Springfield of Dreams: 150 Best ‘Simpsons’ Episodes
100. ‘Homer Alone’
Season: 3
Marge, stressed out of her mind, causes a traffic jam on the bridge and gets arrested. Marge heads to Rancho Relaxo to clear her mind; Bart and Lisa head to Patty and Selma’s while Maggie stays with Homer. Maggie escapes her crib — and house — to search for her mother.
Best Visual Gag: Homer stapling Maggie’s diaper shut — and, later, duct-taping Maggie into the car.
Best Line: “Hello, I’d like the department of missing babies?”
99. ‘The Crepes of Wrath’
Season: 1
Bart gets sent to a school in France after a cherry bomb prank, and the Simpsons welcome Adil Hoxha from Albania. Bart endures child labor, while Adil turns out to be a spy.
Best Visual Gag: Bart’s motorcycle ride from Paris to the farm takes him through paintings by Monet, Manet, and van Gogh.
Best Line: “I’m gonna miss you, son. And listen: while you’re seeing all those great sights, always remember that you’re representing your country. I guess what I’m saying is, don’t mess up France the way you messed up your room.”
98. ‘The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular’
Season: 7
The Simpsons blew out its 138th episode to make the corniest clip show, hosted by Troy McClure. But the trick was that it consisted mostly of tongue-in-cheek send-ups of the format, tracing the show’s roots from crude drawings on The Tracey Ullman Show, fielding viewer mail and showing outtakes from the series, like the “Robot Richard Simmons” from “Burns’ Heir.”
Best Visual Gag: Bart’s chalkboard scrawl: “I will only do this once a year.”
Best Line: “If that’s what they cut out [of The Simpsons], what they leave in must be pure gold.”
97. ‘The City of New York vs Homer Simpson’
Season: 9
Gotham jokes galore: Barney is forced to play designated driver, and he ends up driving Homer’s car to Manhattan. The Simpsons head to the “urban death maze” to retrieve it; while waiting for the traffic cop to show up and remove the boot off his vehicle, Homer explores both World Trade Center towers in search of a bathroom.
Best Visual Gag: Everything that happens to Homer’s car, from driving with the boot to getting in a Ben Hur–style battle with a horse-drawn carriage in Central Park.
Best Line: “New York is a hellhole, and you know how I feel about hellholes.”
96. ‘Bart Gets an F’
Season: 2
Bart fakes a book report on Treasure Island and tries to become a good student, but ends up faking sick to get out of a test. Facing a second year in fourth grade, Bart gets Martin to tutor him in exchange for lessons on how to be cool. Springfield has a snow day.
Best Visual Gag: Old Bart still struggling through the fourth grade.
Best Line: “He doesn’t care, mom.” “Sure I do. I just wanna have a beer while I’m caring.”
95. ‘Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy’
Season: 5
Horrified by the sexist drivel coming out of the mouth of a talking Malibu Stacy doll, Lisa creates her own doll for little girls. Meanwhile, Grandpa Simpson gets a job at the Krusty Burger.
Best Visual Gag: A sign at the mall reads: “Kidstown USA (Not affiliated with Kidstown Juvenile Correction Farm).”
Best Line: “I was forced out in 1974. They said my way of thinking just wasn’t cost effective. Well, that, and…I was funneling profits to the Viet Cong.”
94. ‘Homer’s Enemy’
Season: 8
Oh, Frank Grimes — we hardly knew ye. He had to struggle for everything, and when his inspirational rise becomes fodder for a human-interest story, Burns hires him at the nuclear plant. Then Grimes meets the laziest of his co-workers (guess who?) and declares war on this incompetent boob who seems to float through life on a cloud of stupidity and incompetence. This is the embodiment of the “deserve has nothing to do with it” concept taken to extremes; some people simply have bad luck no matter what they do, whole others don’t follow the rules and are rewarded. Life is unfair. Also, it turns out you can buy an abandoned factory for a buck at an auction.
Best Visual Gag: Ralph’s ideal power-plant model: a trumped up Malibu Stacey house.
Best Line: “God, he eats like a pig!” “I dunno, pigs tend to chew…I say he eats more like a duck.”
93. ‘Marge Be Not Proud’
Season: 7
It’s a Christmas episode, but don’t expect mistletoes and reindeer games. Bart is desperate to get the new Bonestorm video game — so desperate, in fact, that he tries to shoplift it from the local toy store. (Did Marge’s time in the clink teach him nothing?) Naturally, he gets caught, and by a security guard that sounds a lot like Joe Cabot from Reservoir Dogs.
Best Visual Gag: The Bonestorm commercial, featuring a bazooka-wielding Santa and airing during the KKK (Krusty Kinda Khristmas) special.
Best Line: “Shoplifting began here, in ancient Venicia. Thieves would literally lift the corner of a shop in order to snatch the sweet, sweet olives within. Oh Shakazaramesh, will you ever learn?”
92. ‘The Day the Violence Died’
Season: 7
Bart meets Chester J. Lampwick, a homeless man who says he created Itchy of Itchy & Scratchy. Lampwick wins his a court case, forcing Itchy & Scratchy to discontinue production. Before being brought back to life, Itchy & Scratchy gets replaced by a Schoolhouse Rock parody.
Best Visual Gag: Eliza and Lester, the early versions of Bart and Lisa.
Best Line: “Studio’s closed until Tuesday; animators have A.A. on Monday.”
91. ‘Bart’s Inner Child’
Season: 5
Celebrity self-help mastermind Brad Goodman may not have a lot of “credentials” or “training,” but according to the man himself, he has “a Ph.D in pain.” No wonder his courses are helping Marge control her anger at Homer for buying a dangerous trampoline, or for turning Springfield into a town of id-uber-alles copycats of Bart? Voiced by Albert Brooks, Goodman is every touchy-feely guru who’s recycled platitudes for a quick buck. He also helps prove that Springfield needs at least few adults around to keep things from going off the rails.
Best Visual Gag: Brad Goodman’s “feel-bad rainbow” of symptoms, guarded by the world’s angriest leprechaun.
Best Line: “And now I’d like to introduce the man who’ll put the ‘u’ in ‘impruovement,’ Brad Goodman!”
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