A Few of my Favorite Things
I have often written of my love for The Simpsons. I still faithfully watch the television show, having never missed an episode. The latest offering, aired just a few days ago, is one of my favorites. This short post is about why I liked that 22 minutes more than most.
I usually try to avoid trailers of The Simpsons. I don’t read the little blurbs about what the future episodes are supposed to be about; I like to be surprised. Last Sunday, though, I was caught off guard when I found out that night’s program was not airing at its regular time of 8:00 PM. Instead, my sources were telling me it was coming on at 9:00 PM. Quite unusual.
Armed with this knowledge, I decided to try to find out why Fox fiddled with the time slot. Was this a special episode? Was the content a little more adult than usual? As it turns out, the show was moved so that Fox could premiere a new show at The Simpsons’ normal time.
As I was researching the time change, I came across the description of The Simpsons’ episode being aired at 9:00 instead of 8:00. When I saw that one of the guest stars was Bob Balaban, I took particular interest. Balaban is one of the actors who shows up in Wes Anderson’s films.
Anderson tends to use the same cast of actors in his films. Balaban is one of them. People such as Jeff Goldbloom and Bill Murray are counted among the others. I found it noteworthy that Balaban was guest-starring on The Simpsons. I wondered what that was about.
Not long ago, Family Guy did a parody of Wes Anderson for part of its show. Peter and the gang moved through an Anderson inspired space, speaking in an Anderson-esque way. I was hoping that Balaban’s appearance meant that The Simpsons were going to do something similar. I was not disappointed.
Near the end of the show, Homer and Marge were tasked with finding the childhood home of Jeff Albertson, aka Comic Book Guy. Jeff had retreated to his family’s estate, leaving behind his wife and comic book shop. When they arrived, the Wes Anderson parody/homage began. It was well done. I was surprised and pleased to see it.
I was most happy to know that the people working on The Simpsons have a high opinion of Anderson’s work. After all, they never would have made that episode if the producers and writers didn’t find his work worthy.
2020 is over; I know everyone hopes that the new year brings better times for us all. I have always seen January 1st as just another day, not a time to turn over a new leaf or to resolve to do this or that. The 3rd of June is as good as any other day for such things. I will say this, the episode of The Simpsons I just saw was better than anything I experienced in 2020. Perhaps that episode will foreshadow better things for 2021. If our lives were novels, and I was writing the stories, that might be something I would conjure up…and if wishes were horses, beggars would ride.
