When You Dish Upon a Star (S10, E05-208)

Out of context, its hard to justify what's going on here.

Plot Summary
The Simpsons go to have fun at a lake.  Renting a boat, Homer tries his luck at para sailing, but it doesn't work out so well as the speed needed to get him airborne causes the engine to catch fire.  The fire snaps the line, and Homer goes free into the nearby woods, eventually falling into a secluded house.  Turns out, the house is also owned by Alec Baldwin and Kim Bassinger.

Homer learns that the two moved to Springfield for privacy, and they implore to Homer that he doesn't tell anybody they're there.  As a consequence of their privacy, they are unable to go out and acquire goods and services, the internet having not yet been established enough to do so at the time.  Homer agrees to help them out, ending up knowing the ins and outs of the two of them.  Ron Howard stops in as well, and sticks around I guess.  Homer attempts to pitch a movie idea of his involving time travel and a talking pie sidekick, but it doesn't pan out well.

One night, at Moe's Tavern, Homer is dismissive that Moe saw Kent Brockman, but can't say anything more because of what he swore to Alec and Kim.  However, as his bar mates laugh at him, Homer decides to tell them about the celebrities anyway, hoping they'll do a better job at keeping a secret than Homer was.  A short time later, practically the entire town walks up to the gate of the celebrities' home, and they quickly realize it was Homer that blew their secret, angrily kicking them out for betraying their trust.

Homer is initially saddened by what's happened, but gets angry upon realizing that he did all of those chores and tasks for them only to get booted out anyway.  He returns to the gate with all the stuff he, I guess, smuggled out of the celeb's home under a "they're jerks" theme.  Though Alec and Kim become regretful of their decision, even pointing out that Homer's movie idea wasn't all that bad, they go outside to see Homer mocking Kim openly with her undergarments.  It sparks a high-speed chase between them, Homer driving away in a motor home, with Alec and later Kim trying to jump onto it.  When Ron tries - and fails - to do the same, Homer decides to stop.  Later, Judge Snyder forces Homer to stay 500 miles away from all celebrities, living or dead.  A month later, Ron Howard pitches Homer's movie idea after his own ideas get lukewarm reception, and it works out for him just fine.

Quick Review
I was a teenager, just barely one, when this episode first aired.  You could say it was my teenage cynicism first coming to form, but when I first saw this episode with not just celebrity cameos but a plot focused around these celebrities, that's when I thought for the first time in my head that there's something wrong with the series.

Indeed, I didn't like how the story was focused around Baldwin, Bassinger and to a much lesser extent Ron Howard.  Its sort of odd in that the basic plot of the episode could work for any celebrity, but the fact remains that it needs a celebrity for the plot to work.  The way the episode ends (not counting Howard's financial gain at the end) hardly works either.  I had a rough time watching this episode at points, and yeah there were a few good jokes throughout like there always is, but I can't justify this as even being a 'good' episode.

Final Score: 6.6