About Last Night…THE SIMPSONS, THE EQUALIZER, GROSSE POINTE GARDEN SOCIETY, and More

Let’s talk about Sunday night’s TV!

THE SIMPSONS: I loved the Flanders and Homer dynamic in this episode. We’ve seen them fight before, we’ve seen them be temporary besties, but one of the show’s biggest throughlines is how inconsiderate Homer (and, honestly, the Simpson family as a whole) can be to the Flanders family. So Bart’s newfound love of DJ-ing depriving the Flanders family of sleep and pushing Ned to the edge A) made a lot of sense (I would have snapped, too), and B) was an excellent way for Flanders to force them to see how much they have taken over the years.

And it felt poignant, as silly as it sounds, that Homer’s genuine apology made it worse: Ned put up with it, to some degree, because he thought it was mindless. To see that Homer could be that self-aware just made his actions feel even more selfish and greedy. But they care, in their own weird way, which also makes episodes like this work all these decades deep into the show’s run.

Okay, how can I own that end remix of THE SIMPSONS music?!

AMERICAN IDOL: I would assume I’m in the minority on this, but I thought JMarie’s version of “Before He Cheats” was too much. She has a good voice and a great personality, but the judges talk about singers adding too many runs and that’s what this audition felt like for me; it was distracting here.

But some of the highlights for me: Kaleo Knight’s “And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going” was incredible. I knew Landynn Kennedy would be good based on his backstory, but wow, actual chills for his take on “I Can’t Make You Love Me.” And, of course, Canaan James Hill’s Platinum Ticket-winning performance was fantastic.

I don’t know how far he’ll go in the performance, but it was really great to see Luke coaching Ethan Senger as he was singing “Somebody Like You.” The (modern-day version of this) show works best when it utilizes its superstar judges who actually know what they’re talking about and can make a life-changing difference for those kids with a bit of guidance.

(Okay, it’s very funny someone sang the NFL Sunday Night Football theme song. Weird. A gamble. But funny.)

FAMILY GUY: It’s interesting we got another live-action cutaway. Obviously, the show is no stranger to that gag, but I do wonder if that’s a way to save money/be faster with production. But it’s good of Fox to actually time this episode to the start of the baseball season as poor Peter tried to throw a perfect ceremonial first pitch. (Hey, at least he did it? RIP to his arm, though.)

THE GREAT NORTH: I love it when Alanis gets worked into storylines. Judy telling Alanis a bedtime story was very sweet—and it was funny we got little acknowledgments that maybe Judy wasn’t exactly the most reliable narrator—and I know we can’t utilize this every week, but I love it when we get a little more of them.

THE EQUALIZER: A fantastic episode. Creepy, tense, dramatic, and absolutely messed up. Loved how much time we got of Robyn one-on-one first with the Grave Digger’s assistant and then with the man himself. (Okay, that sounds wrong, but it was different kinds of stakes for the show and Robyn, who often needs to use her physicality to save the day.)

My one complaint is I do wish they had either dug further in the past or brought back someone we already knew was a foe of Robyn’s (and/or the team). I know that’s harder for a billion logistical and financial reasons, but still.

(Good luck to Delilah explaining her partying to Robyn! She’s a kid, she deserves to let loose, but oh my God I wish we could have seen that.)

GROSSE POINTE GARDEN SOCIETY: I wish more people were watching this show because Aja Naomi King’s performance in the car when she talked about the struggles of motherhood was brilliant. And, ugh, I felt terrible for Catherine that she had to turn down a huge career opportunity because her kid was sick. I get it! But she deserved that job, too.

Alice and Patty lying to Doug will not end well. I can kind of understand Alice not wanting to rock the boat, but, eesh, your marriage is already on quicksand.

I’ll admit I’m a little scared of Birdie’s ability to lie. Like, my goodness, she is good at it.

Well, it seems to be Gary’s car in those flash-forwards…

(Is it bad I’m most relieved the cat is going to be okay?)

[For more on the hour, here’s what star Alexander Hodge shared.]

THE $100,000 PYRAMID: Bobby Moynihan really is incredible at this game; I hope they continue to bring him back for however long this show runs. (Though it was funny that Bobby talked about taking too much time with one of the rounds in the second round, which quasi-doomed them. Chekhov’s Gun on a game show!) Jaleel White was good, too, which was made even more apparent by, uh, the mess of the second game. (I’m sorry, but that second game was quasi-painful at points. Alas.)

Which shows did you watch last night?

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