Salon.com > The Simpsons http://www.salon.com Sun, 27 May 2012 00:00:00 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 The Simpsons save Halloween, again http://www.salon.com/2011/10/28/the_simpsons_save_halloween_again/ http://www.salon.com/2011/10/28/the_simpsons_save_halloween_again/#comments Fri, 28 Oct 2011 23:30:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10153365 "The Simpsons" airs its latest installment of "Treehouse of Horror" this Sunday -- a long-standing tradition that lets an already formally daring cartoon show let its imagination run wild. The "Treehouse" segments have been the show's most reliably inventive during its second decade; while composing this list of my personal favorite segments (not entire episodes) I was pleasantly surprised by how many installments from the later years ended up claiming slots.

What else is there to say? Oh, right: If you're wondering where "Dial Z for Zombies" is, it's No. 11, which means it's not on here. I love it -- especially the immortal line "Is this the end of Zombie Shakespeare?" -- but I like these just a little bit more. List your own favorites in the Letters section. To quote Marge in "The Shinning," go crazy.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/10/28/the_simpsons_save_halloween_again/feed/ 25 Should comedy worry about its shelf life? http://www.salon.com/2011/03/14/simpsons_pop_culture_part_2/ http://www.salon.com/2011/03/14/simpsons_pop_culture_part_2/#comments Mon, 14 Mar 2011 14:30:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/feature/2011/03/14/simpsons_pop_culture_part_2 When a comedy builds a lot of its identity around pop culture references, is it hastening its own irrelevance? I asked that question last week in a TV column centered on a handful of new series (mainly "Glee," "Community" and "Chuck") and a classic show, "The Simpsons," 22 years old and counting. The piece sparked many rebuttals, excerpts from which are collected here.

The piece started with an anecdote about watching a fourth-season episode of "The Simpsons," "Krusty Gets Kancelled," with my kids. Upon hearing me laugh at a particular gag -- action star Rainer Wolfcastle telling "Springfield Squares" host Kent Brockman about his new film, in which a man visits his son at college and is horrified to discover that he has become a nerd -- my 7-year-old son laughed, too. Then he asked, "Dad, why is that funny?" I realized my reflexive laughter was generational. I'm in my early 40s, and the joke presumed thorough knowledge of pop culture made within my lifetime, much of it arcane. I realized the entire episode -- one of the greatest of all "Simpsons" episodes, without question -- was so strongly rooted in pop culture trivia that "if it were a poem, it would need to have nearly as many footnotes as 'The Waste Land,'" and that "the further away from its original air date we get, the truer that's going to be."

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/03/14/simpsons_pop_culture_part_2/feed/ 12 Five signs we’ve reached the era of ’90s nostalgia http://www.salon.com/2011/03/10/90s_nostalgia_pop_culture_simpsons/ http://www.salon.com/2011/03/10/90s_nostalgia_pop_culture_simpsons/#comments Thu, 10 Mar 2011 18:11:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/feature/2011/03/10/90s_nostalgia_pop_culture_simpsons Approximately halfway through every decade, we take a look back at the era that preceded us and think, "What the hell was going on back then?" It seemed inconceivable in 1995 that anyone would suffer from '80s nostalgia when we were too busy scrubbing the Reaganomics out of our Mohawks. But come 2011 and enough time has passed to make the choices of 20 years ago seem pretty cool. Now everyone is getting misty-eyed thinking of John Hughes movies, "Battlestar Galactica" was revived, and we were all talking about New Wave as if we just discovered it.

So it only stands to reason that the next decade to look forward -- er, back -- to is the '90s, which last time I checked was a bastion of huge hair, terrible fashion choices, and crappy rave music. But there must have been some good stuff that happened last decade, or this new nostalgia kick wouldn't be in full swing. Here are five signs that we are all going to be wearing fluorescent-colored fanny packs and talking about Jordan Catalano sooner rather than later.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/03/10/90s_nostalgia_pop_culture_simpsons/feed/ 31 Will future generations understand “The Simpsons”? http://www.salon.com/2011/03/08/simpsons_pop_culture/ http://www.salon.com/2011/03/08/simpsons_pop_culture/#comments Tue, 08 Mar 2011 16:05:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/feature/2011/03/08/simpsons_pop_culture I recently rewatched "Krusty Gets Kancelled" from Season 4 of "The Simpsons" with my 13-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son. Krusty the Klown was on "Springfield Squares," a game show hosted by moonlighting Springfield newsman Kent Brockman and featuring special guest Rainer Wolfcastle, the action film icon. Brockman introduced Wolfcastle as the star of the new movie, "Help, My Son is a Nerd!"

Wolfcastle: "My son returns from a fancy East Coast college, and I'm horrified to find he's a nerd."

Kent Brockman: "Ha, ha, ha! I'm laughing already!"

Rainier Wolfcastle: "It's not a comedy."

I laughed at this. My son laughed, too -- but after a moment he asked, "Dad, why is that funny?"

I told him it was too complicated to explain, because it was.

Wolfcastle was "The Simpsons"' stand-in for Arnold Schwarzenegger, a wildly popular movie star circa 1992-93, when that episode first aired. Schwarzenegger built his fortune on bloody action thrillers, but had recently begun playing against type in such dumb but harmless comedies as "Twins" and "Kindergarten Cop." The movie Wolfcastle was promoting was obviously in that vein, but the plot evoked the 1986 Rodney Dangerfield comedy "Back to School." Wolfcastle's line, "It's not a comedy" was also a joke at the expense of phony '80s macho; the very idea of nerdiness would horrify a gym-muscled dolt like Wolfcastle.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/03/08/simpsons_pop_culture/feed/ 77 “Cedar Rapids”: “The Office” meets “The Hangover” in Iowa’s sin city! http://www.salon.com/2011/02/09/cedar_rapids/ http://www.salon.com/2011/02/09/cedar_rapids/#comments Wed, 09 Feb 2011 20:30:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/movies/andrew_ohehir/2011/02/09/cedar_rapids Relentlessly cheerful and arguably a bit too zany, "Cedar Rapids" takes the dudely, profane comic tradition of movies like "The Hangover" and nudges it toward the Middle American mockery of Mike Judge or Matt Groening. Whether you think director Miguel Arteta and writer Phil Johnston are making cruel sport of the motley crew assembled in Iowa's second-largest city ("City of Five Seasons," proclaims the municipal website!) for the fictional American Society of Mutual Insurance convention, or laughing along with their flawed but human characters, is exactly the tension that drives the movie.

Either way, "Cedar Rapids" is often hilarious, although I found it so amped-up and overly broad that I was exhausted before the movie was over. Ed Helms of "The Hangover" and TV's "The Office" stars as the severely unworldly Tim Lippe, a small-town Wisconsin insurance agent whose mettle will be tested in the crucible of Cedar Rapids. If the resulting movie resembles those two influences a bit too much, at least those aren't bad starting points. Tim is 30ish without so much as a pet, and doesn't seem to grasp that his clandestine liaisons with his one-time middle-school teacher (a nifty cameo for Sigourney Weaver!) are cougarish recreation, and not the pathway to matrimony.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/02/09/cedar_rapids/feed/ 4 “How Do You Know”: A deliciously messy holiday rom-com http://www.salon.com/2010/12/17/how_do_you_know/ http://www.salon.com/2010/12/17/how_do_you_know/#comments Fri, 17 Dec 2010 01:30:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/movies/andrew_ohehir/2010/12/16/how_do_you_know In James L. Brooks' "How Do You Know," Jack Nicholson plays a growly, jowly, 70ish corporate patriarch named Charles Madison, whose son George (Paul Rudd) is the movie's awkward but likable leading man. Their relationship is loving, but perennially strained to the breaking point; Charles is a consummate bullshitter, a crappy parent and quite possibly a white-collar criminal. Their company is under assault from federal prosecutors, and in a central scene Charles warns George that things are likely to get worse. "I think you need to cut me off," he says, eyes and shoulders rolling in classic Nicholson fashion. "I don't trust myself not to manipulate you. I'm not even sure whether I'm doing it right now. I think I am."

Nicholson's presence is arguably more a problem than a strength in "How Do You Know." In essence, the movie is an ungainly but irresistible romantic-triangle comedy built around Rudd, Reese Witherspoon and Owen Wilson, with Nicholson rambling around its periphery like a demonic bear, part comic relief and part distraction. But in that moment of mock-self-knowledge I saw the presence of one of America's greatest screen actors, in an extraneous old-guy role, as purely symbolic: Nicholson is a stand-in for 70-year-old James L. Brooks, the genius of American comic melodrama, who is, after all, manipulating all the younger characters in the movie, and everybody watching it, the whole time.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2010/12/17/how_do_you_know/feed/ 23 Vatican: Homer Simpson is Catholic http://www.salon.com/2010/10/19/eu_vatican_the_simpsons/ http://www.salon.com/2010/10/19/eu_vatican_the_simpsons/#comments Tue, 19 Oct 2010 15:32:08 +0000 http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2010/10/19/eu_vatican_the_simpsons The Vatican newspaper has declared that Homer Simpson is part of the pope's flock -- a claim that leaves "The Simpsons" TV producer baffled.

"Few people know it and he does everything to hide it but it is true: Homer J. Simpson is Catholic," L'Osservatore Romano wrote in its weekend edition under the headline: "Homer and Bart are Catholic."

Last December, the newspaper praised the show on its 20th anniversary for its philosophical leanings and irreverent take on religion.

The weekend story was the latest example of the Vatican paper's efforts to be more relevant in the last few years, and follows stories not only lauding Harry Potter but even praising the Beatles and waxing philosophical about John Lennon's boast that the British band was more popular than Jesus.

The paper quoted an analysis by a Jesuit priest, the Rev. Francesco Occhetta, discussing Homer's and his son Bart's conversion in a 2005 episode after meeting with a sympathetic priest, Father Sean, voiced by actor Liam Neeson.

L'Osservatore says the analysis shows that behind the TV program's jokes are themes "linked to the sense and quality of life."

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2010/10/19/eu_vatican_the_simpsons/feed/ 9 The crude appeal of Banksy’s “Simpsons” opening http://www.salon.com/2010/10/12/simspons_bansky/ http://www.salon.com/2010/10/12/simspons_bansky/#comments Tue, 12 Oct 2010 21:20:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/2010/10/12/simspons_bansky When "The Simpsons" stunned viewers Sunday night with an opening titles sequence created by the elusive, infamous Banksy, it was the unlikeliest pairing of pop culture, art and cultural criticism until the Kim Kardashian-Barbara Kruger cover of W magazine hit newsstands two days later.

The clip, easily one of the darkest, most despairing piece of animation to come down the pike since "Grave of the Fireflies," kicks off with a bird carrying a dead rodent through the Springfield skies – and then it turns grim. Sure, the theme music and the sequence of events stays true to the show's familiar themes – Bart cheekily writes "I must not write all over the walls" on the chalkboard, a Krusty billboard gets a little Banksied – but as the family takes its place on the couch, the action pulls away to an Asian animation sweatshop. How hellish is Banksy's vision of how "The Simpsons" gets made? It makes a real sweatshop look like Club Med. Children dip animation cels in toxic waste while rats carry off human bones. Kittens are wood-chippered into Bart Simpson dolls, hauled off by tragic pandas. And do you even want to know how they put the holes in your DVDs? Chained up unicorns.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2010/10/12/simspons_bansky/feed/ 40 Why “The Simpsons” no longer matters http://www.salon.com/2009/12/17/john_ortved_simpsons_anniversary/ http://www.salon.com/2009/12/17/john_ortved_simpsons_anniversary/#comments Thu, 17 Dec 2009 01:19:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2009/12/16/john_ortved_simpsons_anniversary What a difference 20 years makes! On Dec. 17, 1989, the still-infant Fox Broadcasting Co. aired the first episode of "The Simpsons," the animated show about a dysfunctional family from Springfield that has since become the longest-running prime-time series in American history. It's hard to overstate the show's impact. It has spawned a merchandising empire ("Simpsons" air freshener, anyone?), been at the center of a culture war (Barbara Bush called it “the dumbest thing I’d ever seen”) and inspired a hit movie (not to mention comedy writers' rooms everywhere). Plus, "d'oh!" is now in the dictionary.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2009/12/17/john_ortved_simpsons_anniversary/feed/ 89 Hot! Sexy! Yellow! Marge Simpson does Playboy http://www.salon.com/2009/10/09/marge_simpson_playboy/ http://www.salon.com/2009/10/09/marge_simpson_playboy/#comments Fri, 09 Oct 2009 16:10:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/life/broadsheet//feature/2009/10/09/marge_simpson_playboy She’s one of the most famous women in the world: an ageless, husky-throated mother and television star. And now, Marge Simpson joins the ranks of Cindy Crawford, Pamela Anderson and Jenny McCarthy -- by appearing in Playboy. 

To mark the 20th anniversary of “The Simpsons,” the doyenne of Springfield USA appears nude and strategically posed on a bunny-shaped chair for the cover of the November issue, which hits newsstands next week. For the story, provocatively titled “The Devil in Marge Simpson,” the former Marge Bouvier opens up about her life and family, and, we’re promised, poses in sexy lingerie. The trailblazing MILF is the first cartoon character to snag the Playboy cover.

An iconoclast in the guise of a traditional housewife, Simpson has always steadfastly defied conventional expectations. As the wife of nuclear plant worker Homer J. Simpson and mother to three high-maintenance children, she fulfills the traditional domestic role of chief cook and bottle washer. But she has also been a cop and a pretzel entrepreneur, is active at her children’s school and local government, and, like Jack White and Anna Wintour, retains a fiercely independent personal style, resisting trends and favoring her trademark green wardrobe and blue bouffant.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2009/10/09/marge_simpson_playboy/feed/ 11 All your questions about in-flight horrors http://www.salon.com/2009/10/02/askthepilot336/ http://www.salon.com/2009/10/02/askthepilot336/#comments Fri, 02 Oct 2009 07:06:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/technology/ask_the_pilot//2009/10/02/askthepilot336 Not that my single-topic essays aren't brilliant, but keeping this column grounded (if you'll pardon the unfortunate pun), requires that it be periodically turned over to the readers, in the form of an old-timey Q&A session.

Apropos of your Sept. 25 discussion of cabin air, I accept that pilots do not manipulate the flow of oxygen to anaesthetize passengers, but what about temperature? I have heard that pilots make it warmer (or is it colder?) on overnight flights to facilitate sleeping.

Some pilots will raise the temperature slightly in the belief that it helps people sleep, but this is pretty rare. Adjusting the temp controllers is very common while on the ground or during climb and descent, but once at cruise, we set the dials to a recommended position (a known and stable comfort zone) and basically leave them alone until somebody complains.

On the jets I fly, there are three temperature zones adjustable from the cockpit (forward, mid and aft, plus a separate controller for the cockpit). The equipment does a very good job, though the temperature values we see on the gauges aren't always reflective of the exact comfort level. Over the course of a long flight, we'll typically get three or four calls from the cabin attendants asking us to raise or lower the temperature slightly.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2009/10/02/askthepilot336/feed/ 74 “The Simpsons Movie” http://www.salon.com/2007/07/27/simpsons/ http://www.salon.com/2007/07/27/simpsons/#comments Fri, 27 Jul 2007 11:50:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/movies/review/2007/07/27/simpsons For an animated television show, surviving 18 seasons and 400 episodes may not be as great an achievement as successfully filling up, and living up to, the big screen. I say that not because "The Simpsons" isn't a wonderful show but because it is: Week after week, its creator, Matt Groening, and the people who have guided the show over the years (including James L. Brooks and Brad Bird, as well as its numerous writers and animators) have given us seemingly tossed-off vignettes of offhand genius. The wonder of the show is that nothing ever feels overworked: Clever sight gags sail by on skateboard wheels, giving us just the right amount of time, down to the split second, to take them in. (When Homer Simpson, playing hooky from church on a Sunday, makes a fat, gooey waffle, he doesn't just butter it -- he wraps it around a stick of butter, a death falafel.) Even the show's overarching, semiserious themes -- a favorite is the idea that anyone, even the hapless, seemingly hopeless boob Homer, can learn to become a better person -- are always punctuated by a burp or a butt crack. If there's a god for individual TV shows, the deity of "The Simpsons" isn't the one depicted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, but the novelty-store T-shirt version of the same, the one who urges Adam, his greatest creation, "Pull my finger."

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2007/07/27/simpsons/feed/ 32 Steal this comic http://www.salon.com/2007/05/05/free_comics/ http://www.salon.com/2007/05/05/free_comics/#comments Sat, 05 May 2007 13:00:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2007/05/05/free_comics Five years ago, the weekend that the first Spider-Man movie came out, the American comics industry launched an experiment: Free Comic Book Day, in which thousands of comic book specialty stores around the country gave away comics to readers young and old. It worked out well enough that it's become an annual tradition, and this Saturday, May 5, is the sixth Free Comic Book Day. Almost every major comics publisher in the country has at least one free title this year, as well as plenty of smaller publishers; the mainstream and indie presses don't always see eye-to-eye, but they've all found that giving away samples is good for business.

This year's FCBD coincides with National Cartoonists' Day and the opening of "Spider-Man 3," and lots of stores are also planning signings and other events. The crop of handouts includes 43 different comics, although most stores will only let you pick out a few of them; some of the free comics are particularly kid-friendly, others aren't kid-friendly at all, and some are a lot better than others. (This page is a useful resource to find the nearest store that's participating in the giveaway.) Here's a quick overview of what's available this year, sorted by category.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2007/05/05/free_comics/feed/ 8 “The Simpsons’” inconvenient truths http://www.salon.com/2007/01/08/simpsons_4/ http://www.salon.com/2007/01/08/simpsons_4/#comments Mon, 08 Jan 2007 16:30:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/video_dog/comedy/2007/01/08/simpsons What will we do when the "The Simpsons" become extinct? Oh well, the final episode is still far away. (Found thanks to Crooks and Liars.)

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2007/01/08/simpsons_4/feed/ 2 The Fix http://www.salon.com/2003/04/16/fix_wed_5/ http://www.salon.com/2003/04/16/fix_wed_5/#comments Wed, 16 Apr 2003 19:16:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/col/fix/2003/04/16/fix_wed Those Weinstein Brothers love to hook the cute blondes. Their latest catch is Al Gore's daughter Karenna Gore Schiff and her book about unsung heroines of the 20th century. Miramax Books will publish her, and there's talk about a TV miniseries to follow (which we're sure will have a part for Gwyneth Paltrow). (N.Y. Post)

Speaking of blondes, Paula Zahn is taking Connie Chung's place on CNN with a new show called "American Evening With Paula Zahn." We're glad they cleared up what country they're broadcasting from. (Washington Post)

We aren't really surprised that Jack Nicholson admitted to a reporter he's been in therapy on and off since the 1960s -- after all, he loves an audience. The surprise is that part of the process back then was with a doc experimenting with LSD and his co-subjects were director John Huston and Cary Grant. Now that's a screenplay. (Daily Telegraph)

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2003/04/16/fix_wed_5/feed/ 0 What I learned about Christmas http://www.salon.com/2001/12/20/tv_christmas/ http://www.salon.com/2001/12/20/tv_christmas/#comments Thu, 20 Dec 2001 20:00:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/diary/2001/12/20/tv_christmas A grim pall has settled over the season courtesy of an elusive, bearded man from a barren, Godforsaken region where they've never even heard of Wal-Mart. Nobody has seen much of him lately, but he manages to invade our every waking hour -- all you have to do to be reminded of his oppressive presence is turn on the TV.

Britney Spears should have his publicist. He has the power to make millions anxious, unsettled and unaccountably depressed. And yet, for all anybody knows, he could be dead, lying at the bottom of an igloo, a jagged Coke bottle sticking out of one twinkling eye. Maybe this year they'll find him. Maybe, this time next year, the kids will be sending gift requests to the Seven-up dot, or the Jack-in-the-Box holiday balls, or Ronald McDonald can come out of retirement. Whatever happens, Santa Claus is one carbonated beverage spokes-critter whose time has come.

I'm not the only one who feels this way. One thing I learned by watching a string of very special holiday episodes this week is that nobody likes Christmas anymore, not even sitcom writers. This year's very special message: Christmas is hell in a stupid sweater. (On the upside, Christmas also provides opportunities for jokes like, "If I had mistlefoot it would be up your ass right now," thereby cutting down on grueling sitcom writing hours.)

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2001/12/20/tv_christmas/feed/ 0 Blue Glow http://www.salon.com/2001/07/24/glow_554/ http://www.salon.com/2001/07/24/glow_554/#comments Tue, 24 Jul 2001 17:54:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/glow/2001/07/24/glow Series

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (8 p.m., ABC) continues its latest celebrity edition featuring pop, country and R&B singers. On a rerun of The Simpsons (8 p.m., Fox), Sideshow Bob hypnotizes Bart into killing Krusty. The new reality series Murder in Small Town X (8:30 p.m., Fox) begins with a 90-minute episode. Ten contestants are brought to a small town to try to figure out a murder mystery; the "murder" is staged and the "townspeople" are actors. It's sort of a cross between a game of Clue and dinner theater. Steve Martin and two former "Late Show With David Letterman" producers are the execs behind The Downer Channel (8:30 p.m., NBC), a new sketch comedy show starring Wanda Sykes, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Lance Krall and Jeff Davis.

Specials

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2001/07/24/glow_554/feed/ 0 Blue Glow http://www.salon.com/2001/05/30/glow_516/ http://www.salon.com/2001/05/30/glow_516/#comments Wed, 30 May 2001 17:48:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/glow/2001/05/30/glow Series

The Simpsons (8 p.m., Fox) reruns the one in which Bart uncovers the truth about boy bands; 'N Sync shows up for humiliation, self-inflicted and otherwise. On a rerun of Dawson's Creek (8 p.m., WB), Joey has too many responsibilities and too little time to study, and Jack and Jen attend a seminar for gay teens. Get ready for next Sunday's season opener with last season's finale of Sex and the City (9 p.m., HBO), in which Carrie is bedeviled by a cock -- the kind that crows outside her window at 5 a.m. The school band spends spring break on a concert trip to China on American High (10:30 p.m., PBS, check local listings).

Specials

While "The Simpsons" rip their genre on another network, Howie, Nick, Kevin, Brian and A.J. perform in concert in Backstreet Boys: Larger Than Life (8 p.m., CBS). Unsolved cases, including the alleged UFO crash at Roswell, N.M., are (yawn) reopened in Million Dollar Mysteries (9 p.m., Fox).

Sports

Baseball:
Yankees at Red Sox (7 p.m., ESPN)
Diamondbacks at Giants (10 p.m., ESPN2)

NBA playoffs:
Bucks at 76ers, Game 5 (9 p.m., NBC)

Talk

Rosie O'Donnell (syndicated) Best moments of the year
David Letterman (CBS) Tom Cavanagh, Stupid Pet Tricks (rerun)
Jay Leno (NBC) Billy Joel and Elton John (rerun)
Politically Incorrect (ABC) Colleen Haskell, Jimmy Kimmel
Craig Kilborn (CBS) Phil Jackson (rerun)

All times Eastern unless noted.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2001/05/30/glow_516/feed/ 0 Blue Glow http://www.salon.com/2001/05/18/glow_509/ http://www.salon.com/2001/05/18/glow_509/#comments Fri, 18 May 2001 17:23:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/glow/2001/05/18/glow Series

Providence (8 p.m. Fri., NBC) ends its season. Popular (9 p.m. Fri., WB) ends its run, having been axed by the WB. Chris Kirkpatrick from 'N Sync guests on the season finale of Mad TV (11 p.m. Sat., Fox). Christopher Walken hosts the season finale of Saturday Night Live (11:30 p.m. Sat., NBC), with music from Weezer. The Simpsons (8 p.m. Sun., Fox) ends season No. 12 with a trio of folk tales starring Homer as Paul Bunyan, Lisa as Johnny (er, Connie) Appleseed and Bart and Nelson as Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. We learn how Malcolm got to be a genius on the season finale of Malcolm in the Middle (8:30 p.m. Sun., Fox). Scully's baby is born on the season-ending episode of The X-Files (9 p.m. Sun., Fox). It's a boy! It's a girl! It's a ... what? The Sopranos (9 p.m. Sun., HBO) wraps up its third season (so soon!) with a power-packed episode in which Tony has to deal with insolence in both of his families.

Specials

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2001/05/18/glow_509/feed/ 0 Blue Glow http://www.salon.com/2001/05/04/glow_499/ http://www.salon.com/2001/05/04/glow_499/#comments Fri, 04 May 2001 17:10:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/glow/2001/05/04/glow Series

Biography (8 p.m. Fri., A&E) has a new profile of Martha Stewart. Margot Kidder and Chad Lowe guest as a very creepy mother and son suspected of murder on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (10 p.m. Fri., NBC). Pierce Brosnan hosts Saturday Night Live (11:30 p.m. Sat., NBC), with music from Destiny's Child. Set the VCR: Hank learns that he's suffering from a rare butt-cheek condition on King of the Hill (7:30 p.m. Sun., Fox). Flanders builds a Christian theme park in his late wife's memory on The Simpsons (8 p.m. Sun., Fox). On The Sopranos (9 p.m. Sun., HBO), Paulie and Christopher have a scary time in the Pine Barrens, Meadow reconsiders Jackie Jr. and Tony's mistress erupts. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (9 p.m. Sun., ABC) begins a week-long celebrity edition; contestants include Edie Falco, Ben Stiller, Dennis Franz, Kelly Ripa and John Leguizamo. Doggett and Mulder search for a half-human, half-reptile thingie on The X-Files (9 p.m. Sun., Fox). The Practice (10 p.m. Sun., ABC) airs its 100th episode, which means it's now available for syndication. A creepy murder suspect threatens ADA Bay.

Specials

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