Fine tuning: Simpsons start 17th season

Fine tuning: Simpsons start 17th seasonk

The Simpsons (season premiere)
Global, Fox

In tough times, you can always rely on an old friend to see you through the dark moments.

The Simpsons has seen better years -- few devotees would argue with that -- but there's something oddly reassuring about the return of Homer, Marge, Bart and the gang for a 17th -- count 'em, 17 -- season, even with an episode as plain as tonight's Bonfire of the Manatees.

There are laughs to be had to be sure -- Simpsons episodes are too densely packed with visual jokes and inside jabs to ever be a complete waste of time -- but when the final chapter is written on The Simpsons' place in TV history, Bonfire of the Manatees will not go down as one of The Simpsons' best.

No matter. It's simply good to have the old gang back in an episode we haven't seen countless times before. And it's hard to suppress a smile at the opening, as Bart writes over and over again on the chalk board, "Does any kid still do this anymore?" (On their computer keyboards, perhaps.)

The plot is straightforward, if a little far-fetched. Marge walks out on Homer after he racks up a gambling debt to Fat Tony (Mantegna, reprising his role as Springfield's best-known made man), and strikes up a tentative romance with a marine biologist (Alec Baldwin), who's out to save the manatees. Marge has a thing for large mammals -- she's been married to Homer all these years, remember -- but everything works out in the end, Simpsons-style.

There's a dig at reality TV along the way ("I'm joined in the broadcast booth by the stars of ABC's latest reality show, Billionaire vs. Bear"), a clever Fahrenheit 911 joke and a gentle message about conservation and saving the environment. It's all very warm and familiar.

The Simpsons has been on TV for 17 years now, but Bart and Lisa haven't aged a day. Imagine that.

American Dad
Global, Fox

From the sublime to the ridiculous: The season premiere of American Dad is rude, crude and lewd -- and outrageously funny. Whether or not you'll laugh depends on whether you appreciate the jokes in Family Guy and South Park.

The episode finds Stan (Seth MacFarlane) in line for a much sought-after promotion at the CIA, only his daughter -- a dead ringer for a 15-year-old Janeane Garofalo, both physically and philosophically -- provokes a brawl with Stan's boss at the CIA company picnic.

What happens next is definitely not family viewing. American Dad, like South Park, is meant to be satire, but I'm sure not everyone will get the joke. The Parents Television Council will no doubt be on the blower to the Fox network first thing Monday morning. And my guess is they'll be none too happy.