I totally agree that "The Principal and the Pauper" is one of the worst episodes ever...I can't even watch that one in syndication, I'd rather watch MTV's Undressed -- that's just sad really. The death of Maude Flanders was funny in one sense, and just sort of stupid in another. I realize they did it because the voice actress who played Maude was not re-signed (she wanted more money than she was worth), and it seemed like a creative way to get her off the show, but overall the episode was weak. Actually, aside from Behind the Laughter, and a few others, most of the episodes from the past two seasons have been REALLY weak in comparison. Any show that has been on the air as long as the Simpsons has will indeed stop being as funny, as writers run out of directions to take the show. Honestly, I think that part of the Simpsons charm was its consistent lack of change. When characters start changing, Barney getting sober, Apu marrying and having kids, Maude Flanders dying, etc. the show loses some of its imortality...just a thought.

Oh! Just remembered the episode where Mr. Burns' long lost son comes into town just completely rotted! I remember turning that one off during the original airing...again, that is just sad. First rule of TV addiction, never change the channel during a first-run Simpsons episode.

I don't know, I rolled at the the badger jokes, "How big of a monkey?", and the golden showers joke. In between there were many others that made me laugh. I agree that it got really lame when The Who actually show up, but what can you do? Almost all of their famous guest episodes are weak. The one with Kim Basinger and Alec Baldwin was a yawn all the way through.

The worst one, though, is the one where Homer gets taken to the Village and given a number because I missed it!!! I really want to see that one!

??? Burns Baby Burns was a great one, from the good years (Season Four, i think).

maybe not exact, but...
[i]-"Smithers, Why don't you get drunk and then stumble around comically for my amusement?"

-"He made fun of my weight problem and suggested my motto be "Semper-Fudge."

-"Theres only one way to make sure he really loves you, and thats to stage a phony kidnapping."

- HOMER "Let's pick up that hitchhiker!"
MARGE "No! Homer, he could be crazy."
HOMER "And, what if he's not? Then we'd look like idiots."




[Edited by iaido on 03-19-01 at 01:52 PM]

There goes my respect for the Emmys. That episode didn't get one laugh or even a chuckle out of me. It was just a sign of them knowing they're running out of ideas, and threw together a bunch of stupid and repetitive jokes for that episode.

[Edited by tha_dvd_man on 03-19-01 at 03:57 PM]

That one was a set up for some pretty good jokes later.

Right on. I love that line!

IMHO, by far the worst episode (and the only one I turn off in syndication) is the one where Bleeding Gums Murphy dies. Sickly sweet sentiment, nasty pseudo-jazz, and a musical number which seems to take up the last ten minutes of the show.

There's a lot of votes for Maude's death, but I really liked the moment when Ned gets mad at God for not giving him a sign, and then angrily turns his bedside picture of God towards the wall. Who has a picture of some old guy who looks like pop culture's God next to his bed? And the star wipes were pretty good.

since it's recent memory, i'm going with the boy band one that just aired. but in general, most lisa and krusty-focused episodes tend to be heavy on the plot, light on humor. and i take issue that the homer episode where he eats the fire peppers of qixatl temango was the worst. c'mon, when he coats his mouth with the wax- tell me that ain't funny.

that episode absolutely slayed me.

t-shirt girls: i guess no one wants a t-shirt....?
homer: that's a damn lie and you know it!

my pick:

the who episode. wtf was the deal with homer and the formaldahyde (sp?)???

cranky.

I'd have to go with the Who episode where they split the town in half. I didn't even watch the tennis or boy bands episodes, so I really can't day about them.

J

The people who posted here about the WORST EPISODE EVER on The Simpsons obviously can't be real fans. Ditto the ones going on about how bad the series has got.
When the comic book guy says "Worst episode EVER!" you know what that is? That's the Simpsons writers making fun of you. Their satirising the so-called fans (of any TV show/movie franchise/comic book) who constantly go on about anything yet claim to hate it or aspects of it.
But most (including those posting in this thread) don't get the joke. Otherwise they wouldn't do it.

Please don't flame me for pointing out the obvious. Don't shoot the messenger, and all that.

Wow, you are so insightful and brilliant. i guess despite watching the Simpsons every day and having nearly every episode on tape, i never realized what a clever pun that subject title was. Thank you for pointing out that i'm not a real fan.

And, you are right, you should not be flamed for debasing everyone who has commented and assuming they dont get such puns.

[Edited by iaido on 03-20-01 at 02:09 PM]

I disagree. I think the bext overall episode is from the first season. The one where the Simpsons buy an RV and go camping is funny from start to finish.

I knew someone here would refuse to accept that they were the butt of the joke. Please, don't take offence. The Simpsons writers are comic geniuses - and they ridicule everybody. It's inevitable that they would ridicule a group you belong to eventually (i.e. 'fans' who go on about how much they 'hate' the show).
Remember: They ridicule everybody. The mistake is to take offence when it's you on the recieving end. After all, you laughed when they were ridiculing people who weren't you - so why take offence when it's your turn.
Just for the record, the title of the thread is not a 'pun'. It was a verbatim reference to joke from the show. One which the targets of the joke failed to get. Which is why they were the target of the joke.
(It's very difficult to explain comedy. After all, if you didn't get it in the first place, then explaining the joke to you won't make it funny. The difference in this case is that the fact you didn't get the joke is the reason it's funny. Still don't understand? Then go watch 'Man on the Moon' - The Andy Kaufman story.)

Trust me, Simpsons fans definitely got the "worst episode ever" joke... in part because it poked fun at previous episodes, and Simpsons fans are notorious for remembering minute details from week to week (case in point... the long running "What state is Springfield in?" joke). Please spare us the high and mighty routine.

Also, please don't condemn some of us for having an opinion that the show has gone downhill in recent years. Just because you can spot a show's faults doesn't mean you're not a fan. I just think it's funny when fanboys declare it blasphemy for speaking a single ill word toward their beloved show.

Edited... Removed part of my original post. I made a comment about the title of the thread, but then realized it was GizmoDVD's thread, not iaido's... I quoted the wrong person.

[Edited by Bobubott on 03-21-01 at 08:32 AM]

I'm not condemning anyone. People have a right to love or hate whatever they want. But I have the right to find it funny when people don't get a joke that's squarely aimed at them.
Comedy is subjective, and people get different things from the same material. I personally believe the joke was about the very people who have posted in this thread. If you don't think so then fair enough. We'll never know (unless a Simpsons producer tell us, and I don't see that happening here). So I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. Personally, I still enjoy the show, and if I didn't I wouldn't go on about how much I hate it. That's my choice. I'm not criticising anyone for doing the opposite. I'm just expressing my view of the situation (that they're behaviour is exactly what the producers have been mocking).
It's a shame some have taken great offence. That wasn't the intention.

Let me ask this...

if the show has declined so much in the last few years, why bother watching? just so you have something to complain about?

it's not that the show isn't as funny as it used to be, it's just different. accept that and enjoy it. be glad it's still on.

by the by, the worst episodes are the music clip show and the spin-off episodes.

[Edited by Oliver Clothesoff on 03-21-01 at 07:32 AM]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Oliver Clothesoff
[B]Let me ask this...

if the show has declined so much in the last few years, why bother watching? just so you have something to complain about?

it's not that the show isn't as funny as it used to be, it's just different. accept that and enjoy it. be glad it's still on.

by the by, the worst episodes are the music clip show and the spin-off episodes.


...Because the show still has occasional nuggets. Why is there always such a stink when someone says they don't like something?- it's an opinion. It's not like the posters are condemning the show as a whole- they're just picking particular episodes they didn't like. seems like some people patrol the message boards to find people posting these kind of topics just so they can jump in and put the ole "why don't you just stop watching then!" post in effect.

i hold nothing but love for the writers, my problem is with you. i only take offense at your conceit to decide that i don’t get the joke- when i do, and that i'm "not a real fan" because i can state an opinion about episodes i thought were less than stellar. Clearly the comic book guys "in show" reference was aimed to joke at the fans expense, but Gizmo's use of it in this topic doesn’t mean he's making the exactly making the same jibe and everyone here is an idiot for posting their opinions.


Having grown up being basically weened on Andy Kaufman, i prefer the real guy to the stale portrait, and dont nned Jim Carrey, Forman, and a gaggle of Hollywood writers to teach me what i already know.


i find you funny because you confuse, backpedal and contradict yourself. Thats the way it goes. Stick a fork in me, i'm done.....

Call it, oh I dunno....hope. Every week I watch hoping there will be a couple good laughs, and every once in a while there's a show with decent writing. The past couple seasons have been filled with extremely lame episodes, but there's the occasional good one....such as the comicbook store owner episode from this season.
No it's not as funny as it used to be, I have accepted that and won't enjoy it, and no I'm not glad it's still on. The show's almost 13 years old, and no sitcom and remain funny after that long. Neither can the Simpsons. The show used to have extremely clever, smart and witty writing, and had perfect dialogue timing. Now it's just stupid and repetitive slapstick "comedy". mostly focusing on Homer doing extremely dumb and obnoxious things. The jokes used to be so clever and witty they could've only been written by comedic geniuses, now it seems all the jokes could've been written by a 14 year old kid. And how knows, maybe they are....doesn't the show have new writers? I know it at least has a new producer or whatever. That sure hasn't helped. The show is just average now, and if the show had always been like it is now, it would never, ever have gained the popularity and critical accliam that it has.
And like I said, the timing isn't as good as it used to be. It used to be perfect, now it just seems sloppy and thrown together, and much too fast sometimes.

Also, why do you think so many of the recent shows have such stupidly-crazy and zany plots, and so many guest star appearances? It's because they NEED them to hide the atrociously bad and simplistic jokes.
It's time the show ends.

[Edited by tha_dvd_man on 03-21-01 at 04:34 PM]

Reminds me of the episode where Bart and Lisa starting writing Itchy and Scratchy episodes under Grandpa's name.

If you watch the episodes, you will see a decline in quality after various members left. Groening leaves, Conan leaves (A big drop in quality happened here), Rich Sakai retires...and so on...

I consider myself a huge fan of the show, but I can't watch it any longer because it is so painfully unfunny and embarrassing.

To quote Kent Brockamn: "It's time this puppy is put to sleep".

So c'mon people, lets let Grandma die with dignity and pull the plug.

Word, bro....word.

Same here. It's interesting you use the word embarrasing, because sometimes I'm kind of embarrased to watch the new episodes around other people. I remember I was watching the Behind The Laughter episode with my dad, and I for some reason just felt so embarrased because of how unfunny it was. And I could tell my father felt the same way too.

I'll stick a fork in you!

(BTW, That's just a joke. I thought I'd point that out for you because, well y'know.... )

Okay, i've got a strange problem. By some cruel twist of fate, the past two episodes my local station has rerun were- The Rodman Horse one, and then yesterday, the Maude Flanders dies one.

Either the karma from this thread is affecting my tv, or maybe my local programmer is a DVDTalk member playing a joke on me. If thats the case, would the programmer for WTNZ Fox 43 please show the Frank Grimes, or Lisa has to preform Heart surgery on Homer episode at 6PM?

For the love of god, i hope this bad episode thing doesnt continue, because that would mean Milhouses Parents divorce would be on today. And, if that happens, i'll have to strap dynamite to my body and blow up the station.