TVSquad

(S21E05) I've been waiting all season for this episode. As a long-lapsed fan of The Simpsons, it was beginning to look like someone had sucked the heart right out of Springfield's first family. Maybe they have, for the most part, but everything that made The Simpsons such a great show 20 years ago was there tonight.

Maybe it was that we finally got to see Mr. Burns again; he was always my favorite. Yes, he only had a bit part, and in fact the part of maniacal boss was played by Carl instead of Burns, but his presence set up the stories of the entire episode. I'll go so far as to say everything about that episode worked, from Marge's sexy calendar to Ned Flander's role in the final moments.

Even the brief encounters with Bart at school fed the main story, and were handled perfectly. This is what The Simpsons is capable of, and despite a few moments that were a bit more crass than I recall the Simpsons of yore being, it was classic Simpsons all over again.

Boy, what a mess! Unless you live out in a tar shack in the middle of Montana (writing your manifesto, obviously) you know that the United States, nay, the world, is facing one of the worst economic crises in this modern time. Stocks are plummeting, financial institutions are folding, credit is tighter than Miley Cyrus' chastity belt. People are pulling out their money left and right, trying to find a safe place to invest until all of the craziness dies down.

That, of course, is where we come in. Sure, first and foremost we are a website that features information on television. But, we also have access to some of the greatest financial gurus that were ever created by television writers. To assist you in the right investment choices, we have compiled a list of those we feel you could trust to invest your remaining funds in a wise manner. Also listed, as a public service, are those who you shouldn't consider giving a penny to during the harshest economic times.

So, before your 401(k) loses another percentage point, here are your choices.

Unless you've been hiding under an ozone-filled nuclear waste facility hidden in an Arctic glacier that has recently begun to melt, you know that today is Earth Day. Now, while other Earth Days have been important, this year's is down-right significant thanks to media reports letting us know that global warming is finally here. This is pretty serious, especially to those of us with young children. We certainly want to do anything in our power to stop global warming so all of the planet's resources aren't used up and we need to travel to another planet in a spaceship flown by Joey Tribbiani.

With that in mind, the environmentally-friendly folks at TV Squad (we write all of our articles on recycled toilet paper) have decided to point out those television characters who don't give the environment the credit it deserves. Some are actually trying to harm it on purpose (I'm leering in your direction, Rush Limbaugh), while others don't know that they are doing anything at all. Here are but a few of the most wanted.

Quick but good Q and A with Harry Shearer over at The Boston Globe. Shearer, the voice of Mr. Burns, Principal Skinner, Ned Flanders, and others on The Simpsons, talks about his many years on the show, how they film the episodes, and even gets a little bit into the mistakes some of the writers have made to the characters over the years, stuff that he has spoken out about. He cites two examples: one from this season, where Ned Flanders tried to get creationism taught in the schools and there was a joke about the name Jesus Christ that Shearer felt Ned Flanders would never say, and the whole "Seymour Skinner isn't really Seymour Skinner" plotline. He thinks it was a horrible mistake that even the writers don't want to talk about now.

Shearer can be seen in the new movie For Your Consideration, and has a new book out, Not Enough Indians, a comic novel about how a depressed town tries to become an Indian reservation so they can open up a casino.