Rate and Review: "Beware My Cheating Bart" (PABF11)

[Financial Panther]

DEAR GOD STOP IT! There is no such thing as Zombie Simpsons!!!
Stop being a humorless ****.

ModernSimpsonsRocks, I agree with you in theory. In theory, Communism works; in theory...

[Oh, that's raspberry!]

It is interesting that The Simpsons is in such a unique predicament where it has gone on so long that the majority of the show is now not even considered a part of the show by some. I've read it equated with the Star Wars prequels, but there were only 6 movies in that franchise, this seems bigger. Personally I despise the "zombie" name which too many people attach to Modern Simpsons, but eh...

[The Governor]

I'd say each new season is like another new "______ Movie" and laughing at it comes from awful most of it is.

[Brad Lascelle]

Good to see you guys can't stop bitching about how terrible the show is even when a decent episode airs.
If you're lucky there will be plenty more talking bar rag / Moe is yeti spawn episodes for you to rip on in a few weeks and next year.

Also, Bartist needs to check out The Book Job.

[The Governor]

Three decent episodes does not a good season make.

[The Wiggs]

Random stuff happening does not a plot make

[Tubbb!]

Good to see you guys can't stop bitching about how terrible the show is even when a decent episode airs.

I remember a time when the series was better than "decent."
I also know that the potential is still there for something better than "decent."
This is why I am usually disappointed.
(EDIT: This is also why I have lowered my standards for the show. I know it'll never get back to what it used to be. It's a double-edged sword, I know.)

If you're lucky there will be plenty more talking bar rag / Moe is yeti spawn episodes for you to rip on in a few weeks and next year.

Luck has nothing to do with certainty.

Don't forget the obligatory scene where Bart asks Homer about "his friend whose a dude who likes other dudes, but not in a bromantic, barfly sort of way."

After raging against Bart's turn to homosexuality for most of the episode (which provides many hilarious tirades against homosexuals,) Homer turns the other cheek when he is inspired by an internet video in act four. He then makes his own internet video, which goes viral, and he is hailed as a champion of homosexuals in Springfield's gay community. Also, he gets a gay talk show, why not.

[bradbradford]

5 out of 5. Everything worked for me on this one. I absolutely loved it. Nothing felt off, and it just felt like what I want the show to feel like.


For anyone complaining that they are doing a Lost parody late, did you not actually watch? It was a parody of people getting obsessed wih the dvds. There are even multiple jokes about how its a show that ended 5 years ago...

[MagicalManFromHappyLand]

Probably about a 3.5/5, which puts it at third best of the season. The issue for me was that Shauna was so much older, but at least they acknowledged that she had problems (The only guy who can tell her who she is a creepy older guy).
So there were issues, but it probably had the fewest issues of any episode this season. I thought everything immediately after the second ad break was funny, the highlight of the episode for me.
Homer's story was pretty good too, and they got straight into the story, and there was some decent parody in there (not quite satire, but parody).

3.5/5 rounded up to a 4/5 for the poll.

[J Dog]

It looked to be well-written (a lot more effort was put into the b-story than I thought, which I believed was just going to be "Homer runs on a treadmill just because there's a TV attached to it"), and thankfully, it was an episode that wasn't guest star-reliable. However, it still has those Al Jean nuances, such as him not giving a rat's you-know-what about most fans anymore (the chalkboard gag and the "universal pan" gags contradicting one another), and the tiring stuff. But, I can't really give a full review, because I didn't see the whole episode.

Speaking of which, does anyone have frames of some of those jokes from that ending. I may have missed one or two.

[The Governor]

DEAR GOD STOP IT! There is no such thing as Zombie Simpsons!!!
Stop being a humorless ****.

Things that are humorless receive four stars? No wonder you love Zombie Simpsons.

[Zombies Rise from the Sea]

Beware My Cheating Bart

At last, the episode from a well known freelancer known for several skits has finally arrived; and it's as mediocre as I expected it to be. Before the episode even aired, there was a reddit q&a regarding the writer and most of it related to what he had written. That's not to say that what he written might of been good before he either decided to give into peer pressure and modify the episode or the episode he written was never that good but those answers surely tempted you with promise because it gave you hope that the episode would be good.

Unfortunately it's main premise (Bart dating yet another girl, except this time she's Jimbo's girlfriend.) is muddled in mediocrity. Part of the problem is that there isn't any true exploration between Bart and the Girl; in order for one to connect, one needs to explore into the relationship a bit and convince them that they have a connection; because of that lack of exploration, there's nothing that makes us connect with them, they're just two people, one being a teenage girl and one being someone who is dating that girl except he has dated tons of girls a ton of times. The first act does tempt you with promise that maybe, this episode might be good (because they're not taking the usual route with the relationship and at least Bart is well written) but instead it just fills you with false hope as the episode takes a downward spiral like Flight 815 midway through the episode.

One thought that the episode would revolve around Bart and his knowledge that he is Jimbo's girlfriend; hell, I thought this wouldn't be a relationship episode but it turns out that it is one, complete with scenes which show a relationship. One could imagine how the episode would turned out had Bart tried to get her away from Jimbo and onto another suitable man, that would of shown Bart's feelings for her but not the full blown love that this episode portrayed. This episode attempts to replicate some of the feeling of New Kid on the Block with it's scenes that attempt to have the cuteness and charm that episode had, it mostly succeeds at some points but a lot of points it just feels like a pale imitation except for the fact that they're actually dating and the bullies appear a bit more then usual. (and they're back to their old selves.)

Another part of the problem is that there doesn't seem to be much incentive to care and Jimbo's Girlfiend reflects that all too well... Watching Jimbo's Girlfriend, you'd be inclined to forget her and you'd be mostly right because there is nothing that makes her memorable, nothing. There isn't any personality or charm or even uniqueness, she just exists because they thought the Bart romance thing would be interesting if Jimbo and one of her girlfriends was somehow involved; if they revealed some of her personality and backstory I would care but as it stands, I don't. Another thing that also reflects the apathy is the sudden transitions that lack explanation; for one, first Bart and Jimbo's Girlfriend are in a pool and then Bart is out with no sign of his girlfriend, what happened to her? If they cared, they'd go the extra effort to make sure this stuff is rectified, no matter how minute it is. Another one... the sudden act where they appear in the treehouse enforces this, they could of at least explained it off with a meta joke.

Let's not forget about the boobs thing, It's understandable for a 10 year old to react that way when he sees boobs but Bart's not wholesome, it's not like he hasn't seen boobs before in his life; plus the whole thing doesn't seem as natural or even relatable as you'd expect. So yeah, it starts off mediocre and it ends mediocre.

The other major thing the episode has going for it is it's sideplot, in which Homer gets a tredmill and forgoes exercising for watching a TV show called "Standed". Yes, this is the Lost parody everybody was talking about... the Lost fan inside of me was just dreading this day. It was interesting to see how the parody would go since the series has ended and nobody has attempt to parody the entire series before (all 6 seasons have parody worthy moments.) so surely The Simpsons could be able to do it right? You already know the question, watching this is like the animated equivalent of this.


Babar fans, message me with the moment similar to the one shown and you could win a Babar: Season 1 DVD.
The parody turns out to be like every other parody of Lost out there; mysterious island, weird stuff happening, mysteries, confusion... They don't make any attempt to go further, not parodying the supposed deepness of the series or the relationships or the culture or or even the hatch (which every parody since the dawn of time has done, it's one of the most identifiable things of the show.); all they parody is something that anybody's grandma could do. You think that them being the Simpsons and all they would be able to get all 6 seasons of Lost, hell; they would at least have someone who has watched all 6 seasons or have done the research regarding Lost. Watching this episode just makes the Lostie inside of me mad, hulk mad even... There are a lot of things that need to be noted.

• Time Travel was never that complex; Whatever Happened, Happened.
• The island is a TV show? Wow, what an original joke...
• A kitty cat in a coconut with the flight number... (which is 815, they didn't bother to change it ) Even Lost didn't go to that extreme.
• An attempt to theme the show around cats and use the alien language is weak, just enforces that you both don't know how to make something special and you don't know about Lost.
• Everybody looks exactly like their Lost selves, they don't even parody their personalities.
• I hope it pays off. I know about "The End" too brotha, some liked it and some didn't but doesn't mean you get a free pass to make an obvious comment about it.
• The way Lisa suddenly appears with information (she seems to do that alot, anybody wanna make a meta comment about that.) about the show harms the plot; plus Lost was super popular during it's 2nd and 4th seasons, not just the first and last ones.
• If you're watching this episode in 2015, it's accurate.
• Where's DHARMA?

There was an Arthur episode called "Brain Gets Hooked" that parodied Lost. It had a better name ("Junior Island"), it parodied the soap opera relationships, it had a Swan-like station, it even referenced the inconsistencies and how addictive the show is. In the Arthur episode, Brain is the actual representation of a Lost fan while in The Simpsons episode, Homer is just a caricature holding a notebook while doing something like holding a meeting at the end. It's pathetic when an Arthur episode manages to parody the subject well, thoroughly and in a way that actually makes it seem like they watched Lost; it is.

Do you notice the Lost stars that I have? I am a Lost fan and I know that I shouldn't get mad at these parodies but this is just an insult to Lost. I have watched Lost, all 6 seasons. I watched as they built the raft and Locke tried to blow up the hatch. I watched as Desmond tried to fix the Swan computer. I watched as Locke threw those eggs, I even watched as they time traveled back in time; I know the characters, I know the stuff and I know the little "inside jokes" they leave us, to insult ones show with a shoddy parody is the ultimate insult of all; we have more then just weirdness and mystery you know, we have a culture, we have characters, we have a show with tons of subtext, if you can't parody that then it proves that you shouldn't be making parodies anymore! I'm guessing Damon Lindoff and Carlton Cuse are in their rooms thinking of a way to parody their own show as we speak.

The shitty Lost parody sets up what appears to be yet another Homer and Marge marriage crisis subplot; with Homer ignoring his wife and Marge yelling at Homer. There isn't anything special about this, well maybe the start with the exercising machine (who's presentation seems unusually flashy), how much Homer gets obsessed on the show and the meeting but those don't seem to add much to the proceedings; there is nothing to make this subplot interesting, it's just the usual Homer and Marge marrige plot. It's almost ironic really since I wrote a lot more words talking about the Lost parody then I did the subplot.

At the end of the day, the freelance writer couldn't step up to the task of writing a really amazing Simpsons episode. His intentions are noble but what we end up with are the results of blandness and mediocrity, the Bart & Jimbo's Girlfirned ends up being just that, Bart & Jimbo's Girlfriend and the Homer & Marge supblot is one of the worst the show has ever done, if mainly for it's piss-poor Lost parody. This episode had potential, hell the writer of the episode had some interesting ideas (like the one where he written Ralph into mostly every scene despite his overrated appeal in today's times.) but it's all wasted and it leaves us scratching our head, thinking what the hell happened?

5.0/10

Unanswered Questions:

• What goes on in the writing room, what do they do in relation to the scripts?
• How much of the original script is really kept?
• Is there a sickness among the writers, is the sickness even real?
• Where did their enthusiasm go?