TVSquad

I have never understood the appeal of The White Stripes and I never will.

Their performance last night on the last Late Night with Conan O'Brien was the only bad spot in a rather good last episode. It had the usual mix of old sketch footage and visits from old friends (Andy Richter, Will Ferrell), and even had Conan releasing Abe Vigoda from his cage and sent back into the wild. He also tore down part of the wall near Max Weinberg and gave the pieces to the audience.

My favorite part of the show was actually the many thank yous that Conan gave at the end, so many that the show actually ran over several minutes. He thanked everyone from the crew and the band to David Letterman and Lorne Michaels. You always get thank yous on these last shows, but you can tell he was very sincere. I don't think this last show has the impact that Letterman's did, because he was actually leaving the network and going someplace else. Conan will still be at NBC, only an hour earlier. But this was a good last episode.

(S18E02) I thought the season premiere was decent enough, but this episode was even better. We begin at a funeral for Homer's Vegas wife, where Lenny explains how she met her demise:

Lenny: I'll tell you how she died: you know that sign that says "do not stand up on the roller coaster?"

Bart: Yeah.

Lenny: She overdosed right in front of it.

Like any little kid forced to go to the funeral of someone he doesn't know that well, Bart starts to find ways to entertain himself. When the ball comes loose from his paddle ball and sets off a chain reaction that chokes half the congregation, Homer and Marge decide to see a child psychologist to figure out how to help Bart behave.