“Mom! We can go on the factory tour and I can complain in person!” – Lisa Simpson
“Honey, you’re not going to throw red paint at the executives, are you? The Keebler people were very upset.” – Marge Simpson
Welcome to tonight’s open thread, or live blog, or live watch, or whatever it is we’re doing for the Season 5 episode “Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy”. The comment section is open, the Twitter hashtag is #NewHat, and feel free to quote things as you see fit. Also, please tell us, during or after, how you think we can improve this. As I said earlier in the week, I really don’t know how this wants to work or what I’m doing. But it seems like there’s enough Simpsons fans on-line that watching together should be more fun than watching apart, and suggestions are welcome. Now let’s forget our troubles with a big bowl of strawberry ice cream.
Edit 9:00pm: Well, that was fun. It was a controlled disaster, but first times of anything usually are. (I’m reminded of Jay Sherman reminiscing about “the agony of my first public shower”.) Dave and I got way out of sync on Twitter, I foolishly thought my wireless would be fine if I sat out in the yard instead of closer to the hub (it died with about three minutes to go), I got started late because I had to reboot my laptop, and running these episodes with no commercials makes quoting and commenting on the fly hard to do. On the other hand, I got to watch The Simpsons, which I am pretty much never unhappy about. Thanks to those who watched and commented along, here and on Twitter, and we’ll try this again next week.
Dead Homer Society 
28 responses to “Primetime Cartoons: Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy”
And we start with Matlock’s only actual appearance on the show! And then he died because Grampa swiped his pills.
Ouch! My pick landed in last place! :(
Alright, so no more complaining, let’s DO THIS. Erm… maybe I’ll just sit back and watch quietly.
Are you going to be posting periodic updates in the post, or gonna duke it out either here in the comments or on Twitter?
Welp, thanks for answering my question quickly above, at least, haha
Poor Grampa, defeated by toy soldiers the first time he took them out of the box.
No, he was defeated by the security guards who thought he was mental.
Fun Fact: I don’t know any facts about this episode.
It’s great to see Lisa being so cruel (calling another girl “horseface”). This is when she was still something of a little kid.
Jebus, it’s impossible to keep up with Grampa in this episode. This is some of his best babbling ever. His glaucoma just got worse and his face reminds you of the grim specter of death.
Marge telling Lisa she protests too much applies much more today than it did when this episode aired.
No kidding. They’ve turned her into a 1-dimensional cause head instead of an idealistic kid.
So does Homer’s line about FOX owning chemical weapon plants in Syria. Assuming everyone hear has heard the actual news…
Even Lisa’s protesting is funny in Season 5.
Take note, current writers.
That Cornwall stunt that Sky One made her do a few years ago was just painful.
“I’d be mortified if someone ever made a lousy product with the Simpson name on it”
Prepare to be mortified, Lisa.
Hey, at the time it was just the merchandise that sucked . . .
That was because most of it was cheap stuff for kids. These days, it’s more collectibles for stunted adults. I was there, man…
You know the show was on its game when simply the noise of Stacy’s gates opening is a punchline.
“Oh, and the President was arrested for murder, more on that tomorrow”
Classic.
And it’s over. (for me, anyway)
Why can’t they make more episodes like this anymore?
“Why can’t they make more episodes like this anymore?”
An unanswerable question.
It can be answered: all the good writers either left or were promoted to producer and the current crop of writers either suck or have good ideas, but they end up getting trashed or altered by the likes of Al Jean and/or FOX execs.
Plus, the show’s been on for 20+ years. Unless you’re “Saturday Night Live” and have had a peak-and-valley history of good seasons vs. bad seasons and have proven to revive yourself with new talent, you just can’t keep a TV show on for more than 8 to 10 (depending on whether or not it survives its first, since some channels — mostly FOX — do cancel shows after one season if ratings aren’t top-notch. I can understand if a show’s canceled because critics and viewers think it’s terrible, but the ratings thing angers and confuses me).
No, Dad! That’s a rhetorical question!
I’m not your father, jackhole.
Gotta love the end of this episode. It’s both sweet (the little girl gets her Lisa Lionheart doll), deeply cynical (no one else will, and she didn’t spend 40k on it), and just plain goofy (Homer’s return to the piano steps).
Was Mr. Burns acting out as some sort of new religious bearded fake idol in this episode? Argh fuck that was funny.
Anyway, I dunno what you guys did on Twitter (neither how that thing even works), but that thing of yours needs some tweaking to my senses. Maybe make a chat and IM each other next time? I dunno.
Anyway, I spent my evening perfecting some of that delicious dirty Dutch house a la Afrojack and R3hab and totally forgot you were doing it at 8. Pity, ’cause I voted for that ep… Argh anyway, back to side-chaining my Massive lead.
Was Mr. Burns acting out as some sort of new religious bearded fake idol in this episode? Argh fuck that was funny.
Not that was “The Joy of Sect” (the cult episode) from season nine.
What is that screengrab doing there then?
I hope they leave it up, kinda like how these days on episodes they do not check if anything makes logical sense.