Hey, "The Simpsons" wasn't too bad tonight

[الله أكبر]

Maybe it's because the whole premise of the episode was music. Maybe it's because there was a cover of "Take Five." Whatever it was, tonight's episode was decent; it was a huge step up from last week's episode.

The story is that Bart is out of control (this premise has been used in the past, id est the Focusyn episode), so the shrink gets him to start playing the drums. Bart is naturally good at the set, and starts jamming at a local jazz club with Lisa. He is asked to join a jazz trio (there are several references to the late great Gene Krupa throughout the show), much to Lisa's dismay. Some other bullshit happens and Bart's arm gets bitten by a tiger and he can't play anymore, and then the episode ends.

As a musician, I was interested in the storyline. As a drummer, I was even more interested. I was quite pleased with their accurate depictions of the drums in cartoon form, as usually the drumset can be seen set up in a manner that is not conducive to good drumming.

They also continued the musician cameo appearances: tonight's episode featured The White Stripes. Personally, I think they suck, but the animators did a good job of emulating their music video with the stop-motion drumset moving forward to the sound of the beat.

I'm not quite ready to say my faith in the show has been restored; it's going to take A LOT more than one good episode to do that. However, this is a step in the right direction.

[oatmeal fetish....]

I'll agree with you the second they have an episode that doesn't involve the whole family or town or doesn't have a cameo of someone famous playing themselves.

[Cowboyninja]

Not to be a dick trying to take the wind out of your sails but is it possible your love for drums blinded you? I just find it hard to believe that they didn't suck the big one for once. However, who knows. Every now and then I guess they have to produce something of quality.

[الله أكبر]

The same thing happened last season. It was a host of sucky episodes, with some really creative ones thrown in between. I recall an episode from last season portraying Babe (the pig from those cutesy movies) as a ravenous, boarish thing, and the Aflac duck dying and coughing out the words of the company for which he is s sponsor. It's tough to describe them, as they are concepts of the "you had to be there" variety. Nontheless, creative spins on pop culture are funny. Homer Simpson snuggling up to a bucket and whining in his sleep "I wannn my bucket...." is not funny at all (and yes, that's a joke that was featured last season).

I don't think my love of drums blinded me whatsoever, I think it helped me to see the hidden jokes. There were plenty of non-drumming jokes in this episode that were funny.

[oatmeal fetish....]

Bacxk in the day, Simpsons used to be more King of the Hill and less family Guy, but in the newer ones there's been a shift towards goofy cartoon shit (talking animals, marge lifting up a bus, ect). This was something they regularly made fun of back in the day (Bart trying to blast off with spray paint cans but just making his feet green) and I think is a big problem with why the newer episodes aren't as good.

[TemporalRift]

Exactly, The Simpsons used to be a family sitcom that just happens to be animated. Now it's a cartoon that just happens to be a family sitcom

[Violent Unrest in Allentown]

Exactly, The Simpsons used to be a family sitcom that just happens to be animated. Now it's a cartoon that just happens to be a family sitcom

'Nuff said.