the Simpsons season 18 premiere 9/10 (spoilers)

Season 18 starts tonight. It feels a little weird that it’s starting this early (before Halloween). I wonder how much it’ll be delayed due to football?

Lunchlady Doris? When was the last time we saw her? Didn’t they retire her character after the voice actress died?

That was bad. That was really bad.

Yep. Usually they wait until baseball’s over.
I sure hope the rest of the season gets better.

Eh, it would have been better if it was intersting. Oh and the whole thing felt about 5 minutes long.

I had the exact same thought. Not that I wouldn’t be happy if they resuscitated the character. Are they going to bring back Phil Hartman’s characters as well…?

I thought it was, eh, okay. Not offensively bad, but no real laughs either.

It just didn’t have a point…or anything funny…or even remotely clever…and Homer fondling his own manboobs :eek: That was painful.

Considering the whole take off on Sopranos, I wonder if this was reference to the Sopranos episode where they digitally added Natalie Marchand to the show after she died mid-filming.

Too clever for what the Simpsons has given us over the past ~8 years.

I kind of liked that part. On the whole, I felt that the ep was okay, not really strong, but not an absolute disaster, either. Maybe they’re getting the weak ones out of the way early and the Halloween episode will be good.

It wasn’t the best, but there were a few amusing lines:

“Give me your three-ring binder.”
“Which one? ‘Garfield’ or ‘Love Is…?’”
"The cat. He hates Mondays. That we can all relate to.

“As we say in the old country, mangia, me amici.”
“Hey! He’s talking like the guy in Fat Albert! ‘Howbuh arebuh youbuh?’”
(Marge steps on Homer’s foot)
“Ow! Whybuh youbuh dobuh thatbuh?”

“Homer, where’d you get that truck?”
“Uh, it fell off a truck. You know, a truck truck.”
(truck truck pulls up to the house)
“Where’d you get that?
“It fell off a truck truck…truck.”
(truck truck truck pulls up to the house)

I loved the bit where the car crashed into the baking soda truck and everyone was saying that’s not so bad. Then a vinegar truck slams into them and the baking soda foams up and they all look relieved again. Then a TNT truck comes along …

What’s the deal with Otto’s voice? It sounded a lot lower and grittier in this episode for some reason.

Non only that, but the idea of Otto spanking Bart…? Totally not in character, dude, even if Bart did ruin his chance to give Metallica a ride.

The episode seemed a little off, but it wasn’t among the worst ever aired. But still nowhere near the best, sadly.

The only funny bits for me were the baking soda-vinegar-TNT, the truck truck truck, and Homer wanting to talk with his ears. Ok, the vroom-vroom behind the closed door at the end was pretty good too.

Think it’s going to get better this season, or worse?

I liked:

“Mmmmm … This must be what angels taste like.”

Aside from that - nuthin.

It felt like about ten minutes of material stretched out to fill (with what seemed like 10 minutes of commercials) 20 minutes of air time. Pointless stunt cameo from Metallica. We’ve done the “Bart joins the mob” story already, and much better. Bleh.

I felt like the scenes with Homer and Bart laughing and holding various weapons while Michael looked on is the new “rake gag”. That was just freaking pointless filler.

Hey now, the rake gag is pure comic genius. We will hear nothing negative of the rake gag.

Well anybody remotely familiar with the Godfather saga could see the ending coming a mile
away. You know, South Park often will have a plot like this but turn the plot expectations
around 180 degrees by the end. This ep is a good example of why I’ve barely watched any
new Simpsons since the decade began. That and the bad comic timing they often exhibit
anymore. Can’t wait for Futurama to return…