The Simpsons 1/27

[cochrane]

@DoctorJ

Simpsons time/age continuity was off from the start. Homer has always been in his late 30s, and Bart is 10, so he should have been born during Homer’s late 20s. But Homer knocked Marge up right out of high school. (Jon Stewart tried to press Matt Groening on this on TDS, but he wouldn’t take the bait.)

IIRC, Homer was 34 in the early episodes, first season anyway. So his age has crept upward by a few years. Still, if Homer was 24 when he and Marge conceived Bart, that still leaves plenty of time for Marge to attend college and get a degree. Too bad the writers didn’t have her attend Springfield Heights Institute of Technology. (Good ol’ S. H. I. of T.)

@TWDuke

I was thinking about this last night. “The Simpsons” could adopt the DC/Marvel approach of pretending that all previous episodes took place in alternate universes, creating multiple conflicting continuities, then have some sort of huge, cataclysmic event, let’s call it a “crisis,” that establishes a single continuity at the cost of destroying most of these other worlds, wiping out our favorite episodes and erasing some longtime established characters from existence. I’m sure that would make the fans happy.

That would be the Comic Book Guy’s wet dream come true. CBG’s from different universes coming together, some doing battle against each other, some fighting together as allies, until there is only one Comic Book Guy left standing.

[Marley23]

@TWDuke

I’m sure that would make the fans happy.

And that is why The Lord of the Rings can never be filmed!

[vibrotronica]

It had some good gags, and I lol’d. I see that they were parodying themselves with the whole flashback episode thing, but ultimately it didn’t hold together.

Grade: B- (bumped up from a C because of Weird Al)

[Orual]

Shows that are icons of the '90s should not do parodic nostalgia episodes about the '90s.

It really didn’t work for me.

[robardin]

@Orual

Shows that are icons of the '90s should not do parodic nostalgia episodes about the '90s.

It really didn’t work for me.

Funny, I thought that’s exactly why it DID work for me.

To me the 1990s still seem like yesterday, it’s rather sobering to think that there’s only one more year left in the decade of the “2000s”! (And I still don’t know what the consensus collective term for this decade is, even after spending several years wondering about it ahead of time in the late 1990s!)

[Thudlow_Boink]

I didn’t like it.

Well, I did love the couch gag. But it went downhill from there. My least favorite episode from the last season or two.

I think there’s substantial overlap between why I didn’t like it and why Wee Bairn didn’t like it. Or maybe I just hate the 90s. But I couldn’t help comparing it to some of their classic flashback episodes, and to the episode where Homer went back to college, and to the other episodes where Homer has a rival for Marge’s affections, and this one suffered by comparison. Blech.

[TWDuke]

@robardin

(And I still don’t know what the consensus collective term for this decade is, even after spending several years wondering about it ahead of time in the late 1990s!)

I was rooting for “the ohs,” but it doesn’t seem to have caught on.

[Jman]

I thought it was an absolutely hilarious episode. For those of you freaking about continuity…don’t worry…at the end of the episode EVERYTHING GOES BACK TO NORMAL, as they’ve been saying many times over the years.

It was a self-parody, and a hilarious send-up of everything 90s, which I particularly enjoyed, as I was a high school and college student through the 90s. “Closing Time” instantly transports me to my first college apartment.

I can’t believe people were pissed about the retcon…it was a JOKE people.

[Thudlow_Boink]

Aha. I just realized why I didn’t like this episode: The Simpsons spent the whole 90s sending up the 90s. They don’t need a special episode to do so now.

[Not_A_Tame_Lion]

Chiming in here to say that I too enjoyed last night’s episode. Got a lot more laughs out of this one than many of the recent episodes. I’m a fan of the show from the very first episode (and before that, Groening’s “Life in Hell” comics), and I found nothing particularly troubling about the discontinuities. Hell, if you care that much about it, you can just pretend that Marge and Homer were making it up. Nobody claims it’s scripture. Just as long as the jokes work, and there were a lot of jokes that worked in this episode. I hope it’s a sign of things to come.

[Orual]

@Thudlow Boink

Aha. I just realized why I didn’t like this episode: The Simpsons spent the whole 90s sending up the 90s. They don’t need a special episode to do so now.

BINGO!!

[middleman]

Wow. I came in expecting a lovefest, and it seems to be something of a split decision.

Credentials: 33 years old. Watched Tracie Ullman in first run. Wore the “underachiever and proud of it” T-shirt as a freshman in high school. Have actually printed out an episode guide to make sure I’ve seen every episode (I have), and have been terribly disappointed in the 21st century of the Simpsons (yet, completest that I am, I do not stop).

I freaking loved this one. I thought it was clearly the best episode of the 21st century with a bullet. I am not a huge continuity geek in farcical fiction, but my brain does recognize the “mistakes.” I had to try to numb that portion, and simply enjoy a WONDERFUL story. Sure, it cannibalizes a lot of past episodes, but when you last twenty years, you are forced to repeat. Hollywood loves remakes, so why not remake yourself? The B-Sharps episode won’t mind too much.

This episode captured the whimsy and joy that has been missing in the recent years. I actually looked at Marge and Homer as young characters instead of the pop icons they have become. I was actually immersed in the story at times. That is hard for me when watching the Simpsons because I have “known” them for so long, it is almost like watching a friend in a play; you never really believe they are Mercutio. You always know it is just your roommate Adam who didn’t understand “tightie-whitey” underwear etiquette!

Plus, I loved the look back at the 90s. I freaking loved the 90s. I doubt there will ever be a better decade for me personally. I was in high school, college, and law school during the 90s, and I drank a lot of booze! The music in that episode inspired many a flashback to a simpler time when we had a competent president (FWIW, I am a Republican), real sitcoms (The professor was right about that one), Osama bin Laden was just terrorizing us overseas, and grunge and frat rock ruled the radio.

Loved it. It gets an A rating. This has been a decent season.

BUT, just for shits and giggles, I offer some continuity errors that DID catch my attention (time shifting aside):

• Homer went to Rock Fantasy camp a few seasons ago to live out his unfulfilled rock and roll fantasy.

• There has to be some contradition about them having sex for the first time in the putt putt castle. That didn’t make much sense. Are they saying Homer was with her a decade and they didn’t have sex until he was 28?

• Hasn’t it been established somewhere that Marge did NOT go to college because of getting pregnant? (speaking of Marge’s homelife, I am surprised no Patty or Selma appearance was in this one)

Any other spring to mind?

[phungi]

“Sadgasm” and “Marge Come Back” alone were enough to make this a classic!

(not to mention Weird Al doing “Brain Freeze” and Homer doing “Margerine”)