He who is tired of Weird Al is tired of life

[vovat]

When a show runs for almost twenty years and the characters don't age, it's obviously going to cause some problems when delving into their pasts. Still, I think The Simpsons has usually done a decent job at keeping Homer and Marge's history consistent. The most recent episode, however, is so much of a retcon that I think it must have been done as a spoof on the whole thing, and a "screw you" to anyone who cares about continuity (see also: "The Principal and the Pauper" and "Viva Ned Flanders"). Even disregarding the time period and the sudden revelation that Marge has a college degree (seems like that would have at least come up when Lisa was helping her write a résumé in "Marge Gets a Job"), earlier episodes made pretty clear that Homer and Marge didn't have their own apartment until after Bart was born. And Homer, who thinks rock achieved perfection in 1978, was a grunge musician? Nope, I'm not buying it. The continuity issues made it difficult for me to really consider the episode on its own merits, but I don't think I would have liked it all that much anyway. The Back to the Future parody would have been funnier if they hadn't done pretty much exactly the same joke in Family Guy's last season finalé. In fairness to the Simpsons writers, the time it takes for an episode to be made might well mean that the FG episode hadn't aired when they wrote the joke, but I still think FG did it better. And while it's cool that Weird Al showed up again, the joke about an Al parody being a sign of success has also been done before. Actually, it reminded me a lot of the Mr. Show sketch with Daffy Mal Yinkleyankle.

There was a new American Dad as well, but I don't have that much to say about it. It wasn't bad, and Stan's creepy relationship with his mother fits his character pretty well. I actually kind of saw the twist ending coming, although I wasn't totally sure I had it right. I wonder why there were so many AD episodes in reserve, and so few FG ones.

Comments

[kristenjarrod.livejournal.com]

>>most recent episode, however, is so much of a retcon that I think it must have been done as a spoof on the whole thing,<<

I think the writers just wanted to spoof the 90's since they really couldn't when the 90's were happening.

I DIED laughing when I noticed that Homer was drinking a Zima in front of the TV instead of a Duff. And Marge's Rachael haircut was cute.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I think the writers just wanted to spoof the 90's since they really couldn't when the 90's were happening.

Well, maybe, although there were some things that they did comment on back when they were actually current (grunge music, Zima, Seinfeld, etc.), albeit usually in much milder ways.

One thing I didn't mention (mostly because I couldn't place it at first) is that the Clinton joke was taken pretty much verbatim from a commentary track.

[kristenjarrod.livejournal.com]

I am really getting tired Simpsons copying everybody else with the "we hate Bush" jokes. It's old.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

It is rather trite by this point, but what I think is particularly odd is how little they said about Dubya throughout most of his administration. They did a lot of Bush Sr. and Clinton jokes back in the day, but they didn't really address Bush Jr. until it was already old hat to do so.

[yosef.livejournal.com]

I remember being a little proud when I finally reached Bart's age in 1995... now I'm twelve years older than him. I think I'll still imagine Marge and Homer being in high school in the '70s and the kids being born in the '80s no matter what. I guess I partially like it because it's like my family (well, except my dad graduated in '66, but my mom graduated in '72). I'd say the similarities end there, but I'm sure I'd somehow be lying

[vovat.livejournal.com]

The thing is, even after it became increasingly unlikely for Homer and Marge to have been in high school in the seventies, they still made references to it. In the other episode with a Weird Al appearance, he and Marge were together when Space Invaders was new. They even aged the characters a few years to make it a little less ridiculous. Oddly enough, Homer was still 36 in the fifth season (mentioned in "Homer the Vigilante," and possibly other episodes), even though he and Marge attended their twentieth high school reunion in the fourth season's "The Front." I believe it was Season Eight in which Homer was retconned to being 38.

Even if we go by the old timetable of Bart being conceived in 1980, that still leaves a few years in which Homer and Marge were dating, and enough time for Marge to have gone to college. It doesn't really fit with what we've seen in other episodes, though. I mean, it wasn't all that long ago that we found out she decided not to go to journalism school in order to be with Homer.