If Game of Thrones can get it's own thread, I think The Simpsons with it's immense popularity and almost infinite seasons qualifies?

Homer the Smithers from season 7 has to be one of my favourite episodes, the set up is great with Smithers being so upset about letting Lenny frightening Mr Burns with a thumbs up gesture, and over worked (to the point of trying to drown himself in a water cooler), at the request of Mr. Burns he then employs Homer as his replacement. Homer tries desperately to perform well at his new job but fails spectacularly leading to some great quick comedic bits. He quickly becomes over worked and exhausted, eventually knocking Mr. Burns out and sending him into a state where he must look after himself. As this is all happening Smithers is vacationing on some gay island resort trying to be discreet about it, "“Uh, actually sir, picture taking is not allowed at this particular resort."

My favourite part though is a small sight gag where Smithers is leaving in a taxi van and get's asked by Homer "what do I do in case of fire?", Smithers at this time is leaving so he can't properly hear and respond. Homer then looks into Mr, Burns' office and a raging hellish fire is burning throughout. Homer: Ah, just my luck.

What are some of your favourite episodes? Include a brief premise and why you find it better than other episodes. General discussion and questions about certain episodes is fine too.

Hey... you spelled favorite wrong!

My favourite (well one of anyway...) is "Mother Simpson" where Homer is reunited with his estranged mother who, in the eyes of Mr Burns is also a wanted criminal. This episode is chock full of hilarity, especially the opening segment where Homer fakes his death with a replica dummy, with a shit ton of laughs and lines for me, eg Lenny says after seeing Homer adrift in a violent river "oh look, those friendly beavers are tryin' to help him" to which Karl replies "oh no! Those beavers are bitin' him - and stealing his pants!" which is just one in a string of side splitting gags in the opening, which is all a set up to have Homer declared dead to introduce his long lost mother. This whole episode is amazing from start to finish, with a cool little plot line throughout, and plenty of witty gags, references and touching moments. The two FBI agents are another couple of great characters with their own brand of gags thrown in. Pretty much every character in this episode shines, and have their parts perfectly executed. I could go on and on about the sight gags and laugh out loud lines in this episode, but the part that I found most striking was the end, where Homer is sitting on his car after his mother is forced to flee to the underground again from the law.

This is an extremely poignant piece for this show, and for the episode to end on. Homer has said his goodbye (again under forced circumstances) and has clearly been sitting there for a while as he is seen under a starry sky, clearly having a moment to himself, and you can really feel for the guy in his situation, and it's a fitting, yet completely unfunny ending, as it has a serious, and sad tone to it. Poor Homer...

Anyway, for me this episode has it all, and is a shining example of why the series was so great.

"22 Short Films About Springfield" is probably my favorite. From the Pulp Fiction homages, to "Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel" ("some folk'll never lose a toe") to steamed hams. So many classic, immortal jokes.

As far as more standard episodes, "King-Size Homer," wherein he deliberately gains a bunch of weight, is also a really good one. "I don't wanna look like a weirdo, I'll just take a muumuu."

I guess my favorite is "Fear of Flying" from Season 6. This episode is loaded to the absolute brim with zingers, there isn't a single filler joke in the entire episode. The scene where Homer stumbles through different bars after being kicked out of Moe's Tavern is fucking priceless, golden material. But it also does a good job of developing Marge's character, and making her a more relateable person with flaws, worries, and faults, whereas in the past she always came across as a bit more of a stereotypical "mother" character.

"Homer's Enemy" also is one of the best, just because of how dark and simply fucked up the episode is. Later on, shows like Family Guy and South Park would thrive on offensive language, violence, and other such gimmicks to offend and disturb viewers, but I think this episode destroys them all, because it's not the imagery, but the message of this episode that is so fucking bleak and depressing that it feels like something from a Creepypasta, and it utilizes this extremely dark message not to disturb or offend, but to inform and entertain (and covers the subject extremely well). That is the true sign of creative genius.

You also can't forget "El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer" (season 8), that's an absolute classic, masterpiece in all fronts with incredible story, dialogue, and humor....and features one of my favorite ever celebrity cameos, with Johnny Cash playing a space coyote.

Other favorites of mine include "Bart the General" (season 1), "Lisa the Iconoclast" (season 7), "Diatribe of a Mad Housewife" (season 15), etc.

My favourite is definitely the Frank Grimes episode.... it's pretty dark when you think about it, but the ending is just hands-down one of the best endings to any TV show ever.

Homer 3D where he goes into the vacuum or whatever
Which I can't find a decent version of...

You know what I've been avoiding that episode on my dvd box set but your write up, specifically the part where Homer fakes his death, actually makes me want to check it out again. Plus the commentaries on the dvd is an added bonus. Actually the faking death scene reminds me when Homer pretends to steal Moe's car and crashes it in Dumbbell Indemnity
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5z74qi516pw/T ... to-car.gif

Just two episodes prior to this one, there is "The Old Man and the Lisa", where Mr. Burns works together with Lisa on a recycling program to regain his fortune - I thought the ending of that episode was quite disturbing - for a cartoon series - as well, when Burns invents a machine that sweeps fish out of the ocean and turns it into food, thereby showing Burns hasn't changed at all.

Season 8 has a bunch of great episodes, like the ones already mentioned here ("Homer's Enemy", "El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer"), but also "Mountains of Madness", "Hurricane Neddy" or "The Springfield Files".

I can't quite decide what's my most favorite episode, but in the earlier seasons I always liked it when the Simpsons went to other places/countries (New York, Japan, and the one where they get a Chinese baby for Selma, not sure how old that one was) and whenever Sideshow Bob was part of the story. And then, of course, you have some classics like "Cape Feare", "Deep Space Homer", "Homer the Great" or "Homer Badman".

King-size Homer has my single favourite Simpsons line: Bart tells Lisa, "When I grow up I wanna be a big lardo on workman's comp like Dad!" Then we see his daydream, where he is enormously obese, sitting in a kiddie pool out on the yard and says, "I wash myself with a rag on a stick."

Honorable mentions to the singalong episode with Sherry Bobbins - "Just do a Half-Assed Job", etc.

The episode where Marge finds that expensive dress and keeps altering it to make it look like a new one describes the career of just about every once trailblazing extreme metal band, maybe not even limited to extreme metal.

The "Cosmic Wars" one. So fucking funny parody of modern Star Wars. Especially the first half almost brings a tear to my eye. There are so many more too, but this came to my mind first.

The episode from season 13 where Homer gets prescribed medicinal marijuana after receiving an eye injury from a group of crows. Maybe it's because that was the first episode of The Simpsons I had ever watched when I was a kid, but I find the episode fucking hilarious. So many funny jokes.

Possibly the one where Barney parks Homer's car illegally in New York and he has to wait for the boot guy and he slowly gets angrier and angrier. Watching someone have a meltdown is always hilarious (see "Homer's Enemy") I haven't seen a lot of the old episodes I'd like to see in a long time, like the prohibition "Beer Baron" one and indeed "Homer's Enemy", but most of the episodes I happen to catch now are new ones, hence not watching much Simpsons these days. If the episode starts in 4:3 then I'll watch, if not I won't.

Fortunately there's plenty of Facebook pages deidcated to putting up the best bits from old episodes - Dr. Zaius, Kamp Krusty, Thrillho, Simpsons quotes that nobody gets anymore.

Oh, god, steamed hams. That episode really is hilarious. With Skinner trying to cook for Chalmers, and the large guy in the small car, and peanut butter in Lisa's hair - top notch episode.


Haha, I love that line.


This episode is probably top 10 for me, too. He drinks a lot of "crap juice" and tries to reach a pizzeria with a stick. Plus when he drives away with the wheel clamp on and jackhammers it off. "Thank you for your patience."

One of my favourites, too, is the one where Bart joins the junior campers, and he, Homer, Ned and Rod (or Todd) get stuck in the middle of the ocean. Plenty of laughs in that one. "Give me 70,000 Krusty burgers!"

In terms of my favourite moment, well, that goes to season 10's "Mom and Pop Art." Homer's best scream.

trash of the titans

I like how Skinny is clearly jumping out his kitchen window to get Krusty Burgers and Chalmers catches him in on the act. "I was just, uh, just stretching my calves on the window seal, isometric exercise! Care to join me?" They really needed a sequel episode to 22 Short Films in my opinion, although maybe one exists I'm not aware of.

"Seymour, the house is on fire!"
"No, Mother. It's just the northern lights."

Have you watched it yet?

"Purple monkey dishwasher" is still my go-to line about pretty much everything these days.

So many wonderful episodes. I can and will talk Simpsons all day, but for a favourite, one that comes to mind is the one where Marge is in Streetcar. The whole setup and the dialogue is The Simpsons at its best, and the fact that they turned it into a musical with the lyrics "you can always depend on the kindness of strangers/ now here's a tip from Blanche you won't forget/ a stranger's just a friend you haven't met!" makes me smile every time I think of it, including right now, and I needed a smile today. And it features one of my favourite "terrified Homer" moments and Simpsons Hitchcock references, where he walks into that nursery to find all the babies chewing their pacifiers in perfect rhythm.

I don't think they've really done anything else like '22 Short Films', but don't forget 'The Simpsons Spinoff Showcase' - I so wanted Wiggum P.I. to be a real thing. "Spinoff - is there any word more thrilling to the human soul?"

Also, another all-time favourite bit: "dental plan."

All this discussion reminded how I first started watching The Simpsons: My parents had this weird preoccupation with it not being appropriate and didn't let me watch it until I was in fourth grade. So when I finally was able to I approached it with this awed reverence of finally being able to watch this forbidden fruit. The first full episode I saw? The one with Skinner/Armin Tanzerian. I was amazed at finally seeing the show and didn't realize until much later that literally everyone hates that one.

All the ones mentioned here are indeed classics. I recall another good one where Santa's Little Helper runs away and ends up with Mr. Burns, who brainwashes it Clockwork Orange-style to become a guard dog. Before that MB was complaining about his guard beings old and useless, and this massively fat ancient dog lumbers up and gives a dejected "arf." That scene had me in stitches when I first saw it.

Yeah, even Groening hates that one.

I liked Cape Feare. Sideshow Bob is one of the funniest characters but that show was just filled to the brim with good gags.

"What about your shirt? Doesn't it say Die Bart Die?"
"Oh on that's German for The Bart The"
"No one who speaks German could be an evil man"

Oh man, The Simpsons. They used to be amazing, especially the seasons 3 to 10. How far has that show fallen in the last decade. It's quite sad, really. Whenever I happen to land on a modern Simpsons episode it's always cringe worthy, seems to be trying too hard and the characters just come across as unlikable. That's why shows should never last so long. But The Simpsons keep getting renewed and I guess a big part of its hardcore audience just can't let it go and keeps on watching it since it's been part of the American pop culture for almost 30 years now. It's hard to imagine the day that The Simpsons are no longer around.

On to the topic itself, keep in mind that I don't know or remember the titles of most episodes, since for some odd reasons, the title of each episode never appears at the beginning of each Simpsons episode. And to be honest, I don't feel like checking out episode titles at wikipedia. So I'll just briefly describe some of the episodes that immediately pop into my head whenever someone asks me about classic Simpsons episodes.

- The one where Apu and Homer go to India to meet the big boss of convenience stores. A funny scene from that episode is Homer watching a stand up comedian explaining the difference between how black and white people drive. And then Apu rings his bell and it seems like he's gonna beat him up and Homer naturally freaks out, but Apu says it's actually an Indian way of apologizing. Hahaha talk about creative.

- The Springfield Movie Festival episode. Barney's movie was powerful, but as a kid I really wanted the football in the groin short to get the award. And sadly, only Homer seemed to agree with me on that one.

- The two parter "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" was pretty interesting. Here we have good character development for the man who's Homer's boss. He turns out to be an old, cunning bastard.

And then I like every episode where Sideshow Bob tries to kill Bart and every episode where Krusty announces his retirement. The episode where Homer gets a gay friend was pretty memorable, too. Not to mention funny as well. And then other classics such as the monorail episode and the flaming Moe's one also spring to my mind. And the one where Homer becomes a mascot for a baseball team and the Simpsons move to the capital city.

3 of my favourites I can think of right now

El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer (The Mysterious Voyage of Homer):

This episode is incredible, the hallucinations scene is amazing, episode is hilarious as well as touching, with the soul mate plot line. Definitely one of the best ever written.

Lemon Of Troy:

I've always loved this one, the adventure into Shelbyville, Nelson and Martin teaming up was hilarious, also Turnip Juice mmmmmm.

Hurricane Neddy:

"In the Den, may god have mercy on us all". Another one of my favourites, the rebuilding of the house is amazing, and flanders finally freaking out is great.

There's probably more but these are the first 3 that come to mind. The early season 3 - 11 or so, is some of the best television ever written and will probably never be topped.

A mid-era one I like is "Trilogy of Error" from season 12. It shows Homer's Day, Lisa's Day, and Bart's day in three stories that tie together at the end. High on laughs and a unique storyline.

I couldn't make a decision on my favorite episode. The greatest thing about the show is the re-watching value as an adult, seeing how many jokes I missed between both cultural references and adult jokes being squeezed in, as well as the value of the characters being so emotionally human in the earlier years. A few favorite moments:

"Homer's Phobia" - I've watched this many times since 1997, and each time I notice something new. There's so much commentary, so many gags on so many levels, and just the message overall rings through all of it. So many brilliant gags on so many stereotypes.

"The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson" - This episode is actually the reason, a few years later, that I wanted to see this area of New York when we visited. I didn't get why Homer didn't like Mountain Dew. Years later, I look back and realize I visited the World Trade Center because of a Simpsons gag and I never would have seen it otherwise.

"Lost Verizon" - This episode had a lot of the shortcomings and dumb gimmicks of later Simpsons, but got in some fun gags for the era about the old times of kids trespassing on a construction site and playing with a forklift, and the new era of cell phones and misery. Nothing special against the classics, but this episode has my favorite Simpsons scene of all time - when Bart prank-calls bars around the world, the "Inga-Bar Beerman's" call is outstanding.

Well, Groening hates "A Star is Burns" too, and he went on to greenlight "Lisa Goes Gaga"....so what does he know ? It's certainly a weak episode, but has a few solid jokes in it.




I don't think the show is necessarily bad these days, I'd still rather watch new The Simpsons than any era of Family Guy, American Dad, South Park, etc. It's still funny and entertaining, just significantly less so . I guess my main problem with nu-Simpsons, is that it feels like it's too immersed in today's pop culture and is trying too hard to stay "on top of the times". Satire and pop culture references have always been part of the show, yes, but it was never so blatant that the show felt dated and "of it's time". To me, the classic episodes never felt like they were set in 1992 or 1994 or whatever, they feel like they are set today...but today's stuff, it's too focused on copying every trend and pop culture icon that has it's 15 seconds of fame, it will look ridiculously dated 20 years from now. Case in point: an episode featuring Google Glasses, and an episode featuring Lady Gaga (who is now already totally irrelevant). I also think they've shyed away from writing strong, coherent and interesting plots and instead are focusing on individual, quick jokes.

- Homer randomly does handstand walking to impress his mum.
- Acne remains, but Asthma disappearing.
- Chief, you're talking in to your wallet.
- All right! I admit it! I'm the Lindbergh baby! Wah wah! Goo goo! I miss my fly-fly dada!
Bill Gannon: Are you stalling for time, or are you just senile?
Grampa: A little from column A, a little from column B
- Credits: Executive consultant Brad Bird? wtf.
It's certainly overall a heartwarming episode than it is laugh out loud but doesn't feel too preachy in it's message like the first season, more touching, which I liked. All those quotes mentioned make it a good episode and Mr. Burn's randomly has a germ laboratory because germs are evil. Oh yeah and obligatory mention of Mr. Burns using outdated Phrenology as visual recognition.

Last two decades I think you mean - we are on season 27 now! I thought the old vs. new theme might come up, and I am ready for it!

There have actually been many great episodes from The Simpsons in that time, and from about season 17 to season 25 they seemed to hit a creative streak again, even if it was still far from the glory of their best days and there were plenty of misfires to get through. But I think there are some episodes that people who love the show should check out, including a couple that are essential, "show them to your kids one day" level material.

'Homer of Seville' is about Homer becoming an opera singer, the joke being he can only sing when lying on his back as his organs realign to give him a wonderful voice (which Dan Castellaneta has in real life, of course) and features a magnificent scene with Homer singing Robert Goulet's 'If Ever I Would Leave You'. Watching him dash repeatedly to a bed to lie down and deliver his lines during the opera is pretty funny, especially with most of the pieces being from well known ones, some of which I think I'd actually seen before.

'Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind' is a cross between the movie referenced in the title and The Hangover, with Homer trying to piece together the previous night. It starts in medias res, it has tons of momentum and a really tight script helped by some funny jokes, plus a very nice take on the "picture a day" YouTube video that was famous at the time. Touching stuff, especially when you see the context.

'The Squirt and the Whale', 'A Totally Fun Thing That Bart Will Never Do Again' and 'I Won't Be Home For Christmas' (the latest crimbo one, as you might imagine I stay up to date) also have that classic mix of humour, inventive storytelling and heart The Simpsons used to nail in the '90s. 'Sex, Pies and Idiot Scrapes' had one of the funniest visual gags the show had done in ages when it aired about five years back, with Homer and Ned's absurd street fight.

But the best has to be 'Holidays of Future Passed', from season 23. This is the show firing on all cylinders, in fact this one could stand toe to toe with a season 8 cut as far as I am concerned. Once again you see the family's future, which is nothing new for the show ('Lisa's Wedding' being a classic example) but with Bart as a loser living in his old classroom which he now rents from Skinner (he's basically become Philip J. Fry), Lisa in an unhappy marriage to Milhouse, and Homer having become a surprisingly awesome grandpa to his grandchildren despite what an iffy father he always was. It's touching and consistently hilarious, and the updated scenario gives the writers so much more room to breathe you can almost feel the excitement from them coming through. I always wished they had used this as a back-door pilot to a re-tooling of the show. So many stories could be told. But at any rate it is marvellous and lovers of the show owe it to themselves to see it, even if it is the only one you watch after season 10.

He had quite a hand in shaping the feel of the show.

I've watched Simpsons pretty religiously since it first aired when I was a kid and still watch it pretty regularly. Basically my favorite episodes are anything from season three through ten. But right now "Marge in Chains" is what popped into my head so I'll just go with that one.

The bit in the court is comedy gold and the episode does a great job fleshing out Marge a bit more and showing that the town, and the family especially, would fall apart without her.

My favourite is that one where the family goes to a dude ranch because they wanted to escape the popularity of "Everybody Hates Ned Flanders". I'm not sure what it's called a the moment, but I always try to watch it when it comes on. From the "William Shatner" cover of the aforementioned song to Bart showing the cowboys how a "real man" mounts his horse ("Daddy, I need upsies!") to the climactic hoedown, it's hilarious.

^ Best scene from that one was the cuts of various people singing along to the song, including Flanders, Rod and Todd themselves.

Came in to mention this very episode.

"A...Aurora Borealis?! At this time of year, at this time of day, in this part of the country, localized entirely within your kitchen?!"
"Yes!"

And you call them steamed hams despite the fact that they are obviously grilled?

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YPZLCSqt8gw/U ... rilled.jpg

All the subject of new Simpsons, I can't recall a bad future episode to be honest, with Lisa and her English boyfriend episode being the least good.

I cannot possibly offer a favorite episode. But one of the funniest gags was on the episode where Lisa goes vegetarian after meeting a lamb. After Homer and Lisa had a falling out, when he is looking for Lisa, he is calling Lisa in this apologetic tone until he finds a baby stroller and screams at the top of his lungs at it. It was one of the most unexpected things, and it killed me the first time I saw it.

I notice a lot of people like season 7.

That episode also has lines like:

"It's just a little slimy, it's still good, it's still good!"
"Yeah, I'll make that donation - when pig's fly!" "Are you still going to make that donation, sir?" "I think not."