Thirty years ago today, April 19th, 1987, “The Simpsons” premiered as a short on “The Tracey Ullman Show” and to celebrate, I’ve ranked my Top 10 Favorite Episodes. Definitely go check out The Ringer’s Top 100 list that inspired me to do this. Here they are on “Binge and Pod,” a new feed on The Bullpen Cart Podcast:
(EDIT: I realized I forgot to mention this on the episode but to diversify the list, I instituted a “three episodes per season” rule. Seasons 3 and 4 could have possibly dominated the list if I hadn’t.
#10: Whacking Day (Season 4)
#9: Homer vs. the 18th Amendment (Season 8)
#8: Radio Bart (Season 3)
#7: Flaming Moe’s (Season 3)
#6: Last Exit to Springfield (Season 4)
#5: Radioactive Man (Season 7)
#4: Marge vs. the Monorail (Season 4)
#3: Cape Feare (Season 5)
#2: Homer at the Bat (Season 3)
#1: You Only Move Twice (Season 8)
I’m sure that you have your own opinion and probably a different Top 10. This was incredibly hard to even just narrow down to ten episodes so as promised in the podcast, here are the honorable mentions:
Mr. Plow (Season 4) — Don’t get me wrong I LOVE this episode, but it fell victim to the three episodes per season rule. Homer creates his own snow plowing business (Mr. Plow) and gets into a plow war when Barney starts his own plowing business (Plow King). Hilarity ensues.
Stark Raving Dad (Season 3) — Michael Jackson guest stars! Homer accidentally gets put in an insane asylum and meets a large white guy who thinks that he is the King of Pop. Homer brings “Michael” home with him and “MJ” helps the family with their various issues. The “Happy Birthday Lisa” song he and Bart sing is of my favorites in the show’s history.
The Springfield Files (Season 8) — Homer encounters an “alien” in the woods and no one believes him. Once he and Bart get the “alien” on tape, the whole town whats to meet him; even Mulder, Scully, and Chewbacca come to meet it! The “Die/Diet” joke is still just as funny to me now as it was when I was a kid.
Even picking the honorable mentions was tough. Let me know your picks in the comments…
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