Nelson's use of 'that's so gay' in a negative way is not surprising considering that 90 percent of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth say they hear the term used this way frequently or often at school. Nelson should visit ThinkB4YouSpeak.com where he can send an apologetic e-card to Milhouse. GLSEN would also welcome Nelson's participation in our next PSA so he can make amends by helping to educate young people about why such language is wrong.

Labels: ANNOYED GRUNTS, WHAA??

Labels: CRYSTAL BALL

How would you get the discs out of such a tight space then? You have to reach in with two fingers and pinch the edge... making it virtually impossible to not smudge your fingerprints on the "don't touch!" side of the DVD. Also, it's a cinch that the discs will get scratched up sooner or later, inserting them and removing them this way since 100% of the disc makes contact with the cardboard. It's a travesty.

Labels: ANNOYED GRUNTS, SPRINGFIELD SHOPPER

In an eerie parallel, Al Jean has entered his eighth consecutive season of running the show, more than any other showrunner's "term of office" in the show's history. If his two years co-running the show with Mike Reiss during seasons 3 and 4 are taken into account, Jean will have been a showrunner for half the show's run by the end of this season. Is it time for change? Even Homer thinks so.

Labels: ANNOYED GRUNTS, AZTEC THEATRE, CRYSTAL BALL, NEWS OF THE NASAL

Labels: NEWS OF THE NASAL

Cartoonist Matt Groening, creator of "The Simpsons," says, "He's laid the groundwork with this smash hit show and now, with new media opening up and Seth's specific kind of rapid-fire visual humor, how to exploit it just depends on how ambitious he wants to be."

Labels: FROM THE FRONT LINES OF THE CARTOON WARS, GROEN DRAIN, NEWS CORP. NEWS

Labels: CRYSTAL BALL

According to The New York Post, Homer is going to undergo a colonoscopy this season. Actually, it's not going to be part of the long-running FOX show, it's going to be part of the multi-network cancer benefit on September 5 titled Stand Up To Cancer. The Post even quotes a line from the segment that already has me laughing, from Marge: "There's his wedding band! He told me he was having it polished!"

Labels: WHAA??

I got into the office the next morning and called Matt Groening and said, 'This is Huell Howser,' and there was this quiet on the other end of the phone because I knew he thought I was upset. I said, 'If you're going to do a parody of me, I could use the money and the exposure. If you're gonna continue, just let me be my own voice next time.

Labels: ANNOYED GRUNTS

A critic gets a laugh by starting a question with,"Here's a question for the women and people of color up there" (there are none) ... and asks about the lack of diversity in the genre.

MacFarlane: "There's something about the medium of animation that it's male dominated ... might also have something to do with the demographics of animation also skewing male."

Labels: ANNOYED GRUNTS

Since then, the screen name has been inactive, until a few days ago when Chunkylover53's "Away" message appeared, prompting people to click on a link and run an executable in order to see "a *new* Internet-only exclusive Simpson's episode."

Of course, the file doesn't show a Simpsons video. It infects the machine with a Trojan that throws up error messages, crashes the computer when attempting to open Windows Explorer and drops other nasty files onto the machine, making it part of what is believed to be a Turkish botnet, according to FaceTime, which secures IM, collaboration and Web apps for corporations.

Labels: THE MARGE REPORT, WEB-WATCH, WRITER WATCH

Labels: SUDDENLY SIMON

Labels: NOISELAND ARCADE

Labels: AZTEC THEATRE

I'll give you the answers right now, born of a quarter century following this business: Because Fox is covering its bets. If ratings continue to fall, as they have precipitously in recent years, then let's get ready to say goodbye to one of the greatest treasures of our TV lives.

Labels: READING DIGEST

Labels: GENERAL SWARTZ-WATCH

Guests aboard one vehicle of The Simpsons Ride at Universal Orlando on Friday were sprayed with a nontoxic oil.

Park officials told Local 6 News that they know where the oil came from but do not what caused the incident.

Labels: WHAA??

Labels: VOCAL VOCATIONS

Labels: VOCAL VOCATIONS

Labels: NEWS CORP. NEWS, READING DIGEST

In 1987, TV's respectful treatment of mothers began to be replaced by an attitude of mockery and contempt - and unsurprisingly, it was the Fox network that began the trend. Married with Children's Peg Bundy was portrayed as shallow, vapid, incompetent at domestic chores (and everything else) and obsessed with sex. Dressed to resemble a prostitute, the Peg Bundy character also seemed to act and think like one. The constant put-downs directed at Peg by her crude and moronic husband character were echoed by equally intense contempt from her children.

And in the two decades since Married with Children's premiere nothing has changed, except that the mockery, contempt and even hatred shown towards mothers on Fox has become even more vicious and sadistic.

The May 11th episode of The Simpsons focused on the death of Homer's mother, a former radical who abandoned him as a child. The now-deceased mother leaves her daughter-in-law Marge a purse made of hemp, as Bart informs his father that Grandma said "you don't suck...THAT much."

Yet The Simpsons' depiction of motherhood was as nothing compared to that seen on Seth MacFarlane's animated "comedy" Family Guy. In celebration of Mother's Day, Fox chose to rerun an episode in which Baby Stewie murders his own mother - after plotting to torture her...

Labels: THE SNUH ZONE

Labels: PENCIL PUSHING

Labels: AZTEC THEATRE

Labels: THE DOH REPORT

Labels: PARDON MY ZINGER, WRITER WATCH