This episode opens with Krusty the Clown hosting a cooking segment on his show. What the heck kind of kid’s show does Krusty host anyway?
The episode also needed material and added a weird Ned Flanders bit at the end to pad the show out. I find it funny in its basic absurdity.
Ralph Wiggum has, thus far, just been a kid in Lisa’s class. This episode gives him the spotlight and begins the idea Ralph may be the single dumbest person in Springfield.
Of course, the people behind the show would have you know that Homer doesn’t hold that position. Nope, there is one adult in Springfield dumber than Homer. That would be Chief Wiggum.
Let’s face it: whatever your thoughts for this Conan O’Brien-penned episode, they are bound to be better than your thoughts on the last thing we reviewed with a “Vs” in the title.
Three Halloween specials later, and Homer has replaced Marge as the character to warn parents that the show might be too scary for kids. Then he taunts the viewers.
Also, no treehouses appearing this episode, but scary joke versions of the names of all the people who work on the show are another story.
Continue reading Simpsons Did It!: “Treehouse Of Horror III”
Over Easter weekend, I learned my nephew has also decided to watch this show from the beginning. He’s not doing write ups, but like his father and uncle (the uncle being me), he has taken to quoting the show. He’s 9, so he’s amused by different things.
Why bring this up? He was quoting this episode.
Season four of The Simpsons opens with a look forward…if you buy that weird theory that The Flintstones and The Jetsons take place at the same time, with the Jetsons and their neighbors living well above the devastated world below that got knocked back to the stone age of, you guessed it, the world of Bedrock and the Flintstones.
I think that’s a load of hooey, but the Flintstones were on the Simpson’s couch in the opening credits.
Selma Bouvier does not want to die alone. We got a sense of that when Principal Skinner was courting her more hostile sister Patty, but Selma makes plenty of bad romantic decisions entirely on her own.
This particular episode of The Simpsons features two rather noteworthy things. First, it is near as I can make out the only episode series creator Matt Groening has sole script credit for. He assisted with a few others, but this one is the only one with just his name on it (though in cases like this, there was probably a lot of polish from all the other writers, as with any show).
Second, it has one of my favorite Homer lines, “It takes two to lie: one to lie and one to listen.” Marge didn’t know what that meant. I don’t think I do either.
When I first saw this particular episode, I thought the writers were riffing on Jessica McClure, who as a baby fell down a well and became a media sensation until her rescue.
Then years later I learned the real inspiration was a dark Billy Wilder comedy starring Kirk Douglas called Ace in the Hole. That’s actually a pretty good movie, and a lesser-known film from Wilder. But that’s not important right now.
Show business cannot fill a void in one’s soul.
Yes, it’s time for another deceptively deep lesson, this time from Krusty the Clown.
Continue reading Simpsons Did It!: “Like Father, Like Clown”
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