Rate & Review: A Star Is Born-Again (EABF08)

How would you rate "A Star is Born-Again"?

  • 1/5

    Votes: 11 5.1%

  • 2/5

    Votes: 17 7.8%

  • 3/5

    Votes: 60 27.6%

  • 4/5

    Votes: 103 47.5%

  • 5/5

    Votes: 26 12.0%
  • Total voters
    217
Cole

Cole

where is everyone
Joined
Nov 21, 2001
Messages
1,664
Location
huntsville, al
From SNPP
In a send-up of "Notting Hill", Ned Flanders begins dating a forgotten starlet. Guest stars Marisa Tomei and James L. Brooks.
Click to expand...

Should be interesting to hear James L. Brooks as a guest star ... the thread and poll will be open for review once the episode has aired.

Moderators can edit/add humerous poll options at they please.
 
Way out of character for Ned, what were the writers thinking?

the ep had some funny points, but it was just way to far out of character for flanders and the dream sequence with James Brooks was so stupid

2/5
 
I have yet to see it, so I'm just going to save a prominent place here for my review.

EDIT: Watched it and thought that it was similar to the typical Season 12 episode, uninteresting with some worthwhile bits sprinkled throughout. I thought the first act was sorely lacking in nudges to tickle my funny bone, while there's really no way that I could see Flanders doing what he did near the end without being ashamed of himself. 3/5
 
Last edited:
A Star Is Born Again

Good:

Security Guard.
Hidden Jokes ("Expensive Coffee In Little Cups" "Envy Magazine")
Good characterization all around
Not much Homer for once (not that I don't like him, I just find him overused)
GREAT art direction in the hollywood scene (different animation, coloured sky, "spin out to springfield")
I thought it was heading in a "Flanders goes someplace KEWL!" direction, but I was EVER so releived to hear "then I'll just stay here with you!".
Good use of guest star (Marissa Tomei had no bad jokes, and occupied a major part of the time onscreen)
Cher doll
Apu
Bridget Jones' Diary author (music made it all the more funny)
All 3 acts were very strong
Homer slipping and repeating a sound bite
Once again awesome use of music
Good compact plot (save for the jellyfish beginning)
Cookie Kwan's number on a bench made me chuckle
Good art direction in the 2nd Helen Fielding Scene

Bad:

Pointing out of the "My Best Friends Gay Baby" joke
Maggie suntan lotion (why did it have to have spf 1000?)
Moe wasn't that good in the first scene, but was alot better in his second appearance.
Homer slipping and repeating a sound bite
Rainier wasn't so good
Strange ending (conflict introduced mid-third act)

Overall 4.5/5. Excellent.

(Beep)
 
4/5 we see Ned succom to some natural urges, rather good gags, but too much dumb jokes.
 
James L. Brook= useless.

That thing after Homer dropped the Nachoes= Stupid overused soundbyte.

Other then that, it was an alright episode. Kinda weird how Ned and her fucked at the end. Atleast they didn't change Ned so he wasn't religious anymore or something stupid like that.

Also, what the fuck was that shit with the author of "Brigit Jones' diary"??
 
Pretty damn good. The Benny Hill parody had me off the seat laughing, though other shows did the parody better, like The Man Show. A tad about it reminded me of "When You Dish Upon A Star". And Flanders having sex was well-done. A good episode, and it looks as if EABF09 will be even better...

Grade: 4/5
 
Last edited:
... Ned.. :angry:

4.5/10.

It was funny.. but Ned.. argggghhhhhh.... This episode totally screwed over his character.
 
okay well overall it was good. i loved the british humor thing other than the tetris joke, its my favorite joke of the season. the guest appearance was stupid. ned was somewhat out of character. but the plot held together very well despite a little less humor than usual
 
i disagree, i thoughtned remained in character pretty well. i thought this was an all round good episode, one of the best of the season. i would give it a 3.5\5. had some good humor in it, the simpsons are making a rebound.
however, the simpsos characters them seleves still seem to be just placed into the episode. seems the writers look to thow in homer when ever they can and at times the rest of the family. but the show is definately getting better.
 
Slappy said:
A Star Is Born Again

Strange ending (conflict introduced mid-third act)

Click to expand...

That was the "Benny Hill" reference I mentioned in the above post. Boots Randolphs "Yaketty Sax" was his theme song.
 
i thought ned was entirely in character. a sweet episode overall and way better than any of ned's previous "post-maude" episodes. the music was incredibly well done.

the jellyfish washing up on the beach festival at the begginning made me laugh.

also, dear 4000 eleven year olds who post here, the ending was a reference to benny hill.

4 or 4.5/5

good episode. yet another very enjoyable EABF episode. i think the only weak one so far was barting over. THAT = good season. people are just complaining to complain anymore. speaking of which, shouldn't you be protesting the war against iraq?
 
3/5

It was an enjoyable episode, there were some funny parts in the episode...though I'm rather disappointed since this is yet another love story that fails with some dumb reasons. I'm also wondering why Ned didnt even think about Rachel anywhere in this episode...
 
About Neds character, it needed a change. Lately they have WAAAAAAAAAY overplayed the religious thing.
 
Hmm,
Probably the best episode of the season and it's unfortunate that that isn't saying much. I say it's a 3.5/5 but I rounded down to 3 because I'm a satanistic bastard.

I liked the use of fantasies in this episode, specifically the HollyWeird fantasy had me laughing out loud. Brooks was absolutely useless but was halarious. It was the 'good' kind of pointless celebrity.

Plot was stupid (Jellyfish -- what the fuck?) then good (Ned Flanders meets a woman, decent story) then bad (Let's make love to Itchy and Scratchy) to worse (What the hell was that ending). It rounded out to a decent episode though.

Question: There was a recurring music theme throughout the episode, can someone identify it for me? I've seen the movie it's from but I forget what it was.

Question 2: What the hell was that British Author parody about it. Were they trying to make fun of stupid British humor is it an actual parody? It seemed pretty stupid anyway
 
5/5
Great plot flow and elements. The Characters had actual, meaningful conversations not just lame joke after lame joke.

Pros:
Hibbert Family
Sarah Wiggum
Sara Slone is a genuine character
Lenny
sexy bible
Hollywood fantasy
Chief Wiggums's headshots
Ned's Morals
Fun Run
Helen Fielding

Cons:
Suntan Lotion Maggie
Irish policeman
Moe and Reiner out of nowhere
Quick end
 
Ned did finally sumbit to his urges and there were some good jokes, but the end seemed kind of forced and a few of the jokes just fell flat. 3/5
 
This was the third episode in a row that was really good. I think they are finally heading in the right direction. That being said, i really don't know if I agree with Ned going all the way. It was fine being tempted, I just thought it was quite out of character for him to have premarital sex. However, that is really the only criticism I have of the episode. I found everything absolutely great. I loved this episode. I would give it a 4.5/5, but I voted for a 4.

Kefka said:
Also, what the fuck was that shit with the author of "Brigit Jones' diary"??
Click to expand...

It was a parody of Benny Hill. A English comedian who did that exact same thing on his show. It was very well done. I also liked James L. Brooks' appearance. It was during a dream sequence so it worked that way. Plus it set up one of my favorite jokes of the night. Rod and Tod drive by and say, "We're movie agents now. And wer're Jewish!" Anyway I've rambled on long enough. Great episode.

Maddog.
 
I've never seen Notting Hill, and the Jellyfish stuff at the beginning (Ned's first jellyfish festival since Maude's death when she died three years ago, also mentioning that it was May) was stupid, but James L. Brooks was great, Rod and Todd being Jewish movie producers was hilarious, and I also loved Nelson saying "HawHaw! Fight Lupus!"

4/5. With "3rd Grade" and "Barting Over" as the best of the year.
 
Last edited:
That was interesting....

Good-
Ned's Hollywood dream- And we're Jewish!
the Book Club scene- ahh, British humor
Moe's scoops
good use of a celeb voice
My Best Friend's Gay Baby poster- I have a feeling we'll see J.Lo in this soon.
Jellyfish Festival- another Springfield tradition

Bad-
the butterfly into Homer's mouth- pointless
the music- What was the point? Everytime I heard it I thought of Ocean's 11
Homer falling down- 1st time: pointless, 2nd time: just stupid
Suntan Maggie
The kinda rushed ending

Ugly-
the commercial for Agent Cody Banks
 
notice how it said "jim brooks" in the guest starring credits

please read posts before replying, little kids. the british humor joke was explained like eight times already.

also, reserving spots for your reviews = for the horrible ******s.
 
When this ep was kicked off with the Jellyfish thing, I really didn't want to like it. I was prepared for another boring and uncohesive fest that shamelessly plugged various guest stars.

But that's not what was shown. This ep was very solid in plot and didn't go too crazy, and had quite a few good jokes.

I don't understand why people think Ned was out of character, though. It's not like he completely voluntarily gave himself to the actress.

One of my favourite bits was the John Williams concert. I recall the use of a John Williams concert being done in an earlier ep this season, but this time I found it really funny. Aside from Homer and the recording being recycled...

Anyway, this was an all-around good ep. As I watched, my score went from 3 to 3.5 to 4. So... yeah, 4/5 from me.
 
Very, very good episode 5/5 by season 14 standards. Only a few jokes missed (Jelly fish, a couple sex jokes), but most of it was purely hilarious. I think some could see Ned as being out of character, but I think he just naturally succombed to human urges. The ending was a little abrupt, but the episode was just too funny for me to mind. The Benny Hill send up was classic, and it was great to see two great dream sequences which have been missing over the past few years.
 
I really didn't mind Ned having sex. It shows that he is a regular person that has the urges regular men do. I don't find it any different than the time he got drunk in Vegas. Overall very sweet, funny episode that rivals "The Dad Who Knew Too Little" and "Special Edna" for best episode of the year IMO
 
Very enjoyable episode. The first act was the strongest, but the episode kept up a fairly consistent level of quality. Many supporting characters were used well. It was nice to see Ned open up more, I think it actually helped his character more than it hurt it. Homer was supposed to be obnoxious in this episode, but he was actually very tolerable. The Benny Hill reference was hilarious, and we surely can't forget the most important part of the episode: The return of the Irish cop from "Homer vs. The Eighteenth Ammendment".

What a great Sunday: Excellent Futurama, surprisingly good KOTH, quality Simpsons.

Rating: 4/5
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top