Homer invents "grunge"???

[vince]

I'm gonna have to say, if you thought (like me), that "the Simpsons" hadn't jumped the shark yet, they did last night! Quite embarrassing. They tried, but, alas this was too much to take.

[Mike Dow]

I could only take 10 minutes of it. It was painful. :shake:

[Ryan]

Generally pleased with this season, but last night was Baaaad!

It just completely ignored Simpsons "history" and reinvented Homer and Marge as being 90s grunge-sters....Jeez, I remember when Homer was in high school in the 70s and rockin' out to "The Joker"!

I guess in another 15 years we'll get an episode where Homer and Marge went to college in the 2000s and had Ipods and laptops...

Very disappointing!

[Steve-oh]

I've been a defender of the show continuing, but that was a terrible, terrible episode. Maybe the worst one ever.

[vince]

I've been a defender of the show continuing, but that was a terrible, terrible episode. Maybe the worst one ever.

"I KNOW!!" -Monica
I say this assuming they gave Marge what was called 'The Rachel' hair-style.:shake:

[Dan C]

Wow. Sounds rough. I was so close to watching it last night, which would've been the first Simpsons episode I caught this season. Alas I decided to go downstairs and play some vinyl. Looks like I made a good choice.

I sort of drifted away from new Simpsons about 5 seasons ago. It was getting pretty bad. I have heard that it's improved greatly, except for last night I suppose.

dan c

[Sneaky Pete]

I think part of the "joke" was that we are all aware of the fact that the Simpons were already on the air in the '90s. Still it was lame.

[vince]

I think part of the "joke" was that we are all aware of the fact that the Simpons were already on the air in the '90s. Still it was lame.

Yes. I feel that maybe a little more 'self-deprication' could've saved this episode.

[Yankee8156]

I didn't find it nearly as bad as some of you guys did. On par with the classic Simpsons? No way. One of the better episodes of the season? Probably not. Better than anything else at 8pm on Sunday, or than its peers (Family Guy, American Dad), or than just about anything else on TV? Yes.

[vince]

You know, I'm a 'defender to the end', and there IS quite a good bit of killer 'art-work' on this, and ALL of this seasons "Simpsons", but, c'mon, the 'liberal' professor, the 'town-y' references, the Nirvana parodies; they ALL came across very lame.

[Johnny Connor]

I could only take 10 minutes of it. It was painful. :shake:Man,that whole episode last night was insulting.Bad,Bad,Bad!:mad:

[vince]

I know of at least THREE times that I made the sound Kiff (from "Futurama") makes: "Unggg."

[bekayne]

So they did a "grunge" episode-15 years after "The Critic" did. I did like Professor Moose though

[Chip TRG]

Didn't even waste my time watching the episode. I saw the promo for it and said "They're doing the FAMILY GUY approach like BLUE HARVEST--taking the characters and putting them into other plots."

The Simpsons movie was fantastic. What happened? It just turned into a total shot-in-the-dark.

[SoundAdvice]

I never knew that Grampa Simpson owned a laser tag location.

There was some genuine humour in the Nirvana/Colour Me Badd references.

[Taurus]

It just completely ignored Simpsons "history" and reinvented Homer and Marge as being 90s grunge-sters....Jeez, I remember when Homer was in high school in the 70s and rockin' out to "The Joker"!I also don't much like the changing-history thing, but I figure this is bound to happen when a show that has been on 18 years includes characters that don't age......but still, IMO the writers should have avoided this story altogether. But since I like the Simpsons so much (and there are so few other decent TV shows to watch nowadays), after a couple minutes of brooding about this issue I finally just let myself enjoy the story for what it is & I DID enjoy it. But to be completely honest, I was subtly relieved when this episode was over - keeping my suspension-of-disbelief thing going was taking too much effort. :(

[SoundAdvice]

For those that have heard commentary tracks on the DVDs, they done the decade/history changing in past seasons, including some "classic episodes".

That said, I had trouble puuling myself away from watching last night just to see how low they would stoop. Perhaps they should stick to episodes that look to the future, when not presenting a current day show.

SA

[Ryan]

I also don't much like the changing-history thing, but I figure this is bound to happen when a show that has been on 18 years includes characters that don't age......but still, IMO the writers should have avoided this story altogether. But since I like the Simpsons so much (and there are so few other decent TV shows to watch nowadays), after a couple minutes of brooding about this issue I finally just let myself enjoy the story for what it is & I DID enjoy it. But to be completely honest, I was subtly relieved when this episode was over - keeping my suspension-of-disbelief thing going was taking too much effort. :(

I kept thinking at the end they would say it was all made up after Homer drank antifreeze or something :rolleyes:

[balzac]

Geez, I watched this episode, and while it certainly wasn't one of my all-time favorites or even favorites of the season, I didn't think it was that bad.

The whole episode was a joke about how the characters haven't aged, and how, in order to tell their back stories, everything has to be shifted ahead 18-19 years from where their "back story" was back when the show started. I actually really enjoy these sort of self-referencing jokes. But hey, I actually like the Tamzarian episode too (for some of the same reasons, the self-referencing nature of continuity problems these things create for the show). And of course, the episode also was created in order to tell a bunch of 90's jokes. I thought some of them were pretty funny.

[Yankee8156]

Geez, I watched this episode, and while it certainly wasn't one of my all-time favorites or even favorites of the season, I didn't think it was that bad.

The whole episode was a joke about how the characters haven't aged, and how, in order to tell their back stories, everything has to be shifted ahead 18-19 years from where their "back story" was back when the show started. I actually really enjoy these sort of self-referencing jokes. But hey, I actually like the Tamzarian episode too (for some of the same reasons, the self-referencing nature of continuity problems these things create for the show). And of course, the episode also was created in order to tell a bunch of 90's jokes. I thought some of them were pretty funny.

Agreed. Since its inception, the show has been incredibly inconsistent, something the writers both acknowledge and poke fun at. Listening to the DVD commentaries, they'll often point out inconsistencies and things that are totally illogical that most viewers probably wouldn't have even realized.

The episode certainly wasn't one of the best, but it's been torn apart a bit too much, in my opinion.

[raunchy]

I felt the simpsons truely jumped when they started throwing in multiple product placement brands during the episodes. what's worse is that they tried to haphazardly incorporate it into a gag and failed most of the time, miserably.

[Shawn1968]

Count me in as someone else who didn't like this episode, and I've been more than ok with last season. The scene where Curt Kobain's brother was talking to him on the phone was lame at best, IMO.

Hey, where do the B Sharpes fit into all of this?

[Laservampire]

Just from reading descriptions I'm so glad I haven't seen this :sigh:

[listner_matt]

For me, it wasn't so much the history rewrite thing (even though that galled me at the time), it was just the general aimlessness of the show. Besides, if you're going to rewrite history, you should at least be funny about it, and this wasn't...

[SoundAdvice]

The scene where Curt Kobain's brother was talking to him on the phone was lame at best, IMO.

The Cobain brother phone call would date it to early 1991, whereas Marge's "Friends" style haircut didn't gain favour until 93-94.

Also notice that Homer was wearing what Kurt wore in the Teen Spirit video FOR THE ENTIRE EPISODE!

SA