Newsgroups: alt.tv.simpsons
From: flaps@dgp.toronto.edu (Alan J Rosenthal)
Subject: marge gets a job, or whatever it's called
Organization: Dynamic Graphics Project, University of Toronto
Distribution: alt
Date: 6 Nov 92 02:47:59 GMT


Overall evaluation: Fairly good.

Blackboard: I will not teach others to fly.  Hmm, I guess this means Bart's
been convincing eople to jump out of windows.  Sounds sufficiently Bart-like.
But most of all this line reminds me somehow of the anti-LSD hysteria about
people jumping out of windows, I dunno.

Sofa: When they all run into the room and plunk themselves down on the sofa,
they have the wrong heads.  So they reach up and exchange heads to make things
right again.  Problem is, Maggie's pacifier was originally in Homer's head's
mouth (which was attached to Maggie's body, which was in the usual place, the
centre of the sofa), so Maggie grabs it back just before we cut to the TV.

Troy McClure: "Dig your own grave and save!"
I also liked "the do's and do not do's"... (usually "the do's and don'ts")

I liked the contractor's attempt to use his level, which slid off the wall and
smashed.  You would think that with that much of a tilt, he'd be able to tell
that it was tilted just by looking!

One wonders what story Kent Brockman was relating which concluded, "... leaving
the vice-president in charge."  This may have been a reference to one of the
more humour-oriented reasons for voting against Bush, namely that when (...
alright, IF...) he was assassinated, Quayle would be president.

I had to rewind to verify that when the bird landed on the chimney and thus
pushed the house farther off the level, Bart fell out of the window.

I liked Marge's original resume.  (But it did leave open the question as to
what she was doing prior to 1980. :-) )

Headline: "Canada to hold referendum"
Yet another Canada reference (yacr).  As some of you will know, the referendum
is past (but not passed).  I wonder what the original intention was with
respect to the timing of the premiere of this episode and the referendum.  It
seems more likely that it was intended to show before the referendum.  But I
can't remember when the referendum date was set.

Ms Krabappel: Have you ever read the boy who cried wolf?
Bart: I'm halfway through it, I swear!

Burns was being a little self-serving when he proposed "child labour day"!

Smithers's daydream of Burns coming in through the window when Smithers is in
bed should settle all debate as to Smithers's intentions towards Burns,
especially given the sexual slant to this kind of daydream as Burns originally
described it.

And they're really trying to throw in information as to what sequence the
episodes occur in these days, aren't they?  The discussion about getting Al
Jolson was a reference back to Homer at the Bat (name?), the one with all the
famous baseball players (so I was told at the time).

Something which really looked like it ought to be a reference but I didn't get
it: As Tom Jones passes out, Smithers says "Pleasant dreams, Mr Jones."

Bart claimed to have Turette's (sp?) syndrome.  How convenient for him.  This
is a mental illness which is allegedly genuine, in which people cannot stop
SWEARING, of all things.  They also make noises like Bart made.  Unfortunately,
all he said was "shove it you witch", not "fuck off, eat shit" as we'd all like
to hear him say (preferably in a Butterfinger commercial, to the
merchandisers).

Krusty: Loud?!??!?  That's our secret word for the day!
and lights start flashing, etc.  I believe that this is a reference to Pee-Wee
Herman's show, Pee-Wee's playhouse.  In this show, which I was a minor fan of
(unfortunately cancelled due to the bizarre social pressures of the world in
which we live), each week at the beginning of the show the secret word would be
revealed.  Then Pee-Wee would remind everyone in the show and at home that
whenever you hear this word, all day, you should scream!  It had somewhat of a
Simpsons-esque subversive flavour, in that I'm sure many kids went around
screaming and pissing off parents, etc as a result.  Then during the show, a
few times someone would say the word (often someone not privy to the revelation
at the beginning of the show), and everyone would scream, and then Pee-Wee
would grin and confide in the unfortunate victim that this was the secret word
of the day.  Usually someone would then say it immediately after so that the
new person could join in the fun too.

Bart's book report: Ivanhoe is the story of a Russian farmer and his tool.
Salacious interpretations aside, Bart is separating the word "Ivanhoe" into
"Ivan" and "hoe", and going from there.  I.e., he hasn't read it.

Burns used something called "scalp wax".  I suppose this makes your scalp
shine.  Judging by commercials for women's cosmetics, I think that shining is a
no-no, fashion-wise.

"I can't believe it's a law firm" -- a law firm somewhat lacking in the
traditional dignity of law firms, small as that quantity is.  What other things
are "I can't believe it's an X"?  Sounds awfully familiar, but I can't place
it.

Finally, a severe weakness in the ending is that it's entirely unclear whether
Marge still has her job.

regards,