Notes for LABF19 (Rednecks and Broomsticks)

Weird... I don't know if it's just me, or if I'm not in a receptive mood, but this seemed to be rather full of bizarre and tasteless/ morbid gags. I did kind of like Lisa's story, her own arc as well as the mob scenes... Homer's I could take or leave. I actually liked Bart's courtroom prank (had an older feel to it). A little late to be skewering the "Bop It" game, isn't it?, but I can see how that would be really annoying.

DYN: ...Fox promos for tonight's lineup used a four-split screen, the same technique used in a montage in this ep? ..."Hell's kitten"? ...Neve Campbell as guest voice? Wow, they promoted the hell out of that...

OPENING Stork R to L (repeat), new billboard, Stu oomp, all the rest same as all season. TV didn't fall off (hasn't the last few episodes).

Previous episode references (KABF20: title... and this time it's actually "broomsticks" for real. Fittingly, there is a "mypod" too) 5F02: Various parallels and rehashes of "Easy-Bake Coven", and Patty and Selma were said to have been tried as witches 12 years ago during the most recent witch trials (the episode premiered just over 12 years ago) (and FWIW, on tonight's The Cleveland Show they just had a cutaway gag involving fly hybrids as in "Fly vs. Fly") 5F07: Family drives onto frozen pond and car falls in 2F03: Homer covered with snow like end of "Shinning" segment 3F01?: Flanders' cell phone has Lovejoy twice for different locations. I think this happened previously (on a desk phone) in that episode? 1F14: Water supply poisoned

Also Bart asking Cletus's kids if they had any video games reminded me a bit of the scene in National Lampoon's Vacation where Rusty is asking similar questions.

And (just skip if you don't like production codes or have no interest whatsoever in airing order) I'll make some note when MABF01 airs I guess... but you might have noticed that the end of the LABF season is not finishing before the MABFs begin. This is something that hasn't happened since the BABF/ CABF transition in season 12! It wasn't particularly common even before then: 7F/8F, 3F/4F (and the 3Gs of course), 4F/5F, 5F/AABF, AABF/BABF, and BABF/CABF (all but the first of those are consecutive of course). It's also worth noting that MABF01 is the 450th episode in production order, but only 449th in airing order (on 12/13). Now, the 450th episode is airing on 1/14/10, the day of the purported 20th anniversary of the series' premiere. Of course, the series actually premiered on 12/17/89 as we all know. So you may feel free to celebrate *a* 450th episode early, just a few days before the real 20th anniversary. Then you can celebrate another 450th episode (I'm assuming - but haven't yet seen promos - Fox is going to be all over that) on the 20th anniversary of the 2nd episode's premiere.

On Sun, 29 Nov 2009, Matt Garvey wrote:

And there was also the button programmed for something like "nipple slip reporting", ie a number to call if any nipples appear on TV. Maybe it's a more general use number, for dealing with all tv that Flanders objects to.

The beginning (we're they driving back from getting a Christmas tree? I was flipping channels) certainly reminded me of the Vacation movies. Nobody ever landed on a frozen lake in those, but bad driving and flying through the air appeared in more than one of them.

Michael

Michael Black wrote:

A ski weekend. They left early Sunday morning to beat the traffic, but found that everyone else had the same idea.

"Matt Garvey" wrote in message news:[email]...

Did Bop It recently have a "reincarnation"? I seem to remember it was popular many years ago, yet you specified it as being only a "little" late.

Now I know for what I'm asking to receive for Christmas.. that game was awesome!

I just saw one on the shelf at a Walmart, so that would suggest they are still popular. Why parents would buy one for their own kid(s) is a mystery, though... my in-laws gave one to my nieces because to punish their dad. (That was at least 10 years ago, so you can see how long this toy has been around.)

-- R Flowers

It wasn't just you...at a minimum it was both you and I! I think that's been an overall problem with the past couple of seasons, but this episode had plenty of examples. I don't want to see half the town go blind (even "temporarily") outside of a Halloween episode. Moe practically begging to be raped? Hicks dancing to bear noises because they're too stupid to realize it isn't music? A "is Homer dead?" fake-off ending? No thank you to all of those. At least we didn't get a Misery parody where the rednecks break someone's legs--I was fearing that when they were put into the cabin.

The only real laughs I got out of the episode were the Sideways parody and the tax-evading goat.

I did kind of like Lisa's story, her own arc as well as

I must be really old. I never heard of Bop It before.

"Brett A. Pasternack" wrote:

That creeped me out a little, too.

I thought the nod to Bambi was pretty funny.