Lazlo

I'm glad I'm not the only one who felt the film lacked real bite. I do understand that attitudes have changed since 2004. Regina being homophobic in the first movie was meant to show her as callous even at the time, but it was also probably a pretty common attitude among girls her age (to say nothing of wider society - remember back in 2004 60% of Americans opposed same-sex marriage and only 31% were in favour.) Likewise the slut shaming was frankly very widespread and 'accepted'. So I do understand having a 2024 version of Regina spouting the same lines would hit harder, but I do think there was probably some sort of happy medium. I'm also not sure how I feel about a film that went to a lot of effort to diversify the cast erasing Gretchen's Jewishness. That was weird. That said the songs were bangers. I thought Janis was a gigantic hypocrite (also something I felt about her in the original movie) who deserved a lot more criticism for her 'meanness' but even given that her song was amazing.

I kinda liked the episode but I had a feeling the show wouldn't have the nerve to portray Lisa as a villain for the whole run. Then Bart and even Marge joined in and I knew we were headed for a Homer apology at the end even though everyone was horrible to him.

Hopefully it will have encouraged a few people who've never tried it to take a look at the game. I really liked the film but the heart of D&D is always going to be rolling dice with your friends (and then yelling at those dice when they come up the wrong number...)

That was a lot of fun! As someone who has played a lot of D&D (and is still an active gamer) I was probably biased going in but there was plenty of charm and humour there along with some surprising heart that I think even the non-gamers will enjoy. Hugh Grant and Michelle Rodriguez especially looked like they were having a ball with their characters.

I liked the personality and age swapped alternate Bart and Lisa. Actually if felt a bit of a waste to have that as such a brief gag when it could have made an interesting segment in it's own right.

I never knew how badly I needed a Lisa Kudrow voiced Tyrannosaurus rex in my life until I got it. Very fun episode, though as a dino-nerd I'm probably an easy audience for his.

Very sad to see it go. I had some issues with the show and yes the nostalgia was a big draw - I was a fan of the original series as a pre-teen - but it was still pretty fun. At twenty episodes this show just pips The College Years (19 episodes) and more comfortably Good Morning Miss Bliss (13 episodes) but falls far short of the original series (86 episodes plus two TV movies) and The New Class (143 (!) episodes.)

So Garsa Fwip was definitely killed then. What a unbelievable waste of Jennifer Beals and a potentially very interesting character. From the interviews I've read it sounds like Beals put a lot more thought into her character's motivations and backstory than the show did. Actually that gets to one of my major problems with this series. Time and again we hear Boba talk about how Mos Espa is his city and how he can't leave it and so on, but the show did absolutely nothing to establish any of the Mos Espa citizens besides the mod gang (street punks he hired as muscle), Garsa (dead after Boba completely failed to protect her), the mayor's majordomo (cowardly comic relief) and the mayor and other local leaders (who all conspired with the Pykes.) In other words, with the exception of one surviving Twi'lek and a half dozen cyborg ruffians Boba had no relationship with any of the Mos Espans that wasn't cut off by their death (Garsa) or them betraying him. All of his other allies were from offworld or other parts of Tatooine and even then the people of Freetown and Peli were brought in by Din Djarin, not because of any connection to Boba. It's just such a bizarre way to tell a story. I still don't know why Boba wants to be Daimyo and I don't know why the (surviving) people of Mos Espa want him.

Definitely a shock firing this week. I know Franchesca had a bad week but she's been so strong until now I'd have assumed she'd be let off with a warning. I expected her to make interviews if not win this whole thing.

I suspect if they ever did recast Leia Billie Lourd would probably be publicly approached first; even she wasn't interested her 'blessing' would be great PR for whichever actress they did settle on.

Yeah, that has been a real problem for me. It is very hard to read this Lawful Good version of Boba as the same guy he was even as recently as The Mandalorian. Bib Fortuna was obviously not a particularly nice guy but straight up murdering him in cold blood simply to take over his racket seems wildly out of character for the Boba we've been following for the last 6 4 episodes. It is a mind boggling waste not only of a charismatic (and stunning) actress but also a character with a lot of potential - seriously, a mysterious, morally ambiguous Twi'lek ex-slave who runs a 'neutral' cantina on Tatooine. I mean that's a heck of a hook but the show seems to have gone out of it's way to ignore her.

I turned forty this month. For the first time Homer and Marge would have been in my graduating class... which is wow. Speaking of weird aging things why is Marge's mother so ancient looking and sounding? I mean I guess she always has been but I never really noticed it before because we see her so infrequently. If Marge is in her very late thirties to seems a bit unusual to have a mother who seems to be in her eighties.

I think David Schwimmer was maybe the best overall performer on the show, even if Ross the character wasn't always the best written (to be clear I like Ross a lot and think he gets criticised too harshly but I can see why others don't.)

I'm a huge fan of The Third Man and I just sort of naturally assumed that it is so well known and famous that everyone would get the references. I was a little shocked to see how many people on-line seemed completely unfamiliar with it. I suppose that goes to show though. I'm a film buff and I have a nerdy taste for classic era films and in those circles The Third Man has legendary status. I think I might have overestimated how familiar mainstream people are with it these days.

That's one of the problems with writing a character who was originally conceived of as a Baby Boomer (and is still largely written by Boomers) but who is supposed to be nearly the same age in 2021 as she was in 1989. In a couple of seasons Homer and Marge will be Millennials (they are already Xennials) and I'm sure she'll still be a housewife. I have to admit one joke I did enjoy was Bart's "it's somehow still cool" given The Simpsons themselves pointed out only last year (in 'Highway to Well') that legalisation has robbed marijuana of much of it's supposed 'coolness' and that future Bart's business is probably about as hip as if he was marketing vitamins.

Is it just me or is Lois written as noticeably dumber in recent episodes? I mean she's still smarter than Peter (talk about a low bar!) but we seem to get more jokes at her expense these days. "I'm glad you're finally getting your hair cut, Peter. You were starting to look like that Bongo from The Beatles." "You know, I always thought that peanut allergies just went away when you became an adult. You know, like tonsils. Tonsils go away, right? I thought I read that. What are tonsils?"

The show has had a Millennial in the main cast for two decades at this point (the 1983 born Mila Kunis) so I'd expect them to realise they aren't teens and that the oldest Millennials are pushing forty. It's weirder seeing Millennial jokes on The Simpsons, which still uses a 'sliding timescale' but is a bit more realistic. Homer and Marge might have begun as Baby Boomers but they are rapidly entering Millennial territory.

I liked it but there were enough logical flaws to keep me from loving it. Professor Frink was the one who came up with the burgers (which actually makes him the true villain when you think about it) but he disappeared completely after one scene. Also surely making veggie burgers from rare Amazon plants would be ridiculously expensive? Was Mr Burns prepared to lose money on the deal to be liked?

I guess l would have liked some recognition of the fact Marge and Lindsey Naegle actually have quite a lot of history with each other some of antagonistic, some of it less so. You'd think Marge would remember the woman managed her mayoral campaign.

I don't really understand why we were meant to be cheering Marge and Lisa on when they wanted to get the whole club shut down because Marge had an issue with Bart 'sucking up'. Sure the golfers were pretty condescending but they still paid their caddies pretty well, did not otherwise seem to mistreat them and didn't seem to be causing problems generally. If it was a brand new golf course being built over a public park or if they were excluding someone out of pure intolerance then sure, but as it was they seemed to be minding their own business. Even the religion scam was only something they started because Marge was already trying to take them down. What a weird episode.

Just binge watched the show. That was an interesting experience. I liked it mostly and will happily watch a second series but as a fan of the original series there were definitely some rough points and I'd have preferred a less cartoonish version of Zack and Kelly and I hope we get a less dim and shallow Mac (I think in retrospect I'd have gone in a different direction with Zack and Kelly's kid generally.)

By the standards of 2020 Zack and Slater are definitely sexist. By the standards of 1989, especially teen characters, they were sort of normal. Which I think is part of my frustration with the show, even though I mostly like it. Values have changed a lot since the original yes and Mac sucks more not just because the actor isn't as charming or because the show wants to mock him but because Zack fit pretty comfortably in his 1989 zeitgeist while Mac is intentionally ridiculous in 2020.

It could have been funnier but it was genuinely refreshing to reduce the Simpsons themselves to tiny cameos (a first for for the series?)

They also left out Ireland, which in 1947 was still part of the Commonwealth (we left in 1949.)

I think they had a tricky path to walk on Thatcher and the Falklands in this episode and just about managed to do it successfully, showing it both as a propaganda victory that Thatcher readily took advantage of and as a genuinely popular war.