Notes for RABF01 (To Cur with Love)

We sure have a lot of family history episodes these days. This was decent, I guess. I don't think I'd peg Homer as particularly apathetic to SLH typically, though. I have to point out, though, how incredibly short the episode was (about 12 seconds below syndication length), even with the inclusion of the minute-plus "fiscal cliff" video we probably won't see in repeats. Maybe the opening will be lengthened for those instead of being 6 seconds long? Time will tell.

DYN: ...yet more conspicuous looping on several lines? ...a Wilhelm scream in Villageville? ...McDonald's gets mentioned again (as opposed to Krusty Burger)? (How the "soup" line is meant I suppose depends on whether they currently serve soup - do they? I do remember in the late 90s a big deal being made about putting it on the menu, but if it's still there I am not sure.)

Previous episode stuff 2F19: Perpetual motion machine that appears to be genuine 4F02: Slight "Genesis Tub" vibe in Homer's game, the way the villagers interact with him 8F17: The group petting scene reminiscent of the end of this episode, with Homer's behavior unusual both times MABF04: One of the book titles we saw ("Postcards from the Hedge") riffs on the same source ("Edge") as this episode title ("Wedge")

Meta and show mythology stuff -Lisa notes how stupid and long SLH's name is, which probably wasn't thought through when it first came up -The name Bongo is a favorite of Matt Groening -Krusty used to have a much bigger monkey (the fact that the current one is named Mr. Teeny isn't explicitly pointed out, unlike some other stuff) -Herman gets a last name (Hermann - in the vein of Lenny and Carl) -Not only do we get some "origin stories" (Herman's arm, Ralph's name, Lou) but Bart has a checklist to tick them off ("Wiggum" is on there too but we've seen plenty of his history before) -"Simpson, release your hound" -Grampa's slippers and bolo tie are explained

The sequences with "Me and My Arrow" must be a reference to an old animated special, "The Point", where the song was used as the main character played with his own dog (Arrow, named in part because nearly everyone and everything in the land had a point of some sort). The slight change in drawing style is explained by this too, since it was a kind of cheaper/messier look and had lots of cross-hatching around the edges (and mouth corner shapes like Homer was sometimes drawn with in these sequences).

So, I didn't get to see the episode air on Fox. (See my other post tonight and Wiseguy's responses.) According to Wiseguy, some areas did get the entirety of the Fox lineup, according to the plan I was told Fox would be using - but while those areas would have seen Bob's Burgers stop around 8:32 (Eastern) and resume 24 minutes later, to cover just Obama's contribution to the memorial thing in CT, in Cleveland anyway the regular programming was interrupted at 7:36 for even longer coverage (and picked up, with the 3rd minute of Bob's Burgers, at 8:56). Ugh. I am not sure this is strictly a time zone thing (ET vs. CT anyway); maybe there was some other reason we got a different version of the network feed. Anyway, thanks to the wonders of the internet I was able to see the episodes tonight. And now you know the rest of the story.

Matthew Garvey wrote in news:5caa0a77-065d-4612- [email]:

...Marge seems to know that Homer is playing Villageville when she returns with Grandpa even though Homer himself didn't know what it was earlier? ...Homer drinks window cleaner without any apparent effect? (He also mentions things tasting like cheese but the bottle only said cheese- scented) ...Was Snowball really missing for three weeks, that is, not seen for at least two episodes? (Although since this is the first true episode of the season he could had been missing during the "summer break.") ...Homer was a newborn baby during 1967-75, the years Mannix was on (assuming Abe and Mona were watching during the original run)? ...the irony of Grandpa's boxes labeled "Useless Memories" when so much information is in them (books and postcard plus Grandpa's story)? ...Grandpa never showed the postcard to Homer before? Why not?

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In Wiseguy writes:

...Herman didn't lose his arm in overseas combat? (and might not even be a military veteran) ...Herman referred to his future business as a "gun shop" and not the curiosity shop of strange, ephemeral, and mostly harmless military surplus that we've seen in previous episodes? ...In addition to other child-unsafe practices in the past like no automobile safety seats or coming to a full stop when loading passengers, children were also subjected to a gratuitously excessive amount of second-hand cigarette smoke, such as when riding on long-distance bus lines catering specifically to heavy smokers?

7G05,7F17,1F09: Depictions of "Herman's Military Antiques" as a shop of mostly harmless, or at least ridiculous, military ephemera, versus the more realistic gun shop "Bloodbath & Beyond" in 5F01

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Goof:

Grandpa appears to be driving an early-60's full-size Chevy (Biscayne/Bel-Air/Impala type) or at least another model of similar vintage, but is shown driving it while wearing a side-pillar-anchored shoulder belt. Not only were shoulder belts not installed in U.S. vehicles until the late 60's, the model of car depicted would not have an anchor point at the center pillar, because it either did not have one ("hardtop") or only had window frames ("club"). Vehicles that were designed in the 60's, but produced past the federal shoulder belt requirement, often had shoulder belts anchored either to the roof or behind the door (usually threaded through a loop attached to the upper outside corners of each front seat). For those who were children in the 70's, this usually meant either getting strangled by a roof-mounted shoulder belt when sitting in the front seat, or getting clotheslined by a behind-the-door-mounted shoulder belt when attempting to climb into the back seat of a two-door vehicle.

- -- Paul W. Schleck [email] http://www.novia.net/~pschleck/ Finger [email] for PGP Public Key

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In Wiseguy writes:

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Almost forgot:

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Similar to Homer drinking a mailed sample of lemon-scented dishwashing liquid ("Lemon Time"), also without apparent ill effect, in 9F05. The original reference was based on real-life examples of households getting small sample packets of a lemon-scented dishwashing liquid in the mail, and consumers confusing it as lemon juice or lemon flavoring to put in food or drink, at least getting upset stomachs as a result. The current example (cheese-scented window cleaner) is a much more ridiculous satire of the pitfalls of making non-food products too food-like in their taste, smell, and packaging/marketing.

- -- Paul W. Schleck [email] http://www.novia.net/~pschleck/ Finger [email] for PGP Public Key

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In the "Twenty Short Stories" episode, Herman said he lost his arm because as a child he was hanging his arm out the window of a school bus and another vehicle hit his arm.

Mr. Museume