Sex, Pies and Idiot Scrapes

This episode, Homer and Ned team up to becoming bounty hunters which is pretty cool to watch and see a Homer and Ned bonding episode. The b plot with Marge becoming an erotic baker was alright. There are some funny moments in this episode too. There are some cons though with Homer and ned break being a little forced but overall this is a pretty good start to season 20 and I'm would like to see if they could do something like this with Homer and Ned in the future.

Also the saint pattys parade got some laughs out of me. That is all to say for the season premiere episode that I watched today .....

As with modern simpsons episodes "the writing just isn't in it". The once sharp and witty dialogue has been replaced with lazy parody of other shows and meandering stories which don't seem to have any kind of structure. This episode jumps between two particularly unfunny "capers" which don't really leave any lasting impression.

It's fairly tired and predictable from one end to another. In addition, It's even harder for me to give this episode a fair review, as an Irish person I am particularly annoyed from the offset by the downright insulting depiction of my nationality, I expect this kind of low- brow stereotype driven crap from the likes of Family Guy and American Dad (going for the cheap laugh). I don't know how/why it's acceptable to be so derogatory towards the Irish vs any other nationality.

The opening sequence in this episode plays on racist stereotypes which wouldn't look out of place in the 1800s. There would be mass hysteria and complaints if such a negative stereotype laden stab was taken at black people or Asians. I imagine because Irish people are predominantly white they are seen as fair game ; Potatoes, leprechauns, ginger hair, big families and even a mockery of a really unpleasant (and not entirely resolved) conflict in the north are not good comedy fodder when presented without in such a straight (and humour free way) - Irish people can be particularly tolerant of people having a gag at their expense, it's part of why we are renowned for being so friendly/hospitable - but when it's done in such a lazy fashion it really shows how the writing standards of the Simpsons has gone down the drain - It's like they browse 9gag for their "gags".

Sex, Pies and Idiot Scrapes is an okay episode. I have watched 2 other Season 20 episodes, and there is 1 okay, and 2 good episodes. This episode is the okay episode. This episode has some humor but it just isn't that funny. I think around when this episode was made Simpsons premieres aren't as good anymore. Before this in the Golden Age ( S1-S10 ) and Early Middle Age ( S11-S20 ) the premiere gave a good glimpse in the series. But at this point, Late Middle Age, the premieres give a worser glimpse in the series. Even though this is better than the last premiere, it only feels okay. This episode got a 7.2 and it has pretty good reviews, so I thought that this episode would be better. Instead it was worse than I imagined. This episode isn't great, but it's got enough good action for an okay. In all, I give this episode a 6.4 out of 10.

This is a decent start to S20, in which Homer and Ned become bounty hunters.

The Marge storyline doesn't amount to much, and I bet the Irish didn't care for the representation of them, but other than that there are enough strong moments in this episode that I enjoyed.

I don't know what happened to the Simpsons. There was a time I used to split my sides over almost every episode. The last years however, the show has gotten gradually less funny. This episode nearly made me laugh twice, I admit that. Well not really laugh, more of a faint smile actually. Nearly. Doesn't matter, what matters is: This show just isn't funny anymore. Tired and predictable jokes is not what this show used to be about. A "crazy" storyline, OK, does not matter as long as the jokes are as lame as they are. Some of the jokes are set up really clumsy. Almost as they feel they have to explain even simple jokes. Well here's a clue: if you have to explain it, it just isn't funny. As Bart would have said, this sucks.