YMMV / The Simpsons S4 E19 "The Front"

• Alternate Character Interpretation: Does Roger Meyers Jr. really not realize Bart and Lisa are actually the ones writing the scripts instead of Abe, or does he know, but is simply playing along with it since they're getting results? When he walks in on them with the kids at the typewriter and their grandpa on the couch, instead of asking why they're here and why Abe isn't doing his job, he uncharacteristically nicely offers the kids a tour of the place. And later, when Abe confesses that's he's a fraud right in front of him, Meyers casually says he didn't catch that in a nonchalant tone that could easily be interpreted as him simply choosing to ignore Abe's confession.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: The segment with Ned Flanders at the end is completely divorced from the rest of the episode, and was only added to fill time.
• Hilarious in Hindsight
  • After Abe gives his speech at the end of the episode, one cartoon writer (modeled after Al Jean, who was a writer at the time, but would later be a show runner) decides that he's wasting his career and decides to "go write that sitcom about the sassy robot." In 1999, Matt Groening went on to create Futurama, a sitcom that prominently features a sassy robot (Bender), though Jean wasn't involved in it.
  • The art style in the Action Figure Man sequence looks like something out of King of the Hill (the episodes from seasons one to three), a show that Film Roman (the domestic production studio behind The Simpsons at the time) would later go on to also produce four years later.
  • The theme song to The Adventures of Ned Flanders ends with the line "Everyone else loves Ned Flanders!" which sounds like a Shout-Out to Everybody Loves Raymond (and this show has done a few, including one where Ray Romano himself was a guest star)... except this episode aired three years before that sitcom premiered.
  • Related, the song includes a gag of Homer chiming in that he doesn't love Flanders, to which the chorus responds with "Everyone who counts loves Ned Flanders!" Ten years later, there'd be an episode where Homer writes a hit song about how much everyone hates Ned.
  • During their high school reunion, Homer asks Artie if he would trade his fortune for one night with Marge, and Artie says that he would. The concept of Artie giving Homer a large sum of money in exchange for having Marge for a short period of time would become the plot of "Half-Decent Proposal".
  • When Ren & Stimpy is nominated at the animation award show, the sample film merely says "Clip Not Done Yet". John Kricfalusi, known for being a Caustic Critic to shows like The Simpsons, would later be fired from Ren And Stimpy for his constantly missing deadlines. He also became infamous for his chronic lateness, with his final offering Cans Without Labels missing its deadline by over six years.
• Padding: Due to the episode having a shorter runtime, an extra-long couch gag was used (the showbiz extravaganza one that was often used in season four), and "The Adventures of Ned Flanders" segment was added at the end.
• Squick: Via Freeze-Frame Bonus, the Civic Center where the Cartoon Awards Show is being held will be closed the following day due to roach spraying, meaning everyone in attendance was exposed to them.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Homer having to retake high school science. This could have been explored more (especially since the episode was running short) or, like in "Homer Goes to College" in season five, it could have been its own episode. Instead, it happens mostly offscreen and is resolved and forgotten.
• Unintentional Period Piece: The ending gag depicts an elderly Homer and Marge attending their 50-year high school reunion in 2024. So much time has passed since then that, as of this writing, 2024 is now the current year.

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