When Krusty the Clown needs a new agent, there's only one person who can help him out of his latest doldrums. But how will his old girlfriend get along with the network executives? And...well, there's no other plot, really. Joan Rivers guest stars in The Simpsons "The Ten-Per-Cent Solution", another examination of another fall and an interesting career move of Herschel Krustovski.
Krusty and Annie, Sitting in A Tree...
While at the Museum of Television, the Simpsons meet Annie Dubinski (Rivers), the agent of one of Homer's favorite actors from childhood. At the same time, Krusty finds himself losing airtime to Itchy & Scratchy, and losing favor with his network because "today's children are uncomfortable with a clown whose every reference they have to look up on Wikipedia."
Krusty is eventually fired ("They took my dressing room, my parking space, even my writer, so I don't have a funny third item"), but the Simpsons know with whom to hook him up: Annie Dubinski! Unfortunately, Annie and Krusty have already hooked up in the past. Krusty swallows his pride and begs to take her back, and Annie agrees - but this time, she isn't letting go without a fight.
Dan Castellaneta Writes A Nice Change From The Norm
"The Ten-Per-Cent Solution" was written by Dan Castellaneta, who voices both Homer Simpson and Krusty the Clown, so it's somewhat unsurprising that the episode has a lot of Krusty. The character development is nice, even if it rewrites Krusty's origins within the show's continuity.
Nicer was the decision to have Krusty and Annie continue in their own Sex Over Sixty show. The obvious temptation would have been for Krusty to have fired Annie himself, to reset things in time for the next episode. However, at 494 episodes, I don't think a show like The Simpsons needs to worry about continuity too much (see above). So three cheers to Castellaneta for deciding to have some fun with the resolution of "The Ten-Per-Cent Solution", instead of needlessly ensuring that the status quo remains in place for any viewers who still don't know that Krusty is a misanthropic, alcoholic clown.
Television, Everybody's Favorite Target
Any Simpsons episode about television will inevitably result in a few jabs at the medium itself. Some of them worked: HBOWTIME's admission that their budget comes from softcore porn and boxing, and Krusty's astonished "There's SOFTCORE?" is hilarious, while Krusty's meta-observation that Itchy & Scratchy parodies movies that are a year old, "when the movies came out, but it took so long to animate them that [his show] looks dated and hackey" hits the nail on the head, but since The Simpsons' modus operandi is not going to change, the joke is more sad than funny.
That said, seeing Maggie do the Hitler salute and Lisa hurriedly correcting her almost killed me dead.
Another Guest Voice? Yawn
Rivers' guest role as Annie Dubinski is a shade more disappointing, as her talent agent role is like every depiction of every talent agent on television: bossy, rude, arrogant and sycophantic. Again, Castellaneta makes her story a bit more interesting by transitioning her to Sex Over Sixty instead of simply firing her, but the whole thing strikes me as yet another forgettable "guest voice episode" on The Simpsons.
The Simpsons, "The Ten-Per-Cent Solution": 7/10. An entertaining story with good gags, but doesn't really boil over into something bona fide funny.
Michael Perera - The only rule in writing is honesty. If you're honest, the words will write themselves.
