El Barto's Top 20 Simpsons Episodes

[Dr. DTVT]

Bumping for updates.  Also, the season finale that just aired was an amalgamation of everything wrong with the show now.

[ReaperKK]

Bumping for updates.  Also, the season finale that just aired was an amalgamation of everything wrong with the show now.

I watched it as well and I haven't been keeping up with this season but tonight's show was extra bad.

[El Barto]

Update will be this evening.  I'm watching each episode as I list them and I took the weekend off. 

I've only seen one or two episodes from this season (and those were only because of football) and they were both pretty weak.  Like most episodes of the last 10 years, there are usually a couple of good laughs in them but not enough to make watching the whole thing palatable. 

[soundgarden]

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

The way Homer pointed at him directly in the face too 

[El Barto]

16.  Homer the Great  s06e12

You have joined the sacred order of the Stonecutters, who since ancient times have split the rocks of ignorance that obscure the light of knowledge and truth.  Now let's all get drunk and play ping pong!

Nothing particularly monumental, just an all around great episode.  Aside from having one of the best guest actors they've ever had, it's chock full of great jokes.  While I certainly have a fondness for the oddball episodes, there are plenty of episodes that are nothing more than the basic Simpsons formula done nearly to perfection.  This is a fine example of that. 

And the brilliance of Picard's characterization really can't be overstated.  Every line the man said was just about perfect.   

[Pols Voice]

You mean Stewart's characterization?

A Top 5 episode for me. "It's a secret." "Shut uuuuuuup."

[Riceball]

Approved. Fantastic episode

[Dr. DTVT]

You mean there was a time when guest stars DIDN'T play themselves?  What a strange concept.

Yeah, another classic episode.  I'm starting to wonder how some of my favorites will fare.  Guess I'll have to wait and see, especially since my favorite generally isn't bandied about as a "great" episode.

[El Barto]

15.  Krusty Gets Busted s01e12

Hey hey .  This is not a lending library.  If you're not going to buy that then put it down or I'll blow your heads off.

This is pretty much where it all began.  It's the first episode where they really went for something bigger than their 23 minute allotment.  Despite predating a lot of what would become common traits, they still set up a lot of the stuff that would follow.  Most obvious is Krusty and Sideshow Bob.  It's also pretty damn funny.  Krusty's heart attack is still one of my favorite bits.

We kind of take for granted that there's a Sideshow Bob episode every year, and nowadays they're hardly worth caring about.  Here you have to give them props for figuring to do it in the first place, and thankfully, they set him up perfectly in this episode.  A dramatic reading of Dumas, singing Cole Porter, teaching etiquette to children.  Between the writers and Kelsey Grammer, they really hit this one out of the park.   Frasier's contribution to this show and the series in general is really monumental.  He's easily one of the three most important guest actors the show's had, and a lot of that is directly because of this episode. 

[Riceball]

Hopefully not the last Sideshow Bob ep. One of my favourite cartoon characters ever.

[Pols Voice]

A good episode, and a highlight from Season 1. I wouldn't put any of that season's episodes so high on my list, though. Sideshow Bob is a great character.

[AcidLameLTE]

Great choice. I've always really liked the Sideshow Bob episodes.

I would probably say that "Sideshow Bob Roberts" is my favourite out of all of them. I particularly love this scene:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vey7GKNpl4Q

[masterthes]

Most definitely following. And so yes on putting Krusty Gets Busted up here. I hope the episode with Bart confrontng Nelson is also on here, and please tell me at least one part of Who Shot Mr. Burns is on here?

[wolfking]

Hey hey .  This is not a lending library.  If you're not going to buy that then put it down or I'll blow your heads off.

By far one of my favourite quotes ever from any episode of the simpsons, just brilliant!

[masterthes]

Oh, and here's a hypothetical for you. If you could include the movie, would it be in or anywhere close to the top 20?

[SystematicThought]

I hope Homer's Enemy is on the list somewhere

[El Barto]

Oh, and here's a hypothetical for you. If you could include the movie, would it be in or anywhere close to the top 20?

Wouldn't rate.  Most modern era Simpsons have some good laughs in them, and the movie is no exception, but they're generally inconsistent and lack any of the other traits that can redeem a half-assed episode.  To really be worthy, the movie would have had to be consistently funny, rather than a few good laughs here and there.  If they'd taken the best 20 minutes of the movie they might have been able to make a decent episode, but they didn't. 

Off to see Rammstein and already well into my concert buzz, so no update tonight. 

[Phoenix87x]

Oh, and here's a hypothetical for you. If you could include the movie, would it be in or anywhere close to the top 20?

Wouldn't rate.  Most modern era Simpsons have some good laughs in them, and the movie is no exception, but they're generally inconsistent and lack any of the other traits that can redeem a half-assed episode.  To really be worthy, the movie would have had to be consistently funny, rather than a few good laughs here and there.  If they'd taken the best 20 minutes of the movie they might have been able to make a decent episode, but they didn't. 

Off to see Rammstein and already well into my concert buzz, so no update tonight.

I'm so jealous, probably Top 3 concerts of my life 

[El Barto]

14.  Much Apu About Nothing  s07e23

Willie, please, the children want to pick on someone their own size!

To me, the best part of the series has always been excellent social satire.  Like I said a few posts ago, the family Simpson isn't all that funny, but Springfield's a freaking riot.  This one is a pretty good example of that.  As much as I love seeing them turn to mob rule, which occurs several times here, I'm just as amused when they're stereotypical American sheeple.  I'm also pretty fond of Apu as a character.  No matter how decent and sensible he is, he's always a convenience store clerk first and foremost. 

A couple of other selling points is that this one features Fat Tony, who's one of my very favorite characters on the show (when he tells Apu "your parents are Herb and Judie Nahasapeemapetalon," it floors me every time). Also the cold opening with the bear terrorizing Ned Flanders is wonderful. 

[Ben_Jamin]

Is that the episode Apu leaves the kwik-e-mart?

[LieLowTheWantedMan]

It's the one where he needs to get his citizenship.

[Ben_Jamin]

Oh yeah, I like when he changes his voice.

[El Barto]

Oh yeah, I like when he changes his voice.

The Nye Mets are my favorite squadron.   

[El Barto]

13.  You Only Move Twice  s08e02

Homer, on your way out, if you want to kill somebody it would help me a lot.

Not really a whole lot that needs to be said about this one.  We've all seen it and we all think it's great.  I like how each character has their own subplot, and they all work.  And of course Albert Brooks is awesome every time he does the show.  I think he might have been better as Jacques, but Hank Scorpio is certainly a much better character. 

Interestingly, I have a hard time placing this one.  It's a great episode, and full of good laughs, but it just doesn't have any one thing that makes me think it's better than, say, the one above it or below it.  In many ways it's better than some upcoming ones on the list, but some of those just possess a charm that I don't see in this one.  Still, it's certainly a masterful effort and one of their very best.

Also worth noting that we're now getting to the part of my list that I'm more comfortable with.  Picking 10-20 was much harder than picking the top 10.  Most of what comes next is pretty much set on my list, even though I figure plenty will disagree with some of them.

[krands85]

 
Hank 
 
Nice thread. I checked out the episode from season 17 you mentioned (after barely seeing any episodes after around season 13) and was pleasantly surprised. Some aspects of it were still a bit annoying but it was a pretty solid episode    I wouldn't put it near any of the classics from the first 9 or 10 seasons though.

[AcidLameLTE]

One of my favourite clips from that episode:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VX4Lpf-xdg

[Kosmo]

Very casual, Mr. Scorpion.

[El Barto]

12.  Simpson and Delilah  s02e02

Some nerve, telling us how to run the plant.  He doesn't even have hair.

Lot of things about this one that I really like.  The montage of Homer running down the street with the giant head of hair is wonderful.  The superficiality of the power plant workers, as well.  Homer sporting a different hairstyle every day was a great touch; particularly the pony tail.  It's best asset though is the artistry with how it's drawn.  There's nothing artistic about the show nowadays, but in the past they put a lot into it, though.  Along with Burns Verkaufen der Kraftwerk, it's one of the better drawn episodes they did.  The aforementioned celebratory run down the street, and in particular the executive washroom scene are top notch.  The latter, with Smithers walking away as it pans across the checkered floor which morphs into the exterior of the building with the cooling towers behind it is stylistically some of the animators finest work, IMO.  That sort of touch seemed to disappear once they started mimicking other film styles all the time.  Too bad, really. 

[masterthes]

YES! I love that episode!

[Pols Voice]

Well, now our opinions are diverging wildly. Much Apu About Nothing is my least favorite Season 7 episode, and Simpson and Delilah is my least favorite from Season 2. BUT, I agree that You Only Move Twice is good!

[LieLowTheWantedMan]

I don't exactly like the first two seasons at all, so I'd tend to disagree. Haha.

[Dr. DTVT]

Three great picks.  Great special guests who didn't play themselves, and great stories.

[JRundquist]

I kinda like Hank Scorpio....

[Gadough]

For some reason, I've never gotten into The Simpsons. I think I'll use the episodes in this list as a starting point.

[Kosmo]

For some reason, I've never gotten into The Simpsons.

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