Quote of the Day

“Hey, you’re that drunken posse! Wow. Can I join you?” – Jimbo Jones “I don’t know. Can you swing a sack of doorknobs?” – Homer Simpson “Can I!” – Jimbo Jones “You’re in! Here’s the sack.” – Homer Simpson “But you gotta supply your own knobs.” – Moe

Makeup Quote of the Day

“Dad, the best way for you to help is to set a good example. Just stand around and don’t steal anything. . . . Hey!” – Homer Simpson “We’re on our break.” – Abe “Grampa” Simpson

Quote of the Day

“And my necklace!” – Marge Simpson “That’s no big loss.” – Homer Simpson “Homer, that necklace was a priceless Bouvier family heirloom.” – Marge Simpson “Oh, you probably got a whole drawer full of ’em.” – Homer Simpson “Well, yes, I do. But they’re all heirlooms too!” – Marge Simpson

Quote of the Day

“Hordes of panicky people seem to be evacuating the town for some unknown reason. Professor, without knowing precisely what the danger is, would you say it’s time for our viewers to crack each other’s heads open and feast on the goo inside?” – Kent Brockman “Yes, I would, Kent.” – Professor

Quote of the Day

“What do you say to the accusation that your group has been causing more crimes than it’s been preventing?” – Kent Brockman “Oh, Kent, I’d be lying if I said my men weren’t committing crimes.” – Homer Simpson “Touche.” – Kent Brockman

Quote of the Day

“Hey, the burglar left his calling card.” – Bart Simpson “You have just been robbed by the Springfield cat burglar.  Cute.” – Marge Simpson

Quote of the Day

“So, I said to him, look, buddy, your car was upside down when we got here!  And as for your grandma, she shouldn’t have mouthed off like that.” – Homer Simpson

Quote of the Day

“Alright, these are our new family security rules: be home before dark, and make sure you’re not followed.  Lock all doors and windows.” – Homer Simpson “And don’t take candy from strangers.” – Marge Simpson “Marge, they’re only human.” – Homer Simpson

Quote of the Day

“How are we gonna get out of here?” – Otto “We’ll dig our way out!” – Homer Simpson “No, no, dig up, stupid.” – Chief Wiggum Happy (blizzard belated) 20th Anniversary to “Homer the Vigilante”!  Original airdate 6 January 1994.

Quote of the Day

“Well, as you can see, when the burglar trips the alarm, the house raises from its foundations and runs down the street, around the corner to safety. . . . Well, the real humans won’t, uh, won’t burn quite so fast in there.” – Professor Frink

Quote of the Day

“Lisa, the mob is working on getting your saxophone back, but we’ve also expanded into other important areas: literacy programs, preserving our beloved covered bridges, world domination.” – Homer Simpson “World domination?” – Lisa Simpson “Oh, that might be a typo.” – Homer Simpson “Mental note: the girl knows too much.” – Homer’s Brain

Quote of the Day

“Wake up, Dad!  Wake up!  There was a burglar and he took my saxophone!” – Lisa Simpson “Woo-hoo!” – Homer Simpson “And our portable TV!” – Bart Simpson “D’oh!” – Homer Simpson

Quote of the Day

“Okay, men, it’s time to clean up this town.” – Homer Simpson “Meaning what, exactly?” – Principal Skinner “You know, push people around, make ourselves feel big.” – Homer Simpson

Stages of Grief

We’ve now gotten through a little more than half of Season 11 on Crazy Noises, and it’s inspired quite a few comments along the lines of “this is when I knew the show was dead”.  Most notably, a couple of weeks ago commenter Dan S. just went ahead and asked: I’m curious to know how all of you felt about season 10 and 11 when they first aired. Looking at them today it is unmistakable that the quality had declined horribly, but at the time of first airing when I was in eighth grade I don’t remember talking about how bad they were or even noticing until about season 12. I chalk most of that up to being relatively young, but I wouldn’t mind reading an article about a look back to how you felt about the show as it was in its decline. There are a few interesting replies in that thread (and it’s fascinating to see how different episodes had similar effects on different people), but I was very far from the internet that weekend and couldn’t give it the attention it deserved.  However, that basic question, how you felt about the decline of the show as it was happening, is something that’s been on my mind since last summer when we were going through Season 10.  What’s struck me about Seasons 10 and 11 is how little my opinions have changed since they were first broadcast.  With Season 7, and especially Season 8, my estimation of quite a few episodes went way up as I saw them more times.  For example, I really didn’t like “El Viaje de Nuestro Jomer” the first time it was broadcast.  I thought the whole dream sequence was dumb and I can remember saying that “Batman’s really let himself go” was the only genuinely excellent joke in the whole episode.  But as that one got to syndication, the shock of the initial zaniness wore off and I appreciated it more and more.  So while I didn’t like a lot of Seasons 9 and 10 when they were new, I was willing to give them some time to change my mind.  The problem was that as Seasons 9 and 10 got dumped into the rerun pool, fewer and fewer episodes grew on me the way “El Viaje de Nuestro Jomer” had.  There are only a handful of episodes in Season 8 that I basically never watch, but in Season 9 it’s more like half, and Season 10 is even worse.    It wasn’t until Season 11 was being aired that I finally started admitting in public that the show had gone massively downhill, and that was only because I couldn’t help but notice that the syndication runs now had quite a few episodes that I simply didn’t like to watch.  I wanted to like these episodes, and I was desperate for any sign that the show was returning to form, but too many of them weren’t merely weirdly surprising on a first viewing, they…