“Movie For a Rained-Out Ballgame now returns to Dyan Cannon, Troy McClure, and the Muppets in the 1977 film, The Muppets Go Medieval.” – TV Announcer
Dead Homer Society
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16 responses to “Quote of the Day”
“Dad, what’s a Muppet?”
“Well, it’s not quite a mop and it’s not quite a puppet, but man! *Laughs* So to answer your question, I don’t know.”
In my opinion, this episode is one of the greatest successes of the Oakley-Weinstein era. They took two characters who aren’t even secondary characters, more like tertiary characters, made them the center of the episode, and still managed to make a really good episode while also fitting in a Jeff Goldblum guest appearance where he played a real character that was germane to the plot. I think the level of difficulty for pulling off this episode was really high, but they pulled it off. A huge reason for that, of course, was Phil Hartman, who was good enough to carry his own TV show.
Making an episode about a bunch of side characters doing whatever they do in their lives isn’t hard. It’s making all this matter to the viewer that is harder.
Correction: they made a really “great” episode!
Just the “Planet of the Apes” musical alone is one of the greatest moments in t.v. history, in my opinion.
Others may disagree, but I prefer Oakley-Weinstein to Mirkin–part of that may have to do with Mirkin’s annoying comentary.
Comparing seasons 5-6 to seasons 7-8 is really tough. I tend to think 6 and 7 are pretty great, while 5 and 8 are pretty good but not as good. I’m not even sure where to split the hairs. I would probably say 5 is better than 8, but Oakley and Weinstein pulled off some really great stuff. I love this episode, 22 Short Films, Poochie, Milhouse Divided, Summer of 4 ft. 2, I think 138th Episode Spectacular is the best clip show, I even like the Spinoff Showcase and appreciate what they did there. I don’t know, I can’t choose between children.
It’s a tough call, no doubt. I guess for me I really like how 7-8 really did kind of bring the show back to the basics of the Simpson family…or at least to a certain degree. Seasons 5 and 6 are no doubt classic, but I dislike what I feel is Mirkin’s influence, especially his apparent love for zany, “screw-the-audeince” type of jokes.
Re: “138th Episode Spectacular”, Troy Maclure’s reaction to the clip of the early “Simpsons” alone is perhaps the greatest visual gag of all time.
“They haven’t changed a bit, have they?”
“I can hear you say ‘Troy, I’ve seen every episode of The Simpsons, you can’t show me anything new!’ Well you’ve got some nerve mister!”
I like the part when they wake him up with a pole.
I think Season 6 is stronger than Season 5, and 7 is about as strong as 6, if not a little better (I personally regard Season 7 as the greatest season ever – there’s not a single episode I don’t like), but 8 is significantly weaker than 7. When Season 8 is good, it’s great, but when it’s not, it’s extremely noticeable.
There’s a nasty trend in Season 8 where the show occasionally stops parodying hacky old TV writing tropes and starts playing them straight. The Homer They Fall, Lisa’s Date with Density, and In Marge We Trust all feel very sitcommy. And other episodes like My Sister, My Sitter and The Twisted World of Marge Simpson just aren’t very funny – and not just because they have jokes that don’t connect, but because they seem to have very few jokes at all. Oakley and Weinstein were noteworthy for trying to make the characters more human and believable and cramming as much plot into an episode as they could, but there’s a few instances in Season 8 where it feels like they sacrificed humor to do it.
This generally reflects how I feel, as well. Season 7 and 3, I think, are my absolute favorites if I had to choose. I agree that season 8 is a move in the wrong direction, but, man “A Milhouse Divided” is so awesome!
Well said jb and speaking of TV Tropes, a great site….
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons
I’m glad I’m not the only one who likes 6 and 7 best out of seasons 5-8. I’ve never been able to figure out why this is, because those seasons have different showrunners. It may just be out of nostalgia, because I started watching at the tail end of 7.
My love for 8, on the other hand, has faded a lot since I’ve gotten older. You can at least get drunk enough to laugh at how bad 9 and 10 are, but 8 is too good to enjoy ironically and too mediocre to enjoy genuinely.
I love the commentaries from Oakley and Weinstein’s seasons, but I always prefer it when both of them are there. Bill Oakley is on the commentary for every episode he and Josh did in Season 7, but he only does about three in Season 8, and they really suffer from his absence. He’s so passionate about this show, telling these long and fascinating stories about the writing process and what came from where. Josh is a little more quiet and subdued, so his solo commentaries tend to have a lot more dead air.
Mirkin’s commentaries are good, but they do start to grate after a while. He really drives that “I don’t know which came first, this or (X pop culture icon), you’ll have to check the copyrights” joke into the ground.
Agreed…Oakley is the best commentator of all time, probably–always enthusiastic about providing background details that are *actually* interesting.
I like that Mirkin is generally enthusiastic about the show, but all he seems to do is either give the joke away or just repeat it and explain why a joke is funny.