Tonight's episode proved that...

...Lionel Hutz is sorely missed! I like Gil and all but trying to replace Hutz with Gil is like trying to replace Fox Mulder with the liquid metal guy from Terminator 2.

RIP Phil Hartman

"Cult of Ralph Wiggum" wrote in news:LDZF8.25296$[email]:

This episoe screamed for Lionel Hutz. Phil Hartmen is missed for sure. Come to thing of it what was his last case?

The Show wrote in message news:...

Tonight's episode proved that the writers are capable of completely ripping off previous story lines and making them into new stories! This episode was a blatant ripoff of the grifter episode!

Space

"Aaron Hirshberg" wrote in message news:[email]...

news:...

was it *really* though? in The Great Money Caper, the townspeople (most of them at least), inspired by marge & grampa (and maybe a bit of lisa, too), join together and construct an elaborate scheme in order to *teach bart and homer a sorely-needed lesson* (that grifting is bad, etc). so there's a moral at the end, and the point was to embetter (sorry, couldn't resist) two people. in The Frying Game, the elaborate scheme was orchestrated by only a select few who (presumably since we've never seen them before and never will again most likely) are not springfield natives or an integral part of the town (guy with braces, carmen electra), and who have no positive underlying motives (i.e. teaching an important lesson) whatsoever. the townspeople were being duped all along (maybe kent brockman was in on it, though, helping to fan the flames, but who knows). and the point was entertainment, i.e. money for the network (FOX). the "point" of it all that i gleaned was the rather obvious "networks and tv and the advertising world are increasingly taking advantage of people to make money (yet trying to fool them into thinking it's a *good* thing ultimately cause they get to be included (chief wiggum "you mean i get to be in the show?" or whatever he said, and who doesn't want to be on tv??? the whole damn point of life???)), whereas at the end of the grifter ep, we see how far the people who love bart and homer are willing to go to help them. yes, both endings have that wacky twist, and yes, i would've rather seen any ending to the Frying Game *other* than the one we're stuck with, and yes i actually agree with you more than this message may indicate. it may not be a *totally* blatant ripoff. but i just thought i'd play devil's advocate for a moment, for whatever it's worth. *TILT*???? oh, crap ...

[kicks machine]