"I'm Kookoo for Killing stuff!": Almost-Liveblogging Fox Sunday Night

I realized I was forgetting a lot of what happened in the shows I watched, and I didn't like that they were taking a week to get up, so I'm just typing whatever comes into my head. Every before the ellipsis (...) is during-the-show analysis, everything post-ellipsis written after everything aired.

The Simpsons, "Dangerous Curves":

"You're just as bad as me! And you used to be better, which makes you worse!"-Homer

Fourth of July?
I'm glad they remember Ned is like twenty years older than Homer and Marge. Reminds me of "Out of Gas", my second-favorite Firefly episode, with the three different timelines (or last season's weakest Lost, "Ji Yeon", which tried something similar). And then they paralleled it with Bart and Lisa at the end, which worked better than it had any right to. Also liked that it had no Homer getting a gratuitous new job and that cool ending shot (was that a reference to something?) Overall, one of the shows' better recent efforts.

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It seems The Simpsons is really only trying to do one of these "outside the box" episodes a year, which is a shame, as they're usually among the show's best. Previous years have given us "The Seemingly Never-Ending Story", "22 Short Films About Springfield", "Behind the Laughter" (which I just rewatched before this one), the original "Treehouse of Horror" and last year's Emmy-Winning "Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind", and if you haven't seen any of those, illegally download it immediately (well, maybe not the first one). It's the most successful Simpsons formula, way more than, say, bringing back Sideshow Bob or doing those three-part anthologies, both of which went past the point of diminishing returns long ago. Obviously, every episode can't break the mold (for one thing, there probably aren't 425 molds to break), but they can and should definitely up the ante.

King of the Hill, "No Bobby Left Behind":

"Why can't we just go back to the gold-star/smiley-face system?" -Bobby

Have we ever seen Carl before? I want to say yes, but I can't remember when. It seem like every cartoon show has done some version of this plot already, at least the setup. It recovers in its second act a little, when it just lets everything play out, like Bobby's tinkle song or Khan vs. the Honors Program, or the special needs class actually doing something stupid. Missed the beginning of the third act (was it one of Hank's big speeches?), came back again when they started the "Kids in America" montage. Not super thrilled about the ending--J-Bone was funny, but it seemed kind of mean-spirited to have the guy actually fired, or suspended or whatever.

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Rock Band 2 Update: "Kids in America" is hard to sing, harder than most of the songs that come after it, except "Spoonman," which I failed after the last phrase (in other words, I failed with 100% complete), and stupid "Living on A Prayer", which wasn't worth the effort. My theory that the game is too easy still stands, as I've been able to beat everything on either the first or second try (whereas I've still never beat some RB1 songs). "Aqualung" has the creepiest lyrics I've ever read. And I just found out today that Flea and Dave Navarro played on "You Oughtta Know", and that Alanis Morriseete started off as Robin Sparkles-type (thanks, Wikipedia!)
P.S. The version of "Kids in America" in this episode is yet another cover.

Also, when is King of the Hill ever going to quit with these straw-man villains? It's supposed to be "realistic", unlike, say South Park, so it can't get away with having outlandish enemies for Hank.

UPDATE: I forgot to mention earlier: for my huge school-age fanbase, it should be noted that you get fail as many standardized tests as you want and it has no effect on your grade. Also, shouldn't you be in class right now?

Family Guy, "The Man with Two Brians":

"My special power is being somehow memorable after a very short run on TV"-Peter

Jackass? What year is it? Is this a new episode or not?
I thought Brian was 7, not 8. Whatever.
Who voiced New Brian? Seemed strangely familiar.
Carol who? (Best cutaway in a while, by the way).
Puppy Brian: not nearly as cute as Baby Bart and Lisa were an hour ago.
"Long and Hard."
I just today heard someone say "whip" like Stewie does. I always assumed they made it up.
Did you catch Stewie reading this during the karaoke scene?
"What a croc!"

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Overall, the plot of this one ripped off not one, but two Simpsons episodes (actually, there were elements of this one, too). One problem I have with Family guy is that it doesn't really care about plot or character, and instead cares about about trying to fit as many jokes as possible (notice how the entire liveblog section is just disassociated observations). This episode wasn't so bad about it, but it would have been nice to have seen something more original. I liked that Stewie's mainn problem was that New Brian was that he was boring, and they probably should have stuck with that.

American Dad, "Escape from Pearl Bailey":

"When will this city have a decent Edo period fair?"-Toshi
"This can't possibly go badly! You're my first girlfriend!"-Steve

Sorry, election over. Of course, that was just act one, which felt almost like a whole episode-in-miniature, complete with running joke about suspiciously-familiar animal groomer.
Then act two gives us surprisingly-effective Kill Bill parody and the family's only appearance. And it ended on a cliffhanger.
Then we got to the titular "Escape" section, complete with awesome voiceover. Steve and his ex-friends have to escape the various subcultures in a pretty good setpiece, and the goths dance (though not as good as on South Park), and everyone learns a lesson about caring for others, and the whole thing ends on a freeze frame.

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One of the things I like about American Dad is that, when it wants to, it can have the fastest-moving plots an any comedy since Arrested Development. This was one of those episodes. I just happened upon my rather insightful criticism as I went along, and I liked the fact that this one had a lot going on without ever getting lost. When Family Guy or some of the weaker Simpsons episodes does it, it comes off as meandering, shallow shaggy-dog story, bereft of any real narrative intention (me like big words). This one just. Kept. Moving, and didn't waste any time, on, say, callbacks (notice the rest of the family really doesn't show up again, nor does animal stylist) or any unnecessary setup or Family Guy style how long-can-we-draw-this-joke-out.

Plus, I left out like ten other quotes I could have used at the beginning.