Review: The Simpsons “My Life As A Vlog”

Overview:

Playing out like an ordinary person browsing YouTube videos, “My Life As A Vlog” follows The Simpsons as they enjoy a meteoric rise to fame as YouTube stars. After Homer and Maggie become a viral sensation, The Simpsons family develops an addiction to posting content around the clock, offering glimpses of what appears to be their idyllic family life. With their videos amassing millions of views, endorsement deals roll in and The Simpsons become internet celebrities. But not everything is as it seems for Springfield’s hottest family. 

Several YouTube channels, hosted by familiar Simpsons favorites such as Milhouse, Lenny and Carl, and Nelson turn their sights on bringing The Simpsons family down and exposing the truth behind their success. With new videos coming out every day bashing their family, The Simpsons prepare to release a statement that they hope clears the air. But when the family disappears, content creators all over YouTube look to get the scoop on their whereabouts and become the newest viral hit. 

Our Take:

“My Life As A Vlog” is a Simpsons clip show episode like we’ve never really seen before. With a free-flowing narrative that jumped from one YouTube-style clip to another, this episode showcased some impressive originality while offering decent satire on this current age of celebrity families and viral YouTube videos. “My Life As A Vlog” is fairly funny with some elaborate gags, and for the most part, it is a successful episode. The writing team completely nailed the experience of mindlessly browsing YouTube, clicking on countless videos, one right after the next without much thought. 

Milhouse as the Truth Wizard is a perfect fit and very on-brand for the perpetual dork. The behind-the-scenes shots were a great addition to the episode that supported The Simpsons’ critique of the YouTube family craze, especially during Lisa’s story. The crew frantically chasing after the rented seal was perfectly over-the-top while still feeling eerily accurate to most animal rescue videos we all see online. “Deep Fried Thoughts” was a jab at “Hot Ones”, featuring Krusty eating some severely unhealthy fried foods, including a vomit-inducing tuna melt sandwich that doesn’t even sound remotely appetizing, even in a fictional animated world. Krusty struggling to digest the sandwich is one of the best laughs of the episode. Why did he have to eat so many of those green room bagels!? 

“The Lenny And Carl Situation” podcast is not something I ever thought I would see on The Simpsons, but after being teased with a single minute of it, I now desperately need more of those guys in my life. That is a podcast I would gladly subscribe to. Similar to the Lenny And Carl Situation, Patty and Selma’s ASMR channel is also not a skit I had on my Simpsons bingo card, but wow, was it a homerun! It had just the right amount of absurdity and humor that gave it the perfect amount of punchiness. The credit card against the leg hair bit is one of the highlights of this episode. Was it disgusting? Oh, hell yes. But it was disgusting in a funny way. At least that’s what I’ll tell myself when I try to sleep tonight. “My Life As A Vlog” took some chances with some out-of-the-box ideas, and it paid off with a strong output of humorous jokes. 

“My Life As A Vlog” definitely has its fair share of dud segments and failed jokes. The Gurt Squad was unfortunately lame, which hurts to write. There was so much potential in such an irreverent and goofy premise, but it just feels like an undercooked throw-in instead of a refined segment with wacky yogurt hijinks. Even with Bart desperately trying to hang out with his fake crew, the segment still lacked anything of value. The Property Damage Brothers was another swing and a miss, which is such a disappointment. It felt like the jokes and gags were right there for the taking, but instead, we ended up with a whole lot of nothin’. “My Life As A Vlog” slightly stumbled in a few different segments, but overall there is more to like than not. 

The culmination of every character’s YouTube channels colliding into each other while discovering The Simpsons’ Mansion felt like a wonderfully bizarre fever dream. You would have thought you were watching a Treehouse Of Horror episode. Ultimately though, it led to a somewhat hamfisted and hokey ending to the Simpsons narrative that just about erased everything that came before it. It was definitely on par with typical wholesome Simpsons endings, but this one just didn’t fit with the theme of the episode. Thankfully, the inclusion of the George R.R. Martin gag righted the ship before the very end and brought some excellent jokes, although it might not be funny for those still waiting for “The Winds Of Winter” to finally be finished. 

“My Life As A Vlog” is a clever episode that explores the eerie depths of YouTube recommendations in comical fashion. This episode manages to stay fresh while visiting some common themes. Just about everyone has lost a few hours in one sitting scouring YouTube, so it was nice to see The Simpsons taking a stab at parodying the best (or worst) that YouTube has to offer. “My Life As A Vlog” has its flaws, but it is a very enjoyable episode that showcases the absurdity of some content creators. I don’t know about you, but I suddenly have the strong urge to watch a couple of hours of loosely related videos based on an algorithm.