|
Ghost Leviathan posted:Lisa the Vegetarian is one of those things where you can see the start of the bad habits that the later seasons got into, where she goes from a intellectual, conscientious girl struggling with misogyny, anti-intellectualism and and apathy and close-mindedness of older generations, to jumping on any soapbox she can find variously as a parody of self-righteous morality warriors or a mouthpiece for the writers. Neither going over very well especially in the 00s.  Das Boo posted:It's 100% this. It definitely wasn't entirely a bad episode, but it's the earliest I can trace the DNA of everything I would come to hate about modern Simpsons.  Also, the celebrity cameos are cringey as all hell, and I like The Beatles. It’s the first episode where the celebrities are just “there” without a purpose or reason as to why they’re there. It could have been done so much better, like Paul and Linda McCartney were in town for a benefit concert or a guest spot on the Krusty the Clown Show, but nah. They’re hanging out on the roof of the Kwik-E-Mart because……???
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2023 14:44
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 19, 2024 16:28 |
|
|
Wow, Paul and Linda McCartney!
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2023 14:49
|
|
|
I learned about you in history class!
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2023 14:50
|
|
|
WHAT BRINGS YOU TWO TO SPRINGFIELD?!?!?!?!?!?!
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2023 14:51
|
|
|
KKK? That's not good! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryOmqxJcK5w Kinda hate thinking about how a joke like this would've been mangled in later seasons of The Simpsons. For one they definitely would not have trusted the audience to understand the significance of the Apollo Theater and would've shown a black audience. And they probably would've called it the Napollo Theater.
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2023 15:48
|
|
|
I had no idea of the Apollo Theatre's significance. Not American mind you.
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2023 15:54
|
|
|
Well it's also not the entire basis for the joke. That's another thing that Bad Simpsons does. Dwell, endlessly, on any joke they make because that's the one the scene gets.
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2023 17:14
|
|
|
to mix as many metaphors as possible: the "start of the bad era" is probably not, as a whole, a bad episode. it was when the seeds of badness (many of which were present from the earliest episodes) began to sprout. even then, they probably did not grow fruit or otherwise outcompete the good elements of the show until much later. a gradually rising frog boiling of badness, spread across many episodes or even many seasons, until one's personal tolerance is reached and you jump ship.
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2023 17:29
|
|
|
Modern Simpsons wouldn’t trust the audience to even know what “KKK” means and why it’s bad. “KKK? Why that’s the same initials as…”
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2023 17:58
|
|
|
SweetMercifulCrap! posted:Modern Simpsons wouldn’t trust the audience to even know what “KKK” means and why it’s bad. Then probably add in Lisa going "why did they air the special when Krusty got knocked out 5 seconds into it?" with Bart adding "it sure is unfortunate he didn't read the sign before going on stage", and Marge sounding like a broken lawn mower and going "Mmm."
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2023 18:20
|
|
|
UP AND ADAM posted:Wow, Paul and Linda McCartney! Yeah, in larger context of celeb cameos they’re fine but not a highlight of the golden years. Especially as when Ringo showed up he was writing a letter from England, and Harrison was at the Grammys (and I guess briefly in Springfield to see the roof performance) so that made sense, but celebrities constantly visiting Springfield was not a good trend. Definite tendency of Simpson staff to worship celebrity musicians that became a problem, I understand they were thrilled to get Paul but he absolutely should not have been telling the writers Lisa had to stay vegetarian. Give him the Dick Cavett or Steve Sax treatment.
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2023 18:38
|
|
|
The show using celebrities peaked with michael jackson
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2023 19:35
|
|
|
Hyrax Attack! posted:Yeah, in larger context of celeb cameos they’re fine but not a highlight of the golden years. Especially as when Ringo showed up he was writing a letter from England, and Harrison was at the Grammys (and I guess briefly in Springfield to see the roof performance) so that made sense, but celebrities constantly visiting Springfield was not a good trend. Yeah, Homerpalooza was mentioned as having a bunch of celebrities in it, but context is the key. It’s an episode based around a music festival, so of course you’re gonna see famous musicians playing themselves in it, and well, I might add. I love Thurston Moore’s reading of, “Aww, come on, Mr. Frampton, you’re not gonna eat all that watermelon.” followed later by all four members of Sonic Youth holding that ridiculously huge slice of watermelon  Also, Cypress Hill and the orchestra are great. The Alec Baldwin/Kim Basinger episode is the first episode based around celebrities being celebrities in Springfield and quite literally nothing else and it was putrid rear end garbage.
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2023 19:43
|
|
|
something I appreciate about King of the Hill is that it has just as many celebrities in it but they almost never play themselves and when they do the episode usually sucks
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2023 20:09
|
|
|
JAMOOOL posted:something I appreciate about King of the Hill is that it has just as many celebrities in it but they almost never play themselves and when they do the episode usually sucks What about the Chuck Mangione episodes?
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2023 20:26
|
|
|
that gets a pass because he only really speaks in one episode and it's something they had been setting up all series. but like the ZZ Top & American Chopper episodes are very much poo poo in the style of recent Simpsons
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2023 20:32
|
|
|
Hyrax Attack! posted:Definite tendency of Simpson staff to worship celebrity musicians that became a problem NRBQ
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2023 20:40
|
|
|
JAMOOOL posted:that gets a pass because he only really speaks in one episode and it's something they had been setting up all series. but like the ZZ Top & American Chopper episodes are very much poo poo in the style of recent Simpsons For sure, although George Foreman was a delightful exception. “Novelty grill?!!??”
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2023 21:11
|
|
|
don't know if i mentioned it in this thread but not too long ago i saw the episode where bart take ritalin, and i'm not sure how to feel about it. probably cause i was expecting much worse?
|
|
#
?
Feb 28, 2023 07:19
|
|
|
I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks Marge Be Not Proud is off in some almost indescribable way, I was worried I was going to have to talk to a professional and possibly make meaningful life changes. I love you, Dr Internet!
|
|
#
?
Feb 28, 2023 07:40
|
|
|
Mr Interweb posted:don't know if i mentioned it in this thread but not too long ago i saw the episode where bart take ritalin, and i'm not sure how to feel about it. probably cause i was expecting much worse? Specifically they have him on Focusyn, and in a quick joke at the end of the episode they say he's going back to Ritalin. Honestly hard to get too mad at TV writers because loving everyone was doing it, but definitely a harmful trend that made it a lot harder for people to actually identify and get treatment for ADHD and other issues for years and counting because people have no idea how the medication actually works.
|
|
#
?
Feb 28, 2023 08:10
|
|
|
I feel like I may have said this before but Paul McCartney's "Sure you were, Apu" is one of the worst line readings in television history.
|
|
#
?
Feb 28, 2023 09:14
|
|
|
Ringo’s “I hung it on me wall” is one of the best
|
|
#
?
Feb 28, 2023 09:35
|
|
|
bitterandtwisted posted:Ringo’s “I hung it on me wall” is one of the best Also George Harrison's "well, what a nice fellow"
|
|
#
?
Feb 28, 2023 10:26
|
|
|
Teriyaki Hairpiece posted:I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks Marge Be Not Proud is off in some almost indescribable way, I was worried I was going to have to talk to a professional and possibly make meaningful life changes. I love you, Dr Internet! I think it's mostly how long it lingers on the emotional beat of Marge being upset at Bart, and Bart just kind of being isolated from the family, in a way that feels maybe a little too painful and real for the typical tone of the show. It's a very "cold" episode, literally and figuratively.
|
|
#
?
Feb 28, 2023 11:24
|
|
|
I like it, it's like one of those semi-serious family drama plots from seasons 2-3 like Bart vs Thanksgiving. It's certainly not a premonition of the oncoming fail era in any case, if anything it's too sober and down to earth
|
|
#
?
Feb 28, 2023 11:39
|
|
|
spaceblancmange posted:harry shearer will be 80 this year zetamind2000 posted:When he dies the show will deepfake him for 80 more years which the show e: oh it's Le Show with Harry Shearer, sorry everybody BasicLich fucked around with this message at 12:06 on Feb 28, 2023 |
|
#
?
Feb 28, 2023 12:03
|
|
|
Hyrax Attack! posted:Lisa the Skeptic was a warning of things to come. Homer is full jerkass, the entire town instantly assembles around the angel so we can hear from Sideshow Mel, and they later become a mob at the drop of a hat as mobs are always funny and need to be in every episode. Yeah, Lisa the Skeptic is the first episode where I remember being like "eeeeeeeehhhhhh" at the ending. I haven't seen it all that often so I don't remember my feelings during the episode, but I can't imagine they were all that good. At any rate, The Italian Bob is the first one that I remember actively disliking. An episode that I remember having positive feelings about despite not having seen it very often is the one that Alec Baldwin & Kim Basinger were in. Was it really that bad?
|
|
#
?
Feb 28, 2023 16:40
|
|
|
Lisa the Skeptic has a genuinely weird and interesting premise and it's weird it was used on a simpsons episode
|
|
#
?
Feb 28, 2023 17:02
|
|
|
Italian Bob is only the first “bad” episode you’ve seen if you missed the jockeys episode.
|
|
#
?
Feb 28, 2023 17:42
|
|
|
I liked the jockeys episode, but 1) I was 12 when it aired, and 2) I'm pretty sure I only saw it once.
|
|
#
?
Feb 28, 2023 18:12
|
|
|
Lisa the Vegetarian is the only example of character development actually sticking for more than one episode. I guess the whole Sideshow Bob story, too. For me, When you Dish Upon a Star was the first time I remember thinking the show had taken a real turn for the worse.
|
|
#
?
Feb 28, 2023 18:32
|
|
|
Ghost Leviathan posted:Specifically they have him on Focusyn, and in a quick joke at the end of the episode they say he's going back to Ritalin. It's a weird episode, because it feels like the writers never seemed to realize the implications that Bart was right, Major League Baseball was actually spying on him. Focusyn gave him the ability to notice this and to expose the conspiracy, even if he was thwarted by Mark McGuire. It would be one thing if the ending was satirical, that a more mentally healthy Bart is an inconvenience to everyone, so they blame the medication rather than take a look at their hosed-up situation, but it feels like the writers just took as a premise that ADHD medication is bad and so the satirical ending is the family putting him on more "normal" drugs with Ritalin. But the shoddy, knee-jerk nature of their concern ended up accidentally made the point that Focusyn wasn't the problem.
|
|
#
?
Feb 28, 2023 18:35
|
|
|
Dingers!
|
|
#
?
Feb 28, 2023 19:12
|
|
|
YeahTubaMike posted:An episode that I remember having positive feelings about despite not having seen it very often is the one that Alec Baldwin & Kim Basinger were in. Was it really that bad? It’s the first episode I can remember where the celebrities are at the forefront, completely overshadowing plot or the main characters instead of being a guest spot where the celebrity/ies is/are featured at a minimum. It wasn’t just, “Wow, what are you doing in Springfield?”, it was an entire vehicle stroking Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger’s egos with Homer further slipping into his “jerkass” mode and it all just felt so trashy and dumb. It also had Ron Howard in it, but he was used sparingly (thank god) and was an okay guest. It became the setup for later guest spots that put the celebrity front and center like Tony Hawk and Lady Gaga, and those episodes are really terrible.
|
|
#
?
Feb 28, 2023 19:12
|
|
|
The episode that ended our weekly Simpson night was the Tony Hawk one, that was season 14 it looks like. Bad ep
|
|
#
?
Feb 28, 2023 19:15
|
|
|
I'm not sure where it falls in chronologically with the other 'first bad episodes', but I remember thinking the Homer Joins the Naval Reserve episode was hilarious when it aired and I was a kid, but it's insanely bad and one of the first Family Guy-style, disjointed jokes mashed together episodes.
|
|
#
?
Feb 28, 2023 19:18
|
|
|
Larry Cum Free posted:I'm not sure where it falls in chronologically with the other 'first bad episodes', but I remember thinking the Homer Joins the Naval Reserve episode was hilarious when it aired and I was a kid, but it's insanely bad and one of the first Family Guy-style, disjointed jokes mashed together episodes. Oh yeah it still has some good jokes like Treason Season and the montage of the USSR coming back to life, but yeah the tone was all over the place like you said with random family guy nonsense. Like Smithers warping in to dance on the submarine or the clunky David Schwimmer joke.
|
|
#
?
Feb 28, 2023 19:36
|
|
|
IUG posted:Italian Bob is only the first “bad” episode you’ve seen if you missed the jockeys episode. I think this was around the episode I checked out on my first watch. The episode where Bart buried all their Christmas presents was the other one that I remember heavily disliking.
|
|
#
?
Feb 28, 2023 20:04
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 19, 2024 16:28 |
|
|
FireWorksWell posted:The episode where Bart buried all their Christmas presents was the other one that I remember heavily disliking. god yeah not only was that hard to watch it felt like a different show entirely
|
|
#
?
Feb 28, 2023 20:14
|
|