Season 23, Episode 497 - January 2012 As I write this, I'm realizing just how good seasons 22 and 23 of The Simpsons really were - a return to form of sorts, at least as good as, say, seasons 8-12 in my books. I actually own the first fourteen seasons of the show, plus season twenty, on DVD, and they get a lot of play in my household (where there are two other frequent Simpsons viewers), so I'm not saying this having not watched any old episodes for a while - in fact, I watch them frequently. The D'oh-cial Network is easily the most spot-on critique of social network "culture" I have yet to see, and has a number of classic gags (Hans Moleman flying through the air from a car crash jabbing the "dislike" button over and over on a Lisa's social networking site SpringFace being one of them). It centres around Lisa's creation of a social networking site specific to Springfield (the aforementioned SpringFace), and the zombie-virus-like infectiousness it displays amongst the town's residents, who soon can't pull their noses away from their tablets. Basically, it's a well done spoof of The Social Network, which itself tells the story of Facebook and its creators, only the Simpson's version is, frankly, a lot more entertaining. Whereas no matter how many millions are involved, I don't care about a couple of spoiled kids who were bright enough to copy what every other social network was doing only with tighter code, I do care about the show's critique of those unable to live their lives outside of social media; those who seem to have forgotten that things like books and parks and nature once existed (and believe it or not, still do!). Simply because it reminds me that I'm not the only one who sees how trite and frivolous a lot of what goes down in our online lives really is. The episode is a cautionary tale of a website gone out of control, and it's one of the Simpson's best satirical offers in the past twenty years, let alone fifteen. The show is concluded with a completely unrelated yet equally brilliant "A Simpsons 'Show's Too Short' Story" shot feature, animated in the style of Edward Gorey; a dark, macabre look at Bart Simpson, it is absolutely fantastic in its own right. Ten episodes have piled up so quickly - there are plenty of others that get an honourable mention, including MoneyBART, Day of the Jackanapes (Sideshow Bob!), Treehouse of Horror XX, and numerous others.
Primarily covering the sport of MMA from Ontario, Canada, Jay Anderson has been writing for various publications covering sports, technology, and pop culture since 2001. Jay holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Guelph, and a Certificate in Leadership Skills from Humber College.
