Thirty years ago this month, America’s favorite animated family made their debut as part of The Tracey Ullman Show. To celebrate, CoS will be broadcasting live from Springfield all week with a slew of Simpsons features. Today, Tyler Clark reminds us that even at its worst, The Simpsons was pretty damn good.
The one thing that fans of The Simpsons love more than venerating the groundbreaking episodes of the show’s early seasons is passionately decrying pretty much everything else that came after. According to conventional reckoning, the bad significantly outweighs the good; critics and message board lurkers alike generally agree that the show was solid through its first nine years and that Mike Scully’s controversial tenure as showrunner set the show on a course that traded emotional resonance and relatable plots for played-out gimmicks and wackiness for wackiness’s sake. By the time Al Jean returned as showrunner for season 13, the conventional wisdom goes, The Simpsons was already heading down the path of an inevitable, depressing decline.
And yet, just because the show’s later episodes don’t live up to the heady mold-breaking of (and inherent nostalgia for) the early years doesn’t mean that we should write them off. At this point, the “bad” episodes outnumber the “good” ones by a count of 346 to 269. Surely, in that vast amount of television, there must be a few times when The Simpsons recaptures the old magic, or, failing that, at least produces a couple of jokes worth laughing at more than once, right? That’s what we’re here to find out. In the following list, you’ll find our recommendations for the best single episodes from The Simpsons’ seasons 13 through 28. You may not find another “Homer at the Bat” or “22 Short Films About Springfield”, but you will find some quality entries from a show that’s never sunk as low as some people would have you believe.
Tales from the Public Domain
Season 13, Episode 14
I was a senior in high school when “Tales from the Public Domain” first aired. I know that because we watched the “Do the Bard, Man” segment of this episode in my AP British Literature class as a reward for our weeks-long dive into Hamlet. That may be why I retain a soft spot in my heart for the show’s third trilogy episode, which also contains the Simpson family’s fractured takes on the stories of the Odyssey and Joan of Arc. A recent re-watch makes me think it’s more than just simple nostalgia, though. The retellings here succeed both as CliffsNotes intros for younger viewers and winking parodies for well-read fans, and the worlds in which they unfold contain inviting character designs that blend period costume with the show’s trademark visual humor. On the DVD commentary for this episode, director Mike Anderson revealed that each segment got the same amount of design work usually reserved for an entire episode. For a show supposedly beginning its decline, the animation ambition was still as high as ever.
Funniest Out-of-Context Quote: “Oh great, now Hamlet’s acting crazy. Well, nobody out-crazies Ophelia!”
Moe Baby Blues
Season 14, Episode 22
There had been a handful of Moe-centric episodes prior to “Moe Baby Blues”, but earlier examples such as “Flaming Moe’s” and “Dumbbell Indemnity” cast the sad-sack barkeep as the author of his own downfall. It’s refreshing, then, that “Moe Baby Blues” finds Moe better off at the end than he was at the beginning. After hitting a quick succession of rock bottoms during an ill-fated trip to the botanical garden (with his extended tumble down the muddy hill being the funniest), Moe decides to end it all beneath a bridge, but instead finds himself in the perfect position to rescue a falling Maggie from certain demise. Although his newfound tenderness for the Simpson baby quickly escalates into overbearing protectiveness (and makes Homer question his own parenting ability in the process), Moe still gets to play the hero in the end and settle into a healthier visitation schedule with his young fan. For a guy who started the episode by being jealous of a cooler, that’s not too bad.
Funniest Out-of-Context Quote: “You guys are the world’s worst cops!” “No, now that I’m off-duty, I’m the world’s worst soccer coach.”
The Fat and the Furriest
Season 15, Episode Five
Homer tries to fight a bear that he meets at the dump. What more do you need to hear? Ok, how about this: Homer tries to fight a bear that he meets at the dump, but is forced to save it thanks to the overzealous efforts of a heavily armed outdoorsman played with macho menace by Charles Napier. Not convinced? Try this: All of this was set in motion by a (very funny) last-minute Mother’s Day shopping trip that results in Homer buying Marge a machine that makes carnival foods at home. There’s no real message or gimmick in “The Fat and the Furriest”; the episode is just simple, stupid, and satisfying and a good example of the show’s latter-day outlandishness thriving in the hands of a capable writer (in this case, former Saturday Night Live writer Joel H. Cohen, whose brother Robert wrote the season three classic “Flaming Moe’s”).
Funniest Out-of-Context Quote: “Yes, Kent. I often get guns and cameras confused. Once tragically, at a wedding.”
The Heartbroke Kid
Season 16, Episode 17
Here’s the hottest of takes: Albert Brooks’ best Simpsons guest appearance came not as would-be Bond villain Hank Scorpio but as Tab Spangler, Serenity Ranch’s harried (and possibly disreputable) fat camp coach hired to bring Bart down to a healthy weight after Springfield Elementary’s new vending machines led to the predictable binge. What begins as an otherwise standard-issue current affairs episode about childhood obesity turns sublime upon Spangler’s arrival and gets even more quotable with Brooks’ every barely contained outburst and moment of rage against his many mis-acronymed signs. Plus, watching Homer weep while singing ”99 Luftballoons” has to still be on somebody’s bucket list, right?
Funniest Out-of-Context Quote: “Son, I’m gonna tell you a story about a young man who came here and failed. Well, that is the story. I shouldn’t call a sentence a story. Anyway, it’s you!”
The Seemingly Neverending Story
Season 17, Episode 13
As anyone subjected to years of Family Guy reruns can attest, the flexibiity of animation, especially in terms of the ease with which it handles flashbacks and cutaways, often becomes a narrative crutch. That’s what seems to be happening at the beginning of “The Seemingly Neverending Story”; trapped in an off-the-map chamber of the excellently named Carl’s Dad’s Cavern, the Simpson family begin down the familiar storytelling path that’s led to the series’ many trilogy and anthology episodes. But then, midway through Lisa’s tale of getting chased into Mr. Burns’ mansion by a ram, something happens; the story within the story get a story of its own and then another and another. The happenings in the episode keep nesting within one another, with each narrator more unreliable than the last. They even find time to explore the ram’s motivations. Years before the Griffins would be lambasted for returning to the same well, the Simpson family turned excessive narrative digressions into a smartly executed metacommentary.
Funniest Out-of-Context Quote: “Save me, Tsisnajini!”
Moe ‘N’ a Lisa
Season 18, Episode Six
The Simpsons has always lived and died by the talents of its writers, so it only seems fair that these same scribes get the chance to take down the most satisfying target of all: their own kind. What begins with Homer’s absentminded neglect of Moe’s promised birthday fishing trip leads the bartender to another bonding sessions with a Simpson daughter (this time, Lisa). Inspired by his Bukowski-style writings of despair, Lisa elevates Moe to the level of America’s literary cognoscenti, including guest stars Tom Wolfe, Gore Vidal, Jonathan Franzen, and Michael Chabon. The result is a send-up of the stuffy, backbiting world of cutthroat literary conferences, one that warms the heart of anyone who’s ever been too daunted to even apply to an MFA program and elicits real laughs at the folks who actually went through with it.
Funniest Out-of-Context Quote: “There once was a rapping tomato. That’s right, I said rapping tomato. He rapped all day from April to May, and also, guess what? It was me.”
Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind
Season 19, Episode Nine
Homer Simpson’s alcoholism has always been fair game on The Simpsons, but “Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind” asks a question that’s not often dealt with in the show’s canon: When does the loveable drunk cross over into the destructive drunk? The setup for this episode teases one possible (and dire) situation: Waking in the snow with scant memories of the night before, Homer embarks on a quest through Springfield to figure out why his family is nowhere to be found. His initial flashes of blackout-cutting memories tease an unforgivable transgression: violence against his beloved Marge. However, rather than crossing into movie-of-the-week territory, “Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind” condemns Homer’s potential domestic violence while simultaneously embarking on a science-fiction exploration of memory, mindfulness, and the lengths one man will go to find his family (and preserve his own surprise party). As one of the many potential series finales in the show’s history, this one would’ve ended things on a high note; in his appearance at the 2008 Emmys, showrunner Al Jean praised the episode for being “sweet, true to the characters, [and] funny,” as well as “[giving] you a nice feeling for where the Simpsons would be headed.”
Funniest Out-of-Context Quote: Suicide Bridge: In Memory of Governor Chester L. Suicide
Coming to Homerica
Season 20, Episode 21
“Coming to Homerica” isn’t the first time that The Simpsons has taken on immigration; season seven’s “Much Apu About Nothing” found Homer reckoning with his anti-immigrant stance after finding out it wouldn’t just hurt abstract people but his favorite Kwik-E-Mart owner. Thirteen years later, the show once again placed Springfield on the reactionary side of the debate; After Krusty Burger’s latest disaster results in the decimation of the barley industry in nearby Ogdenville, the resulting economic disaster finds the Ogdenvillians heading to Springfield as economic refugees. What starts as a case of (Norwegian-based) culture shock cascades into Mayor Quimby’s plan to recruit concerned citizens as armed border guards who then build a wall and wait a minute … this is all starting to sound uncomfortably prescient and depressing. While America’s current wall-based immigration policy isn’t likely to result in such a feel-good ending, this episode represents a hopeful touchstone for anyone feeling 2017’s particular brand of despair.
Funniest Out-of-Context Quote: “Well, you were a baby once, does that mean you still like milk and hugs?” “Yes, I’d like both now!”
To Surveil With Love
Season 21, Episode 20
Speaking of topical: Three years before Edward Snowden’s NSA leaks let ordinary Americans know they really were being watched, “To Surveil with Love” examined what might happen if a London-style surveillance program came to the streets of Springfield. Homer’s accidental dirty bomb leads to another citizen taskforce (with, unsurprisingly, no overlap with the border guards from a season prior) tasked with keeping tabs on their fellow neighbors. The role gives Ned Flanders the chance to fulfill his destiny as the town’s snitching conscience and Homer the chance to foil those efforts as the operator of a hedonistic underground club located in the cameras’ blind spot. Although the episode does suffer from a fairly superfluous Lisa B-plot that’s dropped without any satisfying resolution, it still makes a good enough impression (and features just enough Superintendent Chalmers wielding nunchucks in an antique dress) to merit a spot on this list.
Funniest Out-of-Context Quote: “And now, Duffman has a dinner date with his estranged daughter! Must not bring up why she dropped out of college! It’s TOO SAD!”
Homer the Father
Season 22, Episode 12
Take a powder, The Goldbergs. No series on television today can skewer ’80s TV tropes with the same authority as The Simpsons; after all, this show debuted only three years after Thicker Than Waters, the Growing Pains-like sitcom that Homer mines for his outdated ’80s dad wisdom. Of course, even the kindliest TV father probably doesn’t have a toolkit diverse enough to contain a Bart Simpson-level family crisis (in this case, selling Homer’s nuclear secrets to the Chinese in exchange for a bitchin’ mini-bike). Neither does Homer; while the resolution of the episode’s espionage plotline winds up feeling a little tacked on, Homer’s genuine wish to improve his parenting contrasts pleasantly with his absurd devotion to classic trash TV and the sweaters that it mandates (among the other great spoof title here that I would totally watch: Sheriff Wholesome, Hannigan, M.F.A., and Upscalien in Da House.
Funniest Out-of-Context Quote: “You still see that crow on shows sometimes.”
Holidays of Future Passed
Season 23, Episode Nine
We’ve seen The Simpsons tackle the future before, but not since season six’s “Lisa’s Wedding” have the results been so fruitful. Set against the dystopian-lite backdrop of Springfield in 2041, “Holidays of Future Passed” finds the Simpson kids descending on Evergreen Terrace for their first Christmas together in years. Chafing under Marge and Homer’s roof, adult Bart and Lisa share their surprisingly poignant parenting insecurities with one another; from navigating joint custody to connecting with a child with whom you have nothing in common, the episode mixes relatable themes with just enough weirdo future gags to keep things light. It’s a delicate walk that succeeds far more than it fails and earns the episode the distinction of being The Simpsons’ best Christmas episode since the show’s ’90s peak. (Much like “Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind”, this episode was also tapped as a potential series finale, according to a 2012 interview with showrunner Al Jean.)
Funniest Out-of-Context Quote: “Aw, I’m Santa? Now I’ll never die!”
A Test Before Trying
Season 24, Episode 10
When I was a kid, Bart Simpson was seen by many parents as genuinely dangerous (including my own mother, who, if memory serves, attempted to institute a poorly enforced ban of the show in our house for a brief period in 1991). Although Bart’s ne’er-do-well tendancies remained strong as the years went on, his status as a potential real-world troublemaker softened with familiarity. In “A Test Before Trying”, writer Joel H. Cohen reintroduces Bart’s underachiever status just in time to hit it with a twist: What if the ultimate slacker suddenly had to care about the one thing he most despised? The result is an episode that’s as close to high-stakes as a continuity-free show can get, with commentary about the American education system paired with a suitably dumbass B-story about Homer scamming Springfield with a bum parking meter. It’s not perfect, but as vintage Bart might say: Please, don’t have that cow.
Funniest Out-of-Context Quote: “I hate waiting. It’s why I hate risotto.” “Even mushroom risotto?” “WHAT DO YOU THINK?”
Brick Like Me
Season 25, Episode 20
As gimmick episodes go, “Brick Like Me” had a higher-than-average potential for incredible failure; released just three months after the massive success of The Lego Movie, The Simpsons‘ take initially felt like a cheap way to glom onto the that film’s Duplo-sized coattails. Miraculously, however, “Brick Like Me” compares favorably to its cinematic kindred spirit while succeeding all on its own. A strong Lisa/Homer story by Brian Kelley seamlessly incorporates feats of (literal) world-building; from Marge’s drawer of extra hands to Lego Lovejoy’s explanation about the theological implications of using decals, Homer’s concussed alternate reality here (“where everything fits together and no one ever gets hurt) is detailed enough to reward multiple watches. Throw in a solid B-story about Bart’s innate desire to chuck the instruction booklet and build like a Lego Maniac, and you’ve got yourself a damn-fine episode.
Funniest Out-of-Context Quote: “It’s not selling out! It’s co-branding! CO-BRANDING!”
Bart’s New Friend
Season 26, Episode 11
The expectations for “Bart’s New Friend” were uncommonly high for an episode so late in the series; derived from an unproduced spec script sent in by a then-unknown Judd Apatow during the show’s first season, the episode bore the weight of both its writer’s subsequent successes and the nostalgia for the simpler, character-driven narratives of those early years. The result pretty well delivers on both; stuck as his 10-year-old self after a run-in with a circus hypnotist, Homer finally has the lack of adult responsibility (and peer-appropriate mentality) to develop a loving relationship with Bart. In addition to creating opportunities for tag-team mischief, the episode deftly tackles the existential conflict at the heart of childhood: the feverish desire to stay a kid forever versus the yearning curiosity about what comes next. On the right day, the final scene between Homer (now returned to his “adult” mindset) and Bart could make me shed a tear.
Funniest Out-of-Context Quote: “Is that a grown man going between childrens’ legs?” “Well, there’s nothing against it in the rulebook.” “It’s on page one of the rulebook!”
Halloween of Horror
Season 27, Episode Four
The Simpsons had celebrated 25 Halloweens by the time “Halloween of Horror” aired, but they’d always been presented in the consequence-free remove of the Treehouse of Horrors anthologies. In this 2015 episode, they finally dared to ask the sppokiest question of all: What if the scares are real? Terrified by the pretend ghouls of Krustyland’s annual Halloween Horror Night, Lisa reverts to her childhood coping mechanism (a dilapidated stuffed animal remnant lovingly referred to as “Tailie”) only to be confronted by the real-world horror of intruders bent on doing her and Homer non-fake bodily harm. Lisa’s journey from frightened little girl to still-scared-but-brave-enough adolescent represents one of the show’s most successful late-period returns to the character-based storytelling that earned it acclaim in the first place. If that’s not enough, it’s paired with a Bart-centric B-story that celebrates Halloween in all its forms (including, as the episode’s musical number graphically illustrates, a day for grown-ups to get drunk and sexy).
Funniest Out-of-Context Quote: “Attention! Bring all laughter and exilharation to a complete stop! The terrifying good time is on hold! We have located and are removnig the baby that thinks this is real. Reset time is 65 minutes, all parking validations are now void.”
A Father’s Watch
Season 28, Episode 18
I would pay up to $10 American just for an entire episode starring the deceased dissection frogs that open the story of “A Father’s Watch”. Those amphibians’ horror at Bart’s treatment of their earthly bodies is matched only by the episode’s mid-act sweetness, which parlays a rare moment of Bart/Grampa bonding into a meditation on personal responsibility as it relates to the pressures (and forgivable lapses) of intergenerational expectations. The episode also manages to provide decent (if slightly well-worn) commentary on the deification of parenting experts, making it one of the few latter-day entries that’s funny, heartfelt, and topical. Twenty-eight years in, it’s hard to ask for more.
Funniest Out-of-Context Quote: “I can’t put these grades on the refridgerator! I can’t even put them on the garage refridgerator!
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