TVSquad

On June 28, TV Land is premiering a new original series called My First Time. Each episode of the six-part series will focus on a celebrity and their first "big break." The stars themselves will talk about how they first stepped into the limelight, and of course, footage of their first time, hopefully embarrassing, will be shown. I like the light and breezy approach TV Land often takes with its programming, so I'm hoping this show might actually be more interesting than it sounds. Of course, there's always the 2003 Showtime series coming out on DVD around the same time which is also called My First Time. This one is slightly different, though, as it shows porn stars reenacting the first time sexual experiences of regular women. I suppose in some kind of cosmic sense the two shows are similar, I just wanted to make sure you knew which one you were watching. Such mistakes can really put a damper on family reunions. I'm just saying.

(S17E20) Last night The Simpsons revisited a lot of familiar territory, making this episode not one of the best of the season, though there were a few good moments.

The title, which I didn't catch right away, is a reference to the film Regarding Henry in which Harrison Ford contracts amnesia. Marge gets dizzy on cleaning products and passes out, smacking her head on a stool and causing her to briefly lose her memory. Fortunately for her children and neighbors everything comes back to her. What she can't seem to remember is Homer, which is especially bad news since there doesn't seem to be any real logic behind why they were together in the first place. All of Homer's quirks which she might have once found endearing now seem weird to her.

The episode had some decent "throw away" gags, such as Homer painting an homage to the '74 Oakland A's on his curb instead of his house number, and Dr. Hibbert asking Marge how many fingers he's holding up before revealing he's actually holding up severed fingers from a jar. I can't fully dismiss an episode that made me laugh out loud more than once, but the basic plot trod upon a lot of old ground, such as Homer and Marge becoming estranged, Homer being kicked out, and, of course, Homer finally coming to his senses and proving his devotion to Marge. This same story has been told before with slight variations, and I'm sure we'll see it again, as the relationship between Homer and Marge has been, since the first season, one that isn't without its blemishes. In that regard, my minor gripe isn't that they've been here before, but that they've done it better.