When Springfield Elementary is threatened with closure because of low standardized test scores, the fate of the school rests on one student who missed the test, and who must raise the average above the minimum threshold: Bart Simpson. Meanwhile, Homer finds a parking meter at a local dump, and starts deploying it around Springfield to fleece unwitting parkers of their quarters.
Maybe we’ll get to see the Comptroller again, or maybe we’ll just get to see Bart motivated to do the proper thing because of the guilt trumpets that are bound to sound off every 20 seconds in this new episode. I won’t know, because I am infinitely more likely to watch The Golden Globes than this crap factory. And I once promised a blind kid I would never watch the Golden Globes again.
Dead Homer Society 
16 responses to “Sunday Preview: A Test Before Trying”
“guilt trumpets”
You slay me!
I’m gonna go ahead and try to guess the order of plot elements here, then see if I was close enough. Just for fun.
1) Someone obliges Skinner to create some stupid test for everyone to pass, but Bart slacks off.
2) Everyone, even Lisa, fails the test for some reason, so they look for Bart to ask him to pass it.
3) Homer goes to the dump and finds a parking meter, does some stupid stuff with it, then gets caught by Wiggum/Marge (choose one) and out of guilt trumpets finally gives it away.
4) Bart passes the test for another unknown reason, and everyone cheers, then it turns out the whole thing was just a setup to let Bart stay in school or something.
5) Three minutes of mandatory filler about how it is important not to give up school, given by Skinner.
There! Reality, prove me wrong.
I don’t see where the plot conflict is. The real Bart would have just failed the test (if he was forced to do it), leaving him free to fly kites at night.
Hello, mother dear…
‘Plot conflict’? In Zombie Simpsons? Wait… ‘plot’? in Zombie Simpsons?
Favorite Simpsons scene and line of all time…. By Bart, no less! The second or two of it is much better then this whole episode, “A Test Before Trying”
http://thannotthen.net/
Family Guy was great tonight. I want to know who wrote the jokes so I can see his work.
Family Guy is better, and sometimes more entertaining to watch, though many people still complain about it, such as on this link, all valid complaints I might add btw:
“The series continues to devolve into a platform for the writer’s religious and political views rather than trying to actually be funny.”
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php/BiggestComplaint/FamilyGuy
See the point is – it had an understandable pretty much well conceived plot. Just this, not jokes or references, just the fact of conceiving a good plot can save the day.
Indeed, depending on the episode and/or season.
I’ll liveblog this episode (live from the DVR):
Horseshit so far
There’s a five second montage set to David Bowie’s “Changes”
What are they feeding this horse?
Ok, about my comment above, 3.5 out of 5 = not so bad (passed the test).
I didn’t guess 4), and halfway guessed the filler part (there was this fucking cough gag a la something you’ll see fan made on Youtube), so yeah, I’m that good lol
Anyone know if there was a guest star in that ep?
“A Test Before Trying.” So that’s, what, a riff on “A Kiss Before Dying”? Because that’s…lame. The “Test/Kiss” substitution is, anyway.
I will say this was a great advertisement for Bart Gets an F because you could have been watching that instead.