"Alright, so there can only be one Krusty in each territory, so I hope this works out. Tell me where you’re from." – Krusty the Klown "Georgia." – Southern Hick "Texas." – Exaggerated Texan #1 "Uh . . . Brooklyn." – Exaggerated Texan #2 "Russia." – Fur Hatted Russian "New Hampshire." – Stuffy Yankee "Homer!" – Homer Simpson Krusty the Klown is a great symbol of so much that is wrong with the entertainment industry. He long ago shed any last vestige of dignity, then stopped caring about the quality of his show or his merchandise shortly thereafter. He doesn’t particularly like the kids he entertains, treats his staff like crap, and wastes every one of the millions of dollars he earns. As has happened to so many celebrities and entertainers over the years, the act gets stale, the fame cools off, and then the money dries up. Condor egg omelets and cigarettes lit with hundred dollar bills are all well and good right up until you can’t afford them anymore. The Simpsons showed us what would happen to Krusty at this point several times during its run. When his show got run off the air by Gabbo, he fell completely apart but managed a comeback thanks to his years of celebrity contacts. When Bart inadvertently snitched on him for tax avoision, he got back on top with that old standby, insurance fraud. And when his love of horse racing got him in too deep with the mob, he opened a clown college and franchised himself. That last one is relevant because it is the exact same thing that happened this week in "Yellow Subterfuge". Well, almost exact, "Homie the Clown" handles it vastly better, but since it was just the B-plot (and a barely extant one at that) in "Yellow Subterfuge", there are just a few scenes to actually compare. Of those, there are two that stand out as exemplifying the systemic and repeating ways Zombie Simpsons fumbles concepts that worked so well on "The Simpsons". The first is our discovery that Krusty is broke. Going all the way back to Season 1, Krusty and Burns existed in a stratosphere of fame, power, and wealth far above the ordinary citizens of Springfield. This being a television show, they crossed paths with the Simpson family an unusual amount of times, a structurally necessary absurdity that the show began making fun of in Season 4 for Burns ("Last Exit to Springfield", when Burns replies that the name Simpson doesn’t ring a bell after Smithers reminds him of all the things that have already happened) and Season 5 for Krusty ("Bart Gets Famous", when Bart points out all the times he’s helped Krusty after Krusty doesn’t know who he is). It doesn’t make the strictest sense, but neither do people with four fingers and yellow skin, it’s just a part of the show you can have a little fun with. And having fun with it is exactly how The Simpsons brought Krusty…
Tag: Yellow Subterfuge
Behind Us Forever: Yellow Subterfuge
“I never thought I’d win this easy.” – Bart Simpson “This has nothing to do with you, Simpson. I have many, many issues with my beloved smother-, mother.” – Principal Skinner The B-plot in this episode was a forced rehash of “Homie the Clown”. The A-plot was, almost impressively, even dumber, with Skinner pulling a giant combat knife out of his mother’s back and not noticing that she wasn’t actually dead before trusting himself to Homer and Bart(!). Before we got to that, however, we had plenty of Bart acting wildly out of character, more exposition than you can throw a screenwriting book at, and, oh what the hell, a nuclear submarine. Even the couch gag has to electrocute Homer. It’s like a nervous twitch. Skinner exposited his whole announcement to the school. This isn’t starting well. “No, Skinner said I had a clean slate, so right now I’m as good as any kid!” – Seriously, that was the previous scene Lisa actually asks Bart “What are you doing?” – Fry’s holophoner opera for Leela was less hacktacular. Homer farting with each step into the yard isn’t as bad as that time they did a whole Halloween segment about him farting, but it’s pretty bad. Lisa just biked up to Krusty, who helpfully told her everything that was going on in his life. I liked this scene better when it was in “Bart the Fink”. “You’re like egg salad at a picnic, Simpson” – They do know they don’t have a laughtrack to hoot and ooh and the appropriate times, don’t they? Sometimes I’m not sure. Bart’s little action sequence about trying not to be late was almost completely pointless. The only good thing about it is that now I can stash that dumb truck into my inventory on Tapped Out. “Time to celebrate with a fruit on the bottom yogurt” – Skinner telling us exactly what he’s about to do, I think that makes on for every major character in this episode. This b-plot about world Krustys (Krustii?) is atrocious, even before you get to the whole “Homie the Clown” thing. Okay, Irish Krusty is funny. So, the fake death thing is dumb, but it just keeps getting dumber with Skinner going along with it/falling for it. Scooby Doo had more well conceived plots. There’s the repeat of Irish Krusty, which isn’t as funny as the first one. When they do come up with something funny, they really can’t resist overusing it. And now Milhouse and Maggie are involved because . . . huh? Almost as an afterthought, they decided to wrap up the B-plot with a chase scene. I guess that was nice of them. Anyway, the ratings are in and they are good by current Zombie Simpsons standards and wretched by the standards of Zombie Simpsons of a few years ago. Last night’s hapless remake made just 6.82 million people with they were watching Season 6. That’s a high for this year, yet well below the average…
Sunday Preview: Yellow Subterfuge
Principal Skinner promises the students that the best-behaved among them can take a ride in a submarine. When Skinner gives all the kids a clean slate, Bart believes even his own past indiscretions will be forgotten if he doesn’t get into any more trouble. Meanwhile Lisa tries to help a cash-poor Krusty to turn things around by suggesting he sell the foreign rights to his shows. Bart will try to behave for a reward, and Lisa will help Krusty out of the poor house again. Neither of these plot lines are remotely new, but at least this time there may be a submarine. I like submarines.