Rate & Review: "The Star of the Backstage" (QABF17)

How would you rate this episode?


  • Total voters
    62
That is an interesting take (and luckily I haven't even heard of that one show so luckily I don't have any plot to really compare it with at the moment as I cannot recall a similar plot right now) but there is some good points with the issues (such as forgetting about the fact that previous Selman works have stated that Marge did go to college) It really is kind of fascinating how divisive this episode is, with mostly either 2/5s or 4/5s, but such things happen every now and then and it is, again, understandable since the script does have problems that, depending on how easily or not one can overlook most of the problems, can be an issue.

Also, I think that it is important to note that this is only Elisabeth Kiernan Averick's second episode written after 'Hail To The Teeth' (not counting the Loki short) and both of those (episode & short) weren't exactly great by a long shot (being riddled with problems) so I can forgive this one not being perfect IMO, also since it is better than what I had expected for a new writer who hasn't got a good track record. It will certainly be interesting to see how her next episode, 'A Made Maggie', will be like.
 
Well, that's one thing that's actually rubbed me the wrong way about a fair bit of the modern show and especially Selman's episodes put into words. I mean last season there were some more obvious ones like the bush gag in Wad Goals but also I think there were like three or four episodes that called back to The Vindicators which actually started to get outright annoying. Though to a lesser extent I don't think Jean's much better with that. (though I guess so folks don't get on my back I'll begrudgingly give Selman's eps the positive that a lot of background characters feel more carefully picked than in Jean's. Sometimes that adds a little flavour, like Marge talking to Sarah briefly even if the latter had no lines)

Then again, ain't like the earlier seasons didn't often go for cameos that were probably intended to be crowd pleasers but it was a little toned down. Also it sorta felt like the show (or Springfield at least) had it's own weird little pop culture going on. It was a lot more flexible and maybe we'd get more out of the play itself if they did more their own thing? Kinda like how Itchy and Scratchy is basically Tom and Jerry but it was played fairly loosely so it could also parody Disney and so on.

And okay, maybe the college thing doesn't mesh so well with continuity but honestly I'm plenty fine with throwing That 90's Show out of the timeline. I mean it probably wasn't on purpose but if it was, that's a positive to me.
 
Yeah... Although I rated it lower, I'd honestly take Hail to the Teeth over this episode. At least that one was consistent in terms of who we were supposed to view as being in the right or wrong.

EDIT: Also That 90's Show was a better episode! *Gets pelted with stones*
 
'That 90's Show' is generally overhated (and I didn't even mind the floating timeline effect back when it aired), but it still pretty much a bland and meh story for me personally. It just doesn't have a plot that grips or interests me enough to really get into it or care for it.

As for 'Hail To The Teeth', that one went too far in a few places even for me. The main plot was an uninspired, derivative bore and chore & the subplot was absurdly ridiculous and insanely cartoonish, like a repurposed 'Treehouse Of Horror' segment.
 
The only song I really loved was the Remember the Times song with Kirk on guitar.

Marge having Kristen Bell's voice was distracting for some reason. Kristen Bell should have played the talented performer who comes back to town.

2.5/5
 
I'll give it a 2/5. Despite musicals not being my thing, it is underrated thanks to it's IMDb eating. There has been worse episodes and musicals before.
 
Kristen Bell and Sara Chase are talented singers, but that's the biggest positive I can find for this one. C-
 
I liked it! The story was engaging and the songs felt more Broadway than Great North at least. Keep in mind this is someone who is obessed with Central Park so when I saw Simpsons was doing a musical it made me smile. Kristen Bell was the real highlight but it may be bias because I adore anything she’s in.

She was on Housebroken too recently, and I thought that episode was one of the better ones despite my feelings on that show.

But now she cant enter in comedy deried guest actor.
 
Decided to start watching Season 33, and I'm not sure how to feel about this episode. There are funny moments, but at the same time, Marge's singing felt off. Don't have anything else to say about it thou, other than I feel like people are review bombing it too much on IMDB
 
The story is… the story.👻 About jealousy, nostalgia, pretending to be not who you are in reality (I'd say, who you're made by time). More spotlight on those who are on backstage and who also want attention.

Also Homer as part or not of Marge's past - not the best continuity bagging🥱

In the same time the musical format of story (about making a musical:rimshot:) was good and gave much positives. However, now I relooked on some songs' content. The Y2K song, Never Try, Remember the Times - all had own understood sence, but weren't something special. The other 4 songs - The Star of the Backstage, Sasha's song, Delicate Approach and Fraudway Baby are hits (especially the last one😀).

For sure the episode can be praised for gentle choreography and vocal talents (I remember Maggie Roswell said, she had must recover her voice for days after doing Helen's seemingly little part).

I laughed at: jokes over CAST GROUP CHAT and when Marge singing in her voice scaring the cast😅 Also the ending was nice.

plot 18/25
absurdity (the possibility of what is happening and whether I liked it) 22/25
comedy 14/25
originality (level of references and whether I liked them) 22/25

TOTAL 76/100 (4/5, uptaken from 3.5, with rounding, or B-) GOOD!
 
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Boy, IMDb really hated this one.

Presumably due to its flaunting of the series' reckless floating timeline, a 00s variation on the grunge era fantasy of That 90s Show. Its weird to be sure but I can't say I care that much that Marge was a teen in the 00s or whatever, but adherence vs. non-adherence to continuity is a slippery slope for other reasons. Matt Selman recently said something to the effect of viewing every episode of the series as its own pocket universe rather than bother with any canon, he is quite evidently vocal about this and enacts it time and time again. Its a sound stress-mitigating strategy to not worry that an entire behemoth show lines up, but there have to be degrees, I don't mind minute contradictions for the sake of a story but I also don't just like Marge Simpson because she's shaped that way, I can only be so forgiving of extraneously shoving characters in awkward spaces to act out what is essentially official fanfiction, at what point is making new rules erasing the character I like in the first place? I wouldn't say this is a prime example of that sin but its surely a case of the show throwing caution to the wind for the sake of an idea, cobbling together random secondaries as usual because I guess the character designers are on permament strike?

Marge isn't so much not Marge here as she's a really reaaaally basic outline of the character's usual ennui playing out an unfortunately rote sitcom script disguised as a grandiose musical. I think the songs are well performed and well composed but none of them save Homer's charming tune to his seething wife are all that funny or even informed by character, its a strange reverse engineered characterization where one has to fully accept the premise of these randos all having known each other and worked together rather than building from their natural tendencies, its bizarre seeing Kirk and Hibbert or Barney and Helen act like they have some precious nostalgia together cuz they feel so picked from a lineup, I really hate this now two-decade strong trend, like I said I get each episode having its own rules but these are only the characters they are stated to be through visual confirmation, and its sad cuz with original or more thoughtfully picked characters, as basic as the jealousy and forgiveness arc is, the desperation to reclaim the nostalgia of times so long left in a box would ring true especially with Marge at the center, the Times song is so close to good in this regard but I don't recognize any of these people. Overall its just so bizarrely unspectacular, and a bad double dose of terrible Selman tendencies of picking characters at random and playing sitcom schmaltz entirely straight without the lived-in depth to make it resemble human pathos.

Oh and Kristen Bell uhh its weird and they should have picked someone whose vocal register more closely resembles Marge.

2/5
 
Geez, Treehouse of Horror XXXIII certainly used up all your goodwill, eh?

I think it's erroneous to say that the use of Marge in this episode revolves around her "usual ennui" when there is, in fact, a lot more to it than that. This is actually a quintessentially Marge story. A woman who is charged with managing a 'family' and keeping it together, relegated to the background where she is routinely overlooked and underappreciated and taken for granted. I could care less about the secondaries and whether or not they're plucked haphazardly with little regard to their actual characters. They're just window dressing and, for me, have a negligible impact on the core of the story which is Marge's anxieties, frustrations, resentments and dissatisfactions.

Oh and Kristen Bell uhh its weird and they should have picked someone whose vocal register more closely resembles Marge.
Why?
 
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Seems like a common misconception among viewers & fans is why they had Kristen Bell perform Marge's singing voice (Spoiler alert: In short, the discrepancy was intentional. It was how Marge interpreted her singing voice to be like, as she liked to fantasize/imagine having the singing voice of a Disney princess and we got to hear it. They even lampshaded the fact).

(And I still think it is likely one reason behind its impopularity on IMDB is due to how musical and musical episodes put many off and apparently a lot of people don't want a full modern musical episode of 'The Simpsons')
 
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Season 33 has only just popped up on UK Disney+ so I'm finally getting a chance to watch this now.

I liked this episode well enough overall. The framework was a little confusing to me though. I wasn't sure if this was all a fantasy in Marge's head or if it was actually happening until they were about to perform. In the end I prefer to think of it all as Marge's fantasy, seeing as they tried to retroactively fit everybody growing up in 1999 and I still feel as iffy about that as I did when That 90's Show came out.

The songs were pretty good, not especially catchy to me outside of Remember the Times, but I liked the approach they went with Marge's voice. Even taken as its own thing, I like that the reason Marge stayed in Springfield was due to Sasha suing her parents. Nice to see Jaqueline Bouvier again.

Definitely a whole lot better than the score on IMDB seems to suggest, I'm going with 3/5 on this one.
 
review notes i made bc i cant be bothered to write the full thing out:
  • christ an episode about theatre kids im gonna need a drink for this one
  • Ok the teen years have jumped a couple decades but its whatever
  • Musical number 1 - animation is kinda popping off ngl except for the vacant stares of the other characters, that’s kinda weird
  • First of all, deducting a point for writing Lenny out wtf
  • Homer beefing with Bart and Lisa was pretty funny
  • Musical number 2 - Sashas kind of annoying but i guess it makes sense. Same Homer I recognised like one of those names
  • Yeah Sasha is really annoying
  • “Theatre kids are super cool” homer don’t fucking ever poison my ears with that shit again
  • also a theatre episode with no Mel? Wow
  • That transition in time with the camera was pretty cool
  • Musical number 3 - being out of the loop is so real.
  • They partied at her house without her and got her parents sued??? What the fuck??
  • ok marge in this musical number is kinda hitting close to home this shit giving me a pit in my stomach damn
  • This is the best one tho I think
  • Aw it’s nice seeing Marge with her mother I guess
  • Ok marge get her ass
  • Musical number 4 - This ones pretty good as well I think, I like the animation too
  • Fraudway baby lol
  • oh hell nah lets not pretend marge is in the wrong here
  • Marge needs to stab someone or I’m not giving this ep a good rating
  • Musical number 5 - Fun but still not sympathising with the theatre weirdos
  • Marge has a right to be mad I don’t see why she has to cater to the majority here, I guess it would’ve been better if she told them she hated being left out
  • Moe in the background is pretty funny
  • This show better be good
  • Barneys singing now alright then
  • Everyone cringing at marges voice lol
  • Ehh the Y2K production was kinda overhyped id give it a 2.3/5
  • It’s nice that Marge is getting recognition from the other tech losers I guess
  • Final thoughts:
  • Marge is in the right and I will stand by that til the day I die
  • Overall, decent ep but has caused my dislike of theatre kids to grow ever larger
  • Marge’s guest star voice was pretty good, no idea who did it tho I haven’t checked who the guest stars are
  • 3/5, everyone but marge was annoying but it was fine regardless
 
Really sweet episode. As always, I love musicals, and this one in particular.:aww:
Very hard to be outside of, supposedly "your" people and realized it. Both Sash and Marge wished to avoid this feeling. Add here broken dreams of youngness (of both too) and here it is.

The problem I saw was in underdone lines between the songs with techniques a la "let's point out the situation" or little retreats to jokes for the joke or smile.o_O

My previous review was done with effect of other's hate of the episode. I thought I put too low, but actually not. Let's say, despite this one is definitely not the best of season 33, but this is a really good episode, worth watching and rewatching.

plot 17/25
absurdity level (the possibility of what is happening and whether I liked it) 23/25
comedy 15/25
originality (level of references and whether I liked them) 23/25
TOTAL 78/100 (strong 4/5, or B). GOOD!
 
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