Rate/Review: All's Fair in Oven War (FABF20)

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Thomas Pynchon and James Caan guest voice as themselves as Marge won't let a little thing like "not cheating" prevent her from winning a baking contest; Bart takes up a "swinging bachelor" lifestyle after finding Homer's discarded "Playdude" magazines

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Thread opens once this episode finishes airing on the east coast (red AND blue states). Ow I just accidentally punched my crotch.

The A plot/B plot formula has been sacred to many of the Simpsons best episodes, doubling the chances for laughs and intrigue with two seperate storylines. Although in some cases, such as this one, the B story could do better without the A story, since, well it was just more interesting and funny. The Marge bake-off plot provided a couple laughs, but all in all, is there anyone who couldn't predict the ending? The Lisa angle was at least a nice touch, although she's not one to criticize poisoning others' projects, being guilty of the same treason in "Lisa's Rival". Meanwhile, Bart poisons the minds of Springfield's children spreading Playdude smut. Angles like the parents coming after Homer on the issue, and the kids making sex jokes would have been far better explored in depth. I did like how they got this plot rolling without having Bart even see naked girls in the magazines, since Marge cut them out. The selling scene of the episode winded up being the "facts of life" moment between Bart and Homer, and a nice wrap-up of the storyline, but still, it would have been a good A story.

In terms of laughs, not much fell flat, but there weren't more than a few big laughs throughout the episode. Both of Homer's imagination sequences were entertaining, although the food mascot one was a bit familiar, since we've seen similar stuff with the bears last year in "Fat and the Furriest" or the Kool-Aid man and food icons in "The Way We Weren't", or the Nintendo characters in "Marge Be Not Proud". The ending joke with James Caan was a bit overboard for my tastes, probably being my bottom-of-the-barrel joke for this episode. Speaking of Caan, his guest spot was unnecessary as many cameos are, as well as the return of Thomas Pynchon's.

Overall, with some laughs, no glaring clunkers, a very solid subplot and a mediocre main plot (although both paced very well), this was definately solid, but not truly stand-out.

PS: So.... back to the old kitchen next week?

It was ok not bad but could off been alot better

Episode was pretty solid, but nothing really stood out, and the fact that there were two simultaneous subplots seemed to hurt them both and rush them. Still, there were a few good laughs (the crayon sandwich, the food and cereal mascots), but I think it would have been better if there weren't two subplots. Too much was crammed into it, but some of the laughs made up for some of it.

3/5, B-

Edit: Forgot about the awesome Godfather parody, thanks mcstink.

I thought it was very good. Some good laughs, and two solid plots fused together. godfather parody at the end was awesome. A-

This was pretty damned forgettable, subplot aside. The main plot was predictable, while the subplot was icing on the cake, with tasteful sex jokes. The guest stars were lame, and Homer got annoying at times, first act especially, resorting to "shock" humor, and throwing paint buckets at the contractor. The news headline of Father of Eight Missing was ruined by the second headline. (Can't remember the name) For the positives, the pacing was great, characterizations (sans a few Homer lines) were good, and the endings to the stories were okay. Didn't feel much like a season premiere. B/B-

Well, it was very good. It was a step in the right direction but they still need some work. The best joke was the "two years later" part, because of recent problems my family has been having with landscapers. The Pope joke was funny too.

5/5, I guess.

It was a fun, solid episode. Homer was hilarius, and I loved the Lisa guilt trip stuff. 3/5

A bit of a let down from the great episode last weekend, but still a decent episode.

The bart plot was really great. Him not understanding what he was saying added humor to the sub-plot. The scene with him running to every kid in town telling them what his dad told him was the high point of that plot, and one out of two scenes that actually made me laugh out loud. I didn't really see the point of having a guest star in that episode, since he had no impact on anything and he only stuck mainly in the sub-plot. But overall, I think the sub-plot was better then the main plot.

As for the main plot, it started out kind of slow and the jokes seemed very forced. The building of the kitchen was the only high point of this plot, in my opinion, and even then, it wasn't that good. The scene with all of the food trademarks was the only humorous part of this plot.

The episode gets a 3/5 ranking from me and I hope that is the lowest ranking of the season. I don't want to see anymore episodes with the same dullness level as this one. I also wonder if the kitchen will stay like that or not.

Not that memorable, but not that bad.

B/B-

Overall a solid, if unremarkable episode. It started off a little shaky, with some hit-and-miss humor (Homer treaded a thin line between funny and irritating), but it gradually got better as it went along. I was glad to see that Marge was fairly in-character this time around, with no lame pop culture jokes, and some good lines. Homer was kind of in Captain Wacky mode, but mostly good, and Lisa and Bart were done very well. Lisa's plot was a solid addition to the main plot.

I was worried the subplot would be overridden with sex jokes, but I liked the way it presented itself (with Marge cutting out all the nudes, and having a good reason to do so). It also led up to the best part of the episode, Homer finally telling Bart about the facts of life (as well as his reaction: "Not if you know what he's been doing!"). The guest star bit didn't quite hit its mark as well though (what was the ending a reference to?).

As far as gags go, this was generally funny enough. Some of the better stuff includes the "You must be cooler than this to enter (Milhouse picture)", Agnes being a bit too late for her submission, the breadmaker-maker (worked for me, at least), "It's good that they learned it from me, instead of from their parents when they're old enough", the wet keyhole joke, Luigi's mistranslation line (though they used a similar gag in Burns Verkaufen Der Kraftwerk), and Homer's thought bubbles.

I think the biggest thing that annoyed me was the whole "Two years later" thing, as well as the changed kitchen. Despite it not making much sense in the context of the episode (Bart's still sorting through the Playdude mags two years later??), I don't like when major changes happen in an episode for the sake of a single gag that you know will be reverted by next week. And Homer's "100,000 dollars!" line didn't help matters.

Overall, a solid effort, though I'm not sure why it was chosen as the premire.

4/5 B

Funny, but spotty. Didn't like Homer's "Now I'm going to do the exact same thing!" and of all the one-episode characters to bring back, Angelo from Large Marge?

As I'm sure will be a recurring theme, the subplot was definitely better than the main. The naivete of the children was charming and funny. ("I hope it's in Omaha, my Grammy lives there!") James Caan was used well. And the Apu bits were a nice touch.

Overall: 3/5

P.S. At the end, where Marge says "BFD," was I (not) hearing things? Did Fox muffle out the "F?"

A very good episode. It moved along very speedily. It was filled to the brim with jokes, with very few poor gags. The plot was fresh with great characterization.

The only (very minor) problem was the light-hearted attitude towards continuity (Apu leaving the country, the Powers' moving, Marge's new kitchen), but that didn't detract from the episode.

Very nice work. If only the rest of the season could be this good.


4.5/5

Really great episode 1st half soo sososooo soooo funny.......
But, those dessert dogs looked really good

Funniest Line:
Homer: please excuse us Milton
Milhouse: its milhouse
Homer: yeah and your dad is no house LOLLOOLLOOLO

best episode in a while i thought the ending was going to suck but then bam. you can't beat Senseless Killings.

But as noted in another thread the guest stars had no big part which is great


i voted 4/5 :mexican:

ur link doesent work and i voted 4/5 because i thought it was good but could be better good jokes tho hehehehehehehehhehe

This is a marked improvement over last week's episode. The main plot was an average if somewhat forgettable outing. It contained a few horrible jokes (Mrs. Skinner's wig, wet paint on the keyhole), but was good enough.

The subplot was the best part of the episode. I thought that it was very funny and well executed. The ending of it was especially funny. It was great to see Bart be more of a ten year old than he was in a lot of episodes.

James Cann's guest spot reminded me more of the classic era spots, unneeded but funny. Both in the treehouse and at the tollbooth, he provided near constant laughs.

Rather bland, but still amusing. The sub-plot was great stuff, no jokes missed the mark (and they played Miles Davis!) The A plot was meh. No really good jokes and a weak conflict. Favorite jokes: "Four Nude in Ohio", "then we can have orgys-whatever they are", Homer's thought bubbles, and The Godfather parody. Liked the Apu bit also. Notice none of these come from the main plot. I give it a B

Blah!!!!!
2/5
I am deeply saddened to make my long awaited return to this. I am somewhat appaled at the lack of laugh out loud funny jokes. The only time I laughed real hard was during the Godfather Parody at the end. Outside of that it was kid stuff gags. God it feels good to be back.

Great couch gag, all downhill from there.

I loved all the Marge eps last year but this one just fell flat. The only parts of her plot i loved were "feeding the family on 12 dollars a week" and her evil laugh. The ending was terrible. I was expecting Lisa to be even more angry with Marge like "I didn't want you to admit, just not cheat anymore!"

Bart's story was great. It was very funny introduction (with the playdude mags) and some great vocabulary by Bart in the second act, the ending was great too.

Marge's new kitchen? Steve Barnes... all things that will dissapear next week. I don't mind them doing something crazy like that, but at least resolve it.

A few of my friends came over the second act. They had no idea what was going on, or who James Cann was. And they spent most of the act still developing Marge's story. So it was a very uncomfortable 5 minutes of no laughing. Cann's "Training Day" ending was horrible, but i guess there was no good way out of this ep.

We knew going in this ep wouldn't be so hot, so eh oh well. I'm so glad the episode i am looking forward to the most is next week! So 2/5 this ep, bring on next week!

Originally Posted by That Jerk

Cann's "Training Day" ending was horrible, but i guess there was no good way out of this ep.

I thought it was a Godfather Parody, when one of the sons gets killed at the toll both.

Overall and Ok episode, although compared to last weeks episode, this one was a little more of a let down. The bake off plot was definently the low part of the episode especially when Marge poisons everybody's entry's, to me that seemed a little predictable that Marge was going to cheat to win. The Playdude subplot also seemed like a let down unitll the end when Homer Finally has the talk with Bart. Definently the high point of the episode. I give this episode a 3/5 or B-/C+. The whole episode just didn't seem to pick up until the last five minutes or so. But the part at the end when Cletus has all his hillbilly friends ambush James Caan at the end was hillarious.

Originally Posted by Mayor Quimby

I thought it was a Godfather Parody, when one of the sons gets killed at the toll both.

It was the Godfather parody, as Caan's character, Sonny is killed at a tollbooth in kinda the same way.

Whoever said it was a Training Day parody... I want your head on my desk by Monday morning.

Anyways, up and down episode, hurt mainly because I still have yet to find evidence that Marge can ever carry a plot well. Bart sub-plot was nice, though. So in the end, half funny half not, plot non-descript, everything else forgettable... low Bs most likely.

I gave it a 4/5. I thought it was truly funny, nobody was out of character, it did not feel rushed to me, and there were some genuinely sweet moments. This was just a quality episode all in all. However, there were some down times, most notably Thomas Pynchon's appearance where I didn't really understand his joke(s). That might be more because of my ineptitude, but it still took away. I thought the Marge evil laugh went a bit too long as well, but that's only a minor nitpick.

Anyways, this was a good episode, but definitely not great.

Maddog.

1/5. It looks like I might be alone on this one though. I personally love Marge and Lisa episodes, but so much of this fell flat for me. It really felt like a Family Guy episode, as it was really wacky and zany and most of the laughs came from sight gags. Bart's story was somewhat interesting, but it really felt like they took something they would just do a quick cutaway to in an earlier season, and extended it to an entire b-plot. To top everything off, the guest stars were pointless and seemed to be there just for the enjoyment of the writers. And Mrs. K is back to being a slut again. Guh.

Best joke- Lisa's card
Worst joke- Tollbooth scene with a one-liner straight out of Vaudeville

As someone who has seen Training Day and not The Godfather, it seems like a logical statement to make. Anyways, sorry for not expecting Simpsons to parody The Godfather for the record 300th time. Despite what movie it was, it was a pretty terrible scene to go out on.

After several years of movie/rock stars, long-lost returning characters, and other higher key plotlines dominating the season premieres, this episode brings a lower-key sensibility to the premiere. While it was generally solid, I'd have to say it left me yearning a bit for a more fantastic plot like last year's.

Biggest problem here was definitely the main plot, and specifically just that it wasn't particularly interesting. It was predictable the whole way through, and didn't seem to work on any emotional or "sweetness" level as some parts of it seemed intended to do. Although I'd love to see a really good Marge and Lisa-centered plot someday, this one wasn't particularly engaging. Marge's little speech about how she "needs this" (to win the contest) seemed to be going in the right direction, and perhaps further emphasizing her feelings of being unappreciated would have made the plot more interesting, but alas, no dice here.

With all that said though, this episode was enjoyable enough based on just the humor of it. The main plot still provided enough laughs to be enjoyable, from the "Caution: Wet Keyhole Paint" sign, to Moe's plans for "making his move" when he and Marge are both in hell. Further, the subplot was actually very clever and funny throughout, providing no dull moments (despite a somewhat unneeded guest spot in James Caan) and plenty of highlights, from the "facts of life" scene to the apparent joke about an octopus and a bagpipe. The ending with Caan could have been better, but then I can't really judge it as I've never seen "The Godfather".

A generally solid if somewhat uninspiring showing, and definitely an odd choice for the official season premiere. The subplot is particularly fun, but it is sort of telling when the "Treehouse of Horror" (for so many years now a weaker spot of Simpsons seasons) from last week was better.
B-

The episode was pretty good for a Marge episode ,more time should have been given for Bart though.

i'd have to say 4/5. i liked the idea of the cooking competition, but if homer had been involved more it could have been much funnier. one very good part was homer doing the plaster in the kitchen. you could tell it was coming since the camera was so narrow, but it was funny anyways. i also thought homer's talk with bart was funny, and how he zinged mr. van houten. the only things that held this episode back were the jokes that simply weren't funny, as Homer Jay said. homer saying "now to do the same thing again" was worn out long ago when he was up on the telephone pole trying to do the wiring. ("lets try the red one again!")

Anyone else notice the bust boy from Large Marge who "Likesa to chew" now is an assistant contractor who "Likesa to kiss"?