You know, I would disagree with your thesis that the show ever "stopped caring about itself", and that's what makes its decline so depressing. "Last Exit To Springfield", "Tennis the Menace", and the Lady Gaga episode all read to me like someone trying their damnedest to make the best episode of "The Simpsons" they…

You know, this comment was much more effective in changing my mind than you had probably intended it to be.

This is exactly it. In the classic years, the characters would do ridiculous shit and the show would knock it out of the park by underscoring the absurdity with lines just like these. Then it would work on two levels—-a., it was a satire of bad TV and bad writing, but b., it totally felt believable in context. You…

This is the one episode (or, I guess, pair of episodes) that's really well-served by syndication cuts. For example, the Dr. Colossus bits - which are really Family Guy-style humour except not as funny - get cut in syndication. I can't remember what else, but generally, it's the most "cartoony" moments that get cut…

As much as we make fun of the SNPP comments and what have you, really, the show *always* felt like it was going downhill, in that it essentially started as "Roseanne with jaundice" and got more cartoonish every year. In hindsight, seasons 3-6 or so are drastically better than the forced quasi-realism of seasons 1-2 or…

I really liked Jamey Sheridan in that role. I think he takes some heat because of the special effects, which were atrocious but hardly his fault.

The absolute best part of the miniseries—-well, the worst part, but the part that was so bad it was good—-was 85-year-old Ray Walston attempting to sing that. His lyrics: "Baby, can you dig your man? He's got a righteous gland!"

A time travel story where it turns out that time travel can have unexpected consequences?! I never would have seen that coming! Stephen King is such a creative genius!

I liked "The Langoliers" until the ending. It's a bit cartoonish, but "The Langoliers" is one of those King stories that works on the page but is bound to seem a little bit cartoonish when you see actual people doing the actual things. "And then the violin prodigy hits Balki with a toaster!" is just not something that…

I shouldn't assume - maybe Kathy Bates worked for free as a thank-you for her "Misery" Oscar or whatever - but it's always vexed me that they got a guy who doesn't even have a Wikipedia entry to play Ralph, got a guy who'd been in one other movie to play Larry, got a guy who just happened to be hanging out on set to…

Surprised by all the Adam Storke love I'm seeing here. He struck me as really soapy and unlikable (and not in the way Larry was supposed to be unlikable). There's a reason his resume pretty much only includes this and "Mystic Pizza".

San Giacomo was the worst, although the writing of the character didn't help either. In addition to being too tall and too thin, Nemec also looked about ten years too old. I first read "The Stand" when I was a precocious little kid, and didn't quite get how significant it is to the plot that Harold, while smart, is a…

That's interesting - how did you picture Stu? I found Sinise almost uncannily perfect both on paper and in practice - like I can't imagine anyone else as Stu.

How much piss was there really in Full House to start with, though?

I agree with you, and if anything, I think the people who still *like* The Simpsons still like it because of history. In the 22 minutes of the last episode (not the one under review, but the Homer-Flanders one), I remember the show attempting exactly two jokes. One was Bart's line about wanting to help a demon, which,…

Iconic and successful, sure, but I see what stinnystin means about its lack of "excitement". It was just kind of a shaggy-dog story, "family hangs out at home, maybe one of them makes a sandwich, Theo wanders in, starts talking about his day, eventually that kicks a 'plot' into motion" kind of show. I think that's…

I'll check that one out. One of my biggest complaints about modern Simpsons - and one I don't see too many other people echoing - is that it largely doesn't even seem to be aiming for humour a lot of the time. The past few seasons just feel like a collection of sleepy Mayberryesque home videos from Springfield with…

Perky D, you are my favourite writer on this site by a considerable margin, and one of the most astute critics working today, but this review makes it sound like this episode is like literally every Simpsons episode from the past ten to twelve years, and like you're just now getting around to noticing that the show is…

I'm an epic cancel-the-Simpsons-crier, but I actually agree with you. With the way people watch TV nowadays, the new seasons probably really aren't doing that much harm. I was going to post a whiny rant about how when I'm flipping through channels and catching reruns, I'm far likelier to get a season 22-26 episode…

I more or less agree with you—-it's more just how bad it sounds, the idea of an episode narrated by Moe's dish cloth. Similarly, I don't think the Lady Gaga episode is that bad (it's exceptionally bad, but there've been worse episodes) - it's just more what it represents that frustrates fans. Brief descriptions of…