It was cheap, idle storytelling", he remarks. The Principal and the Pauper is a good Simpsons episode but it is one of the most shocking episodes of the series. 2 1. My Three Sons (1960–1972) Episode: The First Meeting … This episode features the revelation that Principal Seymour Skinner is, in fact, an impostor, when the real Skinner returns from a POW camp long after the Vietnam War. For me, I'd have to say this one: The Principal and the Pauper I remember watching that one when it aired and like looking around the room to see if anyone was laughing. Still have questions? This is the best episode of television I feel I ever wrote. Posted by. The Simpson family heads to Capital City with Edna and Agnes to find Armin at his apartment. In an April 2001 interview, Harry Shearer, the voice of Principal Skinner, recalled that after reading the script, he told the writers, "That's so wrong. The episode starts off with Super Intendent Chalmers telling all the teachers that it is Principal Skinners twentieth year of being a principal at Springfield Elementary,so the teachers decide to throw a surprise party for him. From music legends to sports heroes, from TV shows to politics, Jump the Shark catalogs those priceless moments when the magic vanishes and the mighty become the fallen! They resorted to ever more outlandish episodes. The ending adds insult to injury as it sweeps everything that just happened under the rug. Did The Simpsons 'jump the shark' and if so when? The Simpsons are dressed as astronauts and sit on the couch just as it blasts off into space. They surmise that the negative reception was partly due to the fact that it was not immediately apparent to viewers that this was such an episode (as opposed to, for example, "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase"). 10 Times The Simpsons Jumped The Shark. But (a.) If a strange man offers you a ride, I say take it!” Lousy traumatic childhood. [9] The producers selected Martin Sheen to voice the character because they admired his performance in Apocalypse Now and felt his voice would be appropriate for a Vietnam veteran. "[8] Bill Oakley said the idea behind the character was that he "just lacked pizzazz". Commentary for "The Principal and the Pauper", in, Moore, Steven Dean. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on September 28, 1997. It's so arbitrary and gratuitous, and it's disrespectful to the audience. Voiced with aplomb by Martin Sheen, who was cast based on the producers’ affection for his work as a Vietnam veteran in Apocalypse Now, Sgt. Archived. They realize it was a horrible mistake. "The Principal and the Pauper" is the second episode of The Simpsons' ninth season. Principal Skinner admits that he is an impostor, and that his real name is Armin Tamzarian. A lot of people point towards The Simpsons episode 'The Principal and the Pauper' as a 'jump the shark' moment. "Come again? Season 18 is where I stopped watching Simpsons regularly, and is where I place the moment where The Simpsons jumped the shark. When did The Simpsons jump the shark? In the last few installments of The A.V. A lot of people say The Principal And The Pauper, which came out in 1997, marked the downfall, the episode where Skinner is revealed to have been adopted and the real Seymour Skinner is an Army Sergeant, and I sort of agree because that season … This is an outlandish episode … No, what damns this episode in the history of The Simpsons is that it’s where it became clear for the first time that the people making the show didn’t hold Springfield and its citizens in the same light as so many of its fans. Our Skinner, it turns out, is really a former bad boy called Armin Tanzarian. Does "The Principal and the Pauper" being the Simpson's "jump the shark" moment make sense if there were many classic episodes that followed? "[3] Total Film's Nathan Ditum named Martin Sheen's performance in the episode the 20th best guest appearance on The Simpsons. [3], Producers Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein were excited about the episode because Principal Skinner was one of their favorite characters. Speaking of the trip, this episode is also noteworthy as one of the few instances where Agnes Skinner displays more depth than the elderly shrew who holds an iron grip on her son’s independence. Something they then did in the Principal and the Pauper and pretty much every episode in Season Twelve when it really turned crap. There are some sturdy jokes (which we’ll get to later) peppered throughout, but there’s a sense of underlying wrongness to the whole endeavor. The decline of The Simpsons is a source of great pain to me. He can’t go back to being Armin Tamzarian from who he is now—though again, largely because it makes no sense he was ever this guy in the first place. A clip from the episode was used in season eleven's "Behind the Laughter" as an example of the show's increasingly "gimmicky and nonsensical plots". The matter-of-fact way he goes about cutting ties with his life is a very Skinner thing to do (“I know we were planning to see a film tonight but instead, I’m leaving town forever,” he tells a heartbroken Edna), and the way he tries to slide back into the role of Armin is rife with comedic potential. Homer remains the one with the foresight to move toward the cake (even before Chief Wiggum, who brought his own plate and fork), which is a great cut-to-commercial gag in the aftershock of the Skinner/Sgt. [6] However, Keeler has said he was inspired by the Tichborne Case of nineteenth-century England. The family’s discussion of the merits of Shakespeare’s “rose by any other name” quote is a delightful non sequitur (Marge: “I’d sure hate to get a dozen crapweeds for Valentine’s Day. I always felt the focus on the Principal and the Pauper as a shark jump as ass backwards, The SImpsons never had perfect consistency and often made fun … Next time: As we prepare you for a review of “Lisa’s Sax,” Kyle Ryan would like to pass along the words of advice his father gave him: “You’re as dumb as a mule and twice as ugly. How the ropey final few seasons watered down a … A small moment perhaps and it was great for the rest of the series but it was (I think) the first moment where they had an ending that ignored logic and joked about it. Skinner’s speech about giving up half his life for Springfield transforms everyone else into the bad guy. In other cases, critics dispute the exact shark jumping moment. The episode was the second highest rated show on the Fox network that week, following King of the Hill. it works as a meta-commentary about delivering real change on a sitcom and (c.) the show has done fourth wall-winking endings before. I could go on a VERY long rant about ruining one the supporting casts best characters but if you're a Simpsons fan you know already. The Principal and the Pauper “I'm... (sighs) I'm... an impostor. This episode features the revelation that Principal Seymour Skinner is, in fact, an impostor, when the real Skinner returns from a POW camp long after the Vietnam War. Jump the shark. The only thing that’s wrong with him is that he’s not the Skinner Springfield and the audience have grown to love over eight seasons, which on balance isn’t enough. Credit where credit is due, though. Years before that, however, they got it right. All of our TV reviews in one convenient place. In your opinion, which episode did The Simpsons "jump the shark"? Look at the tremendous “Sweet Seymour Skinner’s Baadassss Song” from season five, or the wonderfully touching “Grade School Confidential” only a few episodes before this one. Armin was once a troubled young man from Capital City who enlisted in the Army in order to avoid a jail sentence for petty crimes. Matt Groening, in the ninth season DVD introduction, calls it out as one of his least favorite episodes. [26], In contrast, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, the authors of I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, praised the episode, calling it "one of the series' all-time best episodes, mainly because it shows us a human side, not just of Principal Skinner, but of his hectorish [sic] Mom as well." 2020-09-21 3:35:47 AM : Trik: buckeyebrain: johnny_vegas: Not a bad list If only there were a website that would take votes and other suggestions from users... Yeah it sucked when TV Guide bought the Jump The Shark … In my opinion, there was no single moment or episode where The Simpsons jumped the shark, not "The Principal and The Pauper", not the panda rape scene, nor the jockey elves, I actually enjoyed all of those episodes. He takes the job, but finds himself isolated by the townspeople, who realize they prefer Armin to him. Club’s classic The Simpsons coverage, there’s been something akin to an air of dread hanging over our reviewers, the feeling that in this journey through the show the best is almost over. The Fox network's ratings average for the week was 6.4. [12], "The Principal and the Pauper" finished 41st in the United States in the ratings for the week of September 22–28, 1997, with a Nielsen rating of 9.2. Meanwhile, the real Seymour Skinner spent five years in a POW camp, then worked in a Chinese sweatshop for two decades until it was shut down by the United Nations. "[21] James Greene of Nerve.com put the episode fifth on his list "Ten Times The Simpsons Jumped the Shark", calling it a "nonsensical meta-comedy" and arguing that it "seemed to betray the reality of the show itself". He calls the episode "[one of] the weakest episodes in Simpsons history", and adds, "A blatant, continuity-scrambling plot twist of this sort might've been forgivable if the result had been as funny or sharply satirical as the classics of the Golden Age, but alas it's emphatically not." Discouraging as other things might be, The Simpsons is still close enough to its prime that it can generate instantly quotable lines. While I considered the episode not so good I took it and it's ending in humor and thought nothing serious about it. 10 June 2013 at 12:56 pm. [8.8/10] People get hung up on the ending of this one and the fact that it retcons Principal Skinner’s past. The reactions are never outraged or indignant enough to feel like that’s what the episode is about—indeed, when Marge addresses the topic directly, her argument on why this makes her uncomfortable is entirely valid. Skinner is entirely believable as the man who’d inspire young Armin into a better life and who could phrase an oddly sound argument to become principal: “If a man pretending to be me could do it well, then, logically, the real me must be far more qualified.” True, he’s bit uptight and lacking in some social graces, but it’s not his fault that he’d rather go to a bar at 7:30 on Friday night than sit for silhouettes with his mother. [8.8/10] People get hung up on the ending of this one and the fact that it retcons Principal Skinner’s past. In response, the townspeople banish the real Skinner from town by tying him to a chair on a flatcar of a freight train (literally running him out of town on a rail). Updated 8 mins ago: I didn't like the movie either. It also suffers from the fact that Sgt. Commentary for "The Principal and the Pauper", in, Weinstein, Josh. I think The Principal And The Pauper was definitely one of their worst. [30] Oakley and Weinstein explain that they wanted to push the boundaries of the series while working as show-runners, and advise viewers to treat "The Principal and the Pauper" as an "experiment". 1 Answer. Seymour told Armin that his dream was to become an elementary school principal after the war. [31] They also describe the ending of the episode as an attempt to reset the continuity and allow fans to consider the episode as non-canonical, divorced from the larger series. It never seems to have occurred to anyone that this episode is about the people who hate it. I could go on a VERY long rant about ruining one the supporting casts best characters but if you're a Simpsons fan you know already. Answer Save. And while far more time is spent defending the idea of the episode than discussing the specifics other tracks get into, he does reveal that the name Armin Tamzarian came from an insurance adjuster who helped him out following a car crash. Principal Skinner admits that his real name is Armin Tamzarian, and that he had thought the true Seymour Skinner, a friend from the Army, had died in the Vietnam War. On the eve of his twentieth anniversary as school principal, Seymour Skinner is lured by his mother to Springfield Elementary School for a surprise party. [13], The revelation that Principal Skinner was an impostor and the self-referential deus ex machina ending were negatively received by many fans and critics, with many seeing this episode responsible for the series as a whole jumping the shark. “The Principal And The Pauper” (season nine, episode two; originally aired 09/28/1997) ... this is the one the majority would agree is the jump-the-shark moment. Keeler said he later received a "curtly phrased" letter from Tamzarian, who wanted to know why his name appeared in the episode. When the episode aired, lo and behold, a community of people who like things just the way they are got mad. Wednesday's Best Deals: Aukey Webcam, PlayStation Plus, Eastbay Athleisure, Dog Chew Toys, and More. Exposed at his 20th anniversary party by the real Sgt. After Agnes orders Armin to return home, expressing that he is more of a real son to her than the real Skinner is, Homer persuades Mayor Quimby and all the other citizens to allow Armin to resume his assumed identity as Principal Skinner. 3 Stan. * Moreover, her death was stupid, tacky, tasteless and offensive. "The Principal and the Pauper" is the second episode of The Simpsons' ninth season. Interesting trivia: Skinner has no idea who Ned Flanders is despite the fact that Flanders once took his job and is head of the PTA. Later, Seymour was declared missing and presumed dead. This episode features the revelation that Principal Seymour Skinner … Her rejection of her real and fake sons displays some great willful ignorance (“I have one stranger and one fraud!”), and her admission that “there was a weenie you could be proud to call your son” is the one time she feels like an affectionate mother. It’s also doubly insulting that they use this plot to discredit Skinner’s previously alluded Vietnam experiences, a detail as key to his character as the way he’s cowed by Chalmers and his mother. Martin Sheen as the real Seymour Skinner[1]. It's pretty well established that The Simpsons just hasn't been the same since the late 1990s, but when do people think it jumped the shark? A major character in a long-running series gets unmasked as a fraud? Armin Tamzarian . The episode writes itself into a corner, and the only way out is to ride Sgt. But of the episodes I've seen I don't consider … Close. It’s nice you’re alive, but you’re just not what I’m looking for in a son. ... Yeah it sucked when TV Guide bought the Jump The Shark site, gutted the content and, well, killed it. (2006). Skip to main content. This is a wild … I’m glad you understand.”. Upon meeting him, however, Agnes mistook him for her son, and Armin could not bear to deliver the message. [2] In the episode, Seymour Skinner begins to celebrate his twentieth anniversary as principal of Springfield Elementary School when a man arrives claiming that Skinner has assumed his identity. The problem is that it’s a change that makes no sense for this particular character. Relevance. Harry Shearer has over the years used such terms as “arbitrary,” “disrespectful,” and “a horrible mistake.” It inspired our Inventory on subplots shows threw out the window and cracked our TV Club 10 on the show, described as the one episode that “wounded the faithful first and hurt the most.”, Revisiting the episode all these years later is an interesting experience. And I’m also well aware that today is Friday.”, “They gave me a choice: Jail, the army, or apologizing to the judge and the old lady. Armin then tells the story of the events that led him to steal Seymour Skinner's identity. He instead allowed Agnes to call him Seymour, and took over Seymour's life. Seymour Skinner. Our Skinner, it turns out, is really a former bad boy called Armin Tanzarian. Skinner reveal. ", Keeler, Ken. After these revelations, the people of Springfield begin to distrust Armin, who decides that there is no longer any place for him in Springfield and leaves for Capital City to resume his old persona as a no-good street thug, sadly breaking up with Edna Krabappel in the process. However, the real Tamzarian (now a California Superior Court Judge[11]) was unaware his name was being used until after the episode aired. Jump the Shark: Books - Amazon.ca. Answer Save. “I can’t remember who came up with the idea of destroying the series,” he half-jokes at the start, but his sense of irony is short-lived the deeper he gets into his arguments. They never mention it. We couldn’t help but wonder: Did Carrie ruin Sex and the City? Aside from the Armin of it all, Keeler does craft a few vintage lines and interactions using the Simpson family. I think his character jumped the shark in Skinner’s Sense of Snow, where he was completely overrun by the kids at the school. The episode 'Saddlesore Galactica', like 'The Principal and the Pauper', is often called out as an instance of 'jumping the shark'. And the act of disassembly and reassembly, performed with ever more frequency from season nine on, is what spelled the end of The Simpsons Golden Age. 1. If I had to pinpoint a moment when it jumped the shark, it would have to be the episode where Maude Flanders dies. The series would continue to produce good-to-great episodes—several of which are still present in season nine—but the show’s batting average would never again be what it was. The celebration goes well until a strange man arrives, claiming to be the real Seymour Skinner. [4][5] According to animation director Steve Moore, one of the working titles for the episode was "Skinnersby". But I do consider that episode you mentioned first as the one where the show for me finally completely jumped the shark. I’ll admit, the convenience of the Judge declaring no one should talk … 1 year ago . Judge Snyder declares that Armin will again be referred to as Seymour Skinner, that he will return to his job as school principal, and that no one shall ever again refer to Skinner or the fallout from his visit, under penalty of torture. They add that "Martin Sheen steals the show ... in a brief but important slice of Simpsons history. Get … 7 mins ago. The teachers lounge serves coffee-flavored Bevarine. Pop culture obsessives writing for the pop culture obsessed. The so-called Golden Age of The Simpsons, that point where the show churned out classic after classic, finally reached its end as the eighth season wrapped up, its satirical engine and sense of the world of Springfield finally starting to run out of steam as the writers struggled to find new stories to tell. Many fans and critics reacted extremely negatively to the revelation that Principal Skinner, a recurring character since the first season who had undergone much character development, was an impostor. Did The Simpsons 'jump the shark' and if so when? A lot of people say The Principal And The Pauper, which came out in 1997, marked the downfall, the episode where Skinner is revealed to have been adopted and the real Seymour Skinner is an Army Sergeant, and I sort of agree … It jumped the shark figuratively around the point of the Tomacco,literally I'd say it jumped either in the episode "Kill the Alligator and Run" (Replace jumping the shark with running over the alligator) or that episode where Homer disowns Santa's Little Helper and it ends with a shark getting drunk (Replace jumping in this case with boozing the shark) TL:DR it's not as bad as people think, but it is an example of why The Simpsons should've … The problem with this story isn’t that it’s trying to add shading to a previously existing character—our Inventory on Simpsons characters who evolved over time proves the show can do that extraordinarily well. Season 9 was the last good season. 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