The Great Wife Hope

In this episode, Marge embarks on a protest against a new 'ultimate fighting' fad in Springfield that is corrupting its children. Marge protesting? That's a new idea isn't it? Oh wait, it was covered nicely right back in the second series, when she tried to ban/soften Itchy & Scratchy... owing to its violent content and bad influences on children. I'm hardly going to sit here and painstakingly point out every time The Simpsons repeats itself (Comic Book Guy style), but so much work goes into making these episodes, so why bother making a point you've already made?

Alright, I don't think this episode really had a point anyway. Maybe we can overlook this, maybe we can say 'it made many valid points back in the nineties... as long as it still makes us laugh, that's all that matters.' On this measure, it fails again. I barely smiled throughout this dragged out piece of rubbish. Every attempt at humour was terrible, just the same character-based jokes we've seen a million times... Homer likes food, Homer likes violence, Marge is over-concerned. The desperation to please was very obvious - background characters were pulled in left, right and centre, and yet it still failed to deliver.

For every new episode of The Simpsons they make, I'm going to watch something pre-eleventh season. I beg you to join me.