Category: TV

Can Season 18 Save the Simpsons?

Originally written on September 18, 2006.

Let’s get this straight, I am a die-hard Simpsons fan. I’ve been watching since Tracey Ullman and I will continue to watch until it is canceled (editor’s note: I stopped watching The Simpsons more than a decade ago, but how was to know it would still be running?). I mean I own all of the Simpsons Forever books that detail each episode for crying out loud.

But even I have to admit that the last several seasons have gone steadily downhill.

Around Season Six a bad episode or two slipped in. Then it got to where bad episode would appear after about 3 or 4 good ones. Then it was about every other episode and finally by last season I only found myself laughing heartily on only a handful of episodes all season long.

To me, a lot of the problem lies in what the critics call plot drift, and the all too dependent upon deus ex machina. When the Simpsons first began they relied upon simple morality tales to tell each episode’s story. Bart was picked on by a bully, or there was a financial crisis that had to be overcome. The plots were simple but the satire was heavy and the humor hilarious.

Eventually, it seems the writers ran out of simple plot lines and began allowing plot drift to take over. This device allowed the first act plot to completely uproot and change within the second or final act of the show. A hurricane plot in act one would suddenly change to Ned being institutionalized in the next. The storylines became useless cardboard setups for the jokes, and the heart of the show went down a peg.

Still, it was quite funny. For a while at least.

The changing plots also led to deus ex machina or out-of-nowhere devices to resolve the plot in a timely and clean manner. When Principal Skinner is found out to be a fraud, the episode quickly ends with the real Principal Skinner being literally railed out of town, and a judge proclaiming the “fake” Skinner to be renamed Seymore Skinner.

It must be said that the writers often used such devices with a knowing wink to the audience. In that episode, the judge also mandates that no one will ever mention the name change under penalty of law. Both using the device and satirizing its use on other shows.

Over the last few years, I must admit my love for the show has waned slightly. So many seasons I have sat through blah episodes hoping each week that the new show would rekindle the old magic. So many seasons I have again been disappointed.

So it was this anticipation of disappointment that I have turned into the first two episodes of season 18. To my complete surprise, both episodes were pretty stinking good. The Simpsons, damn them, have once again made me believe.

In the season opener, List befriends the son of Fat Tony. When Fat Tony becomes ill he allows Homer to take over the business.

And you know what? It didn’t suck.

I’ve always enjoyed the Fat Tony character. He gives the writers multiple ways to satirize real gangsters and gangster movies. They did a nice job with this one skewering the Sopranos with Fat Tony’s son wanting to be a chef instead of a gangster, and Homer screwing everything up as usual.

It wasn’t season five quality, but still pretty danged good.

Episode two also was much better than my expectations. For the first time in I don’t know how long they have managed to put two back-to-back good episodes on.

A child psychiatrist recommends that Bart play the drums to get rid of his hyperactive energy. Turns out he is a bit of a prodigy and gets asked to join the band along with some jazz greats. This sets Lisa on fire for she’s wanted to play in a jazz band for nearly as long as the show has been on.

There is some nice rivalry between Bart and Lisa, some decent jazz stereotypes (including the obligatory marijuana gag), and one sure-to-be-a-classic bit with the White Stripes.

In homage to the video for “The Hardest Button to Button” Bart moves around town banging away at his drum kit eventually bumping into and being chased by the White Stripes. It was a beautiful, perfect piece of comedy and brought the show out of mere decent status.

Both episodes this season have carried on traditional linear plot lines hit their satiric targets, and contained several laugh-out-loud moments.

They still aren’t on par with the glory years, but they have managed to spark new hope in a fan who had begun praying for cancellation.

Let’s hope it lasts. (editor’s note: it didn’t).

TV Review: Vanished

vanished tv

Originally written on August 22, 2006. I have absolutely no memory of watching this show. I don’t think I watched another episode and it was cancelled not very long after. – Mat

Fox has been hyping their new mystery series Vanished for weeks. Hoping for something like 24 meets The Fugitive I stopped watching Italian maestro Dario Argento’s slasher epic Deep Red to watch.

The first episode of any series is difficult, double for an ongoing mystery series where presumably each episode will lead in the next without any loose ends being tied up until much, much later. With all of that introduction of characters and establishment of plot, it’s hard to really get into the meat of the show at first and create enough suspense to keep everyone tuned in next week.

By the midway point of the first episode of Vanished, I was ready to write the show-off and was missing my Italian blood bath.

We are quickly introduced to Senator Jeffrey Collins (John Allen Nelson), his wife Sara (Joanne Kelly), and son Max (John Patrick Amedori) before Sara gets a phone call and just like that, disappears. Just as fast an investigation is brought down and the poor Senator’s wife is suspected of being kidnapped.

FBI agent Graham Kelton (Gale Harold) is running the show and is, of course, as brash as he is awesome. He’s introduced with a flashback of doing some type of ransom cash handoff for a small boy. A sniper shoots the bad guy but not before the boy is blown to bits by the bomb planted on his body. This is supposed to give Agent Kelton a dark, somber side and an attitude that says ‘let me do it my way’ because he didn’t actually want the sniper there, and without the sniper, the boy would have been in one piece, not a thousand.

The problem, midway, was that we’d been introduced to the characters and the core problem, but I didn’t actually care about any of them. The show rests upon the fate of Sara Collins, yet we only actually see her for about 10 seconds, not long enough to develop any emotional attachment to her. The senator and his family are more developed, but in an attempt to make everything more mysterious (and presumably to add more plot twists later on) they don’t come off as too sympathetic. The agent’s back story was just kind of dumb, and there are so many obnoxious but genius crime fighters on TV these days that it’s hard to notice one more.

Ah, but in the back half of the episode, things got more interesting. It seems young Sara was previously kidnapped 12 years ago but the media coverage was covered up. She also apparently had another name as some stranger in a bar tells us after seeing her picture on the television.

The past is even more mysterious as Agent Kelton uncovers the body of a woman who was also kidnapped at the same time as Sara. Her body had been frozen since then and has now been thawing in the house registered to a man who happens to own the same type of gun that shot the waiter who told Sara about her disappearing phone call.

And the body has a card on it bearing the number 9:29. The number nine was also tattooed, post-mortem, on the waiter’s hand.

That’s suspense and has me interested in next week’s show.

While not exactly 24 meets The Fugitive, it’s more like a poor man’s Lost meets Matlock, it has enough juice to make me want to turn in next week. Unless Blockbuster sends me Dario Argento’s Suspira, then all bets are off.

Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist

dr katz

 Editors Note: Dr. Katz is now available on DVD (But sadly not Blu-ray) so you may purchase your copy at the movie seller of your choice.  The Midnight Cafe does not condone piracy.

My good friend Jamison recently sent me the entire series of Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist on DVD. This has brought much joy to my heart because none of the episodes from this series are yet available on DVD. My friend bought it off of Ebay from someone who essentially put his dubbed off the TV VHS tapes into the DVD format. The quality ranges from really quite excellent to something more akin to rather unwatchable garbage. Most of the episodes have that old VHS tape that’s been sitting in the attic for a bit too long look. But it’s Dr. Katz on DVD and I’ll take what I can get.

The other, quite humorous, but in this collection is that whoever mastered the DVDs didn’t manage to edit out most of the commercials. A few of the episodes are presented commercial-free and look quite professional. The rest retain the commercials, but the creator has done us the favor of fast-forwarding through them. This creates a nice nostalgic effect to the collection, reminding me of my days of recording favorite TV shows and fast-forwarding through the commercials myself. He even does the guesswork on when the commercials will end, and the show will begin. Many times he’ll hit play only to find another commercial coming on. Or he’s a little slow on hitting the play button, fast-forwarding through the first few moments of the show.

The commercials themselves are also quite interesting. Craig Killborn is still hosting the Daily Show, Comedy Central is overhyping their sure-to-be hit show “Bob and Margaret” and Dell computers with 8 megs of RAM and 10 gig hard drives sell for only $2600!

The show itself is classic. It’s one of my all-time favorite television comedies. The set-up for the show has Jonathan Katz playing Dr. Jonathan Katz, a professional therapist (high concept, I know). His patients consist of guest stars who are generally professional comics, whose “problems” are generally bits from their acts. Other characters are Dr. Katz’s perpetually lazy son, Ben (H Jon Benjamin), and his sarcastic secretary Laura (Laura Silverman – how did they come up with these character names?). There is also the bartender and regular customer at a local pub Dr. Katz frequents (Julianne Shapiro and Will LeBow respectively).

Ben: “I’m saying, Dad, that it’s lonely at the top. So if you wanna ride my gravy train, you better hop on, now.”
Dr. Katz: “Why do you think this is the top? I mean, you could be lonely for any number of reasons.”
Ben: “What are you trying to say?”
Dr. Katz: “I’m saying, you’re a lonely guy. … Don’t blame it on being at the top.”

The best part of the show is the interaction between Katz, Ben, and Laura. The three have great chemistry and often feel more like three hilarious friends sitting around trying to one-up each other. I doubt the show ever had much of a script, for it all seems rather improvised on the spot.

Ben: “I bought a, uh, one of those fake fountains. You plug it in, and the water runs constantly.”
Dr. Katz: “A urinal.”

The only problem with the show is when the guests aren’t all that funny. In the early days, the guests consisted solely of stand-up comics. Generally, these guys are spot-on hilarious, doing their best bits. But, sometimes the guest is more annoying than funny (Judy Tenuta anyone?) Since an individual guest’s bits can make up 1/4th of the show, a bad guest could really drag the show down. This is especially true when as the show got a popular, non-comedian to appear. I loved Julia Louis-Dreyfus on Seinfeld, but here she says nothing funny, and her only gag seems to be that she goes to the toilet a lot while she’s pregnant. Katz makes the most of poor guests, though, and milks the material for all its comedy potential.

Dr. Katz: “Hold on one second, Ben, let me play the Devil’s advocate here, just for one minute.”
Ben: “No Dad, don’t, okay please, I don’t like the Devil’s advocate thing; you’re too good at it.”
Dr. Katz: “What about ‘Duck Duck Goose’?”
Ben: “Okay, you got a deal.”

In the last season, the show did what too many television shows do when running out of steam: it tinkered with its own premise and added characters. While in the previous five seasons, the only people with speaking parts were the main characters and the guest patients. In season 6 suddenly there are miscellaneous extras popping up. Why suddenly is there an exchange between Ben and his dentist? Todd, the video store clerk has become running regularly into this season as well. The actor portraying Todd (Todd Barry) had previously been a patient on the show. While the bits between Todd, the clerk, and Ben are usually funny, it is an additional character to a show flooded already with too many characters, and not enough time.

These are minor complaints in what is one of the funniest series to have ever hit the airwaves.