Eat My Shorts and New Naked-Like White Tennis Shoes
By Connor O'Rourke
A&F Writer

The state of comedy in American television is bleak. However, the depressing Arctic freeze of mediocre writing that makes us recoil at the touch of our TV Guides, received a thawing yellow glow this past Sunday.

In an effort to create campus camaraderie and personal popularity, Cory Forsyth ’03, Quinn Hawkins ’03 and Dan Villalon ’03 sponsored their second annual Simpsons Premiere Party in the Rose Hills Theatre.

The obsessive, cult-like following the show has built demonstrated its strength within the Pomona community when theatre capacity was reached well before the 8 p.m. premiere of the first new episode of the season, Tree House of Horror Special XIII.

“We were fortunate enough to get the theatre. I had no idea this many people would come. I should’ve bought more food,” lamented Forsyth after the show.

Few comedies are left standing in the battleground of the all-telling Nielsen Ratings. Rich one hour character-driven dramas wield powerful casts, carried by up and coming A-list actors, have easily been winning the ratings war against the innumerable half-hour toilet-obsessed sitcoms starring washed out B-listers flushing themselves toward C.

Disregarding Nielsens’s mainstay Friends (which will keep us watching to the bitter end with the perverse hopes of a massive Friends orgy), American prime time audiences have suffered comedic wounds that strike deep and have misguided many youths into worthless lives of endless bad jokes and poor social skills. The basic truth that these human drones have lost sight of is that they, or those that portray them on television, just aren’t funny.

If only we all just looked as stupid as Homer Simpson. Even without the witty dialogue, rich voicing, and biting political commentary, the revolutionary animation created by Matt Groening 13 years prior is a great joke just to behold silently.

These yellow-skinned, four fingered blobs of human form have accomplished feats of humor as great or greater than the humans living on this earth. Man, how do they do it without that pinky finger?

The highlight of the newest episode featured an act in which Homer tinkered with the art of cloning through a magic hammock. The sight of hundreds of cloned Homers chasing donuts and drinking alcohol together in Moe’s Tavern was funny enough, yet the true humor lay in the absurdity of a man selling magic hammocks, an unusual circumstance that is overlooked in most other high-rated television series.

Some, however, were less approving. “I felt it lacked the biting originality and traditional gothic motifs of earlier Halloween specials,” expressed Tiffany Hall ’03.

The party itself was received well by the student body. According to avid Simpsons fan Claire Becker ’03 the party was a “success.” Similar feelings were expressed by Kaili Palmer’03 in a TSL exclusive interview over AOL Instant Messenger. “It was a success (toothy smiley face)” read the computer screen.

Yet, to co-sponsor Villalon, the party was tainted by rumors of this being the last season. “Groening is demonstrating a concerted effort at artistic self-righteousness. He steadily pushes the envelope regarding sexual themes and the current political situation in the Middle East.” said Villalon.

Eager to continue studying, the ambitious crowd was forced to exit the theatre quickly after the credits began rolling and ASPC Senate North Campus Representative Forsyth was unable to deliver a prepared speech for the audience.

With the help of the ASPC and good humor, Pomona began to laugh once again Sunday. The Simpsons will continue with their official season premiere this Sunday, November 10, featuring British rock legends, The Who.

Another British band, Coldplay, stated it well in their tribute song to The Simpsons, “Yellow”, by lyrically expressing their feelings on the lone hope for American situation comedy in the twenty-first century: “It was all yellow.”