mideleon

This is a fun episode that really turns the tables on Mike. Archie is absent for much of the show which allows the focus to be centered on Mike and his arrogance toward Archie and even his soft bigotry toward Lionel. On the one hand, the show is pretty brutal on Mike, but his increasingly unhinged defensiveness is hilarious. There are so many small moments to love in this episode such as Archie doing a jig out the door, the neighbor admiring his own nose, Lionel's gratitude to Edith, Edith's wisdom about Archie, and the capper: Mike's reaction when Archie returns home. I'm constantly amazed how affecting, relevant, and downright funny this show can be 40 years after it first aired.

The musical episodes of The Simpsons may not appeal to everyone, but among this genre of episodes, "Yokel Chords" is one of my favorites. While the musical numbers are limited to Lisa's story of trying to educate Cletus' yokel offspring, even Bart's story about Dark Stanley has an incredible fantasy/horror sequence with beautiful animation and a terrific Astor Piazola inspired musical track.

Of course, for musical theater geeks, this episode features the ultimate guest appearance by Stephen Sondheim who gets abused by Krusty and then composes a peppy Buzz Cola jingle. It's a nice guest spot that breezes by quickly but is more than a throw-away (unlike Andy Dick's mercifully short walk-on).

Overall, the episode is very sharp, has a good pace, and features some edgy lines such as a not-quite Jewish insult and a 9/11 line that perfectly encapsulates the justification for the Iraq War and is all the more biting because it comes from Cletus.

I'm not opposed to raunchy or edgy humor. I love "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" and "Archer," two shows which are proudly aggressive in their adult humor. The problem with "Saint George" is that it feels like a traditional 3-camera, live audience family sitcom where someone decided to graft on the most unfunny "adult" jokes into the script even though they just don't fit the style of the show. (Actually, they wouldn't fit ANY show because they are just so immature and lame.)

If George Lopez wanted to do something different than his previous show, he should have made this a single camera show like "Louie" and work with writers who know that style. Or he could have gone the "Modern Family" route, emphasizing the multicultural family. But if he wants to save his current show with the least amount of work, he would do well to ditch the childish "adult" humor and simply embrace the family-safe sitcom style that this show really wants to be. It also appears to be what Lopez's fans want.