From: mxg77@po.cwru.edu   
      
   Pretty not-bad episode with a focused and grounded main plot (even if   
   the timeline is still stretching and stretching). A couple of pretty   
   good gags, too. Lisa's new fashions also call to mind the makeover in   
   3F22, firmly 90s, and on that note...   
      
   Gee, have you ever wondered what Lisa's style would have been like all   
   the way back in the 90s? Of course, we don't have to, as the show was   
   already on then, and as impressive as it is to be beginning the 37th   
   (air) season, it does keep making maintaining a consistent timeline   
   harder and harder for a show whose characters don't age! Just gotta roll   
   with it, mostly, but it strikes me as fairly amusing that Dawson's Creek   
   heartthrob Joshua Jackson was guest-starring on this show almost 25   
   years ago (CABF01 in late 2000, in the middle of DC's run), and now here   
   we are with that show fictionalized as a retro aspect of Marge's childhood.   
      
   (But one blunder I can't forgive: for all the talk of how 90s the   
   knockoff version of the show was, etc., how did the one character have   
   an Amelie poster on the wall when that movie's from 2001? It can't be   
   from a later season, because that part was specifically stated to be   
   from season 1!)   
      
      
   Dedications ahoy   
   Tonight's season premiere featured, in the usual slot, a dedication via   
   caricature to Alf Clausen (or "Sheer Terror" as he liked to be called),   
   series composer extraordinaire from season 2 until his retirement a   
   decade or so ago. He died in late May, shortly after the season 36   
   finale, and I am glad to see someone elected to save the dedication for   
   a NEW episode, rather than wedge it into one of the (very few) summer   
   repeats that no one watched. Of course, whether this remains on repeats,   
   etc. remains to be seen. I won't hold my breath, but I salute Alf.   
      
   Another just-after-season-finale death was that of TV luminary George   
   Wendt, who got a dedication in the very next summer rerun... on 7/13   
   (airing 2 of 35ABF16). Not a lot of summer repeats. This was accompanied   
   by a still of his cameo in 2F08. The other summer repeats had no   
   dedications (but boy were they time-compressed!).   
      
      
   And finally - for the dozens of people still reading Usenet - a little   
   alert that I have once again made some large updates to my Production   
   Codes document. This round focuses mostly on expanding information on   
   other studios' code systems, but has some added info on 20th Century Fox   
   and its related companies too. Whether you've never taken the time to   
   learn what these strange alphanumeric codes are, or you've been waiting   
   for a new batch of research, pack a lunch and head to   
   simpsonsarchive.com/guides/pcodes.html (happy reading)!   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)