From: garvey@simpsonsarchive.com   
      
   On the episode itself: A strange mix of thoughtful introspection and   
   crude/annoying humor, two things that require care to combine successfully,   
   and the balance seems to tip toward minor success but only by a little bit. It   
   actually feels more like a    
   Family Guy episode (one with Death) but not as edgy. Well, it was OK. (And   
   Don, I guess the elf wasn't actually named Lizzo in-universe.)   
      
   On the 750th episode:   
   It's rare that a round number milestone like this falls on a season boundary   
   (the 400th ending season 18 and ushering in the movie is really the only   
   other).   
   There is no way I'm trying to identify all the nods in the opening sequence,   
   but I will point out that it's the first FULL opening (or anything close to   
   it) in over 3 years. Maggie's price is $750.00 rather than $486.52, and I   
   suppose the classic theme    
   sax solo is appropriate if a tad uninspired. The milestone may also be why the   
   episode got to run to 21:50 (standard length for a decade or so) rather than   
   the current 21:30.   
      
   Previous episode stuff   
   9F14: Episode title (while certainly an Alice reference on its own) probably   
   also nod to "Alice's Adventures Through the Windshield Glass", one of Troy   
   McClure's driving safety films (somber fact: we are exactly 1 week shy of the   
   25th anniversary of Phil    
   Hartman's murder)   
   7F10: Homer/Bart's brief diversion to hell following a car crash, then being   
   sent back   
      
   DYN:   
   ...another TV-14 warning card before the episode (not all TV-14 episodes have   
   them), I'm guessing for the high number of gratuitous/out-of-place "bitch"   
   lyrics (even the end credits didn't name the songs)?   
   ...the bank, like the show, is established 1989?   
   ...Dr. Marvin Monroe is in the opening title (missing persons billboard gag)   
   and Homer's in hell?   
   ...Lisa's future game-designer boyfriend has a shirt with an incorrect die   
   design (the 3 and 4 should not be adjacent)?   
   ...Maggie says some rare words (unless, perhaps, it's closer to babbling and   
   "Gooby Woo" is just what she calls that elf, but if it's consistent and   
   distinct it's not really babbling)?   
      
   On episode repeats (musings)   
   Tonight's 7:00 rerun was only the 6th season 34 rerun at all, and the 10th   
   airing of a non-new episode (that is, season 33 included), since the season   
   premiere in September. This is much lower than usual, especially since seasons   
   30-33 had high repeat    
   frequency. The schedule was about as usual through the fall, but then NO   
   episodes (new or old) aired between 1/1/23 and 2/19/23 (mostly replaced by   
   sports and new Fox reality shows), and the next rerun would not be until 3/26.   
   The fall reruns usually    
   occurred at 7:00 on nights new episodes ran at 8:00, except for the end of   
   December, but tonight's was the first like that since 1/1 as well. The whole   
   7:00-8:00 slot, which is usually Simpsons and Bob's Burgers reruns when   
   they're not cut into by sports    
   overtime, just became repeats of Next Level Chef and Farmer Wants a Wife,   
   suggesting either that those shows were huge ratings phenomena or that Fox is   
   really starting to lose confidence in these scripted shows. Not enough to not   
   renew them, but maybe    
   not to bother with as many airings. (Weirdly, after the 5 weeks or so in   
   February and March with those substitutions, reruns, which had been going in   
   order, picked up as if the next 5 HAD aired and are still going in sequence.   
   Yes, Treehouse of Horror    
   and seasonal episodes - like Not It - are often not repeated until the next   
   year, but it's quite a coincidence, huh?)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)