Last October, Ashlee Simpson, sister to Jessica, suffered public humiliation on "Saturday Night Live" when she was caught lip-syncing. Her response was to blame her band, which was a little like blaming the dog for not having your homework. SIMPSON.

Within a matter of weeks, Simpson found herself being booed off the halftime stage of the Orange Bowl, clearly not having taken advantage of the valuable life lesson that the "SNL" experience offered regarding singing to an audience of millions.

The curious thing is that Simpson doesn't leap headlong into these situations with a sort of rebellious, it's-my-party kind of spirit -- no, she wants the public to like her. Really, really like her, even when the public has pretty much said, Hey, we're just not that into you.

These recent events have generated a pretty nasty backlash, including a Web site, stopashlee.com, which boasts more than 65,000 signatures demanding that she knock off the singing and acting and find something quieter to do. (Here I must comment on the these kids today: What creampuffs! In my day there was no Internet whining; we had to suffer all manner of loathsome TV and music: David Soul, "The House at Pooh Corner," Billy Jack!!! Try living with that without an Online Complaint Dept. My generation never agreed to allow these people to "entertain" us, we simply bore it like a legion of Stoics.)

Not one to be deterred, Simpson is returning for the second year of "The Ashlee Simpson Show." The possibility that she is going to use her TV time to clear up all those "misunderstandings" is reason enough to tune in -- because if Simpson's history tells us anything, it's that the humiliation highway is always just an on-ramp away. And her willingness to ride that road is, frankly, awesome.

This could be a good thing, since the highlight of last year's show was watching her dye her hair from blond to brown, then seeing her perform on stage for the first time with sister Jessica in the audience. Jessica looked natty in some kind of enormous eyewear necessitated by recent vision-correction laser surgery, making her very Sly and the Family Stone, circa 1975.

In the midst of the boredom I developed a fascination with Simpson's parents, since they are my contemporaries. Every time I see Joe Simpson I wonder, Do I look as old as he does? What's with the poofy hair? Does everyone at the record company pretend to be in the bathroom when he calls? And what about the mom? How many shopping trips and lunches at Chili's with her daughters can she tolerate before she runs screaming for a life of her own?

There was an entire segment on "Newlyweds," Jessica's reality show, where Jessica had dragged her mother into yet another dress shop where her mother repeated "That's cute" more than a dozen times before they hit the local Tony Roma's. And now she has a second daughter who is going to want to go shopping. More margaritas, more nachos, more baby back ribs.

However, I have a feeling this season's show just might be a little livelier, if her recent comments in Us magazine are any indication. She says of the Orange Bowl half-time show, "I watched it afterwards, and my pitch wasn't off." Which I think really sort of explains everything in a nutshell.

She also says that she's going to keep on doing what she loves to do, "So you'll see my face on TV singing again!" That's one of those statements that at my elementary school would be met with the response, "Is that a threat or a promise?"

In the end, one wonders, How did Simpson become The Entertainer That Wouldn't Leave? How could she remain so unmoved by the pleas of 65,000 cybersignatures, the critical drubbings, the public embarrassments? How did she ever get in this position? Perhaps Us best explains the Ashlee Situation:

"The fact is, her fame -- thanks to her reality TV show -- may have gotten ahead of her growth as an artist."

Ah, another mystery solved.