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XVIII (Season 19, Episode 5, Aired November 4th, 2007)
Didn’t realize how many of these aired in November. Almost of all of them since the new Millennium. Even the show is pointing it out. I always like gags about the in-show ads that Fox used to do. They do a macabre version with Marge cooking the various late-2000’s Fox shows (American Idol, 24, House) in her cake. It’s a very clever gag, especially the body parts forming the title.
“ET, Go Home”, of course a parody of 1982’s ET: The Extraterrestrial (which I’m surprised took them this long to get to), has Kodos in the ET role. I feel like “what if ET was actually a murderous alien” is kind of an obvious joke to go with. I mean, ET’s whole thing was subverting the long time image of aliens as murderous invaders, so just having ET, but as a murderous invader feels like the cheapest gag you could go with. Of course, with the dull premise, there aren’t really a lot of good jokes. There’s a one decent one about the missile defense bases being published in the New York Times. Homer saying “The South Rises Again” in a Lincoln costume is alright. The merging of Fantasia and Apocalypse Now at the end is interesting. Otherwise, dull premise, frankly bizarre, weirdly serious ending, and no real good jokes.
“Mr. and Mrs. Simpson”, a parody of the 2005 action-comedy Mr. and Mrs. Smith (which is one hell of a dated picture), is basically the same premise as the film with Homer and Marge as competing assassins while still married. This one has a few more gags that work…
