The Simpsons: "Clown in The Dumps"Review

It's pretty crazy to think that The Simpsons kicked off its 26th season tonight. Rare is the television show that manages even a third of that lifespan. But the problem with anything that lasts 25 years is that it grows more and more difficult to avoid the "been there, done that" dilemma. That's been the major downfall of The Simpsons for, oh, about 15 years now. It seems like we've seen just about every conflict possible with the residents of Springfield, and often more than once. And unfortunately, "Clown in the Dumps" fell victim to that same, basic flaw. There was little in this premiere we haven't seen before.

Family Guy obviously had the bigger and flashier premiere tonight with their hour-long Simpsons-flavored crossover. This show didn't attempt anything quite as flashy, but it still had one major selling point. Producer Al Jean revealed almost a year ago that a recurring Simpsons player would be dying. The only clue was that character's voice actor had won an Emmy for their performance in the past. Given this show's long life and its respectable collection of Emmys, that clue didn't exactly narrow things down. The problem with announcing a story twist like that so far in advance is that it leaves fans guessing and hyping up the twist for months on end. For many, the expectation coming into "Clown in the Dumps" must have been that the show was losing a major icon - maybe even one of the Simpson family themselves.

Don't look so shocked, gang.

Instead, it turned out to be Rabbi Hyman Krustofsky. I was a little torn with the choice of character. On one hand, it was an anticlimactic twist. Krusty's father has only appeared a handful of times in the show's many seasons, and only twice in a significant role. His was an easy character to kill off. But on the other hand, would there really be any point in killing off one of the show's more iconic characters? We already lost Ms. Krabappel last season after the unfortunate passing of actress Marcia Wallace.

What was more disappointing about the death is that the writers didn't use it to tell an interesting story. The main conflict in this episode, as Krusty dealt with the fact that Hyman died not respecting his son's comedic prowess, was annoyingly similar to the plot of "Like Father, Like Clown." Once again Krusty sought validation and dealt with his latent father issues, except now there was no room for a heartwarming father/son reunion at the end (though the animators tried with the mildly funny Jewish Heaven sequence). The resolution was especially underwhelming. Krusty instantly rebounded because another rabbi happened to tell the same bad jokes he does? If this is the only sort of story we can expect whenever Hyman appears on the show, maybe it's just as well he was taken off the board.

The B-plot this week was really no better. At this point any conflict revolving around Homer is going to feel redundant of at least one or two or seven past episodes. There was definitely an overwhelming sense of familiarity as Homer dealt with health issues and Lisa fretted over the idea of losing her father. Formulaic or not, this could have made for a decent storyline if it had been the main focus of the episode. But it felt like an afterthought, and the resolution was as random and abrupt as Krusty's emotional crisis. The good news is I'm sure we'll see the writers revisit Homer's health woes another 17 times or so before the decade is through.

This wasn't an especially humorous episode either, given the depressing subject matter. Luckily, there were a few laughs to be had early on. I enjoyed Krusty's celebrity roast as comedians Jeff Ross and Sarah Silverman lent their voices and tore Krusty apart on stage. The short bit involving Krusty hosting the grand opening of the Trade Joes spoof Swapper Jacks was also entertaining. Krusty's capping off his routine with, "I thought Swapper Jacks was something else," was pretty great.

Ross and Silverman weren't the only guest stars of note this week. Maurice LaMarche stopped to play an amusingly jaded and sarcastic TV critic. And we even got brief appearances from Kelsey Grammer as Sideshow Bob and David Hyde Pierce as himself playing Felix from The Odd Couple. I was, however, a little disappointed that Pierce wasn't asked to reprise his role as Sideshow Cecil instead. As funny as it was to see a drunken Sideshow Mel lay into Bob, it would have been funny to see Cecil thrown into the mix too. Obviously, Jackie Mason was solid in what is presumably his last performance as Rabbi Krustofsky. It's just a shame the script didn't give him more to do.

Finally, this episode featured the work of indie animator Don Hertzfeldt during the opening couch gag. Hertzfeldt's take on The Simpsons as it exists in the far future was... interesting, and more than a little creepy. You have to wonder if he should have been tapped to handle the opening to the next Treehouse of Horror special instead. The real problem with the Hertzfeldt segment is that it stretched out the opening to nearly three minutes. Given how abruptly both storylines ended this week, maybe a little more time should have devoted to the actual episode?

The Verdict

I doubt anyone would argue at this point that The Simpsons' best days aren't behind it. Episodes like "Clown in the Dumps" serve as an unfortunate reminder of the show's age. Neither storyline this week did much with the characters involved we haven't seen before. And while there were amusing moments to be had early on, the serious subject matter kept the humor to a minimum later on. Not a great start to Season 26.