Simpsons question

[Sabin]

Sonic Youth wrote
TVcharts is a pretty interesting website. Pick any long-running show, and you can almost see trends emerging. Simspons veterans, I assume this is a reliable chart?

https://tvcharts.co/show/the-simpsons-tt0096697

I have to work today. This is dangerous.

It's pretty reliable although I definitely see a trend towards over-rewarding episodes that are mainly triumphs of comedy like Cape Feare, The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson, and Homer the Great. No idea how The Springfield Files is in the collective top ten.

I think it's interesting that between seasons 19 and 29, there are only two episodes that reach 8.0 status (Holidays of Future Passed and Barthood) and they both trade heavily on the idea of the disappointing futures of these characters that we've spent so much of our lives with. Bart seems destined to be a disappointment while Lisa won't fulfill her potential. I doubt either episode would make a top 50 for me if only because season 3-6 are so stuffed with greatness but both episodes (imperfect as they are) have a very moving melancholy to them.

[Sonic Youth]

TVcharts is a pretty interesting website. Pick any long-running show, and you can almost see trends emerging. Simspons veterans, I assume this is a reliable chart?

https://tvcharts.co/show/the-simpsons-tt0096697

[Sabin]

Franz Ferdinand wrote
I checked out "The Dad-Feelings Limited" (season 32, episode 11) based on hearing that it's a "Wes Anderson episode", but which was really a normal episode - with a segment done in an Andersonian flashback-exposition style - looking back on Comic Book Guy's youth (and featuring a Dan Ackroyd voice character). The entire episode was merely decent but I enjoyed their take on Wes' style and thought they did it well. I suppose the time may soon come where I will have to wade past the 10th or 11th season where I stopped.

Yeah, you weren't kidding. Perfectly decent episode with an enjoyable detour. Two quibbles: I don't really like what this adds to the Comic Book Guy origin (this is far too elaborate of a backstory... he's just a loser who likes fake life over real life) and Comic Book Guy is the wrong character to do extended Wes Anderson homages for. He wouldn't care about Wes Anderson at all.

My favorite part of the episode is the end credits with all the characters posed like Tenenbaums with their personal items.

Something I found about Julie Kavner's voice.
https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comment ... 7_to_2020/

I'm doing a little hopping around in future seasons. The best discovery has been Holidays of Future Passed (s23, e9), which is a glimpse into The Simpsons' future. We've done this before and it really could've benefited from a longer running time, but I was pretty moved by parts of it.

[Sabin]

Franz Ferdinand wrote
I am almost literally in the same boat with you in terms of age, when I gave the show up, etc. My 9-year old and I have rewatched the majority of the first seven or eight seasons in the past year or so. My wife and I recently started the most recent episode available on Disney+ (season 35 or 36?? No idea, but really far along) and were almost instantly turned off by Marge uncharacteristically fuming and screaming at Bart's latest shenanigans. I suppose that may not be a recent change in her temperament given that I've been checked out of the show for literal decades, but it was highly off-putting considering she's always been Bart's strongest and most patient supporter.

I guess I could buy this turn from Marge. After all, she's been patient with Bart for 35 seasons. But I don't know how sympathetic it is. On the other hand, there aren't a lot of great Bart-Marge episodes that I can think of off-hand ("Marge Be Not Proud" is a great one) so maybe this shift could produce some.

Franz Ferdinand wrote
I checked out "The Dad-Feelings Limited" (season 32, episode 11) based on hearing that it's a "Wes Anderson episode", but which was really a normal episode - with a segment done in an Andersonian flashback-exposition style - looking back on Comic Book Guy's youth (and featuring a Dan Ackroyd voice character). The entire episode was merely decent but I enjoyed their take on Wes' style and thought they did it well. I suppose the time may soon come where I will have to wade past the 10th or 11th season where I stopped.

Didn't know this one existed. Now I'm inclined to watch it.

[Franz Ferdinand]

I am almost literally in the same boat with you in terms of age, when I gave the show up, etc. My 9-year old and I have rewatched the majority of the first seven or eight seasons in the past year or so. My wife and I recently started the most recent episode available on Disney+ (season 35 or 36?? No idea, but really far along) and were almost instantly turned off by Marge uncharacteristically fuming and screaming at Bart's latest shenanigans. I suppose that may not be a recent change in her temperament given that I've been checked out of the show for literal decades, but it was highly off-putting considering she's always been Bart's strongest and most patient supporter.

I checked out "The Dad-Feelings Limited" (season 32, episode 11) based on hearing that it's a "Wes Anderson episode", but which was really a normal episode - with a segment done in an Andersonian flashback-exposition style - looking back on Comic Book Guy's youth (and featuring a Dan Ackroyd voice character). The entire episode was merely decent but I enjoyed their take on Wes' style and thought they did it well. I suppose the time may soon come where I will have to wade past the 10th or 11th season where I stopped.

[Sabin]

Thanks. I'll check it out!

[jack]

Disney Plus is maybe the most watched channel/app in our house, so The Simpsons is on a lot. An episode post series 9/10 that I could watch again and again in Kill Gill from series 18. The basic plot is that the Simpsons allow Gill Gunderson to spend the night at their home at Christmas and he refuses to leave. Another that I love is a two-part episode from series 28 called The Great Phatsby. It's the show's take on The Great Gatsby. I recommend them both.

[Sabin]

Last month, I spent an evening with my sister and her husband. They had recently started rewatching old episodes of The Simpsons and asked me for recommendations for the best older Simpsons episodes. Her husband enjoyed the show but said he found the early pre-fourth season episodes a little hard to get into. So, I ratted a few off the top of my head and my sister and I realized just how much time we spent watching The Simpsons growing up. It really was kind of the defining show my pre-college life. It was just about the only show my family and I could all watch together. That evening sparked a rewatch on my part. I started with season 1 and just kept going. Somewhere along the way, I decided to make a list of my top ten favorite episodes which has proven to be a really challenging process of whittling down. I could easily make a top 25 list of A+ episodes. I think there's more episodes of The Simpsons that I cherish than any other show I can think of off-hand.

I just finished season 9. I'm looking ahead to season 10 and I realized that this is the season I stopped watching. This is partly due to the fact that I was finishing high school and about to go to college and certain shows just fell by the wayside for me. But it was also due to what I perceived as a steep drop-off in quality following a couple years of gradual decline (although rewatching 8 and 9, there are certainly many gems). Apparently, I'm not alone in this decision, Season 8 was when Mike Scully took over as show-runner and the series entered a run of seasons categorized by silly plots and Homer acting increasingly stupid and mean-spirited. One of the things that I love the most about The Simpsons is that for the bulk of its early run, it doesn't feel like a cartoon. By the time I stopped watching, it did. But I digress.

If I wanted to make a list of the greatest episodes of The Simpsons, is there anything past 9 that would make a Top Ten or even a Top Twenty-Five? Or any episodes that I really need to see.