22 for 30 (S28, E17-613)

I'm using this image to remind myself why I scored the episode
so low.  I'll probably forget in the future.

Plot Summary
If you're not familiar with ESPN's 30 for 30 series, basically its sports documentaries usually done very well.  This episode is basically that.

Bart, whose latest prank ends up with him in eternal detention, develops basketball shooting skills while in detention.  He becomes so adept at shooting he joins the school basketball team to annul the detention.  He quickly becomes a star player and, with it, the spoils in every sense of the word.  With Willie no longer willing to coach such an annoyance, Homer volunteers to coach, but even he has enough of Bart's showboating, and politely asks Bart to be a team player.

Fat Tony takes note of Bart's anger at Homer over this and convinces Bart to point shave (win by only a single point or two to be under the spread) to infuriate Homer while, unknown to Bart, Fat Tony would make a killing in bet winnings.  Bart was happy to oblige, despite his antics now drawing the ire of everyone in town because of how obvious the point shaving was, but Bart finally realizes his error when Fat Tony tries to give Bart some of the winnings then asks him to outright lose the finals.

Eventually, with the guidance of Homer and others, Bart defies the mob and just wins the finals for the team.  Fat Tony attempts to get Bart for the betrayal, but Lisa steps in, having found embarrassing information about Tony that forces him to relent.  Afterward, Bart stops playing after a tall kid makes him realize he's not that good.

Quick Review
This episode has lots of ups and downs.  Let's review them, shall we?

Ups:

• Fat Tony was pretty good for the most part this episode.  He basically salvaged it, as much of it could be salvaged.
• Some of the cutaway "interviews" were funny, like with Krusty and especially Grampa.  Milhouse's were mixed.
• Most of the "security cam footage" bits were funny, as was the "FBI audio" bits.

Downs:

• So, like four or five times this episode, it cuts to a guy who is clearly a mimicry of Stephen A. Smith.  Smith, for those who don't know, makes a living "debating" on ESPN morning/afternoon shows, but his style of "debate" is basically loud yelling at whatever "point" his poor counterpart may have made.  The mock Smith in this episode has no counterpart so its just him loudly yelling in general.  Easily, easily the worst part of the episode, he singlehandedly brought its score down by a whole point, he's was that bad.
• There was a little sidebit which mentions Nelson's once-again-missing dad only to find out at the end of the episode that the narrator was Nelson's dad all along.  He reunites with his family only to disappear again.  Keep in mind, there was an episode during the early Zombie seasons which was supposed to bring his father back permanently and nothing happened to explain why he disappeared again.
• Oh here's a fun episode with Bart and Fat Tony and Homer I guess how will they get out of it this tim- oh, its Lisa again.  Yawn.
• Did you know basketball star Stephen Curry was a guest voice, but only provided his voice at the end?  And that he was actually paid (I presume) to say "nothing but nerd"?  Please fire the person who set up that "joke".  If it was Curry himself, please tell him his humor needs work.
• Louie, Fat Tony's goon, was rather chatty in this episode.  It was meant for gags, but it got annoying pretty quick.

So you might notice the downs are more lengthy than the ups.  I wanted to enjoy this episode, it has a some goodwill going for it, but there was just too much against it.  It ends up being a weaker episode for this season, which is saying quite a lot.

Final Score: 5.8

Springfield Up (S18, E13-391)

Just like all billionaires, I would imagine.

Plot Summary
Declan Desmond, a supposedly noted documentary filmer, has returned to reveal he's been filming residents of Springfield since 32 years ago, first filming them when they were eight years old and filming how they've done every eight years since.  For instance, he's filmed Clancy Wiggum go from a boy with shoot 'em up dreams to a 16 year old hall monitor, to going to the police academy, then using his excellent pistol back rubs to earn him his Chief of Police title.

Desmond's documentary then focuses on young Homer, whose dreams involve becoming ultra rich and successful.  However, by the time Homer is 24, his dreams of fortune are basically shattered as he's involved in multiple odd jobs, but has found a nice gleam of hope in Marge.  At 32, Homer has now had kids (even though at 24 Homer states he never would), but promises that in eight years Homer will be so rich he'll kick Desmond's ass with a gold boot.  In the present day, much to Desmond's surprise, Homer has become a millionaire, apparently getting rich with a pen that shoots out condiments.

Desmond continues his film, focusing on Professor Frink, whose career path has left him unable to find a woman.  He goes back in time to warn his younger self and set him on a new path, but is run over before he can reach himself, probably dying.  The film then focuses on "Eleanor" whom at age eight wishes to be both a lawyer and a doctor, and accomplishes this at 24 after graduating from both Yale Law and Harvard Medical.  However, by 32 the woman has become burned out, losing her sanity and finding the comfort in booze and cats.  In the present day, the woman has become the person well known as the 'crazy cat lady'.

The film then focuses on Marge, whom at age eight is interested in photography.  This interest of hers continues into high school but by 24, Marge's photography is limited to use at some store she works at.  Still, in the present day, Marge is happy with her husband's success, when suddenly its learned that Homer's millionaire mansion is actually Mr. Burns' summer house.  It turns out Homer - gasp! - lied about his success!

Desmond tries to confront Homer about the lie back at his normal house, when Homer reveals that he's so disappointed his life is still as 'miserable' as it was eight years ago.  Desmond can't help to find such a statement odd, and after consulting Moe, invites Homer to his editing studio.  There, Desmond shows Homer footage of people across town who are actually envious of Homer's family, success and even some of his character.  Homer realizes that in his fruitless pursuit of his supposed dreams, he already has accomplished his dream: being with Marge each and every day.

Quick Review
I appreciate what the episode tried to do, presenting most of it in a documentary style, and I did find much of it interesting.  Of course, sadly, this episode still doesn't have all that much going for it in terms of comedy, so the score is lower than it probably should be, but I do like what the episode attempted to do.

Final Score: 6.8

'Scuse Me While I Miss the Sky (S14, E16-307)

Desmond is just upset he didn't bring his camera guy here to film this.

Plot Summary
Declan Desmond, a supposedly noted documentary filmer, decides to film his next documentary on Springfield Elementary.  He observes Bart becoming massively uncool, with Nelson becoming top dog around the playground thanks to a hood ornament he stole.  Principal Skinner attempts to show Desmond that the school isn't full of dopes by introducing him to Lisa, but he's not impressed with her either, criticizing her lack of direction in that if she doesn't set herself to a career path soon, she won't have much of a career at all.

While Bart continues to struggle to earn the respect of the bullies, Lisa goes to the museum to decide on a career path, ultimately deciding on astronomy.  She gets Homer to buy her a telescope, however she finds stargazing rather difficult at night as the bright lights in town make stargazing rather impossible.  Even when gazing from the outskirts, Springfield emits an orange glow which blocks out the stars.  She comes across Professor Frink who has the same problem.  With a meteor showing coming up, the two decide to start a petition around town to have the lights dimmed at night.  It works rather well, and soon Mayor Quimby shuts down the lights at night, revealing the stars in all their glory.

However, the darkness allows the bullies at school to go around town clipping off hood ornaments to add to their collection.  Bart tries to nab one for himself, but can't find any except for one extravagant ornament that graces the car of Fat Tony.  He and Milhouse come up with a ploy to get it.  Meanwhile, the town becomes angry about the hood ornament crimes, and demands the lights be brought back on.  Quimby caves to the pressure and turns them back on, but overdoes it to where not even natural sunlight is as bright as the night lights are now.  Bart and Milhouse are caught, and they run off without their trophy.

With the Simpsons family undergoing sleep deprivation from the lights, Lisa and Bart team up under a common goal to get rid of those lights again.  Borrowing Homer who is just unable to process things, the two sneak into the nuclear plant and overload the power grid, destroying the lights across town.  Quickly, an angry mob advances on them, but the meteor shower arrives and they become content.  Bart is able to steal his ornament, Lisa gets her stargazing, and Desmond makes another successful documentary.  Everybody wins!

Quick Review
This episode was alright.  Nothing was particularly bad about the episode, though a few jokes did fall flat from time to time.  A common theme nowadays, the quality of the episode dies down at the end, as the episode tries too hard to come to a conclusion (with some song to accompany it) rather than ensure said ending is also funny, though Desmond's documentary at the very end makes a decent effort to salvage things.

Final Score: 7.3

Behind the Laughter (S11, E22-248)

Technically this episode aired in 2000, but those 90s graphics, man.

Plot Summary
This episode is set up like a documentary in a very similar fashion to VH1's Behind the Music.  The episode introduces the Simpsons as a family that loves watching TV, however they were getting tired of the "loving family" dynamic that was dominant on the airwaves at whichever time this was supposed to be.  Homer decides to video tape his own "real" family show featuring his family.  Even though the video clip was just plain silly, Marge had a connection with the FOX network and the Simpsons got their big TV show.

After just one season, Simpson-mania struck the nation, nay, worldwide.  The family was earning tons of money, more than enough to move into M.C. Hammer's mansion, and the fame they had allowed them to appear in all sorts of awards shows and what not.  A trio of songs they sang even swept the Grammys.  However, their fame started to crumble.  After Homer's attempted jump at Springfield Gorge, he became addicted to painkillers in order to go through painful stunt after painful stunt.  The Simpsons were also losing a lot of money due to Marge's poor investments and an anonymous tip that the family had been evading their taxes.  Then Bart was involved in an incident on an airplane and was temporarily replaced.  With the family fracturing, the show began to resort to nonsensical plots and ratings-grabbing celebrity appearances.  Tensions reached a peak when the family appeared at an Iowa state fair, where their bickering escalated to full blown fighting.  The family decided to go separate ways after that.

With the show on hiatus, Homer did some work in legitimate theatre, and Marge and Bart found work in showbusiness as well.  Lisa, however, decided to reveal shocking secrets about the show in a tell-all book.  The family became so distrustful of one another that they each brought their own lawyers to Thanksgiving dinner.  All seemed lost for the family, however a meddler decided to spark a change: Dr. Hibbert calls his old frat buddy Willie Nelson, and Willie concocts a plan to bring the family together by having them all appear on a fake awards show independently.  With the family back on stage together, Willie and the audience are able to help the family share a hug and mend old wounds.  Reunited, the family have learned from their mistakes and are resuming the show, though with plotlines as they were, they probably only have a season left (oh if that were true...).

Quick Review
This was a rather ingenious way to end Season 11.  All the odd metaphors and visual gags complemented what I guess was the plot, and the references to the 'evolution' of the show were nicely done as well.  Its a highlight of what has mostly been a disappointing season and, heck, it could've been a fine way to even end the series.

Final Score: 9.7