“Look here, that’s enough now, I own sixty percent of that network!” – Rupert Murdoch A couple of weeks ago, Banksy posted his original storyboard (via) for the Zombie Simpsons opening that ran back in October. It makes for interesting viewing, and most of the ideas contained therein made it into the finished product. There are a couple of minor touch ups, mostly sanitizing some of the gorier sketches Banksy did, but on the whole it is pretty faithful to the original concepts . . . with one telling exception. Here is one of the panels from Banksy’s original: And…
Tag: MoneyBART
Crazy Noises: MoneyBART
"Hey Scioscia, I don’t get it. You’re a ringer, but you’re here every night in the core busting your butt hauling radioactive waste." – Carl "Well, Carl, it’s such a relief from the pressures of playing big league ball. I mean, there you make any kind of mistake and boom, the press is all over you. Uh oh." – Mike Scioscia “Ah, don’t worry about it.” – Carl “Oh man, is this ever sweet.” – Mike Scioscia I’m very ready to be done with this episode. Unlike most Zombie Simpsons episodes this one will end up being memorable. Not because…
Sorry Everyone, The Banksy Thing Is Lame
Fifteen years ago, when The Simpsons was still on the air, The Critic had a scene set in the “Oliver Twist Preschool”. Skip to the 4:30 mark: For anyone who can’t get the video, here’s the important part: Adorable Child Laborer: Sir, have we made enough Simpsons merchandise yet? Cruel Workhouse Guy: Never! Never, indeed. Three years before that, The Simpsons itself made fun of its own production process: Again, for anyone who can’t see the video (or in case it gets pulled): Kent Brockman: I’m here live in Korea to give you a first hand look at how American…
Compare & Contrast: Lisa Learns a Sport
“Let’s see . . . football . . . football, homoeroticism in, oddball Canadian rules, Phyllis George and.” – Lisa Simpson There are obviously a lot of ways “MoneyBART” fails miserably in comparison to “Homer at the Bat”, which it consciously aped. But there is a different Season 3 masterpiece to which it is pathetic and terrible in comparison: “Lisa the Greek”. In both episodes, Lisa needs to study a sport she doesn’t know about. In “MoneyBART”, everything about this, from how much she knows at first, to how she goes about it, to what she reads for research is…
I Can’t Think of a Baseball Metaphor for Poor Storytelling or Low Ratings
“Smithers, it’s almost game time, where the devil are my ringers?” – C.M. Burns “Sir, Mike Scioscia might not live through the night. Steve Sax is looking at six consecutive life sentences. And Ozzie Smith seems to have vanished off the face of the Earth.” – Mr. Smithers Shortly before the weak-and-lazy-even-by-their-standards introduction of throwaway voice Mike Scioscia, Zombie Simpsons demonstrated yet again just how apathetic they are towards anything that could be called storytelling. Bart and Marge are riding on a rollercoaster, and Bart makes the completely offhand remark, “You know, Mom, after only seven hours in this amusement…
Sunday Preview: “MoneyBART”
I have three things to say about tonight’s episode, “MoneyBART”: The only Lisa + Bart + sports rivalry episode that should exist, ever, is “Lisa on Ice.” The only episode in which Mike Scioscia matters is “Homer at the Bat.” This is the third episode of Season 22 and the third in a row with a guest star. Remember when guest voices were used sparingly? That’s all. If you’re still reading, here’s the description from Simpsons Channel: A visit by a Springfield Elementary alum-turned-Ivy-League student pushes Lisa to question her own go-getter attitude and reevaluate the scope of…