Not great, but watching while high improved it. If it is unanimous that no one likes Gil, why don’t the writers get wind of this? But it did have a few good lines. And the fight between the green thing and Homer brought to mind Peter Griffin’s with the chicken.
I have to agree to this.
Gil’s voice sounded different to me. Did anyone else notice this, or is it just me?
To me, this was a slightly above-average episode (compared to the more recent crop of shows).
P.S. I forgot the context of the “I make six of these a year” joke mentioned by RealityChuck. Can someone please fill me in?
Marge is screaming about how she re-learned how to say no and Homer offers her a $1000 bill and she says no so he lights it on fire.
Overall, crappy episode with a promising beginning. The Grinchthing subplot was borrowed from the Family Guy chicken-fighting-Peter thing, which, let me tell you, is never a good sign. I’m always sad when the Simpsons mines anything from the Family Guy, which is essentially a collection of usually-unfunny non sequitors (side note: I thought this week’s Family Guy was atrocious). I can’t corroborate the American Dad comment, but just hearing that saddened me. I remember the first time I thought a Futurama was better was than a Simpsons—I never thought I’d hear that AMERICAN DAD (of all things) could even be mentioned in the same sentence. Ugh. The only thing worse than that show is “The War at Home” and the only thing worse that THAT show is someone in your family dying.
Missed this before I posted. I blame my half-full coffee.
Hey, I’m as surprised as you, but this week’s AD was actually clever and has Lisa Kudrow doing a hilarious turn as the Ghost of Christmas Past. Previous episodes of AD inspired more eye-rolling than chuckling, but this one clicked. I still love Simpsons, but Gil is a weak character to base an episode on, so I give the Sunday to AD (I missed the Family Guy ep, but I never expect much from them).
Futurama, though, rules them all.
The episode had potential, but unfortunately, it turned into one of those loosely connected plot lines to set up the jokes. It was very un-Simpsons like for them to just let Gil crash there for that long, even moreso when the reason is that Marge can’t say no. She has said no to Homer plenty of times. Besides, whenever they let someone stay at their house, the family makes it a point to help whoever it is get their jobs back (Apu, Otto, etc.). Letting Gil sit there and veg while none of them go out and try to persuade someone to give Ol’ Gil a job? Weak, very very weak.
I’m not really seeing it. I know they both involved guys in costumes, but one’s an insanely long action-movie fistfight and the other is a character who pops up to threaten Homer. The Grumble was unfunny enough, I think, without calling it a steal from Family Guy. Homer’s fought with costumed characters before, in any event: he beat up an Easter Bunny last year, and for all I know, there are other incidents I can’t think of at the moment.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I could deal with that. I can relate to his version of reality better than just about anyone else’s.
Including that time he became a political prisoner after kicking a giant mouse in the butt.
And he assaulted the Krustyburger equivalent of the Hamburglar, whose name I forget.
One of my favorite lines from that episode.
“What are you in for?”
“I’m a political prisoner.”
“How are you a political prisoner?”
“I kicked a giant mouse in the butt! Do I have to draw you a freakin’ diagram?”
Not surprisingly, it’s the Krustyburglar. (portrayed by the Latvian midget- or little person, to be PC- who also portrayed Lisa and Fallout Boy). “Please look at my Medic Alert bracelet…”
Now that I think about it, the midget was Estonian.
How about if we call it a hybrid ripoff of “Peter-Griffin-vs.-the-Chicken” and “Chris-Griffin-vs.-the Evil-Monkey”?
Too Dennis Millerish.
The Harold Stassen reference, that is.
But that was the point. The real punchline was when Bart asked Lisa if she got it because she laughed, and she said ‘Kind of…’
You people are going to drive me to drink, and I don’t mean you’ll give me a lift to the bar. 
It really was nothing like the evil monkey bit.
Isn’t that the joke? Even Lisa didn’t get it.
The whole point of the Gil character, his raison d’etre, is that he’s a weak loser who’s always getting the short end of the stick. That’s the guy Marge can’t say no to? Doesn’t make sense.
I did like Krusty’s Holiday on Ice, the $1000 bill gag, and the “Christian Charity” joke.
The $1000 joke made me cringe. It wasn’t Jerkass Homer, instead it was Too dumb to be believed Homer.
If it makes you feel better, $1000 bills don’t circulate anymore. So it was probably a counterfeit note. I’m just sayin’…