(long) A review of "Helter Shelter (DABF21)"

[The long of it]

Ever since it first aired, "Survivor" seemed like a natural target for a "Simpsons" parody. This turned out to be easier said than done, however. The format of "Survivor" -- individuals voting each other out of the show until a sole winner was determined -- didn't mesh well with the "Simpsons" do-it-as-a-family approach. Can you really see, for example, Marge voting to get rid of Lisa? Another idea is to put one character, Homer for example, on the island, but this tends to isolate the rest of the family. Besides, this has been done already. Remember "Missionary: Impossible (BABF11)"?

We have the British to thank for solving this riddle. They developed "1900 House," a reality show designed from the ground up to involve a family unit. Now we have a show where all of OFF can get in on the fun, and which provides a vehicle to satirize the "reality TV" phenomenon, to boot. "Helter Shelter" doesn't waste this opportunity; it's a funny episode that has some of the best satire we've seen in a while.

After a sluggish start spoofing stadium skyboxes, the show hits its stride when the Simpsons' real house is attacked by termites. The fumigation process takes an astounding six months and, in a series of amusing vignettes, we see the Simpsons trying to find a place to live in the meantime. Eventually, they land on the set of "1895 House," a reality show where the Simpsons must live in a Victorian house, in the same manner people did in 1895. The writers take the opportunity to throw some barbs at "reality" TV producers. A few are fairly obvious. To goose ratings, the executives bring in a 70s sitcom star (David Lander, the former Squiggy) almost at random. Other jokes a bit more subtle. "We need original thinking," the show's producer says. "Everyone, get out your TVs and start flipping around." The show's fadeout joke, showing how the Simpsons entertain themselves without TV, dares to suggest that the appetite for reality TV is more than a fabrication of greedy TV networks.

Even the throwaway gags, not related to the main point, are good. Victorian Bart makes a prank "phone call" via Morse telegraph. (And I thought the prank call joke was dead!) The brief visits to Lenny's and CBG's apartments were good, too.

In a season that has been a bit disappointing so far, "Helter Shelter" is a strong showing. It has a good premise, finds a credible way of getting the family into an interesting situation, and winds up with a satisfying ending. (I couldn't help feeling that there was some more opportunity to spoof the reality TV phenomenon. On the other hand, there really isn't much in the show I'd want to sacrifice to make room for this exploration.) Most of the humor was on target, including the jokes not directly related to the premise of the show. There were some moments of excess silliness, like the producers airlifting the house to a river, but at least it was in service of the plot, rather than just random nonsense for the sake of nonsense. On the whole, "Helter Shelter" is a revival of the solid humor that is a hallmark of classic "Simpsons." Hmmm -- perhaps OFF aren't the only people living in the past.

[The short of it]

A solidly-built show, "Helter Shelter" overcomes a slow start and some excessive wackiness to deliver a good satire of reality TV series in general (and "1900 House" in particular). The Simpsons on a reality series is a natural premise, and this episode makes the most of it. Generally, the humor was a hit, the show was nicely plotted and paced, and it had a satisfying ending. Even the jokes not related to the main plot were good. The show left me wanting a little more, which is something I haven't felt in a while. (B+)

[DYNs]

...	the Shelbyville team name is really, "Visitors"?
...	the hammer and sickle on Koslov's stick, even though the
	Communists are out of power in Russia?
...	CBG triple-locks his door?  It would be a shame for his stuff to
	get stolen ...
...	Maggie's a mean drunk?
...	the seniors' TV is missing a knob?

[References]

"Helter Skelter" (song) - title is a spoof

Gee, Your Hair Smells Terrific (shampoo) - yes, there really was a shampoo with this lengthy name

Moby (singer and musician) - Marge compares the skybox to his home

"A Bug's Life" (movie) - exterminator Homer chooses names his business for this movie - font is similar, and that dead bug sure resembles Flik

"nogoodnik" - the termites plaguing the Simpsons are called Russian "no- woodnik" termites

"King of the Hill" (TV series)
-	the scene where the Simpsons wait outside their house is very
	similar to the opening credits, including identical opening
	music and "stop motion photography" of the neighborhood going
	about its business

"1900 House" (TV series) - most obvious model for the "1895 House" show

"Big Brother" (TV series) - like "The 1895 House," this series originated on Dutch TV

"The Sting" (movie) - the "Entertainer" song used as theme music for "The 1895 House"

"Wuthering Heights" (book) - Homer offers to "Wuther [Marge's] Heights"

the Golden Spike
-	the spike that connected the Union Pacific and [the other rail
	line] rail lines to create the Transcontinental Railroad; Moe's
	threat to Bart alludes to this

"Survivor" (TV series) - the Simpsons join forces with the losing "tribe" from a wilderness-adventure type of show

"Fear Factor" (TV series)
-	contestants required to eat disgusting things like kangaroo
	testicles
	["Survivor" contestants sometimes had to do a little of this,
	but "Fear Factor" really raised it to an art form]

"Law & Order" (TV series) - family watches a new spin-off, "Law & Order: Elevator Inspectors Unit"

[Previous Episode References]

[2F05] Lisa appreciates hockey [1F20] We learn Marge's hair isn't naturally blue

[FFF]

Arena sign:

    GEE YOUR HAIR SMELLS TERRIFIC
                ARENA

Hockey ticket:

    S              = 2
    K   EVENT 42   - 2
    Y              = 3
    B              =
    O    HOCKEY    -
    X              -

[the "Skybox" and "223" should be rotated 90 degrees to the left]

Second arena sign:

    HOCKEY
    TONIGHT

Gate entrances:

     SHNOOK        SKYBOX
    ENTRANCE      ENTRANCE

Skybox perfume:

Blowhole

Skybox defense system:

     HOT
    FUDGE

Arena scoreboard:

           GEE YOUR HAIR SMELLS
              TERRIFIC ARENA

    SPRINGFIELD    TIME    SHELBYVILLE
    ICE-O-TOPES    5:07    VISITORS

3 PERIOD 3

      PENALTY        3       PENALTY
       <| O                   O |>

[bottle] Duff [can]

Koslov's hockey stick:

                                                  __
    KO3*OB    [The * is character that looks like )|.
               Presumably this word is "Koslov" in Cyrillic.]

Final scorecard:

    FINAL   SCORE
    ICE-O-TOPES 5
    VISITORS    3

Exterminator's van:

         a
       bug's
        death

[dead Flik]

EXTERMINATORS

Canister of poison:

            DANGER
    [skull and crossbones]
            POISON

Convention banner:

       WELCOME
    BRAN PRODUCERS

CBG's apartment:

    Springfield
        Arms

52577

Selected things in CBG's apartment:

    - Xena poster
    - model of Enterprise from "Star Trek"
    - model of ship from "Space: 1999"
    - model of Viper fighter from "Battlestar Galactica"

Signs at the TV studio:

    THE REALITY
      CHANNEL

    SUCKER       MYSTERY       TIED
    PUNCH       INJECTION      TO A
                               BEAR

Apu's reference book:

     1895
    ALMANAC

TV opening credits:

           L A W   &
           O R D E R

ELEVATOR INSPECTORS UNIT

Location title card:

    LOBBY, 42 E. 15TH STREET
            MARCH 9

[Oops!]

There were steam-powered cars, but they weren't coal-fired.

[Personal Comments & Observations]

CBG refers to the Simpsons as "Our Favorite Family," a term often used by alt.tv.simpsons regulars. (It's often abbreviated to, "OFF.") I don't know about you, but I found it refreshing for CBG to use a term associated with the newsgroup that *isn't* "Worst _____ ever."

One of the "1895 House" executives says they want a family that "hasn't been on TV forever," like, um, the Simpsons.

Bart says, "Is it just me, or are you guys getting sick of crazy adventures," which echoes the sentiments of a large portion of alt.tv.simpsons readers.

Depending on what you're looking for when you go to a ballgame, a skybox may be the ultimate in stadium seating. Real skyboxes are almost as luxurious as what you saw in the episode. Private kitchens, posh trim, phone lines, and multimedia centers are common accessories. Accommodations like that are pretty costly, with price tags reaching six figures -- and that's just for one season. They're typically leased to corporations rather than individuals (your stock dollars at work!); Burns probably rented one to impress clients of his power plant. In the admittedly few stadiums I'm familiar with, skyboxes sit high above the playing field, out of the reach of the rest of us, even if we form a "totem pole" as Barney, Moe, and Otto did. Even if you could reach, you wouldn't get in -- skyboxes are completely enclosed in glass.

Lisa indignantly noted that the real fans were the ones sitting in the regular seats. She's right. Despite their price tags, skyboxes often have the worst view of the action. Remember those multimedia centers I mentioned? Those are going to give you a better view of the game (or Eagles concert, or whatever) than you're going to get from the skybox itself. Skyboxes are really just a plaything for companies with money to spend.

Although popular in Europe, youth hostels are relegated to the counterculture fringes in America. Homer summed up the core customer base when he talked about German backpackers railing against our lack of appreciation for national parks. Hostel-goers are (or are perceived to be) young, footloose, foreign, and prone to hippie tendencies.

With "1900 House" PBS made a successful foray into a field few people thought it would go: reality television. The show (produced for British, not Dutch, television) has a simple premise: Let's take a modern family, and have them live in a turn-of-the-century house, in the same manner people did 100 years ago. "1900 House" was less exploitative than its Simpsons counterpart; the idea was to demonstrate how different life was back then, not to make the subject family crack. Even so, living the 1900 life was stressful. Tasks that are done almost automatically today, like making breakfast or doing the laundry, were lengthy, physically exhausting chores back then. The producers did not have to go out of their way to make living in the 1900 house more difficult, for the family had its natural ups and downs while settling in. There weren't any surprise guest stars from the 70s, either.

There were plenty of other things in common, however. Like "1895 House," the real-life show had a "confession booth" where family members could discuss what they thought of their new old-fashioned experience. Both the Simpsons and the 1900 family had to adjust to the almost comically user-unfriendly Victorian clothing. Finally, each family had its own shopkeeper would could sell a variety of circa-1900 products.

"1900 House" was popular viewing on both sides of the Atlantic. It inspired "Frontier House" in America (families must live like pioneers in the Midwest) and "1940 House" (a family must live like people did in wartime England) in the UK. (The latter show migrated to the US recently.) Maybe these sequels will be ready if the Simpsons have to abandon their regular home again.

You can get those red "sign here" stickers at office-supply stores. I think there are some in the supply cabinet where I work.

If my memory serves me correctly, on Tue, 03 Dec 2002 05:28:30 GMT, Benjamin Robinson issued the following challenge to face my invincible Iron Chefs:

:

"Worst Meta-refernce Corner Ever!" <gdr>

Somebody claiming to be [email] (Benjamin Robinson) wrote in news:[email]:

It's Kozlov with a Z. The Cyrillic letter that looks like a 3 is pronounced Z; the Cyrillic equivalent of S looks like a C. The Cyrillic L looks somewhat like the Greek lambda.

I originally posted this in a post that requires KOI8-R encoding; here's Kozlov in Windows-1251: ������.

The main point, however, is that they did get the Cyrillic correct. Apparently they have somebody on staff who speaks Russian, as they've gotten a bunch of other things in Russian correct (notably the Russian section of Springfield in "Lost our Lisa").

["Benjamin Robinson"; Tue, 03 Dec 2002 05:28:30 GMT]

Some argued that CBG's use of this time does not mean it was a reference to this newsgroup, because the phrase "our favorite family" is commonplace (more or less) outside of this group too. (There's a world OUTSIDE this group?!) But I'm inclined to believe it refers to the group solely because it was CBG, who kind of represents the online community of "Simpsons" fans.

I'm surprised you classified "Homer gets crushed under a boulder that must weigh several tons, then all of a sudden everyone's back at home watching TV" as "satisfying".

I liked most of the show but thought it fell to pieces in the third act.

-Poot

In alt.tv.simpsons, on the "Re: (long) A review of "Helter Shelter (DABF21)"" thread, Poot Rootbeer wrote:

The part I liked was everyone getting sick of the TV, and then entertaining themselves in a manner The Reality Channel might have approved of.

But you raise an interesting point. The "Homer under the boulder" joke didn't bother me. Why is that? I can think of these reasons:

• It was a fairly quick joke, so it didn't wear out its welcome.

2) Homer has been physically resilient in the past, even as far back as "Bart the Daredevil (7F06)." He survived *two* falls down Springfield Gorge. If he had been an ordinary may, Homer would not have been around for the third season.

3) The joke didn't violate Groening's informal rule that Homer not recover "instantly" from injury. The show cut from the scene at the river to a shot of Homer on the couch; some time could have passed between those two scenes to allow Homer to heal.

4) To be honest, I'm kind of happy Homer didn't throw the boulder on the helicopter, realize that he marrooned himself, and shout, "D'oh!" That would have been too predictable.

Presumably so. But what happened during that time in-between? Did 1895 House get cancelled? What happened to the stranded Survivor tribespeople? How and why did everyone end up back home?

Important plot points if you ask me, and ones that should not have been so cavalierly glossed over.