Monthly Archives: March 2015

It’s the Seemingly Never-Ending Story, and the Seemingly Never-Ending Throwback Thursday!

Episodes, Guest stars, Miscellaneous, Throwback Thursday

How is it never-ending when it’s around 20 minutes, like every one is?
We’ve got a big one today, as we’re celebrating a lot of birthdays, including the episode wherein the family get stuck in a cave and Mr. Burns does something with a goat.

“The Seemingly Never-Ending Story, the thirteenth episode in Season 17 and interestingly the ninth episode of the show to be rated TV-14DL in the US, focuses on the family visiting Carl’s Dad Caverns (although, didn’t we find out his adoptive father, who Carl is named after, was Icelandic? Hmm…) and Homer tries to take a piece of a stalactite as a souvenir, but ends up falling through the cave floor and the family being trapped. To pass the time, Lisa tells Homer a long-winded story about Mr. Burns, a sheep, the Rich Texan, a scavenger hunt, and some treasure. Oh, and Moe.

Second on the episodic birthdays, it was this day in 1992 that a cat got sick and somebody shot a duck, as Santa’s Little Helper’s life was on the cliff-edge. And even further back in 1989, Bart’s reverberations causes the Simpsons’ car to nearly plummet into Echo Canyon.

And now, for the other birthdays!

Frank Welker, the recurring guest star well-known for his animal-portraying, was born on this day in 1946. As was James Taylor on this date in 1948, singer and guest starring as himself in “Deep Space Homer”. Kipp Lennon was then born on this date in 1960, known for the singing voice of Leon Kompowsky, who was voiced by Michael Jackson (and Hank Azaria) in “Stark Raving Dad”, but due to contractual reasons (and the fact Jackson wanted to play a joke on his brothers), didn’t sing, so Lennon was used instead. And last, but not least, Darryl Strawberry, the baseball player who guest starred as himself in “Homer at the Bat” was born on this date in 1962.

And that’s it for a lengthy Throwback Thursday (well, in editing it was). See you next week! Unless I make more posts in-between.

EA Giveth and EA Taketh – The Homer

Tapped Out

The Homer deal is back now after a small update today!


Yesterday, a new The Simpsons: Tapped Out update happened in-game for The Homer, the car that Homer designed. It was available for 82 donuts and was supposed to last for 5 days.

Gil popped up in Springfield again to offer the car. If you purchased it, it came with a small quest line, teasing the addition of Herb Powell, Homer’s half brother. However, a few hours later, another update hit and the Gil deal was taken away. The end date was shifted back to 2014 meaning the offer was “over”.

However, if you didn’t get the car, don’t fear. It should be returning again very soon. The offer was a teaser to the addition of Powell Motors and Herb Powell. However, the theory is that EA accidentally released the update early, somehow.

I asked J. Stewart Burns, one of the writers of Tapped Out about it and he said this:

“we moved the update with herb back a bit. the homer was supposed to be a teaser to it. so my guess is… mistake.”

So, The Homer will be making a return at some point. And Herb Powell and Powell Motors will also be coming after that. For more details about the short update and future spoilers for the Herb Powell update, read this page.

RIP Sam Simon

Deaths


The Simpsons developer, executive producer, character designer and writer Sam Simon passed away today from Colorectal cancer.

Simon was diagnosed in late 2012 and was given 3-6 months left to live. However, he defied the odds and continued to fight long after that time frame. As well as working on The Simpsons, which he left after season 4 due to creative difficulties, Simon is well known as a member of PETA and his involvement with The Sam Simon Foundation.

Sayonara, Sam Simon! You will be missed!

Simpsons down by 200k

Episodes

I bet a lot are sorry they missed out on THIS.
Last Sunday’s Simpsons, in which Chief Wiggum had a disaster with his new military jetpack, was seen by 3.79m in the official ratings, adjudted up from the 3.73m it scored in the overnight ratings, but kept its 1.6/5 in the 18-49s and was still down around 200,000 viewers from the previous week.. The Simpsons was the third most watched FOX program of the night, behind Family Guy (3.98m/(2.1/6)) and The Last Man on Earth (4.35m/(1.9/5)).

Across the pond, Sky1’s first showing of “The Man Who Came To Be Dinner” on March 1 garnered 530,000 official viewers, the eighth most watched programme on the channel that week, and the highest rated Simpsons of the week. This figure is down 21k from the previous week. (BARB)

Level 50 is here…with a Premium Helen Lovejoy

Tapped Out

My mom thinks of so many children, apart from me. No wonder I get away with so much.
We’re a bit late to the party here, but Level 50 was finally released after 3 years of waiting on Wednesday (March 4). Well, they had to get through the other 49 first. It’s hard to believe it was September 21, 2012 when we first saw Nelson Muntz and Martin in Tapped Out.

By now, you’re probably worrying about the “Premium Helen Lovejoy”. Don’t worry, she only thinks she is. She gets Database to change her to premium.

But enough about clarifying that, we’ve got a new level. As you know, we’ve got the fan favorite Helen Lovejoy, as well as Jessica Lovejoy, who comes with the Lovejoy Residence for 180 donuts, plus the Municipal House of Pancakes, a favorite amongst the Investorettes for $1m, and Shorty’s, the coffee place where we first saw Helen try to get some Marge gossip way back in 1990, for 60 of those sprinkle-top foodstuffs.

It Blows…but this update doesn’t. Unless you count the fact that the “IT BLOWS” doesn’t have the blowing effect like it does in the episode.

The new Friendship levels consist of the air conditioning store, It Blows, where Homer used the money to buy a new air con instead to buy Lisa a new sax, and the Canyonero. We also see the addition of the premium Murderpuss, and the Christmas-leaked Book Burning Mobile. Early Access is available for this update’s premium items until the 16th March.

The Bartman Cave was also implemented as part of the Superhero event.

Find out what Helen’s getting up to in town, whether it’s competing with Marge in the bake sale contest with lemon cakes, cauldron bubbling and other things to do with selling herself off (premium, get it?!) in the Level 50 update!

How comes no one’s ever around when I say something clever? – Marge

Throwback Thursday: A Star… Isn’t Burns

Throwback Thursday

Welcome back to this week’s Throwback Thurs!

20 years ago on this date, we saw the town of Springfield become engrossed in a film competition – with guest star Jay Sherman one of the judges, after Springfield is rated the lowest popular city in the whole country.

This encourages the whole of Springfield to enter, including Hans Moleman’s film of getting hit in the ?$%&£! by a football (or rugby ball, if you’re from the UK), Mr. Burns’ of his fictional life, which sees him in a variety of roles, and Barney’s of his alcoholism story, which won the town’s heart so much it won – after much convincing Homer, who was also on the panel, to vote for it by Marge.

Homer: “Barney’s movie had heart, but ‘Football in the Groin’ had a football in the groin”

But despite his movie being about keeping off the booze, the prize turns out to be a lifetime supply of Duff, which Barney tells them to hook up to his veins.

Poor Barney. At least he finally managed to sober up again, for longer than he did briefly when he drove Homer’s car to New York, five years later.

(P.S. Did you know that Jay Sherman only guest starred because he thought it would promote his new series The Critic, and that Matt Groening ordered his name be removed from the episode’s opening and closing credits because he didn’t want to be associated with the episode?)

And, last but not least, we have our other commemorations/birthdays/other things that happened on this day. On this day in 1955, Penn Jillette, the illusionist who guest starred as himself in “The Great Simpsina”, was born. Also, in 1969, Sabine Bohlmann, the German voice of Lisa, was born.

That’s it for this Throwback Thursday! See you next week!

Simpsons up by 1.2m but down by 18k in UK

Episodes

It’s definitely a hot topic in Springfield…and the fact that Burns has clones.
You may be a bit confused by the title, but you’ll get it. Anyway, onto the big news. Last night, in the US, the show scored its highest figure since January 11 as 3.93m (1.8/5) (adjusted slightly down from the prelimary rating of 3.97m (1.8/5)) tuned in to watch Moe fall for someone he thinks is involved in the infamous Nigerian prince scam, and as the AV Club puts it, “the best episode of season 26 so far”, but not ratings-wise (*cough*TheManWhoCameToBeDinner*cough*).

And, for the first time, we’ve also got UK ratings news, as 551,000 people tuned in to watch the, pushed-back US November, episode “Blazed and Confused”, on January 22 on Sky1, 18,000 down from the 7-day official of 569,000 “I Won’t Be Home for Christmas” posted when it aired on December 21.

Sources: BARB, TV by the Numbers

What to expect: March 2015

What to expect

These are the upcoming events in March 2015 to look for.

Episode news

“The Princess Guide”


“The Princess Guide” will air on March 1st, this very day. The episode is written by Brian Kelley. Yaya DeCosta guest stars as Princess Kemi, Richard Branson guest stars as himself and Joe Mantegna guest stars as Fat Tony. In the episode:

“Homer is put in charge of keeping Princess Kemi out of trouble while her father, a Nigerian king, works out a uranium deal with Mr. Burns. When Kemi ends up at Moe’s, Moe jumps to the conclusion that she must be related to the Nigerian prince who scammed him over email and schemes to get his money back. But much to his surprise, he finds himself falling for the princess.”

See also: Moe will plot revenge over Nigerian E-mail scam this March and 10 New Promotional Images for “The Princess Guide” have been released!

“Sky Police”


“Sky Police” will air on March 8th. The episode is written by Matt Selman and directed by Rob Oliver. Nathan Fielder guest stars as himself. In the episode:

“Chief Wiggum is mistakenly delivered a military jet pack, which he gleefully accepts and uses in order to fight crime. But when the jet pack crashes into the church, the congregation, led by Marge, must resort to gambling and counting cards in order to collect money to repair the church.”

See also: Chief Wiggum is mistakenly delivered a military jet pack this March and 5 Promotional Images for “Sky Police” have been released!

“Waiting for Duffman”


“Waiting for Duffman” will air on March 15th. It is written by John Frink. Cat Deeley guest stars as herself and Stacy Keach guest stars as Howard K. Duff VIII. In the episode:

“When Duffman undergoes hip replacement surgery and retires, the company sets up a reality show competition to find his replacement. Homer wins the competition, and because the job requires him to stay sober, he learns that beer isn’t as necessary as he thought to have a good time.”

See also: So You Think You Can… DUFFMAN? on an all-new episode this March and 3 Promotional Images for “Waiting for Duffman” have been released!

Tapped Out news

Enter the Bartman


On March 3rd, Bartman will be coming into The Simpsons: Tapped Out as a costume for Bart, as part of the Superhero update. He will be available at 8am GMT across all games worldwide for 60 donuts. He will be available until the end of the update.

The Fruit Knight Rises… Again


On March 10th, Fruit-Bat-Man will return to Tapped Out. He first appeared during the “Dark Knight Court” episode tie-in. He will be available for 90 donuts and will be available until the end of the event as well.

If you already had Fruit-Bat-Man from his original release, he can be used to fight felons for the premium time of 3 hours. He will be able to do this if you choose to purchase him.

Miscellaneous news

Lisa Simpson’s Guide to Geek Chic


On March 17th, the fourth book in the Vault of Simpsonology series will be released; Lisa Simpson’s Guide to Geek Chic.

“In Lisa Simpson‘s Guide to Geek Chic, Springfield‘s most sensitive student reveals the secrets of being a misunderstood geek goddess. The geeks have inherited the earth . . . And Springfield’s most outspoken and overlooked middle child, Lisa Simpson, is here to tell you why! So what does it matter that you don’t run with the popular crowd? You control the trends and tastes of popular culture. Who cares if you aren’t part of a clique? Your idiosyncratic style is now très chic. So what if you’re not very social? You’re tech savvy drives all social media. There’s no need to lay low in nerd anonymity. You are the smartest person in the room, and it’s time to fulfill your dork destiny!”