In a Faustian bargain to prop up faltering sales, Hugh Hefner will expose America's favorite television matriarch, Marge Simpson, in the pages of Playboy. The men's magazine is reportedly facing hard times with advertising pages, newsstand sales and circulation all on the decline. The "Marge Simpson Cover"  has largely been perceived as a ploy to attract younger readers to the brand. This has naturally inspired reams of off-color commentary (though the character will be shown wearing cartoon lingerie), but here we've sifted it down to the best nuggets of thought:

• Reeling with Excitment, burts Perez Hilton: "Aren't you curious what the totally recognizable (with an age totally undefinable) cartoon mom looks like NAKED?!!?" Tina Chubb at In Entertainment adds, "I must admit, I actually laughed when I heard the news and actually thought that it was some kind of joke. But it's not a joke, and it is actually happening."

• The Beginning of the End for Playboy, writes Bruce Watson at Daily Finance: "As recently as the early 1990s, Playboy was required reading for anyone who wanted to claim a degree of cultural sophistication. But the magazine's long decline into irrelevance makes Hef's tryst with Marge Simpson -- herself a cultural icon enjoying a comfortable middle age -- seem about 19 years out of date. Zac Bissonnette at Blogging Stocks adds, "Couldn't they have gotten Lois Griffin (from Family Guy) or -- for sheer shock value -- Mrs. Broflowski from South Park? I would say that Marge Simpson is a poignant centerfold for an ailing brand."

• A Master Stroke, writes Armando Cordoba at San Diego Entertainer Magazine: "Marge is special, and this issue from Playboy will also undoubtedly be as special. Playboy has had some of America's most iconic women grace the ink colored pages of its publication. Now, with Marge Simpson coming to the stage, Playboy has turned in a direction that most would not suspect, but will unequivocally love."

• Further Descent Unto Moral Depravity, cries Pamela Luther at The Examiner: "There appears to be a lowering of moral standards within our society. The slide downwards seems to be accelerating. When I hear kids saying that The Simpsons or even worse, The Family Guy is their favorite television show, I wonder where are their parents as well as what new low point we can now 'look forward' to seeing hit our youth to be drawn away from those things that are holy and wholesome."

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John Hudson