Initial thoughts before airing:
A trendy A-plot involving Lisa, with a wacky B-plot involving Selma and Patty. Boy, if this goes wrong... it's going to be a doozey! I have high hopes for this, simply based on the writer of the episode... don't let me down, J. Stewart Burns. (I wonder if we'll get to see Selma's adopted Chinese baby, Ling?)
Unfunny chalkboard gag right off the bat with a Pink Floyd reference...
Then some Gershwin, and Letterman... and it's the show.
ACT ONE:
(Right into the story, that's nice!)
I like how Rainier Wolfcastle looks haggard!
"Let's see how long we can keep them waiting!"
Homer, then Maggie, getting hit by the trolley.
The "In Memoriam" for the gift cards.
Otto rides Bart.
Homer- "I'll take it, provided you charge me for services Google offers for free!"
Mapple Guy- "I already have!"
(Lots of great jokes in the opening act, and they feel like a family rather than a group of wacky characters.)
ACT TWO:
Always love seeing Cletus and Brandine.
Angry Nerds.
Bowling with iMacs, err... iMapples?
Ralph- "All My friends have birthdays this year!"
Lisa- "I have 1,000 friends, and only 8 of them are Milhouse!"
The entire "alcoholic hippo" rant between Homer and Grandpa.
(Man, J. Stewart Burns really gets the Simpson family dynamic....)
ACT THREE:
Marge's idealized version of Homer's voice as she's reading his text.
Lisa and Ralph-
"Weeeee!
"I'm trying to set a mood here."
"Weeeee..."
(Ooops, the "Ask Jeeves" joke flew past me pretty quick.)
ACT FOUR:
(I like the use of the courtroom bumpers.)
Kearney- "Damn, I got 'ass shraped!'"
Meh... who didn't see the ambulance joke coming?
"I don't know how to use the phone on my phone!"
(Second time this season with the choral version of "Creep." Use it or loose it, I guess. They paid for the rights, after all.)
LOL! What a way to end the episode... the Winklevoss twins kissing!
Wait, it's not over!
Nice callback to
Dark Stanley in the "Yokel Chords" episode!
Man... every time J. Stewart Burns takes on a topic that I feel could go right off the rails for the Simpsons, he delivers. This episode started strong and kept going right to the end. Some people may not like this one... but I did, and in season 23, that's a rarity for me.
4/5
Now... Napoleon Dynamite. (Please be better than Allen Gregory!)