Upcoming Episodes plus STUFF for "Don't Fear the Roofer" and "The Heartbroke Kid"

5/8 - DOUBLE FEATURE - TWO NEW EPISODES --------------------------------------- 8:00 - A Star is Torn (GABF13) "American Idol" winner Fantasia Barrino guest voices as a contestant in Krusty's "Li'l Starmaker" contest, who finishes behind Lisa, thanks to Homer's Springfield-based song, but when Homer turns into a "stage father" and Lisa fires him, Homer finds another contestant to lead to victory over her 8:30 - Thank God It's Doomsday (GAB14) Homer thinks he has the Book of Revelation decoded and knows when the world will come to an end, so he spreads the word in a desparate attempt to assure his place in Heaven, which a lot of people start to believe when his predictions of "stars falling from the sky" come true (in the way of a celebrity-filled blimp)

5/15 - SEASON FINALE - DOUBLE FEATURE - TWO NEW EPISODES -------------------------------------------------------- 8:00 - Home Away from Homer (GABF15) Jason Bateman guest voices as himself as the Flanderses move away to Humble, PA when it is revealed that the two college girls they rented their rumpus room to are running a webcam from there, but when the neighbors prove too much for Homer, he begs Ned to move back 8:30 - The Father, the Son, and the Holy Guest Star (GABF09) Liam Neeson guest voices as a hip young priest who befriends Bart at a Catholic school Bart attends after he is expelled from Springfield Elementary, even though Bart is right this time when he claims, "I didn't do it"

5/22 - PRE-EMPTED for "Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones"
       (what a surprise - it's three days after Episode III
       premieres)

5/29 - PRE-EMPTED for the Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR auto race (which should
       end by 8:00 Pacific, but Fox stations out west will air local
       programming after the race)

STUFF for "Don't Fear the Roofer" (GABF10)
------------------------------------------
Written by Kevin Curran
Directed by Mark Kirkland
Blackboard: none
Couch: The scene is a jigsaw puzzle with the heads missing; two hands
       put the heads in place, then exchange the switched Homer and
       Maggie
Special Guest Voice: Stephen Hawking, Ray Romano
Also Starring: Tress MacNeille, Karl Wiedergott
Overseas Animation: Akom
TV Rating: TV-PG-LV

REVIEW: B-plus - this was one of the better episodes of the season,
        until the whole "nobody thinks Ray exists" plot started, after
        which it was yet another version of the "how long before they
        discover Ray is real?" story.  They could have used a little
        more Romano humor as well.

REFERENCES "Rip van Winkle" (thunder and lightning caused by bowling in the clouds) Ritz Crackers (Ritzy Crackers ruined by the rain) Hooters (Knockers) Home Depot (Builder's Barn) "Everybody Loves Raymond" (the show Ray mentions at the end) 7G04 (Homer gets shock treatment) 7F24 (Homer in an insane asylum; also, a sign saying Homer is sane)

DYN
...there was a caption at the start: "350th EPISODE, MAN!"?
...there was no reference to the fact that this was actually the 351st
   episode, the way the "300th" episode mentioned 302?  (Then again,
   GABF11 may have been the originally planned 300th episode)
...Moe's has switched back from a pub?
...at the end, either Ray forgot that "Everybody Loves Raymond" is in
   syndication, or it isn't in Springfield?

GOOFS / FREEZE FRAME / WHATNOT An eyepatch does not cause a giant black spot to form in your vision.

Stephen Hawking's black hole explanation does not explain how Bart would have seen the stepladder.

STUFF for "The Heartbroke Kid" (GABF11)
---------------------------------------
Written by Ian Maxtone-Graham
Directed by Steven Dean Moore
Blackboard: none
Couch: The couch is on a catapult, which sends the couch, and
       everybody on it, flying (repeat of FABF20)
Special Guest Voice: A. Brooks, Marcia Wallace
Also Starring: Pamela Hayden, Tress MacNeille, Russi Taylor,
               Karl Wiedergott
Overseas Animation: Rough Draft
TV rating: TV-PG-LV

REVIEW: B - meh; the whole vending machine thing didn't really go
        anywhere (and that milk shake carnival was a complete
        tangent), and it didn't get much better with the fat camp
        or the whole hostel thing, only to lead to a craptacular
        ending over the closing credits.

REFERENCES "Do the Bartman" (Homer says it after Bart's heart attack) "99 Luftballoons" (Homer sings it to the Germans) 7G09, 7G11 ("A. Brooks" has a role) 7F16, 8F23 (Herb is mentioned) 7F22 (one of Bart's allergies is mentioned) 2F14 (Homer says it's time to take out the (Euro)trash)

DYNs
...Skinner thinks the plural of "pony" is "poni"?
...Lisa has a Li'l Agitator megaphone?
...Springfield Elementary School has at least three floors?  (Willie
   fell down four flights of stairs, but there could be two flights
   and a flat area between floors)
...in the "Three Weeks Later" opening, Helen Lovejoy's hair is its
   normal color instead of orange, and Jacques says something?
...Albert Brooks is credited, as usual, as "A. Brooks"?
...Scratchy's list said, "Have you ever been:
   __ Churned Into Butter
   __ Decapitated By A Windmill
   __ Impaled By The Space Needle
   __ Squashed By The Moon
   __ Printed Into Money
   __ Tricked Into Eating Yourself
   __ Hung By Your Intestine (I think they meant "hanged" - "hung" is
      what is done to pictures)
   __ Impaled On A Cactus
   __ Killed In A Plane Crash With Buddy Holly

GOOFS / FREEZE FRAME / WHATNOT Marcia Wallance, Pamela Hayden, and Russi Taylor were credited, yet none of their regular characters had roles that stayed in the episode.

-- Don S1.1 MAG+++ LIS++ BAR+ SKI+ MrsK+ MissH+ P&S# FLA- (heresy!) f+++ n+++ Ilps(w) $+++ M43 In my younger days, I probably would have been able to list the episodes from those Itchy & Scratchy references

snip

true

The last time the world was SUPPOSED to come to an end, didn't Homer once make a pre-diddly-iction about a meteor that would only be as big as a chihuahua's head?

Aaron Space Museum

On Mon, 02 May 2005 04:35:01 GMT, Don Del Grande wrote:

I think you're being far too generous. The 60 second Ray/Homer exchange over the closing credits was worthy of a complete letter grade demotion in of itself.

Hey Ray, I've got news for you. Not *everybody* loves you.

On Mon, 02 May 2005 16:39:20 -0400, The Ghost of General Lee wrote:

Ooops, attributed it to the wrong episode. It's fixed now.

The very idea that you expect to be taken seriously when you suggest that one joke over the credits deserves an entire letter grade deduction is laughable. Even going from a B to a B- would have been too much, considering that the actual plot was over, considering that it was, again, only one, albeit long, joke. It's this kind of absurdity that gives internet fans a bad name.

Steve Brown wrote:

I agree. It was no "The Blunder Years" and could have used a little punching up, but it hardly wrecks the episode.

(And obviously not everybody loves Raymond. That roofer guy certainly didn't see what the big deal was.)

I don't think anyone has made mention that the title references "The Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels, active WWE wrestler.

Mag

I figured it was a reference to the 1972 movie of the same name, with Charles Grodin and Cybill Shepherd and others.

It also sounds like a book title.

Michael

Don Del Grande wrote:

This is true, and I couldn't guess if the writers were keeping that in mind, but if it's referring to "Why Do Fools Fall in Lava?" (as seen in 4F12), he was actually just hung over it.