Friday Random Simpsons

It’s that time of the week again, when everyone’s thoughts turn to our favorite yellow friends. Don’t agree with my ratings? Deal with it! Or let me know about it in the comments.

1. Treehouse of Horror XVII. I generally love these episodes. Somehow, in college we turned these episodes into an excuse to drink. Wait, we did that every night. Anyway, this one is from last year; didn’t see it. N/A.

2. A Star Is Born-Again. Pretty good episode from 2003. Flanders starts dating a Hollywood starlet, and the homophobia and Hollywood jokes fly. “I’ve never met a man like you. You’re sensitive, in great shape, have a mustache, but you’re not gay”/”Oh, no way! I won’t even eat vegetables over 2 inches long!” 6/10

3. I Am Furious Yellow. Another decent outing from the blue years, this one from ’02. Bart starts writing a new comic book, “Angry Dude,” based on you know who. Whenever something makes Homer mad, such as when “When Dinosaurs Get Drunk” was cancelled and replaced with “The Boring World of Niels Bohr,” Bart animates it and sells it down at the comic book store. It ends up working pretty well as far as recent episodes go. And there’s nothing wrong with a little Stan Lee cameo. 6/10

4. Treehouse of Horror XI. Okay, I saw this one, but that’s not necessarily a good thing. Part 1, Homer dies and has to perform a good act to get into heaven. Part 2, retelling of Hanzel and Gretel, with Bart and Lisa performing to craptacular results. Part 3, Lisa discovers that dolphins are very intelligent and also aggressive, and they start chomping on Springfieldians in an attempt to take over the world. This may just be my least favorite ToH. 3/10

5. Bart the Fink. Bart gets Krusty arrested for tax fraud, so Krusty fakes his own death by crashing in his plane (named “I’m on a rolla gay”). Lisa and Bart track him down and convince him to come back. Best line: “What good is respect without the moolah to back it up. Everywhere I go I see teachers driving Ferraris, research scientists drinking champagne. I tried to drink a Coke on the bus, and they took away my pass!” As Krusty might say, meh. 5/10

6. Regarding Margie. From last May. No clue. N/A.

7. Lisa the Greek. Lordy, a classic from the third season, which is when I think the Simpsons really started hitting on all cylinders. Lisa wants Homer’s attention, so she helps him bet on football games. When she realizes that that’s all he cares about, she stops helping him right before the “big game.” So many great lines in this one. “Well, folks, when you're right 52% of the time, you're wrong 48% of the time.”/”Why didn't you say that before!!” “an I watch football with you again next Sunday?”/”Sure! You'll find it gets rid of the unpleasant aftertaste of church.” “... and when the doctor said I didn't have worms any more, that was the happiest day of my life.”/”Thank you, Ralph, very graphic.” 9/10

8. Lisa’s Rival. Wow, another Lisa episode, this time with an assist from Edgar A. Poe. A girl moves to town who is Lisa’s age but is a little bit better than her at everything. To make her look bad, Bart sabotages her science fare diorama of The Tell-Tale Heart by replacing it with a real cow’s heart. Ralph’s display of mint-condition Star Wars toys wins first prize. “Pre-packaged "Star Wars" characters, still in their display box? Are those the limited-edition action figures? It's Luke, and Obi-Wan, and my favorite, Chewie!” But show-stealer of this episode is the Homer plot, wherein he gets a haul of sugar from a jack-knifed sugar truck and hoards it in his back yard. “Homer, I really appreciate you making dinner, but this food tastes a little strange.”/”That's because I've loaded it with sugar!” But then Homer’s pile is swarmed by honey bees, causing the local beekeepers to come running, Adam West stylings and all. “You see, bees usually make a lot of noise. No noise -- suggests no bees!” 10/10

9. Behind the Laughter. Kinda cute mockup of one of those behind the scene shows, where the characters talk about the problems on the set of the Simpsons. Kinda cute, but not really cute. 6/10

10. Bart the Murderer. Another great one from year 3. Bart starts tending bar for Fat Tony. Bart tells Tony that Skinner is a problem, and the next thing you know Skinner’s gone missing. The government gets Tony to squeal, and the judge is just about to sentence Bart to death when Skinner appears. He had been trapped under a pile of newspapers in his garage (which some call a car hold). Like I said, great show, but would you look at the time? I’m all out. Score this baby yourself!