"The Simpsons": A Classic 399th...

You may recall that earlier this season I was pretty hard on “The Simpsons.” The episode I watched (featuring a guest appearance by Kiefer Sutherland) had such a rushed ending that it didn’t really make that much sense.

Unfortunately, that was still kind of the case with the 400th episode in which news anchor Kent Brockman lost his job for uttering a profanity on the air. After being fired, Brockman teamed up with Lisa to expose the right-wing media. The episode took shots at FOX News, FOX and anyone else they could think of. But when they offered Kent his job back to keep him quiet, he quickly jumped at it, leaving Lisa alone and leaving me a little bummed. Fortunately, the “censorship” by FOX saved it…

But in all honesty, it didn’t really matter to me what they did because the night was all about the 399th episode as “The Simpsons” took on “24” in hilarious fashion…

Where “South Park” only copied certain aspects of “24,” “The Simpsons” did a complete copy, right down to the opening credits. I have to admit it was a little weird hearing that clock and seeing those split screens. I actually got those familiar “24” nerves, until I remembered I was watching a different show…

“The Simpsons” should consider a real-time aspect more often because it kept the show tight and consistent as each scene built on the next beautifully. Homer’s toxic yogurt at the nuclear power plant became the basis of the bully’s stink bomb they planned to unleash during the school bake sale, which Marge was trying so hard to be ready for, while Lisa and Bart worked behind-the-scenes to stop the bully’s plans…

The CTU in this case was the Counter Truancy Unit that Principal Skinner created to combat school truancy. The Chloe of this CTU was Lisa Simpson and the Jack Bauer was, of course, Bart Simpson, the rogue agent Skinner was forced to turn to in order to save the bake sale. And, of course, there was a mole in CTU—Nelson, who was forced to work with the bullies after they held his ant farm hostage.

The show was full of funny moments. The scene where Bart took so long to set up the revelation of the mole that he didn’t get the name to Lisa before Nelson knocked him out was so funny, I had to stop the tape because I was laughing so hard. And Marge using her overbaked cake to help save the day was a great twist as well…

But the episode belonged to the real Jack Bauer—an animated version, of course—who made two inspired appearances in the episode. The first was with an animated Chloe when Jack accidentally broke into Bart’s phone communications and Bart took the opportunity to give Jack one of his famous joke names. And the second was during the ending when Jack tracked Bart down to bring him to justice for the prank call, allowing a nuclear bomb to go off in another city. Kiefer Sutherland did his usual great work, and I hope that “The Simpsons” producers seriously consider submitting his work on the show this season for Emmy consideration.

Unlike the last episode Kiefer appeared in, there was no rushed ending here, only a funny and smart episode from beginning to end…

In fact, the story was so cohesive, I’m hoping the “24” writers were taking notes…
Congratulations to “The Simpsons” for reaching 400 episodes and for giving us such a great episode to celebrate with—even if it was technically the 399th…