C & C - The Simpsons - " Husbands and Knives" (11/18/07)

[Moto Pete]

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d40/petenehra/simpsons.jpg


Much to the Comic Book Guy’s chagrin, Bart, Lisa and Milhouse check out a new comic book store called Coolsville, where they are treated like royalty by a friendly comic book buff named Milo (guest voice Jack Black). Coolsville attracts some real-life comic book creators, such as Alan Moore, Art Spiegelman and Dan Clowes (guest-voicing as themselves), and the Comic Book Guy wages war on Coolsville in an attempt to win back his customers. Meanwhile, Marge decides her middle-aged physique could use some help, and she launches a gym for “regular women.” Marge’s gym becomes wildly successful and as her fame grows, Homer fears she will dump him for a younger, more fit guy. Homer decides to take matters into his own hands to get into shape.
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d40/petenehra/simp_HusbandsAndKnives_JackBlack_v1.jpg

Simpsons Season 19 Archive

(http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=200451)Little Orphan Millie (11/18/07) (http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=200887)
Treehouse of Horror XVIII (11/11/07) (http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=200451)
I Don't Want To Know Why The Caged Bird Sings (10/14/07) (http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=199194&highlight=Simpsons)
Midnight Towboy (10/7/07) (http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=198760&highlight=Simpsons)
Homer of Seville (9/30/07) (http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=198363&highlight=Simpsons)
He Lovs to Fly and D'ohs (9/23/07) (http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=197944&highlight=Simpsons)

[Andrew T. Hingson]

That's the character Jack Black is voicing? Not very Jack Black like...

[DarthGonzo]

Man, that Homer subplot couldn't sound more pathetic and cliched if it tried to be. We get it. Homer is always worried that Marge is going to leave him. Must it be in every episode?

[Draft]

wait, i thoguht the Sideshow Bob ep was gonna air

So anyway, 10 more episodes left according to EW

hooray for a comic book guy ep, fav character

[Captain Highwind]

So I'll only get rid of my comics when I get divorced?

*Cries*

[Djm912]

Wasn't Marge on the cover of Maxim or something a few years ago?

Now, she's fat?

[Draft]

Comic Book Guy getting his ass beat by 3 comic creators FTW

[Juu-kuchi]

There's something epic about Alan Moore, Art Spigelman, and that guy from Ghost World beating up Comic Book Guy.

[Naruto D.Luffy]

Another episode for another background character. Hooray:shrug:

On another note Maus was a good comic.

[FinnMacCool]

"Dad, is something wrong? I see food on your plate instead of blurry motions."

Best line in a long, long time. :D

[Naruto D.Luffy]

Lame ending and an episode that could of been pulled off 5-6 years ago.:mad:

[Juu-kuchi]

Lame.

[DarthGonzo]

Wow. Way to rip off Family Guy, Simpsons. Way to go.

And why can't an episode end without a lame joke nowadays. That ending was kinda sweet until the comic writers showed up again. Was that necessary?

And what happened to the Android's Dungeon and Comic Book Guy?

[Tobias]

Did the Comic Book Guy and the Coolsville Guy get their subplot resolved when I wasn't looking?

[DarthGonzo]

Did the Comic Book Guy and the Coolsville Guy get their subplot resolved when I wasn't looking?

No. They ignored it completely after the first act. Again...lame.

[Naruto D.Luffy]

Did the Comic Book Guy and the Coolsville Guy get their subplot resolved when I wasn't looking?

Nope, sadly.

[btv]

This episode wasn't as good as the past... well, season (let's face it, 19 has been great so far). The plot was supposed to be about the comic book store facing competition from a cooler one, or so I thought, but somehow it flipped and changed to the Marge and Homer plot. Wha? And there wasn't even like a back and forth type A and B plot switch thing either, it just changed halfway through.

And the ending was unnecessary. They really could have ended with Marge's line. It wasn't even funny. And no Chris Ware? Huge mistake.

I would have rather saw a Comic Book Guy episode then one focusing on Homer's insecurities.

B-

It was a funny episode, but it didn't have a great lasting impression like previous episode.

[xokxtrunks]

Shame they didn't shift back to the comic stores storyline, I enjoyed it. Good episode still, and surprisingly enough, this season has been the best in a long time.

[ShadowGUN]

LOL Alan Moore was awesome as always. His reaction to Watchmen Babies was great. Alan Moore,Art Spiegelman and Dan Clowes beating up CBG was priceless. The only thing that dissapointed me was there was no ending to CBG story. Unless of course they might follow it later on. Marge plot was okay I guess.

7/10

[Neo Ultra Mike]

I remember how I disliked "Milhouse Of Sand And Fog" for disjointing from a Kirk and Luanne plot to another Homer and Marge romance squabble, which was finally fixed for good last week. So does that mean it will take 2 years to get the bad taste out of my mouth for this one?

Whether you liked it or not, "Worst Episode Ever" at least proved Comic Book Guy could actually shoulder his own episode. So why not do it again? I mean the plot's praticially there: The kids fall in love with the new comic book store in town, CBG loses his store and has to live with the Simpsons, and at the end is able to get back his store and start actually treating the kids well. Okay yeah it's a cliched plot, but it would of been filled with good CBG moments, stayed on focus, and actually have been more interesting then the 100th Marge and Homer trouble.

I mean, I think the writer of this one started off strong then realized "hey wait a minute. There's not really any Homer scenes. But we can't have our show's most overplayed character not try and horn his way into every episode in some fashion! We better fix that. Oh and maybe forget about finishing that Comic Book Guy plot since CBG isn't Homer". I mean really, I may not like the idea of Marge opening her own female gym, but at the very elast that in itself could of at least had it's own subplot in an other wise CBG epsiode. There was NO NO NO NO NO need to drag the whole "OMG Marge is going to leave me if I don't get in shape" thing into this one. Like at all.

I have never been so annoyed or even just plain pissed at the writing staff, since this started off well. The stuff with the various superhero death comics, Milhouse ruining Wolverine's trademark sideburn, Jack Black's korean what's new pussycat, the rintin comic, and even the cameos of the comic book writers were all good stuff. But once we got Marge opening a gym and Homer and her living the highlight this show took the biggest downhill the Simpsons has even overtaken in it's 20+ year history for me.

I tried laughing at the rest of the plot (even if the idea itself was stupid) but there's nothing funny about Homer stabling his stomach, the same generic hispanic doctor and sexy man voices, Homer becoming a monster and being chased by town which turns out to be a dream and everything is back okay for Marge and Homer at the end. I mean they didn't even bother tying up the CBG plotline so unless they're going to have Jack Black be the new CBG they couldn't even give us resolution.

Or maybe I'll become the new CBG because I dub this the worst episode ever. I may have to backtrack through the last few years to see if it's the worst overall, but it's deifntley the worst lost potential, the worst second act twist, the worst Homer focus, the worst Homer/Marge story, and the worst way to spend 13 or so minutes expecting some kind of CBG story and getting... this crap.

[Kuroba]

Another episode for another background character. Hooray:shrug:

Better than having another Homer/Marge crisis episode...which this episode unfortunately turned out to be. The CBG plot should've been the focus of the episode, it had a much stronger storyline and the first act was great and actually funny. But of course, the Homer and Marge plot just had to take center stage and it was totally insipid.
I would've liked this episode a lot better if the CBG plot had actually gotten some resolution.

3/5- C

[Classic Speedy]

I remember how I disliked "Milhouse Of Sand And Fog" for disjointing from a Kirk and Luanne plot to another Homer and Marge romance squabble, which was finally fixed for good last week. So does that mean it will take 2 years to get the bad taste out of my mouth for this one? Whether you liked it or not, "Worst Episode Ever" at least proved Comic Book Guy could actually shoulder his own episode. So why not do it again? I mean the plot's praticially there: The kids fall in love with the new comic book store in town, CBG loses his store and has to live with the Simpsons, and at the end is able to get back his store and start actually treating the kids well. Okay yeah it's a cliched plot, but it would of been filled with good CBG moments, stayed on focus, and actually have been more interesting then the 100th Marge and Homer trouble. I think the writer of this one started off strong then realized "hey wait a minute. There's not really any Homer scenes. But we can't have our show's most overplayed character not try and horn his way into every episode in some fashion! We better fix that. Oh and maybe forget about finishing that Comic Book Guy plot since CBG isn't Homer". I mean really, I may not like the idea of Marge opening her own female gym, but at the very elast that in itself could of at least had it's own subplot in an other wise CBG epsiode. There was NO NO NO NO NO need to drag the whole "OMG Marge is going to leave me if I don't get in shape" thing into this one. Like at all. I have never been so annoyed or even just plain pissed at the writing staff, since this started off well. The stuff with the various superhero death comics, Milhouse ruining Wolverine's trademark sideburn, Jack Black's korean what's new pussycat, the rintin comic, and even the cameos of the comic book writers were all good stuff. But once we got Marge opening a gym and Homer and her living the highlight this show took the biggest downhill the Simpsons has even overtaken in it's 20+ year history for me. I tried laughing at the rest of the plot (even if the idea itself was stupid) but there's nothing funny about Homer stabling his stomach, the same generic hispanic doctor and sexy man voices, Homer becoming a monster and being chased by town which turns out to be a dream and everything is back okay for Marge and Homer at the end. I mean they didn't even bother tying up the CBG plotline so unless they're going to have Jack Black be the new CBG they couldn't even give us resolution. Or maybe I'll become the new CBG because I dub this the worst episode ever. I may have to backtrack through the last few years to see if it's the worst overall, but it's deifntley the worst lost potential, the worst second act twist, the worst Homer focus, the worst Homer/Marge story, and the worst way to spend 13 or so minutes expecting some kind of CBG story and getting... this crap. Not to be rude or anything (seriously, I'm not), but you -really- should space out your thoughts in your posts a lot more. I'd love to read your posts but getting hit with that wall of text really discourages me from doing so. :sweat:

Anyway, this one was all over the place and the humor mostly fell flat. Off the top of my head I can't think of anything I laughed at, and the final nail in the coffin was leaving the CBG plot unresolved, focusing yet again on a dull "Homer and Marge" marriage plot. This season was looking halfway decent, or at least showing signs of promise, but this one was a step backward.

[Robert McSantos]

So... is Marge still rich? Did they ever resolve that?

[Desensitized]

This episode wasn't as good as the past... well, season (let's face it, 19 has been great so far). The plot was supposed to be about the comic book store facing competition from a cooler one, or so I thought, but somehow it flipped and changed to the Marge and Homer plot. Wha? And there wasn't even like a back and forth type A and B plot switch thing either, it just changed halfway through.

And the ending was unnecessary. They really could have ended with Marge's line. It wasn't even funny. And no Chris Ware? Huge mistake.

I would have rather saw a Comic Book Guy episode then one focusing on Homer's insecurities.

B-

It was a funny episode, but it didn't have a great lasting impression like previous episode.
Yep, I have to agree with this. The current season has been pretty good so far and this one had some potential but it really didn't live up to it.

They shouldn't have bothered with the Homer/Marge plot.

[SirLemming]

I'm probably not alone in wishing they'd stayed with the rival comic store plot. Especially since the store will probably mysteriously cease to exist next week and both The Android's Dungeon and Krusty Burger will probably be open again, and Marge probably won't have a job. (Did they explain away that last part? I forgot.) They're out of ideas for Homer & Marge plots and there was really no need to attempt to turn this episode into one.

As for the comic plot, it was going fairly well, except for the scene with the 3 comic artists, which really bombed on all fronts.

[ToOn~g@l]

WTF was up with that ending? I really liked how Homer and Marge walk down the street all happy and with a nice sunset, and they should have ended it there instead of panning up to the wierd comic creators, it was stupid to me and really had no point.

And they didn't even resolve the Comic Book Guys competition. Maybe they have plans to see that rivalry again but I guess we won't find out for a while.

And Homer all beefed up like that was really freaky, it was even more freeky when his nipples were the ones with the tearducts. :o

Not the best from Season 19 I give it a B-

[Annie-Mae]

I only saw the last couple of minets of this episode (right after Homer said "All food taists like barf") and I was in shock when I saw Homer thin like that because (even though they stole it from Family Guy in a way) they've never had him thin before. For a moment I was very proud of him but then I saw that he just had it tided around his back and I laughed pretty hard. The dream sequence bit with him all beefed up was freaky, totally spoiled the scene just before it.

Kinda wish I did see the whole thing, I love jack Black, his song in the end was pretty funny too in his own style.

[sdp]

Kind of a weird episode, but at least it was entertaining..

[William C. Maune]

I'm probably not alone in wishing they'd stayed with the rival comic store plot.

You definitely aren't the only one. I remember thinking about 1/3 of the way into the episode "This is really good!" and then suddenly the rival comic store plot may as well never happened.

[Peter Paltridge]

First act = much better than everything else. Up to the point where the graphic novel guys revealed they were ripped and could fly. COME ON, that's NOT funny! If these people are so talented, they should have recognized a bad idea and refused to read it!

It's been a while since I've read his adventures, but from what I remember, the Tintin parody was right on.

[Aldrius]

Hey wait, TinTin never went to Paris.

[The Myst]

Watchmen Babies: V For Vacation was brilliant. The rest sucked.

[creativerealms]

It's not a good sign when none of your plot lines are resolved in an episode. There was no resolution to the new Comic Book store plot. No resolution to Marge's plot ether. Only one to Homer's story which was pretty much a C plot until the end of the episode anyway.

Unless jack Black signed on for more then one episode (which i doubt) then there will be no conclusion to the comic store plot in the future, which well was a much better plot then the Marge and Homer plot thats for sure.

[Undrave]

First act = much better than everything else. Up to the point where the graphic novel guys revealed they were ripped and could fly. COME ON, that's NOT funny! If these people are so talented, they should have recognized a bad idea and refused to read it!

It's been a while since I've read his adventures, but from what I remember, the Tintin parody was right on.

Aww men I missed the first act and it sounded great >< (I was confused by the episode description).

What was the Tintin parody??

Once again Marge turns out to be extremely talented and competant at something she randomly starts. Homer got genuine concern when you consider how much of a bumbling oaf he is... but I don't want to see it ten times a season and especially not when it ruins a good first act!

[DrTooth]

This is gonna sound crazy, but I really enjoyed this episode. I did have one big problem with it though.

It seemed like the episode was originally 2 episodes they edited together and chopped up completely and squeezed into one. The pacing at the end was terrible. The last act seemed so rushed that it felt like I was watching a commercial for some Simpsons product. it's as if they ran out of air time to resolve everything, and just cram in as much of an ending as possible.

That's not to say that was good. I did like the Homer and Marge plot, but I think that they should have focused on the Comic Book mainplot they had. By far, that was the best part of the episode, and it seems like if they really wanted a kicked up episode, they should have had some way of getting CBG (I remember his name was revealed in a past episode, I just can't remember it) to either drive Coolsville out of business, or him getting his loyal customers back.

I will say, I did like the alternative comic writers becoming superheroes (it's supposed to be ironic, since they are alternatvie comic book artisans who don't do Superhero stuff often). I wish these guys would write stuff for the celebrity written Halloween Simpsons comics. That would be cool.

Also loved the joke about the cool sexy nerds and their cool sexy nerd girl friends. Take that, pretty boys (yes, I'm crying on the inside, lets move on)

All and all, the rushed pacing and bookending another plot into it did pull down my score, but By Belenose! They made a refference to Asterix (sure they animated TinTin instead). And I wouldn't be worth my gaulish slt if I didn't give them a 4 out of 5 for that one alone.

I will say I found it odd they used Parody names for Hulk and Thing, since they clearly showed Wolverine (name in tact) in an earlier scene.

[dth1971]

So is the Comic Book Guy's comic book shop gone for good in favor of the Curves parody Shapes?

I like the Family Guy style cutaway of Homer saying "Mmm, porkpie" after Bart mentions to the Coolsville comic book store person about his porkpie hat.

[simpsonsfan]

Another great episode, but I felt like they skipped something when they didn't resolve the comic guy plot and just went to Marge and Homers plots which was weird. iloved seeing Marge putting a new Shapes in the Krusty Burger poor Krusty. I'd give it a B-. Lets see next week. :zoidberg:

[macattack]

I don't frequently comment here but this episode was just horrendous in many ways.

As people said, first was the sudden, unresolved plot twist. Unless they're planning on serializing this as a season-long subplot there was no reason to suddenly take the focus off of the struggle between the two Comic Book Guys. Especially because the Comic Book Guys plot was actually pretty good.

Problem is, the episode just falls apart later on. The rest of the episode is a combination of a Homerized version of the buff Marge episode a few years ago and a similiarly-themed Family Guy episode. Problem was, the FG episode was actually funny and the buff Marge episode had memorable lines ("It's like I'm married to Shaft!"). The whole Homer/Marge plot wasn't really funny at all. It wasn't even typical. It's more along the lines of "the writers aren't even trying anymore".

Lame.

[Kentaro Doe]

This was a really terrible episode, but I have to give them props for the Asterix and Tintin plug. They don't get nearly enough recognition.

Although, anyone who hasn't read Tintin (about 99.99.99&#37; of the US population) isn't going to understand that Tintin cutaway.

[Undrave]

This was a really terrible episode, but I have to give them props for the Asterix and Tintin plug. They don't get nearly enough recognition.

Although, anyone who hasn't read Tintin (about 99.99.99% of the US population) isn't going to understand that Tintin cutaway.

I didn't see that part! What was the cutaway?!

[Captain Highwind]

I didn't see that part! What was the cutaway?!

It's about TinTin and Snowy getting trapped in a rocket that's about to crash into the Pompidou Centre.

[Undrave]

It's about TinTin and Snowy getting trapped in a rocket that's about to crash into the Pompidou Centre.

lol :p that's pretty crazy. Was Tintin drawn in a Simpsons style? I'd love to see that...

[Captain Highwind]

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/5485/img0042jv3.png (http://imageshack.us)

He was voiced by Tress MacNeille.

[Dudley]

It was cool to see Moore, Speigleman, and Clowes appeared considering how I had to learn about them in college.

I love Bart's earlier conversation with Comic Book Guy. Let me paraphrase:

CBC: The events in that comic didn't happen.
Bart: None of this stuff ever happened.
CBC: .......Get out.