[8.9/10 on a post-classic Simpsons scale] I don’t know what it is about format benders that brings out the best in latter-day Simpsons episodes, but whether it’s going Lego or playing Halloween straight for once or riffing on perspective a la Run Lola Run, the show seems to put its best foot forward when it’s moving out of the show’s typical format.
That’s definitely true for “22 for 30” an episode that parodies ESPN’s popular 30 for 30 franchise of documentaries. The show has used the mockumentary format before (most notably in “Behind the Laughter” but also in “Springfield Up”) and it pays dividends. Playing with the tropes of another genre lets the show get a little more creative and specific in its gags, and there’s always the minor joy of seeing the grandiose bits of the world at large transplanted into a Springfield setting.
That’s certainly true here, where Bart playing for the Springfield Elementary School basketball team turns into a point-shaving scandal worthy of Bristol’s investigative gaze. The story has a solid number of twists and turns, from Bart’s initial rise to fame, to clashing with his dad as coach, to the mafia-influenced showboatery, to Lisa unexpectedly saving the day. The show did a nice job at fitting its characters and family-based stories into the sports scandal format.
There were some groaners (many involving overextended gags with Grampa and Milhouse), but for the most part the humor was on point too. I loved the scenes with Fat Tony and his Blue Haired Lawyer frantically whispering to stop his client’s incriminating statements. The writing got a bit too meta on occasion, but for the most part the editing gags and especially the chyron-based gags made great use of the documentary format for laughs. And some of the specific basketball gags, like Homer throwing chairs or Kevin Michael Richardson playing a thinly-veiled version of Stephen A. Smith, landed about as well as you could hope for in Season 28.
Overall, this was a pleasant surprise. To be frank, I was kind of ruing this one since it seemed like an easy stumble, but instead The Simpsons made the most of mixing it up in the sports doc mold.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2017-03-16T23:10:01Z
[8.9/10 on a post-classic Simpsons scale] I don’t know what it is about format benders that brings out the best in latter-day Simpsons episodes, but whether it’s going Lego or playing Halloween straight for once or riffing on perspective a la Run Lola Run, the show seems to put its best foot forward when it’s moving out of the show’s typical format.
That’s definitely true for “22 for 30” an episode that parodies ESPN’s popular 30 for 30 franchise of documentaries. The show has used the mockumentary format before (most notably in “Behind the Laughter” but also in “Springfield Up”) and it pays dividends. Playing with the tropes of another genre lets the show get a little more creative and specific in its gags, and there’s always the minor joy of seeing the grandiose bits of the world at large transplanted into a Springfield setting.
That’s certainly true here, where Bart playing for the Springfield Elementary School basketball team turns into a point-shaving scandal worthy of Bristol’s investigative gaze. The story has a solid number of twists and turns, from Bart’s initial rise to fame, to clashing with his dad as coach, to the mafia-influenced showboatery, to Lisa unexpectedly saving the day. The show did a nice job at fitting its characters and family-based stories into the sports scandal format.
There were some groaners (many involving overextended gags with Grampa and Milhouse), but for the most part the humor was on point too. I loved the scenes with Fat Tony and his Blue Haired Lawyer frantically whispering to stop his client’s incriminating statements. The writing got a bit too meta on occasion, but for the most part the editing gags and especially the chyron-based gags made great use of the documentary format for laughs. And some of the specific basketball gags, like Homer throwing chairs or Kevin Michael Richardson playing a thinly-veiled version of Stephen A. Smith, landed about as well as you could hope for in Season 28.
Overall, this was a pleasant surprise. To be frank, I was kind of ruing this one since it seemed like an easy stumble, but instead The Simpsons made the most of mixing it up in the sports doc mold.