Posted on 01/26/2005 7:40:49 AM PST by dilbert80
Most die-hard fans say the show jumped the shark when they killed Maude Flanders in a rather lame episode
I really hope it isn't Ned.
Of course, being a fairly normal, fairly well-adjusted Christian, he would be the sterotypical choice for Hollywood to bring down.
Hence, I would not be surprised if it is Ned.
***"The Simpsons could make a strong political point that the networks would never dare in a sitcom," says Larry *Gross*, a communications professor at the University of Southern California and author of Up from Invisibility: Lesbians, Gay Men and the Media in America.***
So, the name of the author of a book about gays is "Gross?" That's hilarious!
The really big surprise is that some journalist still considers 'The Simpsons' cutting edge, or even relevant.
They should have retired gracefully ages ago, sometime around the 'munchkin racing jockey' episode.
BTW, welcome to FreeRepublic.
My own tv takes up space in my living room to bring me Fox News and the Boston Red Sox and nothing else. (And even with that I wrote to the sponsors of Levitra who saturated the World Series with intrusively descriptive ads). I don't really know who the Simpsons are and I never watched Seinfeld or the Sopranos, and I aint' missed a damn thing.
I think they jumped the shark a while ago. The "free speech jail" episode where the family was locked up with the Dixie Chicks, Michael Moore, Sean Penn, etc. did it for me. I still watch the episodes in syndication, but rarely catch a new episode.
That's my bet - Lenny and Carl, or maybe Patty. Smithers is too obvious, I just don't think they'd make Moe gay, and Ned Flanders is a serious long shot.
He has never admitted to being gay.
And he does not try to "force" his own sexuality onto anyone else.
In an epsiode I saw recently, Homer was in some gay neighborhood, and he runs into Smithers, who is dressed in a pair of shorts and "looks" quite gay.
Smithers professes to Homer that he is just passing through the neighborhood.
There is little doubt in my mind that Smithers is, in fact, gay.
But the refreshing thing about Smithers is that he refuses -- absolutely refuses -- the notion that so many gay people have that his sexuality is anyone else's business.
He is what used to be called "discrete" about his own sexuality.
Would that there would be more gay folks like Smithers -- who truly believe that what they do in the privacy of their own bedroom is no one else's business.
I missed that one, not having seen the recent episodes in a long time. When did that happen?
To me that was a jump the shark moment also. The show is going downhill.
I found the Maude killing episode to be a very good episode.
Umm, some mystery: We already know that Smithers is gay and has erotic fantasies about Mr. Burns. One episode even showed him learing at a nude images of Mr. Burns. The question is who ELSE on the Simpsons is gay. I'm pretty sure they've suggested Sideshow Bob is gay, haven't they?
Patty Bouvier is not gay; we have seen her lust after men before; given the number of occasions, saying she "rarely" dates men is odd.
Comic book dude gets excited about female comic-book characters, but that could just be because they're so cool. Ya know, the way drama queen queens get worked up over Barbara Streisand. So he could be gay.
I've never been to sure about Mel... could be bi. But he's in ads going after Marge. Barney could also be bi for all we know. Neither seem gay, but both could be used for that, "you never know who" sorta twist.
I also wouldn't be surprised if the Kennedy-esque mayor was used to satirize Governor McGreavey.
My guess, Moe!
If you have money to bet and anyone is still taking them, put it all down on this:
Smithers (who is all but announced as gay and in love with Mr. Burns) will marry Patty, Marge's sister, who has (I think) been intimated as being gay.
A gay wedding.
The Simpson's is more like golf to me...
In every round there is that ^one^ sweet shot; a 30 ft putt from the fringe for par, that lofting 250 yd 3-wood that puts you on the par-5 in 2.
Every week on The Simpsons, there is a one-liner or single event that skewers the modern culture so keenly and precisely, you just have to watch next week.
Face it, we all guffawed as the FoxNews production truck pulled up behind Kent Brockman exposing the Bush/Cheney 04 sign on 80% of the truck panel.
If the producers use it as a political or socio-cultural statement, tho, I would agree that it is a JTS episode.
Lenny and Carl, could very well be, they have been promoting them as gay for the last few years.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.