A interestingly topical episode, commenting on the mysterious bee extinction that has been confounding many. I liked the whole thing with the billionaires and Mr. Burns’s typically antiquated attempts to be a flamboyant millionaire (although he’s done it before in “Monty Can’t Buy Me Love,” Marc Cuban is probably the best known flamboyant millionaire besides Richard Brans…er, Arthur Fortune). Cuban obviously has a sense of humor. Mak Mu the Human North Pole is quite possibly the best pointless secondary character since Sideshow Raheem.
I think it was also used last year, but the Christmas intro was cute.
This episode was a bust for me. I almost gave up on it and bailed but ended up hanging in there. The last joke, about millionaire’s, was a pretty funny comment.
Given that folks like the USDA, as well as the agricultural ministries in a number of countries, say that there is a serious threat of honey bees going extinct, I’m going to go with what they have to say on the matter.
From what I understand, the holes in His hands make it hard for Him to grip the bat, and He tends to get nailed when He goes out for a big event.
The individual affiliates must have decided what show to drop. I was watching WFFF out of Burlington and they dropped King of the Hill and ran Simpsons, American Dad, and Family Guy after the BCD Show.
No, I’m looking at FoxFlash.com (Fox Broadcasting’s official press site) and the official schedule they give for December 7 gives Simpsons for 8:30 Eastern, 8:00 Pacific for all affiliates. TV schedules printed earlier in the week did not list The Simpsons at this time. The Bowl Championship Series seeding airing live did strange things to the schedule- since the BCS seeding aired live, it aired at 5pm on the west coast, so the west coast got a different schedule, with The Simpsons airing in its standard 8:00 timeslot. Since the BCS seeding aired at 8pm on the east coast, people doing the schedules early most likely assumed that The Simpsons would be preempted rather than moved.
There was a moment in this episode which, I think, clearly demonstrates that The Simpsons simply isn’t the show it used to be.
At one point, Mark Cuban appears and says something to the effect of, “Hi, I’m Mark Cuban, flamboyant billionaire.” He says this to no one in particular; just talking to the audience, as it were. In the very next shot, Burns asks Smithers, “Who is that?” and Smithers tells him, “That’s Mark Cuban…”
Folks, that’s just plain awful writing. Why the hell do you have the cameo character blandly introduce himself directly to the audience, when you’re going to have him introduced in dialogue literally 5 seconds later? There have to be at least 375 different, creative ways you can make a character known to the audience without having him just state his name as if he were filling out a verbal questionnaire.
I don’t remember too many instance of this sort of uncreative effort in Simpsons episodes from back in the day. I get the sense that this is one instance in the general trend with The Simpsons: a lack of effort, bordering on laziness, in which the original creators and writers did not indulge during the early years. That’s why I think the negative critiques–which are often dismissed as plain naysaying–are valid: it really isn’t as good a show as before.
I didn’t see it as awful writing- I saw it as a reference to the fact that Smithers has to remind Mr. Burns constantly who Homer is, despite the fact that the two have crossed paths mulitple times. (“Who is that slack-jawed troglodyte?” “That’s Homer Simpson, sir. He’s one of your worker drones from sector 7G.”*) I didn’t remember Cuban introducing himself beforehand, but if Mr. Burns doesn’t know who Homer is, it would make as much sense for Mr. Burns to not know who someone is immediately after hearing his name.
*Not an actual Simpsons quote- just an example of what a Burns/Smithers “That’s Homer Simpson, sir” exchange usually sounds like.
ETA: Looking at the actual episode, he doesn’t even introduce himself to anyone, just use his own name in a cheer: “Three points! Big 3 for the big D and the big C- Marc Cuban, that’s me!”
I didn’t keep the episode on my DVR, so I was only working from memory. Cuban may not have directly introduced himself, but even as you quote it, it still seems clear to me that the line was written so as to clue in the uninformed who the special guest cameo was. I still see it as a clunky piece of explanatory dialogue. And the gag about Burns never remembering names only works in a context–as with Homer–when you know he’s met that person before. No such thing with Cuban.
Meh. I stand by my original slur–it’s the kind of shoddy effort that has lowered a formerly great show to “a little bit better than everything else, sometimes.”