A very cliched idea for an episode, but somehow entertaining. Odenkirk used to write for Futurama, but that’s no excuse for him stealing the “Daily Growl” joke. The animation seemed to look a lot nicer during the skiing scene- not the shaded, feature quality used in the movie or the Stand Up To Cancer short, but a lot more detailed than the standard “flat” animation.
“Did you know the words ‘Notre Dame’ are French, but the team is the Fighting Irish? That’s the kind of thing I think about in here.”
“Back in the poster, gabby.”
“Yes, sir.”
“You were listening? Oh, that means I’ve got to come up with an ending to this nonsense!”
“It was the war to end all wars, but Pepsi would not give up.”
I REALLY liked this one, to the point where I went back to the opening credits to see who wrote it. Odenkirk also did “The Mook, The Chef, The Wife and Her Homer,” which I also think is one of the best of the last few years.
I thought this episode had a really steady stream of good jokes, and while the plot was absolutely a cliche, they made good use of it to the point that it didn’t bother me. I laughed a lot. And Bart pulled off some more great pranks in this episode. He’s rediscovered some creativity after a fallow period there.
I also noticed that Mike Reiss was one of the (8 million) producers, and this episode had some of that Jean-Reiss years sweetness. The scene with Marge and Simon was great. The ending was a little gooey, but it’s better than an anti-ending.
I was also very excited by the Treehouse XIX ad. That looks great, and it makes you wonder why they haven’t done it before.
I was not impressed. It didn’t help that the story was such a cliche, but the jokes all fell pretty flat. About the only amusing thing was Burns telling what happened to all his older siblings.
Very minor thing that made me happy: Bart described the Simpson family as “upper-lower-middle class.” Homer said the same thing way back in “The Springfield Connection” in season six.
