I want to buy a season or two of The Simpsons on DVD. I watched the show a lot several years ago, but haven’t watched it much for a few years now. I have a bunch of questions:
I remember there were several episodes, maybe even a season or two, where Homer was exceptionally stupid, and I remember thinking it was funnier then. This was probably somewhere around 1998 - 2001. However, I was also smoking a lot of weed back then. Which seasons would those be?
Which season included the episode with Carl’s line “I just logged on to my Internet”? I thought that was a well-written episode.
Was there one where Homer goes to New York City and winds up with a boot on his car. Something about having to drink a bunch of crab juice?
Was there an episode where the scenes were in reverse chronological order? I know there was a Seinfeld like that, but I seem to recall a Simpsons episode too.
My favorites are earlier than that, I like seasons 5 through 8 the most. That’s where my favorite episodes are, mostly, and they had the most consistent and funny episodes while staying in character.
The New York one is from Season 9, and the Karl line you quoted comes from “The Blunder Years” in season 13. That’s not on DVD yet - I think you’ll have to wait until next year for it.
I can’t think of a backwards episode. Maybe you mean “Trilogy of Error” from season 12? It’s got interlocking stories, but it’s not on DVD yet either. They did one this season that sort of matches that description, but not really.
I agree, but would probably go earlier and say seasons 3 through 8. I mean, Season 3 has got “Homer at the Bat” and “Flaming Moe’s,” and season 4 has just a panoply of classics like “Mr. Plow,” “The Monorail,” “A Streetcar Named Marge,” “Last Exit To Springfield,” etc. I’d say seasons 4 and 8 would be the best two to pick.
“Trilogy of Error” is the one I was thinking of. I was misremembering how it worked; I guess it’s not backward, but it kind of jumps around chronologically where one story ends and the next begins. Thanks.
Any time. And based on your, uh, viewing enhancement material, when season 13 comes out, go straight to “Weekend at Burnsie’s,” the medical marijuana episode.
I like the earlier stuff OK, but I think maybe I’ve just seen those ones too many times in reruns. Between RedSwinglineOne’s link, Marley23’s help, and Wikipedia, I think I’m leaning towards seasons 7, 8 or 9. Maybe I’ll end up with all three.
There’s one other, I think more recent episode I can’t find (due to search weakness on my part). It’s the one where Homer builds a “robot” for Bart, to compete in one of those robot battle tournaments. It includes my all-time favourite line that goes something like “If you’ve ever wanted to see a mailbox shoot a boy, that’s about as close as you’re going to get”.
There are plenty of great episodes in the three you’re talking about, including two of my all-time favorites, ‘Flying Hellfish’ (7) and “Homer vs. The Eighteenth Amendment” (8).
Currently the first 10 seasons are available. Season 10 aired 1998-1999, and IMO was when the show started to suck. This was when the show transitioned from being about The Simpsons to being The Wacky Adventures of Stupid, Belligerent Homer and This Week’s Celebrity Guest Star (and sometimes Bart). So if you like Stupid Homer, Seasons 9 and 10 are the way to go.
Personally, I’d go with Seasons 3 and 4. Lots of classics (“Flaming Moes”, “Last Exit to Springfield”, “The Itchy and Scratchy Movie”, “I Love Lisa”), only a few clunkers.
My breakdown:
Season 1: Very hit or miss, but holds personal sentimental nostalgic appeal to me.
Seasons 2-4: Really hits its stride. The Golden Years. Primarily character driven humor and stories.
Seasons 5-6: More pop-culture gag oriented. Lots of extended movie parodies.
Seasons 7-8: Return to character driven humor, but still lots of gags.
Season 9: Homer becomes dumber. Humor gets a lot more random. Still lots of good shows, but the clunkers are getting more frequent.
Seasons 10-12: Mostly crap, with a few bright spots.
Season 13: Original show runner returns, but keeps newer writers. Some improvement, but not enough to stop me from giving up.
Seasons 14-on: Haven’t seen enough to comment
The show runners changed after Seasons 4, 6, 8, and 12.
My recommendation would be Season 4, and then either Season 3 if you prefer the character driven stuff or Season 5 if you prefer the more gag-driven stuff.
Don’t make the mistake of buying season one, like I did. I was all excited until i started watching- ‘Wait, these episodes are on TV all the time. And I sort of hate them.’
Season 5 is a safe bet. Or any of the Conan years ('91-'93).
Just gonna chime in to say seasons 4-6 was the peak of the show. If you buy one season, make it season 5. Not even one flawed episode in that box. The worst of Season 5 is probably Lady Bouvier’s Lover, and I’m sure the only reason I say that is because I never got around to watching The Graduate, which it parodies. Season 6 is also great, but it gets pretty wacky, and Season 4 contains the universally picked best episode ever - Last Exit To Springfield, and was the season where the show REALLY started getting funny (FUNNY funny, not wacky funny).
Stop after season 8. Season 9 is where it goes downhill very fast (City of NY vs Homer Simpson was the last good episode, which was the premiere), and 10 is where it totally blows.
If you’re buying it on DVD, get season 4. Conan O’Brien does commentary on two of the episodes he wrote (the Monorail, and another one), and it is hilarious. I want to say Jon Lovitz does one (“A Streetcar Named Marge”), but I’m not positive it’s season 4. Conan’s commentary alone is worth it.
Speaking of the commentaries, I’ve found them to be consistently worth listening to (the ones I’ve heard, with several seasons represented). Unlike so many other TV-on-DVD commentary tracks, there’s very little “dead air,” there’s a lot of discussion relevant to what’s going on in the episode, and it’s frequently informative and/or funny.
