R&R Four Regrettings and a Funeral

How would you rate the episode?

  • 5/5: Contentment.

    Votes: 6 5.7%

  • 4/5: Malise

    Votes: 22 21.0%

  • 3/5: Lament

    Votes: 42 40.0%

  • 2/5: Pangs

    Votes: 23 21.9%

  • 1/5: Oh, I've wasted my life!

    Votes: 12 11.4%
  • Total voters
    105
Insomnia said:
Ok, it was just this weird random guy apparently.
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He gotta big nose.
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Geez, looking at this screengrab, something about the animation really bugs me these days. This screencap looks like one of the Simpsons comics.
 
I don't have much to say about this episode. It's mostly just hardcore mediocrity, not exactly painstaking to watch, but still really boring and full of pathetically uninspired jokes. The huge number of fabricated subplots, however, makes this seem particularly unfocused. It's like the writers have so forgotten how to forge a coherent, developed plot that they now just brainstorm premises and coat them with cheap references in order to at least keep the series "funny."

3/10
 
This episode made me laugh, it kept me entertained, and it was probably the best episode since Hardly Kirking. Not on par with To Cur, but for modern Simpsons, this was exactly what we should be hoping for (relatively), and better than our exceptions. I gave it a 3/5, but the only episode higher than a 3/5 for Modern Simpsons would be Holidays.
 
Tomacco said:
Geez, looking at this screengrab, something about the animation really bugs me these days. This screencap looks like one of the Simpsons comics.
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Yeah. Actually i think the animation in the first few hd-seasons were pretty okay overall. It was somewhere around season 23-24 it really got bland and stale imo.
 
There were a few funny parts, but this episode doesn't warrant a rating higher than 2/5.

There were too many plots, and they all felt under developed and squashed together, so it just didn't work for me.
 
Tomacco said:
Geez, looking at this screengrab, something about the animation really bugs me these days. This screencap looks like one of the Simpsons comics.
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That's a very good observation.
It lacks a bit of charm in animation, eh? It's quite inorganic when animation comes down to the very single detail; in this case the characters' faces. The actual animation isn't half bad, but you're right-- it's how things are staged together nowadays.
For example, observe a crowd in pre-digital era of "The Simpsons", you'll more likely see that the 'extras' in the background are merely quick doodles without any regard to which of the more prominent Springfieldians are there. It brings much more of an interesting screengrab because of its randomness it adds, and of course you'll also have fun looking at some subtlety of animation they might have referenced within the chaos.

Jerkass Homer said:
Yeah. Actually i think the animation in the first few hd-seasons were pretty okay overall. It was somewhere around season 23-24 it really got bland and stale imo.
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Animation or staging?
I personally think that the staging of characters contribute more to the staleness in the last two seasons than the more technical aspects of animation (such as flexibility, which could be done easily if staged). If you recall "Love is a many Splintered Thing" and the atrocities of Bart with Woody Allen, that's purely awful staging that takes the lazy way out.

As of the episode itself, I haven't watched it but I'll probably be reviewing it on Sunday.
 
Yeah thats sort of what i meant. Even though the first few hd-seasons were stale when it came to animation it still felt cooler and fresher and it did not feel like some Simpsons comic. You are probably right that it has more to do with the staging. Hd-animation can look wonderful if done right, now im not claiming the animation of the first hd-seasons were wonderful but its just that things were not staged together as awfully and it actually felt like i was watching a episode of The Simpsons rather than simply viewing pictures from the comics.
 
Captain Scared said:
Regarding Chip Davis, according to his funeral he was Duffman from '92-'96 and '08. Given it has already been established that multiple people have played Duffman, it works. By that logic, Chip appeared as Duffman BEFORE we first saw the character in the series (Duffman first appeared in "The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson" which was in '97). The only episode to feature Duffman in 2008, according to The Simpsons wikis, is "Homer and Lisa Exchange Cross Words". So Chip Davis was Duffman who in turn was in a relationship with Grady: http://simpsons.wikia.com/wiki/Grady

A Brief History of the Men Who Played Duffman:



Pre-1992: unknown
1992-1996 - Chip Davis - unseen in the series
1997 - unknown, could be Larry - first appearance in the series
2000 - Larry - Moe slaps a sticker on his face which causes him to pass out or die (Pygmoelian)
2001 - Sid - may have died of liver failure (Hungry Hungry Homer)
2002 - unknown - Lenny mentions the previous Duffman (Sid?) died of liver failure and this Duffman is his replacement (Jaws Wired Shut)
2002 - unknown - pledges his love to Lunchlady Doris after being shot (The Great Louse Detective)
2003 - Barry - could have replaced the previous Duffman who died from being shot or is the same Duffman as seen in 2002 (Old Yeller-Belly)
2007 - unknown, dating Boobarella (Homerazzi)
2008 - Chip reprises role - Chip is gay and in a relationship with Grady (Homer and Lisa Exchange Cross Words)
2009-present - unknown

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I also liked The Simpsons Movie callback as well as the town hall meeting attendee credit. Makes me wonder if Chip is actually a background character that the animators have used in the past.

So, despite being a nobody, he actually is sort of a known character if you consider him a former Duffman and Grady's lover.

edit: wait, what the fuck? the broadcast version had yellow text credits and an Edna memorial, while the Hulu version has a Chip Davis memorial as well as doctored images of Chip in various past episodes: http://imgur.com/a/TBYOc

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As much as I loved the Edna tribute, the addition of the Chip ending actually pays the gag off and explains why Joe Nameth was at his funeral. I like how some of the scenes have him hidden because of the 4:3 ratio.
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Some of those pictures with Chip Davis are good like he would actually be there and some just seem forced.
 
I watched this earlier this week. How droll

I still hate these long parody couch gags. And I hate how current Simpsons parodies seem so goody-goody, toothless & apple polishing. If you gotta have a parody couch gag I prefer something like the Rocky & Bullwinkle one, at least it's fast and energetic (yes I know in this case it's the Hobbit and the Hobbit is overdrawningly long, it's still dull and not well paced)

I like the concept of a 25 year old show having an unseen character die that was very important and touched the lives of many Springfielders. That's actually pretty funny. The end credit visuals too, even if that joke has been done before on other shows.

The episode plays with story structure and that's fun. But the stories themselves are so boring. It's just like Eternal Moonshine and 500 Keys: the skeleton of the writing is creative, but the actual content of the stories are so uninteresting that in the end it has little impact.

And again with the final 'character in peril' act! It's become such a lame staple of the show.

Here's something obscure for ya: Chip worked in sector 6F, the only #F that was never a season's production code, as they went from 5F to AABF.

Ernie said:
That's a very good observation.
It lacks a bit of charm in animation, eh? It's quite inorganic when animation comes down to the very single detail; in this case the characters' faces. The actual animation isn't half bad, but you're right-- it's how things are staged together nowadays.
For example, observe a crowd in pre-digital era of "The Simpsons", you'll more likely see that the 'extras' in the background are merely quick doodles without any regard to which of the more prominent Springfieldians are there. It brings much more of an interesting screengrab because of its randomness it adds, and of course you'll also have fun looking at some subtlety of animation they might have referenced within the chaos.

Animation or staging?
I personally think that the staging of characters contribute more to the staleness in the last two seasons than the more technical aspects of animation (such as flexibility, which could be done easily if staged). If you recall "Love is a many Splintered Thing" and the atrocities of Bart with Woody Allen, that's purely awful staging that takes the lazy way out.
Click to expand...

From your wording I'm not sure you have a full grasp about what staging is. Staging is all about making your animation read clearly for the viewer. It has little to do with the flexibility of animation or who you put in the background (unless you purposely leave out really extravagant characters that distract the eye from the main attraction). 'Lazy' staging where you put two characters next to each other without much perspective actually allows for more flexible animation, because it's easier to draw. The Simpsons is just animated in a very stiff (and thus IMO a lifeless & unrealistic) way, regardless of the staging. Sometimes I find it poorly staged because it was animated badly, not the other way around. Honestly I'm not sure the Simpsons has often had great staging at all. Feel free to open an animation analysis thread if you're interested in that stuff & we can go into more detail.

That screenshot is a cluttered mess, though. The characters in that visual are also poorly drawn, for other reasons than staging. Maybe [MENTION=13]Tomacco[/MENTION] can explain which aspect mostly makes him think of the comics.
 
Matty said:
I watched this earlier this week. How droll

I still hate these long parody couch gags. And I hate how current Simpsons parodies seem so goody-goody, toothless & apple polishing. If you gotta have a parody couch gag I prefer something like the Rocky & Bullwinkle one, at least it's fast and energetic (yes I know in this case it's the Hobbit and the Hobbit is overdrawningly long, it's still dull and not well paced)

I like the concept of a 25 year old show having an unseen character die that was very important and touched the lives of many Springfielders. That's actually pretty funny. The end credit visuals too, even if that joke has been done before on other shows.

The episode plays with story structure and that's fun. But the stories themselves are so boring. It's just like Eternal Moonshine and 500 Keys: the skeleton of the writing is creative, but the actual content of the stories are so uninteresting that in the end it has little impact.

And again with the final 'character in peril' act! It's become such a lame staple of the show.

Here's something obscure for ya: Chip worked in sector 6F, the only #F that was never a season's production code, as they went from 5F to AABF.



From your wording I'm not sure you have a full grasp about what staging is. Staging is all about making your animation read clearly for the viewer. It has little to do with the flexibility of animation or who you put in the background (unless you purposely leave out really extravagant characters that distract the eye from the main attraction). 'Lazy' staging where you put two characters next to each other without much perspective actually allows for more flexible animation, because it's easier to draw. The Simpsons is just animated in a very stiff (and thus IMO a lifeless & unrealistic) way, regardless of the staging. Sometimes I find it poorly staged because it was animated badly, not the other way around. Honestly I'm not sure the Simpsons has often had great staging at all. Feel free to open an animation analysis thread if you're interested in that stuff & we can go into more detail.

That screenshot is a cluttered mess, though. The characters in that visual are also poorly drawn, for other reasons than staging. Maybe [MENTION=13]Tomacco[/MENTION] can explain which aspect mostly makes him think of the comics.
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I know this was not directed at me but the reason i agree that it looks like a Simpsons comic is that the characters are drawn very much like the characters in the comics and the backround also look pretty much like it came from a Simpsons comic.
 
Matty said:
Honestly I'm not sure the Simpsons has often had great staging at all. Feel free to open an animation analysis thread if you're interested in that stuff & we can go into more detail.
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I think that'd be a fantastic idea--except I'm not the expert on the terms or such and such. I'm sure you'd be a better and a more likely candidate for starting one, being an experienced animator yourself. Maybe share your thoughts on the show's current animation, or versus that from much earlier. I'd really like to hear from you.
 
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I'm surprised nobody mentioned Trilogy of Error yet. This episode is a lot closer to that than 22 Short Films About Springfield. It was pretty interesting and it had a lot of gags that made me laugh. Based on the previous episodes of Season 25, I'd give it a 4/5.
 
This episode felt really aimless, although it did have a couple of sort-of laughs for me, which is rather unusual. My biggest problem is that it was all over the place, and the elements didn't gel that well together, but I would still give it full marks for contrivedness as actually being able to tie that stuff up at all is more than I could have hoped for at this point. Some of it was quite funny if continuity is ignored; I'm just not that keen on the execution.

Plus point: I nearly cried at the chalkboard bit - although simple, it was genuinely moving. Nevertheless I refuse to class that as something which can go any way to redeeming the episode, because its addition is unrelated to the episode in any intentional manner. I hope Edna gets a proper sendoff in the next season, as I'm still not even 100% on whether they're going with "she died" (and how to do that in a way that isn't distasteful), or having her leave in some other upsetting but believable way, further complicated by her apparent marriage. I'm not counting the chalkboard into continuity for a number of reasons. Does anyone know?
 
Wow, terribly unfunny, very sophomoric... come on guys.
 
I'm not watching the Simpsons anymore until they bring back Chip Davis.
 
I've just watched the UK premiere of this episode and the Marcia Wallace tribute was missing (although the "We'll really miss you Mrs K" chalkboard was intact). Furthermore, there was a dedication card to Chip ("Much missed, never merchandised") in its place, and the end credits featured pictures of Chip edited into previous episodes - were the latter two in the original US airing, as I can't recall seeing them on my download copy (not that that means much as I didn't remember anything about this episode before rewatching it)?
 
Nameless said:
I've just watched the UK premiere of this episode and the Marcia Wallace tribute was missing (although the "We'll really miss you Mrs K" chalkboard was intact). Furthermore, there was a dedication card to Chip ("Much missed, never merchandised") in its place, and the end credits featured pictures of Chip edited into previous episodes - were the latter two in the original US airing, as I can't recall seeing them on my download copy (not that that means much as I didn't remember anything about this episode before rewatching it)?
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I remember seeing the tribute to Chip during the end credits.
 
JUST saw that Chip tribute in the credits. Don't really get how the episode is "dedicated" to Marcia Wallace at all tho...

Either way um, this was a good ep i guess.
 
I thought that this was a decent episode. There were a few bad jokes, but there were also several good ones. I admit I laughed at the scene with Bart standing on Milhouse's shoulders. I thought both guest stars were used well, and I liked the character moments featuring Mr. Burns and Kent Brockman.

Edited to add: great couch gag too. One of the best.
 
The main things that I liked was the Couch Gag and the end credits with Chip Davis put on classic Simpsons scenes. As for the plot, there's just something that makes me like it, and it might be because of the format. Some of the jokes were hit and miss, but I'll give it a 3/5.
 
First of all, "we'll really miss you, Mrs. Krabappel". 😢One of a few times, when dedicated episode has that mood for decent honour.

Because of episode's not standard structure (not just multi-story because of lack of material to fill the time) it's really hard to analyse it. I'll try in order.

Homer's regretting (Homer sold Apple papers). Typical jerkass Homer. However, other is specific: ass-kissing straight reference to Apple (not Mapple, Bapple or Shmapple, but concrete real existing brand's name). If not the forth-wall-breaking writing, it would be too bad.

Marge's regretting (Marge listened to the KISS). Maybe one good laugh in this story (including Bart's dangerous prank). Oh, not - two - Ralph's description by Wiggum.

Burns' regretting (Money over the love). This one was the best within all 4. Weird, but working lines, and the funniest joke: Burns' portraits (with Stalin's one). Layla is nice character too. However there were 2 problems: Burns' preparing for sex process (was it really necessary to show?) and Burns turned Layla into send:krustystare: Also there was a really nice moment, when Burns decided to take "5 more minutes" for good things.

Brockman's regretting (Money over professional development). Rachel Meadow was good. And the story of chose the native town and money was ok. I liked satire on broadcast news.

plot 13/25 (1/3+0/2+7/10+5/10)
absurdity level (the possibility of what is happening) 21/25
comedy 19/25 (1+1+4+4)
originality (level of references and unoriginality) 20/25

TOTAL 73/100 (3/5, downtaken from 3.5, with rounding or B-). SOLID!
 
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