“So, even if a man takes bread to feed his starving family, that would be stealing?” – Lisa Simpson “No. Well, it is if he puts anything on it. Jelly, for example.” – Reverend Lovejoy
Tag: Homer vs. Lisa and the 8th Commandment
Quote of the Day
“Anything else?” – Grocery Clerk “Yes, I ate two grapes. Please charge me for them.” – Marge Simpson “Oh? Two grapes? Who cares?” – Grocery Clerk “Just charge me something, please.” – Marge Simpson “Yeah, okay, alright . . . I need a price check on two grapes. Yeah, you heard me, Phil! Two measly stinkin’ grapes.” – Grocery Clerk
Quote of the Day
“Today’s Christian doesn’t think he needs God. He thinks he’s got it made. He’s got his hi-fi! His boob tube! And his instant pizza pie!” – Reverend Lovejoy “Ooh, pizza.” – Homer Simpson
Quote of the Day
“Good evening, Azran, Carver of Graven Images.” – Homer the Thief “Ah, good evening, Homer the Thief. How is business?” – Azran, Carver of Graven Images “Been a little slow these past few months. Not much to steal in the desert, you know?” – Homer the Thief “Ah, do not worry, my friend. I figure we’ll be wandering out here another two weeks, tops.” – Azran, Carver of Graven Images
Makeup Quote of the Day (Again)
“Man, I wish I was an adult so I could break the rules.” – Bart Simpson
Bonus Quote of the Day
“Hello, I’m Troy McClure. You may remember me from such movies as ‘Cry Yuma!’ and ‘Here Comes the Coast Guard!’ But today I’d like to talk to you about a pleasant tasting candy that actually cleans and straightens your teeth.” – Troy McClure Phil Hartman would’ve been sixty-nine today. (Nice.) Happy birthday.
Saturday Morning Cartoons
“Mr. Speaker, if I could call your attention to the retroactive subsidy appropriations override bill, I refer you to page four thousand five hundred and…” – Cable I’ve often said that it’s the little things that are what makes The Simpsons endlessly rewatchable. Case in point is the houseplant above, which I did not notice for years and years. The first time we see it is when Marge carries it into the house right before Homer announces to his family that they’ve now got cable. From there it gets set next to the couch as an unobtrusive background gag that also demonstrates just how in love with cable Homer truly is. The plant isn’t asked to eat any time or advance the plot. The show never calls any attention to it. The whole time it’s there growing and withering, we’re getting all the cable parodies about Mexican wrestling, the World Series of Cockfighting,* and movies that receive two stars or less and are repeated ad nauseam. By the time Homer literally peels himself off the couch to go to church, it’s crumpled and dead. (*Incidentally, this is another example of how exquisitely tuned the show’s cultural antennae were. The World Series of Cockfighting is “live from New Orleans” where they’re gonna have “big fun on the bayou tonight”. Louisiana was, indeed, the last state to ban cockfighting . . . in 2008.) In the grand scheme of this episode, it’s as minor as minor touches get. “Homer vs. Lisa and the Eighth Commandment” is chockablock with parodies and/or gag titles about a dozen different movies, the then new format of infomercials, kids wanting to watch porn, the ridiculousness of boxing, and about a hundred other things. In another running background joke, Jimbo manages to shoplift his way through a satirical morality tale about theft. Like him, the plant is never going to be anyone’s favorite part of this one, but it’s there waiting for people to find it on the Nth time they view it. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some things to do before I spent much of my afternoon streaming college football on someone else’s cable log-in.
Quote of the Day
“Permission to speak frankly, sir?” – Mr. Smithers “Permission granted.” – C.M. Burns “Well, you are quite wealthy.” – Mr. Smithers “Thank you, Smithers. Your candor is most refreshing.” – C.M. Burns
Quote of the Day
“So, this is okay, isn’t it? I mean, everybody does it, right?” – Homer Simpson “What? Oh, hey, if you’re having second thoughts, just read this pamphlet.” – Crooked Cable Guy
Reading Digest: Local Boys Make Good Edition
“The challenger learned how to fight in the notorious projects of Capital City, and honed his skills while serving time for aggravated assault and manslaughter in Springfield Prison.” – Boxing Announcer “Alright, a local boy!” – Barney Gumble With the hoopla around the premier and the crossover now safely in the rear view mirror, and Halloween stuff not yet ramping up to full volume, it’s a pretty short Reading Digest this week. We do have hometown articles about both Al Jean and Mike Reiss, however. In addition to those, we’ve got some excellent fan art, a couple of interesting lists, and some stuffed animal based charity. Enjoy. [TV Talk] Top 10 Simpsons Horror Movie Parodies – This is a pretty good list. There is one Zombie Simpsons segment, but it’s #9. #10 is the Guillermo del Toro couch gag, which was pretty entertaining even if it wasn’t part of the show proper. Cakes Raise Cancer Awareness – Simpsons cakes, specifically, and there’s even art of one of Comic Book Guy. Bravo. Sometimes words just get in the way – Longtime director Mark Kirkland has made a short, silent movie: A romantic comedy that takes place, as the first title card explains, in a “long-forgotten movie studio,” The Moving Picture Co. 1914 has a 22-minute running time that Kirkland notes is the same length as a Simpsons episode if you cut out the commercials. “I’m used to that time length and meter,” says the California Institute of the Arts graduate, who double-majored in film and animation. “The Simpsons are in my blood.” Weird Al is playing the guy who’s playing Jesus. Reboot The Simpsons – Instead of flashing everyone forward, I guess you could go backwards instead, but either way I remain convinced that the current show has to die before anything new and interesting can come out of Simpsons-world. Reproduction of Lisa Simpson, The Scream – Excellent fan made painting. Four sitcoms past their prime – Zombie Simpsons is such a fixture on lists like these, that the lists themselves have taken a meta-note of it: The Simpsons This show has been on every past-their-prime list published in the last decade. Bargain Bin Games – The Simpsons: Bart Vs. The World – A YouTube review. Say Anything Parodies on TV: 8 of the Best – Otto proposing to Becky is on here, but I’d probably go with Itchy & Scratchy’s “Spay Anything” in “Cape Feare”, though that doesn’t have the boombox over the head thing. On TV: 5-sentence review of ‘The Simpsons’ Season 26, Episode 3: ‘Super Franchise Me’ – According to the ratings, a lot of people do this: Truth be told, I only watch about four “The Simpsons” episodes a year, until they choke out their “Treehouse of Horror,” and then I go on my way forgetting that they’re on TV, basically having vague memories that this was something I once looked forward to watching. WTF Wednesday: Questionable Trends in Fashion – The trend of fashionable Bart clothing spreads. Hype launches The Simpsons apparel with Topman – See above.…
Quote of the Day
“Poopsie the Clown is a treasure that will last a lifetime!” – Shopping Channel Announcer “Cable . . . it’s more wonderful than I dared hope.” – Homer Simpson Those of you who have cable: enjoy the FXX marathon (Zombie Simpsons won’t start until Monday-Tuesday).
Quote of the Day
“Hey, Moe, how come you never got cable for the bar?” – Barney “Well, it was either cable or the mechanical bull. I made my choice, and I stand by it.” – Moe
Quote of the Day
“Ooh, somebody’s having a party.” – Apu Nahasapeemapetilon “Yeah, Friday night, want to come over?” – Homer Simpson “Oh, thank you, but this store is open twenty-four hours, it puts great demands on my time.” – Apu Nahasapeemapetilon “Too bad, it’s gonna be a great fight.” – Homer Simpson “Oh, the fight! Why didn’t you say something? I’ll get my brother Sanjay to cover for me. He deplores violence of all kinds.” – Apu Nahasapeemapetilon
Reading Digest: Cable Expansion Edition
“How can one little insulated wire bring so much happiness?” – Homer Simpson The big news this week was the deliberate media leak that FOX is considering selling the cable rights to The Simpsons and Zombie Simpsons next year. This was a little unexpected in that one of the reasons the show has never been on cable is that the over-the-air syndication deal prohibits such a thing so long as new episodes are being made. So did this indicate that the show would be ending? No: However, unlike most syndication deals, the “Simpsons”-cable syndication does not spell doom for the program as a whole. A source at Fox tells Variety that the net has no plans in the near term to cancel the animated skein, leaving “The Simpsons” potentially syndicated on both broadcast and cable, while still rolling out new episodes on Fox. But that wasn’t the only cable news link this week. The Netherlands is getting a new cable channel from FOX that will have the show as well. In addition to that we’ve got plenty of people who agree with us, interviews with David Silverman and James L. Brooks, Google Street View catching what looks like a Simpsons movie promo out and about, another Threadless contest entry, and lots more. Enjoy. ‘The Simpsons’ Is Finally Coming To Cable – Here it is and here’s a link that explains just why it is a good thing: Considering most Fox syndicates only air episodes from the past five seasons or so (if I have to see “The Scorpion’s Tale” one more time, I’m going to scream), this is terrific news, made all the better by “executives [believing] that Fox’s sister channel FX will likely have first crack at the property.” Here’s why this should happen. 1. Because this episode will be on TV again. That leads to a screen grab from “Bart the Lover”, and the rest of them are all from Season 8 or before. If a deal does get done, and it does get the old ones back on regular TV all the time (as Jebus intended), that would be a very good thing. Director David Silverman talks about ‘The Simpsons’ – David Silverman is still doing publicity for that animation festival in Toronto and went on a Canadian morning show. I love the polite, dead eyed laughter at the beginning where they show a clip from Zombie Simpsons. "6 Musical Moments from The Simpsons, Looped Forever" by MrTheEdge – There is way more Zombie Simpsons here than there needs to be, but the first one (with Maggie and the Drive soundtrack) is pretty hypnotizing. The Simpsons – Some Enchanted Evening. – A new blog takes a nice, somewhat creeped out nostalgic look at the last episode of Season 1. One small nitpick: (Season 1 Episode 13) CONTAINS SPOILERS. I think we can dispense with spoiler warnings for twenty-three-year-old episodes that have been broadcast in syndication for decades now. SUPERCUT: Movie references in the Simpsons, season 6-10 –…
Quote of the Day
“They must think people will watch anything.” – Homer Simpson “Live from New Orleans, this is the World Series of cock fighting! Oh, son of a gun, we’ll have big fun on the bayou tonight!” – TV Announcer
Quote of the Day
“You’re watching Top Hat Entertainment, adult programming all day, every day, except in Florida and Utah. Coming up next, Stardust Mammaries.” – Sultry Female Announcer
Quote of the Day
“I’m so keen on seeing Watson vs. Tatum II, I’d even go to an employee’s house. Oh, I can picture it now, the screen door rusting off its filthy hinges, mangy dogs staggering about, looking vainly for a place to die.” – C.M. Burns
“Homer vs. Lisa and the 8th Commandment” Spews Truth
“Now, today’s Christian doesn’t think he needs God. He thinks he’s got it made. He’s got his hi-fi, his boob tube, and his instant pizza pie.” – Reverend Lovejoy “Ooh, pizza.” – Homer Simpson After we got such a positive response when we did those posts about “Lisa’s First Word”, and caught in the barren wasteland of the week it’s been around here, I thought I’d go back through the commentary tracks for The Simpsons and see what’s there. For the record, I have only ever heard a tiny handful of these. I got most of the DVD sets as soon as they came out, but I never listened to more than a couple of the commentaries because I often found myself just wanting to watch the episodes instead. Remember, the early Naughts were an awkward time to watch the good episodes. Unless you were a VHS obsessive, the only way to see the old ones was on syndication. Season 2 came out on DVD in 2002, between Seasons 13 and 14, when the syndication runs were already substantially polluted with Zombie Simpsons. Nor did they always rerun the episodes in order or even equally. The first time I sat down with the Season 2 discs, I was amazed at the number of episodes I hadn’t seen in a couple of years or more. Just based on this and the one or two other classic commentaries I’ve heard since I started doing “Lies Make Baby Jesus Cry”, the biggest difference is the lack of meandering tangents. There are still some long silences here and there, but they never stray from the episode. Literally everything they say is directly related to what’s going on. The second biggest difference is the fact that they laugh a lot more. And it’s not nervous laughter at something dumb, it’s fun giggles and chuckles at stuff they enjoyed or even had forgotten. There’s never a sense that they’re bored or killing time. Five guys on this one, Al Jean, Steve Pepoon, Mike Reiss, Matt Groening, and Rich Moore 0:30 – Already into interesting trivia, as they originally had it titled without Lisa’s name, but episodes with her name in the title were always popular so they added it. 1:50 – Moore (I think) says that this was the first time they had a really busy sky, with a lot of clouds. 2:20 – Love for Hartman and his Charlton Heston impression. 3:00 – They really enjoyed doing all the cable channel parodies, which at the time no one had done. 3:30 – Noting Homer falling in front of the truck is “shot by shot” from North by Northwest. 3:35 – Someone (think it’s Reiss) says, impressed, “We’ve gone from Cecil B. DeMille to Hitchcock and we’re a minute-three into the episode.” 4:15 – Laughing at the potted plant Marge is holding, all in the service of a background gag that never gets mentioned. 5:00 – Laughing at the set for “Hear Me Roar: the network…
Quote of the Day
“Wait a minute, Troy, I’m a little confused. Did you say ‘Cleans and straightens’?” – Tina “There’s no confusion, Tina, just good science.” – Troy McClure Happy 20th Anniversary to “Homer vs. Lisa and the Eighth Commandment”! Original airdate: 7 February 1991.
Reading Digest: Dueling Videos Edition
“Son, you shouldn’t watch that other channel, it’s only for mommies and daddies who love each other very much.” – Homer Simpson There were two Simpsons YouTube videos this week that garnered quite a bit of attention. Taken together, they make for a rather funny statement on the current status of the show. The first was a clip The Simpsons made back when The Cosby Show finally went off the air. The second is a porn parody of the show slathered in yellow makeup. I’d say that’s about where we are. There’s also some excellent usage and the usual assortment of Simpsons ephemera. As always, feel free to put anything Simpsons related you found on-line this week in the comments, self promotional links encouraged. Enjoy. Long-Lost Simpsons Clip Resurfaces – I vaguely remember this: There’s some background at the link to rubbercat.net/simpsons, long story short: Yes, Golden Age Simpsons managed to burn the current incarnation of the show from years in the past. The ownage levels are off the charts. Are you friggin excrementing me? Safe for work Trailer for… SIMPSONS – THE XXX PARODY??? – Via Bill Oakley’s Twitter feed, followed swiftly by everyone else on the internet, it’s the trailer for the Simpsons porn parody: I don’t think I could actually jerk off to that, but I gotta admit, some of the voices aren’t bad. Marge isn’t even close, obviously, but both the guy playing Homer and the one playing Flanders do pretty good impressions. The off screen Barney is decent as well, and it gets points for remembering that Cookie Kwan is number one on the west side. Muston Scarecrow Festival – Check out these Simpsons scarecrows from Britain. Homer, Bart and Lisa look pretty good, Marge kinda looks like her chest is pregnant. Still, that’s cool, damn hell ass cool (via rubbrcatsimp on Twitter). Two Films That Subtly Changed Some of My Attitudes About Movies and Life – I was entertained by Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, but this is both excellent usage and pretty true: How do we know Scott is worthy of our attention? Because every other character in the movie talks about and/or reacts to Scott all the time. It’s like the scene in The Simpsons‘ "The Itchy and Scratchy and Poochie Show" where Homer gives the show’s producers a list of ways to make viewers love the Poochie character, once of which is "Whenever Poochie’s not onscreen, the other characters should be asking, ‘Where’s Poochie?’" Homer actually puts an “all” in front of “the other”, but other than that it’s spot on. Homer Simpson YouTube Background – Are you a YouTube member? Here’s a Homer background. Ophiuchus…In 10 Words – Homer’s horoscope, and his wailing reaction to it, always cracks me up. The Simpsons Porn Parody…In 10 Words – A twofer, this one being about everyone’s favorite Simpsons…