(S21E08) The last episode of 2009 also has the distinction of being the 449th episode of The Simpsons. The series will come back Sunday, January 10th for a 450th episode extravaganza, including a one-hour 20th anniversary special. It's certainly a big year for Tracey Ullman's one-time back-up series.

The beginning of the episode had an almost frantic pace, as it set up about four or five different possible plotlines, before finally settling on Bart's jealousy of Lisa and Maggie's relationship. His attempts to help his parents create a little brother for him were a little disturbing, but that was more than made up for by a fantasy sequence featuring many famous brothers.

Last night, Carl Reiner provided a bit of comedy relief on the season finale of House. He was only in a few scenes, but had some surefire material to work with (pooh is always funny). Reiner is one of the chief architects of funny, going back to his days with Sid Caesar on Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour, The Dick Van Dyke Show, and later on with Steve Martin in films like The Jerk and The Man With Two Brains.

The Three Haircuts:
This is the musical parody sketch that created the blueprint for all musical parody sketches to follow. Just pure, wonderful madness. And watch Reiner's face as he's leaping in the air during the dance solo in "Flippin' Over You." Pick up the Sid Caesar Collection DVD of this to see it on a regular screen with better resolution.

All Dick Smothers wants to do is dance, dance, dance*, but Dancing with the Stars doesn't want him.

The one half of the Smothers Brothers tells TV critic Terry Morrow that he has applied to be on the hit ABC dance reality show three times, but they keep on turning him down. Smothers says that he loves the show and he could keep up with all of the dancing that has to be done (he's 71), but the show won't even give him a chance.

As Morrow says, Smothers is probably too unknown to be a big draw for the show, since he hasn't been on television in years. Maybe they can do a special "TV Legends" episode of the show, and have Smothers be on it, along with Barbara Eden, William Shatner (hey, he's on an ABC show too), Tom Selleck, and Florence Henderson.

* Craig Kilborn reference. Come back Kilby!

[via TV Tattle]