Because I didn't! I wanna know if it was any good or not...

I saw a few minutes. It wasn't different enough from regular recent Simpsons for me to stick around.

Had it on while cooking dinner. Had some decent laughs in it. Not as good as the golden era, but definately watchable. Gervais' song that he sang to Marge was hilarious. However, some of his bits seemed lifted almost word for word from The Office. That wasn't so great.

It's worth tracking down, though. There was a neat bit when The Simpsons were touring the Fox T.V. backlot and saw Dan Castellanetta "of the Tracey Ullman show." He and Homer promptly got into an argument, lol. Kind of gimmicky, but memorable I guess.

I haven't watched The Simpsons in 5 or 6 years. Talk about milking the cash cow.

Better than the more recent stuff, but had a lackluster end. Gervais did do a few nice office bits that made for a good episode.

it was better than the other poop this season.

i loved the tour of the fox backlot; gervais' songs, IMO, were never his high point and the fact that there were three of them in this episode didn't take the episode over the top. the first act and a half are great; it kinda stalls out at the end (won't ruin it for you) with a very predictable ending.

I would not have watched tonight had I not read this thread (hooray Pacific Standard Time), so thank you guys.

Anyway, I loved it. Loved it. I haven't watched a new Simpsons in forever, but this stood up with any season 3-8 stuff, in my opinion.

My favorite part was the the, "You'd get it if you knew him." crack after the Donald Trump impersonation. Brilliant, as David Brent would say.

I dunno...the part on the couch where he told the genie joke to Marge was one of the most painful moments I've ever seen on the Simpsons. It just went on and on...and on...and on. Maybe that was the point of it, but it was probably one of the two or three most unfunny moments that show has ever had.

I think it was the strongest episode of the season so far (granted, this is the weakest season in the show's history). They should have more guest writers like this...

Here was the gimmick opening:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOVQdPHSihM&search=simpsons

i've found scenes like this to be incredibly more prevalent since the family guy has really picked up steam the last several years. jokes that just NEVER END. they do this on FG all the time (ex: peter falling and hitting his knee, followed by 30 seconds of: aaaahhhhhh!!! <<long exhale>> aaahhhhhh!!!! <<long exhale>>), and lately every recent simpsons episode i've seen has at least one of these jokes thrown in, and it's so obvious it's the "obligatory Family Guy joke" of the episode.

side note, i did catch my first episode of the British Office last night. the "Quiz" episode. pretty funny, but I'm biased towards the US version as I saw it first. The characters are so much alike in parts its almost ridiculous.

yeah, that was awful. i think they were going for the "family guy"-esque lets-see-how-long-we-can-have-this-joke-go thing. know what i mean?

The sad part is it was The Simpsons that helped the neverending joke get off the ground with Sideshow Bob and his rakes

Uber-OTM. Possibly the most important fifteen seconds in the last decade or so of TV comedy. I need to write an article about this sometime.

I was expecting the line "and I wish that half of my head was a big orange," but it never came.

I was pretty bored during this episode. When they toured Fox it was a good laugh, but nothing else was really that funny.

I have to revisit the DVD commentary for that episode, but nearly every time they did one of those extended gags ("CAN WE HAVE A POOL DAD CAN WE HAVE A POOL DAD CAN WE HAVE A POOL DAD CAN WE HAVE A POOL DAD?"), it was because they were just trying to fill out an episode to its required length. It's become a running joke in the commentaries.

There were a few touches here and there that were obviously inspired by the golden age of The Simpsons, which was nice because I only see that kind of pacing in reruns nowadays, but I was kinda expecting episode of the year with all the hype. It was cool, probably one of the top 10 eps this year, mainly for the Fox tour. They haven't ripped into Fox like that for nearly a decade.

how early on did bart get that tattoo? was that episode 1? 'spose that'd be the early sign of this, didn't lisa keep poking his arm after the laser removal? "ow, quit it. ow, quit it. ow, quit it. ow, quit it."

The thing about the rakes gag is that the first one is quite funny, the second a little less so and the third when we see how many there are is quite amusing. When we get to the fifth and sixth it stops being funny but by the eighth you start laughing again and the ninth off screen one makes the joke.

My point is 6 rakes wouldn't have been funny. I totally agree about how important it is. The sixth season contains the above pool example, the puppies stealing Homer's chips, Homer's thumb twiddling plan, Marge's "Let Me Off!!" and Australia/America (that's off the top of my head too.)

The next most important Simpsons moment came for me in Deep Space Homer; From Homer opening the bag of chips to Brockman's "And I, for one welcome our new insect overloards" speech. Dizzying symphonic multi-layered humour at it's very best.

10.0

Yeah, that's what Al Jean said. The episode was running short so he cut in a few more rakes. I think he did it with some reluctance, but it turned it better than he had hoped.

I thought it was one the strongest shows from the last two seasons but again not saying too much. The bit on the couch went on too long and the whole episode ended a little Jurassic Park III but there were enough good things to counter that out.



You should see his stand up.

Still waiting for this. Would love to read it in your blog.

The rake joke was fucking awesome. What really made it was when he walked around a rake he'd already been scuppered by in order to reach a 'fresh' rake.

And if Pilkington is indeed a Gervais creation, he is the greatest British comedian ever. Ever. Pope and Swift look like idiots compared to the Podcasts.

Totally.

And anyone that loves this in depth type of Simpsons analysis needs to read, Planet Simpsons by Chris Turner. It's a fantastic (if a little long) read.

Nobody called me on my deliberate Swift mistake.