Grandpa Simpson’s long-winded, nonsensical tall tales have been a longtime staple of The Simpsons.So is the family’s habit of blithely ignoring his verbal wanderings.‘Thursdays with Abie’ explores what happens when another person takes interest in Abe’s ramblings.

Kredit Kookies: Wizard of Oz reference in the flyby, with Agnes Skinner as Elmira Gulch on a bike and matching orchestration.Short open.Couch Gag:The Simpsons are balls in a “Couch Gag Chaos” pinball machine.

During a family trip to “Wet N Wacky World”, Grandpa is ignored by the rest of the family.While waiting for the rest of the Simpsons outside of the show’s Slimu stadium, he’s approached by a young writer named Marshall Goldman.The man takes an interest in Grandpa’s tales and publishes them, bringing the two of them fame and allowing Abe to disown Homer, who tries desperately to regain his father’s attention.But it turns out that Marshall’s motives aren’t exactly pure.

Meanwhile, Bart’s assigned to care for his class’ toy lamb.

Bart loathes and dislikes the task, horrifying Lisa with his negligence until she takes over the project.She accidentally loses the lamb down a storm drain, and – under the threat of a beating from Nelson, who’s bonded with Larry – Bart goes to rescue to the stuffed animal.

“Thursdays with Abie” is a middle-of-the pack affair; a lot of the knowing pokes at Mitch Ablom’s “Tuesdays with Morrie” mildly amuse, but don’t have the bite and zing necessary for true satire.On the other hand, Grandpa’s tales are always wonderfully amusing, and the concept of the episode holds together well as Homer tries to find a place in his father’s good graces (it has a wonderful closing scene in which Homer tries out his first nonsensical ramble).Particularly enjoyable was Homer’s attempt at using Mr. Burns as a substitute father figure.

The subplot has a few amusing touches but lacks a firm resolution. While Bart and Lisa are used to an appealing and in-character effect, we never find out how things turned out.Did Marge fix the situation at the end?

Ultimately, “Thursdays with Abie” is an amusing but benign affair.

Letter grade: B

The episode pulled in a 8.65