Season Ten - Episodes 1-6

Episode 1: Lard of the Dance
Well I've talked about how we're going towards pretty much the Dark Ages of the Simpsons, but Season Ten at least premieres with decent episode. That said it's nothing too original, pretty much just a remake of Lisa's Rival but really no lessons learned after that one. It's same character arc over again. I love Lisa's characterization in a sense that she wants just to be a kid, but I dislike the fact that she caves in on peer pressure. That said, it's not completely out-of-character and it did provide us with visual her on that stunning black dress. The subplot was interesting enough even though it wasn't particularly funny or relevant. It's solid middle of the road episode, 5/10.

Episode 2: The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace
Another okay episode. I love how casually Lisa says "Women won't like being shot in the face" and the crowd reactions in the Edison Workshop are amusing. Also worth mention are the make-up gun and Homer's vision of his burial. That's a lot that I listed and it makes it sound like it was a great episode, but I guess it's easier to list good things from an average episode than from great episode, simply because there's lot less to remember. It was just okay overall, 4/10.

Episode 3: Bart the Mother
This wasn't that bad either. Some solid gags, mostly okay characterizations, and decent plot. It's nothing special, but there was some stuff that got me going - Homer falling continuously on the stairs still worked amazingly, but it needed the third time to really crack a smile. Troy Mclure's bit was also good - it was the last appearance of Phil Hartman as well. There was some quite nice emotion at times on the show. I'm kind of split between 5 and 6, I'll go for 5 this time. There was some weirdness that brings it down.

Episode 4: Treehouse of Horror IX
This is a very bizarre THOH. It has completely different feel to it than the previous THOH's. I have to say in the spirit of the last segment though that it's so *beep* hilarious that I can't help but to like it. All segments were good: the first one had some simple but effective humor, the second had an interesting concept executed well enough and the third one was simple humor, but that works on me. All segments were memorable as well. I'll have to give it 8/10, but I don't think it's the best THOH, but I might have to do some comparative analysis to make sure of that.

Episode 5: When You Dish Upon a Star
I don't know.. It had some nice swipes at Hollywood and other decent humor scattered along a mess of a plot. Usage of quest stars was pretty shameful and overall it came off as a silly episode, but it's really so inoffensive that it's hard to downright hate anything on it. You just kind of sit through it, have a couple of chuckles and be done with it. Brainless stuff, but decent nonetheless. If I have to mention something, it's Homer's dreams at the start, those were pretty much gold. As for rating, 3/10.

Episode 6: D'oh In the Wind
There was some emotional moments and some funny moments, so you'd think this episode had the makings of at least decent episode. And I guess it is, at least decent. There's something I don't like about it - it doesn't use the internal conflict Homer has well and I think the total humor potential is not reached. I didn't like the ending either. Like I said it makes for decent episode with some genuine emotion midway, but it goes to a little waste. Good gags though - the usual drug hallucinations work as always. There wasn't much of a plot overall either, which makes this even weaker. It's another 3/10.