“I brought you a tuna sandwich. They say it’s brain food, I guess because there’s so much dolphin in it, and you know how smart they are.” – Marge Simpson
For the third summer in a row, we at the Dead Homer Society are looking to satisfy your off-season longing for substandard commentary on substandard Simpsons. This summer we’ll be looking at Season 10. Why Season 10? Because we’ve already done Seasons 8 and 9 and we can’t put it off any longer. Prior to Season 10, we watched as the show started falling over, this is when it fell over. And while the dust wouldn’t settle completely for another season or so, there is no bigger gap in quality than the one between Season 9 and Season 10. Since we prefer things to remain just as they were in 1995, we’re sticking with this chatroom thing instead of some newer means of communication that we all know just isn’t as good. This text has been edited for clarity and spelling (especially on “extravaganza”).
Today’s episode is 1002 “The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace”. Yesterday was 1001 “Lard of the Dance”.
Charlie Sweatpants: This episode, despite also being a Season 9 holdover, sucks a lot more than "Lard of the Dance". Homer’s insanity goes from 6 to 8 on the Richter scale, and that shit’s logarithmic.
Mad Jon: Agreed. This one hits the ground with Homer’s antics following his incorrect discovery that his life is 1/2 over and the subsequent stroll through traffic, ending up with him talking to the emergency phone operator thinking it’s Marge.
Charlie Sweatpants: That scene sent shivers down my spine when I watched it the first time, and it hasn’t gotten any better since.
Mad Jon: Ugh. It’s bad. And then it inspires him to quit his job, heroically apparently. Although I can’t imagine what would top him playing Burns’ head like a bongo and then lighting the wooden bridge on fire on his way out. My God that was good.
Dave: One of the finest SNPP-related moments ever, frankly.
It’s like Christmas morning every time I watch him burn that bridge.
Mad Jon: This episode is basically all Homer, all the time, and man, it just keeps going downhill.
Charlie Sweatpants: I stand by my comment from earlier though, it is a good line when he alludes to whatever way he quit so that even Burns won’t take him back.
That said, it’s small consolation amidst the extravaganza of Jerkass Homer that is most of this episode.
Mad Jon: Well, it was a quick and humorous joke, so that’s all good. But the point being that it is another of his "well, time to quit my job for the week" moments that I hate.
Charlie Sweatpants: At least they still cared enough to mention him quitting his job, later in Season 10 we won’t even get that.
Mad Jon: I shudder to consider your accuracy in that statement.
Charlie Sweatpants: This is definitely the season when Homer-Gets-a-New-Job became their go to gimmick.
As for this particular job, it’s the main story and most of it sucks.
Homer’s endless description of Edison sucks, his inventing montage is lame, and then there’s all the pointless gags of him being an idiot/dick.
I cite the papers in the dryer, trying to get the kids to think of things for him, and his little "inventing" scene when the whole joke is that nothing happens.
Mad Jon: The one thing that did strike a chord with me was the scene in the kids library, but only because of that time in college when I had to give a speech in Spanish about Castro, so I read kids books in Spanish because that was the depth of my Spanish at the time.
Charlie Sweatpants: His line about there having been some "unpleasantness" is good, but it’s another example of them winnowing the show into tighter and tighter corners.
Homer researching would’ve been fine without him having to scare Bart and Lisa.
Mad Jon: Go School!
He even had a pennant ready.
Charlie Sweatpants: That wasn’t a good thing.
Mad Jon: Most assuredly not.
Dave: I remember, unfortunately, a weird pennant phase the show had.
Homer had a pennant for all sorts of inappropriate occasions.
Including one for "Primetime."
No me gusta.
Mad Jon: Oh yeah, for the mid season replacements….
Charlie Sweatpants: The best parts of this episode occur around Homer’s goofy inventor story, instead of as part of it.
Bart and Lisa muttering about their father being too lazy to spank his own kids, Homer’s vision of the future cemetery, and pretty much everything the Edison Museum tour guide says.
Mad Jon: I loved the spank his own kids line, and I also enjoyed the tour guide. It is a damn shame how we got to the tour however…
The twist . . . oh man the twist. Homer thinks he has the one invention Edison never revealed, so all he has to do is go find it and DESTROY IT!
Charlie Sweatpants: I know, I know.
Mad Jon: The chair isn’t on the list! Let’s go change history Bart!
Dave: Homer smash good, cathartic etc.
Charlie Sweatpants: But we did get "Edison’s boyhood gift shop", which it is impossible not to think of whenever you see a gift shop.
Mad Jon: I liked the dad in line as well.
Charlie Sweatpants: Agreed. Also, the crowd clapping at the guide’s lame "riddle". I have been part of some dumb tour groups in my time, and that pretty much nails them.
I’d also add that the sign that says "No Gang Colors" on the Edison museum is a nice touch.
But we do have to put up with an awful lot to get there.
Dave: It ain’t worth it.
Mad Jon: A vision of things to come I suppose.
Dave: They should’ve cut out the crap and left in the gags.
Charlie Sweatpants: I’d take this over the current crop, where they leave in the crap and cut out the gags.
Dave: Fair enough.
Charlie Sweatpants: There are some other good lines here, Marge’s thing about dolphins being brain food and Homer’s rushed disclaimer about taking Bart "cross state lines".
Again, the good jokes are peripheral to the plot instead of part of it. But they are there.
Mad Jon: Agreed.
Does anyone have anything else constructive to add to this?
Cause I’m running on empty
Charlie Sweatpants: Not really, there are a few other jokes I liked ("phony Pope"), but overall there’s too much Jerkass Homer here for the good stuff to be anything other than a flower that grew out of a pot of dirt.
Dave: Let’s call it good and leave it until next time.
Charlie Sweatpants: Okay. But don’t forget to exit through Edison’s boyhood gift shop.
Dead Homer Society 
7 responses to “Crazy Noises: The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace”
Dodgy episode, but I am fond of the reenactment of Edison’s descendants rubbing themselves in cash.
It’s weird that mentioning Mr Burns’ bongo head was the only thing that made me laugh whilst discussing this episode.
This episode is the ancestor of those today’s ZS episodes in which Homer (and not just him – remember Simpsina?)suddenly become good at something. Homer spends 3/4 of it trying to invent something, apparently he’s awful with it, and the climax gets him to sabotage the life of another person in order to succeed. I know what you’re all saying, but honestly, if they’d have come out with episodes like this one today, not the Cheech&Chong shit, I’d happily watch the show. Because these are good compared to what airs today, very good.
If this episode came out today, it would look absolutely marvelous. I agree that it’s all Homer, all the time, but at least this episode has a sense of humor. I haven’t seen it in a long time, but I do remember there being some funny parts. That’s more than I can say about the show today.
The first time they did the pennant gag, in this episode with “School,” I thought it was hilarious. I thought it was a fresh idea to have a pennant that read not an actual school name but rather just “School.” Then they ran the gag into the ground, with the “Primetime” gag you guys mentioned, and then later in Kill the Alligator and Run when he has a pennant that reads “Asylum” or something (I refuse to watch again to find out). Scully and the gang hit upon one fresh idea, so naturally they had to run it into the ground.
Call me a nutcase, but I actually enjoy this episode…granted, there are some preludes to ZS, but there are also a lot of good gags. Also, I thought his invention of the chair with the hinges was pretty good and certainly a much better idea than what any of the recent ZS episodes have come up with. My only question is how the hell does his toilet recliner work?
Yeah, I like this episode as well. Sometimes I feel like the guys here are harsher on episodes that they feel they are supposed to hate and overlook some of the weaker episodes in earlier seasons. Anyway, the episode does have some excellent bits. Homer running down Edison’s apparition, the “and today will be no exception” line, and Homer getting rid of his pajamas always make me laugh. Considering that Homer invented the toilet recliner, I’m guessing it works more like an outhouse.
I will give this episode one thing though: the following line often comes in very handy.