Reception
In its original American broadcast, "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase" finished 61st place in the weekly ratings for the week of May 5–May 11, 1997 with a Nielsen rating of 7.3. It was the seventh highest rated show on the Fox Network that week. Even though Troy mentions that The Simpsons, Melrose Place, and The X-Files are the only shows worth a slot in the next season's lineup, three other Fox shows actually did better than The Simpsons that week. These were Beverly Hills, 90210, King of the Hill, and Married… with Children.
The writers later noted that the episode divided fans. Essentially, those who loved it were those who realised that the writing was deliberately bad as a way of parodying bad writing, while others who did not appreciate this distinction were less enthusiastic. Matt Groening feared that the fans would interpret the episode in a negative light and was uneasy about the episode when it was in production. He later went on to say that the episode "turned out great". The writers of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood called it, "A very clever spin on the alternates offered by the Treehouse of Horrors run. Each of the spin-offs is very clever in its own way." It has also figured as one of the favorite episodes on a number of "best of" lists. Entertainment Weekly placed the episode 19th in their top 25 Simpsons episode list. In an interview for Star-News, The Simpsons writer Don Payne revealed that the episode was in his personal top six of the best The Simpsons episodes. Additionally, Gary Mullinax, a staff writer for The News Journal, picked the episode as part of his top-ten list.
Read more about this topic: The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase
Famous quotes containing the word reception:
“I gave a speech in Omaha. After the speech I went to a reception elsewhere in town. A sweet old lady came up to me, put her gloved hand in mine, and said, “I hear you spoke here tonight.” “Oh, it was nothing,” I replied modestly. “Yes,” the little old lady nodded, “that’s what I heard.””
—Gerald R. Ford (b. 1913)
“He’s leaving Germany by special request of the Nazi government. First he sends a dispatch about Danzig and how 10,000 German tourists are pouring into the city every day with butterfly nets in their hands and submachine guns in their knapsacks. They warn him right then. What does he do next? Goes to a reception at von Ribbentropf’s and keeps yelling for gefilte fish!”
—Billy Wilder (b. 1906)
“But in the reception of metaphysical formula, all depends, as regards their actual and ulterior result, on the pre-existent qualities of that soil of human nature into which they fall—the company they find already present there, on their admission into the house of thought.”
—Walter Pater (1839–1894)