GONZO GREEN: Alright, so in honor of the upcoming 25th season of The Simpsons, ChefRich and I decided to compile a list of the 25 best episodes of the series thus far. Obviously one mere mortal taking on the assignment himself (or herself) is pure madness, so it was best to attack this as a duo. Of course, with two separate people with possibly vastly different opinions, a process would need to be set up to achieve a proper list of 25. And now, to ChefRich with the weather.

CHEF RICH: Thanks Gonzo! This list has really become a labor of love, almost like taking on a child. This list has seen us travel long distances, stay up WAY past our bed time and consume much more BBQ than a sane human should in one sitting. But it was all for the love of the craft. It was all for The Simpsons. We each came into this project with our own list of 40 (60 in Gonzo’s case) episodes we thought should be considered. Each one that matched on our list was an automatic qualifier for the 25. We then watched each remaining episode to rate their worth. Will there be some shocking revelations? Yes. Will you be amazed? We hope so. Will this cause drama for all the trolls? I sure to God hope so. Alrighty Gonzo, anything more to add before we drop number 25 on em?

I think it’s important to note at this early juncture, that this is not necessarily a list of the funniest episodes of The Simpsons. It also isn’t necessarily a list of the most popular episodes, or those that might be defined as “classics”. Although some episodes may make the list for those reasons, this is truly designed to be a list of the 25 episodes that best represent what The Simpsons – and their 24-season, 530-episode run so far – is all about. With that, let’s get to it.

 

25. Homer The Smithers (Season 7, Episode 17)

CHEF RICH: Gonzo, this was one that you argued to make the list, care to tell the class why?

GONZO GREEN: Was it? I thought we agreed on this one. Regardless, I’d love to. In the Simpsons world, there is a whole plethora of unique characters, and some find a special place in the hearts of the die-hard fans. Mr. Burns is a complicated 104-year-old man. He is pure evil, with the gentle soul of a child, and the occasional humanity and vulnerability that comes with being over a century old. More than any other episode, this one conveys these traits. It is a peek into the dichotomy of power and helplessness that makes up Springfield’s elderly curmudgeon, and his relationship with his doting assistant, Waylon Smithers. Homer unintentionally drives a wedge between the two, testing their bond, and allowing Homer ample opportunities to mess up Burns’ life, and fire off one of the best collections of one-liners in any episode. Do you concur?

Wholeheartedly. This episode is a hotbed for quotable material! “What do I do in case of a fire?” Pure gold. What’s your favorite line from this one Gonz?

Near the end, when Homer tells Lisa he knocked Mr. Burns out of a third-story window and she asks if he died. Homer’s reply: “What am I, a doctor?” was was probably my favorite. That or “Taft, you old dog.” Which is a quote often edited out of present-day TV broadcasts as because 90 years ago is still too soon to make fun of a former President.

 

24. “Two Dozen And One Greyhounds” (Season 6, Episode 20)

GONZO GREEN: I swear, this list won’t just be about Mr. Burns. Nevertheless, Mr. B’s rendition of “See My Vest” is one of the best songs in the entire series, and pushes “Two Dozen and One Greyhounds into the 24th slot of this list.

CHEF RICH: I dare you to listen to the first five bars of that song and not sing the rest of the song A Capella. I friggin DARE YOU! It’s impossible. And that’s what makes this episode great, replay ability and rememberability. Yes, i made that a word now. Deal with it!

I love when Snowball II, not getting any attention with all the dogs in the house, tries to vie for attention and Homer yells, “Get that cat out of the way!”

Grizzly bear underwear….Wait, what were you saying??

How about Homer’s endless string of “d’ohs” when the puppies keep eating his chips? This is definitely an outstanding family episode.

A family episode that isn’t overly preachy, which is refreshing. I can get behind morals and whatnot, but sometimes i just enjoy seeing the whole family working as a team and letting that be the moral.

The only moral here: murdering puppies is bad.

Unless you’re an Eagles fan.

It’s also worth noting that The Simpsons totally did the plot line of the family dog mounting and knocking up a champion greyhound mid-race way before Family Guy. Credit where credit is due.

 

23.Missionary: Impossible (Season 11, Episode 15)

CHEF RICH: This episode was very inspirational in my development as a kid. I licked sooooo many toads after watching this episode!

GONZO GREEN: By that logic, this episode was very inspirational to the development of this list.

How so? Not too many toads in Brooklyn…….oooooooohhhh! Heh Heh!

Speaking of crazy thoughts and visions, this episode was also about religion, which The Simpsons always does a good job of lampooning. In this case it’s easy, because Homer (and his extremely limited amount of religious knowledge) was assigned as the sole missionary to an island of people. This is obviously a recipe for success. Especially since the reason he’s on the island is to run from the entire network of PBS.

Every time i watch this episode, all I can think afterwards is “SHOTS FIRED!” This was the first time The Simpsons really took a direct shot at Family Guy, and with the help of Betty White, it was almost a knockout blow. Oh wait, it kinda was. Wasn’t Family Guy dropped the first time a little while after this?

Coincidence? I think not. And by the way, The Simpsons made Betty White funny way before the rest of the world a decade later.

 

22. Simpson Tide (Season 9, Episode 19)

GONZO GREEN: Like #23, this episode’s story line capitalizes on the hilarity of Homer being placed in some position of leadership or any situation where he is given an abundance of responsibility. Although, really this is just one of those episodes that is full of laughs from start to finish. I vividly recall recording this episode on VHS when it first came out, and then repeatedly watching it to memorize every quote and joke. Don’t judge.

CHEF RICH: Down Periscope meets The Simpsons, really. With all of it’s quotable moments like “Sparkle Sparkle!”  I really enjoyed the quack quack quacks as I could laugh to those penguins for hours.  

That whole running gag of “It’s my first day” is great. As is Homer’s Planet of the Donuts dream at the very beginning. But with enlistment, and service, there are ample opportunities for Homer to mess things up in the Naval Reserve (America’s seventeenth line of defense, between the Mississippi National Guard and the League of Women Voters.)

We’d be remiss not to touch on Homer’s whale sounds when he’s invited to dinner with the Captain and how he’s responding perfectly to the conversation, all the while focused on peas. His one track mind really sells the whole gag.

And he basically kills Captain Tenille by firing him out of the torpedo tube, only to get off due to various acts of corruption among the Admirals in the disciplinary committee.

 

21. Radioactive Man (Season 7, Episode 2)

CHEF RICH: UP AND AT THEM! The summer blockbuster of a lifetime. The chance to be a part of fan boy lore. Who would be the one, years down the road, to tell their grand kids that they were Fallout Boy? (See how that’s spelled? Fuck you, Wentz!)

GONZO GREEN: Milhouse winning the competition really makes this episode, considering he is easily one of the funniest characters on the show. If Bart or Nelson or Ralph Wiggum (“What’s for lunch tomorrow?”) became the star, it simply wouldn’t have worked. Although getting most of the townspeople into this episode at one point or another really helped.

“The goggles! They do nothing!!!!” I’m sure that there are more quotable episodes, but the quotes that come from this episode are some of the most rock solid in the series.

Like when the stagehands tell Martin and Ralph that they need to paint spots on horses because “cows don’t look like cows on film.” And when asked what they do if something that looks like a horse is needed, the men reply: “Ehh, usually we just tape a bunch of cats together.” Brilliant.

And having a few friends in the “back of the house” in the entertainment industry, I can also assure you that it is 100% accurate. Short cuts mean less money spent. And that means you get paid. On a completely different topic, how funny was it that they picked Springfield out of Variety from what could be the smallest advertisement ever??

Yeah, and it said, “FLIM SPRINGFIELD.” How about Milhouse and the real X-ray machine too?

Hahaha! I forgot all about that scene until we watched the episode! A perfect example of The Simpsons replay ability. Such a rewindable moment! I don’t think this will be the last appearance of Rainier Wolfcastle or Radioactive Man on this list either. #Foreshadowing.

It’s also not even the funniest Milhouse episode on the list. #AdditionalForeshadowing.

So that’s it for round one of the 25 greatest episodes of The Simpsons. Be sure to check back at the same time next week for our next installment of the list. And feel free to browse around the rest of the site as well.

The more views the site gets, the less times ChefRich and I are forced to watch Here Comes Honey Boo-Boo and choke each other. Numbers 20-16 are up next week!

(@chefrichBB) doesn’t really mind the choking, but the Boo Boo is worse than water boarding!

(@Gonzo_Green) just broke a key on his keyboar. Keypa. Typey letter thingy.

Check out #’s 20-16 here!