Do It Yourself, You Lazy Ass

[vovat]

There seemed to be a father/son bonding theme running through tonight's Simpsons, Family Guy, and American Dad episodes. I guess since Father's Day falls during rerun season, they might as well do this in November. Only the Simpsons episode actually took place partially on Father's Day, but all three of them would have worked as Father's Day episodes.

Anyway, the descriptions I'd read of the Simpsons episode focused on Homer running for Mayor of Springfield, which didn't actually happen until pretty late in the show. I don't mind that, though, as I think it was probably the least interesting part. We've also seen Homer as Mayor of New Springfield in "A Tale of Two Springfields," and he's screwed up public service positions in several other episodes, so I'm glad he didn't actually win the election. Instead, the main focus was Homer's relationship with Lisa, which has made for some good episodes in the past. I thought Lisa's outburst was a nice touch, and Homer saving people from the traffic accident was a good scene. I have to wonder if Bart Boulevard was a reference to how a lot of the characters on the show were named after streets in Portland, Oregon. I know for sure that Kearney was named after a street, so I was half expecting there to be some kind of reference to this when he and the other bullies were convincing Bart to steal the sign, but there wasn't. Anyway, while it kind of seemed like the writers were trying to cram too many different plots into the episode, it was still pretty good overall. It might actually be my favorite so far this season (although I missed "Milhouse of Sand and Fog," so that could possibly have been better).

As for Family Guy, I tend to doubt anything else this season will surpass the FCC episode, but this one was still pretty funny. I liked the idea that Disney World forces lost children into slave labor in the Small World ride.

Okay, I think that's about all I have to say for now. I'd better get to bed soon. I have to take my car in for service tomorrow.

Comments

[yosef.livejournal.com]

Other Portland street named characters I can think of are Terwilliger and Lovejoy, and possibly Quimby and Simpson.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I know Quimby is a street in Portland, because Beverly Cleary's Ramona Quimby was also named after it. I believe I read somewhere that Asa Lovejoy was the founder of Portland, which is probably why there have been several characters named Asa (Mrs. Glick's brother, the member of the Flying Hellfish who dies at the beginning of that episode, and someone at Springfield Retirement Castle). There is apparently a Simpson Street in Portland, but I remember Matt Groening saying he chose the name because it meant "sons of simpletons." Also, the film Day of the Locust (which I haven't seen) has a character named Homer Simpson.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Incidentally, I just looked up Quimby Street on MapQuest, and there's a Flanders Street very close to it.

[kristenjarrod.livejournal.com]

I'm five, so the scene in last night's Family Guy that cracked me up the most was when Peter and Stewie sprayed Lois with water when she was on the can and she came running out of the bathroom with her pants around her ankles. Just the way the animators drew it cracked me up.

Oh, and that fantasy that the creepy old man was having about Chris, that was funny too.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I liked the Back to the Future parody.