Homerazzi (S18, E16-394)

This scene is just implausible.  Mayor Quimby with his wife?  Please.

Plot Summary
Homer is so unfit, he can't even blow the candles out on his birthday cake despite numerous attempts.  He keeps trying, even hours later when everyone else is asleep, but he collapses on the cake, sparking a fire.  Firefighters arrive quickly to put it out, but it (and several fires before it) are enough for Marge to get a safe to store precious items.  She puts in a family photo album while the others put in some junk, and from sheer coincidence all the junk interacts with one another in a way where the whole mess explodes, leaving Marge's album in ashes.  Having gone slightly crazy over this loss, Marge forcibly retakes all of her old photos now, recreating every vacation and baby photo regardless of anything.  Eventually, she catches up, but she and the family notices that in one of the photos Duffman is on a romantic date with a woman, even though his character is currently classified as gay.  Homer takes the photo down to a publisher, who buys the photo, and is so impressed by it he hires Homer to take more scandalous photos for profit.

Although he has difficulty at first, soon Homer becomes a pro at taking photos of celebrities at their lowest, getting paid quite handsomely in the process.  It reaches a boiling point when Homer locates and crashes Rainier Wolfcastle's secret wedding, forcing Wolfcastle to take action.  He hires a rather familiar sounding and familiar looking paparazzo to take embarrassing photos of Homer, which is even easier than it sounds.  Getting a taste of his own medicine, Homer decides to quit.

Freed of Homer's shutterbugging, Rainier and the other celebrities go nuts at a fancy bar, right across the street from Moe's.  As Homer hears Lenny and Carl talk about how classless celebrities can be caring more about their lives than they do other people, Homer decides to do one last photo shoot.  He charges into the celebrity party and takes all sorts of embarrassing photos, but then decides he won't sell them, under the provision that celebrities start taking the time to interact with their fans.  Wolfcastle agrees and, as an act of faith, invites him and his family to a barbecue, where Wolfcastle ends up stealing Marge's movie idea.

Quick Review
This ended up being funnier than I was expecting it to be, especially after the too-long couch gag.  The episode picks up nicely once Wolfcastle becomes involved in the plot, and I wasn't expecting the wonderful appearances by Jon Lovitz, Betty White, and J.K. Simmons.  These things basically saved the episode, as an episode about Homer being a paparazzo doesn't exactly scream funny nowadays.

Final Score: 7.3

Missionary: Impossible (S11, E15-241)

Oh man, I remember the PJs!

Plot Summary
Homer has come to enjoy a British sitcom that airs on PBS, however he catches PBS in the middle of one of their 'occassional' pledge drives (hosted by Betty White).  As the pledge drags on, they 'promise' to return to the show once they've been pledged $10,000.  Homer desperately calls in to 'pledge' the money, trying to do so anonymously in hopes they don't find out who pledged.  PBS tracks him, though, and soon confront him for the money.  Homer is eventually forced to run for his life, and makes his way to the church.  Homer pleads Reverend Lovejoy to help him out, and the Reverend does so, helping sneak Homer away from PBS officials.  Until the heat dies down, Lovejoy has Homer take a plane down to the south seas for missionary work, much to Homer's panic.

Upon reaching "Microasia", Homer sees a pair of missionaries who are departing.  They tell them that they've taught the natives some English and mocked away their original beliefs, making them ripe for conversion.  Although Homer initially gives missionary work the ol' college try, he quickly realizes he's over his head and decides to help out the locals in his own way: by helping build a casino full of beer, gambling and macaroni salad.  In a tiny subplot, Homer over a ham radio makes Bart man of the house, so he goes to work in Homer's stead.

At first, this change seems good, but quickly the locals become violent drunks, corrupted by the gambling and booze.  Morally aided by a young girl that dresses and sounds like Lisa whom Homer calls "Lisa Jr.", Homer decides to finish building a previously half-built chapel to get the locals back in God's good graces.  He rings the bell loudly, but that sparks a chain reaction where a nearby volcano breaks up, spewing out hot lava.  Homer and Lisa Jr. appear to be on their way to a fiery end, but the episode is interrupted by a FOX pledge drive (also hosted by Betty White), with Rupert Murdock and friends needing money to keep low-brow entertainment like Family Guy airing.  Bart 'donates' money because, after all, saving FOX seems to be an attribute of his.

Quick Review
This wasn't a great episode, and some of the bits involving the chase of Homer by PBS was a bit over the top, but there were a few good jokes spread inbetween and Betty White's appearance was good.  The pledge ending, I felt, was done well enough if not a grand way to end the episode.  Overall, the episode is just alright.

Final Score: 7.3