The Simpsons episode that just aired following the Super Bowl contained a jaw-dropping moment. Comic Book Guy, it was revealed, is named Jeff Albertson ("but most of my friends call me ‘Comic Book Guy’). Is this official Simpson’s canon, or is this considered a parody/spoof episode that doesn’t count?
At this point, who cares?
Jeff, son of Albert? Is there a reference here I’m missing?
On the first reply! Is that a new record?
That was the fastest I’ve ever turned off a Simpsons, by far.
Agreed, this was a bad episode. But still, this is on par with Maude dying or finding out that they were from Missouri (or Kentucky). I kind of wish they had never revealed his name…he will always be Comic Book Guy to me! 
Yeah, it was a pretty weak episode.
Dancin’ Homer Redux, with more celebrity guest voices. Meh.
There were some funny bits with Flanders’ biblical epics, though.
I thought this was a pretty good episode, although I would have liked Ned’s halftime show to be funnier, and the painting gag would have been funnier if Charles Schulz hadn’t done something like it 40 years or so earlier. But I loved Homer’s run-in with a famous Italian.
I’m not really a good comment guy, so I’ll do what I do best- throw out some quotes I liked.
Homer (upon noticing a dilapidated sign reading “Sp ingf eld P rk: Fe l the Prid !:”) Oh, the prid is gone!
Announcer: Welcome to Jock Center. Tonight: the Clipper and the stripper, a Jones that’s Chipper, and did Joe Torre shoot Flipper?
Jon Facenda-style announcer: The Super Bowl half-time show: from its humble origins in Super Bowl I (shot of single tuba player) to the marriage of Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man in Super Bowl XVI.
Ned: I’m like Michael Moore, except I’m skinny, my jeans are washed, and God loves me.
Announcer: And so, ladies and gentlemen, we have come to the start of Super Bowl X-X-X-I-X. This brand new, 300 million-dollar stadium was completed just one short week ago. And it’s scheduled for demolition early next month. America’s priorities are a joke!
Announcer: And that’s the gun! We head into halftime with a thrilling score of 55 to 6. But don’t stop watching- in the second half, points count double! And now, the eagerly-awaited Super Bowl Halftime Show, sponsored by the new Ford pickups, Citibank, and Moe’s Tavern.
(cut to Moe and two men in a skybox)
Man in Brown Suit: How could you afford this?
Moe: I hustled a lotta pool. Hey, you wanna play? I oughta warn ya, I ain’t that good.
Man in Brown Suit (confidently): All right. (to himself) Sucker.
(Moe hits him with a pool cue)
Moe: Who’s the sucker now, huh?
Homer: But then a shadow of wickedness fell across the land, as represented by this cloud of white pesticide.
Homer: I thought America was hungry for meaning! I should have just sent a crocodile into space like I originally planned.
The geriatric sex drug, Jammitin, was funny.
No reason it wouldn’t count.
Eh, it’s nowhere near that bad. The Maude thing was done because of problems with the actress and they tried to play it for ratings. This They just kind of tossed it out there without any fuss, I liked that. Not a great episode, but it had a couple of funny lines. The Jock Center stuff and the Michael Moore joke were the highlight for me.
His real name is Jumpy McShark.
I think they just reached to far with this one.
They went for poor sportsmanship/end zone dances, halftime shows, and the passion of the christ. They wound up with a really uneven show that ended abruptly.
The only good part were the guests. They made me laugh. Other than that, meh.
The hit on exactly the type of subjects that made the Simpsons great. Unfortunately, the avoided any iota of humor.
I mean, the Passion of the Christ parody was good in principle, but never really did anything other than parallel the film. At the very least, Itchy and Scratchy should have been involved.
Giving the Comic Book Guy a name smacks of desperation.
Desperation for what? They didn’t play it up in the ads (unlike Super Bowl Show and the numerous athletes). They just did it because why the hell not?
Not that it matters much, but Yao Ming’s delivery of “Shut up kid, I’ve got a good thing going here” kinda gave the lie to Lisa’s comment that he speaks “excellent” English. I thought Michelle Kwan got the best lines. “Wrath of Kwan?”
Sort of like: “We can’t think of anything funny this episode, so let’s give Comic Book Guy a name.”
It was funnier that he didn’t have a name. But they couldn’t think of anything else to keep the fans happy, so they fed them this. Giving him a name was like asking Harpo Marx to speak. What’s next? Mexican Bee Guy?
He’s not “Mexican Bee Guy,” he’s “Bumblebee Man.” He’s not even Mexican, if you go by the ep where Bart becomes Krusty’s assistant and then the “I didn’t do it” boy.
Actually, this episode had a semi-reference to the “death of Maude” episode: as you’ll recall, that episode revealed (via Homer’s video of him in the shower) that Ned Flanders has an enormous unit. Last night, did y’all get a load of the size of the fig leaf on Ned as Adam? Colossal! And it had to be, to cover up his baby’s-arm-sized appendage.
There were some good gags, but in the end, they tried to do too much. They should have stuck with either the A plot (Dancin’ Homer Redux) or the B plot (Passion of the Christ parody).
But compared to American Dad, this was frikken genuis!
Wasn’t a character supposed to come out of the closet in this episode?
Or is that the sweeps week stunt?
They never said the Simpsons live in Kentucky. That was a “Behind the Music” parody episode, portraying the Simpsons as actors in a show. The “show” was filmed in Kentucky, not set in Kentucky.