The Simpsons List Discussion and Suggestions

[swo17]

My top picks from Season 9:

The Cartridge Family (S9, Ep 5)
Another Swartzwelder episode, in gestation for years. He is apparently pro-NRA, which I suppose comes through in having the NRA members, in addition to everyone else, act utterly appalled at Homer's grossly irresponsible gun usage. But for a lot of the episode this feels like it's coming from the opposite camp, with Homer reciting fairly common pro-gun rhetoric even as he gleefully points his gun in people's faces or uses it to, say, open a can of soda. The ending is perhaps a bit morally confused, but still consistent I suppose with the episode's theme of being helpless when faced with more power than any one person should ever reasonably have. Most importantly though, the episode finds a way to appeal to both sides of this still contentious topic by milking the one point that we can all agree on: idiotic fictional characters on television should not be allowed anywhere near handguns.

This Little Wiggy (S9, Ep 18)
Girly Edition (S9, Ep 21)
Natural Born Kissers (S9, Ep 25)

Season 9 shows some signs of weakness as a whole, but picks up quite nicely toward the end. Here you have Marge making Bart hang out with Ralph Wiggum after being bullied at the Knowledgeum (where we learn of the leprechaun that tells Ralph to burn things), Bart showing up Lisa as a sentimental anchor on Kidz News (while Homer acquires and eventually ruins a helper monkey), and Homer and Marge enlivening their marriage in public places while Bart and Lisa discover the amazing alternate ending to Casablanca.

[domino harvey]

Wow, I... don't like any of those episodes! The last three of those four listed are probably the worst of the season for me.

[swo17]

What are your favorites, while they're fresh in my memory? I was also close to listing Lisa the Simpson and Trash of the Titans.

[domino harvey]

"The Joy of Sect" for sure is my favorite, and "the Last Temptation of Krust," "Dumbbell Indemnity," and "Lisa the Simpson" all have great elements / gags / lines. I think this is the first worst season overall though

[matrixschmatrix]

I would say mine are probably the Treehouse of Horror episode (the third segment isn't as strong, but The HΩmega Man and Fly vs. Fly rank with the greats,) The Cartridge Family (which suffers a bit from the randomness that begins to rot the show from the inside creeping in, but is carried by astonishingly good joke writing) and Das Bus (where the randomness is in full effect, but pushes it far enough to get that surreal Marge vs the Monorail vibe.) The last few episodes of the season- King of the Hill, Lost Our Lisa, and Natural Born Kissers- just don't come together for me at all, and feel like the show has finally cracked in half and is rapidly sinking under the waves.

[mfunk9786]

I am a huge sucker for flashback episodes and "Lisa's Sax" is probably my favorite episode of Season 9 for that reason, but I think Dom's right that it was the beginning of the end. Other highlights: "Trash of the Titans" (celeb guest star randomness and music numbers aside), "The Last Temptation of Krust," and I also enjoyed "The Cartridge Family" and would expect that all four of these episodes will make my list, but probably nothing else from that season. Okay, maybe "The Joy of Sect."

[swo17]

A lot of uneven episodes this season for sure. I remember great moments in all the ones mentioned above ("Why all the black?" "Why all the pearls? Why all the hair? Why anything?" or Homer's inability to understand the concept of a free weekend retreat) but a lot of the comedians that guest starred in that Krusty episode seemed to be several years past their sell-by date, as well as lacking in the playful randomness of the guest stars for the earlier Krusty Comeback Special.

For what it's worth, I had no real memories of Natural Born Kissers, but found it surprisingly solid upon a rewatch. It's also one of Matt Groening's top 10 favorites.

I actually think Season 7 was the beginning of the end, when we started to get what I feel were our first instances of the show trying too hard to be cool (like the Lollapalooza or Pulp Fiction episodes).

[Lemmy Caution]

A favorite Simpson line.
Skinner and Chalmers are walking through the school and stop at Ralph's desk.
Ralph: "Hi, Super-nintendo Chalmers."

Season 16 is really a low point, just not that much good going on.

Season 17 is a pretty big improvement.
Things seem back on track and more akin to the uneven seasons 13 & 14 rather than the preceding 3 mediocre to bad years. The odd thing about S17 is frequently the jokes are not good.

The best are probably Kiss Kiss Bang Bangalore (S17, E17) where the nuclear plant is moved to India, Homer runs it and goes all Heart of Darkness; while Patty and Selma kidnap and Richard Dean Anderson and get more MacGyver than they bargained for. This was co-written by Dan Castellaneta.

The Sideshow Bob (in Italy) episode is pretty good. I like Krusty preparing for his role as Pagliacci and then butchering an opera.

Most episodes have some good scenes or good jokes. A solid rebound from S16, though still uneven.

[matrixschmatrix]

Somewhat tangentially- I saw Mr Burns: A Post Electric Play tonight, where the basic premise is that the Cape Feare episode is remembered and mutated through a century or so of a post apocalyptic culture.

It's a really interesting play, one that rewards a fair knowledge of the The Simpsons, though it doesn't require it; nearly every bit of the episode is used and used again and repurposed over the course of the play, starting out as a simple verbal retelling, moving into (a rehearsal for) a repertory play, and becoming in the end this fully immersive, dark mummer's play musical thing, with the Simpsons characters turned into the masks from classical Greek drama. It's not really about the Simpsons- the episode is used as a fixed location in pop culture that the audience can be presumed to have at least a passing familiarity with- but for a fan of the show, turning one of the silliest episodes into something with real mythic overtones (conditioned within the worldbuilding of the play, and bleeding into a number of other episodes and other pieces of pop culture) is quite a feat. The Sideshow Bob they wind up with- who has blended with Mr. Burns- is legitimately pretty scary, while retaining elements of both characters.

[Lemmy Caution]

The play sounds interesting.
Where did you see this? NYC?

[swo17]

Season 10

There's actually a fair amount that's still worth watching here, though I'm not sure if that amounts to more than a couple of listworthy episodes (if that). I remembered liking Homer's grease business from Lard of the Dance, but it's really just a retread of his sugar business from Season 6's Lisa's Rival. I also had fond memories of Homer becoming obsessed with Thomas Edison in Swartzwelder's The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace (and also Bart's line "I heard swearing down here--crap boobs crap") but the episode gets far too broad for its own good. His next episode, Homer Simpson in: 'Kidney Trouble' might be the strongest of the season, starting out with a visit to a ghost town which ends in Abe needing one of Homer's kidneys. (I love Homer's delivery of the line "Burn down the hospital.")

Mayored to the Mob is a mostly shameless Star Wars cash-in but I like Mark Hamill as Nathan Detroit in "Guys and Dolls." Homer to the Max starts out well, with a new TV character named Homer Simpson prompting Homer to change his name to Max Power, but it fizzles out in the last act. And Maximum Homerdrive is another almost great episode, where Homer takes over a dead trucker's route after a meat-eating contest. I love the B-story about Marge and Lisa getting a Carpenters-themed doorbell, as well as Homer and Bart taking in a drive-in movie. (These last two are also both Swartzwelder episodes.) I also like all the stuff with the springs (Springfield's Olympic mascot) in The Old Man and the C Student, though the plot device of having Bart lose the town the Olympics with an ethnically insensitive comedy routine was clearly thought up by someone who doesn't understand his character.

[domino harvey]

Looking at the episode list for this season, man, it is terrible, and I am pretty sure I only like two episodes: the aforementioned Max Power ep and the one with Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger

[matrixschmatrix]

The play sounds interesting.
Where did you see this? NYC?

In Boston, though I think it originated in NYC.

[mfunk9786]

Barthood (S27, E9)
This is not a Simpsons episode. In the first few minutes, I was willing to see this as a virtue, but as this dreadful experiment wore on, I saw that this episode had no interest in gags, just a straightforward re-staging of Linklater's film. There are also, bizarrely, frequent references to lines and situations in classic episodes. It's almost as if Jean and crew knew that those who'd given up the show in the last couple decades might take a look at this, and jeez - I'm looking at it. The animation has improved since the first few computer animated seasons but the ideas are weak and the references to the film are every last thing you'd expect to be here and everything you wouldn't. I'm glad that Castelanetta has found deep emotion in Homer's voice again (the extremely over the top high-pitched whine-yell that it was for years is pretty much gone) and that the writing staff doesn't think it's embarrassing to lean on lame pot jokes, but I'm not buying stock in either.

[Lemmy Caution]

Season 18 comes through with a pretty terrific parody of the Tv-serial 24.
"24 Minutes" (S18, E21) uses the editing and style of the Tv series.
The hall monitors (Lisa and other smart kids/dorks) notice the 3 main bullies are truant and cotton on to their plan to release a stink bomb at the school bake sale.
It's fun, smartly-paced, stylish, has some good jokes.
Willie especially gets a few good lines late.
Bart even accidentally makes a call picked up by Jack Bauer and turns it into a prank call, which has a pretty good payoff. My only minor quibbles would be two brief Superintendent Chalmers cameos (is his character ever funny or good?) and the very ending, which goes a bit overboard.

I've never actually seen any of 24, but this Simpsons spoof seems dead on.
This certainly could be a list contender.
(sidenote: here in China my friend bought a dvd containing a full season of 24, but ludicrously the episodes weren't in the correct order, which pretty much ruins the whole premise of the show)

[domino harvey]

Excuse you, the steamed hams segment is one of the classic bits from the show

[Lemmy Caution]

Yucko.
Thought that was clunky sub-par material.

The best Chalmers episode I can think of is when Lisa (and Nelson) submit films to Sundance Film Festival. Chalmskin Productions. Though I'd have to view that again to see if Chalmers has any useful role or good lines. Nothing that I can recall.

[swo17]

I'm with domino but for those that need a reminder:

link

I'm also fond of this bit from Lisa's Date with Density.

[domino harvey]

I'm with domino but for those that need a reminder:

link

Watching it again, that scene is clearly one of the ten greatest things ever on the show

[swo17]

It's from 22 Short Films About Springfield (S7, Ep 21), which I think is a bit of a mixed bag on the whole (it has a record 11 writers credited to it!) The bumblebee man segment is also pretty good.

[matrixschmatrix]

Chalmers seems like someone who should never be on screen for more than a few minutes, but his Golden Age appearances were all highlights- I'm particularly fond of his irritation (and interactions with the even more one joke Leopold) in Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song


I don't know how to embed video

[flyonthewall2983]

Can't embed YouTube here. Seems to work for just Vimeo.

[thirtyframesasecond]

The Chalmers/Skinner relationship's brilliant:

Did you just call me a liar?
No I said you were fired
Oh that's much worse

[Titus]

Count me among the Chalmers fans. He was always one of my favorite minor supporting characters.

"Oh, I have had it, I have had it with this school, Skinner! The low test scores, class after class of ugly, ugly children."

[colinr0380]

And of course he inevitably has to run into Ralph at some point and get called "Super Nintendo Chalmers", giving the boy a great, rather concerned look! (I should admit that I'm a big Ralph fan!)