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vovatLast night's Simpsons episode was...well, weird. There was a lot of crazy, surreal stuff that struck me as rather un-Simpsons-like (the Grinch-like creature that kept following Homer, the dancing leprechaun, the fact that the episode took place over the course of an entire year, and the ending), which kind of harkened back to the "Things that don't make sense are automatically funny!" mentality that the writing staff seemed to have back in the Mike Scully era. I wouldn't say it was a terrible episode, though, just a crazy one. The structure also struck me as kind of odd. When they reached the part where Gil had left the Simpsons' house, I thought, "Wow, that went by quickly and ended abruptly." Then I realized there was another act, which honestly seemed kind of tacked on. There were some amusing gags in the Scottsdale bit (and we finally learned Gil's last name), but I think it might have worked better if the whole thing had ended the way the second act did.
I actually really liked American Dad. Both the riff on the whole Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays thing and the bit about Mondale handing over control of the United States to the Soviet Union were clever satire. The time travel plot also worked surprisingly well. Roger's part, while funny, struck me as somewhat of a retcon. If he had been hanging around Hollywood (or wherever he was) in the seventies, doesn't it seem like he'd be adept at living among humans, and all the stuff in the earlier episodes about keeping him hidden would have been somewhat unnecessary? Oh, well.
The Family Guy writers seem to want to come up with the craziest dating situations possible. Meg falling in love with Brian was weird, but it worked all right. The best joke was probably Stewie's Cool Whip bit, and the two later callbacks to it.
I actually really liked American Dad. Both the riff on the whole Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays thing and the bit about Mondale handing over control of the United States to the Soviet Union were clever satire. The time travel plot also worked surprisingly well. Roger's part, while funny, struck me as somewhat of a retcon. If he had been hanging around Hollywood (or wherever he was) in the seventies, doesn't it seem like he'd be adept at living among humans, and all the stuff in the earlier episodes about keeping him hidden would have been somewhat unnecessary? Oh, well.
The Family Guy writers seem to want to come up with the craziest dating situations possible. Meg falling in love with Brian was weird, but it worked all right. The best joke was probably Stewie's Cool Whip bit, and the two later callbacks to it.
