From there, the main plot kicks in, where a health scare divides Springfield and neighboring town Ogdenville. As more and more Ogdenvillians move to town, working menial jobs, it seems nice at first, but the overpopulation starts to grate on everyone. The metaphor here is clearly immigration, made all the more clear once Homer joins a border patrol to keep the outsiders out, followed by the creation of a giant fence. Also, the Ogdenvillians are all Norwegian for some reason.

I’m sure many Internet peons are chomping at the bit to attack this one as a “message episode,” but it looks to me like the whole immigration thing is really here a framework to hang jokes off of. The closest thing the episode makes to an actual statement is that people should set aside their differences, etc. Or maybe the statement is people who run things at the U.S. borders are idiots. But then, this is demonstrated by having Homer get confused as to the difference between a gun and his beer. (He tries drinking the gun.)

I’d say the first half of the episode is much stronger in laughs and content than the second half, especially the somewhat rushed ending. That said, I’d find it interesting if they did a follow-up somewhere down the line, to show what became of the Ogdenvillians. This show isn’t known for rock-solid continuity, but I can’t help but wonder if there are more story possibilities here.

The framework of Marge and Lisa on a trip to the nail salon is established quickly as an excuse to tell tales of great women in history. First up is a take on Queen Elizabeth I, in what is mostly a spoof of the movie Elizabeth: The Golden Age. The various riffs on the time period come rapid-fire, but the real winner of this segment is Hank Azaria as the Spanish king, with Agador revisiting his hilarious Spartacus the butler character from The Birdcage.

From there, Lisa tells her version of Snow White, loaded with digs at a certain world-famous entertainment leader (rhymes with “risney”). The short musical number is a definite highlight, but a running gag with Groundskeeper Willie and a knife ran a little too long for my tastes.

Segment three promises a take on, ahem, The Scottish Play, but instead, it’s more like Kiss Me Kate with bloody stabbings taking the place of singing and romance. Anybody else out there think maybe this was originally meant as a Halloween segment? Amid the numerous Shakespeare jokes, we get what is actually a genuinely sweet moment in which Homer successfully gets his Scottish Play act together. Nicely done, with some gorgeous animation and a solid performance by Dan Castellaneta.

Surprise! The episode comes back from commercial with a fourth story. Remember when The Simpsons first spoofed A Clockwork Orange, The Prisoner or Sid and Nancy and you thought, “I can’t believe their spoofing this on prime time TV?” Here’s another one of those moments, with a Simpsons version of Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead. Maggie, of all characters, plays a brilliant baby whose block creations keep getting knocked over by a daycare provider who encourages sameness and mediocrity. It’s much funnier than I’m making it sound, and it ends the episode on a great high note. Longtime fans will be stunned to see another super-celebrity providing a voice for–wait for it–Maggie!

Folks who stopped watching The Simpsons a few years ago are really missing out on some clever comedy the show is currently putting out.

CR: FOX

Thirteen mostly good-looking people are transported into the middle of a Louisiana swamp, where they are to spend the night in an Evil Dead-style creepy cabin. In a far-to-blatant riff on the Saw films, an unseen character called the “Mastermind” leaves tape recordings lying around, instructing the contestants to play his sinister games. Whoever performs the worst in these games is “killed” at the end of each episode.

What could have been cheesy fun is instead handicapped by its own phoniness. The contestants keep walking around in the woods at night whimpering to themselves about how terrified they are, and how frightening it is to be “alone” in the dark. But we all know they’re not alone, because they’ve got cameramen following them around, not to mention producers, makeup people, and God knows who else. A plot point in the second half of the pilot has to do with contestants challenged to steal a “death box” (don’t ask) without the others noticing. Sneaking around behind the others’ backs is one thing, but sneaking around as the camera crew follows you is probably something else altogether. Simply put, it looks to me like this “reality” show is entirely staged, and that ruined any enjoyment I might otherwise have gotten from it.

These contestants, who appear to be all roughly the same age and economic status, are as bland as bland gets. The only standouts are the Mohawk guy, who says he’s here because he loves horror movies, the ditzy blond, who says she’s here to prove that she’s more than just a ditzy blonde, and the freestyle rap guy, who somehow manages to rhyme “evil” with “people.” Still, there wasn’t a lot of personality on display. Isn’t that supposed to be one of the draws of reality shows, the interactions among various dynamic personalities from different walks of life?

During one game, the Mastermind gives some contestants their own video cameras and instructs them to record the action themselves. This was the only moment in which the show almost looked as if it might start to get somewhere close to actually being interesting, but not a lot of the contestants’ footage made it on screen. I couldn’t help but wonder what the show would be like if the creators really went for broke, capturing the entire competition with stationed surveillance cameras and the contestants’ own footage. It’d look a lot rougher and grittier, but perhaps that’s what this show could use more of.

Hey, you know what’s really scary? In two weeks, this show will air on the same night opposite TV mega-sensation Lost. Good luck with that, everyone.

There was Batman, sitting in the Batmobile, parked just outside the Sheraton Framingham Hotel, and who came rolling up? R2-D2. R2 looked around, and started playing the 1960s Batman theme song. As he did, Batman just sat there, hanging out. OK, so it wasn’t the epic team-up adventure fans might’ve hoped for, but, hey, it’s R2 and Batman.

This scene and ones like it were among the highlights of the annual SuperMegaFest, the Massachusetts answer to Comic Con. Except not really. Comic Con gets producers and stars and Hollywood bigwigs, while SuperMegaFest gets a guy who once played a stormtrooper. I kid. Some notables present were Leslie Neilson (Forbidden Planet and the Naked Gun series) Doug Jones (Abe Sapien from Hellboy), Jonathan Frakes (Riker from Star Trek: The Next Generation), original Beatles drummer Pete Best, Peter Tork of the Monkees, Dawn Wells (MaryAnn from Gilligan’s Island), Richard Kiel (Jaws from the James Bond series), three actors who’ve played Jason in the Friday the 13th series, comic book artist Ethan Van Sciver, and a truckload of professional wrestling celebrities. More importantly, it was a chance to spend six months’ worth of wages on action figures, graphic novels, DVDs, and all manner of movie/TV memorabilia. But you don’t want to read about how I bought a complete collection of Skrull Kill Crew or a, uh, “legal grey area” DVD of The Gong Show Movie, you want to hear about the celebrities.

Here are the Q&As I managed to get to:

Biggs and a stormtrooper

They might not be the marquee names, but Garrick Hagon and Anthony Forrest have played well-known roles in the Star Wars mythos. Hagon played Biggs, Luke’s pal from Tatooine, whose scenes were mostly deleted until the 1997 Special Edition and other sources finally got them seen. Forrest played the stormtrooper on the receiving end of the Jedi mind trick in the much-loved “These aren’t the droids you’re looking for” scene.

Forrest said he got a painful sunburn on his first day visiting the set in Tunisia, which then became tortuous once he put on the fiberglass stormtrooper costume.

Hagon confirmed that his Biggs moustache was all him, and not created by the makeup department. He said he has mixed feelings about people describing it as a “porn star moustache.”

Hagon, when discussing his deleted scenes, says George Lucas always walks a fine line between the fans and the lawyers. When a bunch of Star Wars deleted scenes popped up on YouTube, the lawyers insisted that they be taken down. Then, a week later, Lucas posted the same scenes on YouTube himself, so fans could still enjoy them.

Forrest played the mugging victim at the opening scene in Tim Burton’s Batman, and he said it was an odd experience. Burton, he said, stood atop a crane high above the massive set, shouting down only the barest of directions to the cast. The actors playing the homeless panhandlers, he said, would not break character all day long, no matter what.
“I started to wonder if they were real,” he said.

Jonathan Frakes

Frakes started off by saying he’s “cautiously optimistic” about the upcoming Star Trek reboot under the direction of J.J. Abrams. He said he visited the set of the new Enterprise bridge and was impressed, speculating that more money was spent on this new film than on his two ST directorial efforts combined.
“Not that I’m bitter,” he said.

All 10 Star Trek movies are being prepped for a DVD re-release to go along with the release of the Abrams version, Frakes said. For a DVD extra, he, Patrick Stewart, William Shatner, and Leonard Nimoy filmed a roundtable discussion about all things Trek, moderated by Whoopi Goldberg. Shatner alleged that he’d never seen an episode of TNG, after which Nimoy told him, “You’re full of s***, Bill.”

Frakes said he grew Riker’s famous beard during the break between the first and second seasons of TNG, and Gene Roddenberry, the show’s creator, decided he liked it. After that, Frakes said, it got complicated. Roddenberry and makeup artist Michael Westmore spent an afternoon drawing all over Frakes’ face with eyebrow pencils to determine the perfect “nautical-looking” cut for the beard.

Upon hearing of one fan’s adoration of the animated series Gargoyles, Frakes said, “You’ve got good taste.” He praised Gargoyles for its smart writing, and he added that voice acting is “an actor’s dream,” because there are no lines to memorize and you could do it in your pajamas.

Frakes’ latest directorial effort, The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice, will debut on TNT on Dec. 7. It’s the third in the Librarian series, and he said everyone involved likes the character and is committed to keep the series going for as long as possible.

Richard Kiel

The first question for the seven-foot two-inch Kiel was if he got to keep the famous Jaws teeth from his two Bond films. The short answer was no. Every time the director said cut, the teeth were immediately removed and placed in a special container. They were then kept in a safe overnight.

Kiel is still friends with Roger Moore, and the two had lunch together a mere two weeks before SuperMegaFest. Kiel said that for the last few years, Moore has been the spokesman for UNICEF, where he has raised hundreds of millions of dollars for children in third world countries.

Kiel said he’s proud of his work in the 1981 comedy So Fine, which, he said, bombed due to bad marketing. All the ads and posters had to do with the movie’s “So Fine Jeans,” which were woman’s jeans with a see-through rear. He said the posters sold the movie as exploitation and not the screwball comedy it was meant to be, and that drove away women, along with their husbands and boyfriends.

Kiel played a wealthy gangster in So Fine, and part of the set was an 8-foot-tall painting of him. He managed to keep the painting, even though it was too big for his house at the time.
“We kept it in a hallway,” he said. “It scared everyone in the middle of the night.”

Kiel was originally cast as the Hulk in the 1970s Incredible Hulk TV series. Not only did he have to endure uncomfortable contact lenses, but the green makeup left stains all over his bathtub, his bed sheets, and his car’s white interior. When producers said they decided they wanted more of a bodybuilder-type to the play the Hulk, Kiel pretended to be upset, but in reality, he was grateful, he said. There is one shot of him as the Hulk in the pilot, though, seen when carrying a woman out of burning building.

Doug Jones

Jones has spent most of his career working under heavy prosthetics, so the question always comes up as to which of his roles was the most physically uncomfortable. The answer was no question, he said–Bug Buster, a 1998 action comedy starring Randy Quaid as a general battling alien insects that have invaded a small town. Jones played the “Mother Bug” from the film’s finale, who gets into a fist fight with Quaid. The outfit was heavy, awkward, and he could barely see. It wasn’t until after the scene was filmed that he discovered he had accidentally injured Quaid.

As Abe Sapien, Jones couldn’t see much either, especially when Abe wears his watery goggles. During one scene, a “walk and talk,” he was walking alongside Ron Perlman. When they stopped abruptly, Jones tried to hit his mark by subtly placing his hand against Perlman’s back. At that point, director Guillermo Del Toro cut, and asked Jones to take his hand off of Perlman’s butt.

Jones said the three characters he’s enjoyed playing the most have been Abe Sapien, the Faun from Pan’s Labyrinth, and the Angel of Death in Hellboy II. Each of these characters has a duality, Jones said, which he enjoys exploring in his performances.

As one of the Gentlemen in the “Hush” episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Jones said there was a duality at work there as well, in that the Gentlemen are so polite and courteous with each other, even while cutting out people’s hearts. During filming of the episode, Jones said, there was much concern from the network, fearing that a mostly-silent episode would drive viewers to change the channel. Instead, the opposite happened, in that viewers couldn’t take their eyes off the screen.

And that’s SuperMegaFest in a nutshell. See you next year!

Remember last summer, when a bunch of people complained about The Dark Knight, saying that it was too dark and scary for little kids? Somebody at Cartoon Network must have been prescient enough to see this coming, because this weekend’s debut of Batman: The Brave and the Bold is the most kid-friendly take on the character I’ve ever seen – and that includes anything starring Ace the Bat-hound.

This isn’t just “Batman for kids,” this is “really watered down Batman for kids.” I actually have no problem with a lighter Batman – I grew up on a steady diet of Super Friends – but in this new series, there’s only Batman. There’s no Bruce Wayne in the pilot, and as such, there’s no Batcave, no Alfred, we only see Bats in his element, without any discussion of who he is or why he’s a crimefighter, etc.

The gimmick here is that this is a team-up show, with Batman working alongside a different DC Comics hero each week. In the pilot, we get a cameo by the young, pre-beard Green Arrow, and the young, modern-day continuity “scarab tech” Blue Beetle. Previews for upcoming episodes show a return to TV for Plastic Man, and rumor has it that Wildcat, Fire and – brace yourselves, Entourage fans – Aquaman will make appearances in upcoming weeks.

Have I become too jaded by my enjoyment of Tim Burton’s and Christopher Nolan’s versions of the character? I’m going to say no. Like I said, I’m totally on board with the idea of a humorous, lighthearted Batman. This is something less than that, though. This is bland, generic Batman. He’s got the cape and the gadgets, but not a lot of personality. He instructs Blue Beetle on what it means to be a hero, and there’s a little internal monologue about how much he values his friendship with Green Arrow. Batman is just this unstoppable always-does-the-right-thing hero that the other heroes all look up to. It’s like Batman is just reading all of Superman’s lines. As for Blue Beetle and Green Arrow, they were just stuck doing Robin’s old shtick.

Yes, I know the target audience here is the barely-out-of-diapers crowd, so we’re not going to have Bruce breaking down in front of his parents’ graves or the Joker acid-burning smiles onto his victims’ faces. But just because this is a kid-based show, that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t have interesting plots, character development and the like. Ben 10: Alien Force, which aired a new episode on the same night as Brave and the Bold , attained the same “lighthearted superhero adventure” thing, but it did so with a lot of nice character moments and interaction, something I felt was lacking in this new Batman.

So is there anything here I did enjoy? The animation looks great, achieving a nice “retro” look, with a lot of smooth movements and bright colors. Also, if your show is a comedic Batman, then casting Diedrich Bader of The Drew Carey Show and Napoleon Dynamite as Batman is a great choice. Bow to your sensei!

Overall, though, I watched Batman: The Brave and the Bold’s premiere focused on how great the episode could have been, instead of how great it is. Here’s hoping it will improve over time. (And I dare them to do a Bat-mite episode.)

Star Wars: The Clone Wars is currently the most-hyped show on Cartoon Network, so I figured I’d better give it some attention. Regular listeners of DVD Verdict’s Friday Filibuster podcast know that I was very critical of August’s animated Clone Wars movie. As a lifelong Star Wars fan, it was heartbreaking to see this great franchise kicked in the groin like this. I mean, a burping Hutt baby, a tranvestite Southern-accented Hutt, a whiny teenage girl Jedi, punk clonetroopers — are these the things they think Star Wars is all about?

Now, a couple of weeks into the new series, I feel that it’s better than the theatrical movie, but it’s still not quite the SW experience it could (and should) be.

The big stinker so far has been the character of Ahsoka, a spunky young girl Jedi apprentice assigned to Anakin. I don’t really see why this character was created or what she’s supposed to add to any given plot. Usually, she’s just there to give Anakin someone to talk to during various adventures, and of course to make sarcastic wisecracks. Maybe if her wisecracks were funny instead of just mean-spirited, or if she acted more like a genuine teenage girl instead of what some producer thinks a “grrl power” type is like, then I could buy the character. Instead, just she’s the show’s sore thumb.

(Some fans believe that Ahsoka is going to die while in Anakin’s care, and that’s why she doesn’t appear in Episode III, and also part of the reason why the Jedi Council refuses to make Anakin a master in that film. If this is true, it’s freakin’ brilliant, but I doubt it’s true.)

Shouldn’t the fun and excitement of seeing the legendary Clone Wars come to life be seeing Anakin and Obi-Wan during their glory days, fighting side by side? I think so, but, sadly, we get almost none of that. Anakin is usually off having adventures with Ahsoka, while poor Obi-Wan is usually stuck hanging out with a bunch of clone troopers. The final part of the recent three-part “Malevolence” story was easily the best episode yet, because Ahsoka and the characters took a back street, and the episode focused on Anakin, Obi-Wan, Padme, Artoo and Threepio on an adventure together. For a moment there, it almost felt like I watching a real Star Wars story.

There are plenty of other elements that still don’t work, though. The main villains are Dooku, Grievous, and Ventress (from the previous, and much better, Clone Wars shorts). Now, we already know the fates of two these three enemies, so when Obi-Wan duels Grievous in the heart of the Malevolence, it’s not all that exciting because we know it’ll end in a stalemate so they can really duke it out in Episode III.

I know the creators are probably doing their best, but most of the characters still have that stiff, plasticy, dead-eyes look that a lot of CGI characters have. The show’s humor doesn’t quite work for me either, being too broad and slapsticky, and not character-based. Turning the battle droids into Three Stooges-level klutzes just makes them annoying, and it makes the show’s bad guys look like fools instead of threatening.

Still, the lightsaber fights are fairly well-choreographed, if predictable. The best scenes so far have been the space battle scenes, which have felt appropriately huge and rollercoaster-like. Perhaps the creators would have been better off developing a Rouge Squadron-style series, offering thrilling spaceship dogfights every week, and not bothered with whiny girl padawans and Hutt babies and all the rest.

So that’s Star Wars: The Clone Wars for you. There are a few moments of pure fun hidden among many long stretches of blandness. I can’t wait to see the upcoming Jar Jar Binks episode.

Mac here. With an insane amount of animated shows currently flooding the TV landscape, I’ve decided to unofficially declare myself TV Verdict’s “cartoon guy” by looking at a different one each week.

Let’s kick this off with a good ‘toon, shall we? When he was a kid, Ben Tennyson found an alien device called the Omnitrix, which allowed him to turn into 10 different aliens, each with their own powers and abilities. He fought crime, saved the Earth, and punched a lot of other aliens. Now, it’s years later, and Ben is in high school. When his grandfather Max mysteriously disappears, Ben learns that another alien conspiracy is at work. He once again dons the Omnitrix, summoning forth 10 new aliens. His spell-casting cousin Gwen and former villain Kevin get in on the action, and that’s Ben 10 Alien Force for you.

New episodes kick off this weekend, starting with “Darkforce Rising,” in which Ben and pals get ambushed by an alien cop who orders them to cease and desist all their heroics. Facing early retirement doesn’t sit well for Kevin, who is bothered by this turn of events more than the others. Things get more complicated, of course, when a new bad guy shows up, one who’s powerful enough to wipe the floor with the sinister Highbreed.

The awesomeness that is Ben 10 continues. There’s just so much to enjoy about this episode: Some much-needed character development for Kevin, a villain who looks like something out of a Clive Barker flick, continuity references to the null void and the Galvans, smoothie jokes, eye-popping animation, and butt-kickin’ action. Oh, and Humongousaur. Always, always Humongousaur.

If you dig old-school, lighthearted superhero action, Ben 10 Alien Force is totally the way to go. Check it out. It airs on Cartoon Network Fridays at 9:30 p.m., and at other times throughout the week.

A wisecracking artist/temp (Natalie Morales) is recruited to join a top-secret organization alongside a wisecracking secret agent (Matt Keeslar) and a wisecracking robot disguised like a wisecracking old lady (Mary Pat Gleason), to monitor extraterrestrial and supernatural menaces here on Earth.

The comparisons to Men in Black are apt, as it’s a similar premise, a similar tongue-in-cheek tone, and the main character even sports a stylin’ black suit at one point. There are plenty of wacky gadgets, goofy-looking CGI aliens, and “he slimed me” type of jokes.

I know it sounds like a lot of fun, but I have to admit The Middleman tried to hard to force laughs out of the audience. This show can’t go two seconds without a sarcastic comment, an out-of-nowhere pop culture reference, or an over-the-top slapstick gag. It is possible to create an amusing, lighthearted tone without rewriting the script so every single line has to have some sort of screwy joke, you know. As the episode progresses, it gets even crazier, with a plot about stereotypical Italian gangsters and super-intelligent gorillas, and… oh, forget it.

I like the cast, and I like the cartoony look of the show, but the creators need to show some restraint if they want this thing to last. If they’re going to try to maintain this madcap comedic pace week after week, I can’t imagine sticking with this one for much longer.

I was skeptical again when Cartoon Network announced Ben 10: Alien Force. Aging the characters from kids into high school was one thing, but tossing out all of Ben’s aliens in favor of 10 new ones? It looked to me like the show was about to rocket-pack over the monstrous shark-like mutant. Fortunately, a few weeks into the run of this new Ben 10, I’m happy to report that the same Ben 10 spirit is still here, and this is still one really fun cartoon.

The season began with Ben’s alien-hunting grandfather, Max, disappearing without a trace. Ben and his cousin Gwen soon learn that alien activity on Earth has increased sharply. Believing quite rightly that these two events are connected, Ben once again dons the Omnitrix, the device that allows him to transform into weird-but-cool aliens, in the hopes of finding Max and saving the world. Gwen, who has continued to develop her Willow Rosenberg-style magic powers, is along for the ride, as is former bad guy Kevin 11.

At the conclusion of the season premiere, Ben coldly states, “the training wheels are off.” Max’s disappearance is not just the ongoing arc of this new season, it also gives Ben and company the chance to fight the good fight on their own, without their alien-expert grandfather watching their backs. Without Max, it’s up to our three heroes to find out what the bad guys are up to and how to stop them, with no one else to rely on but each other. This adds an exciting new element to the show, and it genuinely feels like the characters are learning and growing with each new episode. Add to this character-based episodes like Ben’s awkward romance with cute tennis star Julie, or Gwen discovering some enlightening secrets about her grandmother, and it’s clear that Ben 10: Alien Force is more than just lowest common denominator junk food TV for kids.

Oh, and let’s not forget all that stuff about aliens punching each other and destroying stuff. I don’t know if any of Ben’s new aliens will become as iconic as Heatblast, Four Arms or Upgrade became during the original show’s run, but I can already tell that unbelievably massive Humongosaur is primed to become the show’s new star. And why shouldn’t he? He’s called “Humongosaur,” for cryin’ out loud.

So, yeah. They’ve managed to update the show without ruining it. I’m impressed, and I’m looking forward to where the rest of the season is going. And if you like good old-fashioned superhero stories in the traditional Lee/Kirby style, give Ben 10 and Ben 10: Alien Force a shot.

But what made this an especially memorable episode was one killer line of dialogue at the beginning. During an argument, Cavil (Dean Stockwell) said to the other Cylons, “Go take a cleansing walk.” Man, I can’t wait to use that line the next time someone gets in my face, so I can say, “Hey, why don’t you go take a cleansing walk, pal!”

“E Pluribus Wiggum”
When the first Presidential Primary moves from New Hampshire to Springfield’s state (which is not New Hampshire, apparently), everyone comes down with election fever. This is the kind of political humor I like, one that rips mercilessly on everybody, without the writers getting up on a soapbox of their own. This is a real rapid-fire episode, with jokes flying at viewers every few seconds. It ends kind of abruptly, though, making it feel like a “part one of two.”

“That ‘90s Show”
Thanks to some very suspicious-sounding mathematics, Bart and Lisa realize there’s been 10 years of Marge’s and Homer’s lives they know nothing about. This leads to an episode-long flashback to the mid-1990s, when Marge was in college and Homer was a struggling musician. It’s a fun idea to do another references-from-the-past story, but this one didn’t work for me as well as it should. Perhaps more time and perspective is needed before the ‘90s can be thoroughly savaged.

“Love, Springfieldian Style”
Valentine’s Day gets the Halloween treatment, with three love-themed out-of-continuity shorts. The first two, with Homer and Marge recast as Bonnie and Clyde and then as Lady and the Tramp, were OK, but the third must be seen to be believed. It’s a spoof of Sid and Nancy, with Nelson as Sid Vicious, Lisa as Nancy Spungen, and Bart as Johnny Rotten. Freakin’ brilliant. Give the Emmy to whoever came up with this one.

“The Debarted”
Scorcese’s Oscar winner gets the Simpsons treatment, as Bart tries to figure out which of his friends ratted him out to Principal Skinner. The writers do a great job with the plot twists and the shifting loyalties. That being said, the ostrich egg gag never had a payoff, and the subplot about Homer’s love of his temporarily loaned car seems like something more suited for Futurama than The Simpsons, but, hey, to each his own.

“Dial N for Nerder”
When one of Bart’s pranks causes school genius/sissy Martin to fall off a cliff, Bart and Lisa feel responsible for the death, but do their best to cover it up. If you’ve ever seen any suspense film, from Hitchcock’s classics to cheese like I Know What You Did Last Summer, then you know where the plot is headed. I found this one interesting because of its emphasis on Martin. When was the last time he figured directly into the plot instead of just floating in and out of an episode for a few laughs?

“Smoke on the Daughter”
Lisa takes ballet classes, and discovers that secondhand smoke from the other girls’ cigarettes makes her a better dancer. Meanwhile, Homer and Bart try to rid the Simpson basement of some pesky raccoons. I really enjoyed this one, simply because of its emphasis on the show’s core characters. It’s all about Homer, Marge, Bart and Lisa, and the gigantic supporting cast barely appears. After thinking big in The Simpsons Movie, it’s refreshing to know the show’s creators can also think small, by giving us this character-based but still very witty episode.

There you have it. Upcoming episodes are rumored to be about Bart falling for a farm girl, and the return of country singer Lurleen Lumpkin. Looking forward to it.