Australian Simpsons News
First Half, 1999

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29th June, 1999 I finally received my July Foxtel Guide yesterday (you'd think, with a submission deadline two months earlier, they could get it to me more than three days before the end of the month). I've updated the Simpsons schedules and added predictions for August. There's nothing much to note, though Sunday mornings are now fixed at 10:00am, and the weekend evening stream goes back to Season One on Sunday, 18th July.

17th June, 1999 I have no idea what Ten's doing with its Simpsons schedule, but next Wednesday will feature a repeat from Season Nine (Bart Star), and the Sunday stream appears to be airing only every second episode in sequence. Mom and Pop Art: A complete Simpsons episode, with hilarious side-jokes, an evolving story and everyone involved. It's just a pity I didn't get most of their American art references. Homer's struggles with the BBQ were brilliant, and I loved when he got cement on the English instructions and had to use the French version ("'Le grill'? What's 'le grill'?"). Before that, I thought the snake in the piano was hilarious, as was Homer's need for a bolt cutter to get the padlock off his toolbox. In enraging Homer, Bart's comment about being slightly attracted to Milhouse harks back to Homer's panic in Homer's Phobia (4F11). Then the title of the exhibition, "Homer's Odyssey", was also the title of episode 7G03, nearly ten years ago. In another clever piece of writing, Homer gave due credit when one of his creations featured a "tricycle on loan from the Maggie Simpson collection." In the art gallery, Matt Groening plugged his cartoon, Life in Hell (although he doesn't actually have much to do with the show any more). But Homer's criticism reminded us of the early Warner days, when the cartoonist's hand featured in the occasional cartoon as a deus ex machina-type character. Plus the twist of actually putting a giant pencil into Homer's world. At the end, Homer's artistic dream was a masterpiece, better even than his chilli odyssey in El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Homer (3F24). The flood as performance art worked well, and the return of the diving lion (Bart the Daredevil, 7F06), pouncing for popcorn cracked me up. The reviewer in "The Green Guide" was right: a superbly worthy episode.

10th June, 1999 Simpsons Bible Stories: I was a bit ambivalent about the concept, but this turned out to be a great episode, the Simpson family dreaming up their own versions of the Bible asleep in the pews (you'd really think Homer would sit up the back). In Marge's version of the Garden of Eden, Homer was naturally the one doing all the forbidden eating, though Marge got caught. Naturally, the cover of "People" magazine featured just the two, and I loved the hole-widening unicorn. In Lisa's version of the Exodus, she was revealed to be the brains behind a rather dorky Moses (a.k.a. Milhouse). We finally learned what all those begats are for: a skipping chant; Krabopatra looked great in dark eye shadow (I'm reminded of a certain Red Dwarf episode...); and the writers didn't miss an opportunity, bringing back the Orb of Isis which featured so cleverly in Lost Our Lisa (5F17), albeit for no more than a bit part in the supervisor's tent. Finally, Bart's rematch with Goliath was perhaps the most varied of the stories. Bart highlighted a real danger when using a grappling hook to climb walls (snagging unsuspecting guards) before an unexpected twist at the end. It may have been an obviously leading line, but Homer's claim, "It's not the end of the world," was a beautiful lead-in to a gorgeously animated world-in-flames that would do id proud. So far, the second best episode this season, particularly for it's unexpected departure from the normal formula.

4th June, 1999 Maximum Homerdrive: Maybe my perception was negatively influenced by the food poisoning afflicting me when I watched this episode, but I didn't think it was terribly good. The whole Slaughterhouse thing seemed particularly unappetising. Fortunately, there were some good moments later. If only Homer's trucking adventures formed a larger part of the half hour. My first real laugh came from Nelson placing a burning bag of droppings on a lintel inside the doorbell shop. I loved the automatic truck driver and how it was all a truckers' scam, and its escape from Homer was hilarious. The rig's roll looked great, but I didn't think it was all that funny. I think it would have been better if the two story threads in this episode met at the end. Regardless, I was left unsatisfied. Perhaps when it comes to Foxtel next year I'll enjoy it more.

27th May, 1999 A couple of oddities have arisen in Ten's scheduling which I thought I should mention. As I'm sure you've already noticed, Ten have been skipping over the Hallowe'en episodes again in their stripping. But for some reason they've also decided to skip over Cape Feare (9F22). As for new episodes, Lard of the Dance (5F20) seems to have taken the place of Homer to the Max (AABF09), bumping it out of order to some unknown, later date. Make Room for Lisa: Despite being decidedly bizarre, this episode had some great moments, and even a message at the end. Homer was more narrow-minded than usual, though not as bad as he has been, stubbornly sticking to his own point of view to the exclusion of all others'. In contrast, Lisa was particularly insightful, especially as she started to see the world through Homer's eyes -- a lesson we could all learn. Some things you may not have noticed include a bank of monitors above Homer's station at work and a Stonecutter banner in the new-age shop. I loved how the Omnitouch girl kept popping up out of the woodwork for spin-control, and when Homer licks chocolate(?) off the Bill of Rights, security points out, "You just licked off the part that forbids cruel and voilent punishment," while wielding a truncheon. Both Lisa and Homer's experiences in the sensory deprivation chamber were memorable. I loved Lisa as Snowball II, and Homer's escape, burial and return were just brilliant.

26th May, 1999 I received the June Foxtel Guide last night and have updated all the June Simpsons information accordingly. All of my predictions were accurate, except that on Sunday, 20th June and Sunday, 27th June the morning Simpsons timeslot will be delayed one hour to make way for an AFL Special. That is, The Simpsons will run from 10:00am to noon. Information for other shows on Foxtel in June will appear at The Oz TV Gazette later in the week.

25th May, 1999 Sofcom interviews Mike Scully: This actually went up last week, but I only saw it today. Sofcom has posted an interview with Mike Scully, executive producer of The Simpsons (the interview was, in fact, done by Sofcom's US affiliate, DailyTV).

20th May, 1999 I've restarted predictions for the Sunday stream on Ten, as it seems to have stabilised. I've also got some new predictions for Wednesdays. In other news, The Simpsons Archive reports that a new book, entitled The Simpsons Forever and following on from A Complete Guide to Our Favourite Family, is soon to be released in the US. I'm with Cupid: Interesting episode. I didn't actually start watching until after the first ad -- I was hoping they'd read out my email on World Cup Centre. Yet I still thought it was a great episode. And then I watched it again from the beginning and thought it was an awesome episode! The Simpson family was actually in character for a change and the ending didn't seem forced -- I absolutely loved Homer's inadvertent romantic surprise for Marge! The only downside was Elton John's dialogue, which was tacked on and horribly written. Let me leave you with some great quotes. Jimbo on drugs: "Woah, it's a living mirror!" Apu's record: Concert Against Bangladesh. Lisa: "Dad, the vet says we shouldn't make him fetch the Sunday paper." Chief Wiggum: "Sarah, please! Sarah, it's ten dollars a pill..." Moe: "The girl I'm stalking had me bumped back to 200 feet." Flanders and Homer: "Oh, gee. The man's just trying to show his wife he cares for her. How can we sabotage his labour of love?" "I dunno; gasoline, axes ... I've got some stuff in the trunk."

13th May, 1999 Marge Simpson in "Screaming Yellow Honkers": Who would have picked the return of the Canyonero, Krusty's ticket back to riches in Bart the Fink (which coincidentally screens on Ten this Sunday)? The start of this episode was pretty lame (perhaps intentionally), but it picked up quickly from there. Did you notice that the Canyonero's onboard computer was Microsoft-inspired? It gave itself away when asking Marge, "Where would you like to go today?" (which is more grammatically correct that Microsoft's actual slogan). I loved Bart's adventures with whipped cream, started with a squirt up the nose. And Marge's "high-intensity, halogen headlights" were a stroke of genius. The ending was the most blatant ribbing of Fox, yet, and very funny -- in case you didn't know, Fox, NBC and CBS are three of the free-to-air networks in the US. But I reckon, after having used it a couple of times, they could hire someone native to do a real Australian accent. The Green Guide: Cutting to the Quick: There's a very interesting article in today's The Age, in the Green Guide, discussing the how (and a little bit of the why) of the free-to-air networks' treatment of their programmes and their viewers. The writer mentions cutting, late-night scheduling, mid-season termination and other common practices, but ends up pulling all his punches, failing to draw any sort of conclusion. The quotes from network personnel make them appear completely unrepentant, as if it's their right to do whatever they wish with the programmes they buy. There's even a couple of things mentioned that I hadn't heard about, such as frame deletion (Ten used to do this to The Simpsons) and the interaction between the length of an ad-break and memory span. Definitely worth a read.

6th May, 1999 Simpsons Competition on Ten: Ten again alluded to their Simpsons competition, and this time they managed to catch my interest. They said something about "finding the biggest Simpsons fan", but it was the prizes which attracted my attention -- not just the first prize trip, but a bunch of animation cells for runners-up. Details will appear during the weekday 7:00pm stripping of The Simpsons. Incidentally, there does seem to be a sort of pattern emerging in Ten's Sunday stream. It's as if two separate markers are being advanced through the episode list, with screenings alternating between the two. But I'm not certain enough to start making predictions. Oh, and I've added Season Eleven to the Episode List -- just the first few episodes. Lard of the Dance: The Simpsons is not renowned for its inter-episode continuity, but this episode really felt like it belonged at the start of the season. In the US, it was initially intended to air at the start of their school year, corresponding with the return of the Simpson kids to school (well, maybe not Bart). We've seen school break for the summer twice for the Simpsons, but this is the first time we've seen them return. I thought Lisa Kudrow was just perfect in her voicing of Alex, the hip, new transfer student -- her best line was in response to Lisa pointing out they were only kids, went something like, "You can be a kid if you like, but I've got a credit card." I also loved Homer after learning lard was worth money: "My arteries are clogged with liquid gold!" Meanwhile, Homer's grease-stealing car looked like something from Ghostbusters. There were a surprising number of Australian references in this episode (two): "Dingo Junction" was a hip clothing store, and Marge suggested Homer invest in an emu farm. I expect I wasn't the only one to cringe as Homer and Marge repeatedly said, "emoo". Now I know how King Arthur felt when he first encountered the Knights Who Say "Ni".

3rd May, 1999 Sofcom to Interview Mike Scully: Sofcom has announced, in their newsletter, that they'll be interviewing Mike Scully. (Note that this is nothing to do with me.) To quote: EXCLUSIVE Interview With The Simpsons Executive Producer Next week, Sofcom Entertainment is heading into the Fox Studio offices to interview Mike Scully, Executive Producer of The Simpsons. If you would like to ask the man behind the world's most successful animated sitcom a question, email us now at entertainment@sofcom.com.au and stay tuned to Sofcom! Simpsons Competitions: Both Ten and Foxtel seem to be advertising Simpsons competitions. I mentioned the teaser for Ten's last week (I have no further details); on Foxtel, Heinz is advertising their competition to win a Simpsons animation cell and other prizes. Apart from the phone number advertised, you also need a barcode from a can of Heinz baked beans or spaghetti (I think).

29th April, 1999 Ten is skipping to the "start" of Season Four in its stripping schedule on Tuesday, 4th May. I can't understand why it would do this mid-week; perhaps they want Season Eight to fit exactly into a week at the end of ratings. Wild Barts Can't Be Broken: A very funny episode, with some great moments. Some of my favourites were the baseball net unexpectedly exploding after Homer's car drove through it, Nelson helping Lisa through the fence, and Bart's horror at being forced to endure prime-time TV. The writers also took a jab at the Internet, pointing out that posting people's secrets on the Net isn't terribly useful if you want to reach people who's opinions actually matter (I'm insulted! ;). The musical number at the end was a bit out of the blue, though the old people's revenge was pretty funny. After the episode, Ten announced a "great Simpsons competition." I don't know the details, but if you're interested in a hugely hyped Simpsons prize that might involve meeting Matt Groening in the US, I guess you should keep watching Ten.

26th April, 1999 I was very pleased to receive my May Foxtel Guide on Friday, allowing me to prepare a site update over the weekend. Everything is basically as predicted. I also received two more airdates for Ten's Wednesday stream, along with confirmation that the Sunday stream is rather unpredictable at the moment.

22nd April, 1999 Viva Ned Flanders: Not an overly original episode, but it had it's moments. The opening scene featured one of the few times the Simpson family have made explicit references to previous episodes. It's a strange device to mask continuity errors, but it seems to work. I loved the way Homer's car looked covered in dust, the white tiger rolling her eyes at the end, and the buzzards deciding Homer and Ned were fair game. But I thought it was a mistake to, yet again, spend so much time building up the situation, that only a minute remained for an unsatisfactory resolution. Still, ya gotta love Ned asking, "How do you do it, Homer? How do you silence that little voice that says, 'think'?" "You mean Lisa?"

16th April, 1999 Ten Launches a Real Website: Ten have finally launched a proper website. Welcome to the Nineties! Actually, it's very good, with episode synopses, season information, etc. There's still a few quirks (such as figuring out how to show all occurrences of a particular show), but hopefully they're still receptive to ideas -- now's probably the best time to suggest improvements, before it all stagnates. The site's still not quite complete (eg: they only have guides to Seasons Nine and Ten of The Simpsons), but I'm impressed. I just hope it's not all a big, one-off investment that won't be maintained.

15th April, 1999 Mayored to the Mob: There were so many in jokes and science fiction references in this episode, I found I couldn't keep track (looking forward to some freeze frame fun). Mark Hamill's appearance was more substantial than most guest stars, who just pop in for a couple of scenes. Or perhaps it was just that his involvement seemed to end with the science fiction convention, but he reappeared later. Those who read my report on Futurama last week may have noticed Martin Prince walk by with a Futurama t-shirt early in the episode. Some of my Australian audience may not have understood Mark's little sales pitch. The US telecommunications industry is extremely competitive in the consumer market, resulting in constantly changing "special deals." If you truly want to optimise your phone bills, you almost have to change phone companies every month, but I reckon that would be extremely annoying. One of the pushiest companies is called Sprint. Of course, there may be more to the joke that I'm not aware of. Overall, a great episode! More on Futurama: Following my introduction to Futurama last week, an Australian ex-pat living in the US send me some more info. It turns out, Futurama has been airing in the US since the end of March, settling into a Tuesday timeslot after a couple of appearances after The Simpsons on Sundays. It seems there's quite a lot of animated success in the US these days, with Fox devoting Tuesday nights to animation. My source tells me that "Futurama is a very funny show." I'll have to see if I can find out who'll be getting it in Australia.

8th April, 1999 Hope everyone had a happy Easter. In case you spent too much time in front of the TV and are suffering Simpsons withdrawal, you'll be happy to know that a new episode will screen next Wednesday. What's more, Lard of the Dance has been scheduled for 5th May. This episode was shown out-of-season in the US to help promote some of their new series', and we've been wondering when Ten would show it. Matt Groening's Future: As reported here over a year ago, Matt Groening has been working on a new animated series called Futurama. The February 1999 issue of Wired magazine contains an interview with Matt about the new show that also appears online. The show is about a pizza boy who is frozen in a cryogenics lab on New Year's Eve, 1999 and wakes up 1000 years later to find he's missed an entire millennium. From what I can gather, the show features the same high quality animation developed for The Simpsons and similarly cutting edge humour. Part of Matt's message is that "The authorities don't have your best interests at heart." This is part of what makes The Simpsons what it is, and is likely to play an even greater part in Futurama. Given Matt's background (he's read a lot of science fiction), I consider this show to have a lot of promise, as the future setting will provide enormous freedom to explore some great ideas and portray some fabulous humour. In some ways this will help bring true science fiction closer to the masses (though I imagine they won't realise). Wired News reports the show is currently slated to debut after the Super Bowl, next January, in the US.

1st April, 1999 Changes on Ten: As expected, next week's Wednesday episode is a Season Nine repeat. However, new episodes should return the following week. In the meantime, the Sunday stream has been revived, perhaps encouraged by its initial, successful pairing with Good News Week a couple of weeks ago. The new timeslot immediately precedes GNW, airing a single episode from Season Seven at 7:00pm. Note that the future of this timeslot is unclear at this time. April on FOX8: All five episodes of the weekend morning stream will return to screening the same season (currently Season Eight) from the 10th April. So the four-episode experiment and its aftermath will finally be over. On Saturday and Sunday evenings, FOX8 is making a number of changes to its schedule which won't completely settle until May. The general changes are detailed elsewhere, but the effect on The Simpsons involves the incorporation of the Sunday 6:00pm timeslot (screening just one episode) into the Saturday evening stream. This commences on the weekend of 10-11th April. The "Simpsons Virus": The Simpsons Archive reports the emergence of an extremely infectious "Simpsons virus". And you've probably already heard of it! It turns out the Melissa virus, which has propagated so quickly over the last week or so, was created by a fan of The Simpsons. This is revealed in the Simpsons quote that the virus generates when activated (not merely something from Scrabble, but a quote from Bart the Genius (7G02)). The author of the virus also identifies themselves as "Kwyjibo", from the same episode.

25th March, 1999 Reorganisation of the news archives is complete. If you see any problems, don't hesitate to . No Ratings Over Easter: As they did last year, Ten is pulling most of its ratings winners over the two week, Easter non-ratings period. That includes scheduling Season Nine repeats of The Simpsons on the next two Wednesdays. Daylight Savings Ends This Weekend: An extra hour of sleep on Sunday morning is a wonderful thought. Incidentally, if your computer's been telling you that Daylight Savings is over for a couple of weeks now, there is a solution: a little program called TZEDIT that allows you to create the correct timezones for Australia (or anywhere else). Sunday, Cruddy Sunday: I laughed myself silly when I finally had time to watch this episode. The hilarious Titanic couch gag was the perfect opening. The way the story hopped from one topic to another before settling into the main plot elements was reminiscent of classic episodes from the early seasons. Once we knew Homer was off to the Super Bowl, I loved the self-referential joke about the names of the teams playing. You'll recall that in Lisa the Greek (8F12), Washington beats Buffalo in the Super Bowl. In 1993, this was redubbed so the Cowboys beat Buffalo. In the current episode, the boys cover their mouths behind beer glasses as they say the teams' names (and President Clinton's, perhaps in case he's impeached). Very nice (though perhaps a bit obvious). Rupert Murdoch's appearance was a bit of a gimick and not really required, but I reckon it earned its place when he yelled out "Sieze them!", waved his hand, and three cops appeared in a flash of smoke. Homer Simpson in "Kidney Trouble": Not quite as hilarious an episode as Sunday, Cruddy Sunday, but still very good. I loved the way everything in the ghost town was falling apart, throwing legs and ears high in the air. Um, to be perfectly honest, nothing much else from this episode really stands out. The humour was very consistent without being riotous. There were a few mildly disgusting bits, a couple of double entendres and some nice running gags (like Homer leaping out the window). Ten also appear to have cut about 10 seconds, though that may be more to do with play-offs obscuring part of the action.

23rd March, 1999 As you may have noticed, I've archived all of last year's news, which should speed loading of this page. I'm not quite done, though, as I intend to move the non-Simpsons articles from the first half of last year to their own page. Simpsons Confusion on Ten: Here's what's happening with The Simpsons on Ten over the next month or so. First, the Sunday stream has been dropped (hooray! no more merged episodes!). Last Sunday's Murdoch episode was a one-off, so no more Simpsons at all on Sundays. The Wednesday first-run stream gets a rest, of sorts, from next week. The Easter non-ratings period means two Season Nine episodes will screen before returning to Season Ten on the 14th April. Weekday stripping is also changing as of next week, returning to the start of Season One. A few weeks later, however, the first three episodes of Season Two will be skipped. The relevant parts of the website have been updated accordingly.

19th March, 1999 Long time between updates, but I have got a good excuse: the hard-drive on my computer was replaced last week and it's taken until now to reinstall the applications I need to do my updates. Sorry, everyone. Any gaps I haven't filled yet will get done next week. Ten is rearranging The Simpsons somewhat this weekend. On Sunday at 7:00pm, the Rupert Murdoch episode will air, followed by the commercial incarnation of Good News Week, running for an hour and taking over The Simpsons' repeat timeslot. As for the following Sunday, we'll just have to see...

9th March, 1999 I finally had a chance, over the weekend, to improve (I hope) the navigation. As always, . I'm also including the mini-review I forgot to write last week. When You Dish Upon a Star: A thoroughly entertaining start to this episode, in a style so different from most Simpsons that it must have been directed by other than the usual guy. The humour came thick and fast, scene continuity sacrificed so that each new scene might reveal a rapid-fire joke before moving quickly to the next. Sadly, once the episode settled into its primary plot, the quality of the humour dropped substantially. Perhaps the start was too good to maintain the same level of humour, or perhaps cartoon slapstick is the director's lone strength. Either way, I reckon this one's best watched by rewinding and watching the start again after the end.

4th March, 1999 Not a whole lot to report on the Simpsons front. The last couple of episodes in FOX8's Saturday stream were a misprint; no episodes will actually be skipped. Ten's Sunday stream seems likely to continue screening one episode each from Seasons Seven and Eight, though that's not fully clear yet (hence no predictions). FOX8 drops post-ad bumpers: For anyone still trying to complete their Simpsons video collection, the bad news is that FOX8 are no longer using post-ad bumpers on The Simpsons (they've been gradually dropped from one show after another), so there's no warning that the ads are about to end, and you'll inevitably miss the first second or two of the programme. I've contacted my source at FOX8 to find out what their justification is, but basically, if you value having some warning that the programme is about to recommence, whether it's for taping or just so you can return to the TV, ring Foxtel and ask them to justify themselves. Say you're disappointed the post-ad bumpers have been dropped and that you'd like them back. Say they're one of the things you liked most about FOX8 (they certainly were for me). Email the website, write letters -- anything you're willing to do. Of course, for most of you it's nothing more than a minor annoyance, but I encourage you to express even that fact on your next call to Foxtel.

25th February, 1999 Simpsons in March: Ten are to continue all three streams, including new episodes on Wednesdays at 7:30pm, recent season repeats on Sundays at 7:30pm, and weekday stripping at 7:00pm. However, the Sunday timeslot has not yet settled down, so it's not clear exactly which season's episodes will screen. On Foxtel, all four streams are to continue screening, albeit with some minor variations. First, the weekday stream, upon completing Season Nine, is to jump back to the third episode of Season Four (9F01) on Tuesday, 16th March. Second, five episodes continue to air each Saturday and Sunday morning, though only four are shown in the March Foxtel Guide. The fifth episode will be taken from Season Three, continuing from last month. Finally, the Saturday evening stream is listed as skipping a couple of episodes in the latter part of the month. All these changes are listed on the appropriate pages. Treehouse of Horror IX: A wonderful collection of Hallowe'en stories this year, featuring a toupee with a life of its own, Bart and Lisa entering their favourite cartoon, and Maggie morphing into an alien. The endings of the last two were particularly good. In The Terror of Tiny Toon, Bart's piranha-ravaged skeleton is restored by Lisa using the Rewind key (duh!), but when Itchy and Scratchy break out of the TV, they're tiny and unthreatening (quite a departure from Itchy & Scratchy Land). In Starship Poopers (okay, the names are all three a bit weak this year), the Simpsons are quite happy to see the aliens fulfill their threat of destroying all America's politicians in exchange for keeping their baby, no matter that it's an alien. I also loved Maggie's repeated smashing of Homer against the walls and ceiling as he clung to his broom! It's been too long since we saw Maggie in action.

22nd February, 1999 Bart the Mother: Apart from the ordinary title, this was a superb episode, its crafting reminiscent of classic Simpsons episodes. Revolving around an interesting central story, the whole family were involved in their own special way, with enough side jokes (such as Homer falling into the basement) to keep the story from becoming too narrowly focussed. There's plenty of moments I could highlight, but let me just recall a simple line with plenty of nuance: Lisa says, "They're lizards!", and she would know, as she is the Lizard Queen...

20th February, 1999 Hi everybody! I'm back from my holiday by the beach. Apart from sunburn and muscle aches, it was great to get away. While I've been gone, a bunch of stuff has naturally happened with The Simpsons. I've incorporated most of this in my schedules, but there are still some gaps and some rough edges. First up, Ten have started stripping The Simpsons again, weekdays at 7:00pm. They began near the end of Season Two, although I haven't yet confirmed that stripping began on Monday, 15th February in all cities. In the meantime, FOX8 have reneged on screening just four episodes each Saturday and Sunday morning (apparently due to timing issues). A fifth episode returns from today, 20th February. Until the Foxtel Guide can catch up, the last episode each day will be from Season Three (ironically also being screened on Ten, though Ten's stripping will soon leave this FOX8 stream far behind).

11th February, 1999 The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace: The return of Season Ten bodes well. This was a clever and amusing episode, taking some subtle pokes at certain elements of American pop culture, among them the myth of the great American inventor (just because it's historical, doesn't mean it's not a myth!). It was good to see the whole family involved in Homer's adventure, though perhaps Lisa might have been used more (maybe it was better that she wasn't). I loved Homer's leaning chair; pity it wouldn't work in practice -- I could use one! Also loved the library scene; Homer reading?! And the files in the dryer, and... When you can't list all the great scenes and lines, you know it's a good episode of The Simpsons. I thought the ending was quite clever, with Edison being in awe of Da Vinci. They even managed to make us forget that Homer won't be able to go back to his old job: "Not the way I left!" As an interesting aside, The X-Files also returned last night, and was set in part at a nuclear power plant. Anyone hazard a guess to the name of the supervising technician? Homer was just as lazy as our animated favourite, and was even listening to a song our Homer has been seen to like. His grisly end, however, suggests this was not G-rated viewing!

8th February, 1999 I apologise for my mistake in reporting the Sunday episodes as coming from Season Two. The Green Guide didn't say which episodes would screen, and I mistakenly thought it was safe to guess. I should know tomorrow what Ten plans to do with this timeslot and I'll update my predictions once I do. Remember, new, Season Ten episodes start on Ten this Wednesday at 7:30pm, and Season Nine starts screening tomorrow (Tuesday) on FOX8 for only the second time. A veritable Simpsons feast!

4th February, 1999 Just wanted to remind everyone that Season Nine episodes start their second run on FOX8 next Tuesday in the weekday stream. If you missed them in the weekend morning stream in November and December, here's a chance to catch them in a more leisurely fashion.

2nd February, 1999 Lots of stuff has been updated for Season Ten in Australia, starting Wednesday next week. As it turns out, Ten is starting with The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace (5F21) rather than Lard of the Dance (5F20). Presumably, the latter will show up eventually.

29th January, 1999 Season Ten on Ten! Season Ten of The Simpsons commences on Wednesday, 10th February at 7:30pm with Lard of the Dance (5F20)! What more needs to be said? Ten is pre-empting The Simpsons this Sunday in favour of the golf, but Season Two repeats will return the following Sunday. FOX8 has changed the weekend morning timeslot in February to screen only four episodes in two hours rather than five. The advantage for viewers is that there won't be any more 10 second ads, hence more time to reset the VCR. The return of the ratings season demands some major work on this site and The Oz TV Gazette. The first batch should show up on Tuesday next week.

14th January, 1999 Happy New Year to everyone! Sadly, major refurbishment of the site over the New Year's break didn't eventuate. That's largely because I was sick. Some minor changes are in the works, though, and should be up fairly soon. In the meantime, regular updates will continue. Incidentally, if anyone has any opinions about whether recent news should show up on the front page, moving all the introductory stuff and discussion to its own page, please .

Australian Simpsons News Archive: Second Half, 1998.