From: mxg77@po.cwru.edu   
      
   OK core story, with Lisa's depression over her musical talent and whatnot   
   (slightly reminiscent of season 1's Moaning Lisa (7G06) even, while we're   
   thinking of Bleeding Gums), but mostly seems to be a tribute to New Orleans   
   and a way to celebrate    
   matching Gunsmoke's episode count. Extremely short, too. And yet it didn't   
   seem bad - just not great. (Even Lisa's eventual recovery seemed abrupt, while   
   not awful.) Well, until next week...   
      
   DYN:   
   ...Lisa's "shattered dreams" box includes an "I'm with Her" bumper sticker?   
   ...Maggie's play house has an adjustable address of 258, which is her own   
   address (742) subtracted from 1000 either by accident or sheer genius?   
      
      
   Meta stuff   
   Playing around with opening sequence, Flintstones nod (when the show broke or   
   tied ITS episode count there was a short nod as well), Lisa's sax solo in the   
   opening leading directly into the episode (and the rest of the family sad not   
   to have her for a    
   couch gag)... and of course directly talking about the Gunsmoke thing. Among   
   others. Speaking of which, Bart makes a joke about Gunsmoke radio episodes,   
   but my nitpicky thought about the record is that Gunsmoke probably had a   
   higher total runtime because    
   episodes were much longer back in those days (and some of them might be an   
   hourlong format too)! And...   
      
   As with a few other landmark episodes in recent years (yes, 2007 feels   
   "recent" to me), another Ullman short to kick it off. This one is identified   
   as "30 years ago", and it's pretty close, as MG24 (The Aquarium) first ran   
   2/28/88.   
      
   Note, by the way, that the opening sequence has an alternate Lenny for the   
   first time in a while ("oh, not again!"), and Gerald wishes Maggie/us a "happy   
   635th".   
      
   And before the Gracie Films logo, a one-time-only dedication (adding 1 second   
   to the runtime, I think) to R. Lee Ermey, who died last week, with a still of   
   his character from 3F08. Hooray.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)