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As with Saturday Night Live, The Simpsons has dealt with naysayers and cynics who think it’s no longer worth watching. And as with SNL, the naysayers and critics are too harsh. The show has indeed had some classic episodes this century.
But SNL has a couple of advantages. One is turnover, with new writers and cast members bringing fresh ideas. The other is its scattershot nature, in which even the weaker episodes (including those at the start of this season) may have something worth sharing on YouTube.
The first four Simpsons episodes this season were forgettable but still provided a few decent laughs. Last night’s episode had maybe four:
- “There are songs about drinking?”
- Martha’s Vineyard merchants prepping to jack up their prices as soon as a tourist boat arrives
- America as “England’s penal colony”
- Mr. Burns as a Bond villain, stroking a white cat
Those were the highlights in an episode that was simply excruciating.
The first problem is that we’ve seen the “Homer is tempted” storyline so many times before. The best, featuring Homer as the manager of a country singer named Lurleen, took us into a new realm rife with satirical possibilities. This one did not.
