2 responses to “Quote of the Day”

1. 

   Philip

   2 August 2012

   I remember when this aired. This very moment (or, well, the next one) was exactly when I realized The Simpsons didn’t trust itself or its audience anymore.

   This joke, as quoted above, is brilliant. It’s funny, and it’s immediately clear _why_ it’s funny. That should be the end of it.

   …but then they leave the booth and the writers need to show us someone else coming along and saying “cheese” as though that’s some kind of hilarious followup. It’s not. We already imagined that this happens all the time, and that’s why we laughed. To see it play out that much later just makes The Simpsons feel dumb for not getting the joke at the same time we did.

   It really felt jarring to me. The Simpsons used to be smarter than its audience, and surprise them with clever inversions. The above does that. But the writers didn’t trust it, so they hammered it into the ground immediately.

   And I don’t think they’ve stopped since.

2. 

   Al Gore Doll

   2 August 2012

   It’s like if Sneed’s Feed and Seed (formerly Chuck’s) had some patron come in and ask them what happened to Chucks [bleep] and [bleep]
   If you have to return to a joke to point it out more, it’s ruined.