Notes for RABF04 (The Changing of the Guardian)

After a really bizarre first act, once this got down to business, it was pretty interesting and also felt quite original and more in the style of the earlier seasons (at least in the middle section). Some of the gags didn't really do it for me, and the execution felt more latter-season, but I still enjoyed it pretty much. The sequence of evaluating all the awful possibilities for guardians was fun (though I guess we're left to assume that total strangers would still be better than Patty and Selma or the Van Houtens), and no one even mentioned Flanders (except in an unrelated bit) despite "Home Sweet Home-diddly- dum-doodily".

DYN: ...many looped lines still (at least 3 or 4)? ...Ling has aged considerably since she was adopted? ...Bart's name tag is drawn in front of his seat belt? (I'd imagine this is a goof, since it looks like a sticker and not a pin, though I suppose the seat belt could cut underneath it without much trouble.) ...Bart was kept away from the paperwork signing for... some reason that was never actually explained?

Previous episode stuff 4F07: Hurricane/tornado driving the plot BABF07: The board games no one likes 9F03: "Clearly the boy's in shock" reminiscent of Homer's followup to "TV sucks!" 7F16, 8F23: Herb Powell tosses in a line 3F01: The idea of the Simpson kids being in another family's care (wouldn't Ned be a decent and willing choice??) DABF02: Homer's premature taunting about the terms of the deal is like Burns with the church 9F16: Preparing the donut for druglike use is a bit like the science class demo here

Meta -Wards of the state: Connecticut? No, our state! -Strangling stuff at end, I guess

Speaking of Japanese hot dog eating records There was a plot element of that in tonight's The Cleveland Show (The Wide World of Cleveland Show, 4APS07), in the segment set in Japan.

Deleted scene? I don't know if it was for this episode, but considering I think i saw the various winter sweaters in it, it probably was. In an ad earlier tonight there was a short scene with Maggie holding up a piece of paper with "suck" written all over it, and then she crossed one instance out. Hmm.

Matthew Garvey wrote:

She can speak English, too - although by living with Patty and Selma, she probably only needs to know those two words.

Why isn't Maggie Roswell in the "first" part of the Also Starring list? Pamela Hayden, Tress MacNeille, and (based on "A Test Before Trying") Russi Taylor get their credits, followed by everybody else.

-- Don

On Mon, 28 Jan 2013, Don Del Grande wrote:

That she can speak English doesn't surprise me, it's been a few years and I doubt the twins have learned Chinese, which means everything is in English. If you can do the other things she can, and at the same time, learning English in a few years is hardly a difficult task.

The real question is whether Ling will continue to age, or if this was an attempt to make her more equal to Lester and Eliza, oops, Bart and Lisa. Maggie already is the baby, if Ling can talk they can do more things with her, if the occasion calls for it.

Or perhaps the next time we see Ling, she'll have reverted to being more like when she was adopted.

Or, she's grown up and kissing Ally McBeal.

Michael

Michael Black wrote:

Ling can't get that much older, or she'll be too close to Lisa's age.

-- Don

Matthew Garvey wrote in news:be9e85d5-c84a-4e7a- [email]:

-[Carl] was a black guy but his voice sounded like a white guy.

Matthew Garvey wrote in news:be9e85d5-c84a-4e7a- [email]:

...both of the potential guardians are left-handed?