From: mxg77@po.cwru.edu   
      
   I found this pretty enjoyable and full of older-style satire and humor, though   
   it kind of fell apart at the end, with Lisa's random quest for perfect gifts   
   that came out of nowhere and went back there, and the ending was kind of   
   abrupt/convenient and yet    
   also too long somehow. (And at 21:00 with credits, it's not like they were   
   running short on TIME.) That was saved a bit by Marge's carol issues and the   
   license plates, at least.   
      
      
   DYN:   
   ...the way CBG hits Martin with the comic is not even close to forceful?   
      
      
   Meta:   
   -Marge mentions that there's a rec room off the kitchen, but sometimes it's   
   there and sometimes it isn't, because the house is like that   
   -Possible example when the out-of-towners don't like the bland church sign   
   with a non-funny message (see for example the joke-headline bit in EABF12),   
   unless the point is just that it's not a fancy piece of hardware   
   -Bongo Comics mentioned explicitly, what looks like a Binky doll shows up   
   later (and may also be related to what Lisa buys for Maggie)   
      
      
   License plates   
   I'm pretty surprised the episode's production code didn't appear as one of the   
   license plates in the credits, especially since the show does that often   
   enough. There was a "SAB I7F", which was vaguely close, but probably   
   coincidental. As a fun way to go    
   with that, I wonder if the lawyers would have let that count as part of the   
   copyright page, if the other text was placed above and below a SABF01 plate   
   (think the writing credit in BABF10). Also, I am surprised that there were no   
   serifs on "I"s in all    
   those plates, and not a lot of monospacing, the way most states' plates are.   
      
   Also   
   This was three acts with a commercial after the opening, which is pretty much   
   unheard-of now except for Treehouse of Horror episodes and other 3-story   
   episodes. I wonder if we're getting that format back after the 4-act style of   
   the last 5 years has    
   failed to work. Time will tell.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)