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[UberTag]

As with last season's thread, this will be the place to discuss new episodes away from the classic era loving confines of the Simpsons Community thread where such talk would be considered blasphemous.

Last season we were blessed with two gems - Halloween of Horror and Barthood - the former of which is one of the finest episodes of the entire HD era. If you have yet to watch either of these episodes, drop everything and scope them out. Also, take the time to check out the Eric Goldberg-directed Disney tribute couch gag that aired prior to Fland Canyon. Those were the clear highlights from Season 27.

SUPERLATIVE BY ANY SEASON'S STANDARDS

1. There Will Be Buds (S28E6 / VABF22) | Writer & Showrunner = Matt Selman | Director = Matthew Faughnan

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

2. 22 for 30 (S28E17 / WABF10) | Writer = Joel H. Cohen | Director = Chris Clements | Showrunner = Al Jean

WORTH WATCHING

3. The Great Phatsby (S28E12/13 / WABF04/05) | Writers = Dan Greaney & Matt Selman | Directors = Chris Clements & Tim Bailey | Showrunner = Matt Selman
4. Friends and Family (S28E2 / VABF18) | Writer = J. Stewart Burns | Director = Lance Kramer | Showrunner = Al Jean
5. Trust But Clarify (S28E5 / VABF21) | Writer = Harry Shearer | Director = Michael Polcino | Showrunner = Al Jean
6. The Town (S28E3 / VABF17) | Writer = Dave King | Director = Rob Oliver | Showrunner = Matt Selman

FINE... BUT DON'T GO OUT OF YOUR WAY TO WATCH THESE EPISODES

7. The Last Traction Hero (S28E9 / WABF03) | Writer = Bill Odenkirk | Director = Bob Anderson | Showrunner = Al Jean
8. A Father's Watch (S28E18 / WABF11) | Writer = Simon Rich | Director = Bob Anderson | Showrunner = Matt Selman
9. Fatzcarraldo (S28E14 / WABF07) | Writer = Michael Price | Director = Mark Kirkland | Showrunner = Al Jean

MEH

10. Pork and Burns (S28E11 / WABF06) | Writer = Rob LaZebnik | Director = Matthew Nastuk | Showrunner = Al Jean
11. Moho House (S28E21 / WABF14) | Writer = Jeff Martin | Director = Matthew Nastuk | Showrunner = Al Jean
12. Looking for Mr. Goodbart (S28E20 / WABF13) | Writer = Carolyn Omine | Director = Michael Polcino | Showrunner = Al Jean
13. Kamp Krustier (S28E16 / WABF09) | Writer = David M. Stern | Director = Rob Oliver | Showrunner = Al Jean
14. Havana Wild Weekend (S28E7 / VABF19) | Writers = Dan Castellaneta, Deb Lacusta & Peter Tilden | Director = Bob Anderson | Showrunner = Al Jean

AVOID THESE LIKE THE PLAGUE

15. The Cad and the Hat (S28E15 / WABF08) | Writer = Ron Zimmerman | Director = Steven Dean Moore | Showrunner = Al Jean
16. Treehouse of Horror XXVII (S28E4 / VABF16) | Writer = Joel H. Cohen | Director = Steven Dean Moore | Showrunner = Al Jean
17. Dogtown (S28E22 / WABF15) | Writer = J. Stewart Burns | Director = Steven Dean Moore | Showrunner = Al Jean
18. Caper Chase (S28E19 / WABF12) | Writer = Jeff Westbrook | Director = Lance Kramer | Showrunner = Al Jean
19. Monty Burns' Fleeing Circus (S28E1 / VABF20) | Writers = Tom Gammill & Max Pross | Director = Matthew Nastuk | Showrunner = Al Jean

MAY IT BE FOREVER DESTROYED ALONG WITH THE TALKING BAR RAG EPISODE

20. The Nightmare After Krustmas (S28E10 / WABF02) | Writer = Jeff Westbrook | Director = Rob Oliver | Showrunner = Al Jean
21. Dad Behavior (S28E8 / WABF01) | Writer = Ryan Koh | Director = Steven Dean Moore | Showrunner = Al Jean

 

[mreddie]

 

[Tapejara]

Having two Mr. Burns focused episodes in a row seems kind of weird. Also, Treehouse of Horror can't possibly be as awful as last year's, can it?

 

[Brinbe]

Burns-centric episodes are usually pretty good, but the premise of this one isn't really selling me.

 

[Tony Iron Man Stark]

It has been since Season 9 when I stopped watching The Simpsons.

Can anyone recommend their best episodes from 10 to now? At least as good as Pre season 9.

 

[manzoman96]

Hmmm. Maybe I should check these out for curiosity's sake. At least the first one.

Love that Eric Goldberg couch gag.

 

[UberTag]

Also, Treehouse of Horror can't possibly be as awful as last year's, can it?

It's got the same lead writer, director and showrunner. So I'd give it pretty good odds of being comparably bad.

It has been since Season 9 when I stopped watching The Simpsons.

Can anyone recommend their best episodes from 10 to now? At least as good as Pre season 9.

I recommended the two best episodes from last season in the OP.

Last season we were blessed with two gems - Halloween of Horror and Barthood - the former of which is one of the finest episodes of the entire HD era. If you have yet to watch either of these episodes, drop everything and scope them out. Also, take the time to check out the Eric Goldberg-directed Disney tribute couch gag that aired prior to Fland Canyon. Those were the clear highlights from Season 27.

Check those out and if you enjoy them I can refer you to others.

Of course, these are good "by modern standards".
I can't point you to fresh material as good as most of the Classic era outside of the deleted scenes on the DVDs from those seasons.

 

[mreddie]

Having two Mr. Burns focused episodes in a row seems kind of weird. Also, Treehouse of Horror can't possibly be as awful as last year's, can it?

The middle one is basically the only horror themed one. I'm getting really tired of the movie spoofs that aren't horror themed.

Plus, we get a Burns ep every season so I can manage. Plus, they sometimes have the memorable gags.

 

[iPaul93]

Can't wait for this year's ToH.Hopefully,it won't be as bad as last year's episode.

 

[vypek]

Actually enjoyed parts of the episode.

 

[Tapejara]

Dull episode. Like usual the B-plot didn't really go anywhere, and the main plotline didn't get a meaningful conclusion. I got a few chuckles here and there, but ultimately nothing to write home about.

At least the episode wasn't as awful as last year's premiere.

Edit: okay, I laughed at that Bethlehem part.

 

[UberTag]

Reviews of tonight's episode...

IGN - 4.8/10 (The Simpsons kicked off its 28th Season with a bland, disappointing look at Mr. Burns.)
A.V. Club - The Simpsons 28th season begins with a sour premiere

My own personal grade = 1.5 out of 5

Perhaps next week's episode can crack the 'MEH' tier.

 

[Sou Da]

Reviews of tonight's episode...

IGN - 4.8/10 (The Simpsons kicked off its 28th Season with a bland, disappointing look at Mr. Burns.)
A.V. Club - The Simpsons 28th season begins with a sour premiere

My own personal grade = 1.5 out of 5

Perhaps next week's episode can crack the 'MEH' tier.

Post the nohomers link, you know you want to.

 

[Piston Hyundai]

There will be a Kamp Krusty sequel penned by David M. Stern.
These are all good things.

isn't that what people said about the Man Who Came to Be Dinner

 

[UberTag]

isn't that what people said about the Man Who Came to Be Dinner

Yeah... and we were unfortunately off the mark on that. We might be off the mark on Kamp Krustier too now that we know it's going to be another pointless marriage crisis episode but at least we have fair warning this time.

As much as it's nice to see old Classic era writers return to their roots, they have far too little emotional investment in the show having been removed from it for so long and they're far too content to let the dregs of the writing staff monopolize any ideas they might bring to the table and sap any and all care and originality out of them. Dan Greaney might be the only writer who has stepped away for an extended period of time and come back to do solid work.

 

[Rabbi_Vole]

We need to make a real season 12 that compiles the 22 best episodes from 12 through now. I think it'd be a fun exercise.

 

[UberTag]

We need to make a real season 12 that compiles the 22 best episodes from 12 through now. I think it'd be a fun exercise.

I'd actually have a problem settling on just 22 episodes over that stretch to include... because I have enjoyed more than that.
Even just settling on a decisive 22 episodes from the HD era is tricky.

The other problem with that idea is that it puts forward the notion that Season 11 is watchable instead of being the dumpster fire that it is.

Post the nohomers link, you know you want to.

Tell you what... I'll compromise and share Jims' review of tonight's ep if only because Piston Hyundai reminded me that I need to plug his latest 60 Second Simpsons review of (the original) Kamp Krusty.

60 Second Simpsons Review - Kamp Krusty
Extra Seconds - Kamp Krusty

This was pretty bad.

• Why don't the characters sound like themselves anymore? Maybe I just forgot because I took the last season off, but it is shocking how bad the characters sound. I knew Julie Kavner is getting more gravelly and Harry Shearer basically doesn't give a shit anymore. But Bart sounds dull and monotone, and secondary characters like Lenny, Carl, and Apu sound flat. There's just no energy out of the majority of the performances, aside from Homer and Lisa.
• The lead-up to the Burns story is stupid, almost a mockery of the first act setpiece. They literally destroy the entire downtown of Springfield, only to pivot to a pointless story about Mr. Burns' imaginary backstory.
• It is almost unbelievable how unnatural the dialogue is. They're still stuck in this weird meta-talking thing where they twist their words to say something funny, and then acknowledge the weirdness of it, and then do a spin off of that weirdness. The dialogue sounds like two secret agents meeting each other, stating their designated codewords sentences.
• Too many "pointing out the joke" issues. Stuff like Wiggum sitting around trying to think of The Thinker, even outright calling it out, as if we didn't have enough of it. And there's a lengthy discussion on what an Arnold Palmer is, since the audience is too stupid to understand the reference via context. Then there's stuff like them staring at the sky, only to see nothing, with Homer staring straight at the camera observing that they're looking at nothing. See previous bullet point.
• The writers are so bored with the show that they can't even let Springfield riot without trying to think of some weird high concept angle for it.
• I don't care about Mr. Burns' backstory about being laughed at. And it doesn't seem like the writers did either, as the exact same thing happened again, and then Mr. Burns just kinda gets over it for some arbitrary reason. And then Lisa plays the sax for him.
• The actual stage show was pretty funny. Enjoyed each of the kids' routines and Mr. Burns' opening little movie thing.
• The stuff at the plant was fine, I guess. Nothing really stood out there, none of the jokes really fell horribly flat or anything.
• Making me sit through the last commercial break for those last two jokes is insulting. The episode was over.

I was going to give this a 1.5/5, but I'm going down to 1/5 because of the 4th act. I'm really bummed out watching this because, after skipping most of last season, I thought, maybe I'm just being too cynical and jaded about the show. And maybe it's actually fine and I've been missing out on some solid television. I kinda went into this with a fresh perspective, looking for the show to win me over again. But it brought almost nothing new to the table, just a hodgepodge of the same problems they've been plagued by for 5 or 10 years now. There's no energy to the show, it's just kinda going through the motions, pleased with itself for how many wordplay and background jokes it can cram in. So disappointing.

 

[stolin]

Bad timing for opener...

Arnold Palmer passed away

 

[UberTag]

Bad timing for opener...

Arnold Palmer passed away

Yeah, as mean-spirited as many of tonight's gags were tonight, they still have nothing on the recurring Arnold Palmer bit being doled out the same night he dies.
That was, of course, just a case of unfortunate timing.

 

[aadiboy]

We need to make a real season 12 that compiles the 22 best episodes from 12 through now. I think it'd be a fun exercise.

I feel like you can probably get a couple seasons of worthwhile episodes after season 11.

 

[VGChampion]

Yeah, I was thinking about making a lost HD season for myself soon and then buying the individual episodes off of iTunes or wherever. I bought the seasons up to S13 but that's when I truly started to dislike them overall but I want to make my own S14 for the remaining good SD episodes and a S15 for the good HD episodes. I've been using these yearly threads as my recommendations already so I don't have to go through them myself.

 

[UberTag]

I've been using these yearly threads as my recommendations already so I don't have to go through them myself.

That's why they're here. Let us do the dumpster diving for the hidden gem episodes so you don't have to.

 

[Joni]

Was good for a couple of laughs. It was amazing for Homer to realize he is the safety inspector.

 

[Ahasverus]

Can Al Jean resign now? Please. This was sad.

 

[UberTag]

Can Al Jean resign now? Please. This was sad.

Al won't be resigning until he's run this show completely into the ground. We'll be lucky to be rid of him when the Simpsons is inevitably rebooted down the road.

 

[mreddie]

The Palmer was fine...everything else...Jean will never leave unless FOX makes him.

 

[UberTag]

The Palmer was fine...everything else...Jean will never leave unless FOX makes him.

Here's another reason why FOX isn't in any hurry to send Jean packing...

Simpsons 28th premiere beats nearly everything in Sunday ratings - EW.com

Here’s why The Simpsons isn’t going away anytime soon: For its 28th season premiere – 28th! – the Fox icon just likely beat every other entertainment program premiere in the adult demo Sunday night.

The Simpsons returned to 3.7 million viewers and a 1.6 rating among adults 18-49. The episode featured a guest appearance by Amy Schumer, which might have helped a bit. The rating actually improved slightly on last year’s premiere (improved, not a decline – unlike just about every other returning show this fall).

 

[Joni]

Wait, who was Amy Schumer?

 

[UberTag]

Wait, who was Amy Schumer?

She voiced Burns' mom in the flashback segments.

 

[Joni]

She voiced Burns' mom in the flashback segments.

Oh. I don't know her well, so it didn't catch my eye.
On a positive note, this one starred Schumer, but last year had Lena Dunham and Adam Driver so it is not just Schumer that helped the episode.

 

[UberTag]

Episode Summary Deleted

 

[vypek]

Don't have time to watch the trailer now but if they made you laugh a lot UberTag then I'm expecting a lot from them

new best friend in girl-next-door Julia, who eats, drinks and thinks like him

Reminds me of that woman Homer almost slept with. Can't remember her name even though I saw the episode a few weeks ago.

EDIT: Mindy. He sings a song about her.

 

[Jims]

Tell you what... I'll compromise and share Jims' review of tonight's ep if only because Piston Hyundai reminded me that I need to plug his latest 60 Second Simpsons review of (the original) Kamp Krusty.

60 Second Simpsons Review - Kamp Krusty
Extra Seconds - Kamp Krusty

Ack, I got quoted in a thread I didn't even post in. Startled me for a second when scrolling.
(Didn't realize it still turned green even if not quoted from a NeoGAF post. Neat.)

Pretty sobering premiere. I kinda hold out hope sometimes that they'll put it all together, and look at Bob's Burgers or Archer or whatever animated show, and figure out why their dialogue is so off. It's like all the character became these self-aware Abeds from Community, and don't know how to have a conversation without being in on the in-joke. The dialogue is borderline un-listenable.

Gonna try to keep watching this season, but not a promising start. Next one is a J. Stewart Burns episode, and his are usually really solid, so there's hope. Hopefully there are some good Selmans in the mix.

 

[UberTag]

Don't have time to watch the trailer now but if they made you laugh a lot UberTag then I'm expecting a lot from them

The look of utter bliss and contentment on Homer's face as he surrounds himself in a simultaneous playback of every Police Academy movie while he spins around euphorically had me in stitches. How can you not laugh at that?

To reinforce Jims point above, perhaps the reason that entire montage works so well is the complete absence of dialogue.

 

[Tapejara]

Surprised that this turned out to be a really funny episode. I missed the scene after the recording session because my Xbox One got all screwy and I had to reboot it, so I missed a good chunk of the third act. Unless the episode's quality dropped immensely in those last few minutes, I'd say this week pretty damn solid. The part where the Simpsons were in the therapy session and the cut back to the funeral was hilarious.

 

[vypek]

I got a chuckle out of Marge's commentary of never getting jokes.

Kind of weird to have the moving Burns' eyes in the background of a scene for no reason

 

[UberTag]

Surprised that this turned out to be a really funny episode. I missed the scene after the recording session because my Xbox One got all screwy and I had to reboot it, so I missed a good chunk of the third act. Unless the episode's quality dropped immensely in those last few minutes, I'd say this week pretty damn solid. The part where the Simpsons were in the therapy session and the cut back to the funeral was hilarious.

This was easily the funniest episode of The Simpsons I've watched in a long time... probably since Steal This Episode (also written by J. Stewart Burns) back in Season 25. He brought his A-game and then some and the story was relatively coherent on top of that. The plot itself was paper-thin (as expected given the premise) but the jokes carried the day.

Nice voicework from Harry Shearer in particular and I never complain about seeing Allison Janney pop up in anything.

 

[RadioHeadAche]

Surprisingly decent, especially after last week's. Burns' VR plot was dumb, but I liked Homer's neighbor B plot. My favorite gags were him eating out of the microwave and the peanut lawnmower.

 

[UberTag]

Reviews of last night's episode...

A.V. Club - On The Simpsons, past and future almost - but not quite - find balance
Den of Geek! - 4/5 (I don’t use this word lightly, but this episode was excellent. Like a Supreme Court full of Scalias.)
Bubble Blabber - 6/10 (“Friends and Family” needs to pick between the friends or the family. Either commit to the emotional resonance of an earnest love story, or revel in the nastiness of Mr. Burns’ witty depravity.)

My own personal grade = 3.5 out of 5

 

[Sou Da]

Reviews of last night's episode...

A.V. Club - On The Simpsons, past and future almost - but not quite - find balance
Den of Geek! - 4/5 (I don’t use this word lightly, but this episode was excellent. Like a Supreme Court full of Scalias.)
Bubble Blabber - 6/10 (“Friends and Family” needs to pick between the friends or the family. Either commit to the emotional resonance of an earnest love story, or revel in the nastiness of Mr. Burns’ witty depravity.)
Nohomers.net- 3/5 consensus ("I wish this family was as close as the Flanders.")

My own personal grade = 3.5 out of 5

Fixed.

 

[Joni]

Oh, that was a fun episode. Some good jokes, stupid $5 lock-in rate joke is a good way to start.

 

[Astral Dog]

Reviews of tonight's episode...

IGN - 4.8/10 (The Simpsons kicked off its 28th Season with a bland, disappointing look at Mr. Burns.)
A.V. Club - The Simpsons 28th season begins with a sour premiere

My own personal grade = 1.5 out of 5

Perhaps next week's episode can crack the 'MEH' tier.

yep, what the hell was with that Burns Circus? mr. Burns what they have done to you :,(

 

[UberTag]

This week's episode feels like a pale imitation of The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson... except this time the rest of the family has to stand around and watch as Homer makes a spectacle of himself instead of taking in the sights.

I think the punchline for most of the jokes will be "how silly is that Boston accent... laugh at how silly it sounds while Jerkass Homer suffers".

My advice... watch the Rangers-Jays game instead until the second Clinton-Trump spectacle kicks off.

Hopefully my instincts are wrong on this one. It does appear to be a Selman episode after all.

THE TOWN - Sunday, October 9th | Episode Production Code = VABF17 (#599) / Writer = Dave King

THE SIMPSONS GO ON A HATE-CATION

Clip #1 - Homer is Shocked to Find Bart Wearing the Opposing Team's Gear
Clip #2 - Taking a Bite Out of Boston
Clip #3 - Homer is Attacked by Bobbleheads

Rachel Dratch, Bill Burr, Dana Gould and Doris Kearns Goodwin Make Guest-Voice Appearances

After Homer catches Bart rooting for Springfield’s football rival, the Boston Americans, he plans a family “hate-cation” trip to Boston in an attempt to show Bart that Boston is a terrible city.

FXX Marathon Theme - Road Trip

4:00pm Bart on the Road (S7E20 / 3F17 / 1996)
4:30pm The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase (S8E24 / 4F20 / 1997)
5:00pm Viva Ned Flanders (S10E10 / AABF06 / 1999)
5:30pm Catch 'Em If You Can (S15E18 / FABF14 / 2004)
6:00pm He Loves to Fly and He D'ohs (S19E1 / JABF20 / 2007)
6:30pm Moonshine River (S24E1 / PABF21 / 2012)
7:00pm Homerland (S25E1 / RABF20 / 2013)
7:30pm Lisa with an 'S' (S27E7 / TABF20 / 2015)

Here's a special preview article from the Boston Globe...

The joke’s on Boston in Sunday’s episode of ‘The Simpsons’

This Sunday, “The Simpsons” will be throwing a full-on half-hour Boston-palooza.

Crammed with references from Fenway Pahk and Jahdan’s Furniture to the Citgo sign and Whitey Bulger, the episode — titled “The Town” after the Ben Affleck movie — plays like a game of local Trivial Pursuit. Extra credit for knowing the Friendly’s Fribble. Extra extra credit for knowing Bell Biv Devoe.

The Boston jokes fly fast and furiously largely thanks to the wit of “Simpsons” executive producer Matt Selman, who’s originally from Watertown, and writer Dave King, who grew up in Needham. Selman calls the half-hour “a playful love letter to the city,” adding “it wouldn’t be ‘The Simpsons’ if we didn’t poke fun.” Yes, fellow Beantowners, brace yourselves for more of the Deflategate taunts and bad Southie accents we’ve been hearing for-seeming-ever.

“We knew we had one shot at doing this,” Selman says, “that doing the show was a David Ortiz-sized swing, and we’d better hit a home run.”

Selman is a Boston sports fan — “I was lucky enough to be in attendance at Super Bowl XLIX, certainly the most thrilling live sporting event of my life” — and he says he’s surrounded by an even more hardcore bunch: “Many of the writers on ‘The Simpsons’ are huge, huge, huge super-fans.” That’s why Boston sports allusions are all over the episode, including a football player named “Bonkowski,” a poster with the name Yastrzemski spelled out, and some pretty-boy gags involving Tom Brady.

It all starts at Moe’s Tavern, where Homer and friends encounter Boston football fans in town for the Dennis Lehane book tour. They hurl insults about cheating at the Boston group. Don’t worry, the Bostonians hold their own in the squabble, sort of. “This place has got more knobs than a hardware store,” one Southie dude yells back.

Soon, Homer catches Bart rooting for the “Boston Americans” and saying, “All those awesome Southies in ‘The Departed,’ those are my people.” Outraged, Homer plans a hate-cation to Boston to turn his son against all of us “clam-gargling tea-tossers.”

Cut to a nonstop Boston tour including Faneuil Hall, the Museum of Fine Arts, MIT, the New England Aquarium, and a stop (and go) in tunnel traffic. The visuals are great, with accurate depictions of many local spots. “Careful viewers will be rewarded by looking at the background of the scenes for insider references,” Selman says, “such as paintings from the MFA, radio stations that no longer exist, and the ‘Cheers-iotic Table of the Elements,’ ” where, by the way, the symbol for Norm is N!.

“I would have loved to put in even more references,” Selman says. “Every scene with a blank wall in the background is a missed opportunity.”

Also seen in the Boston episode of “The Simpsons”: Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin (voicing herself) teaching at the “Combat Zone Charter School.”

“The Simpsons” has made fun of Boston before, not least of all because so many of the show’s writers came up through the Harvard Lampoon, but never in such a sustained fashion. “ ‘Simpsons’ travel shows have always been some of our best and beloved episodes — Australia, Japan, London, Brazil,” Selman says. “Boston is such an interesting city with so much history and culture, it’s like a country in and of itself.

“Hopefully Bostonians won’t be as enraged and murderous as the Brazilians were after their episode. But if they do try to kill me, I’ll be flattered, in a way.”

So, will Homer be seduced into loving Boston at “Bulger’s Bowl-O-Rama,” a candlepin spot where he gets three balls? Will he reconcile himself to the fact that we love Aerosmith, even though, as he says, “That’s not how you spell ‘arrow’ ”?

And will we recover from the lovely image of the bug-eyed Marge Simpson with a “B” cap perched high atop her blue conehead hair?

The episode airs Sunday at 8 p.m. on Fox. That happens to be the same day a certain sports hero will be returning from his suspension to play with a certain football team. “Crazy ‘Simpsons’ karma,” Selman says.

 

[TimmiT]

Clip #1 - Homer is Shocked to Find Bart Wearing the Opposing Team's Gear

Saw this clip posted on Twitter and I'm surprised at how good the animation is in this scene.

 

[UberTag]

Saw this clip posted on Twitter and I'm surprised at how good the animation is in this scene.

Yeah, it's impossible to argue otherwise. The animation direction in that clip is stellar... especially for the HD era.

 

[UberTag]

So this was different... it started off masquerading as The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson and then transitioned into the B-plot from You Only Move Twice.

Biggest problem for me is that it felt like a stretch that Bart would fall in love with Boston in the first place. I mean, the Boston American fandom... that made sense. He wanted to irk his father for loving the hometown losers and get under his skin. I get that. Hell, I grew up as a certified Boston Bruins fan surrounded in a sea of Toronto Maple Leaf and Montreal Canadien fans.

I can even buy Bart misjudging a place or not seeing all of the outcomes after a hasty first impression. That's an established character trait.

I just have a hard-time seeing how that impression would be bolstered by a love of a 10-year-old, 2 1/2 hour, R-rated Scorsese flick. They really didn't need to go back to The Departed well here (especially for the ending gag); they already did a solid enough job parodying that film in a superior episode 9 seasons ago.

Rather nice animation direction from Rob Oliver and voice direction overall. Would have enjoyed the episode more if it wasn't so reference-dependent.

As a fun bonus, here's a clip from the recording studio of Yeardley Smith doing audio clean-up (predominantly foley work) on this episode a couple weeks ago.

 

[Tapejara]

Yeah, the animation and direction in this episode was great. The story and jokes didn't really resonate with me though.

 

[Sanjuro]

Can't say I enjoyed that episode. It felt like someone just made a list and grabbed an animator.

 

[jrush64]

Thought it was really great.

 

[UberTag]

Reviews of last night's episode...

A.V. Club - The Simpsons’ “hate-cation” to Boston is funnier than you’d expect - Because the things you like don’t fill you with delicious, delicious rage
Den of Geek! - 3/5 (The third ball drops for Homer and the family might leave Springfield in the gutter.)
Bubble Blabber - 7/10 (What ends up coming together in the simply, but effectively, titled “The Town” is a parallel series of disappointments. Homer and Bart are not always this sympathetic, and it is gratifying to see them this way, even though it can be a little heartbreaking.)

My own personal grade = 2.5 out of 5

Incidentally, this episode - as with most Selman episodes - has been received far more favorably at NoHomers than this season's first two Al Jean efforts. I just felt a certain sense of detachment from the character struggle in this ep contrasted with Selman's own A Totally Fun Thing That Bart Will Never Do Again - another ep where the family ditches Springfield and Bart gets anxious - although in that case he doesn't want the vacation to end and sabotages things so they can stay away from Springfield instead of sabotaging things so they go back. If there was more effort invested in outlining the character struggle instead of focusing on being overly cute with how obscure a Boston reference one could make, I'd probably like it more. Dave King's intimate knowledge of New England helped with the references but hurt on the character front where he was otherwise a rookie.