OK premise, though with some disappointing execution. Even if I ignore the obviously false personal history of Homer and SNPP, I am still let down by the third act. The parrot that found the earpiece could have actually given Homer wrong but plausible advice and led him into dramatic and comedic depths (especially with a little more time, say a shorter second act), but it took approximately the stupidest possible path (having him repeat obvious nonsense and STILL easily know it was coming from a bird) before just crashing to a stop at the 20 minute mark. Oh well. Also, why say it's the 691st time Homer's left SNPP for another job, when that's obviously far too high to be accurate but not close to the real episode number (761)?

DYN:
....Homer somehow used to be not only competent at work but third in charge, while current Lenny (usually on par with Carl) is now third lowest, almost at Homer's level?
....a couple extra bit roles for Pamela Hayden (and women at that)?
....the kitchen calendar during Homer's interview actually nearly matches the current month (Feb 2024), except that it has 30 days (so close and yet so far)?

Meta (besides previous jobs on resume and in clips, and the non-episode count above)
-"Life in Hell-sinki" book
-This probably isn't really meant this way, but I can choose to interpret it so: Lenny's remark that (to grade Homer's performance worse than Z) they're going to need a bigger alphabet comes at an interesting time, when The Simpsons as a show has broken the alphabet as well, using 25 of the 26 letters to designate seasons in production codes before skipping the remaining one (I) and going back to numbers just a few episodes back

One in, one out
The 7:00 repeat (surprisingly, not the 8:00 instead) on 1/21, airing 2 of OABF20, swapped out the dedication to Suzanne Somers and instead put in one for writer Reid Harrison, whose main connection to the Simpsons is the quartet of Jean/Reiss 3G episodes that aired in seasons 8 and 9. Given how long the wait was between NEW episodes (another 8-week winter gap), I can see why this might happen.

Goodbye/bad bye
I've been using Google Groups to post to a.t.s for many, many years, I'm not even sure quite how long (not the entire time I've been on the newsgroup), and in a few days, it will look at usenet only in a read-only historical fashion. What a time to be alive. I know there are other ways to post to and read newsgroups, so I guess I'd better check them out, ideally by next week! The whole group may be practically dead but I still like it. If I don't figure it out, give my regards to Space Museum.

On Sun, 18 Feb 2024 17:55:47 -0800 (PST), Matt Garvey
<garvey@simpsonsarchive.com> wrote:

>OK premise, though with some disappointing execution. Even if I ignore the =
>obviously false personal history of Homer and SNPP, I am still let down by =
>the third act. The parrot that found the earpiece could have actually given=
> Homer wrong but plausible advice and led him into dramatic and comedic dep=
>ths (especially with a little more time, say a shorter second act), but it =
>took approximately the stupidest possible path (having him repeat obvious n=
>onsense and STILL easily know it was coming from a bird) before just crashi=
>ng to a stop at the 20 minute mark. Oh well.

I was baffled by Lisa's song that was wedged in near the end of the
episode. What was the point of that? It didn't really fit with the
rest of the show.

>-"Life in Hell-sinki" book

That got a solid laugh out of me.

>I've been using Google Groups to post to a.t.s for many, many years, I'm no=
>t even sure quite how long (not the entire time I've been on the newsgroup)=
>, and in a few days, it will look at usenet only in a read-only historical =
>fashion. What a time to be alive. I know there are other ways to post to an=
>d read newsgroups, so I guess I'd better check them out, ideally by next we=
>ek! The whole group may be practically dead but I still like it. If I don't=
> figure it out, give my regards to Space Museum.

It's not too hard to figure out. Find newsreader software that you
like, sign up with a news provider and configure a few settings and
you're on your way.

Wikipedia's got an article listing available newsreaders, some of
which are free:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Usenet_newsreaders

There are several news providers, but the free Eternal September seems
to be a popular one:

https://www.eternal-september.org/

I've been using an absolutely ancient copy of Forte Free Agent for
decades. When my ISP (Comcast) stopped providing news service, I
switched to Eternal September. Works for me. Once you get used to
using real newsreader software, you'll probably like it way better
than Google Groups.

-- Bob

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