Like the Sideshow Bob episode, this one has a couple of okay moments, but it isn’t nearly enough to overcome Homer’s overwhelming stupidity, way too much Comic Book Guy doing things that he’d never do, painfully slow dialogue, and scenes that drag on far too long. The hell of it is, this one actually has a serviceable plot in that the only thing you really need to overlook is a couple of ten year olds (that Comic Book Guy clearly hates) running the store. That’s one of the least ludicrous conceits in all of Season 12. It even almost has an ending, albeit one that relies on the usual wild plot twists. But it’s still thin like two day old gruel because there just isn’t much going on here, you can feel scenes like Homer’s baking soda trip, the Tom Savini part, and Comic Book Guy’s various freakouts whiling away the seconds.
Nine guys on this commentary, including Azaria.
1:20 – Discussion of “I Love You Beth Cooper”. I have no opinion on the book or the movie except to say that the movie looked awful.
1:55 – Long discussion of an alternate title for this episode.
2:45 – Apparently, in the before time, Conan O’Brien licked a caramel that had been stuck on the ceiling on a dare. Doesn’t surprise me.
3:30 – Everyone gets busy congratulating Azaria on an Emmy for about a minute and a half here.
5:30 – Making fun of Gallagher.
6:00 – Uproarious laughter at the newspaper “The Daily Setup” because they didn’t know how to start the story.
6:30 – Describing who Tom Savini is, followed by long silence.
7:30 – Remembering the history of Comic Book Guy and when he got started.
7:45 – Comic Book Guy’s voice is based off a guy Azaria knew in college. Enh, this goes on for a long time.
9:30 – Talking about Hibbert and the idiotic setup: “Remember when he was a good doctor?” I sure do. No one else seems to. “He’s managed not to turn incredibly stupid or gay yet.” I am going to keep pointing this out until my fingers rot off: they are aware how bad the show’s gotten, they don’t care.
9:45 – Referring to the list Comic Book Guy leaves for Bart & Milhouse, “When I watched this last night I didn’t get this joke.” That’s okay, neither did anyone else.
10:30 – Okay, this is actually funny. Someone loves the line Ralph says when he goes into the adult section, “Everybody’s hugging!” It’s one of the better ones in the episode, though it seems like it’d be hard to screw up “Ralph + porn”. But it was originally supposed to be “She’s hungry!” That would’ve been hilarious and most of them seem to agree.
12:15 – Discussing the technical accuracy of the Klingon phrase.
13:00 – Mostly silence, bit of giggling.
14:30 – See above.
15:30 – Giggling and semi-serious self-fellatio.
16:30 – Mildly interesting note: Mrs. Rogers was aware of Mr. Rogers being made mocked.
17:30 – Discussing the ins and outs of videotape. Exciting!
18:30 – Long silence.
20:30 – More long silence, with very little in between.
20:45 – Laughing at the simple gross out nature of the ending.
21:45 – Laughing at the goofiness of the ending.
Dead Homer Society 
2 responses to ““Worst Episode Ever” Makes Baby Jesus Cry”
“Talking about Hibbert and the idiotic setup: “Remember when he was a good doctor?””
I remember in the commentaries for some of the earlier episodes, the writers/producers commented on how Dr Hibbert was one of the few characters in Springfield who was actually competent in his profession. That made for funnier moments, as he was essentially the straight man and the wackiness would unfold around him (apart from his succession of different, outlandish hairdos in the flashback episodes). Alas, over the years Hibbert was brought down to buffoonery level by Zombie Simpsons. A similar thing happened to Superintendent Chalmers – in his earlier appearances, the writers/producers noted that one of the things that made Chalmers funny was that he talked and acted like a rational person – almost like a real-life person stuck in the Simpsons universe – and it was fun to have Skinner’s ineptitude juxtaposing against that. But Chalmers too eventually devolved into just another “wacky”-acting character.
Chalmers is a good example, now he and Skinner are practically the Odd Couple, it’s just lame. It worked much better when he was a believable bureaucrat.