The Simpsons (TV Series) The Front (1993) User Reviews

Homer in school and Bart and Lisa writing Itchy and Scratchy? Yes!

[athomed · 9/10 · 8 January 2012]

In this episode we learn that Homer never completed high school. He has one more course left to take. Meanwhile, Bart and Lisa, discouraged by bad episodes of Itchy and Scratchy, begin writing the episodes themselves under Grandpa Simpson's name.

A good deal of the show's writer were Harvard graduates. There are multiple Harvard jokes in this episode. You can just imagine how these writers were jabbing themselves back and forth while writing this episode.

Grandpa Simpson and Krusty are great in this episode, while Homer's plunger may top them all. Then there's the fact that this is a nice Bart and Lisa adventure story.

Abraham Simpson: The Award Winner!

[g-bodyl · 9/10 · 9 January 2015]

This is the nineteenth episode of the fourth season of the Simpsons. I thought it was a pretty clever episode as well as humorous. I really loved Grampa's take on cartoon violence. I loved the inside jokes about the award shows, even though I find them fun to watch. An excellent episode mainly due to the fact this has Bart and Lisa working together.

In this episode, "The Front," after a lackluster Itchy and Scratchy show, Bart and Lisa decide to send in a script. After being tossed away, they get Grampa to send in a script to excellent results, thus getting Grampa a nomination. Meanwhile, Homer and Marge attend their high school reunion where it's been found out that Homer did not graduate because he failed remedial science.

Overall, this is a solid episode that features many good moments. Homer failing science is actually something that I can relate with. A good show with good jokes and good morals. And finally, I loved that ending clip with Ned Flanders. I rate this episode 9/10.

Nuthouse

[snoozejonc · 9/10 · 23 August 2022]

Bart and Lisa write an episode of Itchy and Scratchy.

This is a very strong episode with great humour.

There is a reasonably good AB plot that involves all the Simpsons, but the strength is in the quality of the jokes which is excellent. The cartoon and comedy-writing industry is satirised wonderfully and there is plenty of great dialogue and visual gags.

The writers make great use of Abe Simpson and Krusty, plus less seen characters such as Roger Myers and Artie Ziff.

For me it's an 8.5/10 but I round upwards.

"I do eggy"

[Gerardrobertson61 · 10/10 · 26 February 2018]

One of my favourite episodes of the 4th season, (and they are a few), I love every scene with Abe, Bart and Lisa. Love how Abe removed his under pants with taking off his trousers, his comment, "I did eggy" once he heard of the cheque and just as though it could not get funnier, Homer has the running gag with the plunger. As I continue to re-watch Season 4, I realize that it is my favorite season.

One of the funniest episodes of television

[senst184 · 10/10 · 19 August 2021]

I know it is quite bold to say this is one of the funniest TV episodes I have ever seen, but I genuinely have never watched something so consistently entertaining and quick-witted.

I think that attempting to analyse comedy and pick out funny jokes can often ruin or lessen the humour of it, so I'll try and not talk too specifically about my favourite bits. I can just say that it holds all the best elements of the old Simpsons episodes, like the really smooth story ark and fast pacing which both contribute a lot to what makes this episode so funny. But every individual joke is so brilliant and I just love how strange and fever-dreamy it feels going through all the really sudden and unexpected jokes they make throughout the episode - and even though I said I won't specify I have to specify to make an example, and that is the moment when Grandpa Simpson gets booed off the staged and gets things thrown at him; it feels so extremely out of place and gives me the same confusing feeling as whenever Marge acts completely out of character (ie laughing at homer's joke with everyone during Grimes' funeral in 'Homer's Enemy', and when she is seen encouraging Lisa and Bart to be competitive by chanting in 'Lisa on Ice') and there are many moments like this in The Front which are so preposterous that I genuinely think this episode is somewhat of a comedic masterpiece.

The Front

[GayBoi1 · 9/10 · 20 November 2015]

The Itchy and Scratchy cartoon has become dull and boring because it is no longer featuring the cartoon violence that had made the show so popular with kids. This prompts Bart and Lisa to come up with a new script idea for the show and send it in to the show's writers. They come up with a really funny episode idea called "Barbershop of Horrors," where Itchy(as a barber)pours flesh-eating ants on Scratchy's head instead of cutting his hair The head of the studios where Itchy and Scratchy is made, receives Bart and Lisa's script, but throws it out when he sees that it was written by children.

After receiving a rejection letter from the Itchy and Scratchy studios, Bart and Lisa decide to put an adult's name on the script and send it back in. They decide to put Grandpa's name on the script thinking the producers of the show might take the script more seriously if they think it was written by an adult. This ends up working for them and the studio head decides to use the script for the next Itchy and Scratchy cartoon.

Bart and Lisa's script helps revive the the show's popularity and the studio asks for more scripts. As it was Grandpa's name used on the script, the studio tracks Grandpa down at the retirement home and offers him a large cash reward and a job as the head writer on the show. Soon, Grandpa ends up getting nominated for an Emmy award for Lisa and Bart's work, which Grandpa ends up winning, but Grandpa rejects the reward and gets booed off the stage.

Meanwhile, Homer and Marge go to their high school reunion where Homer becomes the laughing stock of the class when it is revealed that he never completed high school. Embarrassed, Homer decides to enroll in night school and get his diploma. That of course doesn't go too well for the goof ball Homer.

Little Ghost Writers

[Hitchcoc · 10/10 · 5 May 2022]

When Itchy and Scratchy start to get tiresome, Bart and Lisa decide to write a plot to be submitted. Because they are minors and the boss doesn't respect them, they use Abe as a front. He has never seen the show and doesn't really understand what is going on. This is new territory with lots of jibes at the TV industry.

Homer's 50th class reunion

[safenoe · 10/10 · 8 December 2022]

It's amazing how time flies, and at the end we get a flash forward of Homer's 50th reunion of the class of 1974, so 50 years on it will be 2024 so pretty soon. Who would have thought that when this episode was screened in 1993, that The Simpsons would still be on nearing 2024. One of my favorite lines is when Homer, at the class reunion in this episode, gets an award for Traveling the Least Distance to the Class Reunion. Absolute gold.

The Front is a biting and satirical episode about writers, especially the ones from Harvard, who write animated series, and in this case it's Itchy and Scratchy. I loved the scene where Abe demands payment, demonstrating he is indeed a writer!

Stop the violence in cartoons, just that

[romacjosip · 5/10 · 21 June 2022]

Nothing expecially and significantly happens except that grandpa condemned violence in cartoons, average episode, Marge and Homer go to graduation anniversary, nothing exciting.