The Simpsons "Lastest Gun In The West" Talkback (Spoilers)

[James Harvey]

Hey all,

Any comments or thought son last nights better-than-usual episode of The Simpsons. I gotta admit, this is a bit better then the episodes we've seen lately. Comments? Thoughts?

[Calhoun07]

There was no way in Hades I would watch the Simpsons over a Chuck Jones tribute on CN, but 99% of the feed back on this episode on the forums at DVD Talk indicate a great backlash of fans upset that this episode was the worst of the season so far. It's interesting to see alternate views from different forums, sometimes!

[CadaverousEyes]

I didn't like it that much. At least they're still consistent in recycling old plots. However, this may be one of those episodes that convince the general public to stop watching, which could lead to the series being cancelled prematurely. I'd hate to see that happen, unless that's what they're going for. (Going out by alienating your entire audience sounds like a fun thing to do.)

[KingKoopa]

In my opinion, it started off pretty good with the killer dog, but then it instantly died with the cowboy guy. The ending (with the dog chasing Bart again) was kinda predictable, but nice anyway. I'd give it a C-.

[DR. BELCH]

Did anyone else think Buck looked a lot like Ronald Reagan? Which made his alcoholism somehow al lthe bore bothersome to me. Reagan, of course, did many cowboy pictures in his acting days, and starred in at least one with his future wife Nancy. At least he didn't have a chimp (no, Mr, Teeny is Krusty's--doesn't count.)
Speaking of Krusty, he's shown as a kiddie-show host--but didn't he retire (again) in the last ep with Sideshow Bob? Continuity gets buggered royally. Forgive the sidenote, but I had the same complaint with "Jaw Wired Shut", which shows Homer at the movies acting like a horse's butt...which he does every time Marge and the kids take him to the movies. You'd think movie houses would ban him from coming, or they'd just leave him home. Back to the topic, we've seen the same plotline before, only with Krusty himself as the washed-up actor Bart and Lisa help.
They took forever seting up this story, too. Generally a pointless unrelated setup takes two minutes; this thing with the dog ate up the first act. I was like, "We get it already! It's like a bad SNL sketch using the same joke for twenty pages! Move it along!" The ending with Buck's walk into the sunset--sort of--dragged too, though I didn't see the dog coming.
Thought Buck would use the T-touch I've heard about--fingering pressure points on the dog's face--but I guess not.
THis ep also begs the query of Grandpa's age. Buck says he's in his late seventies. If he got Buck's autograph as a young boy that'd put Abe at around his fifties--maybe sixties, if he'd been in his teens, hardly old enough to be that wrinkeled and doddering. Come to think of it, why was it signed "Li'l Grandpa" rather than "Abraham"?
I did get a good laugh at the opening cred gag of the pimply-faced teen making out with a chick on the family couch.
"I don't approve of selling alcohol to children." "Oh, that was a commercial for kids who already had an established drinking problem." In those days, of course, advertising was freer--cigarette ads still ran in newspapers, and there were no cartoon camels in them. Also a pretty amusing take on the bloodless violence of the old Westerns, where dozens would die and ten million bullets shot out of a barreel without a single reload.
Nit: when Homer sets a bottle on the counter it's full of hootch; inexplicably it's a third gone when it returns from the cutaway to Buck.
The artists DID remember to include Krusty's pacemaker scar and third nipple when we see him shirtless and bandaged. At least that's in continuity.
Interesting idea. Nice satire. Slipshod execution. "Oh, yes, I forgot to tell you: I'm an alcoholic."

[Sheamon]

I hated it. Worst ep this season so far. You can sure tell that they're running out of ideas. I loved the ep at 9:00 though, Homer's insane screaming was hilarious :p

[Cyclops]

I'm gonna agree with Jim and say this was one of th better episodes of the season. I thought the stuff with the killer dog was great.

[Terminatah]

Looks like we're all split down the middle. I hated every second of it, especially the stupid dog. It seems the writers are just sticking in any dumb joke that comes to them and don't even bother to ground the show in any kind of reality anymore. But that reality was what made the outrageous trademark Simpsons satire work so well. Now every episode is like a Halloween episode (and not the cool early ones, which were scary, but the later weird ones, which simply made no sense).

In a remotely fair world, Fox would put this show to sleep already and hand the torch to the more-than-deserving Futurama. But I suppose renewing The Simpsons and throwing Futurama into development hell is OK too. :rolleyes: :mad:

-Terminatah

[Howard]

I didn't laugh once at this episode. It just seemed extremely forced. It didn't seem to fit the personalities of the Simpsons.

[The Dark Knight]

Originally posted by Terminatah
Now every episode is like a Halloween episode (and not the cool early ones, which were scary, but the later weird ones, which simply made no sense).
Actually, for the first couple of minutes I thought it was a Halloween episode.

[Lonestarr]

That vicious dog was, without a doubt (and please forgive the expression), the "worst...gag...ever"!!! I was almost ashamed to admit that I used to like this show (never mind that it was good).

The rest of the ep was okay. Not good, not bad. I liked how in the opening of Krusty's show, they used clips from "Krusty Gets Kancelled". That bit with Homer and his poster most likely warped a generation of Charlie's Angels fans in one fell swoop. In other words, an uneven effort that is very much interchangable with other recent outings.

Personal note: I smell another Emmy nod for composer Alf Clausen (with a strong assist from Elmer Bernstein).

[Mad Monkey 7]

I loved last week's episode. The Simpsons in Canada.

[Failure]

I thought it was a pretty good ep. Nothing special, but far from the worst of this season. In my opinion, they've strung together 3 or 4 pretty good eps in a row. While that's nothing to hoot about, I guess I'm just glad they're showing some signs of life. Even though, I'm probably reaching quite a bit.

[Memphis Bleek]

The shows had it funny moments. I thought it was a good episode.