Well, OK. Don was right to issue the country music alert (Bart apparently echoes the sentiment), and it's kind of tough to watch people just listening to music. Anyway, that aside, it was a fairly good episode for one pulled out of the "remember this?" file. Lurleen's story didn't actually do much for me, but I liked Marge's fluctuating response to her (including the promising Major Marge method of handling the situation), and the Dixie Chicks' sarcasm- riddled apology song. (It helps to know, as I only do vaguely, that they took some heat a few years ago for criticising the war and such.) Silly moments mostly detailed in my DYNs.
DYN: ...Marge apparently has super hearing (could tell what the bucket Lurleen had to clean was while driving away)? ...Judge Snyder is apparently a no-nonsense judge according to the sign, even though usually he's not (in fact, that was quite the point in CABF22 - could they not get Jane Kaczmarek back again?)? ...Maggie's toy phone has a hotline to Gerald? ...the staging of the first hambone scene (when Lurleen heard it through the vent) made it sound a bit like something else? ...a 3D shot (with paper-doll characters) is used for one portion of the Dixie Chicks song?
Previous episode references 8F17: Girl Scout cookie selling/dropoff (oh, sorry, Scout Gal) 5F05, 3G01/3G04: Lisa points out a Skepticism merit badge (compare the title/theme of the first episode, and Junior Skeptic magazine in the other two) EABF20: Her unmentioned Apple Polishing merit badge like a lyric from her first song in this episode 3F12: Springfield* celebrity nailed for tax avoision, is garnished (*OK, she was from somewhere in Spittle County originally) 1F07: Face on a t-shirt doesn't quite work out 5F16: Homer has a comedy earflap hat FABF19: Lurleen's search for her dad reminded me a bit of Nelson in this episode
8F19 (Colonel Homer): -"Bunk with Me Tonight", originally privately sung to Homer, reused on the show (Yee-Haw?) and sung to Kermit (with similar jealous mate) -Bart recaps some of that episode for the casual viewer, a little unnecessarily, and Marge grinds her teeth loudly in the same way -Lurleen is back to being a bar waitress near the end However, 9F10: we saw that Lurleen (already sort of washed up) had lost her sweet-sounding voice and had a gritty Doris Grau tongue instead. Oh well.
Other stuff Come on now, Fox... after a few years of allowing for full-length special credits, stop cutting stuff off again! (Out of 7 episodes so far this season with special credits, only one - the Korean "What's New, Pussycat?" in JABF17 - was broadcast in full. In their favor, though, that did stay complete even on its first repeat. See if it stays that way for the third airing; it'll be right before the next new episode in 2 weeks!)