12/18 - Simpsons Christmas Stories (HABF01) It's D'oh-Ho-Homer time as the Simpsons feature in three Christmas stories: * The First D'oh-El - when Reverend Lovejoy's car breaks down and he can't deliver the sermon on Christmas, it's The Gospel According to Homer, with Marge as Mary and Bart as Jebus - ER, UH, Jesus * I Saw Grampa Cussing Santa Claus - during WWII, Grampa and Mr. Burns shoot down Santa * The Nutcracker...Sweet - Springfield prepares for Christmas, with music by Tchaikovsky (arranged by Clausen) and lyrics by, well, whoever wrote the story, I suppose
12/25 - ONE EPISODE IN THE EAST, TWO IN THE WEST ------------------------------------------------ 8:00 - MOUNTAIN AND PACIFIC TIME ZONES ONLY - Bonfire of the Manatees (GABF18) When Homer lets Fat Tony shoot a porno film in his house after losing a football bet, Marge leaves the house and ends up meeting a marine biologist (voiced by Alec Baldwin) who specializes in protecting manatees
8:30 - Marge's Son Poisoning (GABF20) Marge can't get Homer to go riding with her on her tandem bicycle, so Bart, who feels sorry for her, decides to ride with her, but soon he earns a reputation as a "mama's boy"; Homer is pushed by Moe into the world of organized arm wrestling * NOTE: Fox is airing a football game nationwide starting at 5:00 Eastern; if it goes into overtime, the episode's start may be delayed in the Eastern and Central time zones
(And to show us how much Fox really thinks of "American Dad", they are replacing it on Christmas night with an episode of "King of the Hill" that they are supposed to air one week earlier as well - then again, considering they've been showing only repeats of AD since November, that's not too surprising...)
12/30 - SPECIAL FRIDAY AIRING - See Homer Run (GABF21) When Bart steals a "Bart Blvd." street sign that results in a major traffic accident, the town blames Mayor Quimby and organizes a recall election, resulting in "Safety Salamander" Homer (and pretty much every "character" in Springfield) running to replace him
STUFF for "The Italian Bob" (HABF02)
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Written by John Frink
Directed by Mark Kirkland
Blackboard: none
Couch: A pair of (animated) hands deals cards onto the couch; the
jack (Bart), queen (Marge), king (Homer), and ace (Lisa) of
diamonds, and a joker (Maggie)
Special Guest Voice: Maria Grazia Cucinotta, Kelsey Grammer,
Marcia Wallace
Also Starring: Pamela Hayden, Tress MacNeille, Russi Taylor,
Karl Wiedergott
Overseas Animation: Rough Draft
TV Rating: TV-PG-VREFERENCES "The Italian Job" (title) "Family Guy" (listed in the book of American criminals) "American Dad" (listed in the book of American criminals) Jack Benny (Sideshow Bob says "Now cut that out" the same way) "I Love Lucy" (Lucy stomped grapes because she had large feet, just like Sideshow Bob) 7G12 (Sideshow Bob mentions his framing Krusty) 9F22 (Sideshow Bob stepping on a rake) GABF22 (Lisa parla Italiano)
REVIEW: B - the Italian bits were pretty good, if predictable, and
getting Sideshow Bob to sing Pagliacci (and actually point out
that Leoncavallo wrote the music) was a nice touch, but the
show has gotten to the point where I could see yet another
"saved from certain death by some random event" ending coming.DYN
...Lisa points out that America may have made some stupid choices in
"the past, oh, five years" (in other words, since election day, 2000)?
...the Lamborgotti's logo is similar to the Ferrari logo, but with a
gold horse on a dark background?
...Sideshow Bob says "mangiate" ("all of you, eat!") instead of
"mangiamo" ("let's eat!")?
...Sideshow Bob's prison number is HABF02?
...Peter Griffin of "Family Guy" is in the book of American criminals
for "plagarism", and Stan Smith of "American Dad" for "plagarism of
plagarism"?
...they never did get Mr. Burns's new car back to him?GOOFS / FREEZE FRAME / WHATNOT "Kentucky" can't mean anything in Italian; the language has no K or Y in its alphabet. (Even if it was spelled "chentuchi", the U would be pronounced "oo", not "uh".)
The rake Gino steps on isn't there until he steps on it.
In the butcher shop, Homer says "prego" ("you're welcome") when apparenetly he should have said "per favore" ("please").
The bus sign said "Krusty e Pagliacci", which means "Krusty and Pagliacci" - the "e" has to be accented for it to mean "is".
When the Simpsons start retreating right before taking off in the car, Maggie's bow is missing.
Gino says "vendetta for mi papa"; I assume he meant "vendetta per il mio padre" ("vendetta for my father"). "Papa" means "pope".
-- Don Lisa shouldn't be that hard on America; it's not her fault that the "blue states" keep electing Democrats