Episode: fine. Milhouse as Kirk and the kids' traversing the world of adults was kind of fun. Homer's hidden pictures plot was a little odd but it was nice that it sort of helped at the end I guess.
Timing: UGH. You'd think these severe shortenings to shoehorn in "world premieres" would have ended after the first few seasons (or JABF07). See below. (Also, bottom thirds for the short? Come on.)
DYN: ...the "noisy dinner" lady never actually turns the pages of the book (given the way that bit ended it may suggest she really wasn't reading from it at all)? ...Bart arranges his cue cards back-to-front? ...a condom is shown and "used" (is that a first?)
Previous episode stuff 3F18: The ol' getting-sticky-stuff-out-of-hair bit 5F17: Lisa gets stuck downtown because Marge won't take her to a high culture thing
Meta -Lisa's (and Maggie's) hair shape is drawn attention to twice: once, subtly, at the bookstore, and again when Bart calls Lisa "starfish hair" -ratcheting Milhouse from Kirk's voice to Duffman's voice calls a little attention to the slight similarity in those two voices, though not nearly as much as Family Guy's Carter/Hartman/Seamus gag a few years ago.
The episode ran very short. See below.
The Longest Daycare: some rambling thoughts This is the first time I saw it. Overall decent. Wasn't crazy about the operatic segment (despite the homage to older toons), but the bow fakeout was clever. Presented in 16:9. I don't know what its aspect ratio in theaters was, but if it wasn't 2.35:1 then it was at least not produced with TV overscan in mind, as the sides were a little cramped. No majorly overt references to 8F18, but I liked the minor ones, like the headmistress, A is A, and a nod in "Raggedy Rand" dolls. Music by Hans Zimmer. Alf Clausen lost out on scoring The Movie to him, unfairly I thought. This seems like rubbing salt in the wound. I DO NOT LIKE the way this was shoved in (about 8:27 to 8:32, with Family Guy starting on time at 9). It's not as if Fox doesn't occasionally just run its Sunday programming late instead of/in addition to joining in progress when sports run long; cutting 2-2.5 minutes out of the new Simpsons episode (total runtime about 19:09) and new Bob's Burgers is pretty bad. The Simpsons started with a clouds/couch-only opening, and assuming that same couch (the knight beheading Homer) was the "real" one the rest of the opening only adds about a minute to the runtime. Was something else major missing, or was it still a very short ep? Stay tuned for the repeat, I guess.
Speaking of shortening episodes: I didn't catch the beginning of PABF21 (Moonshine River) when it reran in December, but I did this time (7:00, 2/17). It's missing. Instead of a fairly lengthy sequence with a long couch gag (related in some way to - ready? - The Longest Daycare), it's just clouds/TV (with the original's nonstandard TV music replaced by the generic). The rest of the episode is timed out the same, and even though the couch gag contest is now down to three finalists, the whole spiel about submitting entries is still there. (As with the second airing, the Andy Williams dedication is gone.)