Actually, Homer was kissed by a gay guy before--way back in season 2 ("Simpson and Delilah") by a character played by Harvey Fierstein. That was more of a big smooch, though.

Meanwhile, Tony Blair takes time out from waging war to record a guest spot.

He may have kissed Fierstein before. But Homer had never....

1. Gone to a gay disco, took off his sirt and spanked his ass.

2. shopped for a skin tight outfit after getting a $100 haircut

been in bed with another guy on top of him.

(Still don't find him sexy though..)

Anyone remember the episode entitled "Homer Phobia" in which Homer is scared Bart may be gay? He even takes the boy to a steel mill--only to learn it's a gay steel mill. And the denouement with the reindeer is typically Simpson-ian. The guest voice was John Waters. It was a wonderfully funny episode.

~Adam

My two favorite lines from last night's episode (I was laughing so hard I had to keep rewinding the tape):

The woman watching Homer dancing in the bar who said, "I didn't think it was possible, but watching him makes me more lesbian."

And when one of the gay roommates criticized the other one's cooking, Homer stepped to the cook's defense by stating: "You're just ridin' his butt...and not in a good way." wink

Funniest episode in a long time!

And right before that when Homer referred to Julio as "Picky Ricardo" because he was complaining.

Also loved:
*Oprah's Puzzle Club

*The nightclub the guys go to called "One Night Stan's"

*When Bart reminded Homer they weren't playing Pictionary last week, but it was an intervention to stop his drinking and then showed the pictures!

*Homer holds up the concert tee shirt that reads: Rollong Stones-Last Tour Ever '89

*Grady says "Homer puhleeze. Practically everyone who's acted in, produced or seen a play is gay".

*Homer laments, "Like David Spade without Chris Farley; alone and useless".

Well, it was really nice to see Waylon Smithers, alas, ever so briefly. "Hey Waylon! Is that the Mr. Burns you keep talking about?" Hee hee. I love me some Smithers and wish that he wasn't such a closet case, even in Springfield's gay ghetto.

Good episode.

And let's not forget the gay ghetto store called "Armistead's Mopeds."

Funny how I can laugh at the cliches when cleverly done and animated but cringe at nearly the same ones live on "Six Feet Under."

Remember it? It's number 4 on my list of Best Episodes...and number 5 on Entertainment Weekly's inferior list. wink

from Joe in Philly:

Remember it? It's number 4 on my list of Best Episodes...and number 5 on Entertainment Weekly's inferior list

Are they mad??? Though I don't have a personal best/worst list of Simpson episodes, "Homer-phobia" would rate fairly high--just a little behind some of the musical episodes (parodies of Streetcar Named Desire, Mary Poppins, "We Put the Spring in Springfield," and Selma [or was it Patty] singing "Natural Woman" to her iguana JubJub) which are personal passions--but still very high, indeed.

~Adam

It's about time the Simpsons take another trip. Hey, they are. This time their going to England. But I'm sure at the end of this season. MP Tony Blair recorded his voice over this week along with Ian McCellun and someone else. Should be filled with more stupid antics by Homer and Bart. Same old stuff but in a different country.

Anyone know if the past seasons are out on DVD yet?

Only the first two seasons are out on DVD.

Gotta love this! The mayor of Toledo, OH, "has delayed approving new welcome signs with ToledOH! after learning about" Homer Simpson's saying, "Doh!"

The papers are chocked full of great stories today!

OMG... did anyone catch Maggie dancing to Britney's "Oops I Did It Again"? It was another of those hilarious Simpsons moments where I had to catch my breath afterwards because I was laughing so hard.

Kind of a dated reference. Britney's already yesterday's news. And last night wasn't one of the better episodes.

Dated reference? Whatever. I thought it was hilarious. How sad that you can't find humor just because Britney hasn't had a #1 song in a year.

I thought it was pretty good -- maybe not as good as "Three Gays of the Condo", but it entertained me. And Maggie doing the Britney dance was too funny! I liked how she winked and tried to plug the soda, like Britney plugging Pepsi (GOD, I got sick of those commercials). All in all, I still think "The Simpsons" is one of the three best shows on TV.

At the risk of sounding like...well, someone else...don't get your panties all in a bunch. wink

If you've read this thread at all you know that I'm a huge Simpsons fan. And it's not that I didn't laugh at the scene (particularly when Maggie displayed the soda can). I just didn't laugh as much as I might have a year ago, when Britney's Pepsi ads were all over the place.

So, in the 7 pm Simpsons rerun, Rainier Wolfcastle has filed for bankruptcy and is selling off everything in his mansion...

Oh no, do I smell a love affair between Wolfcastle and Smithers? Will Smithers ever leave Mr. Burns? Will FOX have the first gay cartoon kiss? Stay tuned...

Tonight's ep. is still playing (Marge gets a "We Love You" party) but I'll say it yet again:

Kill. this. show. NOW.

Awful, awful, awful. Whatever is beyond Jumping the Shark, The Simpsons is so there.

[ May 11, 2003, 08:33 PM: Message edited by: Jim Allen ]

thumper, go back and read the posts from 4/13 and 4/14--they've already had two male-male kisses on this show!

Season 3 on DVD is now available. I got my pre-ordered copy today. Woo-hoo!

Joe, you east coasters always seem to get these things before we out west....Of course, this means (to paraphrase Milhouse when his flood pants are de rigueur following Sprinfield's flooding by Homer) "Everything's coming up Joe in Philly."

~Adam

You compare me to Milhouse?? Ouch! eek! Alas, if only everything were coming up Joe...but that's another story.

I was pleasantly surprised to get it so quickly. I only got the e-mail yesterday saying they shipped it. It was pre-ordered from buy.com (thanks to George for tipping me off to the special price they offered). Maybe they shipped it from somewhere nearby--I didn't look at the address on the box.

Some Season 3 classics:

Stark Raving Dad-Homer is sent to the looney bin after wearing a pink shirt to work. Turned pink thanks to Bart putting his red cap in the wash. Homer's roommate claims to be Michael Jackson, but he's a big fat white guy. Lisa's poem about the death of her cat is great.

"I had a cat named Snowball
She died , she died!
Mom said she was sleeping
She lied, she lied!
Why, oh why, is my cat dead?
Couldn't that Chrysler hit me instead?
I had a hamster named Snuffy.
He died..."

Bart the Murderer -Bart ends up as a flunky for Fat Tony and his mob in a spoof of Goodfellas. On Bart's behalf, the mob threatens Principal Skinner, who ends up missing and Bart charged with murder after being fingered by Fat Tony.

Like Father Like Clown -Bart and Lisa work to unite Krusty with his long estranged father, Rabbi Krustofski.

Saturdays of Thinder -After Homer fails a test from the National Fatherhood Institute (Marge asks: Name your child's friends. Homer replies: Uh, let's see, there's the fa6 kid with the thing...uh, the little weiner whose always got his hands in his pants."), he decides he needs to be a more involved father. He helps Bart build a soapbox racer.

Radio Bart -Bart gets a toy microphone for his birthday and uses it to play a joke on the town by dropping a radio down a well and using the mic to pretend that "Timmy O'Toole has fallen down the well. Celebrities, including Sting and Krusty, unite to record a song to raise money for Timmy's rescue.

Bart the Lover -Bart finds a personal ad that Mrs Krabappel has written and decides to reply as "Woodrow" and using a picture of Gordie Howe. Homer tries to help Bart write a breakup letter after Edna falls in love with "Woodrow". His ideas for the letter include: "Dear Baby, Welcome to Dumpsville, Population: you" and "P.S.- I am gay".

Colonel Homer -Homer becomes the manager for a country singer named Lurlene. SOme of her songs: "I'm Basting a Turkey with My Tears", "Don't Look Up My Dress Unless You Mean It", "I'm Sick of Your Lying Lips and False Teeth", "Your Wife Don't Understand You, But I Do".

Black Widower -Classic Sideshow Bob appearance as he marries Aunt Selma and tries to kill her. Only Bart suspects and him trying to explain it to Homer by using drawings and hand puppets is just a riot.

It's got the "Bart the Lover" episode where Bart sends love letters to Miss Krabapple--and a photo of Gordie Howe! I LOVE that episode. My set better come soon--and then the phone's being taken off the hook 'til I've seen that one.

And Joe, in no way was I comparing you to Milhouse-- was just trying to think of a moment when glorious serendipity made something go right for someone in Springfield.

~Adam

Oh, Adam, I was just teasing... wink

"Bart the Lover" is #3 on my own personal list of best episodes (as seen somewhere in this very thread, I think).

That one is a classic. Channel 5 here in DC just ran that episode last week. It never gets old. The picture of Gordie Howe, and then, the career statistics of Howe at the tail end of the episode just make it even funnier. However, the whole time I was thinking, "How could anyone NOT recognize Gordie Howe?". I guess that is a naive hockey fan for you!

I agree with ya'll on the "Bart the Lover" episode -- solid gold. But I love the little Timmy down the well one as well -- if only for the silliness of the news story about squirrel that looks like Abraham Lincoln -- and then the boy-down-the-well story gets bypassed by the news that the "Lincoln Squirrel has been assassinated!" Great stuff!

Like the rest of you I've probably seen each of these episodes a quaddrillion times (and my TV is on Channel 5 every evening from 6-7!) -- but I gotta own this DVD!

[ August 28, 2003, 07:42 AM: Message edited by: DCBucky ]

Did you see that now Channel 5 is going show The Simpsons 3 times a day? ...6.00, 6.30, 11.00! Too cool! But, I still want to get my own DVD's as well--only have episodes on VHS. Outside of sports and Gilmore Girls, there is nothing else I watch anymore.

The Fox station here's been showing the Simpsons at 6:30 and 7 for what seems like years, and recently added the 11 pm showing. The problem was that until about a month ago, they had a few months in which they were only showing episodes from the last couple of years available to syndication--over and over and over again. You could literally see the same episode about every three weeks. There was some contract issue, they said. Finally they're now showing episodes from earlier years.

The Fox station out of Denver shows three episodes Monday through Friday too (5:30, 6:00 and now 10:00)...maybe it's a national trend? If it's on, even if I've seen it a hundred times, that's what usually wins.

By the way, the episode I'm most looking forward to this next season is what I've heard described as an Evita-esque one with Lisa running for student body president of the elementary school. That could potentially be very funny. But they might not start airing the new season until around Halloween, like they've done the past few years.

I hadn't seen a promo for the new season of the Simpsons yet on Fox (just endless ones for the O.C., That 70s Show, etc), but I just saw one earlier today. Looks like they're planning on airing the Halloween episode on November 2nd, which seems to be the pattern over the past couple of years, anyway. Season 14 had some really good episodes, as well as some not-so-good ones, unfortunately. Hope season 15 is consistently better.

(_8(l)

Once the baseball playoffs start, that's usually when they start teasing the Simpsons Halloween special, since that's now the one they show first each year.

Hate to give this thread even the hint of P&R ... but ...

"Fox News Threatened to Sue The Simpsons Over a Parody Segment

During an interview broadcast today on NPR's Fresh Air, Simpsons creator Matt Groening revealed that the Fox News Network had threatened to sue The Simpsons over a parody of the right-leaning news channel. The highly sensitive news organization, which is headed by Roger Ailes, made headlines this summer with an ill-starred lawsuit against humorist Al Franken's book, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them. The Fox suit was thrown out in court and only succeeded in making Franken's book a bestseller.

According to Groening, the Simpsons team refused to cut out the segment, which Groening told Fresh Air he "really liked," figuring that Rupert Murdoch wouldn't allow the Fox News cable network to sue the Fox Broadcast Network, which carries The Simpsons. The Fox News Network did back down on its threat, although it has told The Simpsons creators that in the future, cartoon series will not be allowed to include a "news crawl" along the bottom of the screen, which might "confuse the viewers."

Link

"The Simpsons are like the Energizer bunny" because Matt Groening doesn't back down to sometimes controversial situations. "The Simpsons" makes fun of both sides regardless of whether one tends to lean towards the left or the right. That is one of the things I love about the show. Everyone is a target!

Okay ... I know people are stupid and all, but ... seriously... it might "confuse the viewers"?

I'd think that the fact that the people depicted on the screen in the Simpsons are *animated* and *yellow* (for the most part) would be enough of a hint that maybe it's not Fox News they're watching.

OK, Joe in Philly, I am truly impressed that back on March 8th, you accurately predicted how Fox News looks in light of threatening to sue the Simpsons. What's next -- stock tips? Which of the European hos the next Joe Millionaire will choose? Inquiring minds want to know!

Not that Fox News needs much help in looking stupid, they seem to have had that down for a while now. But at the risk of veering this thread off into politics, I re-watched the aforementioned episode to remind myself what it was that had them so peeved. The best lines:

* the newscaster saying, "welcome to Fox News, your voice for evil."

* two of the crawls along the bottom read, "study: 92 percent of Democrats are gay" and "oil slicks found to keep seals young, supple"

* and when Lisa says, "Krusty, I don't usually give advice to Republicans, but it would be nice to be on the winning side for once.

Looking forward to Treehouse of Horror XIV this Sunday!

(_8(l)

Sorry, no clairvoyance here--just common sense. But how stupid can you be that you would essentially sue yourself??

Well, Treehouse of Horror XIV just ended, and it was OK. As I've come to expect from the past few seasons, there were some very funny jokes (the part where Flanders told Professor Frink's father that he won first place in the 'race for the cure...of homosexuality' made me laugh the loudest), some nice rewards for long-time fans, but not quite up to the level of some of the previous seasons. I caught just a little of what must have been the first Treehouse of Horror the other day, where James Earl Jones narrates The Raven, and to compare what the show was over a decade ago to what it is now is kind of strange. I mean, it's not like non-animated shows where the most jarring change as the program ages is that the cast inevitably ages, too. Aside from what Homer's voice (and a few others) sounded like in the first season, and the couple of set-in-the-future-or-the-past episodes, it's still generally the same. I think that's a strength. I've heard people complain, some on this board, that the show has jumped the shark, and I really don't want to believe it because it's been a part of my life for so many years. I certainly couldn't come up with something as fresh and creative on my 314th try as I did on my first, or even my 50th. I'm not even sure exactly what I'm trying to say...I'll never give up on it, so I'll just have to weed through the parts I just sit there and stare at and focus on the good stuff. Since it's not like the show is completely devoid of humor now. Probably the last segment, where Bart & Milhous used the stopwatch to stop time, was the best overall tonight. Hopefully Glenn Close as Homer's mom will be good next week, and this season has more than a few funny episodes. I'll take that.

The show is really hit-or-miss now, with more misses than hits. Only a few episodes a year qualify as really good or great ones. But even in the bad shows there are still good lines or sight gags.

Tonight's show, sadly, was one of the worst Halloween episodes they've had. The hardest I laughed was in the show's opening with the family attacking each other, then cutting to the obligatory Kang and Kodos cameo ("They're showing a Halloween episode....IN NOVEMBER!!"

Definitely the worst Halloween anthology of theirs that I've seen ... they didn't even have a decent ending (or Burgess Meredith-Twilight Zone reference) for the stopwatch segment.

Jerry Lewis didn't even sound too much like himself in the custom-made role of Frink Senior! (except for "The pyramids were made by ... Seeearrrs!")

I can speak for the other 3000 people nationwide who got the El Brendel "yumping yiminy" gag: thanks.

I agree with those who say this was among the weakest of "Treehouse of Terrors," though I did like Ned Flanders having come in first in "the walk for a cure....for homosexuality." And Joe, I thought of you when Bart & Lisa opened the program dressed as Charlie Brown & Lucy Van Pelt, respectively.

~Adam

Well, liked what Ned said when he was dying & entering heaven: "Confucius? Milton Berle? Boy, I've been barking up the wrong tree!"

I thought of me, too. wink

Finally, a Simpsons movie?

I'll believe it when I see it. wink

So, any leads on which Simpsons character is going to leave the show tomorrow night?

My guess: Ralph Wiggum

I don't think anyone leaves the show; rather Milhose moves to Capital City. I'm sure he ends up moving back though. I'd tell you the rest of the plot, but I don't want to spoil it! wink

I thought last week's episode with Marge's version of three different historical characters was very funny. They may not put out as many great episodes as they used to, but this is still the funniest show on TV, IMO.

I liked last week's episode also, particularly the last two stories (about Sacagawea and Mozart). Previous episodes have ripped on the Sacagawea coins, and I still don't know why I find that so funny. I remember Moe pointing a shotgun at someone and saying 'take your Sacagawea coins and get out', or something like that. So when Bart thought what Marge was holding was a quarter, then Milhouse thought it was a Chuck-E-Cheese token, I got a good laugh out of that.

Regarding the possibility of a Simpsons movie, if next season winds up the series on TV, and they don't just slap something out there (which, unfortunately, could describe some of the episodes from the past few seasons), but take their time and come up with an interesting concept, I could see it working. I know I'd go see it, anyway.

Trouble in Springfield according to TV Guide online:

Considering people like Ray Romano, Kelsey Grammar and the cast of Friends make over $1 million an episode, I don't think the voices of the The Simpsons are out of line. The show is still a hit and has been for almost 15 years! FOX has made a fortune and a half off this show and the voices are as important an element of the show as anything else.