“How many times can you laugh at that cat getting hit by the moon?” – Marge Simpson
“It’s a new episode.” – Bart Simpson
“Not exactly… they pieced it together from old shows, but it seems new to the trusting eyes of impressionable youth.” – Lisa Simpson
“Really?” – Bart Simpson
“‘Ren and Stimpy’ do it all the time.” – Lisa Simpson
Note: We posted this last Sunday, but “Stealing First Base” finally is on tonight. Recycling the post seemed appropriate and further, laziness isn’t a crime.
The mercilessly unfunny Sarah Silverman guest stars on tonight’s next Sunday’s tonight’s “Stealing First Base,” which Simpsons Channel describes for us:
Lisa’s classmates ostracize her for being an overachiever but the First Lady Michelle Obama (guest voice Angela Bassett) comes to Lisa’s defense. Meanwhile, Bart’s crush Nikki (guest voice Sarah Silverman) sends him mixed signals when she surprises him with a kiss.
So faux-First Lady, love interest number 8,000,0005, and a humdrum plot. Sounds riveting. Get the popcorn ready.
Dead Homer Society 
14 responses to “Sunday Preview: “Stealing First Base” (Reprise!)”
Children, remain calm, the Falkland Islands have just been invaded.
I tuned in just long enough to see them blatantly steal a joke from The Critic in their otherwise devoid of even attempted, let alone successful, humor kissing montage blatantly stolen from Cinema Paradiso. At least the writers have given up on the show too.
As soon as they showed the Alien and Ripley my thoughts immediately went to The Critic. I wonder if they did it intentionally or if they thought they came up with it?
Either way it’s hard to forgive, even if it was intended as a “reference” they are stealing the actual joke. If they showed Jay kissing Alice, that would be a reference, hell, with their obsession with men kissing men being the height of comedy this week they could have shown Jay kissing Duke, still a reference. But to take an actual joke from a episode, reanimate it, and with zero context is hard to excuse. Of course it’s a step in the right direction from their recent trend of recycling jokes from past Simpsons episodes.
Equally bad was the Lady and the Tramp reference, didn’t they already parody that film in that dreadful anthology episode?
I didn’t mean to imply that one way was better or less hacktacular than the other, I’m just curious as to whether they outright copied it or not. Either way it sucks.
Oh, I didn’t mean to imply that you meant to imply…yeah. That’s just a similar debate I had with myself about whether it was meant to be a reference or if was a case of cryptoamnesia. But I’ve since realized that the two of us have already put more thought into it than the people who wrote it did, so no need to waste another word on it.
Sorry, cryptomnesia, a few more words wasted.
What varnish were the writers chugging when they thought of this? This episode sets a new record for run-on jokes that make full length motages seem trite in comparison.
They were eating rotisserie chicken.
I’ve since rewatched the episode via DVR, and the Itchy and Scratchy movie was styled after the film Koyaanisqatsi and the rest of the “Quatsi” film trilogy. I can assure you that knowing what they are referencing doesn’t make the jokes any more amusing.
I absolutely agree, Bagman. As a fan of the “Qatsi” trilogy, that “gag” stuck out like a sore thumb for me. It was a half-hearted attempt to be intellectually or culturally relevant, but was ultimately just clumsy and unfunny.
I haven’t seen “Qatsi” either, but at least in the first 9 seasons, when the show parodied something, it was still funny even if you haven’t seen the movie/show the parody was based on. The episode “Rosebud” was a perfect example of this.
I didn’t watch it myself, but the Wiki summary gives the impression that we get no explaination for this one-time character’s much-mentioned “hot and cold” behaviour, and that it just ends on a “hur, women, eh?” note. I may not have been reading properly, but I don’t feel inclined to watch any more than I did before. It’s a lazy as hell gag trope, in my opinion.
It’s a little hard to tell since none of it makes any sense, but it seems like they’re operating under the “girls like jerks” philosophy. Every time Bart says he likes her, she rejects him, every time he rejects her she, throws herself at him. Of course, that wouldn’t explain why she shows up in his locker (yes, inside of it) near the end. The whole thing was just an excuse to give Bart someone to kiss, I really don’t think they put much (any?) thought into it.