(S19E08) Welcome to the Frasier reunion. Yes, not only did we have Kelsey Grammer reprising his role as Sideshow Bob Terwilliger in this episode of The Simpsons but we also had David Hyde Pierce return as Cecil Terwilliger and John Mahoney come in as the boys' father. While Pierce and Mahoney did have their moments it was all Grammer this episode as a Sideshow Bob coming apart at the seams.
And, that's appropriate, as it was the tenth time that Bob has appeared on the animated comedy. I fear there is a bit of a discrepancy, though, since Bob didn't attempt to murder Bart in each of those appearances. For instance, in the first season episode "Krusty Gets Busted" Bob attempted to frame Krusty rather than kill Bart (he barely even knew who the boy was). In "Brother From Another Series" it was Cecil, not Bob, who attempted to kill the young Simpson lad. So, technically, you could say that Sideshow Bob directly attempted to kill Bart in five episodes (including tonight's). This, I am sure, will bring debate to the board.
For the most part this week's episode was entertaining. Plus, it also brought a bit of continuity into the show, something that comes and goes on the program like the fabled city of Brigadoon. The Simpsons needs to keep things straight when it comes to its Sideshow Bob appearances because there is so much history with the character and fans would probably cause a minor uproar if they saw the slightest change. With the other characters this isn't done so much. For example, what happened to Milhouse's new James Dean attitude he developed a few weeks ago?
The episode featured the usual jokes you'd find in a Sideshow Bob vehicle. Bob's cleverly planned plot to kill Bart and the rest of his family goes horribly wrong in the end due to some quick thinking by a Simpson child. This time around it's Lisa. I've noticed over the years that most of his plots are foiled by either Lisa or Bart, or a combination of the two. I still remember the episode "Black Widower" when Bart had to draw diagrams for Homer to let him know that Selma was in trouble her new beau, Bob.
For a minute there I did believe that Sideshow Bob had finally kicked the bucket. I mean, the show has to end sometime. So, why not start to kill off some of the characters? What made me believe that was not the funeral itself but Cecil's little speech to Bart on the sidewalk near his home. Then, the minute passed, and I realized that Bob could never be killed and that it was all a clever ruse. Plus, some individual attempt on Bart's life had to take place.
Some of my favorite moments during the Sideshow Bob scenes:
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Bob mentions that his fake commercial led him to direct a feature film -- The Hills Have Eyes 3: The Hills Still Have Eyes
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Lisa mentioning Bob's misquotes of Shakespeare, which he really takes to heart.
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Snake appearing at Bob's funeral and then again as a cellmate of the Terwilligers.
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Mother Terwilliger. Turns out that Bob his hairstyle from his mother.
Time to talk about the scenes that brought us to the return of Sideshow Bob. Other than the appearance of the Mr. Sparkle commercial during Lisa's first scan, the Tivo moments didn't do anything for me. This may be due to the fact that it was done a few years before in an episode of Family Guy. When I saw the Tivo sign at the Circuit Shack my mind immediately went back to that other animated comedy and the originality of the idea went out the window. Even Marge staying up all night watching television wasn't new -- the whole family did it years ago when they first got cable.
Next week -- nothing. Nada, Nil. No new episodes until December 16th. However, when The Simpsons does return it looks to be a interesting episode.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-25-2007 @ 11:22PM
Zach said...
Was that last Keith Olbermann face the Horrible Gelatinous Blob from Futurama? I think it was. And that Luigi line in the courtroom: "poopy-pants lane ends at ..." was used in the Futurama episode The Route of All Evil: "He sent us on a delivery to Dog Doo 9 but the universe ends right after Dog Doo 7".
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11-25-2007 @ 11:33PM
RazorD said...
Wasn't the title actually 'Funeral for a Fiend'?
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11-25-2007 @ 11:57PM
Oreo said...
NO! I FORGOT BOB WAS ON!
And the show will never end, it will go on and on our friends. Plus they can't kill him off in case they want him in a movie.
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11-26-2007 @ 3:11AM
Cyantre said...
My favorite part of the episode was how when the family was fast-forwarding through the commercials you could see the Mr. Sparkle commercial for a few seconds. Classic!
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11-26-2007 @ 10:21AM
MosquitoControl72 said...
First episode I've watched this season.
Very underwhelming.
It began with the first major product placement I can recall seeing on The Simpsons, then it turned into a brief lecture on how to responsibly use the product.
If only it was a filmstrip starring Troy McClure and little Jimmy...
From that annoyance it just went downhill. A shame, the last Bob/Cecil episode was pretty good. This was just severely lacking in jokes (although the anti-France joke was a bit humorous.) It kind of felt like very little happened and very little was funny. Where was the wit? Instead we got poopy-pants and anus jokes.
Compare this to the brilliance of the Cape Fear episode. About half as much happened here and the laughs were completely non-existent.
Toss in a lecture about stealing advertising-sponsored television and you've got the makings of an awful half hour of tv.
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11-26-2007 @ 10:30AM
Rebecca said...
Milhouse's "new James Dean attitude" was bound to disappear as soon as he found his parents were really alive. It was a response to being left an orphan.
Do we really have to choose between the episode being mediocre or best ever? It was a good episode. I thought seeing Sideshow Bob's entire family was fun and having them all in the cell at the end with Snake was cool. The restaurant being cleverly devised by Bob to lure in the entire Simpson family, including vegetarian Lisa, was a good touch. I'm not sure how Bob got the commercial only to them. Does TIVO target commercials as well as allowing people to skip them?
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11-26-2007 @ 11:13AM
RichK said...
Razor, yes the title was 'Funeral for a Fiend' and I have no idea why I added an 'r' to the word. Must have been an issue with my feeble 38-year-old eyes. It was corrected. Thanks for finding that information.
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11-26-2007 @ 12:05PM
BigTed said...
Even though the TiVo gag was dated, I enjoyed freeze-framing on the commercials they skipped -- in addition to Mr. Sparkle, there was the ad for Homer's defunct security company "SpringShield," as well as Sideshow Bob's fake restaurant ad (which meant that if Marge hadn't felt guilty about ad-skipping, Bob's plot would never have worked).
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11-26-2007 @ 2:56PM
Bart Hooper said...
Like many fans of The Simpsons, I have been noticing the downhill trend of the show, most prevalent in recent seasons. The laughs being non-existent is just gut wrenching for me, a loyal fan who has seen every episode. Recently it has become more like a duty than pleasure to watch them, which is why I would not be surprised if they really DID kill Sideshow Bob. Right after Hibbert announced his death to the courtroom, I remember that I was easily picturing Bob's final scheme to destroy Bart, by having him be killed by the bane of his existence. In my anger that the recent newly acquired writers HAD actually killed Bob, a staple to the universe of The Simpsons for so many years, I flipped off the TV. Whew, am I glad that that was not the case.
Note: I was not being gullible and believing everything that happened, but in light of the horrendous storylines of recent seasons, I felt like the writers desired to top the list, by killing Bob.
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11-27-2007 @ 11:56PM
Johari said...
I'm surprised you didn't mention the little nod to WKRP's Thanksgiving ep from the Itchy & Scratchy ep in the show
Oh, and regarding the whole TiVo and Family Guy thing...
The Simpsons actually used TiVo in one of their couch gags back in 2005. Oddly enough, they first used it on the September 25, 2005 ep, "Milhouse of Sand and Fog". The Family Guy ep in question was aired on Fox at the end of the 2005-2006 season in May 2006 as three seperate eps. But it was actually released on DVD on September 27, 2005 as one movie.
So technically, the Simpsons actually used the TiVo gag first.
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