(S18E22)
Rod: Daddy, what are you doing?
Ned Flanders: Imploring people I never met to pressure government with better things to do to punish a man who meant no harm for something nobody even saw, that's what I'm doing!
Like I said in my other review, the "24 Minutes" episode, on the surface, seemed like the better choice for the 400th episode, but I'm glad they picked this one. The only reference to this being a milestone of some sort occurred in the opening: a short from the Tracey Ullman days showing Homer trying to take a picture of his family. It was nice and simple and a way of saying, "hey, we've been going at it this long, and we're going to keep going." Maybe I'm just not one for a lot of fanfare and hoo-ha, but I found that quite touching.
Okay, on to this episode.
Some may think this episode was inspired by the recent Imus kerfuffle, but it wasn't. What it was really about is how often things that would normally slip by without incident can be blown completely out of proportion by overly sensitive people with way too much time on their hands. In this case, Ned Flanders.
Kent Brockman swears on TV, but since no one watches television anymore, nobody hears it. Of course, Ned Flanders scours all television for bad stuff.
The way this episode poked fun at the FOX network for providing entertainment for both ultra-conservatives and people who like to see shows about strippers flying planes was pretty funny, as was the completely-out-of-left-field ending with the network "dubbing" the voices of the characters and silencing Homer in the end, but it's not like making fun of FOX is new to the Simpsons.
Also, I'm not sure how I feel about the template the series now uses (well, it's been using it for a long time now) of starting off with one storyline and then veering off into the main plot later. Many have argued that it doesn't allow for the kind of story arcs that made the earlier seasons so great, and I have a tough time arguing with that.
Still, the whole dentist sequence did have some great moments. I loved the Raising Arizona sequence with Marge running home to get the kids to the dentist on time. And I loved how Bart pulled a prank on Skinner while Skinner was on nitrous (not to mention the fact that Skinner actually refers to him as "Doctor Bart").
As far as the main episode, my favorite moments were Krusty's voiceover on the "Itchy and Scratchy" cartoon, and the "Edward R. Murrow" segment complete with Lisa tapping his leg just as Murrow's producer Fred Friendly did.
So no, this wasn't the greatest episode ever, but I still liked it enough to give it, oh let's say 6 out of 7.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-21-2007 @ 1:25PM
jvvv said...
And you gave the 24 crap a 7... Where's the logic... According to you ep399 was the best ever (since it got a 7). And i learned that if you get the maximum score it means it was perfect. At least at school (where they teach you logic!) it works like that...
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5-21-2007 @ 1:34PM
mayorjimmy said...
If anyone wonders why Fox News is so ultra conservative, it's cuz all the Liberals are writing for the Simpsons apparently. Ok show, we get it, you don't like Fox News. Since you're beating a dead horse how about telling us you don't like the war in Iraq? We totally missed it the first million times you mentioned it this season.
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5-21-2007 @ 1:59PM
Dave said...
"Also, I'm not sure how I feel about the template the series now uses (well, it's been using it for awhile now)..."
Awhile? It's been 5-6 years, at least.
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5-21-2007 @ 2:29PM
Adam from TV Squad said...
"Awhile? It's been 5-6 years, at least."
That's what I meant by "awhile." I changed the sentence for clarification, thank you.
Best,
Adam
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5-21-2007 @ 4:05PM
Bash said...
I think the amount of "Fox News"-Bashing was well chosen. They bash other channels of the corporation as well you know - like Fox Sports (or as like like to call it "Fox Classic Sports Fox SPORTS FOX!!!" *snicker* loved that ad on the Simpsons).
Typical for "The Simpsons" was the one guy with the bavarian hat they had to use in the picture of the Berlin Wall *shakes fist in anger*. You know the ratio of people with a Gamsbart-Hat in Berlin is like the amount of black people you'll find in Munich. Close to zero. Nobody (and I really mean nobody) is wearing that stuff outside of Bavaria which is roughly the size of the State of New York. Anyway I loved the "Kent was here" in the lower left corner in german ("Kent war hier") :-)
Overall a really great episode, much better than the "24" spoof. But maybe I just think that because I am a leftist commie ^^;
"Abort space missions"... *snicker* good one
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5-21-2007 @ 6:09PM
Tele-Toby said...
For me, the highlight was the "Raising Arizona" tangent, complete with the Carter Burwell yodeling. (He should have received a special guest voice credit!)
When they ran through the dog park, I recognized the Lassie clone who once appeared on the show, but were any of those other dogs ever on the show before? I got the feeling it was a shout-out to the trivia masters in the audience.
Defiinitely a better choice for the 400th than the "24" spoof. (And too bad we didn't see that grand poobah from the No Homers Club at the Republican HQ!)
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5-21-2007 @ 6:26PM
jeff said...
What did Kent Brockman say? They should at least run it on FOXES web site.
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5-21-2007 @ 9:19PM
WasatchMan said...
Yes, Fox is an evil, ultra-conservative, unfair and unbalanced network. That's why they stopped this "Simpsons" episode from ever airing. Oh, wait a minute...
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5-21-2007 @ 10:24PM
ric said...
The "off-track" plot started as a resource in a a few episodes in older seasons but is apparently a rule now... it has mixed results, sometimes is funnier than the main plot itself, sometimes is completely insane and sometimes could be taken off without anyone noticing. As for plot development, it takes a toll, shortening the show run and difficulting a proper storyline. As you can see, I still don't know what to think about it, so I'll stop now.
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5-21-2007 @ 11:45PM
Danny Cohen said...
Starting the first act different is nothing new. They have been doing it forever, actually. It is just that it has gotten far more tangental.
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5-22-2007 @ 3:48PM
Barry said...
I've never seen Raising Arizona so I can't comment on the appropriateness of the yodeling, but I think a far better music background for that montage would have been the scene from "Ferris Bueller" where Ferris is running home, trying to avoid being seen by his parents and running through all the backyards.
Speaking of...this is three episodes in a row (this, 24, and Santa's Little Helper Cop) that used the "1st person shooter" montage, with associated wacky sight gags. This one did the streets, 24 did in the air duct and SLH was in the cornfield. I think Barney was passed out in at least 2 of them... I just thought it odd they'd reuse the same joke 3 eps in a row.
Finally, I've always gotten the idea they write the scripts beginning with the 2nd act, then work backward one scene at a time through various wacky situations to show how they got to that point.
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