C'mon Guys, Free Pickled Eggs!

May 22, 2022 3:05 AM

A Hugh Jass Oral History of ‘Flaming Moe’s' [Mel Magazine]
posted by chavenet (16 comments total)

That was a super fun read, thanks for sharing! Now the song is gonna be in my head all day.
posted by knownassociate at 4:23 AM on May 22, 2022 [1 favorite]

Many great moments in this episode, but I always appreciated Professor Frink:

"And the secret ingredient is... LOVE? Alright, who's been messing with this thing?"
posted by fortitude25 at 4:39 AM on May 22, 2022 [8 favorites]

This episode, and so many like it from the early days, really stands out from the sad, formulaic, and downright unfunny Simpsons of today. I can't honestly remember the last time I actually laughed at anything in an episode. The producers should either hire some funny writers who don't use a pop culture checklist to create plotlines or put this old, broken-down nag out to pasture.

On the other hand, I can't wait for the return of Futurama!
posted by tommasz at 6:42 AM on May 22, 2022 [4 favorites]

EVERYONE’S FAVORITE ‘SIMPSON’S’ EPISODE… a truly classic ‘Simpson’s’ installment

*twitch*
posted by Horace Rumpole at 6:43 AM on May 22, 2022 [11 favorites]

I was watching The Telltale Head the other night and given all the heavy-handed morality I joked that I thought I was watching The Simpsons, not Leave it to Beaver.

And then I realized that episode is just as old as the Leave it Beaver reruns were when it first aired.

I'll agree that Season 3 is when The Simpsons started feeling like The Simpsons and not just a slightly edgier take on the Standard American Family Sitcom.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 8:27 AM on May 22, 2022 [3 favorites]

"And the secret ingredient is... LOVE? Alright, who's been messing with this thing?"

I just rewatched the episode and it's "who's been screwing with this thing", which puts a bit of an extra twist on that joke.
posted by Riki tiki at 9:54 AM on May 22, 2022 [3 favorites]

the producers should either hire some funny writers who don't use a pop culture checklist to create plotlines or put this old, broken-down nag out to pasture.

I've seen every episode of The Simpsons (many several times) and I disagree with this take. If you haven't seen every episode of The Simpsons, I recommend episodes that have the involvement of Megan Amram. They seem fresh and funny to me. Then again, my favorite character is Lisa and one of the reasons I don't really enjoy going to Simpsons fan spaces is 1) everyone hates The Simpsons there, except for a very limited number of seasons and episodes, and there have been *727* episodes, and 2) when people dislike or loathe the Lisa or Marge-centered episodes, the discussion quickly devolves into discussions that make me very uncomfortable and often pretty sad.

I'd be happy if they never cancelled The Simpsons. No one is forcing anyone to watch it. Plus, most of the people who bitch about all the years of terrible episodes (and boy, have there been years of terrible episodes) haven't seen any by newer or different writers. You might be surprised by what they can do from time to time. Then again, you might dislike those too.
posted by 41swans at 10:31 AM on May 22, 2022 [20 favorites]

As with people who at some point stop listening to new music, it seems like many of the Zombie Simpsons types think the heyday of the show just happened to coincide with their teen or young-adult years.

(Wikipedia's Historiography of The Simpsons is almost 15,000 words and contains 142 citations.)
posted by box at 11:37 AM on May 22, 2022 [4 favorites]

I strongly dislike the new episodes for the same reasons others have mentioned, if that's permitted to say out loud here, but I do love that they bring in guest animators to create new opening credits, which are almost like animated shorts that are usually of higher quality than the episode that follows, if that's okay to say.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 1:12 PM on May 22, 2022 [6 favorites]

Two of my favorite Simpsons visual gags were from Moe episodes. From this one, the logo for Tipsy McStagger’s Good Time Drinking and Eating Emporium, and from the family restaurant one, Moe reading a copy of “Your Gimmicky Restaurant”, by Fuddrucker and Bennigan.
posted by hwyengr at 1:49 PM on May 22, 2022 [4 favorites]

"And the secret ingredient is... LOVE? Alright, who's been messing with this thing?"

A few scenes before this one, Martin Prince is giving a show-and-tell about the gas chromatograph. I like to think that Martin is the one who taught Prof. Frink's gas chromatograph how to love.
posted by Paragon at 6:47 PM on May 22, 2022 [5 favorites]

I thought this episode was sam Simon giving the finger to matt groening?
posted by lkc at 11:57 PM on May 22, 2022 [1 favorite]

I kind of agree with 41swans. After a long hiatus I’ve watched seasons 31 and 32 recently and I thought they were pretty good
posted by motdiem2 at 5:05 AM on May 23, 2022 [2 favorites]

I've always thought Flaming Moes sucked, but then again I'm of the opinion that the early years of The Simpsons were popular because it was the early years of a deserving cultural phenomenon, but on closer inspection some parts of the whole were not great. They've also reused that basic plot line of "Moes turns trendy" like 10 times since.
posted by The_Vegetables at 8:09 AM on May 23, 2022 [3 favorites]

Moe's back, in pog form
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 4:37 PM on May 23, 2022

I used to be able to sing the Flaming Moe's theme song from memory. I still can. Anybody wanna hear? Huh? Anybody? Awww, nuts.
posted by credulous at 6:03 PM on May 23, 2022