The Simpsons: "Old Yeller Belly"
What Happened: After the treehouse in the Simpson backyard breaks, Homer tries to rebuild it. Marge, however, has a better idea: get the Amish to build a fancy new treehouse. Their faulty electric work causes the new treehouse to burn down. Homer, who's stuck inside, tries to get Santa's Little Helper to save him, but the greyhound chickens out. After Snowball II saves Homer, Santa's Little Helper is shunned. One day, a photographer catches Santa's Little Helper drinking beer. The owner of Duff Breweries decides to make the dog Suds McDuff, the new Duff mascot. When the original owner of Santa's Little Helper comes to claim him, the Simpsons beg the original Duff mascot, Duffman, to return to Duff so they can get Santa's Little Helper back. Although the plan misfires, the Simpsons get their dog back when the owner of Duff decides that the new mascot will be a beached shark.
My Thoughts: This was quite a funny episode, to be sure. Of course, being a huge Duffman fan, I was incredibly pleased with this installment of "The Simpsons." It was also nice to see the writers of this show remember the past by acknowledging the original owner of Santa's Little Helper. The plot was overcomplicated, of course, but there were a lot of laughs in this show. Homer was once again stupid, Lisa was once again smart and Bart was once again a bratty but normal boy. All he wanted was his little dog. Still, the best line of the evening goes to Duffman: "Are you there, God? It's me...Duffman!!"
What did you think about the latest episode? Post your opinion in the forum below.
Josh Spiegel is an entertainment reporter at the Web Devil. Reach him at joshua.spiegel@asu.edu.
