From: mxg77@po.cwru.edu   
      
   Interesting to think of this episode as one of a spinoff or companion show   
   about the Flanderses. I often think that following tales of other   
   Springfielders would be an interesting way to keep some freshness in the   
   series, after all. Despite the surface    
   changes (special title sequence, chorus for music), though, there was still a   
   lot of Simpson in it, and after the first act it felt roughly like any other   
   episode with the Simpsons helping a side character. Even so, despite a few odd   
   turns, the plot felt    
   reasonably compelling, between Todd's crisis and Ned's reactions to it. That   
   was good. I'm not sure why Ned kept making confused faces at the "camera", but   
   there were some better gags I appreciated too (nirvana is for closers, and the   
   very sweet notion    
   that one of Homer's heavenly shows has everything look like Marge's hair).   
      
   DYN:   
   ...not only is Glenn Close back yet again as Homer's mom, but Marcia Wallace   
   gets a standard guest-starring credit just for a tracked Edna "ha!"?   
   (Meanwhile, Maggie Roswell as Maude is still just also-starring.)   
      
   Previous episode stuff   
   2F11: I'm sure it wasn't intentional, but Dr. Hibbert says "que sera sera"   
   over Ned's body, and I link the song of the same name quite readily to Ned's   
   emotional rendition of it when the town is about to be hit by a comet   
      
      
   Watch this future episode in the past!   
   Tonight's repeat of the season premiere, YABF19, was joined in progress here   
   about halfway through, with the usual 32-second version of NABF21's opening.   
   But it came up just in time for me to confirm that the Homer-buys-a-boat promo   
   teasing the 11/3    
   episode stayed in place, exactly as presented before, even though 11/3 has   
   come and gone! Neat. The dedication to Mike Mendel is now gone, however, with   
   previously compressed credits relaxed to fill the space.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)