[The long of it]
In the spirit of tonight's show, I present a clip from one of my previous reviews, this one from my review of "Days of Wine and D'oh'ses (BABF14)."
For their debut effort, the writing team of Castellaneta and Lacusta do really well. I hesitate to say Castellaneta should quit his day job, but mainly because then there'd be nobody left to give voice to Homer Simpson. Now that a precedent has been set, perhaps we can look forward to more actor-written episodes.
You can imagine reaction when I learned that Dan Castellaneta and his wife Deb Lacusta had once again teamed up to write ... a clip show. Hmmm. I must learn to be more specific in wishing for things.
And who can forget this moment from my review of "All Singing, All Dancing (5F24)?"
Clips from past episodes comprise the bulk of "All Singing, All Dancing," so the normal standards of criticism don't apply. The only two things to rate are how well the story was framed, and how well the songs were chosen.
Replacing "songs" with "clips," this advice applies equally well to "Gump Roast." This time around, we actually get three framing stories, continuing the recent trend of creating a new plot thread for each act. Of the three, the first frame, a take-off on "Forrest Gump," is my favorite. Homer, taking on the Gump role, sits at on a bench, reminiscing about his life. His memory provides a natural jumping-off point to show funny events from his life, and I liked the smooth integration of past and present. Frankly, I wish Castellaneta and Lacusta kept this device for the whole show; the other two stories aren't as good.
Well, now that I think of it, the second framing story wasn't too far of the pace. The bulk of "Gump Roast" takes place at a Friar's club roast, with Homer's friends reliving amusing episodes (of their lives) and showing clips. I had some minor nit-picks with this segment. As in "All Singing, All Dancing," everyone mysteriously has videotape of events at which there were no video cameras recording -- a problem the first story sidesteps since it deals purely with remembered events. No one ever explains why Homer, who is at best a minor celebrity in Springfield, would be the subject of a Friar's Club roast. An explanation is not really needed to make the story work, but making up a reason would have been a good joke opportunity. Also, a lot the award-show banter wasn't very interesting. I know, it was supposed to be inane, but it came across too much like actual inanity. On the other hand, I loved Sideshow Mel's answer to the question of "What's keeping Agnes's dress on?" Definitely the highlight of the new material.
If the award show wasn't quite as good as the Gump parody, "Gump Roast" really goes downhill when the aliens appear. Yup -- Kang and Kodos show up, and decide to use Homer as an example of human stupidity. "What," I'm thinking, "is this a 'Treehouse of Horror' episode all of a sudden?" I think Kang & Kodos should be a ToH-only treat; it does a lot of violence the series's continuity otherwise.
The musical montage at the end of "Gump Roast" makes up for a lot, though. Set to something that isn't quite the tune of "We Didn't Start the Fire," it quickly hustles through some highlights of the series. Watching it was faintly bittersweet for me. Many strange things have happened to the Simpsons over the years, yet the show really shouldn't be thought of as a bunch of wacky adventures. It was -- and can be again -- more than that.
So much for framing story. As for clip selection, I give it a thumbs up. There's been so much good material over the years that culling twenty minutes or so of funny scenes isn't that difficult. Here, the clips show Homer off nicely (no overly stupid or jerk-ass moments), are tied into the theme well, and enough of each scenes is shown to let us get the gist of it, without wasting time by showing too much material. Perhaps to avoid covering ground shown in other clip shows, most of the material is taken from the tenth season onward. There are a couple of "golden oldies," though. One scene is from "Brush with Greatness (7F18)," which I hadn't seen for a while, and which I'd forgotten about. It was nice seeing it again.
Going back to my review of "Days of Wine and D'oh'ses":
Harry Shearer does some (probably all, but I don't know) of his own material for his "Le Show." Julie Kavner probably picked up some writing tips from her association with Woody Allen. Come to think if it, Yeardley Smith apparently has at least one short play out there somewhere. A Lisa episode written by Lisa herself? Hmmm...
If these guys take me up on my suggestion, let me be more explicit: If you write a new show, I want an *entire* one, not four minutes plus compendium of highlights. Thank you.
[The short of it]
The good news: Dan Castellaneta and Deb Lacusta wrote another script. The bad news: It's a script for a clip show. Actually, this one isn't bad. The first two framing devices -- a "Forrest Gump" parody and a celebrity roast -- are good. The Gump parody in particular allows for a good integration of old and new scenes. Things go downhill briefly when Kang and Kodos make a jarring appearance, but the Billy Joel-esque montage at the end makes up for it. Clip selection, long a strong point for "Simpsons" clip shows, continues to be good. Next time, though, if an actor writes a script, I'd like to see all-new material.
Grade: B.
[DYNs]
... Homer starts out reminiscing about his car, but drifts to thinking about Moe's sedan? ... fittingly, the clip of Hibbert, Nelson, and Burns reacting is repeated twice in this episode?
[References]
"Forrest Gump" (movie) - title a spoof - scenes of feather wafting through the air - Homer sits on a bus bench, waiting to be picked up, and reminiscing about his life - has a box of chocolates with him - Wiggum tauntingly calls him "Forrest Plump"
rump roast (cut of meat) - title a spoof of this, too
"Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery" (movie) - Moe dresses up as title character [Okay, it could be a reference to the sequel, as well]
"Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back" (movie) - Dr. Hibbert dresses as Darth Vader, and recites the "I am your father" line from this movie
"Father Knows Best" (movie) - spoofed in Bart and Lisa's introductory speech at the roast
Jennifer Lopez (actress) - Mrs. Skinner wears a version of *that dress*, which Ms. Lopez wore to an awards show
"The Odd Couple" (TV series) - Rev. Lovejoy and Ned introduced as "the God couple"
~The Smothers Brothers (brotherly comedy duo) - I could be off base here, but Lovejoy and Flanders's act reminded me of the Smothers Brothers
Hello Kitty (line of toys) - aliens use a "Hello Probie" probe, which has a picture of a cute one-eyed cat
"We Didn't Start the Fire" (song) - song reciting history of post-WW II America (cf. history of "The Simpsons") - melody resembles the Billy Joel original
[Previous Episode References]
[2F20] Homer mentions that Maggie has shot Mr. Burns
Clips from ... [9F01] Homer in utero [2F07] Abe's apathetic attempt at telling bedtime stories [7F12] Homer meets Marge in D-hall [BABF05] Homer and Marge dancing [5F18] Homer and Marge au naturel behind whirlygigs [1F15] Stampy arrives [4F22] Homer drives in Manhattan with the Boot on his car [BAF06] Homer tries to drive with a bucket glued to his head [5F12] Homer drives Moe's car down a steep hill [BABF07] Bart and Lisa carol as a diversion [7F18] Bart and Lisa pester Homer into taking them to Mr. Splashmore [AABF20] Battling Seizure Robots has bad effect on family [AABF15] Homer shaves his shoulders [AABF09] Homer changes his name to Max Power [AABF21] Homer sings his food critic song [CABF09] Homer sings during his hunger strike [AABF09] Power plant crew eagerly awaits Homer's next stupid act [4F10] Fire drill at the power plant [BABF04] Homer experiences the worst pain ever [5F19] Homer tries his hand at parasailing [AABF15] Homer tries to build a barbecue pit [3F01] Maggie's near-baptism [9F08] Maggie's first word
Clips of Homer throttling Bart (that I could identify):
[9F17] Homer wakes up at the hospital
[Yes, that's right: A clip from a previous clip show has shown
up in a new clip show]
[8F11] I think Bart's holding that microphone he got for his birthday
[CABF22] Homer uses the tether to throttle Bart
[BABF15] Homer at the optometrist
[5F07] Homer advises Lisa her hands are too week to strangle Bart
properly
[CABF16] Homer chases Bart with a maceMaggie's guest star memories: [AABF11] Elton John [AABF18] Stephen Hawking [5F19] Ron Howard's first appearance [5F19] Alec Baldwin [5F19] Kim Basinger [BABF01] Lucy "Xena" Lawless [5F03] Joe Namath [CABF12] N'Sync
Clips from the ending montage: [7G08] Ending scene [7G11] Marge learns bowling [7F16] Homer meets Unkie Herb [8F11] Bart falls down the well [7F23] Ned closes the Leftorium [9F18] Homer gets ready for Whacking Day [9F10] Springfield Monorail hurtles out of control [9F07] Homer wearing his Mr. Plow jacket [1F13] Homer eats potato chip in space [9F22] Sideshow Bob meets several rakes [2F15] Lisa gets ready for her wedding [3F15] Selma marries Troy McClure [3F07] Marge confronts Bart about suspected shoplifting [3F05] Homer in his muumuu [4F11] Bart in that poofy wig [4F12] Poochie [5F09] U2 at Moe's [5F01] Homer aims his pistol [AABF02] Homer and Seth and Munchie [AABF06] Homer and Ned hit Vegas [AABF20] The Simpsons go to Japan [BABF03] Apu and Manjula's octuplets [CABF12] Bart's boy band takes shape [BABF10] Maude's fatal freak accident [DABF01] Lisa meditates by her bodhi tree [DABF11] Homer contemplates a marijuana joint [2F20] Burns's gun falls into Maggie's lap
[FFF]
Friar's club logo:
MAN OF THE HOUR
[Homer's picture]
FRIAR'S CLUBAuditorium marquee:
FRIAR'S CLUB
HOMER SIMPSON
ROAST
TONIGHTMILHOUSE ROAST TOMORROW
Teleprompter:
(text scrolls)
OUR
FATHER
KNOWS
THE BEST
WAY TO
EMBARRASS
HIS KIDS(HOLD FOR LAUGHS}
Alien probe:
Hello
[One-eyed cat cartoon]
Probie
[Oops!]* The roast's audience sees clips of events where no video camera was present.
- Not only does Maggie remember events she did not witness ...
* ... but she remembers something that happened in a "Treehouse of Horror" episode.
[Personal Comments & Observations]
In the closing song, there's a still shot of Homer jumping a shark. Anyone familiar with the Internet's latest catchphrase knows what this means.
For anyone not familiar: "Jumping the shark" describes anything -- especially a TV series -- that is past its prime. The term comes from an episode of "Happy Days" where the Fonz, on water skis, must literally must jump over a penned shark. This is regarded in some quarters as the exact moment when the series started to go downhill.
Mark Spitz -- Olympic swimmer who won around seven medals for the U.S. team. I believe this was in the 1972 Games.
Kathleen Turner -- Sexy actress who sounds nothing like Krusty.
Burt Reynolds and Michael Jeter -- Two prominent cast members from "Evening Shade," a comedy from the same team that brought you "Designing Women." Reynolds also had (has) a career as a movie star, appearing in "Smokey and the Bandit," among many others.
Shannen[?] Doherty -- Actress known for her fiery personality, and her starring role in "Beverly Hills 90120."