These lists are of course always fraught with peril since you can never please everyone. I wasn’t horrified by any of their picks and their top four would all fit in my top ten (Cape Feare at #1) so I have to say they did a good job, for once.
Wow, who would think that EW and myself would pick the same favourite episode? Hats off to EW for seeing through the post season 7 illusion that the simpsons is better than ever, because it ISN’T.
Tomorrow I may post my own top 25…
what about the Hank Scorpio episode? where Homer goes to work for rich evil villian. I thought this was quite a good episode and well deserving of one of the places of the top 25 episodes ever.
I’ll second the $pringfield (casino) episode. Very underrated and not often played locally. Burns threatening Smithers to get into the Spruce Goose is great, Homer’s flashback to the town meeting is one of the funniest moments in the series.
But why even give this list any credibility, it’s from the people who gave The Two Towers and Biker Boyz the same grade…
They left out my two favorite episodes: Brother from Another Series and **Homer vs. the City of New York **. Granted, the second one doesn’t get aired much since 9/11, but I thought the first one was great with the interplay between Bob and Cecil, the plot, and everything.
" ‘Homer vs. the City of New York.’ Granted, the second one doesn’t get aired much since 9/11…"
#13, Annie. Though the other one isn’t on the list.
I loved the episode when Bart became the bartender for the Mob and went on trial for Skinner’s murder. That was my fave.
Worst. List. Ever!
(I can’t believe no one’s said it yet.)
And “A Streetcar Named Marge” is my all-time favorite.
The list was a decent effort. A lot of the ones on their made me think the writers had decent taste.
And as has been said, these lists can never capture all of the great episodes.
But how on Earth could they leave off my #1 choice- Mountain of Madness? The funniest episode ever. This is the one where the Plant has a team building retreat in the snowy mountains.
That episode was Burns and Homer at their finest!
BURNS:Sir, I am in your debt!
HOMER:Use it wisely!
LENNY: I thought he said there’d be sandwiches
Not to mention Burns’ cheating justification.
My top five SNUB list:
1 Mountain of Madness
2 Homer’s Barbershop Quartet
3 You Only Move Twice
4 Homer the Great
5 Behind the Laughter
Boy Scoutz N the Hood. Best episode ever.
Homer: Aww…twenty dollars? I wanted a peanut.
Homer’s Brain: Twenty dollars can buy many peanuts.
H: Explain how.
HB: Money can be exchanged for goods and services.
H: Woo hoo!
Well, this thread pretty much proves that no list would satsify everyone. My personal favorite is when Homer gets Apu fired from the Kwik-E-Mart. It has a great song, Homer corrected Apu on karma, the great sign “The Master knows all except combination to safe” and my favorite guest appearance of all time, James Woods.
Woods: But as for me, I’m off to battle aliens on a faraway planet.
Marge: That sounds like a good movie.
Woods: Yes…yes, a…a movie, yes.
The list failed to repulse me utterly and I wasn’t left saying “What kind of moron came up with this thing!”
The only two episodes on the list that I absolutely disagree with are How I Spent My Strummer Vacation (an okay episode that showed that series can still produce something worth watching, but there have been a couple of better episodes this season), Itchy and Scratchy Land, and the Homer vs. New York which I didn’t like at all. The rest are ones that make me go “Yeah, that was a great episode,” even if I’d change up maybe half the list for my own personal favorite picks (like The PTA Disbands, Homer the Heretic, Homer the Vigilante, and Treehouse of Horror IV (“They’re dogs! AND THEY’RE PLAYING POKER!! AHA-HA-HAHAHA!!”)).
I could not agree more. Its omission was one of only two glaring errors on the list, the other being, of course, the inclusion of the token recent episode, “How I Spent My Strummer Vacation.” There have been a handful of episodes in the last three seasons better than “Just O.K.,” and maybe that’s one of them, but it ain’t top 25.
hrh
I had forgotten about this ep when I posted my above message. This is another glaring error. Albert Brooks 0wnZ j00 @11z!
hrh
i don’t know the name of the episode, but the one where lisa and bart both play kiddie hockey is actually VERY good, and VERY overlooked by almost everyone I’ve ever met. people should like it more. hmph.
They’re choice of “Bart to the Future” as worst episode was pretty accurate, as it is way down there. But the Mel Gibson one is really the worst.
Frank Grimes
Lemon of Troy
glarring!!!
Best. Episode. Ever.
If, on the way out, you fell like killing anybody, it would really help me out a lot.
I didn’t think Bart to the Future was awful. Pretty mediocre to decent episode.
I’ll vote for what a Doper said in a previous thread (I don’t recall who to give credit): My vote for the worst episode ever is Saddlesore Galactica. Not only is it boring (with a ridiculous elf musical number), but it really did signal the beginning of the end of the true quality of the show.
Episodes that should not be on the list:
Life on the Fast Lane
Who Shot Mr. Burns?
Bart the Daredevil
A Fish Called Selma
Homer Badman
Two that are good, but have far superior counterparts:
Treehouse of Horror V is good, but Treehouse of Horror IV is much better
Itchy and Scratchy Land is good, but both The Itchy and Scratchy Movie and The Firm (in which Bart and Lisa write I&S episodes with Grampa taking the credit) are better
Some others that deserve to be included:
(as others have said) Behind the Laughter, Lisa’s Substitute, Lisa the Vegetarian, Homer’s Enemy and the Hank Scorpio episode
Bart Vs. Thanksgiving (Not hilarious, but very very touching)
Whacking Day (I am evil ho-mer!)
Lisa’s Wedding (We’re both utterly humorless about our vegetarianism)
Lisa’s Rival (My cat’s breath smells like catfood)
Overall, though, a much better list than I thought they would come up with.
By the way, all the episodes that either they or you all have mentioned as worst ever are, imho, reasonably good.
My vote for worst ever is the recent one where Grampa drives. Or maybe he doesn’t drive. I don’t remember. It was painful.