Animation on FOX Talkback 2021-2022 (Spoilers)

Neo Ultra Mike

Creeping Shadow of "15000"+ Posts
Joined
May 18, 2006
Messages
19,074
Location
East Northport
I don't really have anything to say about the latest FG ep "Prescription Heroine" that hasn't been said a thousand times before any interesting idea for a story gets flipped on it's head so often just to make a lame cut away or random bit and really this just feels like "hey we've had Brian drugged out before let's have Lois in a drugged out state" making Lois even more horrible before but not even going through that interesting a story. I think the only laugh I had is that Cleveland was sick of having to play ping pong thus was glad to get rid of the table but not really worth talking about otherwise. I did want to say something about this latest Simpsons episode though.

The Simpsons "Pretty Whittle Liar" - I'm much more forgiving I guess about Cletus and Brandine I guess then Fone Bone is. Yes are these horrible stereotypes from a character who was a one scene joke originally that somehow especially in the latest few seasons has actually become a more regular secondary character who seems to get an episode per season? Yeah and also agree the fact that Cletus is "white" is the only reason his character will likely never change or really get better; the writers don't get a lot of backlash for portraying a hick character as a total loser or inbred moron. That said though I liked the Cletus and Brandine stuff wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy better then in their previous spotlight episode "Yokel Hero" as it felt like more jokes actually did hit, plus this one actually did focus more on their actual relationship. And I do like the ending of Cletus actually getting a library card showing he is willing to change for Brandine. Like that is a nice moment for such a stubborn character and works decently even though yeah you knew they weren't going to get divorced at all. However in spite of their flashbacks and some of the jokes with the kids, this episode is still pretty bad. Like "easily the worst of the season so far that's actually been pretty good" bad.

First off the Lisa subplot is weak. The idea of a secret society of smart kids who have to hide their intelligence isn't really that interesting an idea so many years in especially when their only advice is for her to hide how smart she is... which of course she won't and Lisa just correcting everyone to do an "I am sparaticus" is just about the lamest most cliche thing they can do with this premise. And before you ask "well it's 33 seasons in what else new can they do with Lisa?" we had an actually good subplot only a few episodes back about her wanting to enjoy being an only child that felt ridiculously fresh. This feels old and rehashed though but not as much as the other big sticking point of this epiosde.

Look I'm just going to say this right now; If the writers are going to focus on another couple as the core issue and thing to work on can we officially not have ANOTHER PLOT INVOLVING MARGE AND HOMER'S RELATIONSHIP? Or for that matter Marge or Homer being the ones to have to solve someone else's relationship? At least the later felt a bit less personally involved for them but the former was all over this episode. "Oh Marge finds out people think she could of done better then Homer and Homer has to prove himself worthy of that-" Ugh just bite me writers! This is such awful obnoxious trite that quite frankly after episodes like "Pixiliated and Afraid" that show you can do good episodes with Marge and Homer focused on them well, just feels asinine to try and force in. I get not every episode is going to be as Homer positive as "Pixiliated and Afraid" but are we seriously bringing up that sort of unrelated melodrama here just because... I guess they feel Dan Canstenella and Julie Kavener needed more meat to their character's bones in this week episode. Sorry but I am frankly done with the idea of having episode conflicts about Homer messing up and Marge having to forgive him or Homer having to prove his love and blah blah blah we have been over this so many times. Having them so supporting and loving towards one another make for much better episodes or having them play off other scenarios and what not but beating this bit again? It's like the lisa subplot but far worse because it ruins the main plot line because god forbid we needed to be reminded about Homer Simpson not being best husband material and... ugh so weak.

Again I didn't hate this quite as much as Fone Bone did but it's not good either and ruined by the fact the Simpsons still needs the Simpsons in it. Episodes liek this show me the show would be better off having the family take time off and let the show be more about just general springfield sometimes. I doubt that would ever happen even though it should.
 

Fone Bone

Matt Zimmer
Joined
Jan 19, 2004
Messages
35,279
Location
Framingham, MA
The Simpsons "The Sound Of Bleeding Gums"

I very much liked it. What I liked is that I personally thought Lisa was behaving VERY badly during the episode, and the episode drew the same conclusion. I think as an 8-year-old girl, there is only so much of a harsh talking to she should be given, but her Driving Miss Daisy fantasy was freaking ugly, and portrayed as such, if not explicitly labeled as such.

Monk Murphy is happy. He doesn't need a white savior. And it's both conceited and presumptuous that Lisa has put herself in that role. And it's totally believable for an overachieving white girl. And the episode sort of telling her to slow her roll is the right message.

I think Kevin Michael Richardson does a GREAT Bleeding Gums Murphy. Now his Dr. Hibbert ain't so hot, but he is definitely passable for Ron Taylor, especially compared to the other replacement actors. Probably because Taylor himself was one of the few black actors on the show.

I love the gag of Homer telling Marge to close her eyes because they were bright and he was trying to sleep. I also found the notion that he didn't want Marge to contradict his advice to Lisa a bit self-centered, but as messed up as the advice actually was, it was coincidentally the right advice for the situation. And maybe Homer not wanting Marge to undercut his first legit authority with Lisa is kind of an ego thing for him. But the truth is, that was a pain I think Lisa needed and deserved to stew in a bit. Homer was right. For the wrong reasons, but still.

Getting a deaf actor to play Monk was a great move. I especially like that the PSA of the end credits was dedicated to the scam of the lottery, instead of directing us to a website to learn about the deaf. That was probably the actual intention of the joke, which made it funnier.

I like the show decrying the notion of white saviors who believe black people are their special projects to "fix". And because Lisa is 8, it's not as harsh and painful a lesson as it would need to be if the Savior in question was Marge. The racial overtones of the gesture would need to be made more explicit to an adult. As it is, the show takes the proper shots at Driving Miss Daisy, and even the magical black man as seen in Bagger Vance, and why both of those ideas are so problematic when it comes to clueless yet well-meaning white folks, without making the audience feel bad. I count myself among clueless yet well-meaning white folks. I very much hope a black person I might potentially offend down the road is as honest and kind as Monk is to Lisa here. Truthfully, that's actually an unreasonable expectation, but isn't that sort of what the entire episode is about? ****1/2.




The Great North "Dead Moon Walking Adventure"

I don't like Moon, but even I think he could probably do with a better friend than Debby. He thought the diaper and the stuffed sloth being self-humiliating would humble her. In fact it made her feel like beating him up would embarrass her. Yeah, he can do better.

Speaking if which, I didn't much like Beef's behavior this episode. To his credit, when the museum owner tells him truthfully how he feels, Beef is supportive. But the reality is he was making decisions he had no business making. I find people who do that obnoxious, and those kinds of people populate a LOT of fiction. It never makes me happy.

I like Debby's mom. Very much.

The helmet in gym class says that Moon is very much a character like Louise from Bob's Burgers in that we are never allowed to see the tops of their heads.

Buffets are already super gross. The Tobins being extra gross at them does not endear them to me. At all.

It was all right. But I found parts of it annoying. ***.




Bob's Burgers "The Spider House Rules"

I liked the episode, but I have to say I especially liked that at the beginning of the episode Louise learned people actually dislike her dangerous behavior, and that they think that it's unusual and weird. It's interesting that fact actually had an effect on her, and was the reason she was protecting the spider, but the truth is that is not a moral her parents should have bought back at the end. I think Bob is a great parent. But he's doing Louise no favors by normalizing the crazy and destructive things she does. They aren't interesting. They're obnoxious.

Who sees a free mirror and thinks about smashing it? Linda of course, but Linda sucks. Her fart story to Tina reminded me that she's also totally gross.

Bob suggests it's wrong to smash a mirror that never hurt anybody, and Louise says his mirror hurts him every day. That is a great joke. It's a smart joke you have to think on a bit, so you aren't apt to belly-laugh at it. But it's still great.

Isn't Mort Bob's friend? Can't believe he wasn't even mentioned.

It was good, but I feel like Louise being empowered at the end is a bad message for her. If anything, she needs to be humbled, whether it makes her feel bad or not. So The Simpsons won the night of Fox toons. Pretty handily too. ***1/2.
 

Neo Ultra Mike

Creeping Shadow of "15000"+ Posts
Joined
May 18, 2006
Messages
19,074
Location
East Northport
Don't know how I put this on the the wrong thread my bad about that but anyway here it is on the right thread

"The Sound Of Bleeding Gums" - This to me is an example of how you PROPERLY do an episode like "Mothers And Other Strangers". Because that earlier episode this season though not bad felt like it was ripping a lot of the heart and the point of the original "Mother Simpson" since the whole point of the season 7 episode was Homer first meeting his mom and learning why exactly she left but now we find out "oh he actually knew that years ago and went on this whole journey about it and even met her once even if he thought it was a dream when Bart was born" which felt pointless and convoluted and a character reveal and retcon that didn't really enhance the overall story or even tell a compelling new one. This however actually works in that regard. I think I said earlier one of the first episodes I ever saw of the Simpsons was "Homer Badman" but I admit especially as a kid I didn't fully grasp the context of that episode so though while young I did find it funny it never personally connected with me. "Round Springfield" however did. I knew that was an episode I saw years BEFORE I saw "Moaning Lisa" aka the episode with Bleeding Gums in it but even without seeing that episode it's one I really liked. Getting the connection between Bleeding Gums and Lisa and her sadness about his death and determination to spread his music to people at least one more time. It was a really solid enjoyable ep (especially as it still has one of my favorite runners with that hot dog guy as "lady he's putting my kids through college" is classic simpsons dialogue) and it does feel weird that we've had so little Bleeding Gums in some form since then. Like yeah the character's dead but there feel like there were ways of continuing the story and the closest we got was a forgettable subplot about his hologram likiness being used years back (and the one with his Nephew where he find out his name is Oscar but that part felt like an afterthought in that ep hard to as personally connect with) that... honestly even this ep had a better joke with, as well as an overall better story and theme.

Since yeah like "Mothers And Other Strangers" this does introduce a major retcon within the lore of the character never really hinted at before, the idea of Bleeding Gums having a son that was deaf that Bleeding Gums kept trying to pay for this operation so he could hear that never wound up happening. Like yeah pretty clear that was made just for this episode and not something that fully matches up with other episodes. However I'm willing to give this one an actual break on that regard because it's not throwing away the emotional heart and core of a previous episode to tell this story but rather building on it with this story. I mean the entire point of this episode is that though Lisa obviously has a huge amount of respect and knowledge of Bleeding Gums and seems him as a great mentor and jazz musician she was super laser focused on that. I mean even "Round Springfield" revealed she only heard a lot of his own backstory as he was telling it so I can buy despite knowing all about his jazz life she didn't know he had a son. And then of course the whole lesson of "you really shouldn't try fighting corporate america that isn't ever going to work and will just net pointless pain" which honestly I think worked in this one then in other episodes. Especially when Lisa was doing this not really at Monk's request just because of her own desire so I like that Homer's lesson of "never trying" actually for once being portrayed if not postively at least the one they are kind of going for since even Monk getting the money in the end is due to him playing and winning the lottery which honestly is a cool twist of the thing Lisa wanted for him the money actually in a sense going to him through other means. And a fair amount of the jokes in this one worked from Hibbert literally shooting a gun to prove how deaf bleeding Gums son is or Bart pranking Lisa with the nerf suction cup gun and her not even caring and Bart pranking later with the mesage on the record and the argument between the jazz players or Lisa listing their names earlier including the back ground guys. Guess I could be annoyed at the idea of never having the smaller business win or even something on a jollier note but still good episode for what it was.
 

Zanneck

HAIL NEO ARCADIA. NEO ARCADIA FOREVER.
Joined
Sep 26, 2011
Messages
12,047
Location
Neo Arcadia, USA
Look, I've been enjoying myself with both Season 2 of The Great North and Season 12 of Bob's Burgers, despite some misgivings here and there, but yeah.....
This latest episode of The Great North concerning Moon being bullied like that by Debbie was some weak sauce for me, sadly. Easily my least favorite Season 2 episode thus far. Here's hoping it stays that way with what's still left, please and thank you.

To go into it as best as I can: I can't stand bullies and Debbie is 250% just that, besides a terrible character. No one should be friends with her - until she learns what it means to be a real friend. Especially NOT with my little bear boy Moon! If I was Moon, I would have fought Debbie, even if I lost, just to not let myself get pushed around like that. Especially not by someone who needs to grow up and accept that you can't always get what you want like Debbie, for example.

The latest episode of Bob's Burgers in comparison felt like some nice mental therapy, even if it was nothing spectacular (despite being focused on Louise, whose episodes are usually this show's Gold standard as of late.), after sitting thru seeing my little bear boy Moon (unlike @Fone Bone, he's my favorite character on The Great North, overall, with Judy in 2nd and Honeybee in 3rd, hence my anger at all this!) get hurt/humiliated like that. Because growing up - yeah.
Basically enough, I can relate to Moon - what with not having a lot of real friends while wanting to have at least a best one (which I thankfully did around the end of high school, so it wasn't all terrible, but yeah.).

As much as I love these 2 shows I'm going on and on about, even they ain't safe from bad days. And when that happens, I usually answer accordingly, but only when I absolutely have to. If I don't otherwise comment much on either, it's because I'm otherwise enjoying myself that I don't need words to do that. Just me having that positive experience with what I like or moreso love and move on and all that.
 

Fone Bone

Matt Zimmer
Joined
Jan 19, 2004
Messages
35,279
Location
Framingham, MA
The Simpsons "My Octopus And A Teacher"

Suggestion: Caroline Omine should be made showrunner. She's been a Simpsons Legend forever, and still knocks out dynamite scripts like this one. Put her in charge of the entire show and call it a day.

I like that when the series decided to create a new major female recurring character, they tasked Omine to do the script. That's how seriously they took the idea.

Lisa's octopus stuff was the least successful part of the story, but I liked two things about it: At the end I love that Lisa defensively (and correctly) points out that SHE is a part of nature too. I also love how Homer pronounces the word "Octomopus".

Bart is the most troublesome character on the series in that over the years I have grown to despise him, and the fact that the writers have turned him into a sociopath with no redeeming virtues. Leave it to Omine to bring back nuance to the character (which sadly is probably only for this episode) and making his embarrassing freak-outs understandable, if not relatable. The fact that he turned out to be in love with the teacher after all was a very funny and realistic added complication. And Homer's advice was sound throughout the episode. Telling the truth works for him. Although in fairness it would not have worked for a less cool teacher.

I love that Bart's reaction to her lame and untalented husband is to bemoan that he's "in a band". In case you forgot, Bart IS actually a kid. And kids are dumb.

I am very glad the show took the effort to make Ms. Peyton's debut episode excellent. Very good foresight on their end, and she made a very positive first impression. ****1/2.




The Great North "Beef's In Toyland Adventure"

Honeybee and Wolf were all kinds of cringe this episode. I laughed that Honeybee gave him permission to delete some of their wedding photos for the mall hunk, but it got to be too painful by the end.

The 50 Shades Of Wade song in the end credits was great.

Beef's stuff was sort of stupid, but I liked the gag of the figurine peeing in the beer stein. You can barely taste it. I also like that the woman's dead cat was named Doctor Dumbass. It was a stray and she couldn't bear to change the name.

By turns dumb, annoying, and funny. A mixed bag this week. ***.




Bob's Burgers "Clear And Present Ginger"

I didn't like it. It was a bit of a trial. Linda is gross enough. The fact that Gretchen and Gayle are somehow even grosser made this a not fun night.

Nat's stuff's was more successful because I like Nat a lot. I like that the fact that she's gay is not made a big deal. Tina was annoying with her stupid drama, but I liked the things Bob said to calm her.

But the truth is it was a bit of a chore of an episode to endure. Kinda sucky. The Simpsons easily won the night of Fox toons. **.
 

Zanneck

HAIL NEO ARCADIA. NEO ARCADIA FOREVER.
Joined
Sep 26, 2011
Messages
12,047
Location
Neo Arcadia, USA
AND FORGET Y'ALL HATERS. This latest Bob's Burgers episode showed me something - I'd like for Gayle, Linda, and Gretchen to interact / do best friend stuff with each other MORE, NOT less.
Just don't be too gross about it, that's all. These 3 deserve each other (at worst) / need each other (at best), much more than they know, honestly enough. Their dynamic is one that I'm happy to let grow on me with time, so we can focus more on the parents and not just the kids so much, anyway. So yeah - I'd like to see more episodes with Gayle, Linda, and Gretchen interacting with each other - plus Gayle could use a real friend that isn't just her sister, so why not.

Now, on a much more positive note, I'm always happy to see Nat again. These writers are doing a good job actually making her likable and relatable, overall, so her character is a welcome site for me.
 

ShadowBlinky

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 17, 2009
Messages
2,498
Location
Gone
Why is one of the few things I found funny in tonight's Family Guy is Lois being thrown off the cliff?
 

Fone Bone

Matt Zimmer
Joined
Jan 19, 2004
Messages
35,279
Location
Framingham, MA
The Simpsons "Girls Just Shauna Have Fun"

I didn't like it, but to be honest an episode from 2022 I didn't like is a LOT different than one I didn't like from 2005. It was better than many episodes from 2005 I DID like.

Shauna is not a good character, and Tress MacNeill is far too old to believably play her. I liked her drum solo at the band try-out though. It was very well animated.

Homer's stuff with Chalmers and the beer was more successful. Chalmers has always been a weirdly relatable character because as far as characters on this show go, he's far more real-world realistic and recognizable than anyone else.

It's kind of weird how little I actually care about the fact that Martin Prince has an older brother. A bit late in the game to get me worked up over it.

I thought if the writing and direction on this show were better Wiggum's speech at the end to the teens about responsibility and self-awareness would have been amazing and brought down the house. I loved the idea behind it. The execution was just imperfect. That's something the show has always suffered from, even when it was at its best. There are few pitch-perfect Simpsons episodes (much less seasons) for this reason.

If I had gotten this in 2005 I would have been happy. In 2022 I am not. I am very glad the show has raised my standards again. It's a nice place to be, and also makes it harder to forgive episodes like this. I like that fact and dislike it at the same time. **1/2.




The Great North "Poetry Of The Penals Adventure"

Wolf was annoying. He usually is but even by his standards he grated tonight.

I like that Beef accidentally spoke a poem at the reading.

What rhymes with "God help me"? Try "Fraud kelp knee."

Didn't love it. **1/2.




Bob's Burgers "A-Sprout A Boy"

Gene continues to be annoying.

Let me also also be honest about Tamagotchi. As far as fads go, that was also super annoying. I can't believe kids actually dug it. Someone tells you kids gravitate towards new and trendy things I'll remind them how Tamagotchi was once a rage with them at a time when actual good videogames existed. The thing that annoyed me most about those toys is how utterly pointless they ultimately are. It's asking a kid to put in an actual time and effort for something that isn't actually fun. For the record, this is the EXACT reason I stopped playing Free Cell on my computer. Wasting my time and energy on things I like is fine. Wasting them on things that bore me is not actually okay.

It was a lousy episode but I liked two things.

1. The time lapse sequence was good.

2. I laughed at the guy asking if it would be rude if he gently moved his son from the van, closed the doors, and drove away. Nobody on this show speaks like a real person, but I think real people would be better off if we spoke like the characters on this show.

But really, the only thing more annoying than Gene is Tamagotchi. **1/2.




Family Guy "All About Alana"

Well, Family Guy easily won the week of Fox toons, simply because it was the only one with a decent episode.

Modern Lois episodes tend to be great and twisted at the same time. I like a lot of the female observations (done by male writers like Danny Smith, but still). The idea that Lois uses new nicknames to assert dominance is great, as is the idea that she does it to Stewie too.

My favorite Stewie bit was at the end where Alana says she never liked the baby. He says it's because he was always on to her. I laughed when she insisted that wasn't it. I bet after hearing that Stewie wished she was one of those people who couldn't understand him.

I think the most twisted and subversive thing in the episode is literally Peter and Lois' reunion at the end. What I like about it is it's the show pointing out its biggest flaw, in that Peter does unforgivable things that a real woman would leave him for, that Lois forgives at the end with an "Oh, Peter!". The specific subtext of that happening here sort of tells me they are aware of that problem, and even if they can't bring themselves to fix that aspect of the show, they at least aren't happy about it either. It's literally the thing about the show that pisses me off the most, and I like that the show sort of did a Mea Culpa there.

Pretty funny episode. ***1/2.
 

Perla Magica

Digital Love
Joined
Jul 29, 2016
Messages
1,713
Location
Poland (Europe)
Duncanville, S03E01 "Gamer vs. Gamer"

Nice that this season has three season 2 holdovers.

The main plot of this episode was... actually good. I personally am not into Fortnite and all Twitch stuff, but the whole thing with Last Man Standing along with the twist made this story worth watching.

The B-plot was also good but less exciting. You know how much I love Jack and Annie's stories, and this one was interesting when it comes for backstories from their teenhood.

Kimberly and Jing don't even know what a photograph is - someone who was born in early 2010's could understand this.

A 50-year-old student joke that doesn't have "How do you do fellow kids?" line. Passable.

Playstation 10 is a litteraly a green electric void ball. Creative.

"And Crew. That's me." Funny.

The Harris family adopted a dog, how sweet.

Overall, quite good episode for a season premiere. 7/10
 

zoombie

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2007
Messages
31,316
Location
New York
Well last night's Family Guy episode, tell me if I am crazy didn't the Simpsons already do this, and much better I might add?
 

LinusFan303

Squeak
Joined
Mar 26, 2018
Messages
4,608
Location
Colorado
Duncanville Gamer VS Gamer - Glad the show is back, the Duncan and friends plot was fun, I honestly thought it was going somewhere else a couple times and it twisted what I thought it was going to do that was pretty fun and engaging. Jack and Annie's plot with Jing and Kimberly was a nice one, I like them sharing a story of their past with the kids. The 90's nuggets were fun without feeling forced. Really fun episode.
 

Magmaster12

Master of MAGnets
Staff member
Moderator
Reporter
Joined
Dec 31, 2013
Messages
2,859
What's the bigger shock tonight Martin Prince having an older brother or the Family Guy writers remembering Lois teaches piano.
 

Neo Ultra Mike

Creeping Shadow of "15000"+ Posts
Joined
May 18, 2006
Messages
19,074
Location
East Northport
The only thing I have to say about the new Family Guy is it does make me realize Elizabeth Gillies seems like the one who actually managed to make a full on acting/VA career for herself after Victorious. Obviously Ariana Grande is the hit discovery from that show but Gillies is still getting roles and honestly doing a good job as she really slides into this role of usurper so well. I guess there were some good gags of Stewie's narration or "I hope that means you have enough money for the lesson" and some overly long bits like Brian and Alana singing showtunes but... again Family Guy is such a nothing show most of the time now outside of just hitting a good gag or not that's what caught my attention the most so I'm going to focus on talking a bit about the latest Simpsons episodes.

The Simpsons "My Octopus And A Teacher" - You know I was thinking a few months back when reflecting on this show "so who is Bart's teacher now? Did they ever even try getting a full on substitute for Mrs. K?" and turns out they did in this episode and honestly I do actually like this really unique dynamic. I'm sure Bart's sort of crushed on a sub before but as a quick joke so having a full episode dedicated to it and the idea that he also feels some guilt over his first meeting with Miss Peyton and doesn't know how to properly deal with that is great. I also appreciate how they know Mrs Krappael was obviously such a big character so they wanted to make sure Miss Peyton though different had more to chew on then just "oh I'm the new teacher." The idea of supporting her husband despite his seemingly lack of talent and doing these big displays and getting other teachers involved by essentially doing most of the work for them and trying to get to know the students and being able to piece things together sans Bart does really work. The subplot with Lisa hiding that she saved this little octopus was also cute and yeah the ending talking about humans being part of nature was a good line and just a lot of bits from this really worked and made this a solid episode.

The Simpsons "Girls Just Shauna Have Fun" - Like I said for like over 6 years I kind of skipped out on seeing the Simpsons so when I went back and re marathoned the series to see the episodes I skipped started on "Beware My Cheating Bart". Which is probably the first major episode with Shauna in it. This is a character that was likely done as more a one off gag but the writers liked and especially revealing she was Chalmer's Daughter opened up his character some they kept bringing her back. I admit I didn't really like her in "Beware My Cheating Bart" but that was still in the era of the show where things had gone so downhill and they hadn't really found their way back. This one though is an example that they did and I actually do dig this one. I really like the idea of Lisa and Shauna bonding over their love of music and actually practicing and Lisa being encouraging and getting Shauna to actually show she's accomplished and Shauna actually opening up some but you know still being a rather abrasive and bratty teenager and not looking out for Lisa in a situation she would be uncomftable in. I think a big problem with writers of the later 2000s or early 2010's era is just writing Lisa as "the smart one whose ignored" and not really delving into her character who yeah is incredibly flawed herself in her childlike naievete and innocence and can easily be flustered as well. Heck even the stuff with Homers and Chalmers worked especially the ending where Homer's stupidity resulted in them not giving the kids alcholol lined beer and thus Wiggum not being able to send them in. Unlike Fone Bone I quite liked this one and the connections made between these more disparaging characters and between Bart's annoyance at the two rocking out at the end or even Marge reading her fantasy novel lot of good laughs here for yeah another solid ep.

Honestly if season 33 has 3 more solid episodes of the show then I think this season will only have 3 really sour episodes in it and even most of those just have some annoying issues that could be rewritten out of otherwise promising episodes.
 

Perla Magica

Digital Love
Joined
Jul 29, 2016
Messages
1,713
Location
Poland (Europe)
Duncanville, S03E02 "Clothes and Dagger"

The A-plot was good. It sucks being the goofball in your friend group, but it's better than nothing.

What I like about this plot is that how it showcasts Duncan and Wolf's friendship, heck, the flashback of them helping each other since they were little was touching.

I'm scared of the knives and Annie was right about the fact that knives could hurt someone and everyone around someone.

I missed the Duncan and Annie dynamic so much, this episode satisfying me.

Most of the talking Jessica Simpson pants moments were good.

The B-plot was fun.

The whole town dressing like Jack and Annie reminds me of the episode of Big City Greens where the hipsters praises Bill's clothes and end up dressing like him.

"Bernie Sanders will never be president!" Wow, political jokes were never funny to me.

Jing was hilarious in this episode with moments like her mistaking the people dressed like Jack and Annie twice and her saying that she's gonna be a total schlub like Jack and Annie. I love this funny kid. :D

Who wouldn't know that The Simpsons t-shirts were popular in this show.

Really great episode this week. 8,5/10
 
Last edited:

Fone Bone

Matt Zimmer
Joined
Jan 19, 2004
Messages
35,279
Location
Framingham, MA
The Simpsons "Marge The Meanie"

I don't know. Okay, I guess? Won't set the world on fire. I thought the end joke of the "It never ends" sign was sweet, and the joke of Marge sending the apology letters over the end credits was good too (although what was with the backwards intro there?). But I don't feel like all of the ideas and jokes landed.

I mean, the nurse saying "I'm allergic to treacle" means nothing because we don't know the character. It's not a funny put-down from a regular character. It's random obnoxiousness from a total stranger.

I think aside from the fact that both of the plotlines' premises were not too solid, I felt some of the writing was lazy. Like Helen bragging about seeing classier commercials on premium channels. They don't HAVE commercials on premium channels, writers. That's why they are premium. Dummies. And again Comic Book Guy becomes increasingly irrelevant as far as nerd culture goes because he demands Ralph pick from the vast different genres and artists of Batman. Everything from... The Dark Knight Returns to Adam West. The latter of which is not even a comic book. Even for this show that is a lazy as hell comic book joke. It's clear the writers only used those for examples because they were the only Batman stuff they were familiar with. Worst nerdgasm ever.

Iffy, but not without its charms. ***.




The Great North "Say It Again, Ham Adventure"

Ham's boyfriend saying he thought there was something off, but now he thought something was REALLY off about the cousin was a fine example of understatement.

I liked the police sisters and the fact that they keep their guns in their glove compartment. Honeybee is dismayed Danica is forcing her to ask her to treat them nicer. That was a great joke.

In the end, the moral is it doesn't have to be a drama to come out. Expectations about that sort of thing are probably misguided.

I liked the reference to Christopher Meloni because it wasn't just a slam. It was equal parts a compliment. That one of the cool things about the celebrity references on this show. They're are biting, but not mean, and in fact usually come from a loving place.

It was fun. ****.




Bob's Burgers "Sauce Side Story"

I thought that was a pretty darn good one. The premise was funny, because as Louise pointed out at the end, the feud was SO damn stupid. The Kids really should not have needed to point that out. Linda's side of the family is utterly broken. Gayle is just the tip of the iceberg.

Their cousin who liked Buckaroo Banzai was cool though. Even though he didn't want to share his chicken.

There are two disturbing possibilities about the writers having Gayle say that it's 4000 times harder to raises cats than human children. The first disturbing possibility is that the writers don't understand exactly how loathsome that makes Gayle sound. The even more disturbing possibility is that they DO, and had her say it anyways. Crap like that is why I hate the character so much.

Great week otherwise though. ****1/2.




Family Guy "Girlfriend, Eh?"

That was probably the saddest and most accurate slam at Pixar ever: "Pixar: We're no longer a guaranteed home run!"

I was amazed that did that exact same gag with Jamie getting electrified on the telephone wires on tonight's Simpsons episode with Mr. Burns. What a freaky coincidence.

It was fine. I think Bob's Burgers won the night of Fox Toons though. ***.
 

PF9

Putting Bleeps on a Streaming Show Is Stupid
Joined
Jul 9, 2008
Messages
2,740
Location
Ohio
I think with The Great North Fox has finally found its fourth pillar replacement for American Dad! as part of the core line-up with The Simpsons, Bob's Burgers, and Family Guy.
 

Fone Bone

Matt Zimmer
Joined
Jan 19, 2004
Messages
35,279
Location
Framingham, MA
The Simpsons "Meat Is Murder"

I thought it was great. Why? Because it offered up a clear no-win scenario for both Grandpa and Lisa and allowed them the moral victory, which was really the only one that mattered. Normally episodes of this show with a similar premise of The Simpsons hitting it big HAVE to make the Simpsons lose big to go back to the status quo at the end. Kudos to the show for giving Grandpa a Crowning Moment Of Awesome instead.

Is this Seth Green's first Simpsons role? It can't be, considering how long he's been in voice-over. If it IS, it's long overdue.

John Lithgow similarly has an instantly recognizable voice, and it feels like he should have been on the show long before this.

The tag in Israel was great for literally wrapping up the loose ends with Krusty in under a minute. The guy expressing disbelief he's a clown because he's the unfunniest guy in the socialist commune was already hilarious, but I lost it when they started playing his wacky clown theme during the credits as the punctuation to that joke.

I am not just impressed that they created an origin story for Krustyburger. I like that it was a GOOD origin story for Krustyburger.

This has been a really great season. It's not over yet, but I think it's up there with some of the Golden Years so far. ****1/2.




The Great North "Slide And Wet-judice Adventure"

Honestly? I was annoyed by most of it. I thought Neckbone was nice (although I question her life choices) and I laughed that Honeybee was impressed with "Teen Wolf". But not a lot else clicked.

I thought Jenny Slate's performance as Judy went crazy felt forced. I'm reminded strongly that Wolf is TOO pathetic of a character, and has become by turns obnoxious and truly sad because of it. And Beef's stuff with the mermaids was so nuts it also bugged me. And Honeybee wants to meet Jason Patrick? NOBODY wants to meet Jason Patrick.

Wolf realizing he's made poor choices felt right however, and it's interesting that this is probably the first time we've seen Moon's hair. But I didn't really care for the episode. **1/2.




Bob's Burgers "Some Like It Bot Part 1: Eighth Grade Runner"

This isn't the first two-parter the show has done but they are hella rare. What I will say is that the stakes for this are FAR lower than for "Bob Saves / Destroys The Town".

One of my favorite previous episodes of the show was where it's revealed Tina is frustrated by her peer group and the fact that Tammy, Jocelyn, Jimmy Junior, and Zeke are all so stupid and boring. The fact that zeroes like Tammy and Jocelyn are trendsetters in Wagstaff's version of a cool kid clique says Tina was absolutely right to be upset all of her peers are so stupid and lame. I will be first to admit that Tina is not cool. But she shouldn't be made to feel that way if every single other kid who does is far lamer than she is.

Mr. Grant also once again proves that the adults in position of authority on this show (outside of Bob) are all sinister.

I very much liked the fact that Linda was there to smooth things over with the customers when Bob and Teddy went berserk over the insulting bathroom graffiti. Linda isn't great, but she DOES have some value after all, I guess.

The Blade Runner spoof sort of said something interesting about that film that I noticed, but didn't think it was a big enough deal to complain about in my recent review of the film. The soundtrack (specifically the score) SUCKS. And it's a problem with all sci-fi movies of that era outside of Star Wars (and, well, Star Trek: The Motion Picture). But depressing sci-fi 70's electronica sounds lame. And Blade Runner IS a great film. But this is the first thing to show its music isn't great. And I like that it lets us hear that for ourselves, instead of merely taking a shot at it through a wisecrack. It's a pretty cool and on-the-ball observation there.

The musical numbers on this show are always awful, especially compared to the great stuff The Simpsons, Family Guy, Futurama, and American Dad have come up with. I'm surprised the show still does them. They never, EVER work. I think the writers simply think listening to H. Jon Benjamin badly sing off-key is amusing in and of itself, but they couldn't be more wrong about that.

I don't think this was an episode that needed to be stretched into two parts, but I'll know for sure next week. ***1/2.




Family Guy "First Blood"

When I read the episode synopsis, I believed the show had run out of ideas. And no lie, the first half of the episode was terrible. The horse prom thing is one of the unfunniest bits the show has done in years, and it was not only really long, but it was repeated twice. About the best thing I can say for it is that unlike Conway Twitty, it's not likely to become a recurring joke. But it was almost as obnoxious as Conway Twitty.

Halfway through the ep, I starting liking some of it. The idea that Frasier cures insomnia is great. The return of Bears Scares was funny too.

I mentioned when I heard about the Stewie plot I thought the show ran out of ideas, but there were two good jokes. One was when Brian was ranting at Stewie he didn't want to diminish how weird Stewie's grown-up thing was, and the other was when Stewie said the nurse he talked to had a low tolerance for nonsense.

I think the reason the plotline felt even less funny than it should have is that due to the news, the episode's attacks on transgender people and abortion feel much more mean-spirited than were probably intended. I've had to adjust my comedy too. I used to always describe David E Kelly's TV shows as televised abortions, and I did that recently on a site I frequent, realized the subtext to that joke is entirely different in the current climate, and edited my post. While Family Guy wants to be an ally to liberals (and it does) the truth is those kinds of jokes feel more like personal attacks than they would have even six months ago. I don't envy comedy writers, especially those on shows that push boundaries. The attacks marginalized groups are now under seem really to have rather suddenly been amped up in the past couple of months. I don't know how a cartoon that takes more than a year to make can possibly keep up with all that. Things be scary.

The female Ghostbusters slam however was NOT out of bounds. But it's been remarked before, and repeatedly, not only on this show, but elsewhere. It's gratuitous because it's old, not because it's punching down.

Can I just say that Wild West is a poor substitute for Adam West? Maybe he wouldn't be if they could get Sam Elliot to say all of the dirty and inappropriate things Adam used to say, but they clearly can't. Elliott seems to have far too much personal pride and dignity to be the mayor of Quahog. It's becoming a problem.

The episode started off very badly, but the second half was passable. But The Simpsons won the week of Fox toons (which it seems to be doing quite often lately). **1/2.
 

Perla Magica

Digital Love
Joined
Jul 29, 2016
Messages
1,713
Location
Poland (Europe)
Duncanville, S03E03 "(Work) Marriage Story"

The main plot of this week's episode was surpisingly great. Who would have thought that Jack and Bryce have so much common with each other and share the same interests, I hope their friendship will last forever.

Mr. Mitch's story was quite okay, it was nice to see his character development beside being the cool teacher.

Thanks to this show I discovered "We Belong" by Pat Benatar.

The Harris family singing a song from "Chicago" (which I never actually heard before) at episode's end was a really wholesome moment.

Good episode, no doubts. 7/10
 

Spotlight

Staff online

Who's on Discord?

Latest profile posts

How about Mike Pollock as the ideal voice of Bruce Wayne/Batman?
Remember back when people were saying that "Streaming is the (bright) future"?
"I can't wait to eat this baby" - Paramount, presumably looking for tax write-offs
Happy Baseball Opening Day

Featured Posts

Top