor it is; it doesn't go anywhere and it's reversed immediately. Perhaps it would have been just as weak had Homer started to enjoy himself and Marge had briefly enjoyed the respite before doubt had set in but at least then it would have had some merit. To add insult to injury, at less than twenty minutes in, we're back to the status quo and they shove a Rupert Murdoch cameo to pad it out. Why did they not devote the time to fleshing out the B-story rather than what could be cynically viewed as an attempt to avoid cancellation?

tl;dr Mr. Krikt did not like this episode.

Nitpicking:

• Couch "gag" was mercifully short but not funny.
• "I'll have to go home and drink better beer at a better price." Yes, it's always hilarious when they say something ironic.
• Homer looked strange this whole episode.
• Simon Cowell looking so unlike himself was the funniest thing of the episode.

EDIT: I read the thread after I posted my "review" and I'm amazed at the reception this episode has received.

[Tomacco]

Uneven episode. I have to watch again to get into it, but the Moe story was definitely the best part for me. There were too many cartoony things going on at home. The two scenes that I disliked most were Lisa cheering up SLH (felt really bizarre and almost surreal, and ultimately unnecessary) and Homer's whole water ingesting and vomiting thing. Also, the very last scene in the episode with the Leno monologue was VERY strange. His voice jarringly changed and became out of sync with his mouth as soon as it cut to the close-up of the TV. Awkward.

The highlight of the episode, which is a bit surprising, was the American Idol scene. The guest voices were all well done and Moe and Simon's little plot was executed very well. Moe in general brought enough to the table in this episode to save it. But this wasn't up to the caliber of the last 3 episodes at all. Pretty much average and forgettable in the end, like most of season 21.

[bartman61]

A very average episode from a very average season. This had a few laughs such as ralph, alabama song, the part with flanders fish and lisa scooting with the dog. The story could of been much better, started off decent but seemed half-assed when Moe got to LA. One part that annoyed me is the now trademark simpsons-over-doing-it-scene. When Simon was in the shadows, it's fine when they do it "now you see me now you don't, now you see me, now you don't" thing twice but they did it one and a half too many times (or was it 2 and a half?). I was happy they didn't milk the dog thing and got a somewhat believable quick fix to that scenario. The homer and marge secondary story got me one laugh which was the xfl joke and getting suggested to go to the gay bar.

Average episode, could of been much better but the writers are just half-assing it now.

I hate the 0-5 scale. 0-10 is way better, easier to get inbetweens.

7/10, not gonna do the retarded 0-5 scale nohomers has.

[Quazie89]

I don't know what to think about this episode, really. I love Moe, but I hate American Idol. It was fun seeing Moe at the judges table. I loved it when he got mad at Simon and shook the bottle at him. But I'll give this episode a three out of five, becuase that was really the only part of the episode that I liked.

[D DEBBS]

Okay ep.

[The Sovereign]

Simpsons should have just fuckin come out and said "forget our show, watch American Idol!!"

2/5, only because I laughed at a few of the jokes at the beginning

[Bella Drape 'er]

It was quite boring (especially the Idol bits and Marge freaking out over Homer helping around the house).

But I did think the script had a few more intelligent and enjoyable lines than say...the previous 2 episodes.

The Good
Even in the thought bubble I gotta buy Band Candy??
Hey driver can you put on a song about California or LA? Nah, they all suck, but here's one about Alabama.
Grandpa with his binoculars
The NBC line at the end was quite clever

The Bad
Lisa returning in Simon's thought bubble
Moe vs. Simon - strange way to resolve the story, but I guess anyway could have been bad.
Second subplot with the dog - utter pointless.


I haven't really been fond of the last two episodes, so by comparison this looks quite good for me.

3/5

[Cartoonnetwork]

I also thought the Moe-Simon Cowell conflict was decently played. I didn't think it was that predictable. I did anticipate it some seconds after, when Moe says nice things to the girl and we see it's Simon's turn, but before I thought it was fairly believable that Simon was trying to be a good workmate and he was being sincere about his advice. At least it looked that way to me. It didn't seem that Simon was suddenly Moe's best friend either, just being nice to him. Being spanish I don't know much about Simon Cowell but I thought it was believable that he could be nice to someone who works with him even though his role in the show is to be very critic and bitter.

I don't think the American Idol part was the best, though, and I believe it could be a better episode if it just happened to be about Moe judging things and ending with something that won't be forgotten in a decade.

It's true that Homer ingesting the water was overly cartoony. I didn't dislike it too much, though, cause at least it wasn't gruesome. I don't mind some cartoony stuff, but I hate most of the shock and gory humor they use these days.

I don't see what's the problem with Lisa's/SLH scene. It was a little odd and unnecessary, but it was cute, and the dog being depressed isn't the most antropomorphic thing he has ever done, remember how SLH and Snowball acted in Barts Gets An Elephant?

Personally I found the coach gag hilarious, maybe not so much when we actually see the real Homer strangling Bart but I did laugh at the puppets moving around in a silly way with Bart's and Homer's voices.

[Fox Executive]

Simpsons should have just fuckin come out and said "forget our show, watch American Idol!!"

2/5, only because I laughed at a few of the jokes at the beginning

+1.

[Cartoonnetwork]

Oh, strangely enough I didn't quite like the Ralph bleep scene that everybody loves...I don't know, it just seemed a little out of character and random? It seemed more like something they'd do in South Park. I didn't hate it and I admit it's kinda funny but it seemed a little odd to me.

[jscottstroup]

Oh, strangely enough I didn't quite like the Ralph bleep scene that everybody loves...I don't know, it just seemed a little out of character and random? It seemed more like something they'd do in South Park. I didn't hate it and I admit it's kinda funny but it seemed a little odd to me.

To me, it was like they took a cue from "Arrested Development"

[Ramier Wolfcastle]

I voted 4/5, but there was nothing really memorable about that episode.

I thought it would be an American Idol crossover for most of the episode, but it was actually more of a "Moe the Judge" type episode who eventually earns a spot on the American Idol panel of judges. And the whole Homer subplot made sense with Moe gone and his bar closed.

Some good jokes included "would you like some band candy?" (though it should have only been done once) and the "Tiger Woods of sex" line.

That said, Ryan Seacrest, Kara DioGuardi, and Ellen DeGeneres looked wayyy off model. Fortunately this season is over. There was nothing memorable about it.

Overall: B-

P.S. There was some posters in the "AI audience" that said "Crystal fan" and "DeWyze voter". I guess they were spliced in at the last minute, as well as that chalkboard gag related to the last episode of Lost. (Which, by the way, is a show I never watched.)

[HRH Sir Prince Charles]

I must say, I'm intrigued by this new trend of splicing in things to keep the show up to date with current events. It opens up a lot of possibilities and I'm hoping they explore it further next season.

[Doh]

Bleha.

It was one of those episodes that I will have forgotten tommorow. But...AMERICAN IDOL? REALLY SIMPSONS?

The band candy thing was kind of fun (it put a brief smile on my face that I kept for the rest of the episode), also Homer and the plumbing because it was so cartoony. But - AMERICAN IDOL???? I will never forgive you !

2/5

Oh and what exactly is band candy? Sorry for being such as noob, but I swear I hear it mentioned all the time on American cartoons and I'm left ed.