The Simpsons S19E01 – He Loves to Fly and He D’oh’s

I don’t know if it’s my lowered expectations, or the fact that I’m still relieved the movie wasn’t terrible, but I just watched the 19th season premiere of The Simpsons and in my opinion it was hilarious. As always, the plot was recycled and amalgamated from ten’s of episodes of the past, but there were enough one-liners, sight gags and reveals to recall the writing of old. There was a also a funny cameo from Lionel Richie that I think will be showing up on the front page of Youtube and Digg over the next view days. A good start to the season, don’t let the quality dip now, you’ve raised my hopes! Watch the post-movie intro after the jump..

Top 10 Simpsons songs… ever!

Blah blah blah, Simpsons movie coming out soon. Blah blah, reminiscing about the good old days, So without further ado, blah. Actually, before I start I want to give an honourable mention to Homer pouring beer down the sink, singing When I was 17. Its not the kind of big musical number that I was aiming for with this list, but I love it.

At 10, we start off easy with a song that I reckon half the “old skool” Simpsons fans may not have even seen, after giving up the show (or so they say) around Season 8/9/10. I’m not sure I remember the storyline, other than it involving a curfew, and a radio station run behind an advertising hoarding. And maybe some moonshine. No wait, that was a different, better episode. Anywho enjoy “Kids v Adults”, which is the title I’m giving this song.

Video of the Week – Conan O’Brien’s first episode of Late Night

Some of you may know Conan O’Brien as the host of Late night, others may recognise the name as the writer of some of the funniest episodes of The Simpsons. Finnish readers probably know him best as the man who looks like their president, and won entertainer of the year in 2006. If you have no knowledge of the man, its probably best you click here.

Anywho, the video I wanted to show you was his first episode of Late night, back in September 1993. He took over from David Letterman who moved to CBS to host The Late Show, and to say he was stepping into some big shows is an understatement. Click here to watch the full ep and see how, behind the swagger and bravado, he looked extremely nervous. He stutters and wrings his hands, it really is awful to watch.

For a comparison, watch his intro and opening song at the 2006 Emmy award, to see how he commands the stage now with his lanky presence. Incidentally, the choreography and style of that Emmys ditty is very much like the Monorail number he wrote for the classic Simpsons episode 14 years ago. “The kids can call you ‘Ho-Ju’” is one of my favourite lines of dialogue ever.

Video of the Week – Couch Gags

This Sunday Fox will air the 400th episode of The Simpsons. To commemorate that fact, my video of the week is 159 (or so) couch gags, which you can watch below. My favourite is the rest of Springfield coming into the room to sit in front of them.

Video of the Week – Simon Cowell v Homer

Again, I’ve chosen something that has been much talked about this week. Idol gives Back was a charity event that aired this week on Fox, and there was a great sketch with Simon auditioning for the Simpson family, singing Don’ Cha by The Pussycat Dolls. For those in the UK about Bart’s joke at the end, he is referring to “something” Dunkelman, who was Ryan Seacrests Idol co-host until he quit searching for bigger and better things. And he is so huge now I can’t even remember his first name. Watchy watchy, clicky clicky after the jump.

The Simpsons S18E17 – Marge Gamer

Remember that South Park episode 5 years ago called “Simpsons Already Did it”, where they rehashed a couple of Simpsons plots to prove that there is no point worrying about plaigarism in animation, because The Simpsons have done everything, and even borrowed plots themselves? No? Well I do.

Earlier last year (or maybe late last year, I forget) South Park wrote an episode about online RPG World of Warcraft, and its immersive effect on society and more accurately, the four main characters.

The Simpsons turn 20

20 years ago last night, The Simpsons made their debut on The Tracey Ullman show as a one minute short. I have been there from about Season 5, when the wonders of Sky satellite came into my house. That summer (93?, 94?) I watched every ep up to that point, and knew I had found the TV program for me. I have watched the golden years again and again on DVD, Channel 4, Youtube, I wrote about them for my university dissertation, and my tastes have changed immeasurably as I have grown older and (some would say) wiser. But this clip is as funny today as the first time I watched it. It was a close call (I’m on my way was a close second), but here is my favourite moment from the last 20 years. I think it encompasses everything that The Simpsons is about, and if you can’t take anything funny from it, you are dead to me. Seriously. Watch the video after the jump.

Catching up..

Hello! I’ve back from Ghana where TV is either local soap operas shot by people with limited video camera ability, imported Latin American soap operas dubbed into English (now that is a new low), Idols (Yes, Simon Fuller can even sell snake oil in Africa) or those quiz shows where you can call in as many times as you want, the answer’s not right until they’ve turned a profit! So I had a week off from TV, and contrary to popular belief, I’m not smarter for the experience, I just have more TV to watch. So the last 3 days I’ve been catching up on my regulars and a lot of stuff has gone down in my TV world.

What I’m Watching Tonight…

What I do on a Monday is download all of Fox’s animation shows in the morning, and watch them while I am eating, ready to pick apart the weakest jokes and shout from my window about how things aren’t as funny as they used to be.  Sounds like fun, no? Yea, hilarious.

But tonight, if I was you, and I was in the UK, and I had some form of Pay-TV, and I didn’t have a prior engagement, and I hadn’t been downloading it for the past 6 months…. I would watch Heroes. It really is a slow starter, but it has grown into my favourite program of this television season. It’s my boyhood X-men comic book come to life. Love it.

What a rambling post…

So Mondays from now until April, Prison Break, Heroes and 24 on the same night. Now it’s not so much that I’m tied onto watching them at a certain time, because I have all week. And it’s not as if I mong out in front of the TV flicking through the channels either.

Another scene from The Simpsons Movie

More details are emerging about The Simpsons movie coming out this summer. The Daily News has an interview with Matt Groening, and he divulges a few tidbits about the upcoming motion picture. The most interesting is the ‘crack team of writers’ that he says they got into the room to discuss the movie. As I have written before, if that team doesn’t involve Conan O’ Brien and John Swartzwelder, if it isn’t run by Jennifer Crittenden and given her full approval, then it won’t be as funny as this.

A Pale Pale Shadow…

Last night I watched the latest episode of The Simpsons, and that program has fallen off. Admittedly it is falling from the highest of heights, but that episode stank up the place!

There was one joke in 22 minutes that made me smile, it was something about Marge’s favourite show, and burning it to DVD, and downloading it to her ipod, it was one to chuchle at. But apart from that, nothing. A parody of “A Perfect Storm”? Have they been drawing this episode for 6 years?

It is a real shame to see this happening to this great, great program, but there is no end in sight. As funny as the trailers for the movie have been, all the signs point to the super-stupid Homer of recent years that is funny for some, but can’t be sustained over a single episode, let alone a feature-film. but I live in hope…

Jennifer Crittenden

Who is she? I don’t know what this post is about, or the point I’m trying to get across. There is a woman out there whose name keeps appearing in my TV life. Please tell me I’m not the only one to notice this. Wikipedia says she wrote some episodes of The Simpsons back in the golden days, the standout example being “And Maggie Makes Three” which ends with the touching scene of homer back at the Nuclear plant, with the demotivational sign covered with pictures of Maggie to read “Do it for her”. Only a woman could have written that episode!