The Simpsons - General Discussion

[TVSpectator]

That seems really out of character for Marge from what we've seen in previous episode flashbacks -- and I don't see her growing weed with kids in the house until Maggie arrived..

 

I don't know if it's too out of character. Yes, she is now an uptight housewife who (in the recent seasons) has been constantly getting mad at her husband (for what seems most of the time to be that over either little things or just things she has made up, but I will give Marge this... in the beginning, the roles were reversed and she did have legit reasons to be mad at Homer, back then of course), but we have been shown that Homer and Marge do have sort of a hippy/yippy/stoner vibe to them, at least in their flashbacks. So, in my humble opinion, I guess it won't be too far fetch to imagine Marge growing and smoking weed, at least before Maggie came. 

Edited April 27, 2015 by TVSpectator

[Kaboom 2.0]

I actually aw'd at how damn cute all of the kids looked six years ago, the bullies were downright adorable! Even Milhouse was cute.

 

I had two legitimate lol moments: Homer stopping on every bad thing that's happened to him in the Game of Life couch gag, and pausing on the citation that Homer removes from his jacket to see "indecent snowman building" with coal boobs and carrot wang. Never change, Springfield, never change.

[JTMacc99]

Homer's reactions to the items he pulled out of the jacket were all pretty good. I especially liked the "What the?!" to the second Selma wedding thing (was it to Disco Stu?, I don't remember.)

[AntiBeeSpray]

Finally saw this episode! Really liked it :). It was nice seeing Maude in it. And Marge's weed comment, XD.

[Galileo908]

Grampa has a hot flash - no, wait, that's a flashback to his days in the Air Force; to impress a girl, Bart takes up smoking

 

[Galileo908]

Penguin couch gag was great. And of course Homer is a walrus that eats them.

 

This week: Homer wages war on overblown birthday parties. Now go ruin Sweet Sixteens.

 

"Jeez kids, no more birthdays. You're gonna stay the same ages for the rest of your lives."

 

Speaking of meta jokes, here's Clarice van Houten from Game of Thrones as Milhouse's cousin. I groaned that Bart was talked into doing the cliche "run through the airport" gesture, but I liked that Annika saw through the cliche. I wish we saw more bits with Bart & Annika, he seemed to turn on her like a dime even if we knew their relationship wasn't going to work at all. Also don't know how I feel that we finally have confirmation that Milhouse's parents are cousins. (Back in "Lemon of Troy," Luann is said to be from Shelbyville. Where they marry their cousins.)

 

We also now know how Abe met Mona: Through a dumb, grand gesture. Makes lots of sense that she would fall for that, and totally believable that she would leave him just as easily.

 

Loved how Homer listing all the dystopian movies lasted through the whole movie (and 20 minutes), complete with name checking Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play. Old McBain WOULD be in the Simpsons' version of The Expendables.

 

The subplot with Grampa was allright until the old guys pulled guns on Homer just because, and that's when that one got really dumb. Especially since it's not brought up again.

Edited May 4, 2015 by Galileo908

[opus]

It's actually Carice, not Clarice.

And as for the ep, I was kinda bored.

Edited May 4, 2015 by GaryE

[Kaboom 2.0]

I was bored too. I'm actually surprised that we saw (animated) kids smoking e-cigarettes, wasn't there some networks censor rule about not showing minors actually putting a cig/e-cig in their mouth and inhaling? Or am I thinking of something else?

[readster]

I got a kick out of Lisa calling grandpa out on all his various military duties but yes, it was a boring episode. So, Rod wants to grow up and marry his father. Wow! 

[ottoDbusdriver]

And as for the ep, I was kinda bored.

 

I was bored too. I'm actually surprised that we saw (animated) kids smoking e-cigarettes, wasn't there some networks censor rule about not showing minors actually putting a cig/e-cig in their mouth and inhaling? Or am I thinking of something else?

 

It was boring. And you have to be 18 to buy e-cigs in the Netherlands, and I don't think they were portraying Annika as much more than 14 but certainly not 18. And considering that Bart is supposed to be 10, a extremely mature 14 year old wouldn't have anything to do with a 10 year old.  They've been down this road before with Bart and older girls, and it never really seems to work as the story of the week, because Bart is 10.

 

Gotta say I was a little creeped out by Rod Flanders' birthday wish.

 

Loved how Homer listing all the dystopian movies lasted through the whole movie (and 20 minutes), complete with name checking Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play. Old McBain WOULD be in the Simpsons' version of The Expendables.

 

That was pretty funny with the list of apocalyptic movies -- there have been so many.  And I liked old McBain in The Exhaustibles.  Those were about the only two things that made me chuckle.

Edited May 4, 2015 by ottoDbusdriver

[Kaboom 2.0]

Ya know, I'll add something else that I liked about this episode: when Bart went to the Kwik E Mart to buy Annika more e-cigs one of the video games in the background is Marbury vs Madison. WTF is that, I thought, and quickly Googled it. I spent about fifteen minutes reading about this landmark Supreme Court case before I stopped and wondered just who in the hell on the Simpsons writing staff thought to add that reference to this ep. Bravo! :-D

[ottoDbusdriver]

Ya know, I'll add something else that I liked about this episode: when Bart went to the Kwik E Mart to buy Annika more e-cigs one of the video games in the background is Marbury vs Madison. WTF is that, I thought, and quickly Googled it. I spent about fifteen minutes reading about this landmark Supreme Court case before I stopped and wondered just who in the hell on the Simpsons writing staff thought to add that reference to this ep. Bravo! :-D

 

Complete with the statue of Lady Justice in the background.  I completely missed that.

[MadyGirl1987]

We have renewal; two more years.

http://www.ew.com/article/2015/05/04/simpsons-renewed-for-two-seasons

[opus]

Lets be honest. The world could explode, and the Simpsons would still be renewed.

[TVSpectator]

 

 

10 Times The Simpsons Predicted the Future

http://www.oddee.com/item_99298.aspx?utm

 

That list wasn't bad (and I knew about them before reading it), but I found another list that has a few other theories, right here (your list really didn't mentioned about the donut shape universe but I didn't know about (although, didn't hear about 1,3,4,7,8,9,10,& 11 till I read the article and in my opinion some of them I don't fully agree with; like #9)  :

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/08/the-simpsons-inspired_n_5703461.html

 

 

We have renewal; two more years.

http://www.ew.com/article/2015/05/04/simpsons-renewed-for-two-seasons

 

Yes, two more seasons of the Simpsons!

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/08/the-simpsons-inspired_n_5703461.html

[ottoDbusdriver]

We have renewal; two more years.

http://www.ew.com/ar...for-two-seasons

 

Let's just hope that the writing improves from the last dozen or so episodes which have been pretty lacklustre at best compared to previous seasons

[Iboatedhere]

Homer: I dance, I dance, I dance, Around a Mexican hat. I dance, I dance, I dance, and that's the end of that. Or is it I guess I'll keep singing,my cellphone appears to be ringing...........

[Spartan Girl]

Somehow, I doubt that's going to happen.

[Galileo908]

Homer is arrested for bullying Ned, thanks to a new anti-bullying law spearheaded by Marge after Bart gets bullied at a school dance

 

Albert Brooks is also showing up.

[Galileo908]

Ha, the school dance was called "Let's Do It in The Gym!" I also loved the banner for it, "Awkward memories begin here!"

 

The entire episode should've been that parody of the Soul Train opening. The show always goes over the top for drug trips. The bit at the end was great. Didn't expect a Magic School Bus cameo in a Soul Train bit, but dammit it worked so well!

 

Bart gained and lost that fifth grade girl in a span of a few minutes. It's a shame the writers mostly make new characters pretty flat, we knew nothing about her to even care. Not even her name! We only knew that she was in the fifth grade, and left Bart when he couldn't stand up to bullies. That's it. She wasn't even voiced by a guest star, just Pamela Hayden.

 

Why am I not surprised that both Homer and Wiggum would take full advantage of the anti-bully law? Anyone that annoyed them, boom, jail.

 

Albert Brooks, once again, was amazing. "Oh, why didn't I include remorse?!"

 

I loved how Flanders' version of a mimosa was a touch of sparkling water in a glass of regular water.

[ottoDbusdriver]

How come Homer was the only one to come out a 'hero' from the bully rehab ?  Grand Marshal for Life -- seriously ?  Signing headshots ? None of the other attendees seemed to have earned that title.

 

Are there still war vets just now returning from Iraq ?  Because that just seemed weird.  

 

Were the writers watching Seinfeld while writing this ? Because Flanders was pretty much pulling a George Costanza from the 'The Apology' episode of Seinfeld (not getting the sorry that he wanted).

 

What was the point of having Fat Tony in the episode if he was barely used ?

 

The entire episode should've been that parody of the Soul Train opening. The show always goes over the top for drug trips. The bit at the end was great. Didn't expect a Magic School Bus cameo in a Soul Train bit, but dammit it worked so well!

 

Both bits were well done -- of course, I have to say that since it involved my namesake. :)

 

The puberty demon visiting Bart seemed out of place since he was enamored with Milhouse's cousin just last episode, who was much older than him -- and he didn't show up then.  

 

Plus it seemed to be Xmas (what with the sledding and candy canes) -- was this an old unaired episode they were just using up ?

 

ETA:  Checked the production code at the end and this was a newly produced episode (TABF15), but why did it seem to be around Xmas ?

Edited May 11, 2015 by ottoDbusdriver

[radishcake]

When a modernized Springfield Elementary has a technical meltdown, Lisa transforms it into a Waldorf school. Meanwhile, Groundskeeper Willie becomes the coach of the mathletes.

 

[Kaboom 2.0]

I thought the best part was the Soul Train parody. The school dance poster, "let's do it in the gym!," was the second best part.

Everything else was just so boring. At least we actually saw the Flanderses' new dog again, I thought for sure we would never see her again.

[honeywest]

Lionel Hutz: "I've argued in front of every judge in this state--often as a lawyer!"

[honeywest]

Maitre d': "Please don't smoke in our restaurant! We don't serve contemporary California cuisine in your lungs!"

[JTMacc99]

Well, I thought it was fine. Albert Brooks is great in all of the characters he does for The Simpsons.

 

And if anything, we got a top notch exchange between Homer and Bart that would have been at home in any episode from any season (and I'll go back and watch again to get this exactly right):

 

Homer: "Oh, you'll have to go to all sorts of awful events, dances, shopping, your own wedding, just to get the attention of girls."

 

Followed up by the "No more Barts" song.

[VCRTracking]

Well this blows:

https://www.yahoo.com/tv/harry-shearer-leaving-the-simpsons-118927090880.html

[JocelynCavanaugh]

No more Ned Flanders, Principal Skinner, Mr. Burns, Kent Brockman, Rainer Wolfcastle, Smithers, Dr. Hibbert, Lenny...

I'm not part of the "Simpsons sucked after season 8" crowd at all, and I think they've had some really strong episodes the past few years, but I don't see how they'll stay interesting after this. Flanders and Skinner are two of my favorite characters.

[Kel Varnsen]

No more Ned Flanders, Principal Skinner, Mr. Burns, Kent Brockman, Rainer Wolfcastle, Smithers, Dr. Hibbert, Lenny...

I'm not part of the "Simpsons sucked after season 8" crowd at all, and I think they've had some really strong episodes the past few years, but I don't see how they'll stay interesting after this. Flanders and Skinner are two of my favorite characters.

So I am wondering if they would recast or not? I mean so many other classic animated characters are no longer voiced by their original voice actors (Bugs Bunny, Mickey Mouse, Fred Flintstone etc). Sure in many cases the voice actors dies, but why would Ned Flanders be any different. Someone on another site I go to was wondering what Billy West's Flanders voice sounds like. 

 

Then again after 573 episodes Flanders, Skinner and Burns have probably said every word in the English language. How hard would it be to just edit/reuse old recording?

[ottoDbusdriver]

No more Ned Flanders, Principal Skinner, Mr. Burns, Kent Brockman, Rainer Wolfcastle, Smithers, Dr. Hibbert, Lenny...

I'm not part of the "Simpsons sucked after season 8" crowd at all, and I think they've had some really strong episodes the past few years, but I don't see how they'll stay interesting after this. Flanders and Skinner are two of my favorite characters.

 

That's going to be a tough hole to fill with just one person that do all those voices.  It wouldn't surprise me if they have to hire multiple people to replace him and will end up costing more money than Harry Shearer wanted.  Harry Shearer is really talented much like Dan Castellaneta and Hank Azaria (especially after you consider that Yeardley Smith does exactly one voice -- Lisa) that on a per character voice they are getting him pretty cheap.  Other notable characters Harry does are Otto the Bus Driver and Rev. Lovejoy.

 

The part I don't understand is that the company that produces the Simpsons makes ridiculous amounts of money from syndication, streaming and merchandising (especially from merchandising).  It's on umpteen times a day in reruns on various channels and has been translated into tons of languages in other countries, and yet this isn't the first time they've tried to strongarm the voice talent to work for less.

 

Sure the show isn't as popular as it once was, but even if the new shows only break even but when you include all the other revenue sources this show taps into it's going to continue making money for a long, long time well after its over.  

[JocelynCavanaugh]

That's going to be a tough hole to fill with just one person that do all those voices. It wouldn't surprise me if they have to hire multiple people to replace him and will end up costing more money than Harry Shearer wanted. ... Other notable characters Harry does are Otto the Bus Driver and Rev. Lovejoy.

Good points -- plus, with a show this long-running, and his voices so well known, I don't think substitute voices would sit well with viewers. Frankly, I'm still not over Dick Sergeant as Darrin, and that happened before I was born!

Can't believe I forgot Otto and Rev. Lovejoy! Also pretty important characters.

[ottoDbusdriver]

When Phil Hartman died, they opted to simply not use the characters he voiced since they were mostly secondary characters -- though I really miss Lionel Hutz --  but there's no way they can do that with Harry's departure.

 

I found it Interesting that while reading other articles about Harry's departure one of the reasons cited that he didn't sign his new contract was over profit sharing and merchandising (because it is so darn lucrative for this show).

[JTMacc99]

I think some of the characters can be recast. I also think they can do lots of good things with the show if they wanted to bring in a new voice actor and mess around a little bit with the basic make up of the town.  Maybe it's not terrible for the show to kill off Burns (and of course bury Smithers with him) for seasons 27 and 28.  Just ask Albert Brooks to be Hank Scorpio, the new plant owner for a half dozen episodes when needed, and I would be fine.

 

It surprises me 0.0% that it was Harry Shearer who bailed on the show before it was over.  But that's okay. He is who he is. And he entertained the hell out of me for 26 years. I hope that he finds what he is looking for now that he is free from this responsibility.

[M. Darcy]

They are going to recast the voices http://www.avclub.com/article/harry-shearer-may-have-just-tweeted-hes-leaving-si-219425?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_campaign=Default:1:Default

[AntiBeeSpray]

That's a bummer :(. They can recast, but it won't be the same.

[Blakeston]

I think there will be a noticeable difference in how his characters sound.

There are lots of people out there who can do a good impression of how Harry Shearer delivered some lines as Mr. Burns, for example, but that doesn't mean that they'll be able to take new dialogue and make it sound just like Harry did. And it's unlikely they'll have his comic timing, or acting ability.

[AntiBeeSpray]

I think there will be a noticeable difference in how his characters sound.

There are lots of people out there who can do a good impression of how Harry Shearer delivered some lines as Mr. Burns, for example, but that doesn't mean that they'll be able to take new dialogue and make it sound just like Harry did. And it's unlikely they'll have his comic timing, or acting ability.

 

Exactly. You hit the nail on the head.

 

I'm probably not even bothering to watch any of the new episodes to be honest.

[Kel Varnsen]

There are lots of people out there who can do a good impression of how Harry Shearer delivered some lines as Mr. Burns, for example, but that doesn't mean that they'll be able to take new dialogue and make it sound just like Harry did. And it's unlikely they'll have his comic timing, or acting ability.

I am not so sure about that. Of course there are probably 1000's of people out there who can say excellent and sound just like Burns. But forgetting about those people there are also a lot of truly talented voice actors out there, who like you sort of described are more than just impressionists. Last year I watched a documentary on Voice Actors on netflix, and I am sure there are a few people that appeared on that who could handle playing Mr. Burns or Flanders.

[ottoDbusdriver]

I am not so sure about that. Of course there are probably 1000's of people out there who can say excellent and sound just like Burns. But forgetting about those people there are also a lot of truly talented voice actors out there, who like you sort of described are more than just impressionists. Last year I watched a documentary on Voice Actors on netflix, and I am sure there are a few people that appeared on that who could handle playing Mr. Burns or Flanders.

 

That's the thing -- maybe a replacement voice actor could do one or two of the voices that Harry Shearer did, but I doubt they could do all of them.  So they're going to have to pay multiple actors to replace him.

[ottoDbusdriver]

They've release the details of the deal that Harry turned down -- $14 million for 2 seasons works out to about a little under $320K per episode (based on a 22 episode season).  Which is basically the same that they were getting since 2011, which is still 30% less than what they were making per episode in 2010.

 

So in 2011 they made all the voice actors take a 30% pay cut and here it is 4 years later and no significant increase even though the show is still successful (and apparently profitable).

 

Just saw a post on Twitter that confirmed that Harry Shearer voices 23 characters on the Simpsons, some major, some minor, but that's a lot of shoes to fill.

[Spartan Girl]

Honestly, I think this is a sign that the show needs to be put out to pasture.  Harry Shearer voices too many characters.  Is it really worth recasting so many popular characters just to keep on a show that's been declining for years?

[AntiBeeSpray]

James L. Brooks has tweeted that they still want to work things out:

 

http://www.avclub.com/article/james-l-brooks-still-wants-work-things-out-harry-s-219437

 

One point made in I Know That Voice is that voice acting is not simply a matter of being able to mimic well-known catch phrases; these performers are truly acting all of their dialogue in character (and sometimes multiple characters) and it is not a matter of simply finding someone else who can 'sound' like them in one or two lines. They have to be able to completely embody the character they're playing, same as any 'regular' actor would have to do.

 

Hope it works out.

 

Exactly.

[Iboatedhere]

I hope it all works out. What's Carl going to do without Lenny?

[beadgirl]

Once I heard Shearer was leaving, I knew they'd recast rather than get rid of so many major characters.  But the idea of killing off Mr. Burns and having Scorpio run the plant is really intriguing -- I like the idea of the workers having to deal with a "friendly," "cool" albeit evil boss.  And Mr. Smithers could spend his time hating Scorpio and trying ineffectively to ruin him.  Springfielders focusing on Scorpio's petty good deeds and ignoring is global crimes could also be fun.

 

The truth is, though, I can't imagine how this show is going to be without Shearer, and maybe it really is time to end it.

[AntiBeeSpray]

Holy cow.

 

A member over on a Star Trek forum posted this originally... best voice over person ever. Sounds just like a lot of the characters. Hope Fox can get him if they're not able to resign Shearer.

[honeywest]

Homer: "Lisa! In this house we obey the laws of thermodynamics!"

[Galileo908]

Featuring this amazing Rick and Morty couch gag.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ecYoSvGO60

[Galileo908]

So yeah, I must've watched that couch gag about 10 times over the weekend and it still remains amazing. Anyone catch the Planet Express Ship, the Brain Slug, and Bobo cameos in addition to the obvious Slurm machine?

 

Anyways, it's about time the show tackled Mathletes. It was so good to see the nerds again! And they're successful! I actually liked that they wore different outfits every time we saw them.

 

If you're wondering about the math joke at the beginning, the solution was "i 8 sum pi."

 

Well, it's not Bart's fault that he's not good at math oh wait it is. I do like how Bart won because he knew Homer's hair is an M.

 

All in all, I thought this was a fairly good episode!

[opus]

So yeah, I must've watched that couch gag about 10 times over the weekend and it still remains amazing. Anyone catch the Planet Express Ship, the Brain Slug, and Bobo cameos in addition to the obvious Slurm machine?

 

 

All in all, I thought this was a fairly good episode!

Agree on the review, but I didn't know who the couch gag was till the mid show commercial.

[Galileo908]

Man, I wonder how many people tonight were exposed to Rick and Morty for the first time because of this?