Rate & Review: Lisa with an "S" (TABF20)

How would you rate this episode?


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Shaunbadia

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Original airdate: November 22nd, 2015
Written By: Stephanie Gillis
Directed By: Bob Anderson
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When Homer loses $5,000 at a poker game with Broadway legend Laney Fontaine, the only way he is able to settle the bet is if he loans Lisa to Laney for a month. Then, Laney turns Lisa into a show biz kid and Marge and Homer fear they made a mistake letting her go. So they head to New York to get her back.

I'm sure this'll probably be locked until the episode airs, but if not well, y'know, wait until it airs to post here.
 
Oh my god, this is one of the most boring episodes I've ever seen. Laney was a nobody, and her character was pretty much already done in The Ten-Per-Cent Solution. If you're going to focus an episode around a one-time character (which shouldn't be done anyway), can you at least make the person interesting? This episode was actually funnier than average at the beginning, but it just lost it all once Laney came to the Simpsons' house. And it got even worse when Lisa went on tour. They seemed to try to make something emotional when it came to Marge wanting Lisa back, but...was I supposed to feel for Marge in some way? It seemed they were trying to go that route, but it didn't work. At all. They just make Laney change her mind out of nowhere and dump Lisa in quite possibly the least believable scene I've ever witnessed. Man, this episode was just putrid. 1/5
 
-- Bleh couch gag.
* Barney still has a nice singing voice. The song itself is good.
*** Bart mooning the camera.
** Lenny falling out of window.
* Lenny playing poker.
Overall, Bleh. 5.5/10.
* Bart strangling himself.
--- Bad song.
* Laney butchers the Beatles.
--- So Homer is SELLING off Lisa just because he lost 5000 dollars? Terrible.
* "I really have the munchies.
Terrible. 2/10.
* Moe with the gun.
--- TERRIBLE song!
* Running from Elmo.
Overall, 1.5/10.
This episode gets a 3/10. Man, what's happened to this show? The show doesn't FEEL any different from last year, and yet while i thought last year was good, this was just terrible. I'm not sure what makes it so different, but this might be the worst season in the show's history.
 
It had some pretty funny moments (Homer's Snoopy Shirt, Wiggum and the sign, Flanders' cousin, The Tonight Tonight song) but it had a been there, done that feeling to it and the new character (I can't remember her name) was kind of bland. Not bad, but not brilliant. Other than THOH, this season so far has been average, which in this day and age is all I can ask for. B-
 
If I could use one word to describe this episode it would be "forced". Literally everything about it felt contrived and artificial... from the shoehorning in of Chazz Busby to the musical numbers to the assorted gags (Amish Flanders... who forgot Ned's been married 3 times not twice, Milhouse in the rafters, Lenny's poker ineptitude, the 'Lisa's getting exposed to drugs but not really' double entendres, extended Inside Out bit) to the emotion (which I guess was supposed to feel genuine but never did) to the way the plot conveniently got wrapped up without warning. We never even got a star-making performance out of Lisa... either via sax solo or Yeardley's singing... both of which have been on display countless times before.

When the most genuine and unforced thing about this episode was the relationship between Moe and Laney... that's a serious problem. This was yet another modern-day example of a paper-thin plot without focus being stretched beyond recognition and filled with padding that fills time instead of elevating the story. A Star is Torn was way better than this.
 
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This episode sucked! The plot was boring and initially uncomfortable (though at least Lisa goes with Laney willingly rather than by force). The only jokes that worked were Bart mooning the camera, one bit in the Inside Out parody (but not the whole thing) and “Flandwich.” And I don’t give a fuck about the Moe love story. F+
 
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Promising first act. The opening musical parody was well-written, fun, funny and set the stage for the episode really well. The poker game was quality stuff too, with Lenny especially having some great moments.

But after... everything fell completely apart the moment Laney asked to take Lisa with her. Everything felt rushed, forced, unnatural and outright confusing from that point onward. Marge's reaction to her offer felt weirdly hostile. Laney's act/tour/show all felt undefined and so did her character (which seemed too similar to Joan Rivers' character 4 years ago). She's depicted as unsuccessful, dating Moe and staying in crappy motels. But then she sells out shows in NYC? And what were her shows? Was it a jazz show? Was it a musical? What was it? And why did Lisa benefit from being a part of it? And Laney clearly isn't a good performer, so why was any of this inspiring to Lisa or impressive to the crowd? And why was Marge surprised to see that Lisa had "chops"? Her little 2-second solo was shoved into that song, and was nothing Marge hasn't seen before. But apparently it was enough to change her mind about taking her back to Springfield?

This episode felt like a mish-mash of "Smoke on the Daughter", "Moonshine Kingdom", and "Elementary School Musical". All of which are pretty terrible episodes. I'm giving it an extra number rating for the quality first act, but nothing after redeemed it. 2/5
 
That stupid gag where Homer cons the ticket salesman... I think the writers really wanted to do a Stonecutters reference but remembered at the last minute that the episode ended with the Stonecutters quitting on Homer.
 
So who did Chris Edgerly voice in this one? I didn't hear him in it anywhere. Do you think they just contractually credit him for the sake of it even if he's not in an episode?

And it was kind of lame how Laney was just voiced by Tress MacNeille using one of her same small amount of stock voices she has these days; usually a character like her would be voiced by a guest star! (And all the other incidental females in this one were voiced by Pamela Hayden, interestingly.) Though to be fair, this could be because Laney already appeared in an episode as a minor character anyways...
 
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Opening song sucked, though I liked Moe's screw up at the end. [MENTION=21074]Financial Panther[/MENTION] is right about Laney's character already being done before in "The Ten-Percent Solution". Was immediately reminded of that episode when I saw her in previews. Laney was a shitty and unlikable character, but I did get a kick out of Lisa's exposure to a lifestyle Marge didn't approve of and the subsequent worry that caused her as well as Bart's overall bluntness with her. Amish Flanders stuff was really stupid. Homer's pregnancy line was lame. Moe's joke about distracting critics by firing his gun in the theater was terrible, and the whole story was just really fucking dumb, uninteresting poorly paced and all around unsatisfying to watch from start to finish save for a few half decent gags.

Oh, here's a small plus. I like that they did pretty much the same gag from the last episode with Marge's hair in reverse. Not sure if they intended to do that like an odd little showing of continuity from one episode to the next but it was kinda neat.

Here's a list of some other bits I liked.

Chief Wiggum's "I'll fix this" bit.
Lenny falling out the widow while making his entrance
Lenny's tape not ending until long after the game was over
Bart suddenly being able to play the sax (First Meg Griffin and now Bart, eh? Wonder how many others could match or best Lisa at her signature thing)
"Your boyfriend King Tutt?"
Abe interjecting out of nowhere before pointing out that he was present the whole time but was just being quiet.
Marge freaking out about Skype to Bart (Reminded me of annoying shit I've had to deal with when it comes to helping family members that are shit with computers)
"Cheering for someone getting a word right? That is a low bar"
"I'm sorry ma'am, the show is sold out for reasons that elude me"
"I see thou art still using the Devil's diddly"

Enough good gags to keep it from the lowest possible rating, but not good enough as a whole to qualify as a passable episode in my opinion. 2/5
 
Jeez, for an episode with a premise as crazy as Homer giving Lisa away as gambling debt, this sure fizzled out quickly. The main question I have is, what's the main conflict in the story, anyway? Is it Marge struggling to come to terms with Lisa going away for a month? Is it Homer's gambling problems? Is it Lisa trying to discover herself in show business? Is it that Laney character trying to give show business one last shot at an old age? Is it Moe's relationship with Laney? Is it Flanders's rivalry with his Amish cousin? Like...by the final scene of the episode, characters just start popping in and out of the stage so each one resolve their little conflict. There's no one thread that runs through the whole episode to give it any semblance of unity.

Other than that, let's see...the director character butchered just about every scene he showed up in with some lame show biz quip. The Star Trek and Inside Out parodies sure were bad parodies. It doesn't really tie in with the rest of the story, but I dug the musical number at the start - always cool when Alf writes one of those parody songs that sounds just close enough to not infringe copyright. (Still amazed at how well Dan C. can keep his pitch after all these years.) It's an expected result when there are so many plot points to follow, but Marge's decision to rescue Lisa from New York kinda comes outta nowhere. Also as a result of the plot being all over the place is the climactic concert scene feeling completely anti-climactic. Is this Lisa's opportunity to shine, or Marge's realization that Lisa can fend for herself, or Laney's last kick at the bucket...what's going on? And why is Milhouse in the stands for no reason?

Will generously vote a 3/5 on poll 'cause the tunes were catchy throughout, but for a big shiny Broadway episode that was nothing special at all.
 
They just make Laney change her mind out of nowhere and dump Lisa in quite possibly the least believable scene I've ever witnessed. Man, this episode was just putrid. 1/5

Uhhh, it was supposed to be unbelievable? She only changed her mind when she saw how sad Marge was about Lisa liking the showbiz life? She did it to make Marge happy at her own expense?

Unless you noticed, but then your comment wouldn't make sense
 
This was not so much Lisa with an "S" but with a "Zzzzzz"

If you want to get pedantic about it, Laney can't sell, trade, or even give away her Oscar. (There is a certain date before which this is allowed, but it is before Steadicams were invented.)

In the motel, Lisa sleeps with her slippers on.

News must not get out to Amish country that well; Ned has had three wives (Maude, Ginger, and Edna), not just two.

The marquee for Lafayette: the Musical has the Eiffel Tower Peace Sign logo; was that a last-minute addition after the Paris shootings?

Homer is now in the Nuclear Feather-Bedders & Layabouts union; in "Last Exit to Springfield," he was in the International Brotherhood of Jazz Dancers, Pastry Chefs, and Nuclear Technicians.

The confetti for Laney's show is from shredded Playbills for Don King and I, which closed opening night.

Is the scene with the bench near a bridge a reference? There was a similar scene in the opening credits of the second season of <i>The Critic</i>.

Written by Stephanie Gillis
Directed by Bob Anderson
"Tune Knight, Tune Knight" Music by Alf Clausen, Lyrics by Stephanie Gillis
No billboard or blackboard
Couch: the USS Donutprise is destroyed after being surrounded by Space Couches
Also Starring: Pamela Hayden, Tress MacNeille, Chris Edgerly
Overseas Animation: Akom
TV Rating: TV-PG-DLV
 
There just wasn't much at all to this episode. For one, I don't seem to care for any of these episodes that revolve around one-time characters (Laney appeared first in My Fare Lady, but is essentially a one-timer). The one-time characters were uninteresting in the last episode and this one was uninteresting too. Secondly, the plot seemed incoherent and didn't really pique my interest. Lisa goes away for 2 seconds, so it's time to get her back, something about Amish people...Moe has a relationship...and then it just kinda ends. I was paying attention this time too. But I think Homer summed up the silliness of the premise pretty well--that didn't excuse it, though. Lisa's stint in show-biz was short-lived and underdeveloped, for some reason we needed to see a lot of the rest of the family's journey to get Lisa, and then there's a brief performance and it's over. There didn't seem to be much "point" to what we were seeing.

Pros
-The "Inside Out" reference.
-Lenny's audio poker guide
-Marge's screeching noise--that was my first laugh-out-loud of the episode, even if it came out of nowhere.
-The album list gag was actually pretty funny. If a list gag has visuals, I can give it a pass.
-Grampa's appearance - I'd like to see a little more of Grampa, but his funny brief appearances are better than nothing.
-Laney's "advice"
-"Nuclear Feather-Bedders & Layabouts 489"
-The Flandwich

Cons
-Not big on any of the musical numbers.
-Forgettable and uninteresting COTD
-Bart's voice sounded bizarre and out of character in this episode. No real way to explain it, but it just did. Especially when he commented on the "electric car". And that whole scene made so little sense I hardly remembered what was going on at that point.
-The plot fizzled out awfully quickly, if there even was much to fizzle out in the first place. We've seen characters get hurt by Show-Biz before, but Lisa's appearance in it was so small that there wasn't really anything to feel about it.

4/10.
 
Meh, just another generic season 27 episode. I swear to god, Al Jean needs to stop letting his wife write any more episodes. Most of her episodes had boring plots. It's sad how Jean can write better plots than his wife. Anyway, there were some moments that I laughed. But other than that, it was just boring. Not offensively bad, but just boring to watch. 5/10

That tears it, season 27 is my least favorite season. I've never been so freaking bored and none of the episodes except Every Man's Dream are bad.
 
Uhhh, it was supposed to be unbelievable? She only changed her mind when she saw how sad Marge was about Lisa liking the showbiz life? She did it to make Marge happy at her own expense?

Unless you noticed, but then your comment wouldn't make sense

I meant that her changing her mind was so sudden and unrealistic. I'm aware of why she changed her mind; it's the way that it was executed that I take issue with.
 
Act 1:
-Simpsons as Star Trek just reminded me of that ending for TMWCTBD. Meh, at least it was a short.
-Tonight parody "Tune Knight..." was decent. Some flat jokes, but it's a slightly interesting way to start an ep, with some good Alf Clausen orchestration (still waiting on that ALF CLAUSEN CLASSIC p).
-Also, Barney singing, yay!
-Oof that Inside Out ref. Just...failure on so many levels. Why is it the Pixar/Disney parodies that I notice fail the hardest in current Simpsons?
-Laney is...certainly another Tress MacNeille character. Agree on the similarities to Joan Rivers S23 character.
-Laughed at Lenny listening to the beginning Poker tapes.

Act 2:
-"This is my thing now."
- Elderly Tress MacNeille char. #279 still boring.
-And then she sings...oh my.
-Lisa apparently has all of Laney's albums (on vinyl no less), and wants to travel with her (in exchange for Homer's debt I assume. Wasn't paying attention, so I assume I just missed that line).
-Dat Lisa jitter.
-Lisa goes on tour, while Marge worries. Good enough plot I guess, but man does this ep get boring while doing this.
-Liked Marge being nervous about Skype.
-Director from Four Great Women and a Manicure is back...blech.
-Forced ref to previous "Simps go to NY" eps by Bart.

Act 3:
-Bunch of sign gags of movie parody titles.
-Simpson family wander around with the Amish and NYC streets for some mediocre filler jokes.
-Still don't really care about Laney (despite being the main focus of the episode).
-"Low Bar" indeed Moe.
-And Laney suddenly decides to end Lisa's stardom career in quick forced out way.
-Oh, and Laney/Moe were apparently in this relationship during the entire episode, so they go around New York and close the episode.
-"Inessential tag" eh.
-Laughed at Flandwitch.
-More Alf Clausen goodness.

Overall, it was okay. First act started off decently, but once it became about Lisa going to NYC, it just became a bore to watch. I'll give this episode credit in that the plot at least kinda made sense (minus Laneys firing of Lisa, though it could've been okay if they gave a good 30 seconds or so to not make it feel rushed as hell), but yeah, pretty forgettable, inoffensive ep.

Overall: 5.5/10, 2/5 for the poll.
 
What could have been an emotional episode with fun musical numbers instead becomes a pile of wasted potential. Laney is not an interesting character and Lisa staying away from home could've been really interesting and the episode could've explored her and Laney's relationship. But they don't, I felt no chemistry between these two characters whatsoever. Also, Marge didn't need that much convincing to be separated from her daughter. The pacing was off too, we see Lisa do like one performance and then it's time to go home. And of all the one-time characters they keep bringing back, why does it have to be Chazz Busby? The only good thing is the song at the beginning (but even that took away time that could've been used for character and plot development) and some of the jokes being decent.2/5

Oh, and Amish Flanders was stupid.

Best Moment: Lenny. He had the best jokes in the entire episode.
 
For once, I must disagree with the majority of people here: This was truly a good quality episode.
The effort put into the musical number(s), incidental score, animation (lots of nice angles, panning cameras, pseudo-3d, Lisa shaking in excitement) was enjoyable to watch. Marge, Lisa, Homer and Bart were all in-character and their motivation for behavior was explained nicely. The story wasn't that special but it was executed without dull or irritating moments -> rare thing these days.
4/5
 
Meh, just another generic season 27 episode. I swear to god, Al Jean needs to stop letting his wife write any more episodes. Most of her episodes had boring plots. It's sad how Jean can write better plots than his wife.
I wouldn't say that's sad at all. Jean is one of the best writers on staff. The problem is he's an utterly atrocious showrunner who lacks motivation for himself and the ability to motivate others.

The real problem with his wife writing episodes is that it only works if he's terrible at showrunning. Because if he was competent, he'd either be critical of her scripts (which is clearly needed) and it would cause problems at home... or, he'd be critical of everyone else's scripts and not hers, in which case we'd have a clear conflict of interest in play. This set up only works because he's lax with everyone. Of her 10 episodes, I would argue that only one (Once Upon a Time in Springfield) is any good and that's largely predicated on the strength of Anne Hathaway's performance which carries it. I would trust her to write Dan's characters more than I would trust Dan... but that's about it.

As for Al's strengths as a writer, I think he's quite accomplished and it would be difficult to argue otherwise.

I agree with all of the positive shoutouts for Alf Clausen this week. Man doesn't get clearly enough credit. Always happy to see him get a sequence or two to own and the way this week's episode kicked off had me duped into thinking we were in for a surprise only for it to wind up as a fake out. Hell, they should have made the entire episode a musical... but that would have required the focus this episode otherwise lacked. Would have helped to elevate it beyond what we got at least.
 
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I wouldn't say that's sad at all. Jean is one of the best writers on staff. The problem is he's an utterly atrocious showrunner who lacks motivation for himself and the ability to motivate others.
Just to expand on this above criticism, I probably would not have labelled Jean as "an atrocious showrunner" a dozen years ago. He is one now.

To pull out a football reference, Peyton Manning is an atrocious quarterback now. Brock Osweiler (who might as well be Generic QB who could be replaced with any of the other two-dozen or so 20-something QBs in the NFL) just won his first career start on Sunday and is a better quarterback for the Broncos now than Peyton Manning is.

Manning is also one of the most accomplished quarterbacks to ever play his position and a first ballot Hall of Famer. Osweiler will need to buy a ticket to the Hall of Fame if he ever wishes to enter it. So when I compare Al Jean to a broken-down 39-year-old Peyton Manning... that's still damning with praise, IMO. Someone less accomplished and less talented would work far better as a showrunner than Jean right now because they, at least, would still have something to prove. Jean clearly does not.
 
It was pretty good. It had a good amount of chuckles and stuff, like the Snoopy shirt and the Inside Out parody, and the story was executed well for the most part. It felt like a season 16 episode. It kind of fell apart at the end though. 4/5
 
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