Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
Hungry, Hungry Homer
I love to eat. A lot. A few years ago, I was told that I was pre-diabetic and decided to make a concerted effort to losing weight and reducing my sugar intake dramatically. Over time, I lost around 60 pounds and am still on my same diet (though I've plateaued). I'm proud of what I did but it wasn't easy. Fear was a pretty good motivator and I can still make a lot of good meals for myself but I anticipate cheat days the way I would anticipate Christmas. I hope that someday, it will be easier to simply eat less (I definitely notice myself getting full faster) but at least I have tangible results. If I didn't, I imagine it would be far easier to give up.
In this episode, Homer decides to start looking out for "the little guy", doing good deeds for people who need help. When Lenny wants to have a ticket to a baseball game returned, Homer talks with the owner of the Springfield Isotopes. While there, he stumbles on a plan to move the team to Albuquerque. The owner tries to silence Homer but he decides to fight back with a hunger strike. Homer suffers for the truth but people see him as an oddity to be gawked at rather than listening to him. Still, people like looking at him, so the team owner decides to place him in the park where he can be seen and not heard and claims the hunger strike is until the team wins the pennant. Homer keeps going but no one is listening. When Homer becomes to unpleasant to look at anymore, Homer is "freed" and is offered a hot dog before the audience. Homer realizes the hot dog is covered in South Western ingredients, evidence of the teams new New Mexico loyalties. Homer is vindicated and goes on a feeding frenzy.
"Hungry, Hungry Homer" is a pretty decent episode for the season. Funny jokes, decent construction and there's some thought being put into the point. After all, Homer is great at throwing himself into an idea so him becoming a full-on do-gooder is definitely a thing he'd do for a while. Where the challenge lies is that early on, Homer is able to see immediate changes based on his actions. Homer gets a real challenge in that when he goes on a hunger strike, he's on a longer road and soon it becomes apparent that no one is listening to him. Its one thing to do something difficult if you can see change but to do it with no promise of change is a challenging and heart-breaking challenge. Tonally, this isn't classic Simpsons but this decision does feel like a story from back in the day when there was a bit more existentialism in some of the morals and lessons.
The choice that works that also feels more right for what the show had become, a show that maintained its deep mistrust of corporations, is that the owner of the Isotopes (played by veteran character actor Stacy Keach), co-opts the very thing trying to bring him down. He tries to subvert his message and drown it out with his own, then get rid of him when he's too unappealing to be of any use. He also makes the very obvious mistake of letting him speak, which even in his broken state seems like a bad idea, but I'm willing to forgive that for two reasons. One, it might not make much literal sense, but I do think it works for the overall themes of the episode. And two, we so live in an age of people saying the quiet part loud, this is bizarrely plausible today.
The episode ends with Homer inspiring Duffman, the other villain of the episode, to turn against his master. Classic henchman stuff. And I like how it fits into the idea that even though Homer was feeling useless, SOMEONE was watching and noticing and he was putting in the seeds of change, even if it was an unlikely source. Of course, that some nice stuff in theory but in practice, it feels much more cliche. Not BAD, but not as good as I made it sound. I wish they made it more effective but I do appreciate they never let on that Duffman is going to change, simply that he was paying enough attention that he could. Overall, Hungry Hungry Homer is a solid Swartzwelder episode and one that doesn't feel like it is punching down.
Other great jokes:
"So, how much did you like Blocko Land!"
"It was alright, I guess."
"You knocked his block off."
"Cause that's the kinda guy I am this week."
"I tried to return my season ticket but they wouldn't give me my money back. They say THEY wanted it."
"Man, that is malty... BUT HE'LL NEVER KNOW! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"He's right folks. The only story here is the rich, smooth taste of Duff."
"Yes, that is an important story..."
"I don't mind being called a liar when I'm lying or about to lie or just finished lying. BUT NOT! WHEN I'M TELLING! THE TRUTH!"
Great line read by Castellaneta.
After shitty Mad Magazine style joke names, Sportzilla and the Jabber Jocks is a gloriously stupid return to form.
"Why don't you just cook less."
"I don't do things that way, Lisa."
"Yeah, but his weary shuffling makes my heart smile."
"Death is a part of baseball."
"Yeah, the main part."
"Who are you?"
"The spirit of Caesar Chavez."
"Why do you look like Caesar Romero."
"Because you don't know what Caesar Chavez looks like."
Other notes:
This is one of the weirdest and most arbitrary act one breaks in a while. It is clear they didn't have a good stopping place for the ads and tried to fix it in editing. That's what happens when act one is not completely unrelated to act two, I guess.
Man, the "shirt fire" joke feels weird. Police beating turns out to be something nice is just... yeah.
So Homer helps Bart through... negging?
I love to eat. A lot. A few years ago, I was told that I was pre-diabetic and decided to make a concerted effort to losing weight and reducing my sugar intake dramatically. Over time, I lost around 60 pounds and am still on my same diet (though I've plateaued). I'm proud of what I did but it wasn't easy. Fear was a pretty good motivator and I can still make a lot of good meals for myself but I anticipate cheat days the way I would anticipate Christmas. I hope that someday, it will be easier to simply eat less (I definitely notice myself getting full faster) but at least I have tangible results. If I didn't, I imagine it would be far easier to give up.
In this episode, Homer decides to start looking out for "the little guy", doing good deeds for people who need help. When Lenny wants to have a ticket to a baseball game returned, Homer talks with the owner of the Springfield Isotopes. While there, he stumbles on a plan to move the team to Albuquerque. The owner tries to silence Homer but he decides to fight back with a hunger strike. Homer suffers for the truth but people see him as an oddity to be gawked at rather than listening to him. Still, people like looking at him, so the team owner decides to place him in the park where he can be seen and not heard and claims the hunger strike is until the team wins the pennant. Homer keeps going but no one is listening. When Homer becomes to unpleasant to look at anymore, Homer is "freed" and is offered a hot dog before the audience. Homer realizes the hot dog is covered in South Western ingredients, evidence of the teams new New Mexico loyalties. Homer is vindicated and goes on a feeding frenzy.
"Hungry, Hungry Homer" is a pretty decent episode for the season. Funny jokes, decent construction and there's some thought being put into the point. After all, Homer is great at throwing himself into an idea so him becoming a full-on do-gooder is definitely a thing he'd do for a while. Where the challenge lies is that early on, Homer is able to see immediate changes based on his actions. Homer gets a real challenge in that when he goes on a hunger strike, he's on a longer road and soon it becomes apparent that no one is listening to him. Its one thing to do something difficult if you can see change but to do it with no promise of change is a challenging and heart-breaking challenge. Tonally, this isn't classic Simpsons but this decision does feel like a story from back in the day when there was a bit more existentialism in some of the morals and lessons.
The choice that works that also feels more right for what the show had become, a show that maintained its deep mistrust of corporations, is that the owner of the Isotopes (played by veteran character actor Stacy Keach), co-opts the very thing trying to bring him down. He tries to subvert his message and drown it out with his own, then get rid of him when he's too unappealing to be of any use. He also makes the very obvious mistake of letting him speak, which even in his broken state seems like a bad idea, but I'm willing to forgive that for two reasons. One, it might not make much literal sense, but I do think it works for the overall themes of the episode. And two, we so live in an age of people saying the quiet part loud, this is bizarrely plausible today.
The episode ends with Homer inspiring Duffman, the other villain of the episode, to turn against his master. Classic henchman stuff. And I like how it fits into the idea that even though Homer was feeling useless, SOMEONE was watching and noticing and he was putting in the seeds of change, even if it was an unlikely source. Of course, that some nice stuff in theory but in practice, it feels much more cliche. Not BAD, but not as good as I made it sound. I wish they made it more effective but I do appreciate they never let on that Duffman is going to change, simply that he was paying enough attention that he could. Overall, Hungry Hungry Homer is a solid Swartzwelder episode and one that doesn't feel like it is punching down.
Other great jokes:
"So, how much did you like Blocko Land!"
"It was alright, I guess."
"You knocked his block off."
"Cause that's the kinda guy I am this week."
"I tried to return my season ticket but they wouldn't give me my money back. They say THEY wanted it."
"Man, that is malty... BUT HE'LL NEVER KNOW! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"He's right folks. The only story here is the rich, smooth taste of Duff."
"Yes, that is an important story..."
"I don't mind being called a liar when I'm lying or about to lie or just finished lying. BUT NOT! WHEN I'M TELLING! THE TRUTH!"
Great line read by Castellaneta.
After shitty Mad Magazine style joke names, Sportzilla and the Jabber Jocks is a gloriously stupid return to form.
"Why don't you just cook less."
"I don't do things that way, Lisa."
"Yeah, but his weary shuffling makes my heart smile."
"Death is a part of baseball."
"Yeah, the main part."
"Who are you?"
"The spirit of Caesar Chavez."
"Why do you look like Caesar Romero."
"Because you don't know what Caesar Chavez looks like."
Other notes:
This is one of the weirdest and most arbitrary act one breaks in a while. It is clear they didn't have a good stopping place for the ads and tried to fix it in editing. That's what happens when act one is not completely unrelated to act two, I guess.
Man, the "shirt fire" joke feels weird. Police beating turns out to be something nice is just... yeah.
So Homer helps Bart through... negging?