From Newsgroup: alt.tv.simpsons

Am Dienstag, 17. Februar 2004 01:36:45 UTC+1 schrieb Benjamin Robinson:

[The long of it]

Today (well, yesterday by the time this is posted) is Matt Groening's
50th birthday. What do you get the cartoon mogul who has everything?
How about a decent episode of his flagship show? "Milhouse Doesn't
Live Here Anymore" is only the second episode of "The Simpsons" to air
on Groening's Birthday ("Das Bus (5F11)" was the first). Let's tear
open the wrapping and see what he got.

The show begins with a field trip to the Museum of Television and TV because, goodness knows, the children of Springfield just don't watch
enough television. The museum itself turns out to be kind of dull,
except for one really good joke between Paul Lynde and Nadia Comaneci.
I'm surprised, given how well the series has skewered television over
the years. (I'll give the producers credit for rounding up some of
the original series' voices for cameos, however.)

Milhouse acts strangely during the field trip, at one moment
disrupting class and, at the next, trying to confide something to
Bart. We soon see that he does have some startling news: He and his
mother are moving to Capital City, for good. From a fourth-grader's perspective, Milhouse might as well be moving to Mars. At first, I
thought his behavior was awkwardly written, but now that I've thought
about it I believe the situation called for the uncertain rhythms of
someone with big news to tell and no good way of telling it.

Milhouse's departure for the lights of "Cap City" creates a friendship vacuum in Bart's social order, and ushers in the best part of this
episode. Marge subtly nudges Bart to hang out with Lisa, and to the surprise of both siblings, they become fast friends. There's a
certain novelty to seeing this normally bickering pair put aside their differences and just hang out. In one cute scene, Bart encourages
Lisa to jump her bike over a ditch, saying, "Forget everything you
know about gravity." Lisa's answer: "But I know so much." In
another scene where Lisa passes up a chance to meet two of her
favorite jazz artists to be with Bart, while at the same time Bart
misses a chance to go shooting things with Nelson. The idea that Bart
and Lisa's friendship might demand sacrifices is an interesting one,
and one I wish the writers had explored further.

While the "A" plot provides most of the warmth, Homer has a "B" plot
that provides most of the humor. He takes up panhandling to buy Marge
some nice jewelry for their anniversary. A friendly bum gives him
some advice, and Homer proves to be such a natural begging talent that
he's soon stealing business from the city's established, if that's the
word, transient community. Marge's rationalization of Homer's begging
is good, and a nice break from her usual "voice of reason" behavior.

While the individual parts are good, they aren't as integrated as I
would like. There's an extended scene in the first act where Nelson
is ridiculed for his low-income background. The writers have shown
Nelson's more vulnerable side before, but usually in shorter scenes
than this. I figured the writers were going to make some sort of plot
point but, no, the matter is never mentioned again. Also, the two
subplots scarcely intersect. It's as though the each of the two lead writers (sorry, I didn't remember their names) worked in isolation on
each plot, and didn't want to interrupt the other's train of thought
by mentioning what they were doing. Finally, Isabelle Sanford (from
"The Jeffersons") steps in and mechanically introduces a joke she
explains will "cut through the treacle." Good idea, but wouldn't it
be better to do that with a joke that springs naturally from the story itself?

Maybe the writers were trying to give the show's creator a little of something that he has enjoyed in the past: Storylines that find the
humor in some of life's darker moments (like separation from your best friend), Homer trying to do the right thing but going about it in a hilariously wrong way, and kitschy guest stars that play with the constraints of "normal" television. I liked "Das Bus" more, but this episode is pleasing evidence that "The Simpsons" still has much to
offer -- which might be the best present of all. Happy Birthday, Mr. Groening.

[The short of it]

Two good plots make up this episode. For warmth, we have Bart and
Lisa befriending each other after Milhouse leaves town. There was an interesting novelty in seeing them put aside their differences for a
while and just hang out. For humor, Homer turns to panhandling to
raise money for Marge's anniversary gift (and is pretty good at it,
too). The "lead bum" that shows Homer the ropes was funny, and I
liked Marge's reaction to Homer's latest moneymaking scheme. The
parts don't gel into a whole as smoothly as I like, the trip to the TV museum was as funny as I'd expect, and the perfect ending remains
elusive this season. Despite this, the show as a whole is good enough
to merit a (B). Happy Birthday, Mr. Groening!

[DYNs]

....on the security monitor, we can see Homer imitate a walrus by
.shoving two inanimate carbon rods in his mouth?
....on another monitor, we can see the guys playing "bullfighter"
.with one of the plant's forklifts?
....the lady who tells Homer not to stop dancing only donates a
.penny?
....Mr. Largo and Mrs. Pommelhorst are part of the moving crew?
....LuAnne sounds really different?
....the six types of panhandler are: bad musician, messed-up vet,
.cripple, fake cripple, religious zealot, and crazy guy?
....Homer flashes about US$126 (a single, a $5 bill, five $10 bills,
.a $20, and a $50) at Costingtons?
....in the home movie, Homer coughs up three toy cars?

[References]

"Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" (movie)
-.title of episode a spoof

"Rawhide" (TV series)
-.during their barrel-rolling race, "Snap, Crackle, and Pop" make
.up new lyrics to this show's theme song. Oh, and speaking of
.whom ...

"Rice Krispies" (breakfast cereal)
-.Snap, Crackle, and Pop were the cartoon spokesmen for this
.cereal

Museum of Television and Radio
-.SES students make a field trip to Museum of Television and TV

Mickey Mouse (cartoon character)
Mao Tse-Tung (Chinese leader)
-.name of restaurant in the "Itchy & Scratchy" cartoon, Mickey
.Mao's, inspired by this unlikely pairing

Chinese food stereotypes
-.three stereotypes (one possibly controversial) are referenced in
.the "Itchy & Scratchy" cartoon (See "Personal Comments &
.Observations" for more)

"Snow White" (fairy tale)
-.Homer asks a mirror, "Who's the baldest of them all?"

Mussolini (Italian dictator)
-.the lead panhandler calls Homer "Moocholini"

local Monopoly knock-offs
-.many cities have special commemorative Monopoly editions where
.local street names replace those of the regular game (whose
.names come from Atlantic City, NJ)

[Previous Episode References]

[4F20] Museum of TV and Television (note subtle name change) seen
[1F09] Homer says, "I didn't say stop," when a performance is
interrupted
[5F13] Bart reluctantly befriends Ralph
[2F07] Homer and Marge shoo the kids away so they can snuggle
[5F15] Milhouse the bed-wetter
[5F11] Episode airs on Matt Groening's birthday

[FFF]

Nelson's lunchbox:

BUNNY
FOOFOO

Museum sign:

MUSEUM OF
TELEVISION
AND TV

+--------------+
| FREE EMMY TV |
|FIRST THOUSAND|
| VISITORS |
+--------------+

First museum exhibit:

HALL OF
NOSY NEIGHBORS

MRS. KRAVITZ MR. ROPER NED FLANDERS

Easter special title card:

* Hudson Brothers *

Easter
Special

* Helen Reddy * Paul Lynde *

[The names were actually arranged in a circle around "Easter
Special," but it's a major pain in the butt to do this in
ASCII text]

Moving van:

STARVING TEACHERS
MOVING CO.

Kirk's sign:

< NUEVO CONDOS

"Itchy & Scratchy" title card:

MOO GOO
GAI PAIN

Chinese restaurant sign:

MICKEY MAO'S

ALL YOU
CAN EAT
CAT
SPECIAL

Seasonings Itchy uses:

SOY RED MSG
SAUCE PEPPER

Billboard:

Diamonds ...

[Woman receiving ]
[diamond necklace]

BECAUSE MONEY
EQUALS LOVE

Homer's first panhandling sign:

NEED $
WILL SETTLE
FOR o

Bart's videotape:

MILHOUSE & ME

Homer's second panhandling sign:

COPS TOOK
MY BRAIN
PLEASE HELP

Lisa's book:

THE MOUND BUILDERS

Bart's first chance card:

[drawing of ] Bart Will Make
[Bart making] Your Bed
[Lisa's bed ] For A Week

Card Lisa redeems:

Good for
one HUG
---

[Oops!]

The second act starts with Homer in the foyer, passed out on top of
Marge -- and no explanation of how he got there. Did a commercial
break run too long in the East, or was this abrupt opening
intentional?

Why does Bart need to take a plane to Capital City? Isn't it within
easy driving distance?

Unless they're wired together in a museum, the bones of a skeleton
don't stay connected to one another. Bart shouldn't have been able to reposition the skeleton's arm the way he did.

Doesn't it seem strange that Lisa wouldn't tell an adult about the
important archeological find?

[Personal Comments & Observations]

Meta-reference corner

Ned Flanders is an exhibit in the TV museum. We acknowledge he's a TV character, but of course no one on the show seems to do so.

Milhouse wants to switch around the heads on the Cosby kids exhibit.
That's fitting. For the show's second season. "The Simpsons"
audaciously moved to Thursdays, opposite the hugely popular "The Cosby Show."

I can't believe I never thought of this before

This is, amazingly, the first time in fifteen seasons that anyone had pronounced Mrs. Krabappel's name to rhyme with "crabapple." The
producers even made this observation as part of the DVD commentaries.
In a way, it's kind of a shame that someone in the show noticed the connection, since it was a good subtle joke that everyone remained oblivious.

Name Dropping

Real and fictional people in this episode.

Isabelle Sanford: As she mentioned, she played Louise Sanford, the
patient wife of combustible George Jefferson on "The Jeffersons." She introduced herself as "Weezy," which was George's pet name for her character.

Mrs. Kravitz: The nosy neighbor on "Bewitched." She'd occasionally
see Samantha working her magic, but could never get anyone to believe
her.

Mr. Roper: Landord and downstairs neighbor to Jack, Janet, and
Chrissy on "Three's Company." He and the missus later got their own
series, creatively titled "The Ropers," and a nosy neighbor of their
own. (Played by Jeffrey Tambour, who is on "Arrested Development,"
which is on as I'm typing this.)

Helen Reddy: Singer whose biggest hit was "I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar."

Paul Lynde: Comedian best known for sitting in the center square of
the original "Hollywood Squares." If I'm not mistaken, he was also Templeton the Rat in the cartoon adaptation of "Charlotte's Web."

Willie Tyler & Lester: Popular ventriloquism duo, and arguably the
*last* popular ventriloquism duo.

Nadia Comaneci: In 1976, Comaneci, a gymnast from Romania, won the
first perfect 10.0 in Olympic gymnastics history. And the second.
And the third ... a total of seven in all. Her presence in the Easter special fits in with the mid-70s feel of many of the museum exhibits.

Ironsides: Who played this guy, Raymond Burr? Ironsides was a
paraplegic detective. He had assistants to do some of the physical information-gathering he couldn't do, but he was able to do most of
the deductive work himself.

Lancelot Link: Chimpanzee super-spy. To make his show, the producers filmed real chimpanzees in costumes, and then dubbed in some of the
most inane dialogue imaginable. Come to think of it, maybe chimps
were responsible for the scripts, too.

K. I. T. T.: Knight Industries Two Thousand, the talking Pontiac
Firebird on "Knight Rider."

Salem: The black cat on "Sabrina, The Teen-Aged Witch."

Mr. Ed: The famous talking horse on the show of the same name.

Branford and Wynton Marsalis: Two Grammy award-winning musicians and brothers. At least one of them plays the sax (and I forget if the
other brother is a sax player, or plays the trumpet). While most
musicians play either classical or jazz, the Marsalises have won
acclaim for their work in both styles of music.

Car Watch for the Angry Ex-Wife

LuAnne and Milhouse drive off to Capital City in a Chevrolet Tahoe (or possibly the similar GMC Denali). These start at about US$25,000 and
go up quickly from there. Maybe LuAnne should be paying alimony to
Kirk!

With two you get egg roll

Tonight's "Itchy & Scratchy" cartoon plays upon two stereotypes
regarding Chinese Food. First, we have the rather unsavory rumor that Chinese restaurants are secretly stir-frying stray cats and dogs and
passing them off as the small bits of meat in chow mein and the like. (Because, you know, them there Commie pinko barbarians will eat just
about any critter that doesn't move fast enough.) The Chinese-
American community gets rather honked off at this, as you might
imagine. I'm curious to see if anyone objects.

The second stereotype is that if you go out to eat at a Chinese
restaurant, an hour later you're just going to be hungry again. Note
that in the cartoon the mouse family ate Scratchy's body at eight
o'clock, waited until nine, and then devoured his head. There's a
grain of truth to this stereotype. Traditional Chinese cuisine isn't
as heavy as Western fare, so it doesn't take as long until you're
ready to eat again.

Finally, Itchy adds MSG (monosodium glutamate) to his Chop Scratchy
dish. Chinese restaurants regularly used MSG as a flavor enhancer
until it became widely known that some people were allergic to it.
The extra sodium probably wasn't doing customers any favors, either. Restaurant owners quickly revised their recipes and advertised "No
MSG" on their menus. Today, I don't think you could get an MSG-added
dish even if you wanted it.

Miscellaneous, Etc.

Tonight's animation highlight: The scene at the end of the second
act, as the camera pulls between Lisa, then Bart, then Marge, and on
up the stairs to Homer. It's an impressive move and a labor-intensive
one, too, since both the foreground and the background have to be
animated.
--
Benjamin Robinson bjr7@freenet.tlh.fl.us This message may or may not contain sarcastic content; your burden to decide
"I'm naked, clueless, and f-e-e-e-ling good!" -- Ratbert

I'm looking for the title of that joyfull music, that starts when Bart and Lisa
were sent biking. (that tune appeared in a TreehouseOfHorror Episode, in which Bart has supernatural powers and has to make good with Homer visiting a ballpark a.s.o.)
Just an easy-listening tune, guitar/flute/piano very 1970s-like...

SEEN-BY: 2320/105 154/30 2320/100 0 1 227/0