Season 23 Information Thread

[Jesse Pinkman]

the only other episode that was at least pretty well-received was The Book Job. every other episode ranges from mediocre to awful imo

[MDB]

I think "the food wife" had a good reception too

[SimpsonArgentina]

PABF17 is Treehouse Of Horror XXIII
http://twitpic.com/7xgczx

[biffwestwood]

That illustration suggests that one of the stories in ToH XXIII will be Christmas themed.

We did have that before in ToH XIX (Untitled Robot Parody)

Maybe there will be a send-up of the Christmas Horror film "Silent Night, Deadly Night"

[Dark Homer]

silverman doodled santa because it's christmastime

it has nothing to do with the content of the episode

[Alex_Of_Darkness]

Politically Inept, with Homer Simpson :

Homer lands his own political talk show after a video featuring his impassioned rant on poor treatment at the airport goes viral. As his talk show quickly gains popularity nationwide, Homer becomes the spokesperson for the Gravy Movement and the voice of America’s newest political party. But when ill-informed Homer is asked to select the next Republican nominee and officially endorses right-wing rock star Ted Nugent (guest voicing as himself), Marge and Lisa worry that Homer’s opinion and influence might be more powerful than he realizes.

[McClure]

silverman doodled santa because it's christmastime

it has nothing to do with the content of the episode

Yeah, something tells me that the show wouldn't feature a Santa that appears to be cross-bred with David Silverman. But, you never know.

[Jerry P.]

Fox Flash

--“THE SIMPSONS”—(8:00-8:30 PM ET/PT) CC-HDTV 720p-Dolby Digital 5.1

HOMER BECOMES AMERICA’S NEWEST TALKING HEAD AND POLITICAL INFLUENCER
ON AN ALL-NEW “THE SIMPSONS”
SUNDAY, JANUARY 8, ON FOX

Rock Musician Ted Nugent Makes Guest Voice Appearance

Homer lands his own political talk show after a video featuring his impassioned rant on poor treatment at the airport goes viral. As his talk show quickly gains popularity nationwide, Homer becomes the spokesperson for the Gravy Movement and the voice of America’s newest political party. But when ill-informed Homer is asked to select the next Republican nominee for President and officially endorses right-wing rock star Ted Nugent (guest voicing as himself), Marge and Lisa worry that Homer’s opinion and influence might be more powerful than he realizes in the all-new “Politically Inept, with Homer Simpson” episode of THE SIMPSONS airing Sunday, Jan. 8 (8:00-8:30 PM ET/PT) on FOX. (SI-2303) (TV-PG D, L, V)

Voice Cast: Dan Castellaneta as Homer Simpson; Julie Kavner as Marge Simpson; Nancy Cartwright as Bart Simpson and Nelson; Yeardley Smith as Lisa Simpson; Harry Shearer as Skinner; Pamela Hayden as Milhouse; Tress MacNeille as Dolph

Guest Voice Cast: Ted Nugent as himself

--“THE SIMPSONS”—(8:00-8:30 PM ET/PT) CC-HDTV 720p-Dolby Digital 5.1

LISA ADDS NEW FRIENDS ON SPRINGFACE
ON AN ALL-NEW "THE SIMPSONS"
SUNDAY, JANUARY 15, ON FOX

Armie Hammer ("The Social Network") Makes Guest Voice Appearance

As the mastermind and creator of the online social networking phenomenon SpringFace, Lisa is called to trial when Springfield's obsession with the site becomes chaotic and dysfunctional. Lisa recounts her story and explains that she created the site after realizing she had no real friends. But as SpringFace expands and Springfield's fixation with the site causes mass hysteria, Lisa begins to realize that adding thousands of friends online did not compare to having real friendships. Later, Patty and Selma compete against the Winklevoss Twins (guest star Armie Hammer) in the rowing event at the 2012 Olympic Games in the all-new "The D'oh-cial Network" episode of THE SIMPSONS airing Sunday, Jan. 15 (8:00-8:30 PM ET/PT) on FOX. (SI-2304) (TV-PG D, L, V)

Voice Cast: Dan Castellaneta as Homer Simpson; Julie Kavner as Marge Simpson; Nancy Cartwright as Bart Simpson and Nelson; Yeardley Smith as Lisa Simpson; Harry Shearer as Skinner; Pamela Hayden as Milhouse; Tress MacNeille as Dolph

Guest Voice Cast: Armie Hammer as the Winklevoss twins

[Bella Drape 'er]

err...remember this, writers?

[MDB]

That was just a bad gag in a regular chapter, This plot sounds better. I really think this chapter can be good

[The Governor]

SpringFace? That's the worst pun, yet. Hell, "MaceBook" would've been funnier as a site that was created for people you want to be enemies with.

[SimpsonArgentina]

J. Stewart Burns wrote "The D'oh-cial Network" so it could be a great episode.

[biffwestwood]

"Politically Inept, with Homer Simpson" sounds like a season 23 version of "E Pluribus Wiggum"

"The Doh-cial Network" sounds interesting but the subplot sounds like a rehash of "Boy Meets Curl" but with substituting the summer olympics.

"The Doh-cial Network" will be this years ratings champ since it airs immeadiately after a football playoff game in the eastern US.

[alex_on_ice]

Yeah, I agree with you SimpsonArgentina. J. Stewart Burns must be one of the strongest post-classic era writers for the show. I mean he's written some really good episodes : "Moe Baby Blues" (Season 14), "The Way We Weren't" (Season 15), "Marge Gamer" (Season 18), "Eternal Moonshine Of The Simpson Mind" (Season 19) and "Holidays Of Future Passed" of course . Even "Homerazzi" (Season 18) isn't all that bad ; I give it a 13/20.

The only episodes I didn't really like that came from him were : "There's Something About Marrying" (Season 16), "The Monkey Suit" (Season 17), and "Waverly Hills 9-0-2-1-D'oh" (Season 20).

He also wrote some pretty decent episodes in Futurama as well.

[Zombies Rise from the Sea]

Politically Inept I am not looking forward to.
Doh-cial Network: The plot sounds interesting but I fear that it's execution will be horrid.

[Jesse Pinkman]

d'oh-cial network sounds interesting to me.

politically inept could go either way

[Bella Drape 'er]

The fact that I'm looking forward to this Patty & Selma subplot the most is just so damn depressing.

[Oh, that's raspberry!]

Two J. Stewart Burns episodes so close together after none the past 2 seasons? This surprises me. I really don't care much for either of these plots on paper, but his involvement does make me hopeful the D'oh-cial Network might not be maddeningly boring at best, which is what I felt going in...

Also, I'd say Marge Gamer and Homerazzi, while still pretty good, are easily his two weakest episodes. Although I haven't actually seen Marge Gamer in years...

[Financial Panther]

Marge Gamer seems to always be on TV here, so I've seen it a ton, but every time I see it, I'm even more surprised at how much I like it. Give it another shot.

[Alex_Of_Darkness]

Yeah, I agree with you SimpsonArgentina. J. Stewart Burns must be one of the strongest post-classic era writers for the show. I mean he's written some really good episodes : "Moe Baby Blues" (Season 14), "The Way We Weren't" (Season 15), "Marge Gamer" (Season 18), "Eternal Moonshine Of The Simpson Mind" (Season 19) and "Holidays Of Future Passed" of course . Even "Homerazzi" (Season 18) isn't all that bad ; I give it a 13/20.

The only episodes I didn't really like that came from him were : "There's Something About Marrying" (Season 16), "The Monkey Suit" (Season 17), and "Waverly Hills 9-0-2-1-D'oh" (Season 20).

He also wrote some pretty decent episodes in Futurama as well.

Yes it could be a very good episode with this writer but I like "There's something about marrying" ! This leaves only two episodes of J. Stewart Burns that I like moderately!

I hope it will be good

[SimpsonArgentina]

I like moderately "There's something about marrying"...
"The Monkey Suit" and "Waverly..." are great episodes for me.

[McClure]

Plots like Politically Inept, with Homer Simpson annoy me. Homer's now a highly influential political commentator, as well as an Academy Award winner, the star of an action movie and an Olympic (demostration event) gold medalist?

Does anyone else remember when Homer was supposed to be a regular dummy who loves his family?

[tvguy347]

If they can make it funny, I doubt I'd mind it. But because past plots have shown stupid plot+no humor, I don't think this'll be any good.

[Oh, that's raspberry!]

^This, Homer has been a grammy winning barbershop singer and astronaut in Season 5, but since everyone finds those episodes to be funny they ignore the ridiculous premise and that is the problem with most of the ones you referenced, they just aren't that funny or entertaining. I really enjoy Boy Meets Curl personally, but the other two you mentioned would struggle to get a 3/5 from me, a notoriously kind grader of modern Simpsons. I'm honestly not expecting much from Politically Inept, I kinda feel like it may resemble Homer's b-story in Today, I Am a Clown which interestingly enough always seemed like it was almost trying to be the main story of that episode with how much time it was given. If it can be on par with that I'll be happy, but it seems unlikely.

[Zombies Rise from the Sea]

^Not only that, but the plots were good as well; being funny is only one part of the equation.

[Oh, that's raspberry!]

Oh I know, at least to an extent. Both are miles ahead of most modern episodes of course including the one I was defending but you get the idea of what I'm trying to get across...

[McClure]

^This, Homer has been a grammy winning barbershop singer and astronaut in Season 5, but since everyone finds those episodes to be funny they ignore the ridiculous premise and that is the problem with most of the ones you referenced, they just aren't that funny or entertaining. I really enjoy Boy Meets Curl personally, but the other two you mentioned would struggle to get a 3/5 from me, a notoriously kind grader of modern Simpsons. I'm honestly not expecting much from Politically Inept, I kinda feel like it may resemble Homer's b-story in Today, I Am a Clown which interestingly enough always seemed like it was almost trying to be the main story of that episode with how much time it was given. If it can be on par with that I'll be happy, but it seems unlikely.

I agree with you. It's true that there have been silly unrealistic plots since the beginning of the series, but it seems like no matter how silly they got, the main focus was always on the family. Now they do episodes where a family member becomes nationally famous at least twice per season. The biggest difference is the way the episodes are presented.

Deep Space Homer: Homer becomes an astronaut because his family doesn't respect him and he wants to be seen as a hero.
Homer the Whopper: Homer is randomly picked for a movie role and the whole episode centers around him and some one-off character.

And so on and so forth.

[SimpsonArgentina]

The ´subplot` of "The D´oh-cial Network" could be only a part of the episode like the appearance of Tom Colicchio in "The Falcon and the D´ohman" or something at the end (it says "Later, Patty and Selma compete against the Winklevoss Twins.....") like the final joke of "To Surveil With Love" with the Queen.

[Alex_Of_Darkness]

I hope you will be right.

[Brad Lascelle]

Any word on who the head writer is for Politically Inept?
Would like to know if there's any reason whatsoever to hold out hope that it'll wind up any good despite the awful premise and media copy.