5.2/10 on a post-classic Simpsons scale. As is often the case with even the most misguided Simpsons episodes, there's the germ of a good idea here. Mr. Burns wanting to put on a show to make up for the derisive laughter he received when performing at the Springfield Bowl as a child, with Lisa's help, is a solid premise, and there's even the wisp of emotional stakes to it. But man is it executed in a shaggy fashion with a lot of crud around it.
For starters, there's no real resolution to it. Mr. Burns just performs again, gets laughed at again, and then is fine with it because...he's senile. That's it. And the whole variety show idea seemed like a thin excuse to just do a one-off gags of various Springfielders putting on their loony acts. You can get away with that to an extent if the gags are funny, but it just felt like padding.
Similarly, the idea of the power plant partying with Mr. Burns gone, and Homer trying to be a good safety inspector when things are all on his shoulders is a solid B-story, but it's incredibly undercooked, and also basically without resolution (Homer tries to help, and then the plant starts shooting off firework-like explosions -- The End.) Throw in a first act story about the replacement Lard Lad statue turning into a light-refracting laser that destroys the town, which is pretty much forgotten about once we get to the burns stuff, and you have a Simpsons episode that falls into the usual late-era pitfalls of poor structure and poor pacing.
There were a couple of good jokes. Skinner's announcement about Mr. Burns looking for acts at the elementary school in the form of "There's an old man wandering around the school. Perform for him" was dark but funny, And Homer's frightened realization that he's the only safety inspector at the plant, followed by him urging Marge to get out of town while there's still roads was a nice beat. But for the most part it was one-off gags that felt pretty lazy. On top of that Amy Schumer was entirely wasted as Mr. Burns' mom (prior to affair with President Taft, presumably) in a part that could have been played by anyone and didn't really ask much of her.
Overall, a weak start to the new season.
(I did enjoy the Adventure Time crossover couch gag, though I was a little disappointed at some of the character-pairing choices they made. Why Chief Wiggum wasn't a Banana Guard is baffling to me!)
