S P O I L E R
S P A C E
Review: After Bart vs. Lisa vs. the Third Grade, this episode was the that I was worried about when it came to the latest batch of episodes. The first two acts were done well as it set up the storyline and had it flow with a good pace of story and jokes (i.e. the bullies thinking the fumigated house is a circus, the King of the Hill spoof). However, things went downhill once the "1895 house" is sent down a river. With the exception of the revolt by the reality series stars, the third act ruined the flow of the episode. Thumb in the middle.
DYN's
the bathtub as the "1895 house" is carried away via helicopter?
Refs.
Helter Skelter (sp?) -Title
A Bug's Life -A Bug's Death
King of the Hill -the end of act 1 spoofs the opening the show
1900 House -1895 Challenge
Law and Order -Elevator Inspectors Unit mocks the various Law and Order shows on NBC
Comments
The reality show that the Simpsons appear on is a spoof of the PBS series the 1900 house. Airing in 1999, the show had a family spend three months in a townhouse that is recreates the typical house in Victorian London. During this time, the family, like the Simpsons, had to deal with the differences between today and 1900, including shaving with a straight razor and the idea of women doing the chores in the house. More information about this show can be found at http://www.pbs.org/wnet/1900house/
The comment by the 1895 Challenge producer about stealing this idea from Dutch TV refers the latest trend in television: shows that are based on popular Europeon shows. The craze began with ABC doing a US version the British TV series Whose Line is It Anyway. A year after Whose Line began airing in ABC, the network then aired a two week run of a US version of the British game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, which was such a success that the show had a regular time slot in January 2000. This success led to the networks trying to find a TV show that would be the next Millionaire. After a few unsuccessful attempts, CBS hit paydirt with Survivor, a reality series based on a Europeon show in which people were to live 39 days stranded in a deserted area. It was such a success, that more reality shows were made for network TV, including two more based on Europeon shows, Big Brother and The Mole. More recently, Fox had a major summer hit with an American version of the British series Pop Idol, with the US version being called American Idol.
Joe Klemm