“Why’d they make that one Muppet out of leather?” – Bart Simpson
Let me start by saying that I thought the first segment, while poorly executed in places, wasn’t terrible. It wasn’t without its problems, the montage* was pointless, the pacing was skewed, and the show-don’t-tell violation on the reindeer stew spoiled what could’ve been a great joke. But having Santa, in the person of Krusty no less, run his organization like a particularly inept and heartless multinational corporation (reminiscent of Futurama’s Santa), basically worked. There were some decent subtle gags (“Unionize” scrawled on the back of the bench, the picture of the snowman guard’s kids), and even a couple of good lines (“But by today’s standards, naughty’s nothing. I didn’t get anybody pregnant, I didn’t Facebook a kid to death”). The twist ending was actually appropriate, and Run D.M.C. was a nice touch.
The rest of it was a shambles, including the strange wraparound story that they dropped like a hot poker when it came time for their big, laugh-tracked finish. The Martha Stewart segment was a one-joke exercise in repetition, and Lisa’s bit was so bizarre as to be nigh indescribable. The Inglourious Basterds thing was so out of left field and out of place that I’m not 100% sure its inclusion wasn’t some kind of massive editing error.
And then, of course, there was the ending. Rarely has a piece of television missed the mark quite so spectacularly. And I mean “spectacularly” literally, as in something so striking you can’t look away from it, like a fifty-five car pileup or William Shatner’s spoken word performances. About the only good thing that can be said about Zombie Simpsons’ puppet segment is that in the pantheon of Christmas related pop culture mistakes, The Star Wars Holiday Special is probably unassailable at #1. We may, however, have a new candidate for #2.
The numbers are in, and once again football overruns boosted them. This week’s preliminary numbers show 9.56 million viewers gritted their teeth and wished the real Muppets were still on teevee, and while TV by the Numbers cautions that these are not final, I don’t have much hope that they’ll drop too far. I’ll update this when they come in anyway. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to try to figure out if there is any way this can be defended as some kind of intentionally bad meta-joke or performance art piece. I am not optimistic.
*I am continually amazed at the hallucinogenic potency of television marijuana. My weed never does that.
Update 9 December 2010: The final numbers are in and, as I feared, at 9.54 million viewers they barely went down. On the plus side, it looks like FOX doesn’t have a late national game this week so there shouldn’t be much football overrun.
Dead Homer Society 
26 responses to “Misguided Attention Whores Maul Zombie Simpsons; Also, Katy Perry Was There (Updated)”
Haha on the commentaries the writers admitted to never using weed before. Sometimes tells me the hallucinations their characters get aren’t a stretch to what they really think.
FAGS like you always compakin about the simpsons…
Zombie Simpsons is about as cool as Wal-Mart.
Compakin? Is that a new word in the upcoming 2011 Emo Dictionary? Go back to your corner, little one.
stfu YOU faggot, you deserrve to die\
The simpsons is the best show ever.
Oh, everyone’s so intimidated by the anonymous troll who can’t spell and resorts to childish name-calling and insults because he can’t make a coherent argument.
Yeah, what’s with “deserrve”? If he’s trying to do a Groundskeeper Willie impression, he should have thrown in a few more “r”s.
The sad thing is, he expects us to take him seriously when he can’t even spell “deserve”.
THANKS GIANT TALKING BEER!!!!
I am shocked and appalled.
Amusingly enough, both of the “Anonymous” comments came from IP addresses registered to the Los Angeles Unified School District. I know the budget cuts have been bad, but I didn’t know spell checker had fallen under the ax.
In a related note, I agree that The Simpsons is the best show ever. Zombie Simpsons, on the other hand…
Those wacky school kids. What ever will they get up to next?
I can imagine the conversations involving Zombie Simpsons right now.
Wacky school kid 1: Did you see that new Simpsons episode?
Wacky school kid 2: Yeah I loved it. Especially the part where homer kept getting hit with random objects for 5 minutes.
Wacky school kid 1: Oh man, hitting him with random objects for 2 minutes was pure genius but then out of nowhere they did it for another 3 minutes. What about ?
Wacky school kid 2: Hahaha, yeah that was my favourite part. It was hilarious because I recognised and totally knew what it was about.
Sensible school kid: To be honest the Simpsons has been terrible for a long time now. The slapstick gags are unfunny and just chew up time. The references to pop culture are no longer parodies, they are shameless advertisements.
Wacky school kid 2: OMG STFU FAGGOT. You are such a FAG! LOLZ
Doh.
The words “random pop culture reference” are missing from my comment.
My screenplay has been ruined.
Mmmokay the lazy critic cometh… There are only three things I’d like to say about this episode.
1) This episode would’ve been much better with a properly developed introduction and some referenced ending instead of filling it with Katy Perry’s bosom.
2) The Martha Stewart bit, albeit funny, does not belong here as it is not a movie parody. In fact, it can be better characterized by saying “We feel the need to shit on Martha Stewart so here”.
3) There was no Christmas Carol other than a mere reference made by Burns. And even that is a recycled joke from episodes past.
Another terrible episode with promising beginnings, just as you said.
Yes, it should’ve had a better beginning & ending. It actually had time to do it, too, but didn’t. The Muppet segment (which I loved, but could’ve been better) just basically…ended. Did NOT really expect them to actually sing all 39 Days like they did.
Line of the night for me was “It’s a Christmas Miraculum!” Really dumb, lazy Burns joke, but dammit, it’s been one day later, and I’m still laughing at that.
But your 2nd point…so what? There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the show ripping on Martha, and I loved how they played her up as an overachieving sociopath. But its main problem (as were problems of all 4 segments) was being too short. None of the segments had any time to develop any kind of plot, and only the first segment had any semblance of a beginning, middle, and ending.
But really, everyone here just seems to be making mountains out of molehills. Sure, it wasn’t THAT good, but I felt that it wasn’t the absolute trainwreck the blog’s making it out to be. It’s literally the same thing every week around here: “Zombie Simpsons is still on. People still watched Zombie Simpsons. I hope Zombie Simpsons Ends. I think any new episode of Zombie Simpsons is an abomination to mankind, and I’ll explain why. Zombie Simpsons is still on.” And repeat. While I like this blog, it’s a bit TOO negative for me.
Remark, what I was saying about the Martha Stewart bit is that it doesn’t belong there, not that it’s not funny. If they were doing movies, they should’ve stuck to them, and make another Christmas movie parody instead (btw Inglorious Basterds has nothing to do with Christmas either). Or they should’ve stuck to TV shows with Martha Stewart, the muppets and something else. Instead, they fused both, and, as a result, epicfailed.
Maybe I got something wrong, but when I read the episode’s preview on Wikipedia, they said that Marge would be visited by three ghosts in order to save Christmas. This bit already is a proper basis for the plot, as it has intro-story-conclusion parts (whether it rips Dickens 100th time or not is not an issue). This could’ve worked on so many levels, as there are enough characters to fill all the spots. Therefore when the episode started with Marge pissed off at the 2nd minute, that was exactly the plot I expected to see.
I think imo ZS producers have to understand that even if you come up with decent jokes and ideas for an episode, not tying them up in one bit is like eating a salad ingredient after ingredient. It’s the same nutrition, but not as delicious.
“While I like this blog, it’s a bit TOO negative for me.”
Fair enough. But I did say there were some parts I liked this week. That’s pretty unusual.
Yep, noticed that. I actually found it shocking that you actually…LIKED some of it!
Oh, and I’m all for mocking horrible spelling. We are all smrt around here, after all.
I like this blog. I don’t mind the negativity, as long as the authors are being honest with their opinions, and not just hating on Zombie Simpsons because it’s Zombie Simpsons.
The comments against people who like Zombie Simpsons are a bit embarrassing, but they seem to only come from the people in the comment section. I detest Family Guy, but I don’t judge those who like it.
“OH MY GOD THE PEOPLE WHO LIKE ZOMBIE SIMPSONS ARE DUMB!!!” = not my cup of tea.
When they say things like “stfu YOU faggot, you deserrve to die”
Then they’re deserving of ridicule.
I definitely agree with both of you. The people here are honest and intelligent when explaining why they don’t like something, a breath of fresh air from all the generic “OMG SIMPSONS SUCKS NOW” haters I’ve seen. That’s why I keep coming back here, despite all the negativity.
I said above that I’m all for mocking horrible spelling.
On the subject of Family Guy (which itself has suffered LITERAL zombification), I firmly believe that Jerkass Homer does not hold a candle to the thing that is Jerkass Peter. At least Jerkass Homer still has some semblance of love towards his family.
I love this blog and all of its negativity. The Zombie Simpsons had absolutely decimated the Simpsons for years upon years for me. I’m 18 so needless to say the terrible Zombie stuff was already in full swing by time I was in my early teens. From about 13 to just a few months ago I hated The Simpsons. All I remembered was terrible Homer slap stick and “HEY IT’S *Insert random pop culture celebrity that Lisa Simpsons like me have never heard of nor care about*” I couldn’t fathom how I could have enjoyed this show when I was a kid. Then I discovered this blog. I went back and watched some of the older episodes and they absolutely blew me away. The astounding wit of the writing during those early seasons was absolutely amazing. Even the animation had more life to it back then despite taking loads more effort.
Now I’m trekking through season 1 through 9 and it’s like I’ve never seen this show before, the majority of the shit I’ve experienced was Zombie Simpsons and the older episodes I saw as a kid I missed tons and tons of hilarious jokes. The worst part is how terrible the new writers treat the characters.I’ve gotten a better sense of who Bart, Homer, Lisa and Marge are in about a seasons worth of episodes then the entire run of Zombie Simpsons
The point is I have tons and tons of of pent up anger towards Zombie Simpsons and this blog is helping me one step at a time. Keep on being negative so I don’t have to start my own terrible Zombie Zombie Simpsons Blog.
This is perhaps the most encouraging comment this blog has ever gotten. I may have to find a way to incorporate it into the Manifesto or something.
Sincere thanks.
“You know, if we get through to just that one little girl, it’ll all be worth it!” – Lisa Simpson
“Yes, particularly if that little girl happens to pay $46,000 for that doll.” – Stacy Lavelle
I really like Blue’s comment, that’s awesome – a testament to the fact that ZS haters aren’t just looking at the classic episodes with misty-eyed nostalgia. They were actually that good.
As for the negativity… this blog isn’t all negative, because it celebrates a top notch TV show’s heyday as much as it slanders its downfall. I can see why it would annoy some people, but if you like the TV show now, then there are so many outlets celebrating the entirety of this long running programme. This website is not one of them, as it states clearly in its manifesto.
I wondered how the heck this entry had attracted so many comments – I couldn’t look at work because a certain word in the URL caused the computer to say no…
“I wondered how the heck this entry had attracted so many comments – I couldn’t look at work because a certain word in the URL caused the computer to say no…”
I didn’t think the word ‘maul’ would be frowned on by any IT department :D