10 Worst Simpsons Guest Stars (Who Played Themselves)
6. Alec Baldwin & Kim Basinger
When You Dish Upon A Star is often held up as one of the earliest glimpses into The Simpsons’ mediocre future, coming in Season 10.
It features Homer accidentally crashing through Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger’s roof and becoming their assistant. Leaving behind the silly reason for them being in town and the fact that they didn’t think to hire an assistant anyway, the episode did have potential. The problem is the plot is poorly paced, the jokes are few and far between and a lot of them are in-gags.
More and more, The Simpsons have been writing for other writers with referential Hollywood humour, like Homer commenting that Jesus had a big staff and still wasn’t that funny. This though is the first sign of that, with Basinger dull, Baldwin wasted and none of the jokes having the usual Simpsons charm.
Ron Howard also features in this episode, but avoids being listed here because he returns on multiple occasions and is always pretty funny. Alec Baldwin also returns, but this time as a manatee trainer in Season 17’s Bonfire Of The Manatees. He’s better there, but not by much.