The Simpsons: A Journey Through Shit

[JamesTC]

I'm not going to post his YouTube because he does not deserve the views, but this one cunt is claiming that 1989-1994 are the "weird years" for The Simpsons and claims that it was "hipster millennial types who stopped watching the show" who "proceeded to spend the next two decades telling anybody within ear shot that the show coincidentally 'got bad' the exact moment [they] stopped caring about it".

I fucking hate him. He is worse than Hitler and Stalin combined. Over half a million views for him to claim people who say the new shit episodes aren't shit but people say they are without watching. Yeah mate, good argument you have there. FUCKING HELL this cunt. I hate him. He was probably in that fucking tent but withdrew early on because they played all the "weird episodes". "Play the episode where Marge rapes Homer" he shouts from the crowd but unfortunately he has to sit through Mr Plow instead. Bet this cunt watches the first 19 seasons in widescreen and says it is better because it fills the screen. FUCK OFF.

[Old Nehamkin]

I'm not going to post his YouTube because he does not deserve the views, but this one cunt is claiming that 1989-1994 are the "weird years" for The Simpsons and claims that it was "hipster millennial types who stopped watching the show" who "proceeded to spend the next two decades telling anybody within ear shot that the show coincidentally 'got bad' the exact moment [they] stopped caring about it".

I saw that thumbnail/title the other day and it made me feel insane.

[madhair60]

the show coincidentally 'got bad' the exact moment [they] stopped caring about it".

does this cunt understand nothing?

[idunnosomename]

J.J. was born in what he calls a "comfortable" middle class family, but says it could've also been upper middle class. His mother was a high school teacher and his father was a bureaucrat for the Canadian government. They had children, one of them being J. J.'s sister. In his childhood he lived in a suburban house in Vancouver with four bedrooms and three bathrooms.

He is broadly conservative, and he does not like Justin Trudeau's current term and likes Stephen Harper. He does not like the Canadian Green Party and thinks it is just something the media propped up, but he thinks that Elizabeth May is very charismatic and attracts a lot of people, despite him disliking her.

sounds like a proper cunt to me.

[Wonderful Butternut]

Thanks for 500 shows.
All we ask is that you go out
and get some fresh air
before logging onto the internet
and saying how much this sucked.

I almost admire the admission here:

"HURR! We don't care if it's shit. You're just meat with money."

[Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse]

I almost admire the admission here:

"HURR! We don't care if it's shit. You're just meat with money."

but sure they've come out since and gone LOL IT'S JUST A CARTOON YOU STUPID FUCKERS, HOMER WAS A TEENAGER IN THE 90s NOW, WHO CARES

it brings to mind the literal shitty movie trailers in the South Park episode "You're Getting Old".

[idunnosomename]

South Park has a sliding timeline but as far I'm aware hasn't been openly contemptuous towards its fans ever? well it probably has as a joke. but Al Jean especially seems to have incredibly thin skin

[Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse]

South Park has a sliding timeline but as far I'm aware hasn't been openly contemptuous towards its fans ever? well it probably has as a joke. but Al Jean especially seems to have incredibly thin skin

The difference is that South Park never did flashback episodes that revolve around the love that the characters have for each other. Homer's a teenager in the 90s now, that means the episode where Homer and Marge met in high school and fell in love never actually happened. It means Homer's mother Mona couldn't have abandoned him to join a hippie underground because now she left him some time in the 80s. Grandpa couldn't have served in World War II unless he was in his 60s when Homer was conceived, making him almost 100 now, so that's the Flying Hellfish episode out the window. It's like Principal Tamzarian only worse.

[Thursday]

To be honest I don't particularly care about this stuff, I'd basically be fine with them rewriting backstory as time goes on if they were able to be funny with it, but they aren't.

[g0m]

sounds like a proper cunt to me.

oh fuck, it was jj mccullough? he used to be an honest to god conservative political cartoonist, drawing right wing comics about american politics [even though he's canadian]

[JamesTC]

Right-wingers would be ashamed to be associated with him. He is that much of a cunt. Careful mate, we like socio-economic policies which increase the likelihood of homelessness and poverty but calling the first 5 years of The Simpsons "the weird years" is just embarrassing.

I bet baby Hitler likes Season 27 of The Simpsons. CUNT.

[JamesTC]

Season 23 - Episode 15 - Exit Through the Kwik-E-Mart

Lisa reminds Homer that it is Marge's birthday the following day but he says he has already bought her a present and he has put some thought into it. It is a food masher thing. And to add to this he is getting it autographed by the lady on the box who is called Paula Paul. Homer, Lisa and Bart go to this new store to get the food masher signed. Homer states they will use this new store instead of the Kwik-E-Mart but Apu overhears them and is offended. Eventually Apu attacks Homer with a miniature plastic sword from a sample tray of cheese. Homer gets the food thing signed and Paula Paul suggests she call Marge up on her show to wish her a happy birthday.

Marge is opening up her presents. Lisa had gotten Marge an apron. Bart gets Marge a big cute bunny which I would love to join the family because they are my second favourite animal behind Greyhounds. Homer stops Marge from opening his present to her as he needs to wait for the phone call. They wait for two hours but there is no call. Homer gets mad but Marge is happy that Homer remembered he liked Paula Paul and gives him a pitty kiss. Homer goes to phone Paula Paul but realises the phone is dead. The bunny has chewed through the phone wire. Paula Paul has left voicemails in which she gets angrier and angrier. The audience on the show are booing Marge. Marge goes to bed dejected with the bunny. Homer forces Bart to get in the rabbit's cage as punishment. Homer returns apologetic, but Bart refuses to leave the cage.

We are nine minutes into the episode and I still don't know what the plot is. Bart is in the treehouse with Milhouse and is cutting a stencil of Homer with "DOPE" written underneath it. Bart stencils it all over town to get revenge on Homer which is the plot of the episode, I suppose. On the news, the graffiti all over town is dubbed Mr Fatso. Wiggum goads the graffiti artist to strike again. At the store from the start of the episode we see Snake working there and he seems to have moved away from a life of crime. Apu comes in and robs Snake at gunpoint, but Snake defuses the situation and takes the gun away. Some joke about Snake doing a book report for Ralph.

Bart does loads of graffiti all over town but they are chased by street artists who are apparently well known. They want to show Bart's art at an exhibition. Apu is closing the Kwik-E-Mart when Manjula turns up and explains the other shop is closing because they sold monkey as chicken. Homer is taking the bunny and Santa's Little Helper for a walk. Homer still doesn't realise that Mr Fatso is him. Milhouse aarrives and Homer realises he is Mr Fatso. Homer wakes Bart up by strangling him but then gives up dejected. The rest of the family are at the exhibition but Homer won't leave the car. Bart paints "I'm Sorry" on the car and tells Homer it is now worth more which makes things better. At the exhibition, Wiggum and the police arrest Bart. One of the street artists was an undercover cop. Marge objects to them arresting Bart but Wiggum says they need to punish him so Homer gets the rabbit cage. Bart is in the rabbit cage and signing the leaflets to the exhibition for everybody.

3/10 - There was an idea in there somewhere that could have worked. The Apu subplot is fucking nothing. I liked the rabbit which we will never see again.

[Catalogue Trousers]

From the title onwards, it's basically just about mindlessly sucking Banksy's dick, surely?

[idunnosomename]

The difference is that South Park never did flashback episodes that revolve around the love that the characters have for each other. Homer's a teenager in the 90s now, that means the episode where Homer and Marge met in high school and fell in love never actually happened. It means Homer's mother Mona couldn't have abandoned him to join a hippie underground because now she left him some time in the 80s. Grandpa couldn't have served in World War II unless he was in his 60s when Homer was conceived, making him almost 100 now, so that's the Flying Hellfish episode out the window. It's like Principal Tamzarian only worse.

oh i know. it sucks.

south park is of course a lot more meta and can get away it, and they upgraded the kids to 4th grade... twenty years ago.
being 'nam vets, Jimbo and Ned should be at least in their 70s now. but they just concentrated on other things rather than fucking with established story. because it's not interesting or funny to do so

[Master Cylinder]

, making him almost 100 now, so that's the Flying Hellfish episode out the window.

A few episodes after the "Homer's a teen in the '90s", they did a random reference to Grampa being in the Flying Hellfish

[JamesTC]

Homer could have been no older than 19 when he met George Harrison because he died in 2001.

[Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse]

I know The Simpsons is in the unique position of having been on the air for thirty years, and there are plenty of other animated shows where there's a floating timeline and the characters are the same age for literal years in real world time (I think only BoJack Horseman keeps up with "real world time", with the first season taking places in 2014 and the show's final episode taking place in 2021ish). But you can't build up this lore which relies on heartwarming, emotional touchstones of episodes that fans are expected to buy into, and then go AH FUCKIT WE'RE OUT OF IDEAS LET'S FUCK THE TIMELINE BACKWARDS THROUGH A HEDGE. It's not quite Family Guy coming up with a shitty excuse for Meg to be the family punching bag but it's almost there. But we should've seen this coming shouldn't we, all the way back with the magical jockey episode they were already pissing all over the audience via Comic Book Guy ("Does anybody care what this guy thinks?" "NO!")

When American Dad! did something similar - an episode where Stan revealed that he would never have a dog in the house due to childhood trauma, despite two earlier episodes where Stan did adopt dogs - they lampshaded it by having Stan deny it ever happened: "Those were obviously dreams, Francine. I refuse to discuss your dreams in the daytime." Stan denies reality, rather than mocking the fans.

[Andy147]

Homer could have been no older than 19 when he met George Harrison because he died in 2001.

That makes him about -2 when he gave away the ending of Empire Strikes Back (on the night that he got Marge pregnant... 6 years after they started dating).

[Ron Maels Moustache]

Season 23 - Episode 14 - At Long Last Leave

This is the 500th episode of The Simpsons. Sure to be a good one, then.

The couch gag is a montage of every couch gag ever. Rather nice. Ends abruptly with Homer strangling Bart for some reason which undercuts it.

Springfield is having an apocalypse drill. The family need to stay in the bomb shelter in the backyard, which I guess has always been there but I have just never noticed. Bart has eaten all the powdered food. Lisa suggests leaving to see the town empty and the family agrees. The family drive past town hall to see it full so they go in and they find the town has voted to get rid of the Simpsons which is the plot of the episode.

Quimby explains that the town is going broke due to Homer's shenanigans, Bart's pranks and Lisa's environmental initiatives. Marge is declared the worst Simpson of all due to making the town sympathetic to the rest. Flanders defends the family so he gets smashed out of town hall with a huge log. Homer is tarred and feathered. On the radio, they are giving away free soda for anybody who murders a Simpson and Homer sees the rest of the family as giant sodas.

The family stumble on an off the grid settlement called The Outlands. We now see a parody of the opening titles except it is called The Outlands. Maggie has a fight to the death. Julian Assange is there and suggests they watch an Afghan wedding being bombed. Marge is sad and missing the town. Homer decides him and Marge should sneak back into Springfield dressed as Burns and Smithers. Chief Wiggum doesn't notice. Homer and Marge get drunk and go bowling when it is closed. They visit the old home to have sex but the three bullies arrive and say they will turn them in but then the whole town is outside anyway and Chief Wiggum says he saw right through the disguise. Reverend Lovejoy suggests the town crucify Homer and Marge. Gil suggests shooting them so the police go to. Marge and Homer calls them jerks so they all stop being jerks.

The town like the sounds of this new community that the Simpson family have found so they all gradually arrive. Eventually the entire town moves to The Outlands and it is indistinguishable from the main town. Skinner is left in the ghost town. The following caption comes on the screen:

Thanks for 500 shows.
All we ask is that you go out
and get some fresh air
before logging onto the internet
and saying how much this sucked.

Fuck me. Imagine being that smug and complacent as you preside over the endless death march of what was once considered the greatest comedy series of all time.

[idunnosomename]

"Logging onto the internet"

[bigfatheart]

It's mentioned on one of the commentaries that Comic Book Guy's 'worst episode ever' line in the Poochie episode came from a scathing review of 'Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie' on an early fan site (SNPP maybe?), and it's immediately obvious that

• They can't (or maybe disingenuously won't) distinguish between one fan who didn't like an episode and their entire fanbase.
• They think that, because one person didn't like a classic episode, that means that any time somebody doesn't like an episode it must be a classic.

But hey, what do I know - if anything, I owe them.

[idunnosomename]

that SNPP was just collecting was what said on USENET. and look at some classic episodes from the mid-90s and some people are really judgemental cunts about "OFF".

But that was when the internet was just populated by obsessive nerds who had enough time on their hands to wait five minutes for every page to load. that they're still pulling the "GET A LIFE INTERNET NERDS" in 2012 is just incredible.

I mean look at this for homer goes to college

Eliot Williams: I found this last episode to be utterly devoid of any
    plot and there were extremely few _funny_ parts.  I normally laugh
    hysterically at least once during an OFF episode, but not this week.
    I sincerely hope the quality of the shows improve else I might have
    to only watch each episode three times.

Chris Corcoran: Don't get me wrong.  I really liked Cape Feare, and the
    B#'s was kind of good in a weird way, but the college episode was
    the worst Simpsons episode I've ever seen.  I've loved every other
    episode, I'm not at all critical when I watch but what happened?
    Are there new writers?  I'm embarrassed.  I've gotten so many people
    into this show, and now I look stupid.

Ron Carter: Yikes!  Really, really bad, and the "true" second show of
    the new season?  *sigh* Highlights were the I&S episode, the
    "Steakie" commercial, and the freeze frames during the end credits,
    in other word, virtually any stuff not having to do with the "plot"
    of Homer in college.  My score for it?  The same score Homer gets on
    his final: F.

Greg Charles: After watching the last three episodes, I have realized
    that the show sucks now.  Oh, it's not easy for me to say that, but
    come on, they're not putting any thought into anymore.  Satire has
    been replaced with sight gags.  The characters are losing their
    individual personalities.  The storylines have become a series of
    non sequiturs.  The whole thing reminds me of the last season of
    Moonlighting, and we all know how ugly that got!  [well, not all of
    us do - ed]

do wonder if the first guy was doing a bit. if bits had been invented in 1993.

[clingfilm portent]

I basically agree with all of that.

[JamesTC]

Eliot Williams: I found this last episode to be utterly devoid of any
    plot and there were extremely few _funny_ parts.  I normally laugh
    hysterically at least once during an OFF episode, but not this week.
    I sincerely hope the quality of the shows improve else I might have
    to only watch each episode three times.

Chris Corcoran: Don't get me wrong.  I really liked Cape Feare, and the
    B#'s was kind of good in a weird way, but the college episode was
    the worst Simpsons episode I've ever seen.  I've loved every other
    episode, I'm not at all critical when I watch but what happened?
    Are there new writers?  I'm embarrassed.  I've gotten so many people
    into this show, and now I look stupid.

Ron Carter: Yikes!  Really, really bad, and the "true" second show of
    the new season?  *sigh* Highlights were the I&S episode, the
    "Steakie" commercial, and the freeze frames during the end credits,
    in other word, virtually any stuff not having to do with the "plot"
    of Homer in college.  My score for it?  The same score Homer gets on
    his final: F.

Greg Charles: After watching the last three episodes, I have realized
    that the show sucks now.  Oh, it's not easy for me to say that, but
    come on, they're not putting any thought into anymore.  Satire has
    been replaced with sight gags.  The characters are losing their
    individual personalities.  The storylines have become a series of
    non sequiturs.  The whole thing reminds me of the last season of
    Moonlighting, and we all know how ugly that got!  [well, not all of
    us do - ed]

[Mobbd]

Season 23 - Episode 14 - At Long Last Leave
Quimby explains that the town is going broke due to Homer's shenanigans, Bart's pranks and Lisa's environmental initiatives. Marge is declared the worst Simpson of all due to making the town sympathetic to the rest. Flanders defends the family so he gets smashed out of town hall with a huge log. Homer is tarred and feathered. On the radio, they are giving away free soda for anybody who murders a Simpson and Homer sees the rest of the family as giant sodas.

This sounds very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very bad.

[Ferris]

The family stumble on an off the grid settlement called The Outlands... Maggie has a fight to the death. Julian Assange is there and suggests they watch an Afghan wedding being bombed. Marge is sad and missing the town. Homer decides him and Marge should sneak back into Springfield dressed as Burns and Smithers. Chief Wiggum doesn't notice. Homer and Marge get drunk and go bowling when it is closed. They visit the old home to have sex but the three bullies arrive and (cont'd)

I can never tell how much of this is real and how much is ludicrous spoof filler, perhaps written by that AI text generator thing.

[JamesTC]

I can never tell how much of this is real and how much is ludicrous spoof filler, perhaps written by that AI text generator thing.

Likely both.

[JamesTC]

Season 23 - Episode 16 - How I Wet Your Mother

Smithers is entering a high-tech supply closet in the plant. He uses a portal gun to lose two guard robots at the entrance. He signs a requisition form for one standard sized paper clip but accidentally knocks an inanimate carbon rod off a shelf and it lodges inside the door leaving it open behind him. Homer, Lenny and Carl find the open supply closet and everybody at the plant steals everything from there. Burns finds out as everybody is leaving. Homer manages to get away before Burns can notice him. Lenny is trying to steal the bear from Mr Burns' office and for some reason Burns describes it as his cuddle bear despite the fact that we already had a whole fucking episode two decades ago about his actual cuddle bear.

Burns holds a meeting and gives Homer a day off for not stealing anything. Homer goes fishing with Bart. Homer wakes up the next day and finds he has pissed himself which is the plot of the episode. Homer asks Marge where the washing machine is and the family are surprised he wants to do the washing. Homer talks to his own brain: I thought they stopped doing that. Homer wakes up the next day and he has pissed himself again. He believes he is suffering from Karma for dropping his co-workers in the shit with Burns so he holds a picnic for them all. They all forgive him. The next day he has pissed himself again. Homer buys a urine detection device. The whole family run in when the alarm goes off and they find out he is a bedwetter.

Homer and Marge are being intimate in bed while Homer is wearing an adult nappie. Marge isn't turned on by adult nappies so goes for a walk and is all sad. She walks past Professor Frink's house and he has heard about the bet wetting because it was tweeted by Bart and then retweeted by Krusty. Frink offers to help by using his device to enter dreams. Frink has previously cured Disco Stu of his obsession with disco and he is now Normal Stu. The family enter Homer's dream. Homer is skiing down a mountain and Death is there too. Death is dragging a coffin which says "Marriage" on it. They fall off a cliff when Frink video calls them and lets them know that if they die in the dream, they die in real life. Lisa says the only way to survive is to go into another dream so they go into Bart's dream. Bart's dream is the Tracy Ullman Show era family.



Homer sounds like he did back then. They are at a family therapist. The therapist says that in order to solve Homer's problem, they must face what is in the coffin. Bart opens it and fish pours out. They enter Lisa's dream before the room fills with fish. Lisa's dream is boring costume drama stuff so Bart ushers them to another dream. Homer's second dream is the land of his innermost desires.



The place is made up of Duff beer cans, pizza, sandwiches and various other food. The Kwik-E-Mart gives out bacon instead of change. There are lots of Moe's taverns. Bart asks why Flanders is there and then Flanders is ran over by a giant lawnmower and spewed out into pieces and it was rather unexpected in its gruesomeness so I let out a huge laugh.



Homer runs to a rollercoaster called Mr Simpson's Wild Ride which has loads of different versions of Homer from old episodes such as Mr Plow, 300lb Homer, King Kong Homer, Pie Man and Angry Dad while the centre of the ride seems to be Mr Sparkle.



In reality, Wiggum bursts into the house and tells Frink to disconnect the family. The dream machine falls down and Homer's dream starts to fall apart. A huge Duff bottle falls over and floods the town carrying them towards a huge hotdog rotation machine outside the Kwik-E-Mart. They clog up the gears with the various Moes from the taverns. Frink and Wiggum fight in reality. Death rescues the family using a jetpack but then takes off the mask and reveals she is Mona, Homer's mother. Homer grows Jennifer Aniston's hair. Mona leads the family to what she thinks is the source of Homer's bed-wetting.

The family go to a cinema and watch an old movie. Homer is a young boy and goes out with Grandpa on a boat to go fishing. Grandpa says to Mona that she doesn't need to go out for something to eat as they will be bringing back lunch. Homer asks Grandpa about him yelling the previous night with Mona but they end up accidentally tipping over the boat. They return without catching any fish. Just a few weeks later, Mona leaves. Homer says he felt guilty for this and then must have made the connection when he took Bart fishing. Mona tells Homer he doesn't need to feel guilty and that when Grandpa returned with Homer being okay from the boat tipping over, she knew he would be in good hands when she left. The family go back through all the dreams and then return to reality. Homer has not wet himself.

Homer: Come on everybody, feel daddy's underpants!

Homer and Marge are in bed. Marge gives Homer a spinning top and says that if they spin it and doesn't stop then they are still in a dream. It doesn't stop so they decide to go bicycling naked. The spinning top then stops and hail starts coming down and Homer is hit by a truck. Credits roll.

6/10 - The first third is typically abject but the rest is really incredibly strong for this era. I really enjoyed that. Probably the best episode since Season 15. I feel like it could have been condensed down and been a sensational Treehouse of Horror segment, but as it stands it is a visually impressive and surprisingly funny entry, albeit not hitting the sentimental note they hoped to with the ending.

I knew Mona returned and I was dreading it after the last appearance, but in the end it is a better closing note for the character*

*I just checked the Simpsons Wiki and she comes back in Season 28 in a big flashback appearance, so this is kind of a null point if that one is awful.

[dissolute ocelot]

Season 23 - Episode 15 - Exit Through the Kwik-E-Mart

Bart does loads of graffiti all over town but they are chased by street artists who are apparently well known.

This episode is based on the career of Shepard Fairey who became famous in 2008, 4 years before the episode aired, for his poster of Barack Obama with the word HOPE on it. He had cult fame in the early 90s for putting up lots of stickers of Andre The Giant's face with the word OBEY below it for no reason other than that it was lolrandom. So he's pretty much patron saint of latter-day Simpsons, as well as inventing the unfunny meme. And the writers are jumbling 2 different Fairey artworks with Banksy's stencilling. There are other "famous" street artists featured but not Banksy who doesn't do a lot of TV. I think I preferred the episode with Homer becoming an outsider artist after building a barbecue or the one with Marge becoming a folk artist with ice lolly "popsicle" sticks. I'm amazed it took that long to do an episode about graffiti.

[Catalogue Trousers]

Of course, the title is a reference to Banksy's outrageous film Exit Through The Gift Shop.