Bart the Daredevil is a second season episode. It also features one of Matt Groening’s favorite scenes-Homer’s impromptu “jump” over Springfield Gorge.
A wizard did it.
Like Leaper says, the whole point of the Sgt. Skinner episode is that absolutely nothing changes in the end. It’s a huge, episode-long joke on the way TV shows use the reset button to maintain the status quo. ("…and no one will ever mention this again, under penalty of torture.") I enjoy the sheer chutzpah of it.
The one that bugs me is the “Vegas wife” one, which messes up the status quo in very stupid ways–Flanders is a senior citizen (!), Flanders and Homer have another set of wives–and then doesn’t use a reset button at the end. The writers have even had the poor judgement to bring the Vegas wife back in another episode.
I can only think of two:
- Insane Asylum Michael Jackson.
- Homer’s Homecoming Float.
Come on, Mecutio, if we are going to worry about continuity in the Simpsons, we would never watch at all.
As well as one of my favorite throw-away add-ins: the lion jumping out of the water tank, giving the daredevil a second beating.
I thought the whole purpose of that later episode with the Vegas wives was to function as a “reset” button. Anyway, that didn’t bother me as much as Smithers’ shifting age. For much of the series’ run, he seemed to be around 5-10 years older than Homer. But now, according to the ep where they find his father’s body in the lake, he’s suddenly 10 years younger than Homer.
Oh well, as was stated earlier, I think the writers on The Simpsons sometimes deliberately disregard continuity just so they can screw some of the more anal fans of the show. It’s their way of saying (to quote MST3K), “It’s just a show. You should really just relax.”
oops
That was Andy Serkis.
It could have been funny IF they hadn’t pointed it out and IF they hadn’t built the rest of the episode around it.
Oh, and Exapno Mapcase is right (though with that username, how could he be wrong? Well, mute, possibly, but not wrong) - that episode where Homer and Bart were tethered together was horrible, excremental. Now that I think of it, yes, it might even beat Saddlesore Galactica for the worst episode ever.
I was never a LOTR buff. Thanks for correcting me.
Hello, I’m Dr. Cheeks. I’m doing my rounds, and I’m a little behind.
On further retrospection I think the worst episode was actually the one where they fell asleep in church and started to dream about bible stories(garden of eden, milhouse parting the river).
Aw man, that ep had some REALLY great stuff in it. Steve Martin’s character is great: an example of why guest stars shouldn’t appear as themselves.
“Dad, everybody’s sick of that memory…” -Lisa
I don’t really like the Bleeding Gums Murphy episode, but out of all the first ten or twelve seasons, I think that one is the worst. Lately the show has been far from pefect. In fact, I wish Fox would put an end to it before they completely ruin the wonderful memories of how good the show used to be. Homer can only get in so many wacky situations and he and Lisa can only reinforce their “opposites attract” relationship so many times before it becomes annoying and overdone. I think that has happened in the last few years.
I loathe that… one… uh…
Crap. It’s the one where they go somewhere fiestaish in search of Lisa’s sponsored child. Brazil? I think I’ve blocked it. It’s not funny, it’s just strange. It manages to miss both the humor mark and the tenderness mark that characterize the better Simpsons episodes.
Some mentioned the clip shows being a waste of time…
You know the production staff feels the same way when you see such the credits for such episodes include:
Hey! That’s one of my favorites!
If they could have thrown in a Dance Dance Revolution reference like they did on King of the Hill, it would have been perfect. 
List: Yay! The company loyalty song!
“Knife-a goes in! Guts-a come out!”
I think if they have at least a couple of good one liners, they shouldn’t qualify. Surely you didn’t enjoy everything from the last two seasons better than the Jacko episode…
Bart: Hey this is what Michael Jackson looks like - you look like a big fat mental patient.
Michael: You’d be surprised how often I hear that.
Marge: If you could just talk to him for a few minutes without mentioning our son, Bart…
Doctor: Oh my God! There really is a bart?!?
Michael showing Homer around the psych ward: This is Chief. He never moves a muscle, and never says a work.
Homer: Hi, Chief!
Chief: Hello
(doctors start scribbling like mad in notebooks)
Chief: It’s about time someone reached out to me!
As for my vote:
It’s gotta be: Lisa’s Wedding. Hated that episode. The tennis ep is a close second.
In my opinion, the only funny Matrix joke was in Shrek, because it played on the appearance of everything being frozen.
I’ll concede and agree with Apos that Trash of the Titans wasn’t all bad. I was just thinking of the fan complaints, mostly with U2. But there is a lot of great stuff in there, like the invention of “Love Day” by Costington’s (“Over A Century Without A Slogan”), the people who brought us “Christmas II.” And Homer’s wonderful “The Garbageman.”
“They let me sign checks with a stamp…a stamp!”