300 Episodes of the Simpsons

circletimessquare writes "As we approach 300 Episodes of the Simpsons, Entertainment Weekly tries to pick the 25 best episodes of The Simpsons (and the one episode they consider the worst). They do a pretty good job. But since "best of" lists like this one are always rife with debate and contention, I can't think of a better place than Slashdot to send up EW (pun partially intended)."

Like Fine Wine...

[cancrman]

The greatest thing about the Simpsons is how well the show has aged in syndication. I firmly believe that it takes 3-4 viewings of an ep to really catch all of the nuances. Even newer episodes, which some view as a bit weak, really shine in syndication. Hey it's either that or watch Fraiser reruns. That said, there are numerous omissions from this list.

Other Classics:
Two Bad Neighbors (s7)
Bart vs. Australia (s6)
Deep Space Homer (s5)
Homers Enemy (s8)
2 dozen and 1 greyhounds -- best song ever (see my vest)
Brother From another Series -- "..those years at clown college" "I appreciate you not refer to Princeton that way"
$pringfield "I think we'll keep those jars of urine"
Colonel Homer "The don't call me Colonel Homer because I'm some dumbass army guy"

Anyway, I could do this all day but I think you get my point. (Quotes courtesy of The Simpsons Archive [snpp.com]).

As for eps that shouldn't have been included in the top 25: THOH, Spin-Off Special & Homer's Phobia. But this is purely subjective, so no flames please.

I do agree with they're pick for worst ep though

Homer collects unemployment

[scubacuda]

Definitely the one where Homer gets fat in order to collect unemployment.

On a side note, I know that Conan O'Brian wrote several of them (like the monorail one, I think). Does anyone know/have a list of those? And did any other famous people (co)write them also?

What about the "Lemon Tree" episode?

[Praxxus]

I can't believe they left that one off. :P

I agree with the person above. It seems they felt obligated to include too many "newer" episodes.

Oh well. Their website, their list, I guess.

Quality of episodes declining

[Dugsmyname]

It's interesting that out of the top 25 episodes picked in this article, only 2 episodes are from seasons after 1997. The vast majority of episodes listed in this article are from 1993-1994.

Have all of the creative juices stopped flowing into the Simpsons? Or have they just had a bad run of writers?

Re:Like Fine Wine...

[VictimlessChris]

I agree with most of the above mentioned omissions from the list, although I feel that "Bart After Dark" (Burlesque House) and "Homer the Great" (Stonecutters) should have also made the list. These were some really great, and very funny episodes. Although I agree with the above suggestion that the Spin-off Special shouldn't have been included, I feel Homer's Phobia was a really great episode that dealt with a lot of typical sterotypes/reactions that the public has about gays.

Simpson Plot Lines

[Hypharse]

Has anyone else noticed that the Simpson plots have gotten more and more insane? I guess they are running out of ideas, but there are some that if you think about make you go huuuuh? Like the one where they won the trip to africa off of an old animal crackers box. Or the one where Homer gets a webpage and ends up being drugged and taken to this special sanctuary. I know those are from a couple seasons ago, but I haven't had tv to watch the recent ones. I would assume they follow the same random act pattern. The beginning of the episode is usually totally different from the end. Like they'll have one plot line for the first 10 minutes with an odd occurence that completely shifts the plot line to something else; a two episodes in one type of thing. I'm rambling, but the point is the plot lines seem to be more "drug-induced".

Re:Not bad, but...

[The Only Druid]

It says something about a show that the best episodes are almost exclusively from several years ago.

Before I'm modded down for heresy, I adore The Simpsons. Yet, I still believe that the show was far greated from seasons 3-7 than from 8-today. The show has lost its ability to be intellectual at the same degree, in losing writers such as Conan O'Brian.

Frankly, I'm not entirely sure they should keep making the series: Homer is now retarded (whereas he's merely simple in the beginning), Homer has no Job (or actually, he's had well over 70 jobs, as listed in a recent episode...which means roughly a quarter of the episodes have been "Homer becomes a "), they no longer make subtle erudite references...its falling apart.

Simpson and Delilah

[TummyX]

Got to be my all time favourite.

It's the one where homer gets hair and suddenly becomes rich and successful. He has that assistant (Karl) who guides him to success.

It highlights some facets of society and life so well.

Peaked Too Soon...!

[clickety6]

Plotting the TOp 25 by year we see:

90 XXX
91 X
92 XXX
93 XXXXXXX
94 XXX
95 X
96 XX
97 XXXX
98
99
00
01
02 X

Looks like they peaked early in 93 and, despite a brief revival in 97, its been downhill ever since.

Or does anybody's best ever list contain items from 98 - 02 seasons?

Beer Baron

[dragontooth]

Favorite episode has to be the one with guest voice Robert Stack as the FBI agent in charge of enforcing the prohibition laws in Springfiled and Homer becomes the mighty Beer Baron!

• Robert Stack: "I'll get you Beer Baron!"
• Homer (from far far away): "No you won't"
• Robert Stack: "Yes I will"
• Homer (from far far away): "Won't"

Also the medical marijuanna episode was hilarious and thats from last season.

Another of my favorite quotes: Homer to himsef: 'Dear Homer, I owe you one emergency donut, signed Homer'.....Bastard! He's always one step ahead!

300th Episode has already aired!!

[thesolo]

From SNPP.com [snpp.com]:

"It should be noted that while Fox is promoting "Barting Over" as the official 300th episode, this is not exactly correct. In fact, the 300th episode to be aired will be "Strong Arms of the Ma," on February 2nd. "Barting Over" isn't the 300th produced episode either, as that title goes to "Strong Arms of the Ma" as well."

We passed the 300th episode Milestone last Sunday! Anyone else celebrate?

Yes, but there's more

[GuyMannDude]

Have all of the creative juices stopped flowing into the Simpsons? Or have they just had a bad run of writers?

I'm not sure what the difference between these two choices is. But there has definitely been not only a change in writing talent but also in attitude. I couldn't believe my eyes that someone voted "Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie" as one of the best 25. As a long time Simpsons fan, I was actually offended by that. The episode seemed designed to be a big "fuck you" to all the fans who were complaining about how the newer episodes were nowhere near as good as the past ones. I think the writers and producers would have been wise to listen to the feedback they were getting from fans. In fact, I just made this comment the other day about Star Trek [slashdot.org]. In the Poochie episode, Lisa finally goes off on a siloquoy (I know I spelled that wrong) about how Itchy and Scratchy is just as good as it's always been and that the falling ratings are just a result of being too successful for too long. This speech is obviously directed at unhappy fans of the Simpsons and telling them to shut the hell up and that their opinions are wrong (that the Simpsons is as good as it was in Conan's day). I couldn't believe the audacity of the writers!

Also, I don't understand what the hell they were thinking about the episode anyhow. The whole plot is that Poochie is a terrible character and makes I&S even more unwatchable. So then the writers of the Simpsons force us to watch these lame I&S clips and this is supposed to be funny? This is kind of like those awful "annoying man" skits on Saturday Night Live. I guess writers seem to think that shoving annoying stuff at us is going to make us laugh out of nervousness or something. As I see it, the entire I&S&P episode was designed as a "fuck you" to the fans and nothing else. It wasn't even designed to be funny. Why it got voted in the top 25 is beyond me.

GMD

Re:Not bad, but...

[EricWright]

I agree that the writing has gone downhill, but I don't really think that Conan O'Brian had much to do with it. According to www.snpp.com, Conan only wrote 3 episodes (New Kid on the Block, Marge vs. the Monorail, Homer Goes to College) and 1 part of Treehouse of Horrors IV (Wraparounds).

On one of the DVD commentary tracks, Matt Groening makes it sound like the true creative genious behind early Simpsons episodes was George Meyer. A lot of the great jokes/gags apparently came from him.

What about Scorpio and The Prisoner?

[Nova Express]

To my my mind, the Hank Scorpio episode ("You Only Move Twice"), where Homer goes to work for a supervillan, has to rank as one of the best, right up there with "Cape Feare". (It's also one of the few episodes were Homer is actually successful at his job.) And I also love The Prisoner parody episode ("The Computer Wore Menace Shoes"). I suppose you have to be a fan of The Prisoner to really apprecaite it, but really, what self-respecting geek isn't? ;-)

Worst episode: Homer and Burns go up a mountain on a team-bulding exercise, which is almost completely devoid of laughs. It was so bad I suspected had it in the can for years and only used it as an "emergency" episode when the Korean animators were unable to complete the latest one on time. Runner up: The episode where Bart shoots a bird and feels all bad about it, which is totally false to his character.

Re:Not bad, but...

[GimmeFuel]

Exactly. There is way too much at the start of each episode before the main plot gets introduced. Take 13x06 She of Little Faith for an example. They get the rocket, fiddle with it, and end up destroying the church. Burns helps rebuild it, only it now has advertising. It is only here, a significant way through the episode, that the real plot is introduced (Lisa becomes a Buddhist). It seems like everything up to this point has been filler, something the writers felt they needed to include to make the story make sense. The plot lines get less and less believable, and so there needs to be more stuff at the beginning to explain it. Compare this episode with an earlier one like 2x10 Bart Gets Hit by a Car. The episode starts right off with Bart skateboarding and Burns and Smithers hitting him. Boom, less than 60 seconds in and the conflict of the episode is introduced. That is the biggest difference between old and new episodes. (Don't get me wrong though, I like all the episodes)

Favorite Episode

[Brad1138]

I have always thought the vegetarian episode with the Paul & Linda Mccartney Cameo at the end (Don't know title) was the funniest episode ever, and was suprised not to see it in the list. The flying pig and Apu singing "Maybe I'm amazed" were classic.