Springfield is inundated with holiday revelers after the nuclear power plant springs a radiation leak, causing snow to fall all over town. When the tourists drive up Christmas shopping prices, Marge opens up the Simpsons’ house to boarders.
I don’t know off the top of my head why a leak at the plant would blanket the town with snow, and why this would be a tourist draw for America’s “Crud Bucket”. I also don’t know why this snow causing leak would not endanger the Simpsons themselves. I am sure the writers think there is a reasonable answer to these and all my other questions, but I learned a long time ago that there is no point in looking for reasoning behind this particular brand of crazy.
charliesweatpants.com
(The crotch really does wear out too fast.)
Dead Homer Society 
Wow, look at all those unique character designs!
To expand on this as a compare and contrast, just look at the quote of the day below this post, and all of the background characters at the meeting.
These characters all seem so bland and generic… So as not to offend anyone? And where’s the minority characters?
Well it surely offended you. There’s a black kid in the background.
It seems that they are using now Family Guy’s manatees, eh?
Regarding the American Dad episode episode tonight: What the hell was that? I could pull a better cartoon out of my ass! There were three jokes, lots of filler, pointless songs every minute, and plenty of stupid, pointless twists. I hated it even more than the Simpsons episode, and it was a very bad Simpsons episode.
Yes, tell us all about American Dad. That’s exactly what this website is for… Um, also, hold on a sec while I get my U.S. English to Russian dictionary, ’cause some of your guys’ words… ech.
Pretty off topic, but I strongly disagree. It was easily more inventive than the Simpsons episode and a truly bizarre take on Beauty and the Beast (hence the singing) and Christmas in general. I certainly laughed more during this one than than most of the other American Dad episodes. Yes, the plot was idiotic and the jokes didn’t always hit there mark, but it was also quite entertaining throughout. It also succeeded where The Simpsons failed this week–to tell a single story and stick with it.
I read this comment in Krusty’s voice.
Me too, as I watched “The Front” last night.
I feel like these two images can show just how lackluster the crowds in the show have gotten.
-http://puu.sh/5OeaU.png
This one shows what is now the “usual gang”, who always seem to be everywhere important to stand around and make their one joke or line for the episode and then fade to darkness.
-http://puu.sh/5Oe8x.png
This image shows how lazy the “animation” staff has gotten, as it is the exact same crowd from the scene before, including the Moe standing off to the side.
Oh god, that double Moe.
I think the Zombie Simpsons staff have actually achieved a new level of apathy.
Haha, two Moes!
Yeah, it’s gotten pretty obvious those crowd shots have gotten completely stock.
You know how Springfield seems to have evolved into L.A. or some other fancy city (I’m from the midwest, that’s the best description I can give)?
I honestly think there might be a legitimate chance that the writers have reached the point where they’ve forgotten that Springfield normally gets snow in the winter.
Of course, now that it aired, I can find out if that was the case for myself. But….nah.
The premise was hastily presented as the following: Global warming happened, meaning snow nowhere in the United States, but fumes from the nuclear factory mixed with the tire fire smoke created some bizarre form of nuclear winter which means Springfield is now the only city in America with snow meaning an endless amount of tourists are ripe for exploitation. Pretty damn stupid and there is no acknowledging the fact that this would mean year round “snow” or any consequence to this after the Holidays, but at least it does explain why Springfield would be such a tourist magnet.
Though I found it to be the least terrible episode this season (I actually did find occasional moments of entertainment), the plot just meanders all over the place jumping around several vignettes, spotgags, and the video game snowman endlessly throwing 30 freeze frame gags at the center of the screen, and just decides to end. Quite a bit of wasted potential considering the hoops the plot went through to set it up.
I thought Marge was the most out of character, suddenly caring about Christmas not being about money, while still keeping the boarding house open. She just starts being mean to her paying guests whom she lured by advertising her home as a Bed and Breakfast. She also displays a Homer-like intellect in some scenes like complaining about “weird religious-y verses” even though they just attended a church sermon a few minutes ago. There was a hastily assembled Lisa plot that has a conflict and resolution in the blink of an eye. Typically, ZS goes for only the most lightweight dramatic conflict.
They, the writers, seem to ignore that there are other power plants in the U.S. if you get my drift but anyway well said!!!
Also, the episode seemed like it was going to establish an interesting side plot, with Krusty willingly censoring himself and Bart becoming jaded as a result. Nope, never happened: It was a one scene joke that was never mentioned again, even though it was the only funny or memorable part of the episode.
How was Lisa’s gift relevant to the story Gift of the Magi? Maybe if Bart had sold his battery charger to buy Lisa a gift and then could no longer afford batteries, making the Kindle or whatever it was only usable for a few hours, that would have made sense, but it fell flat.
I think that whole thing with Homer’s carriage service was done in Spongebob Squarepants, but I only started watching that recently, so I might be wrong.
Last episode, Krusty was a dedicated professional, micromanaging all of his foreign dopplegangers and carefully designing rules to ensure maximum profit. This episode, he is a pathetic idiot who gets drunk every time an Itchy and Scratchy cartoon plays. Good work being consistent.
Bart stole donation money in almost exactly the same way he did two or three episodes ago, except without the joke. These episodes are going to become a Moebius strip, then collapse into a singularity that will crush all humor, leaving only Modern Family, C.B.S, Seltzer, Feinberg, Baby Blues and The Family Circus.
I liked the Christmas themed opening…except for the Otto drug joke.
I liked the Christmas themed opening…except for the Otto drug joke.