Notes for 36ABF02 (The Man Who Flew Too Much)

[Matt Garvey]

OK episode, a little tough to get a handle on the mood it was going for.
Homer saves the day, and survival seems like a bleak prospect but only
at the end does the theme of doubting Homer's specific ability to be the
hero come up, then he... suddenly does it and it turns into a Capra
finale or something, gee whiz! It feels like a crack at a very simple
early episode minus some crucial ingredients. With Christmas episode
overload I think I'm going to have to favor the double episode from last
week, even if the audience was not quite at the same level of access.

Previous episode stuff
7G02: The couch gag's couch "profile" says it was born 1/14/1990, indeed
the first date a couch gag was broadcast (also seems to refer to a gag
from XABF12)
BABF14: Sober Barney the helicopter pilot is back again (yet somewhat at
odds with the cloud gag)

DYN:
...the church sign says 4 funerals and a funeral, even though there are
6 presumed dead (I do get the main joke)?

The new annual Christmas-ish miracle
Tonight is a first for The Simpsons: the first time an episode has
premiered on December 22. This is the fourth season in a row with a
Christmas-ish date scratched off the checklist:
1/2/22 UABF05
1/1/23 OABF05
12/24/23 35ABF01
12/22/24 36ABF02
And the next likely one to go would be 12/28/25, assuming things don't
collapse by then. See my old notes for UABF05 for more details, but in
short, here's where we stand now (with no mid-September dates taken in
2024 after all):

Three normal in-season dates with no premieres: January 18, February 1,
April 12 (all Sundays in 2026 though); February 29 has never had a Fox
airing of the show.

Other dates with no episode premieres: May 24 to September 3 (minus
those oddball "summer episodes" of early years, 7/11, 8/23, 8/27, and
7/27 for the movie if you like), other scattered dates in September
(5-9, 12-16, 22), and most of the Christmas-New-Year corridor (now down
to December 23, 25, 27-28, 30-31).

No new episodes in June or on a Monday or Saturday.

Counting network repeats, the only exceptions are February 29 and May
29. Fox has never aired The Simpsons on those dates in 35 years.

[Ant]

I enjoyed this episode.

Post by Matt Garvey
OK episode, a little tough to get a handle on the mood it was going for.
Homer saves the day, and survival seems like a bleak prospect but only
at the end does the theme of doubting Homer's specific ability to be the
hero come up, then he... suddenly does it and it turns into a Capra
finale or something, gee whiz! It feels like a crack at a very simple
early episode minus some crucial ingredients. With Christmas episode
overload I think I'm going to have to favor the double episode from last
week, even if the audience was not quite at the same level of access.
Previous episode stuff
7G02: The couch gag's couch "profile" says it was born 1/14/1990, indeed
the first date a couch gag was broadcast (also seems to refer to a gag
from XABF12)
BABF14: Sober Barney the helicopter pilot is back again (yet somewhat at
odds with the cloud gag)
...the church sign says 4 funerals and a funeral, even though there are
6 presumed dead (I do get the main joke)?
The new annual Christmas-ish miracle
Tonight is a first for The Simpsons: the first time an episode has
premiered on December 22. This is the fourth season in a row with a
1/2/22 UABF05
1/1/23 OABF05
12/24/23 35ABF01
12/22/24 36ABF02
And the next likely one to go would be 12/28/25, assuming things don't
collapse by then. See my old notes for UABF05 for more details, but in
short, here's where we stand now (with no mid-September dates taken in
Three normal in-season dates with no premieres: January 18, February 1,
April 12 (all Sundays in 2026 though); February 29 has never had a Fox
airing of the show.
Other dates with no episode premieres: May 24 to September 3 (minus
those oddball "summer episodes" of early years, 7/11, 8/23, 8/27, and
7/27 for the movie if you like), other scattered dates in September
(5-9, 12-16, 22), and most of the Christmas-New-Year corridor (now down
to December 23, 25, 27-28, 30-31).
No new episodes in June or on a Monday or Saturday.
Counting network repeats, the only exceptions are February 29 and May
29. Fox has never aired The Simpsons on those dates in 35 years.