From: mxg77@po.cwru.edu   
      
   Not bad once the actual conflict got going around the end of the second act,   
   with a little (uninspired but important) social commentary and character   
   focus. OK then. (And what do you know, Mr. Burns survived from the   
   not-quite-canon two parter.)   
      
   DYN:   
   ...either Mr. Burns or the writers/animators don't know how scales work?   
   ...Lisa underestimates Ruth Bader Ginsburg's fashion sense?   
   ...there's a special credit for the designer of Lisa's party dress?   
      
   Previous episode stuff   
   CABF04: Smithers has a poster from his Malibu Stacey musical with the title of   
   the only song we know from it at the bottom   
   7F01: Blinky not only makes Nth appearance but is called by name by Mr. Burns   
      
   Non-stop rumors   
   Seems Al Jean is at it now, interviewing with reporters about the unstoppable   
   nature of the show. (He doesn't see anybody going "let's wrap it up"? Look   
   this way, Al!) Can the cast even survive 12 more seasons to make it to 1000   
   episodes? Anyway, this    
   note jumped out at me, about how to do a finale:   
   "There would be an ending where they (the Simpsons) would be going back to the   
   Christmas pageant from the first episode ( Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire   
   ), so that the whole series was a continuous loop -- that's how I would end   
   it, if I had to."    
   Logical problems with that aside, it's actually strikingly close to something   
   that occurred to me the night season 31's finale (ZABF16, The Way of the Dog)   
   aired, that if retooled just a tiny bit it could be a great bookend to that   
   1989 premiere. It    
   wouldn't be circular, just a bookend. Second new dog, warm Christmas feelings,   
   etc.   
   And in fact, it would have worked well with other factors, including avoiding   
   voice recasting issues, but also would have been the perfect time - shifted to   
   the end of the production season where a Christmas episode actually would fit   
   - to end the series,   
    since it would just skip all the production code jiggery-pokery! End on ZABF.   
   Priceless. It makes a 7-episode season, but so what, when season 1 was 13 and   
   started in December? Tonight is the airing of the first UABF episode, kicking   
   off the second    
   production season since the alphabet ran out. And again I say... what's next?   
   A return to I and O, maybe, and then? THIS IS A SIGNAL. WRAP IT UP!   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)