The Simpsons

So that Ricky Gervasis guy wrote last night's episode of The Simpsons. Maybe you've heard of him...I heard he created some show called The Office that all the cool kids are talking about.

Now, I enjoy The Simpsons a good deal and have since the beginning. It's wonderfully subversive and funny. And while I'm not one of those who jumps up and down going "It's not as good as it used to be", it's still not quite as good as it used to be. But then again, seasons 3-7 raised the bar so high that it was inevitable the show would sink back to Earth a bit. (That said, The Simpsons is still funnier than most stuff that passed for sit-coms on network TV these days. I'll take a bad Simpsons over the best According to Jim any day of the week).

I tuned in last night for two reasons. One was the Ricky Gervasis angle. The other was to see them use the live opening credits that were making their way across the Internet a few weeks ago. Apparently there was a guy in DesMoines who didn't have high speed access at home and actually worked all eight hours a day who hadn't seen it. Anyway, it was nice to see though I'm not sure it worked as well, freed from the three inch size you could view it as on-line. Somehow it just seemed more clever on-line.

But the episode itself was pretty amusing. I'll admit I laughed out loud at least three times in the course of the story and was extremely amused by most of it. The plot, such as it is, is that Lenny gets a new plasma screen TV and invites everyone over to watch it. Huge mistake since Homer falls in love with the TV and won't leave until Lenny throws him out. Homer goes home, upset that his old TV is like watching with dirt in his eyes. Marge enters a contest to win the new TV, but they don't. Instead, they're invited on a reality show about swapping wives for FOX where they could win..wait for it..the exact amount for a plasma screen TV.

Hilarity ensues as Ricky Gervasis is the other husband, whose wife is a bit frosty. Ricky's character falls for Marge while Homer and company are made to do reports on TV shows they watch. Hearing Homer's report on CSI: Miami was a riot.

Now, not to go all Simpsons snob on everyone, but this episode reminded me of the old days when the show was dense with jokes and just about all of them were funny. There were even quite a few shots at FOX, including the American Idol holding area that also had me laughing out loud. If you're a Simpsons fan, this episode was on par with the insanity that can come from the mind of John Schwartzwelder. It was funny, entertaining and the half hour breezed by quickly enough. In fact, I was enjoying it enough to want more and wished FOX had pulled an NBC and super sized the episode.