“Like my mother always said, you’ve got to stick it out, even if you picked a loser . . . to the bitter end.” – 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 “assuredly”).

Today’s episode is 1011, “Wild Barts Can’t Be Broken”.  Tomorrow will be 1012, “Sunday, Cruddy Sunday”.

Mad Jon: Wild Barts Can’t Be Broken eh?

Charlie Sweatpants: Indeed.

This one is definitely a cut above most of Season 10.

Mad Jon: You know, if you would have said that a few days ago I wouldn’t have agreed. But having watched it again, I was wrong.

Although I think it starts infinitely better than it ends.

Now that I write that, maybe I should clarify that I just really hate the musical.

Charlie Sweatpants: I had the same feeling. I hadn’t seen this one in a long time, even though I always kinda liked it.

  It’s got a neat concept, a good story, and lots of good jokes.

It gets exaggerated in places, and there are some things I could do without, but it never leaves orbit.

Mad Jon: A lot of the scenes are really pretty decent. There are some things that stretch, but the side jokes were all pretty good. I

  I am partial to the 90’s sitcom parodies.

The baseball rampage was a bit out there, but it didn’t stretch like a lot of season 10 stuff does.

  There were plenty of good one-liners too.

Charlie Sweatpants: Lots.

Mad Jon: I forgot about Martin’s mom shoplifting.

I was eating when I watched it and I thought my lunch would hit the laptop.

I will say that again this episode didn’t waver from all the very familiar characters,

Charlie Sweatpants: True. Though all the kids working together is a bit stretched in places, but that goes back to the earlier point.

Mad Jon: Yep.

Charlie Sweatpants: And, this one is near to my heart for giving the world "scene missing". As a man with a fondness for alcohol, I appreciate that.

Mad Jon: I also liked that. The film was good, and was made by ethanol pictures.

  So that was pretty funny

Charlie Sweatpants: The whole sequence is great, especially the old tyme mustache on Moe.

There are also so many great short bits, Pyro and Gyro most definitely included.

Mad Jon: This episode seems like it was pretty timely when it aired. The internet joke about people whose opinions actually matter, the David Faustino credit, those would have been on the spot back then.

Charlie Sweatpants: You can really hear the hurt in Pyro’s voice when he says "How many times have I fought beside you, Gyro?"

Mad Jon: That was indeed funny.

Charlie Sweatpants: There are definitely problems here and there, "The Bloodening" goes on too damn long, I don’t think they really needed to have Homer and company driving inside the school, but since it never bogs down and has plenty of good stuff, I’ve gotta rank this one at or near the top of 10.

Mad Jon: Agreed on both statements. The parody was a bit long for the lack of jokes it contained, and the drunken activities were similar, but this was probably the most watchable episode so far, except for the musical. Which is awful.

Charlie Sweatpants: Yeah, the song is strangely disappointing.

Mad Jon: Unnecessary is the word I would throw at it.

You could have had a confrontation that woke up the old people without Nelson singing.

Charlie Sweatpants: Well, it’s such an inferior song to "We Put the Spring in Springfield" or pretty much anything from the Shary Bobbins episode.

Mad Jon: Oh totally agreed.

There wasn’t any feel to it. Not like those at least.

Charlie Sweatpants: No feel is a good way to put it.

Anything else here? Or shall we take the slow bus to football jail?

Mad Jon: Bottom line, this isn’t in my rotation, but that’s because the preceding seasons have so much more to offer. If I could only watch season 10 and on, and wasn’t allowed to kill myself, this would most assuredly be in it.

Charlie Sweatpants: Agreed.

Mad Jon: But other than that happy thought, I don’t have anything else to add.

Let’s get on said bus.