Notes for LABF08 (Father Knows Worst)

Hmm, OK episode. The premise has been done a few times, of course. I did like Marge's sauna side plot, in the sense of her unusual loopiness afterward, and the actually kind of sweet sharing the sauna with Homer at the end. Not much else to say.

INTRO NOTES Crow left to right Ralph: It's dark! Barney: burp (no Stu, shorter opening) TV falls off

DYN: ...even the cafeteria Jello is tasteless? ..."Chicks with Cliques"? ...the chorus at the end doesn't do the Gracie sound? (Hasn't been a special version outside a TOH in quite some time)

Previous episode references 2F06: Homer's face sucked in by super sourness HABF15, JABF02, KABF06: Recent blasphemy of Lunchlady Doris talking AABF12: Homer eats a jar of mayonnaise 3F08: Westminster Abbey as a craft project, and "my dear Abbey" uttered 5F20: Lisa's fitting in reminiscent of this episode

Goofs A hidden sauna I can sort of see, but one with hot coals still in it? At least we'll never see it again. (Plus other house geography stuff, etc.)

Other notes Hibbert calls Homer a "supertaster" with his new taste buds; there's a They Might Be Giants song (on their first children's album, "No!") called "John Lee Supertaster", about a similar concept. If there'd been a montage of his super-sensitivity, that song could easily have been used. (There's precedent: "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" in GABF07.)

Also, I forget offhand which episode, but in season 1 or 2 of Home Improvement, Wilson also names the state capitals in alphabetical order. I do believe the plot involved Mark dealing with a bullying kid and his bullying parents at karate class.

I agree...mostly bland, but I did like the Marge story.

One thing no one's mentioned, though--did anyone like me hate the couch gag? They're supposed to be couch *gags*, not couch *tragedies*! I know it's not supposed to be taken seriously, but seeing Homer seemingly dead at the end of it creeped me out.

Since there was a sign that read "Springfield Saunas", I was assuming that at some point it was going to turn out that it was actually part of a business that happened to adjoin the Simpson homestead. Of course that would have required a very long underground tunnel within said business, but it could work. Perhaps that was the intention, and they just let us figure it out for ourselves?

On Mon, 27 Apr 2009, Brett A. Pasternack wrote:

I thought the same thing.

There is precedence, the network of tunnels Moe uses to get booze when the town goes dry, and the central underground location for the fast food restaurants (I think at the piers). I think there were others, though maybe that one with I think Shiva pulling levers and pressing buttons doesn't count.

Michael

I can see your point, but I got a chuckle out of it.

What I really hate - and I have a hard time explaining why - is that Marge actually *hits* Homer in the intro. Once is OK, but this is *every week.* :)

(The cartoon cliche that creeps me out the most is when we see the shot of a charcter's legs hanging down from the top of the frame, as if they were hanged. Sometimes they are (well, American Dad did it last night), sometimes it's a gag - but it still creeps me out.)

-- R Flowers

[email] wrote:

Yeah, I don't care for that, either. They should have essentially left it the way it was.

But you know swatting their light bulbs is the only thing that makes them happy! B^)

No, seriously, I don't disagree with this. I think what all of this comes down to is that it doesn't fit with the kind of cartoon world the show (and others like it) works best in.

In article , [email] says...

I didn't think much of it either, and actually came here to start a thread about it. I've no idea how it was supposed to be 'funny' at all.

Another out of character scene is the carny scene... Homer and Bart get the better of them, instead of the other way around.

The animation of Bart's facial expression during the lighter fluid scene was completely different for some reason.

I did think Hoju's tongue injury was good stuff though...

The 'gag' of Homer stripping off in the cafeteria was just plain... sad. Whose idea was that? They clearly don't watch the Simpsons.