Could Moe Goes From Rags To Riches be good if it were written in the classic era?

John Smith 1882

My mistake
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Do you think the premise of a sentient rag could have been good if it were done by classic era standards, or was the idea doomed to fail regardless of the quality of writing?
 
No, it would probably be one of the weakest in the classic era no matter what.
It would completely ruin the grounded reality of the first eight seasons.
It would probably be funnier than what it actually is, but I don't think it could ever be good.
There are some classic episodes that would go horribly wrong in the post classic era like Rosebud, Lisa vs Malibu Stacy, Homie the Clown, etc because what made them work was that magic inspiration every writer seemed to have during the classic era even if the premises could go terribly wrong and they'd probably be awful if produced later in the series. But even those episodes have stronger premises than Moe Goes From Rags to Riches.
 
If it was the same script then definitely not (no matter when it would be released it would be bad). It it was penned by one of the classic era writers (such as one of the greats like Jon Vitti or John Swartzwelder, whom would have been perfect for such an absurd story) with some aspects changed and/or altered then yes, it could maybe, probably be salvaged into a good episode.
 
I don't even think the Scully era would have thought up a premise this absurd. It's the kind of plot a show does after reaching a very exhausted fatigued state and will use literally any stupid idea to keep it going, since everyone are too tired to think of anything even remotely reasonable.

But even if we say someone did pitch a talking rag in the classic era, the other writers would find it so insane that they'd never approve it for airing. I could see it working as a brief gag at the most.
 
no, i literally can't think of a single possibility for that premise to work at all. there's no way to turn it into a decent idea. sure, there may be a few good gags and if it was written well the subplot definitely could wok but the idea of a talking bar rag is just a dead end idea. it would likely be one the worst episodes of the entire classic era were it made then.
 
I mean Moe could hallunicate like Homer did in the "The Mysterious Voyage of Homer" to make it more plausible.

So the dish rag never actually talked, it was just Moe's imagination.

But yeah, it would be by far the weakest of the classic era - it would definitely replace "The Principal and the Pauper" as the consensus "jump the shark" moment for a majority of the fans.
 
No way. The writers would have to rewrite the entire episode to made it work, maybe as a haunted rag for a Treehouse of Horror segment. If the idea is just having an antology episode, just put the Simpsons into a museum or something.
 
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