I loved the whole rube side plot. The joke was really more of a shot at city dwellers, and the portrait that is painted of country folk in most television shows. In a lot of comedies the country person is played as a bumpkin that the elegant urban dweller refines. Also at play is the perception we have that many people from larger cities consider themselves more sophisticated then their rural neighbors. The humor is while Homer considers himself to be superior to those rubes simply because he is from a large city, they were in fact in every way better then him.
Everyone Homer meets is better than him; this episode was just another in an interminable string of “Homer’s a loud, whingeing jackass” plots. I think any satiric value to Homer’s crying and shouting was exhausted long ago.
This was definitely a “boiler plate” episode of “The Simpsons.” Basically, it’s gotten to the point where every season they have at least one of these type of shows:
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Homer does something asinine that alienates him from Marge. Spends remainder of the episode trying to get back in her good graces.
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Homer does something asinine that alienates him from Bart. Spends remainder of the episode trying to get back in his good graces.
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Homer does something asinine that alienates him from Lisa. Spends remainder of the episode trying to get back in her good graces.
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Bart does something asinine that alienates him from Lisa. Spends remainder of the episode trying to get back in her good graces.
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Homer does something asinine that results in his getting fired and having to take a new job. (Homer used to end up getting rehired by the plant at the end of the episode but, the last couple seasons, they’ve been leaving that plotline unresolved.)
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An episode about the dog, Santa’s Little Helper.
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An episode about Krusty (usually about having him “quit” show biz only to have him “return” in the closing segment).
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An episode about Mr. Burns.
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An episode about Grandpa Simpson.
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An episode involving Sideshow Bob. (He used to be in one episode per season. These are now less frequent.)
Considering that a typical season runs about 22 or 23 episodes, that’s nearly half.
Add to your list: an episode that revolves around a celebrity character or a character created simply to let a celebrity do a guest spot.
What? Nobody laughed at “Lemony Lick It: A Series of Horny Events”?
Other than that: meh. M-E-H.
I thought that was funny, along with the “Millionaire versus Bear” reality show.
“I want to ask Santa why he gave me an empty PlayStation box with a coloring book in it last Christmas.”
“It got your hopes up, though, didn’t it?”
Like for example Alec Baldwin as a hunky marine biologist?
Is Alec Baldwin the first person to guest twice, once as himself and once as an original character?
Maybe with that proviso, but he’s not the first two timer. Ron Howard was in two: once in the Alec Baldwin/Kim Basinger episode and once in the episode where Homer bowls the perfect game. He played himself both times though. I think Albert Brooks has guested twice also, but as original characters.
Yeah, I remember Howard, and Brooks has been multiple characters (original), as has Jon Lovitz (sometimes recurring). Glenn Close came back twice as well as Homer J’s mother, and I’m sure there are others.
Kelsey Grammar played Sideshow Bob several times, and also appeared as Frasier when Homer visits Cheers, but didn’t have any lines, so that really doesn’t count. Similarly, Liz Taylor voiced Maggie and also appeared (sans dialogue) in Krusty’s comeback episode.
But I think Baldwin may be the first to voice himself and someone else.
Let’s see: (from SNPP)
8F03 Joe Mantegna (Fat Tony, Himself playing Fat Tony).
- One of my favs.
James Earl Jones does various voices in several episodes, and does the “This is CNN” bit in the episode where BGM dies.
8F15 Steve Allen (Bart’s ‘electronically altered’ voice) and then plays himself on the old “Tonight Show” in a later episode.
Leonard Nimoy is an unnamed character in the Monorail episode and plays himself in the X-files parody.
Since the list only goes thru Season 11, I’m sure there are more.
Of course! One of my faves too.
Actually, JEJ narrates several episodes plus did his THOT gig, but he wasn’t in the episode where BGM dies (that was either Dan or Harry impersonating him). So JEJ has never portrayed JEJ on the show.
I also don’t think I would count Allen either since he didn’t play a “character” per se. And Nimoy definitely played himself in both eps.
She had lines. One I can recall is “I need to fire my agent.”
In the episode Mayored to the Mob, Mark Hamill played both himself and the director of a bodyguard school. I think he’s the only one to play himself and a fictional character in the same episode.
More than twice. Brooks has never played himself, but his guest characters include Jacques the bowler, Cowboy Bob, Brad Goodman, Hank Scorpio, and Tad Spangler (which, I’ll say again, is the greatest Simpsons guest spot in recent memory). I would guess that only Jon Lovitz has appeared on the show more times as a non-cast member.
Phil Hartman did a number of voices other than Troy and Lionel, including Lyle Lanley, Evan Conover, one of Fat Tony’s goons and I think a Charlton Heston-inspired Moses, among others
As has been mentioned, Joe Mantegna has done this as well.
And Tom, Bart’s big brother. Yes, I’m sure you’re right - Troy and Lionel were in so many episodes that he’s got to be on top.
Nah.
Quimby: [at monorail dedication ceremony] And now, I’d like to turn things over to our Grand Marshall, Mr. Leonard Nimoy.
Nimoy: I’d say this vessel could do at least Warp Five. [appreciative laughter from the crowd]
Quimby: And let me say, "May the Force Be With You!’’
Nimoy: [annoyed] Do you even know who I am?
Quimby: [indignant] I think I do. Weren’t you one of the Little Rascals?
Possibly, this scene has been cut in syndication.
No. The only scene involving Nemoy that is removed from the syndication print is where he is telling a fellow passenger (who is uninterested) how the doors on Star Trek worked.
Well, excuuuuuuuse me for trying to give ftg the benefit of the doubt, suggesting he had never seen this scene instead of him simply forgetting about it.
[sub]“Steve Martin on line 1…”[/sub]
They have 1 Sideshow Bob episode a season – or they did until Season 9. I stopped watching reguliarly after that.
Liz Taylor had dialogue in the Krusty comeback episode; upon seeing Hugh Hefner playing glass music on the special she turned down: “I’ve got to fire that agent.”