Rewind: The Simpsons S8

I'm a somewhat strange Simpsons viewer in two respects. The first is that I started watching a couple years ago, in 2013, and have somehow completely avoided watching any episodes - to my memory - good or bad ever before that first viewing.  I think I haphazardly watched part of a Treehouse of Horrors episode in its later years, but I gave up on it pretty quickly - and really not sure a later years Treehouse of Horrors is the best introduction to The Simpsons.

The second is that, amidst the discussion of what the "golden era" of The Simpsons is, I found myself extremely underwhelmed in some of the years considered "golden".  Season 2 is by no means a season that is universally considered among peak Simpsons, but seasons 3 and 4 are on every list.  It's not that I didn't like them, but I so clearly enjoy seasons five through seven over the previous two that I feel I'm missing something.  Hell, I rewatched seasons three and four to make sure I didn't miss anything.. and pretty much the same feeling as before.  I caught more jokes, but overall I didn't experience some sort of leap in quality or enjoyment that I was hoping I would get.

So I'm a little more amenable to the idea that season eight might not have been the decline people make it out to be.  Or I was when I started the season.  There's definitely a dip in quality.  I wish I could explain it well, or even at all, because I watched the majority of this season a few months ago.  Looking over the previous episodes, the episodes I remember or ones that stick out, are ones that are considered classics.  But I distinctly remember at the time watching them - though not the specific episodes - that this is somewhat of a downgrade from before.

So I'm of two minds going forward at this point.  On the one hand, I am clearly an unconventional Simpsons viewers with varying tastes from the consensus.  As such, I shouldn't assume things that the consensus tells me are simply true.  I should find out for myself.  From that perspective, I absolutely need to watch season nine and possibly season 10 (as both are lumped together as similar in quality).  I probably won't watch season 11 as of now, but I'm willing to amend that depending on how much I like or dislike the next two seasons.  At most, I'm watching until season 12 and I've considered having sort of a "greatest hits" collection of episodes post season 10 on to the present day.  Skip the bad ones while still getting a feel for modern Simpsons.

On the other hand, season eight really feels like a series ending type of season, doesn't it?  You get the sense that they are wringing every possible type of comedy that is left in their creative brain.  This is everything that they have left and everything they've got for the rest of the series.  Now that may or may not be true, but this season features changing the status quo more than once (Milhouse Divided, Grade School Confidential), off-the wall ideas (El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer, Spinoff Showcase), and unfortunately narrative shortcuts and some lazy ideas (The Springfield Files, Simpsoncalifragi. yeah not typing more of that).

The last three episodes, for my money, are some of the greatest episodes to end The Simpsons.  I'm not saying they are the best episodes, but that it's a damn great way to stop watching.  "Homer's Enemy" IS one of the greatest episodes of the season, features some extreme meta commentary on the show, and after watching it, it's kind of hard to continue forward.  The show is pointing out how ridiculous it is and that seems like a thing you do when you end the show.  "The Spin-off Showcase" is a creative and original idea, and while not all three segments are great, it helps, well, showcase both its originality and the vast crate of characters.  The last one is a return to classic Simpsons: simple story, emotional, and funny.  Seriously, I want my last memory of The Simpsons to be that so bad that it's going to be difficult to watch season nine, which I pretty much assume is worth watching if not essential.

(Short review, but I watched most of this season a while ago so you get what you get)

Playlist
1. "NWA" - Miguel feat. Kurupt
2. "Them Kids" - Sam Roberts Band
3. "Long Way Down" - Robert DeLong
4. "Endors Toi" - Tame Impala
5. "Hood Took Me Under" - Compton's Most Wanted

Rewind: The Simpsons S7

When I started this feature, I had certain preconceived expectations about the quality of each Simpsons season - when it was promising, when it was best, and when it showed its cracks.  I expected the best two seasons to be the fourth and fifth seasons.  I had this vague impression that the later golden era seasons were still hilarious, but showing its cracks.  Interestingly enough, neither of those expectations held true to me.

It's a little difficult to pick out the best seasons for me among the golden era seasons, but it's shockingly easy for me to leave out Season 4.  I was under the impression that the fourth season was the perfect mix of comedy and heart.  I think that was overstated as every season I've watched has heart in at least a couple episodes and it's not nearly as funny as other seasons.  I only mention that because I present the true season that is the perfect mix of comedy and heart: Season 7.

Season 7 has all of the heart of the fourth season, but it's also just funnier.  My opinions comparing the fourth and seventh seasons, fair or not, is perfectly reflected in the two clip shows.  The fourth season clip show is good in its own right, compared to other clip shows, but the 138th Episode Spectacular is good compared to regular episodes.  The clip show is just brilliant in its execution and the way it is structured.

The clip show is reminiscent of the entire season in another facet: it's endless creativity and experimentation.  Despite the show having been on the air for 128 episodes and for being responsible for 25 in this season alone, the show has mostly completely fresh new ideas for each episode.  There's the obvious "22 Short Films About Springfield," but I mean even in its more grounded storylines.  Something as simple as the family encountering a rich club in "Scenes from the Class Struggle" was still a wholly new idea the show had yet to write about.  (You can go ahead and correct me if I'm wrong about that)

The seventh season takes full advantage of its wide arsenal of characters.  Again, there's the obvious "22 Short Films" which is basically the writers showing off about how many great characters they have.  There's maybe Sideshow Bob's best episode (which is saying something) and Abe Simpson improbably being an action hero (not a complaint).  Apu gets a worthy sequel to "Homer and Apu" in an episode that may just be the most politically on one side the show's ever been.  Lastly, Troy McClure is seen for the first time "live" because he needs to be shown with a woman because of his weird fish fetish.  Going to characters such as Abe and Troy McClure for full episodes - who really work best in short doses - may reek of a desperation to fill out 25 episodes, but somehow all the episodes hold together really well and it never feels padded.

No other character benefits more from this season than Lisa.  If it's true that Lisa is a hard character to write an episode about, the multitude of effective and heartwarming Lisa episodes are perhaps their best achievements in the season.  Specifically, there's just something about Lisa and Homer's relationship that strikes a cord.  "Lisa the Iconclast" and "Bart on the Road" both feature some of the sweetest moments on the show.  "Lisa the Vegetarian" finds her at odds with Homer (and all of Springfield) and lastly Lisa finds new friends in "Summer of 4 ft. 2."  It was a good season to be Lisa basically.

But the sentimental episodes aren't limited to just Lisa.  Most of these episodes surprisingly end on some emotional level.  There's the obvious "Mother Simpson" which finally answers the question about Homer's mother.  "Marge Be Not Proud," about Bart and Marge, is probably one of the few Simpsons episodes that can make you cry.  Even an episode as silly as "Homerpalooza" ends with Homer realizing he shouldn't die just to be cool, which really doesn't sound as affecting as it is when written into words.

There is not a single bad episode in this seventh season in my opinion, so much so that I'm surely forgetting a classic.  There's the yearly Treehouse of Horror, the sequel to "Who Shot Mr Burns," and "King Size Homer," where Homer aspires to work on disability by gaining weight.  (How had they not done this episode yet is beyond me - I similarly feel the same about "Homer the Smithers")

It probably goes without saying, but the voice work is still elevating the material given to them.  Mediocre lines became funny and funny lines become instantly quotable because of the fantastic voice work.  Similarly, I don't usually comment on the animation, but this season seems to have some of the most impressive animation yet.  This is truly a show that was firing on all cylinders.

Season 7 went for both the crazy like Season 5 and 6, but brought back the heart held in the first four seasons.  I don't know if I'd call this season the best season, but it's probably the best representation of The Simpsons in my opinion.  It's got heart, laughs, experimentation, and some of the most original ideas the show had ever done.

Grade - A

Playlist
1. "White Lies" - Milo Greene
2. "Electric Man" - Rival Sons
3. "Heroine" - Dwntwn
4. "Don't Wanna Be Your Girl" - Wet
5. "Swimsuits" - The Cool Kids feat. Mayer Hawthorne

Rewind: The Simpsons S6

With a then-series high 25 episodes, it's truly amazing that the series barely suffers in quality despite having a clip show and two other episodes produced by writers from a different show.  That's a little unfair actually.  The vast majority of the episodes, with the exception of the couch and chalkboard gags (which honestly seem less inspired, but it really doesn't matter), seem completely unaffected.  Really, you could only point to two episodes that aren't really up to the classic The Simpsons standard (which I'll get to later).

This season received writing credits from an astounding 16 people.  If you look at some of the shows these writers worked on, post-Simpsons, though you begin to truly understand the talent that was at hand.  There's Greg Daniels of course, who later co-created King of the Hill and Parks and Recreation, and developed The Office for American television.  There's David Cohen (Futurama), Jennifer Crittenden (Seinfeld), and Ken Keeler (Futurama).  Then there's Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein (showrunners for seasons 7 and 8), Mike Scully (showrunner for Seasons 9-12), and John Schwartzwelder (the most prolific writer with 59 writing credits and some considered the best).

These writers helped manage what they considered an impossible amount of episodes.  The surprising thing to me is that the next three seasons are just as long and I would have thought The Simpsons had enough leverage to produce less episodes.  The ratings were great, the quality was great, and it was a beloved show.  If they wanted to produce less episodes, couldn't they have forced the network to simply accept it?  (I mean they eventually were able to, but it just surprises me)

The two episodes that I mentioned above that suffer from your typical "golden era" Simpsons is the clip show of course and "Round Springfield."  The former is simply unavoidable.  While it is vastly superior to most clip shows, it's still inferior to the rest of the season.  They make it as good as a clip show can be (well, Community technically did but that wasn't really a "clip" show so unfair comparison) to their credit.  "Round Springfield" seems dropped from another season to me with the death of Bleeding Gums.  It wasn't even written by the main staff of The Simpsons, but by The Critic writers.  (Not sure I'd let this episode dictate my opinion of The Critic though as the other "controversial" episode, A Star is Burns, is actually pretty good despite Matt Groening's complaints.)

As always, the voice work done by the main cast (and the guest stars) is phenomenal.  Not trying to take away from the writers, but they can make the most mundane lines hilarious.  Dan Castellaneta, Hank Azaria, Harry Shearer, and Nancy Cartwright are national treasures both for their work on the family and for the recurring characters.  (The other two, Julie Kavner and Yeardley Smith, are also good although play very few characters)

While I mentioned that the high episode order is evident, I don't want to act like this season is somehow below par.  This may be my favorite season of The Simpsons - picking between this season and the fifth season is like picking between seasons two and four of The Wire - I don't really think you can go wrong with either choice.  It's as quotable as the show has ever been, it has stone cold classics ("Itchy and Scratchy Land, "Homer Badman," and "Lemon of Troy"), and it's extremely funny.

"Itchy and Scratchy Land" rips on violence in cartoons and Disneyland, "Sideshow Bob Roberts" rips on politics, and "Lisa on Ice" rips on parents who care too much about their kids' sports (which scarily seems even more prevalent today).  "Homer Badman" is an episode that also seems timely to watch now with the reporting in Ferguson.  (To clarify, because that sentence can be misconstrued badly, I do NOT support Darren Wilson)  Words can't possibly describe how great "Homer the Great" is with guest star Patrick Stewart the perfect choice for an underground secret club.

"And Maggie Makes Three" and "Lisa's Wedding" are two of those episodes that I would point to in season six having more heart than you'd expect.  I'm just going to keep listing episodes that stand out for me, by the way, which is nearly every single episode.  There's the fantastic "Bart's Comet," the aforementioned "Lemon of Troy" with its rival town, and "Two Dozen and One Greyhounds with Burns as evil as he probably will ever be.  And I can't forget "Bart vs. Australia" with its completely bizarre idea of Australia.

I'm probably forgetting to mention your favorite episode, but it's hard to talk about more without just commenting on every episode.  I'm not saying those episodes I didn't mention are bad or even worse than the ones mentioned above, they just don't quite make me laugh instantly upon remembering the insane plot or a funny quote.  The sixth season of The Simpsons is simply about as good as a comedy show can get.  (This is kind of an awkward way to end this post, but last paragraphs always suck to write and the last paragraph would just be filler cause I have nothing else to say.)

Grade - A

Playlist

1. "Seasons (Waiting on You)" - Future Islands

2. "Emotion" - The Bee Gees feat. Samantha Sang

3. "Pretend" - Bad Suns

4. "Go" - Grimes feat. Blood Diamonds

5. "Recover" - CHVRCHES

Rewind: The Simpsons S5

Whenever I begin a review of The Simpsons, I feel this enormous weight on my shoulders.  There's the simple fact that a lot of people consider this show as one of the best of all time.  Based on the views I get for each of these posts, it's safe to say there's quite a few people who basically only tune into these Simpsons reviews.  I tend to feel guilty that I am not worthy of writing about this show.

If I thought I felt pressure writing about previous seasons, well triple it here for the vaunted fifth season.  The season where, let's face it, the plots are ridiculously insane, even for The Simpsons.  They get a pet elephant, Bart AND Homer both become famous, and Homer goes to fucking space.  Needless to say, the show didn't seem to feel the need to restrain itself.  Virtually any parody or wacky plot could conceivably happen, which is a welcome change from the usual repeated storylines even the best sitcoms tend to have.  (In theory, having the plots be virtually anything shouldn't work.  In theory, communism works.  In theory.)

This may sound like sacrilege to some, but honestly this is the first season where I get it.  I understand its love, its admiration, and its obsessive fans.  This is the first season of The Simpsons that worked for me like I expected it to.  Now, I'm not saying the previous seasons disappointed me by any means, I just felt like my expectations had been built so high that I was holding the show to an impossible standard.  Those standards haven't been lowered so much as the fifth season reached them.

I realized something else to help me reach this conclusion.  The Simpsons do two things that are common nowadays, but back then was rare.  The first is the cutaway gag.  It's not exactly accurate to say it's overused now, because if it's done well it will always work, but between all of Seth McFarlane's shows, 30 Rock and New Girl (and others), the cutaway gag is all over the place.

The other thing is meta humor and meta sitcom humor (I don't know what else to call it).  The show makes fun of itself frequently and comments on its place in pop culture.  It also makes fun of the structure of the show itself and how sitcoms usually work.  Other shows do meta humor - hell other shows did meta humor around the same time (I am scared to put this show here because of the hate it gets now, but Friends is a good example).  But no other shows make fun of how exposition works and say things about how the episode is wrapping up much quicker than usual.  (Although, if there's a weakness in this season, it's that they went to that well too many times.  It felt like every episode had a meta joke in it)

Those two things helped me appreciate The Simpsons more, but what also helped it was that I found it much funnier.  The "insect overlords" scene makes me laugh every time I think about it and is one of the funniest scenes of any comedy show ever for me.  For some reason, watching Sideshow Bob get constantly pummeled is also endlessly hilarious including walking into a rake a ridiculous number of times.  Then there's the innumerable amount of times The Simpsons generates laughs by doing the opposite of what would be expected.

Adding to the laughs is an almost insanely amazing ability to deploy famous guest stars in the best way possible.  I can't think of any better use than what they do with James Woods, Michelle Pfeiffer, Ernest Borgnine, and Albert Brooks.  And not necessarily due to their voice work like the actors, they tend to make comedy gold out of their musical guest stars such as George Harrison, the Ramones, and James Taylor.

Despite these laughs, I don't think The Simpsons sacrificed any humanity for its characters.  There's a shocking character consistency that I expected to falter.  If Homer needs to find something out, every single time they make sure he only finds out because it's blatantly obvious.  Bart is mischievous, but he's not downright evil by rejecting Burns and confessing that he witnessed an apparent assault.  This aspect of The Simpsons is evidently missing from newer episodes from what I've read (well that and being funny).

If there's one thing that I miss the most in Simpsons episodes, it's the not insignificant amount of its pop culture references.  One of the weaknesses to being young (humble brag) is that my cultural cache is much, much smaller than most people.  Sure, I most likely have a considerably bigger reach than most people my age, and I'm trying hard to expand it, but I have nowhere near what The Simpsons writers had.  I mean four of the first seven episodes are elaborate parodies of things I have little knowledge of.  The history of The Beatles?  I'm probably the farthest thing from an expert on The Beatles.  Also, I've never seen Cape Fear, Citizen Kane (gasp!), or Thelma & Louise.  You could say I feel a little bit left out.

If anything though, the impressive reach of movies/shows that it would inspire me to watch is an enormous positive for the show.  And to revisit these episodes after having seen things that the show mocks, lovingly parodies, or comments upon will be a joy.  I've said it before and it never has been truer than now for me: I will enjoy these episodes more on re-watch than my first viewing.

Lastly, because I think it deserves merit, is the show's title sequence.  It says something about what a run they had reached that the chalkboard and couch gags became must-see television.  Between "I will never win an Emmy," "I will not celebrate meaningless milestones," and every single, unique couch gag, the show was clearly firing on all cylinders.

It feels good that I finally get it.  I'm really interested to see how I view previous seasons now that I feel I understand its love.  I don't know what it says about me that it took until the fifth season, but an important thing to understand is that I have always expected to laugh more at these episodes.  And this is the first season where that expectation was met.  (Last note: It's amazing how many quotes I am well aware of that I didn't know came from The Simpsons)


Playlist
1. "No Rest for the Wicked" - Lykki Li
2. "High" - Freddie Gibbs feat. Danny Brown & Madlib
3. "Gooey" - Glass Animals
4. "Do it Again" - Robyn, Röyksopp
5. "Comes and Goes" - Greg Laswell

Rewind: The Simpsons S4

The fourth season of The Simpsons is widely regarded as one of the best seasons on television ever.  It's consistent from Episode 1 to Episode 22 and it even makes the most out of a lame clip show.  I've seen 22 of these episodes one time through so I'm not going to pretend I was able to get every gag, reference, or joke that the show threw at me.  Therefore, I can't pretend I consider this one of the all-time greatest seasons ever.  I'm not sure I ever will.  The problem is that The Simpsons paved ground for shows I've already seen so some of the writing doesn't appear so revolutionary as it happened to be.

True to its reputation, the fourth season is shockingly consistent.  Some of the episodes are more memorable than the others and some of them I need to read a quick plot review to remember, but I definitely didn't finish any of the episodes thinking it was bad.

The season begins with the students led by Principal Skinner destroying Springfield Elementary after school ends.  Granted, it was Bart's dream, but that pretty much indicates what to expect from this season - anything and everything.  The show then proceeds to have episodes dedicated to making fun of religion, beauty pageants, 80s action movies, labor disputes, cartoon television writers, long-standing practices in the name of tradition, and the phenomenon of mobs.   It also parodies such classic movies as "A Streetcar Named Desire," "The Great Escape," "A Clockwork Orange," "The Music Man," and many other movies I've never seen.

In previous seasons, my lone complaint was that the show wasn't as funny as I was expecting given its reputation.  While it still kind of falls short in that department honestly, it made me laugh considerably more than in previous seasons.  But really I've learned not to watch this show to laugh as odd as that may sound.  I do know there are people who exist - a good number of them in fact - who find this show gut-bustingly hilarious.  I'm not one of those people.  That's not to say I don't laugh a lot at these episodes - and probably more on subsequent visits - it's just that if I find myself in the mood to laugh, I'm probably not going to be watching The Simpsons.  I hope you can understand the distinction.

The first four episodes set the standard for the season.  "Kamp Krusty" particularly stands out for me.  The show has kids destructing a school, followed by child abuse by camp counselors, and the implication that Homer and Marge are being dragged down by having kids.  Even by today's standards, that's daring.  The second episode makes me want to go watch "The Great Escape" and "A Streetcar Named Desire."  I mean even if the episode was bad, that's definitely a good thing.  The third episode just absolutely destroys organized religion.  I'm not going to say my opinions on this one way or the other, but everything it says is absolutely spot-on.  The fourth does a spectacular job on the admittedly easy target that is a beauty pageant, more relevant today than then I'd argue.

The Treehouse of Horror underwhelmed me.  It's not that it was bad, but I actually like the previous two better which surprised me.  I don't want to go through every episode, so I'll just name a few that stood out to me.  "Marge vs the Monorail" was one of my favorites of the season with a random appearance from Leonard Nimoy (and hilarious).  "Selma's Choice" provides me with the funniest laughs of the season when Lisa trips out at Duff Gardens.  "I Love Lisa" is a showcase for Ralph Wiggums and Bart's willingness to do just about anything to get to a Krusty show.  "Last Exit to Springfield" of course which is considered the greatest of the series by many.  Lastly, I really liked "Whacking Day" for how it shows how stupid certain traditions are (and apparently this specific tradition is actually based on a real life tradition similar to this amazingly).

Hell, in the mandatory clip show, the writers poke fun at at the fact that it's a clip show (my favorite bit is Bart talking about that one Itchy & Scratchy episode completely unrelated to anything).  This was before anybody even had the audacity to do this.

Overall, the fourth season doesn't quite live up to its reputation for me, you know, because its reputation is greatest of all-time of any show ever.  But I liked it a lot and will definitely re-watch a few times before I move on to the fifth season at an undetermined date.

Since I'm a newbie to this show, I wanted to give the perspective of a veteran.  So I asked twitter friend John to write his opinion on this season as well.  Here is what he had to say.

The fourth season of The Simpsons is the make or break season as far as fandom goes. If at some point in the fourth season (or before) you have not enjoyed the show, it probably won’t happen. Season 4 is the point at which the show most sublimely combines its more heartfelt elements (most noticeable and perhaps most over-done in the first two seasons, in which it shouldn’t be that hard to believe that the guy who wrote and directed Terms of Endearment was the de facto show runner) and its most asinine (the show becomes sillier, for better or worse, under David Mirkin for Seasons 5-6).

This was a season in which episodes about Homer’s mortality (Homer’s Triple Bypass) and Marge’s sister’s loneliness and general lack of life fulfillment (Selma’s Choice) were sandwiched by Marge vs. the Monorail—a goofy, hilarious episode filled with countless, oft-repeated lines and gags which has become legendary as one of three episodes written by Conan O’Brien, certainly the most famous Simpsons staff writer. The stranger episodes and the most earnest episodes alternate with seemingly no pattern, but this is never really a problem—it’s not like the show has linear storytelling anyway.

There are no truly bad episodes in the season (even the clip show is pretty good in comparison to your typical TV clip show). One of my favorite elements of the season is that the movie references go from common to borderline overwhelming. As somebody who doesn’t really watch a ton of TV that isn’t sports or news—it’s probably not a coincidence that my two favorite series post-Simpsons were King of the Hill and The Office, which were both co-created by a former Simpsons writer—I compensate with film.  And the references are EVERYWHERE here. There are the overwhelmingly obvious (with an episode named A Streetcar Named Marge, even people who haven’t seen A Streetcar Named Desire probably have a decent idea of what’s going on); there are the old favorites (I don’t quite like Duffless’s parody of A Clockwork Orange as much as the extensive parody in Season 3’s Dog of Death, but I still laughed); and there are the smaller references that not everybody’s going to remember (Lisa the Beauty Queen has a scene which parodies Apocalypse Now that I had no idea was parodying it until years after having seen both the episode and the movie; the “Eureka!” moment was rather satisfying).

There are too many terrific episodes to focus on every single one so I’ll go to the greatest-episode-by-acclamation-of-the-internet: Last Exit to Springfield. I have never compiled a list of my favorite episodes because my opinions change too frequently, though there is little question that Last Exit would be near, if not at, the top of my list, as it tends to rank very highly on fan and critic lists. It was the final episode written by the underrated team of Jay Kogen and Wally Wolodarsky and one of the final episodes run by Al Jean and Mike Reiss, and it comes across as an episode constructed by people who were bored and felt like going for broke. There are a number of classic scenes that I think about/reference a lot in my life. The classic “Lisa needs braces/dental plan” exchange in Homer’s head might as well be the password to Simpsons fandom initiation—it would be impossible to explain to somebody who hasn’t seen the episode, yet it’ll bring a smile (or loud laugh) to the face of anyone who has. Homer’s bizarre Don Fanucci in The Godfather Part II fantasy of his union leadership leading to ties to organized crime (which, because it’s The Simpsons, seems to have transported him to 1920s New York). Lisa’s Beatles-esque dream while under anesthesia. The entire segment in which Homer meets with Mr. Burns at the latter’s mansion—ALL of it. The montage of Mr. Burns and Smithers running the plant by themselves. A truly great Simpsons episode needs not to have an air-tight plot (I would actually probably just sum up this episode as “Lisa needs braces/dental plan”); it just needs to make you laugh. And it does, even after having seen it countless times.

In Season 5, things get weird. This isn’t to say that they get worse (or better, really)—they just get…different. It’s not that the show becomes utterly vacant emotionally (Family Guy, a show which I don’t hate, is to some extent what The Simpsons probably would have been had they abandoned any sense of decency or emotion—often funny, sporadically intelligent, but nowhere near as good as peak-era Simpsons), but it isn’t the same type of show as it was during Seasons 1-4. Season 2 represented a noticeable jump in quality over Season 1, and Season 3 represented a quantum leap over Season 2. Season 4 represents a much milder jump in quality—this is a show which had hit its stride around the midpoint of Season 3 and at this point was just reveling in it. The rise of the show is almost like that of The Beatles—the Beatles probably needed to go through its “Love Me Do” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand” phase in order to pave the way for its great mid-to-late 60s work. And Season 4 is its Rubber Soul—a terrific sign of the frantic experimentation to come, but still very much grounded in the genius which had come before.

So there you have it.  I hope you enjoyed both perspectives.  The weight of writing about this season is finally going to be removed.  I wanted to share the writing duties to someone who could appropriately compliment the show that The Simpsons fanatics would desire and my words just couldn't do that.

Playlist (Part of Top 50 tracks of 2013; 1-10; 11-20; 21-30)
31. "Nuclear Seasons" - Charli XCX (Not 2013, but in was in her 2013-released album)
32. "Savagely Attack" - CZARFACE ft. Ghostface Killah
33. "Latch" - Disclosure ft. Sam Smith
34. "While I'm Alive" - STRFKR
35. "This Ladder is Ours" - The Joy Formidable
36. "Ab-Soul's Intro" - Terrace Martin ft. Ab-Soul
37. "Fast in My Car" - Paramore
38. "John Doe" - B.O.B. ft. Priscilla
39. "The Stars (Are Out Tonight)" - David Bowie
40. "Villuminati" - J. Cole

Rewind: The Simpsons S3

I've been going about this show all wrong.  I've been waiting and waiting and waiting.... and waiting for an episode that is laugh-out loud hilarious.  And then I watched "Radio Bart" and I didn't really laugh a lot in that episode - maybe I'm alone in that.  But the sheer number of jokes, parodies, dark humor, and just plain truth in that episode was shocking.

It made me realize not to watch The Simpsons to laugh.  I suppose some people might laugh a lot at this show, but I've quickly found I'm not one of them.  To be clear, it's not like I DON'T laugh some of the time, it's just that in terms of my favorite comedies ever, it falls far short just by laughs.  That's not really a knock on the show.  It's main purpose doesn't appear to get the audience to laugh I'd argue.

The Simpsons' jokes are the variety where you watch what they are parodying, maybe laugh a little, take a step back, think about what they just parodied, and realized how close to the truth it was.  It deals in harsh bitter realities where the average human being isn't smart.  At this point, any time I laugh I consider it a bonus.

The Simpsons reminds me of the great comedians whose stand-up is as much about making you laugh as about pointing out funny observations, revealing how society really is, and poking fun at traditionally acceptable standards.  In fact, the show reminds me specifically of Louis C.K., one of my favorite comedians.  The more I think about it, the more that comparison makes sense, and the less I understand why their humor isn't translating into laughs for me.  (I want to reiterate that this is relatively speaking.  It's not like I'm stone cold watching these episodes.  It's all about my expectations.)

The season starts off fine with a weird Michael Jackson episode made weirder with time, an elaborate Mr. Smith Goes to Washington parody, and Homer being an unbelievable asshole to Flanders.  Homer hating Flanders is funny because of its irrational nature, but in that episode they took it too far and it no longer became funny to me, just incredibly harsh.  The next two episodes are similarly goofy - for the better in "Bart the Murderer" and for the worse in "Homer Defined" where Homer acts out of character for the service of the plot.

Then there's a four episode stretch of mediocrity.  Three of them feature father-children stories making me wonder why they didn't spread that out.  The other is "Treehouse of Horror II," which was solid but not any better than season two's Halloween special.  It's peculiar in this golden age why they chose to essentially recycle "father messes up, father tries desperately to earn forgiveness" back to back simply switching the child from Lisa to Bart.  The "Like Father, Like Clown" works because it gives some insight into Krusty's upbringing garnering sympathy from the audience.

After a serviceable Burns episode and the sappy marriage episode, there's "Radio Bart."  Maybe it's because I have a weakness for mediums that parody narratives and expose them as contrived stories.  Maybe it's because I find the idea of a person being a hero simply for suffering a tragedy to be a valid question.  Whatever the reason, at this point, the show clicks for me.  (It's a pretty ridiculously interwoven well-written plot, jokes aside as well)

Something I'm impressed about this season is the lack of filler.  There's no bad episodes.  The "filler" in this season is fleshing out the supporting characters.  Run out of ideas for Homer?  Let's develop a story around Ned Flanders ("When Flanders Failed").  Written enough stories about Bart wreaking havoc?  Let's develop a story around the love life of Edna Krabappel ("Bart the Lover").  There's also full episodes dedicated to the seemingly one-note Otto ("The Otto Show"), the deliciously evil Monty Burns ("Burns Verkaufen der Kraftwerk"), and alcoholic enabler Moe ("Flaming Moe's").

Besides "Radio Bart," two other episodes stick out to me.  Anybody who knows me probably knows one "Homer at the Bat."  I'm a huge baseball fan and that episode certainly stood out for defying conventional wisdom about players (Strawberry a suck-up; Canseco an impossibly helpful savior).  Also, the hypnotist telling the players to give 110% only for them to respond that 100% is the most you can give was great.

The other episode was "Bart's Friend Falls in Love," which surprised me because the title of this episode didn't leave me optimistic.  The "A-story" didn't really do much for me, except for the sex education instructional.  However, every time Homer said something with a dictionary-laden vocabulary, I laughed.  In fact, this episode provided the most laughs of any episode I've seen on The Simpsons.  (As a side note, the finale of this season also made me laugh a lot.  Maybe a sign for things to come in season four?)

Overall, it would be inaccurate to say that season three exceeded my expectations.  But that's due to the enormity of my expectations rather than the quality.  It came very close.  The episodes were thoughtful, extremely well-written, sometimes funny, and an unflinching insight into American life.   Would I like it if I found the episodes funnier?  Sure, and the last few episode of season three are promising going into next season.  But at this point, I've changed what I expect of the show so nevertheless I should be satisfied. (I hope I've belabored the point enough, but I don't mean this as a bad thing as a statement like that would usually imply.)

Playlist
1. "I Get Down" - Shad
2. "Mistaken for Strangers" - The National
3. "Love Game" - Eminem ft. Kendrick Lamar
4. "Ants Marching" - Dave Matthews Band
5. "You (Ha Ha Ha)" - Charli XCX

Rewind: The Simpsons: Season 2

Note: This is my honest opinion on the show.  Keep in mind when reading this that my expectations are sky high.

Season 1

I'm undertaking an impossible task in my mind.  I'm trying to review and grade what many consider to be the greatest comedy television show ever made.  In theory, I'm approaching the series as a person who will be untouched by nostalgia and will be one person's voice on how the show has aged in the two decades since it aired.

My credentials for why I'm the right person for this task: Outside of maybe a few episodes I have no recollection of having watched, I had never seen the show before I started.  I think I saw The Simpsons Movie, but I don't remember liking it and I don't remember basically any of the movie.  Then again, my tastes in 2007 were much different than they are now.

I'm not quite totally sure what I expected, but this show is different than whatever that expectation was.  I didn't expect the characters to be like... human beings.  I didn't expect - except for the occasional visual sight gag - for it to be easy to envision these characters existing somewhere in real life.  It was rather foolish of me given its reputation, but that is something that for whatever reason caught me off guard.

I also expected it to be a lot funnier.  Am I alone on this?  It seemed like a lot of the humor came more from satire and the situations, and rarely resulted in anything more than a slight chuckle.  I will say the season gradually got funnier and funnier as the season progressed.  Still, I'm talking like one or two laughs in episode one to four or five by the end.  It's a little low for its reputation.

The good news -for me at least - is that the second season marks a strong improvement on the first.  The momentum is rising and its not hard to believe that the peak of the show is on the horizon.  To put it in another way, the weakest episodes of Season 2 reminded me of the best episodes of the first season.  That may be a slight exaggeration, but only a slight one.

I know there are maybe a couple episodes in this season that are considered "classic" episodes, but I can't say I agree a lot.  To me - and this is coming from a newcomer so feel free to take this with a grain of salt - a classic episode of The Simpsons (and this is rather arbitrary) contains a hilarious episode of television coupled with social satire and strong character beats.

This is my expectation at least because I don't think the second season provided me with it.  The show nailed down the character beats and social satire, but they haven't quite figured out in my mind how to couple that with laugh-out loud humor.  I don't require my comedies to have laugh-out loud humor, but I feel this show is the exception only because I have extremely high expectations.  I wish I could approach this having no knowledge of the show's history, but I do and that will of course color my perception.  Classic may be the wrong word.  Perhaps "one of the best episodes in the series" would be better.

A few episodes however did stick out in my mind.  They either were funnier than the rest of the pack, had a more touching story, did something that stuck out as original, or I just happened to like it better.  I loved "Treehouse of Horror", which I'm excited about because I know it's an annual feature.  "Dead Putting Society" had its weaknesses, but I loved the Ned Flanders scenes (and I'm aware some of the things he does in this are inconsistent with what he became, but that doesn't really affect a newcomer).

"Bart Gets Hit By a Car" is good mostly for Lionel Hutz, as voiced by Phil Hartman.  It's also the first appearance by unethical Dr. Nick Riviera.  "The Way We Was" lacked humor but was sweet and also featured the first appearance of McBain.  I don't think I'll ever not find McBain funny.  "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou" was pretty brilliant for going the unusual route of condemning the common man and for Danny Devito, who made a memorable and sympathetic character in 22 minutes.  (Well him and the writing)

"Lisa's Substitute" is a great episode of television not because it's funny, because it's got three great story lines that are harsh and real - things I don't think cartoons did before this show.  It seamlessly interjected Bart's run for class president, Lisa's crush on a substitute teacher, and Homer's feeling of inferiority as a parent.  You are emotionally empty if you don't find the ending of this episode to be touching.  Episodes like this are what I didn't expect from The Simpsons.

The second season managed something the first season did not in another aspect.  It sneakily made me care about the characters.  I can't pinpoint an episode or time when I started to care what happened to them, but by the end of the season I did.  I feel like Homer is a fully fleshed out character at this point as is Lisa and Marge.  Bart is very much a caricature in my mind and I'm not sure he ever becomes a character, but this season wasn't it.

Overall, this show seems right on the brink of greatness.  It's got everything except for the laugh-out loud humor.  I don't know if this show will ever get to laugh-out loud humor, but that is my lone complaint about the show thus far.

I am completely geared up to love the third season.  I care about the characters, the show's quality has improved drastically since it's inception, and it gets funnier each episode.  I've been introduced to guest characters and already have a fondness for certain ones. (McBain, Flanders, Lionel Hutz)  I don't know when I'm going to start the third season, but I can virtually guarantee that it will come a lot faster than the time between the first and second seasons.

Hope you enjoyed this and since this is a post on a very well-known and loved series, I'd love to hear your thoughts on my post.

Playlist
1. "Vitamin C" - Can
2. "Incinerate" - Sonic Youth
3. "Lovely Day" - Bill Withers
4. "Bad Moon Rising" - Creedence Clearwater Revival
5. "Stabbed" - Brotha Lynch Hung ft. Tech N9ne & Hopsin

The Simpsons Season 1 Review

I decided to tackle the "greatest television show" as defined by some people.  I'm coming into this basically having seen zero Simpsons episodes.  I was pretty skeptical though.  I mean I saw The Simpsons Movie and I didn't think it was that good and apparently everyone else did. (That was a while ago and maybe my opinion on the movie has changed, but I remember absolutely nothing about it.)

I could just watch the best episodes, but that's not really how I like to watch TV.  Anyway, when I watch episodes, I read recaps of individual episodes on AV Club.  Usually those are helpful in getting me to think about the show.  But apparently they decided to hire the biggest fanboy on the planet who refuses to say a single bad word about the show.  He gave the show's first season a cumulative A.  He should be fired.

The first season wasn't that good.  I'm judging this by today's standard not how it would have been in 1989, since The Simpsons is always called a "classic show."  By definition, it should be timeless.  So I don't know how good it was back then, but it wasn't that good now.

Now, I can see seeds of what makes the show great and it's really really not hard to see how this show became what it became.  Besides the finale, which was awful, the show basically got progressively better and better.

The show suffered the worst crime of all for a comedy: I didn't laugh a lot.  Like I could see this was more intelligent than your typical cartoon (or really comedy in general), but it didn't elicit actual laughter.  The later episodes I remember laughing a few times, but the early ones I remember distinctly not laughing at all.

This is somewhat to be expected in a show searching for an identity in its first season, but the characters are somewhat inconsistent.  Some of the episodes Homer desperately wants to be a good father and husband, and others he's so bad at it it seems a least a little intentional.

The best episodes to me where Life on the Fast Lane, just because Albert Brooks is hilarious, and Krusty Gets Busted, the first of apparently many Krusty-themed episodes.  I also thoroughly enjoyed The Crepes of Wrath, which has Bart going to France as a foreign exchange student, and The Telltale Head, which has Bart cutting off the head of a statue for approval of "cool kids."

Some Enchanted Evening, which has a bandit babysitter, is just not good at all.  The less said about it, the better.  Homer's Night Out is hilariously outdated, as Homer gets in trouble with the whole town for dancing with another woman?  At a bachelor party?  And they celebrate their bachelor party at the same place that Marge and the kids go out to eat?  That episode didn't work for me.

Overall, this season shows obvious promise, but it's not very good.  I'm sure Simpsons fanatics will enjoy this season, but as a newcomer, there's no nostalgic factor to make it seem good for me.

Season Grade - C-

Playlist
1. "Definition" - Black Star
2. "Rawnald Gregory Erickson the Second" - Starfucker
3. "Song 2" - Blur
4. "Next" - The Weeknd
5. "Razor Blades and Steak Knives" - Jarren Benton

Classic Comedy [Updated: 3/14]

Before reading this, I suggest you read the introduction to this site where I say what I'm doing.  

This post is fairly self-explanatory in its title: it's a category of shows that are "classic."  What did i deem classic?  Well, any show that has been off the air for quite a while - I didn't have a specific timeline, but it turns out the closest show ended in 2006.  Well, and Arrested Development.  I have no logical reason why the show that came back last year is on a list of shows that have ended well before.  Just go with it.  Without further ado, the list of shows I plan to watch sometime in the future.

The Andy Griffith Show
Years: 1960-1968, 8 Seasons

Why: If you don't know why this is on my list, there's no hope for you.  This show was one of the premiere comedies back in the day and I'm intrigued to see if it holds up.  Then there's also getting to see Don Knotts, a performer I never really was able to see.  As an added bonus, Ron Howard once being known as a child star is somewhat baffling to me, but it happened and this show is proof.  (Please tell me he was at least a good actor because his career produces rage-inducing jealousy from me.  Actor for two immensely popular TV shows for about 20 years and then sustain a decent, if mostly unimpressive directing career.  I want that.)

Status: This show is shelved for the foreseeable future.  Once I'm finished with The Simpsons, I will either decide to pick a show that was chronologically first or pick what I think will be a better comedy.  So it's either going to be watched relatively soon or quite a bit in the future.

Arrested Development
Years: 2003-2005, 2013, 4 seasons

Why: I couldn't tell you why it's on this specific list, but it's fairly easy to figure out why it's a show on my television shows to watch.  This witty, joke-filled comedy is easily one of the best comedies in this century.  Plus, this cast is crazy talented with a Michael Cera before he was famous, Michael Bateman before he was a movie star, Will Arnett, Jessica Walter, and Jeffrey Tambor.  Oh yeah and Ron Howard got to narrate this show, that lucky bastard.

Status: I have seen the first three seasons and five episodes of the second.  Unfortunately, there has been no desire for whatever reason to finish the fourth season.  I can't explain it and I'd love to finish this show, but I always want to watch something else.  I should finish this show this year though.

Cheers
Years: 1982-1993, 11 seasons

Why: You know what the why part might be redundant on a lot of these comedies.  Cheers is like a staple of modern American television.  Ted Danson is the man and this was him in his prime.  The lone problem I run into with this show is that it's ELEVEN seasons.  I'm that sad-sack type who likes to complete shows.

Status: I momentarily started to watch it for six episodes.  I loved it, but I stopped for some reason and haven't started again yet.  Not to worry, I'll either watch The Andy Griffith Show or this show after I finish The Simpsons.  And this show will almost certainly be right after The Andy Griffith Show if I go that route.

The Dick Van Dyke Show
Years: 1961-1966, 5 seasons

Why: What convinced me to watch this show were the names really.  You've got creator Carl Reiner, Dick Van Dyke, Mary Tyler Moore... these are names I know are comedy legends, but I've never actually seen most of their work.  It's pretty nice that this show will give me the opportunity to watch them all work that magic on one show.  Also, on the bright side is that it's short-running and is on Netflix.  The Mary Tyler Moore show is NOT on this list, but it very well could make its way on from this show.

Status: This will likely come at a much later date.  I might try to watch this in conjunction with The Andy Griffith Show as a way to not burn out on one show and knock out two shows at once while still keeping both fresh.  Otherwise, expect this show to be waaay into the future.

Fraiser
Years: 1993-2004, 11 seasons

Why: Well, Leslie Grammar seems pretty awesome and this show seems to be well-received.  It's not as obvious a choice as Cheers and it doesn't really feature actors known for much outside of this show.  I don't have many reasons for choosing this, just that it fits nicely in with Cheers ending and it seems like a good show.

Status: Obviously I am not watching this until I finish Cheers.  Since Cheers is 11 seasons... yeah this is going to be quite a while.

Freaks and Geeks
Years: 1999-2000, 1 season

Why: This is commonly listed as one of the most unfortunate cancellations ever.  The cast on this show is just a who's who of the modern comedy world - except back when they hadn't done anything.  This show discovered an enormous amount of actors.  There's James Franco, Seth Rogen, Jason Segel, Sam Levinne, Linda Cardellini, Martin Starr... not all of them became famous, but they should have.  Anyway, this is rightly considered a classic and is a must-watch for television comedy fans.

Status: I have seen 10ish episodes and will finish soon.  This is kind of the same case as Arrested Development, except I am afraid to finish because then it will be the end as opposed to just generally not being that interested in season four of AD.

Friends
Years: 1994-2004, 10 seasons

Why: Well, I've already finished the series and it's listed as one of my favorite series of all time.  Judge me for that fact as you will, but this is a show I grew up on.  I won't deny the show is little more than just a half hour of entertainment but it's still funny to me  and I thoroughly enjoy watching this show if I feel like laughing.

Status: Well, I've seen every episode.  So this is essentially completed.

The Larry Sanders Show
Years: 1992-1998, 6 seasons

Why: It's getting kind of difficult trying to explain why I want to watch a television show I've never seen.  I mean I don't know it's weaknesses or strengths, I just have a general idea that it's good.  That's the case here.  Although I have seen a few episodes, and it's pretty clear this type of comedy is right up my alley.  Plus, Jeffrey Tambor's pretty great in his sidekick role.

Status: Like I said, I've seen a few episodes.  This would already be watched, but Netflix decided to take this show off and now I'm patiently waiting for them to add it back or for another avenue to watch it.  Until then, watching this show is not going to happen.

Malcolm in the Middle
Years: 2000-2006, 6 seasons

Why: I have seen quite a few Malcolm in the Middle episodes, but most of them where in my younger days.  I also kind of want to see Bryan Cranston in a funny role again to see how good he is in this role.  And I've seen just a few episodes recently, and this show is way funnier than I would have thought.  I won't dedicate any portion of time to watch this entire show, but I'll slowly re-watch all six seasons over the years.

Status: I've seen the first 10 episodes of the first season - most of which I had already seen - but this is pretty much my go to show when I'm bored and have no interest in really watching anything.

My So Called Life
Years: 1994-1995, 1 season

Why: Unlike Freaks and Geeks, I have no inkling of what this show is about, but I'm pretty sure it's remarkable in its portrayal of teenage girl life.  Now, I'm a college-aged guy so that doesn't exactly sound appealing, but from everything I've heard it's worth watching.  And it's only one season long so it's not like I will regret spending a little time watching this.

Status: I have no idea when I will watch it, but since it's only a season long, it will probably be pretty soon and chosen spontaneously.

Seinfeld
Years: 1989-1998, 9 seasons

Why: Seinfeld is a weirder case than another show in terms of how I will approach the series.  For one, I've seen a lot of the episodes already.  But I probably have only season like 30 or so episodes in its entire run so I obviously need to devote more time to watching the show.  But Seinfeld is one of those shows you almost have to buy to watch and that's not going to happen.  As long as there are free shows available and I'm broke, those shows will be watched instead of Seinfeld.

Status: The show is in limbo as its like the only show I can't find on Netflix that I don't expect ever will.

The Simpsons
Years: 1989-    , 26+ seasons

Why: No, I do not plan to watch all 26 seasons.  I plan to watch only the first eight and maybe the ninth to see how much it fell off.  But with this many on this list, I don't know if that will happen.  As far why I will watch this show, does that need any explanation really?

Status: I've seen the first four seasons so far and this is the only show I can reliably say I'm in the process of watching.  I watch a new season every few months and that would leave the finishing of this show around next year at this time.


That 70's Show
Years: 1998-2006

Why: Well, before I got into this blog, I spent time to watch every single That 70's Show episode, which were all on Youtube for some reason.  If I had never seen this show, I'm not sure I would have picked it out to watch, but since I've already done the grunt work, it's already on this list.  Not that I'm complaining.  If it this post seems like I didn't like the show, well I loved it so much I put it on my all-time favorite shows.

Status: Completed

Undeclared
Years: 2001-2002, 1 season

Why: Well, this is by the same people that created Freaks and Geeks and looks like a step below Freaks and Geeks.  But that's still a very interesting show.  This cast is also great featuring Jason Segel, Seth Rogen, and Charlie Hunman in a role that I really want to see because I hear it's way different.  Also, this show is only a season long so the time commitment is easy.

Status: Well, I won't watch this until I finish Freaks and Geeks, which should be soon.  Hopefully I can watch this in 2014, though I'm pretty slow to start comedies if you hadn't noticed.

Those are the classic comedies category I plan to watch or have already finished.  It's the biggest category with 14 shows and it has probably the widest range of time passed.  Unfortunately, I tend to give a higher amount of resistance to committing to comedies.  The only show on this list I can truly say will start and end when I plan for it to is The Simpsons, but that's both because it's revolutionary and because I am writing about each season.  The sad truth is that most of these shows I won't write about and if I don't write about them, then I have a little more trouble watching that show.

I will write about Freaks and Geeks, Undeclared, and My So Called Life, but past that I don't think I'll write about the rest.  I may just write a sort of overall look at the older series, because they are worth writing about, but the problem is season-to-season, most comedies are less appealing for me to commit to writing.  The Simpsons are the exception.  And while some of these comedies are quite revolutionary, most of them are safe by today's standards and would be hard to write more than once or twice about.