The Simpsons - 4x12 - Marge vs. the Monorail

    A scam artist visits Springfield, and persuades them to spend a recent windfall on a monorail.  It turns out that the monorail is built as cheaply as possible, creating an emergency.
    Like all of the fourth season, the episode is solidly fantastic.  The performances are perfect.  The script has gags that are wonderful little detours, but they build the Simpsons universe.  The squirrel with laser vision and lizard tongue is a perfect example.
    To be honest, as much as I love this episode, there are some gags I just don't like as much.  The exposition given by Sebastian Cobb seems unnecessary, and could have been handled in a different way.  The only joke he delivers that I like is the bit about Gallagher.
    My favorite bit - Mr. Snrub, and Smithers with the Batman escape.  The fact that we see it in the background of the next shot with Apu speaking is part of what sells the joke. 

The Simpsons - 4x10 - Lisa's First Word

    In this flashback episode, we see Bart living with Marge and Homer, Marge's pregnancy, and Bart having difficulty with having a younger sister, all set against the 80s.
    This episode is just about perfect.  I have one minor reservation, which is the repeated audio loops when Bart is worrying about his bed and Grandma Flanders.
    I love some of the deliveries, particularly the stereotypical voices at the beginning of the flashback, talking about MASH and "Youse guys wanna play stickball?"  And the performance of Bart banging the pots and pans and singing "I am so great" is so spot-on that it's scary.

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic - 1x14 - Suited For Success

    Rarity makes dresses for the Grand Galloping Gala for all her friends.  No one likes the dresses at first, so Rarity remakes all of them, accommodating all their suggestions.  This leads to a fashion critic dismissing her work, until her friends get the critic to see her original dresses.
    I never liked Rarity that much.  She's too preoccupied with fashion, and her focus on being stereotypically high-class and girly make her into a character I would normally hate.  But she comes across as being patient, and willing to deal with criticism, which is a difficult thing.
    The episode features a song - The Art of the Dress.  It's split into two passages, as she makes each set of dresses.  While I don't care for Rarity's singing voice as much, the song is better written than, say, Winter Wrap Up.
    There are lots of nice moments - Fluttershy being bullied into being honest, as well as being surprisingly knowledgable.  Pinkie Pie wanting lollipops and streamers on her dress.  And during the second fashion show, the poses they strike are great.

Futurama - 7x03 - Decision 3012

    It's an election year, and Nixon's head is running against a challenger who is too honest to get away with being a candidate.  With Leela's help, Travers, makes his way to being a viable candidate.  Except there's an issue about his birthplace.
    For an episode dealing primarily with Birtherism, it's a really pretty good.  I'd be curious how it plays to someone who believes in birthed nonsense, but the story feels a little more sci-fi than many of the more recent episodes have.  In fact, this same plot, if played more straight, could easily have been a Ray Bradbury story.
    Most of the characters don't get much of an opportunity to shine.  But Nixon's head does an excellent job.  Plenty of jowl-shaking, and his evil side is nicely handled.
    Of course, the episode ends on a down moment, leading the viewer to accept that the future is effectively lost.  This is peculiar, although they did the same thing last election episode - Nixon ended that one rampaging around, and no one seemed to mind.

Ray Bradbury Theater - 2x11 - There Was an Old Woman

    An old lady, who refuses to die, is bothered by her body being claimed.  She - or her ghost - heads down to the mortuary to reclaim her body.
    This was a decent idea for a story.  But the performance of it wasn't worthwhile.  It's remarkably boring listening to an old lady talk about how she resents the idea of dying.  And her appearance is inconsistent.  This isn't a serious problem, but it's strangely distracting, since I can't tell if it was done on purpose.

Ray Bradbury Theater - 2x02 - Skeleton

    Stars Eugene Levy!
    A man is convinced there's something wrong with his skeleton.  He talks with a specialist who encourages this belief.  After losing some weight, he meets with the doctor again.  This time, the doctor seems to remove Levy's skeleton, leaving him a pile of flesh and hair.
    I saw this ending coming.  It's telegraphed pretty early on.  But it's not a very interesting episode.  The pacing is slow.  But the images are strange enough that I could imagine a younger kid having this episode stick with him.

Star Trek: The Next Generation - 3x24 - Ménage à Tro

    At a conference, Troi's mother catches the eye of a Ferengi.  That Ferengi decides to kidnap Troi's mother, whose name I hate to write - Lwaxana.  This means that the Ferengi kidnaps Troi, Lwaxana, and Riker.  The Enterprise investigates, Wesley helps them figure out where to find them.  Then Lwaxana needs to get Picard to fake being her lover in order to be freed from serving her captor.
    This episode has a bad reputation, but that's because it's simple.  It's not an especially clever story, the Ferengi are usually annoying, and easy to deceive.  But to be honest, it's a lot of fun.  It's fun to hear Lwaxana and Troi having their arguments.  Riker has a limited role, but he gets to have some fun in tricking the Ferengi.  And then at the end, Picard gets a nice run of dialogue.  A good time is had by all.  For a sci-fi show, it's not too interesting though.  Not enough technobabble.