Notes for FABF07 (Milhouse Doesn't Live Here Anymore)

So it is possible to have a modern Simpsons episode with lots of jokes and character-driven humor, plus two realistic plots that were amusing, engaging, and sweet (or shmaltzy perhaps). I knew it...and I enjoyed it. I'm glad to see Milhouse isn't actually gone (and wonder if Kirk's custody of him will persist for later episodes), if only because I thought it was indicative of another cast dispute. I also enjoyed seeing Bart and Lisa in general kid/sibling life; it was refreshing in a way, as was the resolution of the bum problem (instead of a Group X Gets Mad at Homer with Wacky Results thing). The ending was a little lacking, but otherwise a generally good episode. (Among other things, I particularly enjoyed the camera movements to reveal new things - B/L to the schoolkids to Edna to Skinner to Willie, Lisa to Bart to Marge to Homer - though it would have been fun to include Maggie in there, with something [pictorially?] that she might actually be thinking.) Um...A-, I guess

DYN: ...despite her take on I&S in 3F03, vegetarian Lisa now finds them amusing? ...apparently CapitOl City is the preferred spelling this week?

Previous episode references 5F03: Nelson's mom works (worked) at Hooters 4F09: Pun of "crabapple" touched upon (actually made this time) 8F19: Beverly D'Angelo mentioned (she was Lurleen Lumpkin on the show, but that's not her only credit) 5F04: Reference to Apu/Manjula's wedding (wow, it's been 6 years!) 5F21: Kitt appears, and William Daniels guest voices AABF05: Same thing for robot from Lost in Space (Dick Tufeld) CABF03: Homer gets handouts by accident (cf. Bart) EABF20: Largo and Brunella apparently were not rehired after their departments were cut and (supposedly, by the ending) reinstated 5F13: Bart hangs out with Ralph 8F04: Bart and Milhouse have a problem; Bart looks at memories of their friendship (photo album there, tapes here); Bart plays Monopoly with a family member instead of being with Milhouse 5F17: Lisa and family member discover an ancient secret and agree to keep it secret 5F22: Nelson wants to make trouble with a pellet/BB gun

Other references Too many TV ones for me to mention (I know someone will), but I enjoyed them all... The Critic ("Dr. Jay") - the incredibly short flight from Springfield to Capital City reminded me of the similarly unncessary flight to get Duke to the hospital here

Goof -How is the surveillance camera moving to cover Homer/Carl/Lenny rolling the waste barrels (and then stopping when they do)?

Meta-reference corner -Flanders in the museum...eh...I didn't particularly care for it, but not much time was spent on it (I wouldn't have liked if Bart/Milhouse noticed, for example)... -And of course there was the ending. In recent years, the ending has not been a strong part of most episodes; often it seemed like an unnecessary joke was added (cue upbeat main theme reprise) where the previous line would do. Yet this year things seemed to be picking up in that department, with tonight as an exception: sort of in the style of AABF08, a guest star reviewed part of it, but (unlike some other shows) I kind of prefer The Simpsons to keep such things more subtle. Besides, I didn't think the episode needed a "here's your joke" ending; I was in the moment between Bart and Lisa, and something more creative with the Chance card for example would have done just as well. Oh well - still a good episode.

I noticed this too, but let it pass. Besides, they were having too much fun rolling the barrels.

evan

Park Luck wrote:

Actually, it occurred to me later that perhaps there are some cameras moving around on tracks (like the pivoting ones in some stores, but more like that one surveillance cam in "The Spy Who Loved Me") and H/C/L happened to roll the barrels at the right time and speed...yeah, whatever.

In alt.tv.simpsons, on the "Re: Notes for FABF07 (Milhouse Doesn't Live Here Anymore)" thread, Matt Garvey wrote:

Perhaps more plausible might be a camera coupled to a motion-sensing device which keeps the lens trained on whatever moves through the camera's field of view.

Spot-on observation. Ms. Sanford might have felt it was schmaltzy, but I liked the feel of the Bart-Lisa ending and didn't appreciate being yanked out of it.

Question: Does the prefix "meta" come from the same source as metastable or metastatic? If so, wouldn't a true metareference be "Mirror Mirror On The Wall" and Xenosaga?

the song is the song mirror mirror on the wall show me define me i am the infinite telomerase i am not an anti-existence i am the perfect chain

Yes, I'm aware that both are from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.

Yama wrote in message news:...

A meta-reference is a self-reference, so referencing anything outside the show isn't a meta-ref. Flanders in the museum was a meta-ref, but not that. That's just a reference (but not even).

Yeah, not even a reference. Well, maybe it is, but that's really pushing it.

Hence "meta" Metastable is not stable. Metastatic is not still.

I really have no idea where someone got "self" from "meta"

Steve Brown wrote:

On Mon, 16 Feb 2004 15:57:36 GMT, Yama wrote:

Meta: A river, about 1,102 km (685 mi) long, of northeast Colombia flowing partially along the border with Venezuela.

So, short answer: yes with an if; long answer: no with a but.

Matt Garvey wrote in message news:... DYN:

This is DYN worthy because there have been no I&S episodes between the beginning of season 7 and the middle of season 15, right? Pretty sure she laughed at at least one of these (in fact I know she did):

37. Remembrance Of Things Slashed [3F16] 38. Good Cats, Bad Choices [4F06] 39. Reservoir Cats, With Special Guest Director Quentin Tarantino [3G03] 40. Why Do Fools Fall In Lava? [4F12] 41. Beagle Has Landed, The [4F12] (D) 42. Deaf Comedy Blam! [4F18] 43. Glass Moan-agerie, The [5F15] (D) 44. Candle In The Wound [AABF01] (D) 45. Tears Of A Clone, The [BABF04] (D) 46. 100 Pieces, The [Butterfinger Commercial Episode] 47. From Here To Infirmity (+ Cigarette Commercial) [BABF22] (D) 48. Stabby-Oh's Commercial [CABF11] (D) 49. To Kill A Talking Bird (Movie theater ad) [DABF04] 50. Circus of the Scars (on DVD) [DABF06] 51. Itchy & Scratchy radio program [DABF09] 52. Par for the Corpse [DABF10] 53. Butter Off Dead [DABF15] 54. Bleeder of the Pack [EABF10] 55. A Briss Before Dying [FABF01]

Motion sensors?

Steve Brown wrote:

Well, I was going mainly for the idea that Scratchy got eaten (not just killed)...though I suppose that also happens in DABF15 (or, if you go by the professor, "Itchy and Scratchy episode DABF06").

Matt Garvey:

The joke was pretty similar to the Bart balloon appearing in the parade in "Bart vs. Thanksgiving," and Roger Meyers Jr. calling Chief Wiggum a cartoon rip-off of Edward G. Robinson in the Chester Lampwick episode (I'm really blanking on titles this evening). In none of these cases did anyone seem to notice.

Nathan Mulac DeHoff wrote:

Hmm...well, I partly take back my comment for the 7F07 thing, since I did like that...but it was also more in the background...similarly, the Wiggum comment was almost too fast to dwell on. So whatever, I think maybe I've just gotten used to disliking wacky stuff in recent years because of how much there had been.