REVIEW: This is Your Wife

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REVIEW: This is Your Wife

Post by cuteswan » Mon Mar 27, 2006 2:49 am

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Last edited by cuteswan on Mon May 15, 2006 1:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: REVIEW: This is Your Wife

Post by J2 » Mon Mar 27, 2006 3:40 am

It wasn't specifically about Dianna, but about how many different words rhyme with "Di".
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Re: REVIEW: This is Your Wife

Post by Stretch_Dude » Mon Mar 27, 2006 4:57 am

I loved the episode. It had all the quirky heart, humor, and humanity of the classic era. It was just so simply done, and with better jabs at reality TV than "Helter Shelter" to boot. (And Homer's "CSI" report...classic.) And Charles...man, how long has it been since we've had a character like that? If I ever hear Gervais is writing another episode, I shan't raise a fuss.

Grade: A
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Re: REVIEW: This is Your Wife

Post by missygal21880 » Wed Mar 29, 2006 9:47 pm

SUMMARY, FOR THOSE INTERESTED: This one took awhile to make the full gammut to the main plot.  We open on the Simpsons and most of Springfield being invited to a party at Lenny's house.  He's got a brand new big-screen plasma TV, which Homer is so enamored of that he promptly camps out at Lenny's house for days and watches his tube.  Lisa and Bart come to bring him home, but they're ensared by the warming glow of tv's warming glow as well.  Marge finally lures Homer home by announcing she's entered a contest to get her family their own plasma tv.  The Simpsons win a prize, but not the TV - a tour of Fox's studios in California. 

During the tour, Homer finds out about a wife-swap like program looking for contestants.  Delighted by the amount of money offered by the producers, he accepts their offer to audition for the show and the Simpsons are accepted as contestants.

Marge is intitally nervous about her family being exploited on the show, until she meets the submissive and mild-mannered fellow with whom she will live for a month.  While the man's family is equally talented and kind, Marge misses Homer, while the love-starved husband begins to fall for her.

Meanwhile, the other swapped mom is making life difficult for Homer, Bart, Lisa and Maggie.  She's incredibly strait-laced and anti-violence, even forcing Bart to write a book report about the Itchy and Scratchy cartoon she dissaproves of and which he had been watching .  Soon Homer can't wait to get rid of her, but will the other husband be willing to bring him back his Margie?

REVIEW:  Hmm - so Ricky Gervais wrote this episode for the series?  Makes sense - his OC came off the best during the show, and was the most human.  His totally unsympathetic wife wasn't given much deapth, and considering even minor supporting one-episode female rolls have been given more thought than that, I was a bit dissapointed.  That last joke about her was hillariously cruel, however it sort of demeaned another character so I didn't approve.

The Simpsons themselves, however - outside of Bart and Marge - weren't used to their best effect.  Homer came off as pretty jerkassy at the beginning (I could see him camping out at the Flanderosa and abusing Ned's good graces, but not Lenny.), and Lisa was basically persona non grata  (I'm glad they didn't do the typical and have her protest the "shameful explotation" of her family.  I know everyone was waiting for it in this household).  For a season that's been doing a pretty good job reminding me of why I (sometimes still) love this show and how all of these people connect on some level in an interesting way, I didn't feel any emotional connection with any of the characters this ep. 

However, it has one saving grace - it was pretty damn funny.  The Hollywood sequence was approprietly brief and hillarious, and there was none of the "The Simpsons are going to (!)!" feeling to it. There were hundreds of worthy jabs at Fox's sleazy reality shows and dubious game shows.  The "cameos" were pretty funny and non-explotative, and did I hear a Ryan Seacrest joke?  The humor here was mostly gravy - well-executed and well thought-out.  But outside of the flurries of humor, there wasn't anything there to grab me and keep me grabbed.

DID ANYONE ELSE NOTICE: Hey, Edna and Seymor were eating together at Lenny's party! 

FINAL THOUGHTS: Wow, this is really one of those episodes that one either ends up loving or hating. There was a LOT of foccus on Gervais' OC, but I didn't mind because the character was thoughtful and pleasent.  I could see him becoming a friend of Marge's.  Hey, set him up with Selma for the heck of it! 

Gervais has really nailed the humor of the show - he must be a fan, because it comes out in the script.  Someone needs to pry those Scully-era eps out of his hands when it comes to characterization and emotional connect and he might yet have a classic ep on his hands yet!

FINAL GRADE: C+ for making me laugh.  If your Homer tolerance is a quart low, skip it.
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Re: REVIEW: This is Your Wife

Post by Fionn » Thu Mar 30, 2006 4:25 am

Hmm...I liked the episode as a whole, but I had some issues.  First, there was not enought time given to Lisa, as was previously mentioned, which peeved me some as Lis' is my favorite character.  What did she think of her new 'mother'?  Second, though it was briefly touched upon, there seemed to be too little time given to showing Veritty's general disliking for the fmaily in general, and Homer in particular.  Then, there was Veritty's going lesbian with Patty.  First of all, this is certainly a temporary thing, as I doubt that they'll be willing to put her in every episode with Patty, and I Patty's seriously doubt that she and Patty would have anything in common (one is a professor at Yale, the other a high-school educated, overweight, prematurely grey-haired DMV employee with a killer smoking habit).  Why did that annoy me so much?  Well, I hate Patty, especially when the show validates her.  Not because of the homosexuality, but because she is a cruel, selfish, hateful character.  Remember "I Married Marge"?  She tried to keep it from Marge that she and Selma saw Homer.  In "A Fish Named Selma", she hated Selma for marrying Troy, not so much because of Troy's deceptiveness, but because she married.  And, so, to my final gripe about "This Is My Wife", the episode ended on Marge being unhappy, or at least annoyed.  I know "The Simpsons" is all about dysfunctionality, and that the family is indeed a mess, but every episode ends with reconcilliation. Now, I know that's not entirely realistic, but it communicates a deeper message, that, despite the satire and offensiveness, the show is indeed about the family; even a quick, forced resolution a la "My Big Fat Geek Wedding" would have been preferable.  Despit the complaints, I laughed at parts, as did my mum.  A 3/5, or, for letter fans, a B.
Hey you, out there in the cold,
Getting lonely, getting old,
Can you hear me?
Hey you, standing in the aisles,
With itching feet and fading smiles,
Can you feel me?
Hey You! Don\'t help them to bury the light.
Don\'t give in without a fight.

-\"Hey You\", by Pink Floyd
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Re: REVIEW: This is Your Wife

Post by Kif White » Thu Mar 30, 2006 11:15 am

I've downloaded it too... watched it a couple of times...

I'll post a proper review soon, but it's a mixed episode. A disaster first act, some questionable bits, but I actually liked a lot of the Charles scenes to be honest. Marge was very in-character too I felt, and I actually liked the song. A tricky one, once I've figured out my overall feelings on it, then I'll write the review.

I do definitely think that being somewhat viewer of The Office is neccessary to "get" Charles though, and one does have to like that style of humour, which was prevalent here. I personally found it somewhat fresh when it was there, it was the "norm as of late" jokes like the reality TV ones and the stuff to do with Lenny that were poor.
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Re: REVIEW: This is Your Wife

Post by Kif White » Fri Apr 07, 2006 12:16 am

Okay, here's the longer review, as promised...

Well, this episode always made me very curious since I first heard about it, and after looking at it finally I have to say straight up... it's actually a very hard episode for me to grade overall.

Firstly, I'm not sure if using the live-action intro was wise. Sure, it was a cute thing for a promo, but to actually have it as the opening credits was a little much. Perhaps if it was just the live-action part of the couch gag only it would have been better.

Moving on to the episode itself, things get off to a rather typical start. And by typical, I mean typical as of late. And by that, I mean poor. Aside from the amusing little quip about Marge's hat from Homer, the jokes were thick and weak, like a torrent of McDonalds Coke with extra ice. Cletus and Brandine commenting on the party... Moe's celery gag... Homer's slow-mo leap onto the couch... the dancing cold-sore ad... just misfire gag after misfire gag. All surrounded by the another typical recent moment where, for some reason, ordinary power plant worker Lenny is somehow a local celebrity whom everybody knows. This is classic evidence of another thing wrong with the show today: the fact that Springfield is becoming a less and less believable environment as time goes on. Things used to make sense, and people had their place in Springfield. Now it seems they'll just put any character anywhere and have them be best friends with any one just to make it convenient for a story.

Things barely picked up at all after Homer finally left Lenny's apartment either. While the guy on the phone's reaction to Homer saying, "all expenses paid!" was priceless, things continued to reguarly be generally woeful. The tour of the Fox lot provided weak satire at best, and now that dumb Reality Shows are just as much a genre as drama or sitcom, the pot shots at them seemed late and pathetic, being nothing that hasn't been seen before in the likes of "Touch the Stove" and the like the show did back in Seasons 13 and 14. And ending the act on that awful, over-long "I'll do it!" gag with Marge was so pathetic it seemed like a fitting way to end. And, no, that's not a compliment.

Act 2 got better though, as Ricky Gervais' character of Charles was introduced. I personally actually liked the character, but then I was a semi-casual watcher of The Office a few years back, and his character is a lot like David Brent for sure. Not quite to the level of crossover territory like Scully and Mulder or Jay Sherman, but probably more like Larry Burns or Cecil I suppose. In either case, I found it refreshing to have a character like that in the Simpson's world, though I definitely understand why he could be somewhat of an acquired taste. Like it or not, one has to admit, he was different from the norm. I think that Charles actually felt a lot more real and natural as a character than most of the recent new ones. And Homer does sum him up well from the start with his, "You take forever to say nothing."

I liked Charles' conversation at the dinner table, and the way he reacted to Marge's being rather amazed at everything. Speaking of which, Marge seemed a little off here. It was as if she was ready to burst into what I like to call "cuckoo bananas Marge" at any moment, but in the end she never did, and she actually seemed to get better and better as time went on. Though she was a little dim overall. Yes, some of it was her being polite to Charles, but not all of it seemed like that.

And, oh my God... an Itchy and Scratchy cartoon where... where they don't TALK! That's a rarity, and it instantly felt like it could go into any classic-era show because of that. I actually laughed at it aloud, liking the gag where Itchy threw Scratchy into the guillotine, but as Scratchy is nervous about the blade, Itchy avoids it completely by shooting him in the face with a tommy gun. More of this in the future, please.

I also thought that Verity making Bart and Homer give reports on what they watched was quite funny... not laugh loud funny, but quite chuckle funny. And then Charles' genie joke to Marge, as well as her reaction, was quite amusing too.

Then comes Charles' song. I know some people didn't like it, but I found it to be surprisingly good. In fact, Gervais is not a half-bad singer, and all the clumsy actions and little gags that went along with it were a nice touch. It wasn't a very funny song, but in a certain sense, or at least the way that OFF songs generally try to be, it wasn't really meant to be, aside from the rather purposefully semi-iffy lyrics, which were part of its charm I guess. The nice little bit of emotion between Charles and Marge after the song was nicely done too... it felt quite real, and Marge acted very in-character too. And the Donald Trump "impression" was a nice gag too.

The very ending was a bit weak though. Seemed rather rushed and lazy overall with the Patty bit, and then the whole thing doesn't really give Charles' side of the story any closure. Also, did anybody look back at the end of the show and then find the irony in Homer saying, of Charles, "I bet the twist is he's gay," when in the end the twist turned out to be that Verity was (or became) gay instead? All in all, it ended rather unsatisfyingly really.

To sum things up, it's a mixed bag. A horrible start in the first act, and lots of poor stuff throughout, but whenever Charles was in a scene, I was actually enjoying it more than most episodes over the latter half of the series. Again, his character felt more real, but that probably stems from the fact he was partially already created I suppose. Again, it's an acquired humour, far moreso than the Frasier gags in "Brother From Another Series" or Dangerfield's lines in "Burns, Baby Burns" are. And that, overall, is really both its greatest strength, and its greatest weakness. It is definitely one of those episodes that is very viewer dependent, probably more than any other the series has done to date, and that's what makes it hard to grade. Overall, it's sadly let down also by the non-Gervais side of things. For example, it could have done with less of that typical recent "trendy pop culture" style humour that will date the show in years to come (The early Reality Show stuff, Mischa Barton's statue, Ryan Seacrest's head, etc...). If you like The Office, and Gervais' style of humour, you'll probably enjoy half the show. If not, you'll probably enjoy none of it. And since that is the case, despite me getting more smiles out of this show than most, a harsh grade is in order really. The fact is, the regular non-Charles stuff isn't strong enough to hold up the rest, good or not, and that's what not only lets it down, but makes it crash down rather hard.

GRADE: D
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Re: REVIEW: This is Your Wife

Post by OARRIAGA2001 » Fri Apr 07, 2006 5:55 pm

I don't want to type a lot here.

I dont even think is worth it, 'cause I thought it was horrid. :-\  The worst of the season so far.
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Re: REVIEW: This is Your Wife

Post by djwhitaker2004 » Tue Apr 11, 2006 3:06 pm

It wasn't a good episode, because Homer's new wife wasn't nice, making Bart do a report on every I&S episodes he watched, & I thought "what the heck". A D for this episode.
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Re: REVIEW: This is Your Wife

Post by Stretch_Dude » Tue Apr 11, 2006 9:25 pm

Mr. DJ wrote: It wasn't a good episode, because Homer's new wife wasn't nice, making Bart do a report on every I&S episodes he watched, & I thought "what the heck". A D for this episode.
Why do you give episodes bad grades based on a single reason?
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Re: REVIEW: This is Your Wife

Post by Casper » Wed Apr 12, 2006 12:22 am

From what I've heard, if you dont like Simpsons you must watch this episode. Or... if you like Simpsons dont watch this episode.

I'm just confused why the majority of newer episodes are, less satisfactory than the older ones.
Strange that, at the begining it was all about Bart, who was replaced by Homer later on, and now its all about how many celebrities can they make yellow.
Its prolly the wrong place to moan about nothing, but... whats done is done I guess.
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Re: REVIEW: This is Your Wife

Post by Casper » Mon Apr 24, 2006 1:56 am

After actualy watching the episode... my opinion hasnt changed.

They aired this one on Sky with waaaaay too much hype. Every comercial break it would say 'Only 30 minutes left before Ricky Gervais exclusive episode!'.
I think this will end up a debate, but I liked the begining. I did like the Homer's slow-mo dive, and the other small minded jokes.
But still, what I would give for an extra 10 minutes of the episode. There was no ending really, it was start -> middle ->... then the credits.

I think the reason for all the hype, (on top of the fact Gervais wrote the episode) was because if Charly was just another random character nobody would care, and the episode would have normal ratings.

But all that would of been different if they had a little more time to play with. My theory on the old myth ''Newer seasons not as good as the old seasons'', is that the old episodes used original ideas that could be fitted into 20-25 mins. The newer episodes are more complicated, hence they must be shortened to fit into the 20-25 mins.
I dont believe there was anything major wrong with the plot. With the exception of... why did Gervais make his episode about being Marges wife? The thought just puzzles me a little.

I dont want to give a rating, but if the episode came on again, I'd watch it. But Gervais, dont give up your day job.
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Re: REVIEW: This is Your Wife

Post by margefan » Mon Apr 24, 2006 8:33 pm

Casper wrote: After actualy watching the episode... my opinion hasnt changed.

They aired this one on Sky with waaaaay too much hype. Every comercial break it would say 'Only 30 minutes left before Ricky Gervais exclusive episode!'.
I think this will end up a debate, but I liked the begining. I did like the Homer's slow-mo dive, and the other small minded jokes.
But still, what I would give for an extra 10 minutes of the episode. There was no ending really, it was start -> middle ->... then the credits.

I think the reason for all the hype, (on top of the fact Gervais wrote the episode) was because if Charly was just another random character nobody would care, and the episode would have normal ratings..
Yeah the hype really annoyed me because you know its gonna be totally unjustified. At least the episode made me laugh once or twice.

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Re: REVIEW: This is Your Wife

Post by Jake Chambers » Thu May 04, 2006 5:29 am

AAAah, now I see why the real-life-action intro was used. Stupid me. I didn't know this was Gervais' ep.
I didn't find it too amusing, either. Not bad, but not excellent either. I think the Dan Castellaneta cameo was great. It made me feel like the dark tower actually, because
Spoiler
Otherwise, I liked the Patty-prank, but really, I actually don't even remember much more :lol:
So, D+
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