Audio Commentary for "Burns' Heir"

At the opening of the episode, Matt Groening welcomes us to a "very special" audio commentary, but it doesn't quite live up to this promise. The tone of the commentary is mostly jovial, with lots of laughter. There's dead air several times when the commentators get lost in the action happening onscreen and just laugh. Writer and co-executive producer Jace Richdale is introduced with much fanfare, but pretty much disappears after the first half. When asked about the genesis of the episode, Richdale admits that he "literally just, like, threw this off the top of my head". David Mirkin gushes over the "incredibly helpful" Richdale, Michael Caine ("we absolutely love him") and sounds quite proud of the introduction of the Estonian dwarf. He continues his mildly annoying trend of pointing out how he absolutely loves a gag and then proceeds to describe it (this happened 24 times, by my count) and astute observations ("[Homer] likes to eat flowers" he notes). Groening regales us with an anecdote about a botched Burger King promotion and an observation here and there ("To me, that's a horrible sound" he says as the topic turns to THX). David Silverman pops in with the occasional joke and singles out his favorite bits, while Mark Kirkland points out little details you wouldn't have really noticed before ("Watch this," he says during a scene where Lisa trips Homer. "He doesn't move."). The high point of the commentary comes as Mirkin takes a minute to describe in detail the deleted Richard Simmons scene in a deadpan voice, which makes the scene seem even funnier and more outlandish, and tops it off with "for some reason, that [being a robot] offended him". All in all, a good, fun commentary. Rating: 3.5/5

Audio Commentary for "The Otto Show"

Halfway through this audio commentary, co-showrunner Mike Reiss exclaims that "this is like the worst DVD commentary." Indeed, the constant pointing out of having to pay expensive song royalties - "like a bunch of accountants doing DVD" he quips - is quite annoying and becomes a running gag throughout this commentary. However, as far as DVD audio commentaries go, this one is certainly far from "the worst".

Matt Groening, who introduces himself as "This is Matt Groening, and I... hung around at the time" to minor chuckles from two other people, shares an anecdote about seeing "This Is Spinal Tap" in a riff-raff movie theater with headbangers who turned angry once they realized the film was a mockumentary. James L. Brooks becomes the movie fun-facts guy as he mentions a test screening for "Spinal Tap" in Texas. Groening does an impression of the number of people who wrote him fan mail thanking him for a fan letter thanking him for turning the writer on to Herp Albert and the Tijuana Brass. There is a brief lull when he asks Castalleneta another one of his "I always ask this" questions: does Dan enter the minds of the characters as he voices them? One hasty, on-the-spot answer takes up nearly a minute, but a brief impression of Julie Kavner (voice of Marge) seems to make up for it.

There are some incredibly minor tidbits that might mildly salivate those who follow behind-the-scenes drama. Al Jean makes a weird assertive emphasis on the first syllable on "obviously" when mentioning that voice actor Harry Shearer is "OB-viously" one of the show's stars. Reiss mentions that one of the guys in Spinal Tap was very difficult to direct, and Jean jokingly asks if it was a guest. Persona non grata Sam Simon is briefly mentioned in passing by one of the commentators, but there is no reaction by the others.

Voice actors are usually the biggest source of comedy in cartoon show commentaries (see: "Futurama"), but Castalleneta tends to keep to the sidelines here - although he does do a hilarious rendition of Spanish Flea in Homer's voice during the credits. Al Jean, nasally as ever, talks about how much the songs in this episode cost, and after Reiss starts making fun of this, he continues to do so ironically. Frankly it's hard to sympathize with the budgetary woes of a billion dollar franchise, but maybe that's just me. However I think every commentary needs a nerdy, knowledgable person - like David X. Cohen of "Futurama" or Mitch Hurwitz of "Arrested Development" - who perhaps isn't as funny or entertaining as the other commentators, but keeps the "party" atmosphere in check, which is a role which Jean fills admirably. Someone jokes that they'll have to pay for Dan's rendition of Spanish Flea, which brings it all together, which is a nice touch.

Despite its flaws and lulls, this commentary is a fairly high-spirited one. There's lots of laughter throughout the episode, and everyone seems to be having a good time. There's certainly worse Simpsons commentaries out there. But one gets the impression that it could have been much more. It seems an extension of the mentality of the "it was late in the season" explanation for why there's an episode based around a third-tier incidental character: we've got to bang out 22 of these things, so don't bother trying too hard. Rating: 3/5