Rate and Review: Sideshow Bob Roberts

Rate it.

  • Total voters
    129
D

Drunk Barney

Stonecutter
Joined
Jul 3, 2004
Messages
3,312
Location
England
Fantastic episode. Not quite flawless but great none the less. A

Edit: Five years on from seeing this, this episode is still a gem. 5 years ago my political knowledge was poor, now it's good - that certaintly helps when your watching this episode. I do love a good old dig at Conservatives. I love the writers subversive writing and thought Bob's closing end speech about everyone being Republican at heart was great. My above grade and basic comments still remain.
 
Last edited:
I often overlook this episode for "Cape Feare" when I discuss my favourite Sideshow Bob episode. In all seriousness, this is bloody excellent. There's some very nicely done political satire, better than any recent attempts, and there's a bunch of great gags that don't revolve around the political parts of the episode. Kelsey Grammer has, and always will be, one of the best guest voices for the show, and Sideshow Bob is easily one of the most interesting characters out there. The entire first act, with the political debate about Bob being an "incorrectly" jailed prisoner was great fun, in my opinion, and there was plenty of great jokes revolving around that (Moe's plan to break Bob free, Homer/Birch comparison, Lisa driving the car and the classic "attempted murder" line). The second act just become more interesting with Bob running for Mayor, and there were more jokes to come ("stay out of riverdale", "no one has even messed with the republicans and gotten away with it" and Bob's manic laughter). Act 3, continued with the interesting plot and excellent jokes ("Terwillijer", "it's the rapture", Hutz interrogation of Bob). I honestly can't express just how great I thought this episode was. Top 10 material. A+
 
Classic, hilarious episode, the second best of Sideshow Bob. A+
 
great episode. flawless even. in my opinion it is much better than cape feare, it's definately in my top ten episodes. 10/10
 
I'm going to go for a 10/10. This is another episode I haven't seen in a while, but I remember it was a great laugh. My favourite part:

"This elevator only goes to the basement.... and someone left an AWFUL mess down there..."
 
amir05 said:
one of the worst sideshow bob episodes imo 3/5
Click to expand...
I agree with you, although I'd not say that it is the worst, I found it to be rather weak for a Sideshow Bob episode, making it one of the weakest episodes from season 6. But maybe I've missed something (because I'm not American?), judging from the amount of good reviews out there, and, besides, I've not seen this one for a long time. B-/C+
 
When I was younger I used to think this was the most boring episode I had ever seen. Time has allowed me to appreciate it however, and along with Two Cars In Every Garage it is probably the best political satire the show has ever accomplished. Superb A
 
Clarence said:
"This elevator only goes to the basement.... and someone left an AWFUL mess down there..."
Click to expand...

That was in "Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming".
 
This episode is sheer perfection. I'm surprised no one has bumped this thread in years, especially considering the current political climate.

Amazing satire, great animation, characterizations, and so on. Sideshow Bob's finest hour, IMO. 5/5 easily.
 
Classic episode and great throughout. Bob was as funny as usual and it was a good idea to have a Bob plot where he wasn't trying to kill someone so no form of repetition is shown. Everything just flowed together for a great episode. 5/5
 
There were several plot holes that bothered me about this episode, i.e. why didn't Smithers tell Lisa and Bart what Bob was doing instead of making them look for Neubaur?, how did no one but Smithers find out what Bob did?, and how did Bob actually make it appear that dead people voted for him? Also, I thought the ending was a bit rushed, with Bob too quickly admitting to his plans; it was funny and displayed Bob's hamartia of hubris well, but still seemed executed too fast. However, the episode was indeed very funny, offered a lot of classic scenes, and featured some great political satire, so it gets a B+.
 
It's dense with satire, humor, and parody, giving it a level of fun unmatched by any of the other Bob outings.
A+
 
HarleenQuinn said:
There were several plot holes that bothered me about this episode, i.e. why didn't Smithers tell Lisa and Bart what Bob was doing instead of making them look for Neubaur?, how did no one but Smithers find out what Bob did?, and how did Bob actually make it appear that dead people voted for him? Also, I thought the ending was a bit rushed, with Bob too quickly admitting to his plans; it was funny and displayed Bob's hamartia of hubris well, but still seemed executed too fast. However, the episode was indeed very funny, offered a lot of classic scenes, and featured some great political satire, so it gets a B+.
Click to expand...

What she said, but I find it so funny, it gets a high A-
 
Great episode, Sideshow Bob is really a manipulative villain here, that evil laughter scene of his always sticked with me.

"And look how happy he is!"

A-
 
Sideshow Bob Roberts

Yet another in the line of excellent Sideshow Bob episodes. This was from the time when Sideshow bob wasn't primarily obsessed with killing Bart and was on to other things, such as becoming mayor, getting rid of TV and stopping his brother in a nasty scheme. But we'll focus on the time he became mayor.

Written by Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstien, those two people manage to craft out a plot that seems natural and very ripe. There is very little that seems forced and out of place, every part of that script hits it's marks effectively and the jokes that liter this script are really funny, with only a very small number of them failing. I have to say that seeing Bob fall out into the sea was very funny for me.

A lot of the characters deliver their A-Game. Which means that they're themselves in terms of characters and they're really funny in the jokes and the moment that they bring. I'm surprised by the number of moments Bart, Lisa and Homer deliver as I thought Sideshow Bob was going to be the show-stealing moment of the show (he does get in some best moments though). A lot of the episodes best moments come from them and they really make this episode the memorable episode as it is. Most of the minor characters barely get a word in hinesight but those that do display themselves prominently play their part well and some of them even manage to make memorable moments/memorable lines.

Of course, there are a lot of jokes that aren't delivered by the characters. Even though this is a political satire per say, there are a lot of visual gags and sign gags that manage to make this episode such a hoot. From the scenes in the beginning to the scenes halfway through the episode, they're just about everywhere that you can turn your eyes too. I don't know if I have a favorite but I do say that I did love the republican headquarters, the Dr. Demento bit and the minimum security prision bit... The political satire is also very effective as well; alot of it still resonates years after the episode aired, that's an example of how good it is. The way it shows how politicians play up the comedy role to gain appeal, the way they make the other candidate look like a monster, and the way the republicans appear to be needed in Springfield. As a bonus, the Democrat's here didn't have a headquarters at "Trader Planet's". Nice!

The only thing I didn't like was how the rigged voting was sprung on so suddenly but that's like a minor thing compared to the nicely paced plot, the exceptionally used characters, the funny as hell jokes and the relevancy and memorability of this episode. Even 10 more years from now, people will be talking about this episode both as an exceptional Sideshow Bob episode and as brilliant political satire.

10/10

P.S. Most of the other reviews have pictures on them. I don't know if I'm going to put one up or not but I'm thinking about it. Also it was nice that they revealed Sideshow Bob's real name, greatly appreciated.
 
Zombies Rise from the Sea said:
Sideshow Bob Roberts

Yet another in the line of excellent Sideshow Bob episodes. This was from the time when Sideshow bob wasn't primarily obsessed with killing Bart and was on to other things, such as becoming mayor, getting rid of TV and stopping his brother in a nasty scheme. But we'll focus on the time he became mayor.

Written by Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstien, those two people manage to craft out a plot that seems natural and very ripe. There is very little that seems forced and out of place, every part of that script hits it's marks effectively and the jokes that liter this script are really funny, with only a very small number of them failing. I have to say that seeing Bob fall out into the sea was very funny for me.

A lot of the characters deliver their A-Game. Which means that they're themselves in terms of characters and they're really funny in the jokes and the moment that they bring. I'm surprised by the number of moments Bart, Lisa and Homer deliver as I thought Sideshow Bob was going to be the show-stealing moment of the show (he does get in some best moments though). A lot of the episodes best moments come from them and they really make this episode the memorable episode as it is. Most of the minor characters barely get a word in hinesight but those that do display themselves prominently play their part well and some of them even manage to make memorable moments/memorable lines.

Of course, there are a lot of jokes that aren't delivered by the characters. Even though this is a political satire per say, there are a lot of visual gags and sign gags that manage to make this episode such a hoot. From the scenes in the beginning to the scenes halfway through the episode, they're just about everywhere that you can turn your eyes too. I don't know if I have a favorite but I do say that I did love the republican headquarters, the Dr. Demento bit and the minimum security prision bit... The political satire is also very effective as well; alot of it still resonates years after the episode aired, that's an example of how good it is. The way it shows how politicians play up the comedy role to gain appeal, the way they make the other candidate look like a monster, and the way the republicans appear to be needed in Springfield. As a bonus, the Democrat's here didn't have a headquarters at "Trader Planet's". Nice!

The only thing I didn't like was how the rigged voting was sprung on so suddenly but that's like a minor thing compared to the nicely paced plot, the exceptionally used characters, the funny as hell jokes and the relevancy and memorability of this episode. Even 10 more years from now, people will be talking about this episode both as an exceptional Sideshow Bob episode and as brilliant political satire.

10/10

P.S. Most of the other reviews have pictures on them. I don't know if I'm going to put one up or not but I'm thinking about it. Also it was nice that they revealed Sideshow Bob's real name, greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

I couldn't agree more, brilliantly said mate. Sideshow Bob Roberts is one of those episodes which made me fall in love with this show, even more so now that I understand the superb political satire. This will definitely be in my top 10 when I do my top 50 list. 5/5, 10/10, A+
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top