Rate and Review: “The Man in the Blue Flannel Pants” (PABF01)

[Blobulle]

I liked it !
The story of Homer was good but unfunny. I liked his office, with the animation of the sailing boats...
(but where is the shadow of Marge ?)

I widely prefered the story of Bart&Lisa, very cute.


I also liked when they chased Homer at the end.
Yeah good episode (for the season), 3.5/5 rounded up to 4/5 in the poll. And I loved the music at the ending.
The humour was pretty bad though. (except the reference of Co-Dependent's Day by Maggie or Moe waiting asleep for Homer)

[Zombies Rise from the Sea]

The Man in the Blue Flannel Pants

So after the one good episode in which The Simpsons rose straight up ("The Book Job") we get this episode where Al Jean takes the helm once again and takes a literal nosedive. Well not literally but it is a nosedive nonetheless...

Apparently the intro not appearing again is not a Matt Selman specific thing and apparently is something that the production crew is experimenting with... Sometimes, it can lead to good stories while other times, it's very inconsequential. Here it is because instead of time that could be used to increase the main story; it's used to lenghten the four plots so that they seem long, all at the expense of funny content or characterization.

As you may have noticed, this is a Mad Men parody; while I have not seen the show at all, I can say that I have noticed several aspects of Mad Men enough to understand what they're going for... Of course, this being a Mad Men parody and an episode where Homer neglects his family for his job, there has to be some sacrifices; one being the character traits obviously modified in order to fit the plot. I am going to give some exceptions to a small few but for the most part Homer is severely out of character, forgoing most of his usual characteristics (Family man, compassionate, slacker, devoted) in exchange for characteristics seen from someone in Mad Men; that leads to the character being mostly one note and as a result, the stuff coming from the character to be rather inconsequential; as most of what he does feels stale/boring.

I will give props to Marge, Lenny and Carl for at least being somewhat consistent throughout the plot but for the most part; the characterization is a mess and a lot of the characters feel off-key... But that's somewhat expected from the Al Jean era.

The way the whole thing plays out seems like it was forced in (there may have been a way to do it naturally "You Only Move Twice" but I don't think the writers could find it.) The Power Plant is almost instantly transformed into Mad Men central, complete with characters from the Mad Men series, Mad Men music and a Mad Men executive building; you know, there was a time when the Power Plant was grimy and run down but I guess those times are dead and gone... Anyways, everybody who is shown acts and even looks like their Mad Men counterpart, even the guest star looks like someone who could be in Mad Men.

Don't get me started on the homages; I mean we've had one scene reference an episode (the lawn mower episode) and some others maybe and instead of being scathing it just seems like The Simpsons are tipping their caps to Mad Men; now that I think about it, are all of the parodies that The Simpsons have done just tips of their hat. I mean it doesn't seem like they're attacking anything or even making fun of something, just taking something, giving it the "simpsons" twist and expecting us to look at it as satire... Maybe I'm just being cynical but I am beginning to see a pattern here...

The way they flip between the Mad Men plot and the Homer family plot is very shoddy... It doesn't seem like Homer even cares about Marge and only in the ends manage to realize that Family is important. It would of been nice had Homer shown at least one sign of Marge but I guess the parody was more important. Marge is played out as the straight woman not willing to accept this, kind of like a South Park episode where at least one person does not go with the flow and stands out... While it's seemingly necessary, it doesn't work out in the least bit and it just seems like she's doing this just because she's doing this, not because she cares for him or anything (even the way she walks in indicates that she's not concerned.)

There are a couple of sitcom cliches right here and there and I sort of cringed at that but for the most part, it's a Mad Men parody all the way...

There is a subplot with Bart and Lisa involving Lisa teaching Bart how to read a book but the problem is is that Bart having trouble reading sort of contradicts with the past; sure, it made for a cute subplot and sure, Al Jean has a photographic memory but don't you think he should put that photographic memory to work, I mean he's street smart; nowhere in the series did we sense that he was a bad reader; it's like the creators of the show changing their character in order to meet new expectations. Well it does seem cute but it doesn't seem to fit in as we get one more scene of Bart reading a book to a bunch of bullies who seem to be suffering from the characterization problem as they either appear tough or willing to follow Bart as he reads them the book... I know that they have complex characteristics but you can't switch between soft and tough, you either have to pick one or find a convincing way to mix them...

So... It may appear that from what I've written, I think that this episode is terrible; not so. It's not bad but it's awfully boring and I couldn't wait for it to end, it does do some good things but it also does a lot of bad things as well; in the term of bad, boring, stale and just plain unfunny... While Mad Men is a good thing to parody, we just wish it was parodied a little bit better.

4.0/10

Also when is Bart going to cut down on the imagination scenes? Just saying...

• Krusty stuff was great, love seeing new horrible products and Krusty's show's intro

Um... I think that wasn't new; it was first shown on a building in "Barting Over".

[cloneasaurus]

Booooooring, unfunny and rehashed. It wasn't terrible by any means but it was so forgettable and that subplot was what, two minutes? Will go in to more depth later but this was probably the third worst this season so far. I'm just struggling to remember much of it, and as a side note, the animation direction was very poor. So many scenes consisted of just two characters side by side. 2/5 and a D+ for now.

My main gripe with this episode is that it's just so damn lifeless. I watched this episode about 2 hours ago and I am really struggling to think of anything that I enjoyed or even just cared about. Many scenes dragged on too long, and the main plot still felt insubstantial. What even really happened to Homer? Met some people, got drunk... this episode may have skipped the opening sequence (which I'm actually a supporter of, for the most part) for more time but on this occasion it didn't need it. I can't even be bothered to go on any more, because I'm just repeating the same thing repetitively. Basically this episode just needed a massive injection of life. It felt very very drab.

[Bleedin' Gums Murphy]

ANOTHER GRIPE I HAVE! Does anyone else literally CRINGE when Homer does his 'whisper voice' ? Apparently it's so funny what he's saying coz it's erm quiet and erm...

[The Governor]

it sounds like he's trying to talk during an asthma attack.

[M Prower]

ANOTHER GRIPE I HAVE! Does anyone else literally CRINGE when Homer does his 'whisper voice' ? Apparently it's so funny what he's saying coz it's erm quiet and erm...

...it's about the only thing in 'Zombie' Simpsons that I actually do find funny!

[alex_on_ice]

There was some pretty good backround music throughout the episode. I found that the beginning of the episode with Krusty was quite boring (especially knowing that we'll be seeing more of him next week in "The Ten-Per-Cent Solution"). The episode got a little bit better afterwards (there were some small jokes here and there, but nothing special) and the ending was okay. I found that Homer was a little too silly at the ending of the episode (diving from one boat to the other).

2.25/5 or a 9/20

[Jesse Pinkman]

i didn't know this was a parody of Mad Men, having never seen it. maybe that's why i didn't like it?

did the fans of Mad Men generally like this episode? or is it just a poorly done episode, regardless of if you know what they are parodying?

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

That was the worst episode of the season, possibly beating the season premiere. 2/5.

[Bleedin' Gums Murphy]

That was the worst episode of the season, possibly beating the season premiere. 2/5.

Worse than THOH XXII ?

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

Oh, damn. I forgot about that travesty. Nope, this is better.

[Shaunbadia]

My main gripe with this episode was the Bart sub-plot, it just didn't go anywhere, which seems to be a recurring problem with the show these days, what was the point of it? I'd rather have gotten the full intro and had that plot cut entirely.

My main relief is that Marge didn't get raped by the retired accounts guy, the way the scene kept changing location I was thinking "Oh God there's going to be a ''He fucked her without her even realising'' joke" thankfully they had Marge come to her senses and get the Hell out of there.

Other than that I liked Homer's decent into a joyless bourbon addict, and there were a few laughs in there for me, including Kirk and Luanne's bondage gear bit....shame it felt like a run of the mill Family Guy joke though.

2/5

[Mr. Krikt]

Zombies Rise From the Sea gave me a renewed appreciation for a longer review in previous topics. That said I don't read others reviews before I write mine, just in case some points overlap.

I've got to say this episode has a bad case of plot whiplash, at least at the beginning. The starting scene just seemed to be a vehicle for poor jokes like Krusty's gadget being dialed "up to eleven" () and once Bart has chosen to throw his hat in for the viral marketing, Krusty's there with his representatives, completely glossing over Bart's entry and why it was accepted. I get the impression there's a hint of contempt for the audience here as well as being indicative of the rot of Zombie Simpsons: the Simpsons aren't just an upper-lower-middle-class family, they're constantly brushing elbows with the stars and everyone knows them. There's no doubt this is due to having to come up with plots for the last decade but even still, I feel something's lost there.

Secondly, when the pacing was kicked up a notch, they didn't leave much room for jokes at all. We had two very similar Krusty jokes about not wanting to drink his own brand of alcohol, Mr. Burns saying hilarious words and... what else? Kirk being afraid of clowns? That random dude claiming he's the surgery patient? They're forgettable and more importantly, they're not intelligent. They're time-wasters, deserving of little more than "heh".

I had a feeling when he karaoke started to start preparing myself for plot whiplash following the vodka->viral->party swift turns. True enough, less than 6 minutes in the vodka's forgotten and Homer gets a new random job. I'm somewhat surprised they parodied Mad Men during a dry season of the show; it hasn't had a new episode for over a year and the next one isn't for a good while. Of course, for someone watching years later that matters little, it just feels strange for a new episode. It was also blatant how much the writers were relying on "it's the Simpsons but Mad Men!" when Homer ran over Smithers. Oh I get it, it's the scene except with Simpsons characters. That's not funny in the slightest; there's no twist, no satire. Just a rather low budget animation of the scene.

I've got to say, the Simpsons really does feel more like Family Guy than ever. The two daydream sequences felt like cut-aways minus the snappiness. Later in the episode, Marge popping into other scenes just felt like an attempt at being "totally random". Please stop, writers. Yes, it is totally random but how about either some intelligent jokes or smooth plot development instead of the jumpcuts experienced earlier.

Oh right, yeah there's a subplot. Bart can't read then he can. Who could have guessed that when confronted by the bullies they'd suddenly get sucked into the narrative. Kearney's already done this with Lisa's fiction! It's not original, it's not funny and I could see its scraping its way towards the subplot from a mile off. What I didn't expect was it dying as soon as it arrived. Way to follow through there.

I was going to comment on the cliched bit with Homer trying to maintain both parties but I was shocked at his indecision. I find it hard to believe Homer could possibly have trouble choosing between his family and a bunch of people he cares nothing about (including his boss who couldn't even remember his name). That's what really killed the end for me; it just nullified everything that followed.

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

Is this show pulling a Seinfeld and having every episode start with "The" from now on?

[Shave Those Sideburns!]

I wasn't too impressed with it. Chuckled a bit when Bart had to read to the bullies.

2/5

[Food Blog]

Ehh. For the odd moment it almost felt like a return to form - some parts would have made a lot more sense much earlier into the series when nothing else had come up to contradict them yet. I haven't watched Mad Men, so I can only comment on what seemed off for a Simpsons episode. Homer was completely out of character, and absolutely nothing justified it. They could have put in some line about how he's got this other side to him when he's drinking - even if it would go against every drunk scene we've had so far, it would at least be an explanation, which is about as much as we can ask for from the newer seasons. I didn't like how Bart's competence at reading took a nose dive purely for the purpose of a subplot - could have been (was?) tackled in an earlier series, leaving room for it to remain an issue later on. The bullies' attitudes didn't really seem wrong, because they have been slowly reduced to this as the series wore on, tired though it is. I agree that the amount of people the family now know sets them apart from their class status and everyday problems; I can barely ignore that they are social icons long enough to empathise with the characters anymore (so it affects their role in the real world too). But what could even be done about that without wrecking the show? I also didn't like how they didn't show Bart entering this competition; just because we could easily guess he would win, doesn't mean there would be no mirth to gain from how hard he tried (or didn't?) to win it, yet being stuck in the basement for the party. I don't want to read between the lines this much to laugh at The Simpsons!

Not a horrible episode, but absolutely not canon. For me, the unwarranted deviance from character is more annoying than those episodes which are drier on jokes.

[Tubbb!]

Yeah, if the next 4 are parody episodes as well it will be season 5 all over again

Let me rephrase then: Two freaking shitty parody episodes in a row.


Nacho, nacho man! I wanna be a nacho man!
...I loved season five.

Also, this is not the first time a Simpsons character has been seen reading Little Women. It's the book Moe reads to the men at "Helter Shelter" in the episode Homer Loves Flanders... and he seems to have no problem doing it with his eyes closed!

[zartok-35]

I'm just struggling to remember much of it, and as a side note, the animation direction was very poor. So many scenes consisted of just two characters side by side.

I thought Steve Moore did a good job! He incorporates just enough angular prepsective to make things fresh. This was better than a Nastuk episode.

[NoOneFamous]

completely bland, boring, forgettable, and directionless. Zombie Simpsons in a nutshell. I'd take the over-the-top wackiness of the Scully era over this tripe, at least then each episode had something that stood out so you'd actually remember it.

2/5

[irvine_11]

The only reason I gave this episode a 2 is because of the Bart and Lisa story but that was only a minor subplot. I feel that Al Jean is starting to lose interest in the show and is letting Matt Selman take the helm.

Since he's getting into writing, I think Jonah Hill should showrun an episode.

*Irvine goes to watch an episode of Allen Gregory*

Oh, god NO! He really shouldn't!

[Cartoonnetwork]

I'm surprised about the devastating critics. It wasn't great or hilarious but it was a good, decent episode for modern standards and with a little more amount of work it could have been good for the whole series standard.

I've only seen Mad Men once and it didn't blow my mind, but I'd rather see them playing homage to something like Mad Men than making references to 'trendy' movies like Twilight or Avatar. Yeah, maybe Mad Men is also something that's 'hot' these days among certain audiences, but it's not something as popular and massive, and even if I didn't love the one MM episode I watched I admit it's a quality product. When you are referencing a quality product, it generally shows. It looks like they actually like these series instead of introducing the topic because it's what everybody is talking about and the whole episode has some elegance and stylishness in its music/montages, etc.

It was also somewhat reminiscent of classic episodes in the fact that SNPP, Mr. Burns and even Smithers had something to do, and most of the plot and the subplot were 'realistic' and didn't include a lot of wacky adventures (except for the third act).

Some people said Homer was out of character, but I think they should maybe have gone more far with it. The episode ends with a too familiar conflict about having to pick between his job and his family after some little changes on his attitude. Maybe they should have gone deeper and darker with it showing Homer losing his naivity and becoming more of a less likeable person for a while (not jerkass Homer, just making him more cynical). Maybe having his family disappointing him, or his job partners influencing more in his change of personality. Then the conflict would have looked more difficult to solve.

Still, I thought it was good enough for what it was, especially in the middle section. I thought Homer's speech in the coach was pretty funny and even a little reminiscent of his "Chinatown" speech in Secrets Of A Succesful Marriage. The subplot was short but cute and virtually not very different from any subplot in classic era, only shorter.

So what were the flaws? a/The first act with Krusty was a little forced (though I loved Kirk's part). b/Mr. Burns' role was decent but not great. Even when they keep him somewhat evil and they don't make those horrible anatomical gags he's still a character that is just...there. He's not that menacing or interesting anymore and Smithers doesn't have a lot of good lines either. c/the action sequence at the ending. It had some fun parts but they could have done something more down to earth and original.

Other than that I quite liked it, the direction was fancy, there was enough sense of character, the pacing was refreshingly calmer and most of the gags delivered. A lot better than Replaceable You to compare with the most recent SNPP plot.

4/5 or a B.

[Bleedin' Gums Murphy]

*Good for modern standards = Bad episode (I'd say an episode has to be very good for modern standards to be good i.e 'The Book Job' & Faultless for modern standards to be very good i.e Eternal Moonshine)
*They shouldn't base any episode entirely on a homage of a film or tv programme, only acceptable in THOH segments.
*Style doesn't matter in terms of an episode if the episode isn't itself good or funny or entertaining.
*Mr Burns may have had something to do, but what did he actually do? Went to a party, was awkward, nobody wanted to talk to him and then 'lightened up' and sang karoke. Then based on an unfunny joke Homer told, he randomly makes him an executive and after not seeing him again for 10 minutes, bar a meal with Mayor Quimby, is in a boat with other people we know nothing about. So I wouldn't say it was "somewhat reminiscent of classic episodes" this is not even one tenth as great as he was in 'One fish, two fish, blowfish, bluefish' etc.
*Agreed, Homer was neither his true self or interesting displaying a 'new side', so the episode also failed in that regard, as you righly admitted.
*I don't recall the speech but if it's anyway near as funny as "Forget it Marge, it's Chinatown" then I must have missed it.
*So cute passes for a show like The Simpsons these days? On the contrary, the subplot was very different in comparison to seasons 1-9 as those were actually entertaining, hilarious and had a point. Not Bart, out of nowhere, being illiterate and then the bullies demand he read them a 'girl book' and they end up loving it. Oh that's funny! coz they're mean right? Not anything like Kearney loving Lisa's fantasy adventures from a book in another abomination of an episode...
*Correction - Mr Burns is not AT ALL menacing or interesting anymore.
*What were the flaws? The entire episode.

[Zombies Rise from the Sea]

I've only seen Mad Men once and it didn't blow my mind, but I'd rather see them playing homage to something like Mad Men than making references to 'trendy' movies like Twilight or Avatar. Yeah, maybe Mad Men is also something that's 'hot' these days among certain audiences, but it's not something as popular and massive, and even if I didn't love the one MM episode I watched I admit it's a quality product. When you are referencing a quality product, it generally shows. It looks like they actually like these series instead of introducing the topic because it's what everybody is talking about and the whole episode has some elegance and stylishness in its music/montages, etc.

I agree. However, a homage to something has to be good; I mean it's one thing to homage something less known and it's also another to make it good. The latest THoH had a Dexter parody and that show isn't really super popular, and it also sucked... You are right in the fact that the series should reference these things more but I have somewhat of a beef when it comes to the show sorely being used to remind people of lesser known shows; I mean what if The Simpsons became a showcase for all of the shows people don't know about instead of an animated sitcom. It's not like The Simpsons are going to go "Here is a show you've never seen before, you may like it, watch it." every sunday of the week.

Some people said Homer was out of character, but I think they should maybe have gone more far with it. The episode ends with a too familiar conflict about having to pick between his job and his family after some little changes on his attitude. Maybe they should have gone deeper and darker with it showing Homer losing his naivity and becoming more of a less likeable person for a while (not jerkass Homer, just making him more cynical). Maybe having his family disappointing him, or his job partners influencing more in his change of personality. Then the conflict would have looked more difficult to solve.

I was one of the ones who called him "out of character". Mainly because the transition to businessman felt forced and Homer was acting like a parody of a businessman he seemed to be; what I would of liked to see was some of Homer's personality inside of that businessman while still keeping the businessman aspect. I agree with the fact that Homer should of become cynical though, I mean that would of made the character a little bit more in character and given him somewhat of an interesting personality as well as a more interesting plot and ending. I wouldn't say it'd be difficult, eventually Homer will come to his senses and realize that the businessman life is not for him; I mean it's a heck of a lot better then Homer and two boats inbetween them.

[ShiangHorng]

Have you got any idea on who made that end theme?

http://www.mediafire.com/?b0it6y3t6iu9o1c

[The Governor]

Homer's ascension into a businessman wasn't a satire, it was a stupid person's idea of what a businessman is.

[Tubbb!]

Homer's ascension into a businessman wasn't a satire, it was a stupid person's idea of what a businessman is.

Isn't this, like, the FOURTH time Homer's been promoted at the SNPP?

#1. When he got his hair back in Simpson and Delilah

#2. When his dummy that he placed in his work space was promoted during Guess Who's Coming to Criticize Dinner?

#3. When he was prescribed medical marijuana, and laughed at Mr. Burns' jokes in Weekend at Burnsie's

#4. Now in THIS episode.


I think they're pumping a dry well with the "Homer gets promoted, but loses the promotion at the end of the episode" gag.

Have you got any idea on who made that end theme?

I'm going to say it was Alf Clausen, since no additional music is mentioned in the credits.

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

Ah, ah. Fifth. C.E.D'oh.

[Diversity Pumpkin]

Sixth. Homer the Smithers.

[Matty]

Seventh. The Devil Wears Nada. In which the result is that Homer works long hours and has no time for his family.

This Recycled Premise Poker game is fun! Someone dare to raise?

[Comicshow MolemanBob]

If this episode is any reflection on the rest of the season: Then God have mercy on our souls :/