Marriage isn't a salad bar

[vovat]

I have a few things I want to discuss in this entry.

1. This Day in Music

I've done this before, but not for my eighteenth birthday. On THAT day, the number one hits were:

US: Fantasy - Mariah Carey
UK: I Believe / Up On The Roof - Robson & Jerome

2. The Simpsons Season 5

bethje and I watched a few more episodes with commentary from the Season 5 DVD set last night. It's common for the staff to mention how they originally wanted different guest stars from the ones they could actually get, and they originally wanted to have Michael Caine work at the Kwik-E-Mart in "Homer and Apu," rather than James Woods. From some of the jokes they mentioned, I think I would have liked it better if they HAD been able to get Caine, although Woods did do a good job with the role.

Season 5 might be my favorite season of the show. If not, it's definitely up there. Even when the premise of an episode wasn't so great, there were usually enough great jokes to make it work. It does seem to be around when the show started becoming really wacky, but I think it was an actually funny kind of wackiness. In later seasons, it was more common for them to do stuff that was supposed to be funny simply BECAUSE it made no sense, like the jockey elves in "Saddlesore Galactica," or pretty much the whole episode of "Simpson Safari." There really didn't seem to be that much effort put into these jokes; it was more like, "Surrealism is automatically funny, right?" What's kind of odd is that "Safari," as well as the almost-as-lousy "The Mansion Family" and "Kill the Alligator and Run," were written by John Swartzwelder, who turned out a lot of excellent episodes back in the day. I know the head writer on an episode doesn't always come up with everything, but the impression they give on the commentaries (which, for some reason, Swartzwelder himself never participates in) is that he would often come up with some of the funniest sequences by himself. I believe he hasn't been officially on the staff for some time, though, so that might have something to do with it. Mind you, Swartzwelder was also the main writer for "Hungry, Hungry Homer" (one of Season 12's better episodes, as far as I'm concerned) and well as the 2003 Halloween special (which was much better than other recent Halloween episodes), so it isn't like he totally lost his touch. Besides, I guess that, when you write more Simpsons scripts than any other person, some of them are bound to be clunkers.

3. Bullshit!

Beth and I also watched two episodes of Penn and Teller's Bullshit! last night. The first one was about circumcision, and how the idea that it has health benefits is probably a myth. According to the episode, circumcision became popular in the United States when people started promoting it as a way to decrease sexual pleasure. I think they made their case pretty well, but I still have to say that, as a circumcised male, I still find the idea of having to clean underneath the foreskin to be somewhat disturbing. I guess it's just an aesthetic thing, like they said on the show.

The second episode was about a topic that I've thought about a fair amount myself, and I agreed beforehand with the point that Penn and Teller were trying to make, but I'm still glad they addressed it. It was about the myth of the traditional family, and how such a thing has never really existed, at least in the ways that modern "family values" types want us to think. They talked to a lesbian couple and a foursome, as well as a guy who thought he could cure homosexuality. I've written before on how much homophobes bother me, but the idea that some people think homosexuality is a disease that has to be cured really disturbs me. Most of the arguments put forth by the typical People You Aren't Supposed To Like were of the "If kids don't have a mother and a father, they'll end up becoming gay criminals!" variety, which are not only totally ignoring the facts, but also really sexist. I don't recall them bringing up the statistics that anti-gay-marriage advocates sometimes cite, about how same-sex parents are more likely to abuse their kids or whatever, but even if these statistics are accurate (and I definitely have my doubts), where's the proof that these correlations are at all relevant? I could easily imagine homophobes charting two variables, and then getting excited when they find a correlation, so they rush to publish without bothering to think that there might be other factors at work. Of course, the "gay parents will raise gay kids" thing is totally false, but I can't really see what the problem would be if it were true. In an overpopulated world, isn't it GOOD that there are couples who are in no danger of reproducing? So many people are mired into the ancient "Having kids is good!" mentality, with no consideration for how the world has changed over time. Which certainly isn't to say that I don't think anyone should have kids, just that it's not what's best for everyone. The ultimate point of episode was that the individual people, not the government or "family values" busybodies, should be able to decide how they want to handle relationships and families. This fits in with Penn and Teller's general Libertarian agenda, but I definitely agree with it. (As I've probably said before, I think libertarian principles are pretty good as far as social matters go, but they're totally wrong about economics, and have some ideas that are a little difficult to buy in terms of psychology.)

I will say that, while I don't think polygamy is evil, I do think it would be really complicated, and jealousy would come out. So it's not something I would recommend in most cases, but for practical reasons, rather than moral ones.

In the circumcision episode, there was a mention that they had originally wanted to do a show on Jungian psychology, but Showtime said no. I would have liked to have seen where they would have gone with that. All I really know about Jung is that he posited the existence of a collective unconscious, and that he saw archetypes as manifestations of this unconscious. I wrote a paper on Jungian archetypes in literature back in my undergraduate Research Writing class, and I thought there was a significant amount of stretching going on. That becomes particularly true when numbers are involved.

4. Ring, by Koji Suzuki


Beth loaned me this book, and I just finished reading it today. It was the basis for the Japanese film Ringu, which in turn was the basis for the American film The Ring. While you could tell where a lot of the ideas in The Ring came from, there were many differences between the book and the movie. I'm hoping to see Ringu sometime soon, so I can see whether it's closer to the book or to the American movie.

The book came off as rather sexist, which I guess isn't too surprising for something that came out of Japan. There were some interesting aspects of the book that didn't carry over to the movie. The video, for instance, had a more clear and detailed explanation in the book, and there was more specific information on the various images. Sadako's family history was quite different from Samara's, and there was an odd explanation for Sadako's psychic powers, involving a statue of the Buddhist Ascetic En no Ozunu. I'd be interested in reading the other books in the trilogy, and seeing how much they differ from the story in the American films.


5. A Quiz Result


You Are The Outlaw
"Sure, I'll do it. My way."
Just because you do not conform to the same laws and rules as everyone else does not mean that you are a bad guy. You travel your own path, separate from those around you, with your own reasons for doing what you do. Because of this and your own nature, it goes without saying that you are generally misunderstood. That does not matter much, though, as people love you for being who you are. You are pretty well set in your ways and have no real intention of changing. This can come across as a flicker of arrogance if your not careful. You do what is right for you, and God help anyone who stands in your way.

Which Classic Story Role Do You Play?
brought to you by Quizilla

Comments

[revme.livejournal.com]

Season 5 is pretty much my favorite, though Season 4 is also really, really good. For me, Season 3 is about the beginning of when The Simpsons really became The Simpsons, but there's a few flashes of that style in Season 2 as well. (Season 1 is OK, but it's still more of a straightforward sitcom at that point; a brilliant sitcom that still would have been insanely well-regarded if it'd stayed like that, but I don't think it would have had the Devotion had it not evolved.)

I've seen the Circumcision episode, which I thought was pretty good. I want to see the Family Values one, and I've got the next two episodes on a VCD sitting on my footstool waiting for me to watch them. (Conspiracies and somethin' else.) While I find them repugnant, I do find myself really interested in the "Let's cure the homosexuality!" types, in sort of a trainwreck sort of way. They typically seem to be really sad stories -- often, it seems that they're "cured" themselves, which... I'm just thinking can't really be good for your psyche. (I'm reminded of the Mr. Show sketch where Bob's a Christian TV Host (like 700 Club type thing) and David's a Cured/Relapsed/Cured/Relapsed/Cured/Relapsed/Cured gay. (Who's planning his next relapse over memorial day weekend.)

The Jung episode would have been interesting, actually, though I figured it was just a joke. But if they were really planning one, that'd be awesome. Well, except for the fact that it'd have been canned. But still.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

While Season 1 was good for its time, it's sometimes a little difficult to watch those episodes now, both because of the differences in style (animation, voices, etc.) and the relative lack of jokes. I guess I'd say the heyday of the show was from Season 4 through 7, with a little bit of wiggle room at either end (especially since the first few episodes of every season but the first one have been holdovers). I sort of see Season 6 as taking a bit of a dark turn, which isn't to say that it suddenly became Animation Noir, just that there seem to be several episodes that focus on the darker sides of characters. I haven't really put that idea to the test, though, and it's quite possible that there were just as many of that sort of episode in earlier seasons.

I think I started seeing a bit of a dip in quality around Season 8, which just got worse during the Mike Scully years. I know this was around when I first started reading the alt.tv.simpsons newsgroup, and Scully was a popular whipping boy for the decline in quality. At the time, I thought blaming one guy (well, okay, Ian Maxtone-Graham got his fair share of the blame as well) was kind of ridiculous, I noticed that the show actually improved considerably once Al Jean came back as executive producer. So maybe the Scully-bashers really had something there.

As you can see if you've read my most recent entry, I wasn't that fond of the two most recent Bullshit! episodes. I won't go into detail on that here, though, since, y'know, you can just read the other post to find out about that.

You're probably right about the Jung episode being a joke. I mean, if they're allowed to bash the Bible and religion in general, it's unlikely that there would be too many objections to their trashing a relatively well-known psychologist. Still, it would have been cool to see something on Jung.

[revme.livejournal.com]

I remember at the time, I thought the last three episodes of Season 7 were the Beginning Of The Suck Period, although, in retrospect, it didn't get too bad until season 8 or 9. (I actually, say, kinda like the Hank Scorpio episode, or even the Poochie episode now; I'm not sure if that's just out of getting those ones now, or being shown actually how bad the Simpsons could be...)

It's weird, because it _does_ seem the beginning of the end was when Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein were running the show, and yet, I _love_ Mission Hill. Wiggy.

As for the one-guy-bashing, I can see it on Scully, since the executive producer has much more to do with the way the show's run (well, that's why they're called the show runner, heh) -- which includes the feel of the jokes and the timing and all that type stuff. Since a script is pretty much written by committee at the Simpsons, it pretty much _is_ his fault, since he was leading those committees. (Though, of course, the individual writers are to blame, too -- and what's the deal with Schwartzwelder? I'm going to assume that he actually turned in awesome scripts and the other writers made them suck, but, still, after writing some of the best, he ended up writing some of the worst...) So, yeah -- Ian Maxtone-Graham is a total asshole, and he's definitely _part_ of the problem (since, you know, even if Scully's running the show, he still does need writers to give him awful jokes to make him-and-no-one-else laugh), but pretty much the blame lies on Scully's head.

(Though, to give him a little bit of credit, part of the reason Al Jean's run is better is that everyone from Futurama jumped back over to The Simpsons, and, well, Futurama was a much better show (like, miles and years better) than the Simpsons episodes of the same time, and maybe even better overall) -- but I think more of it is just that Al Jean, having run the show back in The Good Era actually knows how the show works, where, oddly enough, a bunch of people like Maxtone-Graham who were proud about having never seen the show before, somehow _don't_ get it.

Pretty much agree with you on the bullshits -- I watched those episodes last night, too, actually, so...

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I'd actually say "Much Apu About Nothing" (the third-to-the-last episode of Season 7) is a favorite of mine. It used to be pretty much a rule that I liked Apu episodes, although that's really no longer true. I liked "Homer and Apu" and "I'm With Cupid," but I don't much like what they did with his character in later episodes (mostly the octuplets and the cheating).

Looking at a list of episodes by writer (http://www.snpp.com/guides/epsbywriter.html), I noticed that the earlier episodes where Scully was credited as the writer were actually good, but his later ones seem to be in the "guest stars over actual plot or funny jokes" vein ("Beyond Blunderdome," and, to a lesser extent, "How I Spent My Strummer Vacation"), or just weak overall ("The Parent Rap"). Most of Maxtone-Graham's were ones that I didn't find to be particularly good or bad. I think it's more his "I'm proud that I never watched the show before I was hired as a writer!" attitude that pisses people off than what he actually wrote. I will say, however, that "Trash of the Titans" was pretty much the epitome of Jerkass Homer.

I seem to recall reading in the capsules that, as of late, Swartzwelder pretty much only writes scripts based on ideas pitched by staff writers, but I don't know how true that is. I do think episodes like "Kill the Alligator and Run" and "The Mansion Family" had basic plot ideas that could have worked if it hadn't been for lame jokes and nonsensical conclusions. "Simpson Safari" was pretty much a total mess as soon as the family got to Africa. I have to wonder if they did that one just so they could have jokes about Bart and Homer having been on six continents in subsequent episodes.

[revme.livejournal.com]

Yeah -- it's strange. I checked the episode guide and while I remember thinking that one was the Beginning O' Th' End, looking at it and the other episodes that end that season -- I _like_ those ones now. Weird. And I actually like about half of season 8. And 9 has a handful of episodes, but not too many.

I used to like Apu too, but they really made him mean later on. And, well, now, any Apu episode means it's also a Manjula and/or Octuplets episode, and since those are two of the worst decisions the writers could have made, it basically means I hate Apu eps now.

I remember thinking that about Scully's eps, too -- I'd see early ones that'd be "Writer: Mike Scully!" and they'd end up being some of my favorite ones. Which completely blew my mind with the crapfest that he later turned the show into. Of his later episodes, abut the best is "Strummer", which is.... pretty sad, really. I mean, if it weren't for so many other goddawful epsiodes, "Sunday, Cruddy Sunday" would be the worst Simpsons episode.

Looking at Maxtone-Graham, he's actually got a handful of decent episodes -- like, I actually kinda like "Trouble with Trillions", even though no one else does. But he's also got "Large Marge", for which he should be ashamed. But yeah -- I think with him, it's always been his asshole attitude that makes folks hate him, and focus in more on the bad aspects of his episodes; he's not nearly talented enough of a writer to make people go "Well, yeah, he's a dick, but he's still a great writer!" It's more of "Well, he's a dick, but he sorta lucked in to some mediocre ones. Which were probably a fluke. Cause he's a dick."

There's a good episode somewhere in "Kill the Alligator", and "Mansion Family" is decent, up until the retarded Pirate thing. "Simpson Safari" is basically unwatchable, though.

Looking up who did "Saddlesore Galactica", it basically seems that Tim Long should be fired.:
[AABF14] Simpsons Bible Stories (Adam & Eve) - Pretty decent, really.
[BABF01] Treehouse of Horror X (Desperately Xeeking Xena) - Mediocre At Best.
[BABF09] Saddlesore Galactica - He's lucky that murdering comedy isn't a crime.
[BABF19] Behind the Laughter (with George Meyer, Mike Scully and Matt Selman) - One of the best from that season, but not really saying much, and, well, look at all the help he had.
[CABF06] Skinner's Sense of Snow - Blegh. I liked the joke about Skinner being rich, the bad film at the beginning and some of the Homer/Flanders thing, but the "Chew through my ball-sack!" joke basically ruined all good-will in that episode, especially considering that the rest of it was bland and mediocre. Though that joke might not have been his, I suppose.
[CABF12] New Kids on the Blecch - Don't put N'Sync in a shitty episode about a shitty boy band with some idiotic plot. Actually, dn't put them on TV at all. They are horrible, and people should stop liking them.
[DABF04] Half-Decent Proposal - This is the one with Artie Ziff paying for homer's nose surgery in exchange for a weekend with Marge, right? One of Long's better ones, in that it's pretty much wholly forgettable.
[DABF20] Bart vs. Lisa vs. 3rd Grade - One of the worst of the Neo-Jean era. After a few weeks of going "No! The Simpsons is actually pretty good again! Not great, of course, but decent!" this made me reconsider and think it might have actually been just as bad.
[EABF15] Brake My Wife, Please - Uh, which is this one? Is this the one where Marge runs Homer down by accident? Ah, yeah, it is. Just looked it up. THis does have the cool song with Buscemi, but it also is YA Judge Harm episode (JESUS: STOP FUCKING USING HER. SHE'S NOT FUNNY.), so that kind of cancels out. The rest of it is pretty forgettable, though. Aside from Buscemi and hating Harm, I don't really recall a whole lot else about this episode.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I didn't think "Strummer" was bad, but it wasn't particularly good, either. I'm another person who actually liked "Trillions" (on its first airing, anyway; I don't think I've seen it since then). It was kind of wacky, but I think the wackiness worked better than in other episodes of the same era. I mean, yeah, a trillion-dollar bill is ridiculous, but they had a semi-plausible explanation for its existence, with no magical elves involved. With "Mansion," I liked some things about it, but it was full of jokes-that-really-weren't-jokes (the controversial Nancy Drew book, the ass-scratching fork, pretty much everything in the pirate sequence).

I think "Xena" is going to remembered for some time simply because of the "a wizard did it" bit. And I liked "Half-Decent Proposal," although "The Ziff Who Came to Dinner" was better. Most of those others were pretty weak, though. And I also can't remember much about "Brake" beyond the Buscemi appearance, so I guess it was a generally forgettable episode.

[revme.livejournal.com]

"Strummer" was basically just there. It did have Elvis Costello, though, so that's kinda cool.

I thought that the Wizard thing was a reference to "itchy, scratchy and Poochie", though, when Homer and the voice actress are at a panel, and one of the dorks asks about the magic skeleton xylophone. I could be wrong, though, but I'm certain that was a reference to an earlier episode. (Although I suppose that just goes to show how forgettable Xena was, since I'm assigning memorable bits to other episodes...)

I actually liked "Ziff Who Came To Dinner", but "Half-Decent Proposal" was another that was just sorta there.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

In "Poochie," Homer's response to the magic xylophone question was, "Why would a man whose shirt says 'Genius at Work' spend all of his time watching a children's cartoon show?" The wizard quote was in response to a similar question that Professor Frink asks Lucy Lawless in "Xena."