The Simpsons get on the wrong ride on a trip to the Dizzneeland amusement park and are transported to Kang and Kodos’ home planet, where Homer finds himself on the locals’ menu.
Happy New Year everyone. Let us begin 2015 with what has to be one of the most outlandish plots I can remember outside of the understandably far-fetched THOH stories. I don’t know what else to say except “Sorry but there’s profit to be had.”
Dead Homer Society 
68 responses to “Sunday Preview: The Man Who Came To Be Dinner”
“Dizzneeland”? Seriously?
See? It’s an original creation, like Ricky Rouse, or Monald Muck!
Someone please delete this and the above comment, please. >.>
See? It’s an original creation, like Ricky Rouse, or Monald Muck!
Aha! So you were that little piece of shit constantly switching names just to get at me! Fuck you, Dang! I mean, dang seriously fuck you, you shitty… shit.
Really?? Interesting. I have no idea what you are talking about. You do know anyone can be Anonymous, right?
It wasn’t dang, it was me, Mr. Covers And Minecraft.
That’s lazy even for them.
They had “Dizneeland” before on the season six episode with the teachers’ strike (“The PTA Disbands”)
Hell, they had it back in Season 2 with “Old Money” (“Not affiliated with Disneyland, Disney World, or anything else from the Disney company.”)
Bu at least then, they made a joke about what a brazen knockoff the place was, to the point where they barely even changed the name of the park it was copying. Nowadays, with crap like Mapple and the Funtendo Zii, the name itself is supposed to be the joke, not how stupid it is.
Actually, the stupidity is precisely the joke. As per Matt Selman:
Here’s a goofy thing that makes the internet want to commit suicide. In this show, we are completely inconsistent about using parody superheroes and real ones. This show mentions dozens of actual superheroes, like Superman and Wonder Woman, as well as creating paper-thin imitations, like the Thung (the Thing) and the Mulk (The Hulk). (Originally conceived, the Thung and Mulk were supposed to be blue and red, but somehow they ended up classic orange and green.) For some reason, it delights us to no end to make our parodies of things the laziest parodies in the world.
“Do you remember when you lost your passion for this work?”
Sounds like that MAD jab from “New Kids on the Blecch” was based on the show’s writers’ room:
“Why don’t we call it ‘Everybody Hates Raymond?’”
“Well, we stayed up all night, but it was worth it.”
Kang and Kodos outside of Halloween. Noooooooo
Even when they’re deliberately trying to warp the Stiffsons’ faces, they still barely change… weird
so every day is Halloween in Springfield now?
I am sure this will be another shit show but I hope this is a sign that The Simpsons writers have gone collectively nuts. I’d rather Zombie Simpsons just get more outlandish with stupid out there ideas than the typical dreck the show has been for over a decade.
I suspect it is just the writers stealing ideas from The Simpsons comics and American Dad! instead of just Family Guy and Modern Family.
Is this the first time in a long while that they’ve drawn the Simpsons off-model? Feels like it. But… even then, it doesn’t live up to the quirky off-model stuff of the first 2 seasons.
The “wackiness in the latter-day seasons” stuff reminds me of another show: Family Matters. That’s another show that got reaally weird in the end, focusing too much on a Zombified Urkel who had control over the whole family.
This is the best ZS face animation, guys. Better accept it.
Dear God, no,
So, wait: is Dizzneeland the same place as the Diz-Nee-Land that is located in Springfield and that Grampa visited in “Old Money,” or is it altogether a different park that is supposed to be a more blatant knock-off of Disneyland? I’d place money on the later option.
Also, I kind of wonder if this episode is going to end with it just being someone’s dream or as a story that someone to telling to someone else.
Now they’re recycling title puns from season fifteen? Jebus Christ.
I think they’re still at Season 2. ‘How To Cook For Forty Humans’
THOH episodes are the ones getting biggest ratings in recent years, when you subtract football boost. Maybe they’re trying to get the best ratings they can in the highest rated night of the season using this THOH-ish episode.
This is a holdover from two seasons ago. I’m not sure whether that’s a good sign (given the continued declining quality over time), or a really, really bad one (given that they’ve felt the need to sit on it for this long, for whatever reason.
On the other hand it’s part written by David Mirkin, when did that last happen?
I’ll place my money on the bad sign. I bet they used some reject idea because they couldn’t think of a different one.
Also the premise does sort of fly in the face of the original K&K THOH.
Recycling Halloween characters is tons worse than that.
Dizzneeland?
DIZZNEELAND?
Just when I think the show can’t get dumber… Ugh. You know what would be funny? The Simpson kids want to go to Disneyland, but it’s too expensive, so Homer and Marge take them to a really bad knockoff called Dizzneeland and they all acknowledge how stupid it is. But the ZS writers aren’t gonna do that, are they?
Knowing ZS, they’ll probably make a light jab or two at Disneyland, but treat the place as an immaculate Xanadu.
If so, my bet on this week’s “Compare and Contrast” is “Itchy and Scratchy Land” vs THIS glimmering example of how ZS is on life support. (If not, it’s this vs. “Deep Space Homer”.)
I’m wishing I was watching ‘Itchy and Scratchy land’, that’s for sure.
It sounds like the episode will be about the family with Kang and Kodos. They probably won’t even get to the park. So the Compare and Contrast will more likely be with a THOH episode.
I agree that ZS writers are too optimistic about things.
This might be hyperbole but that had to be the worst episode of ZS. I am hard pressed to think of an even worse episode and this includes the Family Guy crossover. I don’t know where one begins to dissect everything shitty with this episode.
What about the fact that they waited since season 24 to air this?
*14 months ago, in Los Angeles*
AL JEAN: Ok guys, what do we do? Macklemore’s people don’t want us to make an episode about how he inspired Bart to be a rapper. We’re down a whole episode!
The Simpsons Writers all moan in disappointment, one guy is crying. Suddenly a young writer stands up.
SIMPSONS WRITER: Well what if we made an original idea! You know… one that while never being as good as the 90s Simpsons could be one that has some effort put into it. I mean for Christ sake we all graduated Harvard, surely we can do something.
Al Jean throws an empty bottle of E&J Brandy at the writer’s head.
AL JEAN: Get the fuck out of here you little shit. You want to try to make some original comedy then walk over to Bob’s Burgers, this is The Simpsons and we’ve got a legacy to cash in on.
MATT GROENING: Ok I got an idea Al, you know that Treehouse of Horror episode you’re making next season about how The Simpsons go to Kang and Kodos’s Home Planet. Well what if we just took that 7 minute sketch and extended it. And the Planet Express can save them! I have a wonderful idea where Bender tells Bart that –
AL JEAN: Matt! I know you love Futurama but that show couldn’t even stay on Comedy Central let alone Fox. I gave you one crossover episode so don’t push your luck. With that said you’re onto something. Kang and Kodos are rarely used characters and their appearance delights the idiots who still watch this crap. Bill go down to West Hollywood and get me an 8-Ball. I got some Emmy Writing to do!
——
So I thought I’d share my own Simpsons Writer’s fanfic, since this episode itself felt like it was adapted from an internet fanfic. Now why would I watch this Zombie Simpsons episode? Because I hate myself but also because the idea that David Silverman directing it and Al Jean writing it piqued my interests. Al’s writers almost always fail to amuse but maybe the guy has some jokes hidden away somewhere. And Silverman is an amazing director, so at the very least it’ll have cool animation.
It’s amazing how low my standards are for Zombie Simpsons and yet they STILL managed to disappointment me! The parody of Disneyworld was so very weak, you have a setting that would let you employ 100 sight gags and The Simpsons didn’t even bother doing that. Any reference that could be amusing is pointed out through dialogue. Nope you can’t just have Stormtroopers being in the “Country Bears Jamboree” you have to have Lisa announce that the Disney parody just bought it. You can’t just have the politically correct “Pirates of the Caribbean” (did they seriously forget to change the name?) they had to have the family comment on how they took away the dark humor from the ride. Which especially feels like an old joke since Disney hasn’t altered Pirates in any major way in years. So eventually The Simpsons wander onto a ride inspired by Flight to the Moon/Mission to Mars but it’s actually an Alien Abduction by Kang and Kodos, boy that makes a lot of sense!
After a very lame tribute to Homer’s classic potato chip scene from “Deep Space Homer” we finally get to Rigel 7 and man it’s a planet that’s inhabited by Octopus Creatures. You have so much potential with that concept, but no SIlverman dropped the ball or more likely just didn’t give a crap after reading the script. There wasn’t any innate animation wackiness that you would expect from say a show like Futurama or even Adult Swim’s Rick & Morty. Just a bunch of gross out humor? This episode has Rocky the Flying Squirrel’s body explode due to vacuum of space followed by a Rigellians birth scene based Matryoshka dolls. It’s gross and I don’t even mind grossout humor as Rick & Morty is filled with it but the difference is that Rick & Morty is funny.
The Rigellians reveal that they want to eat a member of The Simpsons, of course the family chooses Homer. One thing I don’t understand is how a planet of what I assume to be at least a few hundred giant space monsters would be content eating one human. But whatever why am I expecting Zombie Simpsons to make sense?
Homer gets rescued by hippy Rigellians and given a spaceship, Homer then plans to rescue his family. You could have had a lot of animation fun with the idea of Homer controlling a Spaceship, first he’d completely fail at using it, then would get chased by Alien police, you get the idea. But no they just quickly cut to Homer being back to confront Kang and Kodos and then instantly captured again, making Homer’s escape absolutely pointless. Rigellians then find out that Humans are inedible thanks to the garbage we eat and send The Simpsons back to earth, but not before a scene eerily reminiscent of Judge Snyder declaring that the Simpsons will never mention Armin Tamzarian again. So I guess this is to relieve any fans who would be upset at this episode breaking the precious Simpsons canon, except at the end The Simpsons are piloting the Spaceship, and even Grandpa Simpson is flying one! So are we supposed to believe that The Simpsons learned space travel, go home and never mention it again or what? It’s such utterly hack writing. it’s not like I expect Zombie Simpsons to be well written but if you decide to have reasoning then your reasoning needs to be rational.
Overall I really want to say this is the “Worst Episode Ever” but I only catch modern Simpsons every now and then. Zombie Simpsons at its best is innocuous and this episode just makes me angry which I guess explains this giant rant.
In the very beginning a parody of Mickey Mouse states “My cartoons weren’t good, they were just first.” Well don’t throw stones when living in a glass house Al Jean. Even if that’s just a dumb remark you really shouldn’t criticize a cartoon series that had decades of brilliant shorts and revolutionized the industry several times over. And thanks to your years of Zombie Simpsons overwhelming the number of classic episodes there will be many people who will think, “The Simpsons were never good, it was just the first adult cartoon.”
The only thing I thought was funny was the drawing of Mr. Burns as Balok from Star Trek.
I’m wondering how long it will be before ZS completely falls into wacky scenario episodes like this one. Classic Simpsons might’ve occasionally referred to something crazy as a throwaway joke (such as the Martian in the Stonecutter’s Society) but having that stuff as a central plot was limited to Halloween episodes. Many people point to increased use of grossout humor as proof that ZS is trying to imitate Family Guy, but I focus more on ZS becoming “wackier”. The Simpsons was big on slapstick and silliness, but there were limits. The jokes and characters were exaggerations of things in our society. Meanwhile, Family Guy is an “anything goes” kind of show where aliens could come down and it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary.
Family Guy benefits from this in that it allows the show to have all sorts of crazy stories, it’s not really limited it what it can do. One of the most common criticisms of ZS is that the show is out of plots, and as this site has pointed out, almost every ZS episode shares MANY aspects with previous episodes. I imagine that going down the Family Guy craziness route might be a last-ditch attempt to keep ZS fresh and interesting, even though it misses what made The Simpsons great in the first place. The low quality of the writing in general just makes it worse.
As for the weak Disneyworld parody… The weak parodies and general bad jokes of ZS really come off to me as amateur writing. A lot of beginner writers like to shove jokes right in the face of the reader/viewer just to ensure that they get it. Another issue, also with modern beginner writers, mistaking references for jokes. References CAN be funny, but they shouldn’t be overused, and they shouldn’t be replacements for jokes. But the people writing ZS have been writing for a while, you’d think they’d be well past these problems.
I think the writers have finally gotten around to watching American Dad!, which is able to have wacky plots like a character being abducted by aliens, a sentient killer hot tub, or a “live” stage play and still have it feel organic to the characters and show’s overall tone.
I feel weird for liking American Dad! because I assume most of you think Seth Mcfarlane is awful because of what a flaming piece of shit Family Guy is. I won’t go so far as to say the show is on par with shows like Archer, Rick and Morty, Bob’s Burgers, or even the new Mike Tyson’s Mysteries but you can really tell the writing staff is trying hard to differentiate itself from Family Guy. You should check out some of the later season episodes if you dismissed the show as Family Guy with more Republicans are dumb jokes.
Also I bet the only creative input Matt Groening has had to do with The Simpsons is perfecting his signature when cashing all those checks.
[QUOTE]Also I bet the only creative input Matt Groening has had to do with The Simpsons is perfecting his signature when cashing all those checks.[/QUOTE]
Yeah. Matt Groening pretty much gave up on the show a long time ago (mostly because of Futurama), but didn’t really have the heart to cancel the show (or FOX didn’t want to lose its cash cow, whichever feels like the more realistic reason).
And I agree that American Dad is better than Family Guy and some of the earlier episodes like “A Smith in the Hand” (the one where Stan gets addicted to masturbating while Roger opens up a bar in the attic), “Threat Levels” (the one where Francine goes into real estate), “A.T. The Abusive Terrestial” (Roger befriends a boy who abuses him while Stan and Francine try to save their favorite soda from being discontinued), and “Rough Trade” (Stan is put on house arrest for a drunk driving charge that wasn’t his fault while Roger works as a car dealer) aren’t that bad and aren’t weighed down by being too political (like what happened with Family Guy and, sadly, South Park).
I think American Dad! is a REALLY underrated show, and I don’t understand people who say it’s just a Family Guy ripoff. Anyone who sees the show would find that it’s quite different, both in the characters and the humor style. And like you say, you can really tell that the writers try, not just to differentiate themselves but to have quality. When a recurring joke doesn’t work, they stop, they don’t try to force it. (for instance, early episodes had Klaus constantly hitting on Francine, and Hayley and Stan got into a lot of political arguments. Hell, the show was originally intended to be very political, but the writers stopped when they realized it wouldn’t work any more) Another thing I appreciate is that they try to stay consistent and keep some form of canon. Not a lot of shows like this do that. A later episode might make a short reference to an early one, but what’s more, they don’t dwell on it or shove it in your face. It’s just there for fans of the show to have a little laugh. The show also plays with format a lot. The stage play episode is one of my favorites.
I was considering bringing up American Dad! in my comment. What’s interesting about the show is that it’s on its 11th season, but hasn’t been subject to too much drastic Flanderization or quality slippage like most shows get at that point. (though there is an increasing reliance on shock value and grossout humor, but it’s not at FG levels yet. Roger got a lot crazier, though some people think that’s a good thing) I think what allows AD to stick around longer is that it’s not a “typical” family sitcom like The Simpsons or Family Guy. Those two shows are about a normal family that gets into wacky scenarios. AD is a family sitcom, but with a more fantastic premise: the dad works at the CIA, allowing the show to do all sorts of weird stuff with crazy science, space aliens, and more. It can do typical family sitcom stuff while having fantastical scenarios as well, and they don’t need to stretch a lot of stuff to get them into those stories.
lol actually Dave Mirkin said they wanted to make this episode into a movie. so stretch that 7 min sketch to 90 min
And the sad thing is, the first adult cartoon wasn’t even The Simpsons (it was just the first to be more popular). The first primetime cartoon was “The Flintstones,” but the first ones that had adult themes and situations were the movie “Fritz the Cat” and the animated sitcom “Wait Till Your Father Gets Home,” a late 1970s Hanna-Barbera cartoon that played out like a cartoon version of “All in the Family,” minus some of the more controversial content.
I think this is closer to how the actual conversation went:
SIMPSONS WRITER (recently hired): Well what if we made an original idea! You know… one that while never being as good as the 90s Simpsons could be one that has some effort put into it. I mean for Christ sake we all graduated Harvard, surely we can do something … I’m fired, aren’t I?
Al JEAN: Yes you are.
I pictured it more as that scene from the pre-cancellation “Family Guy” episode “If I’m Dyin’, I’m Lyin’” (the one where Peter lies about Chris dying of a terminal disease so he can get his favorite show back on the air) where an NBC writer pitches yet another sitcom about a single white girl working for a magazine publishinghouse in the big city and another writer says, “Would you listen to yourself? It’s all just the same crap over and over again! We need to take a chance, do something fresh and original!” And the first writer gets up, takes a “Just Shoot Me” framed poster off the wall and beats the other writer with it.
I forgot about that episode.
I actually imagine the ZS writers room to be just like the SNL writers room in that New York Magazine profile. Al Jean, Matt Selman and one or two other hacks pitching the most outlandish, ridiculous Homer plots and laughing at their own (bad) jokes. Every other writer just sits there bored, bewildered, watching as Selman and Jean eviscerate their scripts, and checking their watches for lunch or when it’s time to go home.
Worst episode ever, and I have never declared anything the worst episode ever before.
Hee hee hee, you sound like Comic Book Guy!
Fuck you, anonymous shit. I’ll find you.
No, you won’t!
I have anger issues.
I didn’t see it, but I know this episode must have been horrible if the AV Club gave it a D+. Keep in mind that ZS episodes average B- grades on AV Club.
This opening line from their review made me laugh:
“It would be a lot easier to make the case that The Simpsons still has value if the people behind the show seemed to give a damn. But an episode like “The Man Who Came To Be Dinner” is a product of such slapdash, breezy disregard for what makes The Simpsons The Simpsons that it functions as a dispiriting signpost to the show’s hastening irrelevance.”
By Jove, after giving passing grades to 15+ years of episodes like this, they’ve finally gotten it!
No, they have not.
Next episode they’ll say that the show is still great.
Well, we’ll see. Next week’s episode is the one Judd Apatow once wrote for the show in the 1990s as a spec script where Homer is hypnotized into acting like a ten year old, but can’t snap out of it because the hypnotist died.
… Seriously? Did the ZS crew look at the script and decide it was funny, or did they just take it because it was there?
I’m a chicken, Marge!
I think the ratings for this show on AV Club have gone down since Todd VanDerWeff (who I think did FOX Sunday reviews) left for Vox.
I’m not too sure about that. Here are the grades for episodes so far, courtesy of Wikipedia (and adding the news that this episode got a D+):
Clown in the Dumps: C
Wreck of the Relationship: B-
Super-Franchise Me: B
Treehouse of Horror XXV: B
Opposites A-Frack: B-
Simpsorama: B-
Blazed and Confused: B-
Covercraft: B-
I Won’t Be Home For Christmas: B-
The Man Who Came to Be Dinner: D+
What will it take for AV Club to give the show an F?
The FOX execs using their teeth on the weekly blowjob they do to ensure the B to C grades.
Or maybe critics with better taste in entertainment, whichever comes first.
Did anyone else notice the similarities between the alien worlds in this episode and Rick and Morty’s Raising Gazorpazorp? It felt a little weak after the R&M ep. Granted, R&M had a femme dominate world, but it still feels similar. I may need to go and rematch raising Gazorpazorp to confirm.
Get back to Star Wars!
I tried and failed. The tragedy of my life is my greatest creation proved to be my greatest failure. Sadly no one appreciates the subtlety of irony in a Rastafarian accented Gungan from Naboo. Hell, I was criticized for using technology to enhance my vision of the original trilogy. I have passed the torch to you, J.J. My legacy rests firmly in your grasp. Greedo shot first!
The first step is always admitting you have a problem, George. You’ve come a long way.
His name is Robert Paulson. His name is Robert Paulson.
Oh wait… Wrong support group.
I admit that I am powerless over Science Fiction and that my life has become unmanageable. I have come to believe that a FORCE greater than me can restore me to sanity.
I think I am on the path to recovery. Thank you for your assistance.
No problem!
I have lots of free time since Mickey Mouse kicked me off of the movie.
That damn mouse!!! Mellody warned me about giving up control of Lucasfilm to an animated rat.
That’s nothing, you should hear the duck.
You think you are directors? Ha! That tears me apart (Lisa)!
I am the greatest director ever, haaah! Oh, hi, Mark.