Hey there Hoppereenos. It’s that time of year again where I tune in and watch the New Simpsons Episode and report what I see. So sit back, relax, and grab some goodies. The Season 26 Premiere Episode: Clown in the Dumps… is upon us.
Warning…there WILL be spoilers, so do not read on if you do not want to see, hear, or know.
Here we go…
Ned Flanders is apparently a lil lonely so heads upward as an angel to go see his wives during the opening credits.
Per Bart’s Chalkboard
SPOILER ALERT: Unfortunately, my Dad doesn’t die
Now on to the Couch Gag… WHAT THE FRAKK???!!! You got to watch it to get a grip on it. All I can think of is Groot saying, “I AM SIMPSON.”
The kids have set up some popcorn just barely out of Homer’s reach, or so they thought. Why they would want him to watch TV in just a towel is beyond me. But it IS The Comedy Cable Channel Roast of Krusty the Clown. Marge doesn’t really want the kids watching, but they threaten to go to another home if she won’t let them.
As the night goes on, Krusty does not seem to enthused by the Roast. More depressed by it. He even tells Mini Ha-Ha to cancel the gag and tell the others too. He leaves off stage depressed and humiliated.
Later at Swapper Jack’s, Krusty is on stage trying to humor the crowd. No one is laughing though. Bart approaches him as he is leaving and gives Krusty some great advice. Go talk to his Dad. Maybe he can help Krusty out of this funk. Krusty asks Bart if it helps to talk to his Dad. “Well he isn’t a Rabbi, more like a Flabbi.” Homer proceeds to try and smother Bart in his “Flabbi” belly.
Over at Temple Beth Springfield, Krusty sits down to talk with his Father. He begs his Dad to acknowledge his comedy. To tell him he is great. Rabbi Krustofski tells him only God can judge. Rabbi finally gives in and tells Krusty he has always been, “Ehhh…” and drops dead.
And…commercial. Is it just me or are there a lot of “Clash of Clans” commercials this last week? And by the way… a Bunny is NOT a Fireball. Though I have been know to cause explosions. I mean….ummmm…nevermind. BACK TO THE SHOW!!
Awww man, a funeral. The Rabbi’s Funeral. Krusty tries desperately to give the eulogy, but he keeps seeing his Father’s face on everyone and hearing him say, “Eh.” He really tries to make a laugh, but all Krusty can do is cry. He really is sad his Dad is gone. Lisa looks over at Homer concerned now. He can’t even stand up.
At Krusty’s Mansion, Homer is helping himself to what Lisa believes is TOO much food. She is really starting to panic about Homer’s health. Meanwhile Marge is trying to offer some comfort and kind words to Krusty, along with some home-made chicken soup. He must love soup, especially with the lil spoon he wears around his neck. She notices everything. Even Sideshow Bob makes an appearance from Prison to offer condolences. Sideshow Mel steps in to ramble drunkenly to him about how they have ALL thought of killing off Krusty.
Over at Tears of a Clown Grief Counsel, Inc… Krusty is trying to get help. He is a sad tragic clown. A big needy nothing. It doesn’t seem to do much good though because back on his show he doesn’t even want to do a monologue. He is just sad, depressed, and falling apart before everyone’s eyes. Even the Itchy & Scratchy cartoon gets to him. He starts to experience a crisis of Conscious. Krusty quits the show.
Kent Brockman reports on Krusty’s retirement. No more pity laughter. TV Critic Clive Meriwether sums up his half century. Things like taking up two parking spots and calling him Lord Tingaling. He gives Krusty’s life a D+.
Sheesh it seems like everybody is trying to sell me a car. Oh and FXX has lots of Simpsons Episodes.
Lisa is really still panicking at Homer’s health. She can’t sleep due to she can tell he continually stops breathing. She begs her Mom to let her sleep in the room with them so she can monitor her Dad. Marge refuses. Tells Lisa he will be fine. The Doctor gave Homer a CPAP machine to help him breathe. But as Lisa monitors the “use” of the CPAP, it just worries her even more.
Krusty is at his Mansion going through old pics of his Father and him. Like his first bath, his Mom’s funeral, his first Clown Car. Bart is trying desperately to cheer him up. (At least Mr. Teeny is doing well on Broadway in “The Odd Couple” with David Hyde Pierce.) Bart has set up a lot of TV’s for Krusty to prove what kind of ground breaking work he has done. He wants Krusty to binge watch all the shows he made. So they go through clips of his “comedy” throughout the last 50 years. Just a lil repeating of jokes. This just makes things worse for Krusty and he demands his whiskey funnel.
Later that night, a very passed out Krusty has an…out of body(?) experience. He journeys into the “afterlife”… Jewish Heaven. There is the Kosher Pickle Forest, Ebbets Field where the Brooklyn Dodgers vs New York Giants have free Egg Creams!, you can shop ot Oys R Us, and there is the Joe Lieberman Presidential Library. Quite an amazing place to Krusty. Of course his Dad breaks in and stops it all. Tells him he is still, “Eh”. He needs to go back to Earth and do something with his life. Help People. Just then Krusty comes back to life and wants to change his life.
At school, Lisa is drawing pictures of her own Dad. All that put him in the light of not living much longer. This disturbs Miss Hoover and she calls Marge into school to talk about the drawings.
Meanwhile Krusty is opening a new Animal Shelter, Krusty’s Ark (formerly the Krustyburger Packaging Plant.) It will provide a home for animals put out of work by Cirque de Soliel. Bart shows up with a Kippah on and Krusty is not sure why. He tells Krusty to come with him and he will see why.
Back at the Simpsons, Lisa is adorning Homer’s head with a safety helmet and completely encasing his body in bubble wrap. I actually think a bubble wrap suit would be quite fun and amusing. Homer tells Lisa you can’t insulate yourself from life. He could live to be 100 or get hit by a bus tomorrow. Just then, Otto crashes through the fence and Homer bounces off the bus and a tree. WOOHOO for Bubble Wrap!! The two should exchange insurance information, but neither one has any insurance. So, the same company. I am sure things will work out. Lol.
At the Temple Beth Western, Bart shows Krusty Rabbi Rudenstein, the guy that was Krusty’s dad’s favorite. Krusty is shocked to see the guy his Dad idolized is using all of HIS material. He comes to a realization that if his Dad loved his jokes, then he loved Krusty’s jokes. Bart points out he probably just hated his delivery. His Father respected him but could never tell him. Now THAT’S Jewish Heaven.
Cut to Jewish Heaven where Krusty’s Dad and him sing a song together. Of course, his Dad says he can’t wait til Krusty joins him next week.
There you have it. The long awaited “DEATH” everyone has been speculating about. Was it all you though it would be? What did you think of the Episode itself? Eh? What about the Couch Gag? I AM SPRINGFIELD! Give us your thoughts below.
~Bunny
This was a HUGE disappointment for a (much-hyped) season premiere. I think I managed one laugh out loud, which was over a brief, visual side-gag.
Recent episodes like the Book Job show us that they CAN still wow us, but this…. this was just terribly dull and unfunny.
Here’s hoping the season improves.
My reaction? “Eh.”
I thought much of the episode was kinda depressing and sad… I kept thinking, “Any second now, Krusty is going to tell the Pagliacci joke.”
TSTO, on the other hand, is consistently far more entertaining and funny.
As for the couch gag? Weird… I kinda liked it, but it went on about 2x longer than it should have.
And as for The Family Guy crossover episode… Ugh. It was vaguely promising at points… I quite enjoyed Brian’s problems dealing with the abysmally stupid and disobedient Santa’s Little Helper. And I know it makes me a bad person, but it made lots of sense that Stewie would go after Springfield’s bullies in the worst way possible. But what the hell was with the never-ending Homer/Peter fist-fight over nothing? It’s like the last 10-15 minutes of the show was written by somebody’s six year old.
Now then, bring me my whiskey funnel.
The fight in the end? I liked it. And after some ressearch, I found out that it is a thing in family Guy called a “chicken fight” where Peter and a giant chicken fight trugh town, causing a huge amount of damages. It happens once in a while apparently.
I hated the Couch Gag. Took way to long.
As for the episode it was disappointing. They lose there edge. The Simpsons aren’t fun anymore. The jokes and stories in Tapped out are better than the actual show.
Who cares that the rabbi died, he played in how many episodes? 3, 4 over the past 25 years, so way over-hyped.
I actually liked the couch gag. Guess I’m in the minority. I would have liked to have seen a more popular character killed off. Felt kind of weak and a bit too safe.
The episode was dedicated to Louis Castellaneta. He’s the late father of Dan Castellaneta (voice of Homer, Krusty, etc…). He had just recently passed away at the age of 99.
I saw that too….think it was a fitting episode for it
Wow! That puts a new perspective on the episode. It certainly wasn’t quality of the classics, but no one expects that. I think it was a fine episode for this age of The Simpsons.
The Couch “gag” made me gag! It was at first funny in a weird way, then just plain weird, then down right WTF, then boring, then ok i get the point enough already!, and then revealed it was over.
I liked the episode ok. While I did like the character of the Rabbi and I’m sad to see him go, I’m a little relieved it wasn’t someone major. Actually I would have been ok with Sideshow Bob, but not having the bad guy would be strange. The episode seemed a little flat but still enjoyable. I agree with the review Ken supplied about it being an analogy.
I HATED the couch gag. It made no sense and I don’t get the couch gags anyway but this one was the worst in my opinion.
Can it be there is still another death coming? I just kind of had a foreshadowing when Krusty had two heart attacks over in KL…Although I can’t imagine the show without him.
Hmm I guess it’s possible, but I’m pretty sure this is it for planned deaths…
Read an article saying there won’t be more.
I read one reviewer today who I think nailed it, the episode was a analogy of the Simpsons itself, seen as tired, washed up, but in the end a inspiration to other shows.
I was waiting for this thread to talk about that couch gag. I know it was done by Don Hertzfeldt, who is apparently a popular animator lol. However it was as you said Fracking WEIRD! I even tried to pause the tv and read the writing in the beginning in hopes it made more sense. Yea… No. Anyone have any insight into it?
The episode over all I thought was ok. It was fairly obvious who was going to die, but a cartoon death is never the end. As we already saw, the show has now established “Jewish Heaven” and Krusty can still talk to his father there.
It was cool to again see so many land marks and characters from our games in the show, Krusty’s mansion was fun, and I made use of the rewind again to see if Database was in music class with Lisa. In any case I am glad the show is back, it makes Sundays more fun!
lol yes that couch gag was…..out there.
Go check out his shorts “Rejected” and “Billy’s Balloon”. His other stuff is quality, but “Rejected” especially is one of my favorite things ever. I am a banana!
The episode was disappointing. Not one of the best. I’m still trying to understand the couch gag.
I thought the episode was fine, though definitely over-hyped. That couch gag was too bizarre for me though, not a fan.
We call knew it would be the Rabbi. Couch gag was bizarre. Overall…meh.
All I could think of was, so, no Rabbi Krustofsky for TSTO? 🙁
Really wanted him for the holiday season.
Hopefully they still add him. Or at least the other Rabbi…
They could still add him, after all, Maude is in the game isn’t she?
As expected, this episode was disappointing. They shouldn’t build up so much hype if it’s a minor character who was going to die… Like that. A character I really liked when he appeared but still a minor character.