El Barto's Top 20 Simpsons Episodes

[El Barto]

I finally got around to ranking my favorite episodes, and since I get off on the sound of my own voice, I'll be telling you all what they are.  I'll probably only update this with one, maybe two, episodes a day, as I intend to watch each one before posting it.  I'd certainly recommend that people scare up 21 minutes a day to check these out.  If you're a fan, then you've already seen them and probably like them, and if nothing else it'll be a good excuse for us all to randomly throw out funny lines.  For people who never got into The Simpsons, it'll be a good opportunity to see some of the great ones, which you'll either like or not like, but at least you'll have given it a good chance.

20.  Mother Simpson s07e08

LOCAL MAN LOSES PANTS, LIFE
Beaver Rescue Falls Short

This was the last to make my list, and bumped something I really liked, but upon further review it really encompasses all the aspects that made the show great.  It begins with a great comedy sequence with Homer faking his death and the aborted beaver rescue.  You've got a fantastic flashback sequence, one of the things this show always excelled at.  There's a good, developing story as opposed to random acts of madcap wackiness.  Lastly there's a very touching ending, something that was common in the early episodes and nonexistent in the latter ones.  It's certainly not perfect by any means, but it's a very solid episode with some hints of greatness.

Uncharacteristically, this episode makes excellent use of music, both original and classic.  The scene of Joe Namath whipping out that long hair while Cream starts up is one of my favorite bits from the series, and All Along the Watchtower is nearly perfect, as well.  Then you've got the Mother Simpson theme that seems to have been written just for the ending with Homer looking at the stars.  I believe it's the only ending that didn't include any promos, just credits and Clausen's theme.  Nice touch and really kicks the episode up a notch. 

[Dr. DTVT]

Following.

It's episodes like this that they need to go back to making.  Without thinking too much about it, I doubt more than one episode beyond season 9 will be on the list.

[BlobVanDam]

A fairly good episode, although I consider it one of the later good ones. There's something about it that starts signalling the end, although I can't quite put my finger on it at this time.

[Pols Voice]

Really good episode that might make my top 20 as well. The beginning is hilarious, and the ending is one of the most touching moments the show ever did.

[Riceball]

Following.

Hopefully nothing later than this episode makes it in.

[Pols Voice]

There's a lot of great stuff in Season 8 and I actually prefer it to Season 7.

[Phoenix87x]

"just look at that hair, you could set your watch to it"

  Such a great episode

[El Barto]

A fairly good episode, although I consider it one of the later good ones. There's something about it that starts signalling the end, although I can't quite put my finger on it at this time.

Yeah, it does kind of foreshadow what is to come.  I think there's a fair amount of silliness in there with the whole Dragnet thing.  In this episode, it's really kind of just tacked on, rather than being a full subplot, and it's occasionally pretty humorous.  Later on they'll start making entire episodes with two equally silly and pointless story lines like that.  I certainly wouldn't call this the beginning of the end, but it's definitely a look at what will be the show's downfall.

And there actually will be a handful of later episodes.  In one case, much later.  Two things.  First, just because the show as a whole blows doesn't mean they don't occasionally crank out a damn fine episode.  Up until season 18, there was usually one really good episode per season.  It was always the showcase episode that they'd submit for Emmy consideration, and occasionally they'd really nail it.  Actually, it's rather insulting that they're capable of crafting good episodes when they want to, but generally just don't give a shit.

The other thing is that I found myself with a natural tendency to score the infrequent late series standouts a bit higher.  If there's a season 17 episode that qualifies as excellent,  and there is,  it'd probably get the nod over an equally excellent season 7 episode.  For one thing, it's unique.  For another, it represents a different style, which while not generally to my liking, can occasionally be made to work. 

I can tell you right now that while the first 7 seasons will make up the bulk of the list, there are a handful of post-golden era episodes.  That's another reason for making this here list.  Plenty of people, myself included, blew this show off many years ago.  For people who stopped watching after season 10, there will be a couple of episodes here that actually are worth checking out. 

[Zantera]

Will be following. The first episode you posted is a good one.

[AcidLameLTE]

Will be following. The Simpsons is probably my favourite TV show (despite what has become of it).

Great start as well.

[El Barto]

19.  Treehouse of Horror s02e03

Well,  if you wanted to make Serak the Preparer cry,  mission accomplished.

This was a real turning point for the show,  and more importantly, a damn fine idea.  While they would certainly go on to produce better Halloween vignettes, this was still a very solid outing, and absolutely a ballsy move.  It was here where they seemed comfortable enough with what they were doing that they could step well out of their element and do a show completely detached from everything up until that point.  Thankfully, they nailed it pretty good.  The Raven in particular couldn't be any more different than what they'd been doing, and it's really an exceptional piece.

Something that really jumps out at me is the original style of each of these vignettes.  Of course these guys would go on to perfect animating existing film styles, but they hadn't reached that point yet.  Instead of copying The Amityville Horror, or The Twilight Zone's style, they used their own, while still mimicking them in concept.  Every single shot in Bad Dream House uses a different and changing background; walls moving, textures changing.  In Hungry are the Damned, every shot seems to be an allusion, setting up the premise.  The shot of Homer and Marge's heads on the platters as Serak the Preparer lifts off the plate cover is just brilliant.  An instance of using good writing technique to accomplish what they would later do with good animating technique. 

Which of course leads to The Raven.  Just a damn fine piece of work.  As we all know, James Earle Jones could read classified ads and it'd still be entertaining, but this was a wonderful thing to do with his voice.  Equally important is that Castelleneta absolutely held his own with him.  There were lines from The Raven that he transferred perfectly to the Homer character.  The take they beak from out my heart passage cracks me up every time I hear Homer say it, growing more and more incensed.  The man's just a helluva voice actor.

This won't be the only Treehouse of Horror on the list.  Once they really hit their stride they were knocking these things out of the park, but this one was great in concept and in execution, and led the way to one of the very best attributes of the show.  I suspect that if they'd bungled this, we probably wouldn't care enough about the show to be discussing the best episodes 25 years later. 

[Ben_Jamin]

"ooo what a haul this year I love Halloween, hehehe"

"ooh, oh I hate Halloween"

[LieLowTheWantedMan]

Following. I have very controversial Simpsons opinions, but we'll see how this is.

[Pols Voice]

I love the Treehouse of Horror episodes. The first one is definitely good, but they would get better. The whole Raven segment, including the voice acting, is really well done.

My favorite TOH segment is probably Time and Punishment from TOH V.

[Riceball]

Musn't crush, musn't kill, MADE IT!

.....


D'oh

[soundgarden]

Nice, will be following!

The episode with Grimey has to be #1!

[El Barto]

Considering that it was well past the point where the show took a nosedive, season 13 had some great work thrown in there amongst the crap (and we're talking steaming, festering crap here).  There were four that made my long list (and it wasn't that long a list) and another that I hadn't considered, but certainly takes an honorable mention slot.  Since we're on the topic of Halloween episodes, I'll throw out that honorable mention now.  Treehouse of Horror 12 was excellent.  If it weren't for the robotic house thing with Pierce Brosnan, it'd easily be on the list.  Not only are the first and third vignettes great, but the opening is probably the best of the series, and the closing credit gag is pretty good as well.  Add to that, it contains the gag that's probably made me laugh the hardest of anything this show's done.  Alas, like some of the other Treehouses, it's two great bits and one weak one, and that's sadly not enough to make this list.  Still, people who aren't familiar with it should check it out.  It's another example of fine work popping up in a rather dismal era.

[Dr. DTVT]

Add to that, it contains the gag that's probably made me laugh the hardest of anything this show's done. 

Mind disclosing what gag that was?

[El Barto]

Add to that, it contains the gag that's probably made me laugh the hardest of anything this show's done. 

Mind disclosing what gag that was?

A good deal of the humor was that it was fairly unexpected, so on the off chance that there are people who haven't seen the episode but soon will, I'll not spoil it.

[Progmetty]

I will see the episode again and PM you what gag I thought you meant.
Following this list (I think I might have had a sneak preview at it 2 years ago when you sent me a list of episodes to check out when I was new to the show)

[El Barto]

18.  The Seemingly Never Ending Story s17e13

For one sweet summer I was a true gentleman.  As a result of which, Krabapple was lettin me do her.

While I wouldn't go so far as to call any of this controversial, this is one of the picks that I figure might bug some people.  It's the latest episode on the list, and several years into a stretch where even barely tolerable episodes were few and far between.  Yet, it's actually very good.  When the series progressed to a point where it was nothing but stupid hijinks in lieu of good stories, the only thing they could really do to turn in something great was ditch their formula and do something completely oddball.  This is as oddball as it gets, and is in fact very good story telling.  To be honest, if they had made this 10 years earlier, I'm not sure if I would have thought so highly of it.  When it shows up years into a horrible slide, I think it deserves some recognition. 

Something this episode make me realize is that you can tell what the producers thought of an episode by what they were willing to do with the music.  I suspect that this was the episode they put forth for Emmy consideration, and as a result, it features several movements from Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony, and a couple of Sinatra songs, all used to wonderful effect.

And I'm going to have to start using Texas left from now on.

[LieLowTheWantedMan]

Yeah, I like that one a lot.

[El Barto]

17. Lisa on Ice  s06e08

You mean those leagues where parents push their kids into vicious competition to compensate for their own failed dreams of glor-y?

The first of the classic episodes to pop up.  Certainly not the best they've done, but a damn good episode.  As usual for episodes of that era, they really had their style down and animated this one very nicely.  I really liked all the scenes with Lisa in the net.  First being terrified.  Then coming into her game.  Then taking the leadership role, with HACK THE BONE as the camera closed in on her.  It also has an element which was one of the biggest losses to the series as time went on.  It ended such that Bart and Lisa actually care about each other.  That happened a lot during the golden era.  During the great decline it was pretty much just accepted that they fucking hate each other.  Rather than an ending where they actually act like family, they just go on despising each other so the writers can tack on two more crappy jokes.  Quite a loss, frankly.

I've often said that while the Simpson family isn't all that funny, Springfield is absolutely hysterical.  This episode offers up a taste of that.  One of my very favorite characteristics of Springfield is the townsfolk's eagerness to resort to the mob mentality so quickly,  often for quite silly reasons.  In this case full blown rioting over the lack of violence in a peewee hockey game.  Best of all is that it's police chief/coach Wiggum who's the first to call for mayhem.  LET'S TEAR THIS PLACE APART!!!!  My kinda town. 

[Dr. DTVT]

No arguments here.  Homer had a few great moments in that episode as well.  The front seat, the shitty parenting of Bart when Lisa got good, the phone call, the light switch, and why he loves Marge.

[Pols Voice]

Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!

[JRundquist]

And to think of the time I wasted on YOU!.........I don't mean wasted. I mean uhh...umm...uhh...I love you.

[Ben_Jamin]

"kill, Bart. Kill, Bart. Kill Bart."
"kill Bart. Kill Bart. Kill Bart"

[LieLowTheWantedMan]

Ahh, my favourite episode Homerwise. He was so many golden moments in that one.

[BlobVanDam]

Lisa on Ice is an amazing pick. However, I don't know how you can even narrow that season down. One of the best seasons of any TV show in the history of ever. Just perfect from start to finish.

I haven't seen the other one, but it's S17, which automatically means it's wrong.

[JRundquist]

Lisa on Ice is an amazing pick. However, I don't know how you can even narrow that season down. One of the best seasons of any TV show in the history of ever. Just perfect from start to finish.

I haven't seen the other one, but it's S17, which automatically means it's wrong.

I don't know if I could pick a favorite season, but seasons 5-9 were the perfect era for me. I'll make more comments about my personal favorites (I bet anyone can guess one of my favorite from my avatar). But these years were perfection in my eyes.

[RuRoRul]

Good idea for a list. Love Lisa On Ice, it's one that would probably make my favourites too - so many classic gags in it but to be honest Homer steals the show in that episode for me.

I hope not every entry will be complaining about the new ones or saying how good the episodes are because of how they contrast to new ones - I don't really care that much about how bad the new ones are 

[AcidLameLTE]

"kill, Bart. Kill, Bart. Kill Bart."
"kill Bart. Kill Bart. Kill Bart"

That's the first thing I thought of as well

[El Barto]

Lisa on Ice is an amazing pick. However, I don't know how you can even narrow that season down. One of the best seasons of any TV show in the history of ever. Just perfect from start to finish.

I haven't seen the other one, but it's S17, which automatically means it's wrong.

The bar was certainly higher for those seasons (4-7 in my book).  My approach was to look for episodes with elements that pushed them ahead of the pack.  It's just that the pack is better in that era.  I made a pretty good effort to look at the bigger picture, though, which is why there are episodes outside of that block in the list. 

I will say that season six is by far the best represented in my list.

And check out The Seemingly Never Ending Story.  It's very likely the best thing they did over a ten season stretch, and that actually does say something. 

[Mladen]

Great episodes in there so far, I absolutely loved Lisa on ice and Mother Simpson when I was a kid. TSNES is one of my favorites in the last couple of seasons, but I'm a bit surprised to see the very first THOH episode in there, I think the later ones were much better.

[El Barto]

Some were, some weren't.  Like I said, THoH episodes have a bit of a disadvantage in that the entire episode has to be solid.  An THoH with two awesome vignettes and one dog isn't going to make the cut.  There are a couple of those that'll pop up on the honorable mention category at the end.  I also think it has the virtue of be a great looking episode in an era before they really got their style down and could rely on their best asset.  It's like watching a 14 point underdog play with lots of heart and eek out a last minute victory in the playoffs.