I don't really watch a whole lot of television. At this point, I should stress that I'm not one of those insufferable pricks that looks down on the medium and brags about only reading Mamet plays and drinking Belgian lagers. I don't watch a lot of television because I'm a law student, and that means I'm mostly reading about (this week): trademark ineligibility based on disparagement, women's rights to work, government-sponsored speech and administrative review of consulate decisions. I'm sure you're all very jealous of my rock star lifestyle.
And yet, this past Sunday I managed to be excited about four different shows. This never happens! First up, was The Simpsons. The premiere of their 20th season. As you know, I'm an apologist and I was at least a little bit excited for the new episode, but ended up very disappointed. Homer and Marge both get new careers for the sake of it, not too many funny lines, good gags over-explained. They billed Julia Louis-Dreyfuss' guest spot as a big deal, and she had precisely one line. Best part? Flanders surprising himself by knowing the entire Old Testament. Also, the ending to this episode came off as exceptionally abrupt and unsatisfying. I hope things pick up.
Watching Entourage is now more of an obligation than something to look forward to. And sure enough, this latest episode hit all the buttons - Ari yelled and swore, Turtle didn't do anything, Drama was awkward and then embarrassing, Vince was boring, and E was E. There's the potential for E to make a choice between his own best interests and Vince's, but they're getting to that so slowly. So very slowly. If you've never seen the show before, this is all you'll ever need to know.
HBO then turned out two brand new shows. Little Britain USA was sort of like Little Britain but a little tamer. I've always found the show funny for about ten minutes and then grating. It's amazing that they've managed to stretch three series (four, now) out of one-note characters like Lou and Andy, or even Vicki Pollard. For this series, they've brought in some new characters, and of them only grumpy astronaut Bing Gordyn hit the right notes in the opener. Oh, and the evil dog was quite funny. There's a great Rosie O'Donnell joke to be made here, but I'm not that mean - her cameo was good, too. But even for LB, there was an over reliance on fat and gay jokes. And we didn't even get to the only gay in the village yet...
(Incidentally, notice how the banner on the HBO site: i. said "series" instead of "season", and ii. misspelt Britain)
Finally, there was The Life & Times of Tim which has nothing to do with the Replacements album. Didn't know much about this one beforehand, and it really wasn't about anything. Just a dude and his situations. It was funny. He tries to pay a prostitute with meatloaf. His co-workers are equally bland but in completely opposite ways to Tim. Also, there are gay-rape jokes. As a lightweight source of easy laughs, '...Tim' might become a staple of Sunday night viewing.
Oh, and while I'm here - I did like the new Chris Rock special Kill the Messenger. A lot of the material is what you'd expect from him - black and white people are different, men and women are different - but there was some nice political material in there. Like "John McCain is so old, he used to own Sidney Poitier." I did think that it was a poor choice, though, to splice the show from three different live performances, so mid-sentence his outfits would change, and sometimes we'd get the punchline three times in three different cities.
The drug of the nation
Look at that Yaw Control
As someone who has stood by the Simpsons even in the recent years, when most agree that it's rubbish, there was never much doubt that I'd enjoy The Simpsons Movie, which opened this weekend. Pity my girlfriend, who had to endure standing in line with me on Friday night, listening to me drone on about the first episode I ever saw (that'll be 'Bart the General') and why I know the name of Kent Brockman's accountant (Myron). The show makes me very boring, in a totally fun way. Before I moved to the States, everything I knew about American history was from watching the show, and as such, it was a bad day when I found out that Whacking Day ain't real. Either way, I'd have been there at midnight if they were playing it at my local.
"Oh, please. That could be anyone's silo of pig crap"
Even with the inherent downsides of transferring a twenty minute show into a ninety minute movie (namely, ugh, character development), this didn't detract from the enjoyment. For the idiotic fans like me, there were little things to make us squee - like the sightings of Gabbo, Lurleen Lumpkin, Herman, and particularly Hollis Hurlbut, and if you stay through the credits, there's a nice little nod to the show's mythology, saying "FILMED ENTIRELY ON LOCATION IN SPRINGFIELD, ########" perpetuating the whole 'where is it set' question (Vermont?) Plus there's a jump over Springfield Gorge, and a mid-movie plot point that recalls the episode El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Homer. Some of the jokes don't work too well - I could do with less physical Homerdy - but the vast majority of them kill. There's a fantastic Green Day 'Titanic' tribute at the beginning. Nice dig at the Fox News Ticker at one point - despite the almost-lawsuit. Really nice dig at Alaska and big oil companies. A very funny cameo from an A-List movie star. Albert Brooks rocking the Hank Scorpio style super-baddie. I could go on.
"If you can find a greasier burger, you must be in Mexico!"
Some people will say that it wasn't worth twenty years' wait, and perhaps it wasn't. But I wasn't waiting for it a feature-length since day one, so I didn't heap expectations upon it. Like I said, I'm biased as a long-time defender of the show, but the big opening weekend and generally solid reviews make me feel vindicated about the film's success. It was probably the most I've laughed at the cinema all year. Recommended highly.
[download Hans Zimmer - The Simpsons Theme]
[buy the soundtrack (US)]
