Sunday, April 29, 2007

JABF14: "24 Minutes"

Synopsis: "With the help of Jack Bauer and Chloe O'Brian, Bart and Lisa must stop bullies Dolph, Jimbo and Kearney from releasing the ultimate stink bomb at Springfield Elementary's annual bake sale."

"24 Minutes," previously mentioned here, will be the 400th episode of The Simpsons. It airs on May 20 as part of the one-hour season finale.

Kiefer Sutherland and Mary Lynn Rajskub guest star, providing the voices of their characters from the Fox series "24."

JABF15: "You Kent Always Say What You Want"

You can't always use the title you want. Case in point: The 399th episode of The Simpsons, "The Kent State Massacre," was renamed "You Kent Always Say What You Want" in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech shootings. Since the original title unapologetically referred to the 1970 Kent State shootings, this would seem to be a textbook example of the "too soon" philosophy of acceptable comedy.

Synopsis: "Homer purchases the one millionth ice cream cone at an ice cream store and is featured on Kent Brockman’s nightly news program. However, the innocent interview turns into trouble when Brockman uses a shocking expletive and Ned Flanders wages an anti-indecency campaign."

The rapper Ludacris (left) guest-stars as himself.

"You Kent Always Say What You Want" airs May 20 as part of the one-hour season finale.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

JABF12: "Stop, Or My Dog Will Shoot!"

"Homer is upset when he realizes that Marge brought him and the family to a boring Harvest Fest instead of his much-anticipated day of debauchery at October Fest. Attempting to leave, Homer accidentally drags the family into a puzzling cornfield maze. When the whole family manages to escape except for Homer, they send out Santa's Little Helper, who sniffs out Homer and rescues him. Santa’s Little Helper becomes a local hero and the Simpsons decide to enroll him in Police Dog Academy, where he’s teamed with a grizzled veteran cop named Lou and they become a crime-busting duo. Bart’s excitement quickly dissipates when a jaded Santa’s Little Helper bites him, and the Simpsons send the dog away to live with Chief Wiggum. To appease Bart’s depression after the loss of his dog, Marge agrees to buy him a huge pet snake. But when the snake causes a life-threatening situation at Bart and Lisa’s school, Santa’s Little Helper gets a chance to redeem himself."

Rudy Giuliani and Stephen Hawking guest-star as themselves. Airs April 29.

Sunday, April 01, 2007

JABF10: "Marge Gamer"

"Marge becomes a spectacle during a PTA meeting for not having an e-mail address, and she decides to take a chance on using the Internet. Amazed and delighted by all the Internet has to offer, Marge joins a popular role-playing fantasy game called "Earthland Realms." To Marge’s dismay, the game has her interacting with practically the whole town of Springfield, including Bart, who happens to be the game’s most feared and destructive player. Meanwhile, Homer saves Lisa's soccer game from cancellation after he volunteers to take the place of a referee who recently quit. However, Homer’s refereeing skills only exasperate Lisa, and her competitive streak gets the best of her."

"Marge Gamer" airs April 22, 2007.