I was gonna comment how it was a nice coincidence this Season 18 video ended up being 18:18 in length. But the RUclips preview says it was 18:19. That's a reference to the next season, I guess 😐
It's 18:18 once you click on it. That one-second difference from the thumbnail to the actual video is a weird quirk of RUclips that has existed for a very long time (since the early 2010s if not earlier).
"Next up: Season 19" Oh no, you don't Jims! You still have one more thing that was in production at the time to revisit first. A certain movie if you will.
He did do a review here on RUclips years ago listed as “Random Review” unless he decides to do a more thorough revisit in context to these retrospectives
@@alexk_9358 Yes. But revists are about well, revisting content you've might've already seen or talked about under fresh new eyes. And that review was 9 years ago as of that upload date, soon to be 10, as in a decade. That's a long time, and an update never hurt anyone.
I'd say what makes the Bart's therapist subplot go full circle is the creepy twist that the therapist bonded with Bart so much because her son was murdered by Dark Stanley Like, that's a clever twist that remembers the setpiece of the plot
The Bart's therapist stuff is my favourite part of Yokel Cards, idc about the Lisa stuff at all but having Bart find out why he is the way that he is just breaks my heart. Would rather have that than a story focusing on the Spuckler kids, who are barely characters
5:27 I don't know why but the subtle colour correction to make Mike Scully blush really made me laugh. That caught me off guard for the type of editing usually done on this channel. Just wanted to say it didn't go unnoticed.
Whenever we get adorable Homer parenting moment I love it. The way he's scared to shatter Lisa's world with the ending and how Lisa figures it out and after reading the real ending she just smiles that says she liked dad's ending more
Never seen it myself, but from my understanding, the show's concept is that each season is 24 episodes long, and each episode is one hour long- and all those are *consecutive* hours. As a result, if you're a major character and you do something like fall into a mountain lion's den and need to wait a few hours to be rescued, that's a plot arc that continues for several episodes.
@@phineas81707 You are both right and wrong. It's just the fact that in one of the filler storylines things get so wacky a character meets a mountain lion for no reason.
24 minutes has a similar energy to it as Filmore. There really is something just magical about reinterpreting drama cop/FBI shows and films in a school setting.
Filmore was such a underrated but brilliant show U watched as a kid. I have them on my hard drive and go back to watching them every now and then just for nostalgia
I feel like the further we go into the Al Jean era, the harder it would be to list any differences between seasons, and any distinguishing traits would become more and more of a stretch
I dunno, i feel like there's insight to be had. Even shows made by the same people change over time. I'm hopeful therealjims will be able to provide some insight as we get into those years
I feel like the retrospectives are doing well with still having new distinctions and themes. Even if it's not as distinct as when showrunners were changing, each season still feels like they approach stories with certain decisions in mind. It's the top 10s where it feels kind of like "This season had 3, 4, or 5 S or A tier episodes. Now to try to fill the rest of the list with one of the many B or C tier episodes."
I used to think that too, but being in the middle of a complete rewatch of the series in order, I beg to differ. The differences between seasons are I find particularly marked when you look at certain points, one of the most crucial for me is the way the Homer/Marge couple is portrayed. With the Scully era, we got used to not being too interested in them, and mostly making jokes with Homer acting a bit jerkass with her, without it having any consequences. With the end of this era and the arrival of Al Jean, we were treated to a season 13 that calmed Homer down a little on this aspect. Then in season 14/15, we were treated to two very strange years in which Homer again acted in a manner similar to that of the Scully era, but this time with consequences on Marge's side. Many episodes of season 14 showed Marge unhappy about many aspects of their marriage and highlighted Homer's vices in an almost darker way (I don't know if you've seen “Three Gays of the Condo” but it's one of the few times in the series where Homer's blood-alcohol problem is very seriously addressed, with an outright evocation of the fact that Bart/Lisa would have cried seeing Homer drunk once again). Then season 15 played with that more serious side of how Marge was taking Homer's problems and unhappiness in their marriage, trying to give Homer some kind of redemption. Many episodes this season in my opinion try to show Homer making lasting efforts (“lasting” for a status quo sitcom like The Simpsons) for their marriage. The end of “Diatribe of a Mad Housewife”, the second act of “‘Tis the Fifteenth Season” and even the controversial end of the controversial “Co-Dependents’ Day” show Homer changing in more or less significant but lasting ways about his lack of attention to Marge, his selfishness and his drinking problems, respectively. Anyway, I could go on about the other seasons just talking about the Homer/Marge relationship, but what I really wanted to say was that I think the seasons are still clearly distinguishable from one another, even at this stage of the series.
I love how they often fit the Grumple into the background when possible. Even in the second to newest TOH in Simpsonland. You can tell the writers love The Grumple too.
It's says a lot about Rome-old and Juli-eh that I don't remember the A plot with grandpa and Selma at all, like I have no memory of ever seeing it, not even after listening Jims talking about it, but I know the box fort b-plot by heart
Counterpoint: Ice Cream of Margie should be on the list just beause the Ice Cream Truck that Otto pimped up looks fly as heck and it should be on a Hit & Run remake
🎶 Men with hoses, Moe exposes, thrashing crashing overload Spend one hour with Jack Bauer the 400th episode 🎶 That jingle has been in my head for 18 years
"Return RUclips Dislike" extension. I think it only counts new _(as in "since the day YT turned off dislikes")_ dislikes by people who have the extension but it's more than nothing.
I stil know a couple, but it feels like nowadays they only rerun the same episodes, so I have seen Marge gamer several times, but some of these maybe only once.
I'm so glad you're reviewing this range of seasons. These were the ones *I* grew up watching when I would watch it with my parents as a kid. I haven't seen a lot of the Seasons 1-10 so I don't often have an opinion on one or another episode, but these ones I remember virtually all of them and I'm glad I can sort of cognitively participate instead of just taking in your thoughts.
Say what you will about Season 18, it holds a bizarre place in my heart. Nostalgia? Very likely. Springfield Up is such a good episode. That backstory of the Crazy Cat Lady REALLY caught us off-guard.
I'm excited for future retrospectives, because this is pretty much where i fall off when i rewatch. I've never seen most of season 20+, minus a few big recommendations like Pixelated & Afraid and Sky Police
17:01 Rewatched “Bart Gets Hit by a Car” after hearing this, it’s so true. Homer randomly falling out-of-love for Marge for not lying in court seemed like a desperate attempt to fill run time. Although, I never realized how good they were at selling drama in season 2; I fall for it every time with the perfect music cues and storyboarding.
1:57 It feels like ages since you've used this music for the background. It was hearing it in your older videos, that I found the source and have been listening to it for years. Anyways, thanks for all of these retrospectives and congrats getting half way so far. It's a long but enjoyable ride.
Sometimes I wish The Simpsons would go for the throat with Disney like they did with Fox instead of butt kissing them in the most uninspiring ways. Fox seems like a way more chill organization compared to The Walt Disney Company in that retrospect.
I don't think Fox liked it either. But when the original contracts for the show where negotiated, it was still a young and struggling network. So they guarenteed the writers a lot more freedom and leeway than they would later. Evidently, when Fox was negotiating with Groening over Futurama roughly ten years later, he wanted it to enjoy the same conditions as the Simpsons did. Fox was hesitant and told him, they didn't do business like that anymore. In the end, Groening got his way, but it's doubtful any new, unproven creative would've gotten the same at this point.
Next time you're teaching a class, tell your students that there's going to be a quiz next week, then on the day of the quiz, tell them that you changed your mind then watch The Simpsons all period.
This list, along everyone with every preceding list from the past 10 seasons, really does prove what I think is the over-riding truth of the show post golden age. It's not that the show simply stopped being good all together at a certain point, it's that the hit to miss ratio for episodes has a very clear downward slope starting with the peek in 6/7. There are still good (and even sometimes great) episode every season, it's just there are fewer of them every year.
I knew for a fact that "The Haw-Haed Couple" was gonna be high on the list, it's so memorable. Next time in season 19 we have the one episode I consider a great potential series finale for the show, even if I'm glad it wasn't.
What I like about the bit where Homer changes the ending is that it reminds me of how fans write fix it fics for canon they don't like, and how that can be a sort of restorative process. Whether or not the story went "as it should have", it is fun to come up with your own version and share it with others that may have shared in your own disappointment. (It's specifically the bit when Lisa says that she prefers Homer's version that I find so adorable and wholesome.)
I still remember the first time I watched Marge gamer. I was in middle school and I had grown up with my dads probably 12-13 seasons of the Simpsons on DVD but I didn’t have access to them at home (haw haw child of divorce). And so during one summer I tried to find watchable episodes on RUclips, and literally the only one I could find for like a month straight was Marge Gamer. And it was the first new Simpsons episode I had seen after years of obsessively watching my dad’s dvds with him and watching every rerun I could find, and I was absolutely enthralled to find “new” content for this show I loved. I watched it so many times that summer I swear. It’ll always have a special place in my heart.
Season 18 was the last season I watched as it aired. It's been fun watching all your reviews and being reminded of all these old episodes again, it's going to be interesting watching you review the later seasons that I've really never seen.
Once you get to season 20, I’d love to see a ranking of your top 10 list from worst to best (hope that makes sense- each top 10 you’ve done from 1-20 is ranked against each other as collective sets of episodes). It’d be cool to see where things rank especially when they’re supposed to be the best/better Simpsons episodes. Great video as always- excited for new content to come!!
I think the biggest knock for "Marge Gamer" lies in other animated shows doing MMO episodes around the same time. "Marge Gamer" gets compared to the likes of American Dad's "Dungeons and Wagons" with its art style shift and South Park's machinima-powered "Make Love, Not Warcraft". If anything, it makes Marge's plot feel more quaint in comparison to those.
I do think Marge Gamer is a lot better than those two, and would be my pick for the best of the season. The South Park one for all the hype and memes has like one good line in the entire episide ("how do we kill that which has no life?") and I have no memory of the American Dad effort now whatsoever
speaking of liking an episode for it's B plot. you should make a best and worst B plots video! or point me to them if they already exist and i've just forgot about them, i guess.
This is a very mixed bag season of the series overall, not as bad as some later seasons but you can really see the writers straining during the preparation for the Simpsons Movie during this point. Struggling for ideas and throwing whatever character dynamics and story ideas they can at the wall, It doesn’t always work and you can see the messiness but glad to see there are still some gems scattered in it.
15 to 19 I have a lot of fondness for. Id be as bold as to say I overall enjoy the teen Simpsons years over the tween years. Episodes like your top two here, Eternal Moonshine, Girls Just Wanna Have Sums, SCCATAGAP, Heartbroke Kid, Dont Fear The Roofer... seal that for me.
Totally agree on the box fort subplot - any time we see the kids actually being kids gets a lot of bonus points from me. Also, don’t @ me but Kill Gill should be higher.
Season 18 is a very complicated season, and there are some fallback moments in it. Again, I have stood up for “Little Big Girl” and continue to do so! There is something very compelling to me about the Bart and Darcy romance. I like how she embraces a lot of his rebellious nature, and I even think that though a lot of people say that dream scene is confusing and disturbing, for me, I find it sweet to see Bart imagining himself as a good father figure. This is why I defend this episode! As for most of your top picks, I agree that a lot of the B-plots are fantastic, especially the box fort story and the ones with Lisa and Homer! Overall a very nice list, but the ice cream episode is definitely a favorite of mine and would be much higher in my personal ranks. Also thank you for speaking up for 24 minutes! Actually going back through my memories of the series, I think it would be totally fantastic if you did a video analysis on the top ten or less or even a ranking video for the full list of Springfield Elementary drama episodes! This seems like a fantastic potential video for your channel! Please consider this request! Good luck with all your work and I look forward to hearing what you think about season 19!
24 Minutes had to be my favourite cause my mum and I are 24 super fans ever since I was a child So this episode, we absolutely loved it any episode with Kiefer Sutherland in it
My heart skipped a beat when I heard another OCRemix of a Wild ARMs track being used in one of these. I suppose "False Wedding on the Sea" was a good choice considering the episode!
Yokel Chords is also noteworthy for one of the great throwaway social commentary gags in Simpsons history: "Brandine? I thought you was in Iraq, preventing 9-11!"
This is a season I like but it also has the first Simpsons episode I remember not liking, "The Boys of Bummer" due to how the town treated Bart for not catching the ball which is over the top. These are my top 10 from this season. I could have put a few of the episodes I put at 10 to 6, Little Big Girl, Marge Gamer and 24 minutes on my top 5 but I liked my top 5 just a little more. While The Haw-Hawed Couple didn't make my list, I liked the Angelica Button B-Plot with Homer and Lisa. "Moustache power activate!" My top 10: 10. Little Big Girl 9. Springfield Up 8. You Kent Always Say What You Want 7. Marge Gamer 6. 24 Minutes 5. Jazzy and the Pussycats 4. The Wife Aquatic - I am not sure why I like this episode so much but I have watched it a lot since it first came out. 3. G.I. (Annoyed Grunt) 2. Moe'N'a Lisa 1. Kill Gill Volume 1 & 2 - I have this on my top favourite episodes I like to rewatch now and then.
Am i the only one who likes revenge best serve three. Its def not my fav of 3 segment episodes and not in my top 5 but i rewatch it a ton. I can see the flaws but all stories have a fun moment or two.
Let's be honest, most of us are here (following this channel) because of the Nelson character study video. So I don't think there was any doubt what the number one episode would be.
Man, it's commendable that Jim is trying to squeeze blood from the stone that is The Simpsons past season 11, but I'm worried he might not have hands left by the time he's done with how hard he's had to convince us any of these picks of being a good choice
What realjims needs to do, is once he has done a top list for every season of the Simpsons, he should take all the #1 eps, and rank them from worst to best
14:03 I think Bart (or any other kid for that matter) could in theory beat Nelson, but two conditions need to be met: A) Nelson needs to be on low-guard B) The aggressor needs to be super pissed-off
I just want to say I'm so happy the Marge gaming episode turned out to be in the top 3 That one became one of my favourites of all the time and I'm glad i'm not the only one thinks is a pretty good episode despite the ronaldo appearance (funny enough he also voiced himself in spanish and is just as bad, worst star cameo ever) Like you said it's a miracle that it turned out well enough we can still remember it fondly even after all those years Oh and the sequence with marge running to the house with Maggie in that kent episode has to be one of the funniest gags for me in the entire season idk why
To this day, "You Kent Always Say What You Want" stands as my favorite episode of the season. There's something I just love about media commentary episodes, and seeing Kent Brockman get outed not by his swearing on-air but by a ring of Splenda in his coffee stands as a testament to how reactive corporate executives are.
Season 18 traumatized me when I first watched it. I still have the image of Moe being turned into a crepe engraved in my brain. Also the cannibalistic Homer treehouse segment disturbed me so much I couldn’t sleep for a week. Also the Gil episode is a classic in my household just because of the Grumple joke.
The first half of the show is now ranked! This ranking is good. Below is my ranking (with only certain placements being explained) I only liked my top 4-5 episodes for season 18: 1. "Please Homer, Don't Hammer 'Em" - Overall an enjoyable episode well executed. Homer got what he deserved and it was funny. Also my bias for my enjoyment of the marital episodes play a role in the ranking in some way. 2. "Ice Cream of Margie (with the Light Blue Hair)" - Other than how it ended and how Homer treated that lactose intolerant kid, I really like this one. The ice cream stick montage with "Feels So Good" playing is awesome, and I love Homer and Marge's partnership in the first half. Also funny you mentioned "Bart Gets Hit by a Car" since that's a top 25 episode for me. 3. "Crook and Ladder" - Really funny episode that's unique and fun. 4. "Marge Gamer" - Another good episode. I think the Homer and Lisa plot started late honestly and Ronaldo's guest appearance was bad and unnecessary. Otherwise I really enjoy the Bart and Marge story and Homer and Lisa's is pretty good. 5. "24 Minutes" - Another unique episode, although I haven't watched 24 and it was lacking in the joke department imo. 6. "The Wife Aquatic" 7. "Stop! Or My Dog Will Shoot" 8. "The Haw-Hawed Couple" - I enjoyed "Sleeping with the Enemy" but personally I disagree with your opinion on this episode. Nelson is too weird for my taste and it didn't really entertain me that much. A shame since Nelson is one of my favorite characters. 9. "The Boys of Bummer" - I know this should be ranked lower and I don't like this episode either but I honestly think this is mostly tame compared to episodes ranked lower on my list. It's mostly the town being awful to Bart and it has a horrible b plot. 10. "You Kent Always Say What You Want" - One of Ned's worst appearances ever. 11. "Revenge Is a Dish Best Served Three Times" 12. "Jazzy and the Pussycats" 13. "Homerazzi" 14. "Moe'N'a Lisa" - Too many guest stars. It really ruined the episode and it already wasn't good to begin with. 15. "G.I. (Annoyed Grunt)" 16. "Treehouse of Horror XVII" - A bad ToH. The Golem segment was easily the worst of the three with it's bad premise and uninteresting violence. The Blob segment was just Homer eating over and over and it got repetitive fast. The last segment is very forgettable and I only remember Kang and Kodos' cameo and the townspeople getting in mud. 17. "The Mook, the Chef, the Wife and Her Homer" 18. "Yokel Chords" - Cletus is not an interesting side character at all and it's a forgettable episode. 19. "Rome-Old and Juli-Eh" - One of the worst premises ever with no humor and I honestly thought that b plot was in a different episode (although I'm not a big plot fan). 20. "Kill Gil, Volumes I & II" - Annoying episode with a bad character (Gil) being the main character. It drags on forever and I'm really not a fan of the fact that Marge went to Arizona to confront Gil even after he left the house. 21. "Springfield Up" - I hate documentary episodes and Declan Desmond. The former is why I hate "Behind the Laughter" which I know a lot of people enjoy. 22. "Little Big Girl" - Really close to a bottom 10 episode in the show for me for its awful story and uncreative story. On top of that "Bart getting a girlfriend" episodes with the exception of "Bart's Girlfriend" are not really good at all.
Episodes like the haw-hawed couple always made read bart nelson and milhouse as at least bi which i feel like the show would never actually do but will forever be my head canon
I honestly disagree with you on the Gil episode. I don't get the vibes at all that Marge usually has trouble saying no; if anything she's usually the wet blanket who tries to stop the family's wilder antics when no one else is willing to. And the episode is just plain depressing to me on top of that. Good list regardless though.
So, according to IMDb, Michael Price (I'm not sure what he does on the show or if he still works on it, so my apologies) was the man who wrote the lyrics for all of the song parodies in Yokel Chords-- but according to the IMDb trivia page for Yokel Chords, Stephen Sondheim was credited for all the songs except "The Ballad of Buzz Cola" (although it's worded kinda oddly on the trivia page because it feels like the implication is that someone forgot to credit Sondheim for "The Ballad of Buzz Cola"). Anyway, apparently it was Michael's idea to ask Sondheim to cameo because Michael was a big fan on his, and what originally was meant to be just a one day trip out to New York where Sondheim lived turned into a two-day trip as apparently either the piano Sondheim was going to use for his cameo wasn't ready, or there was an issue in the audio recording, but either way Michael and whoever else ended up spending two days recording Sondheim's audio. According to the story shared by Michael on IMDb, when they wrapped up the recording for Sondheim's cameo, Sondheim asked Michael if there was anything more Michael needed, to which Michael replied, "If you could play the entire score of Sweeney Todd, that would be amazing!" Apparently Sondheim chuckled and was like, "Oh no no", but then he turned back to the piano and began playing the prelude The Ballad of Sweeney Todd" which surprised and excited Michael. If it's true that Sondheim did in fact write all the parody lyrics, or had a hand in helping to write them, he definitely was the best person for the job! Sondheim was actually very close with Oscar Hammerstein II (one half of the writing duo behind The Sound of Music, as well as many other classic musicals such as Oaklahoma!, Carousel, Cinderella, The King and I, etc) as Sondheim was best friends with Hammerstein's son who was the same age as Sondheim, and Sondheim was always over at the Hammerstein's home-- so much so that Sondheim credited Oscar as being the father figure in his life, as his biological father walked out on Sondheim and his mother when he was four (possibly even younger).
I agree with most of the takes here and watching season 19 currently for that One Piece and Simpsons podcast I do and it has me excited to hear your thoughts! As always it has been a blast, and the preview says 18:18 to me.
I was gonna comment how it was a nice coincidence this Season 18 video ended up being 18:18 in length.
But the RUclips preview says it was 18:19. That's a reference to the next season, I guess 😐
Rip
Congrats, you've officially reviewed the 1st half of The Simpsons!
Or a reference to the position of the movie?
It's 18:18 for me 🙂
It's 18:18 once you click on it. That one-second difference from the thumbnail to the actual video is a weird quirk of RUclips that has existed for a very long time (since the early 2010s if not earlier).
Congrats, you've officially reviewed the 1st half of The Simpsons!
Season 18 was still new in my head
And only 2 more seasons with DVD releases
The first half of the Simpsons SO FAR!
Dupli-comment
@@BrendanBarneywhat you said a guy in the other season 18 vid said the same thing
I feel like Lenny talking about his dinosaur cake in the documentary episode is such an underrated Simpsons scene.
The way he says "Yes, I'll say" is always just so cute to me.
"Next up: Season 19"
Oh no, you don't Jims! You still have one more thing that was in production at the time to revisit first. A certain movie if you will.
He did do a review here on RUclips years ago listed as “Random Review” unless he decides to do a more thorough revisit in context to these retrospectives
I mean he did already review the movie though it was awhile ago now
The Simpsons Movie!!
The second Itchy and Scratchy Movie?
@@alexk_9358 Yes. But revists are about well, revisting content you've might've already seen or talked about under fresh new eyes. And that review was 9 years ago as of that upload date, soon to be 10, as in a decade. That's a long time, and an update never hurt anyone.
I'd say what makes the Bart's therapist subplot go full circle is the creepy twist that the therapist bonded with Bart so much because her son was murdered by Dark Stanley
Like, that's a clever twist that remembers the setpiece of the plot
The Bart's therapist stuff is my favourite part of Yokel Cards, idc about the Lisa stuff at all but having Bart find out why he is the way that he is just breaks my heart.
Would rather have that than a story focusing on the Spuckler kids, who are barely characters
Loved that detail. In general, one of my favorites Simpson episode out of classic era.
5:27 I don't know why but the subtle colour correction to make Mike Scully blush really made me laugh. That caught me off guard for the type of editing usually done on this channel. Just wanted to say it didn't go unnoticed.
Whenever we get adorable Homer parenting moment I love it. The way he's scared to shatter Lisa's world with the ending and how Lisa figures it out and after reading the real ending she just smiles that says she liked dad's ending more
"Who knew kite flying could be so scandalous?"
Marge knew: "There's something about flying a kite at night that's so unwholesome."
Adultery is one thing but kite flying at night? Utterly obscene I tell ya.
As someone who's never seen 24, "I look forward to the sequel where Maggie gets trapped by mountain lions" came really out of the left-field.
Never seen it myself, but from my understanding, the show's concept is that each season is 24 episodes long, and each episode is one hour long- and all those are *consecutive* hours.
As a result, if you're a major character and you do something like fall into a mountain lion's den and need to wait a few hours to be rescued, that's a plot arc that continues for several episodes.
@@phineas81707 You are both right and wrong. It's just the fact that in one of the filler storylines things get so wacky a character meets a mountain lion for no reason.
24 minutes has a similar energy to it as Filmore. There really is something just magical about reinterpreting drama cop/FBI shows and films in a school setting.
Filmore was such a underrated but brilliant show U watched as a kid. I have them on my hard drive and go back to watching them every now and then just for nostalgia
@@Manbearpig444I rewatched a couple episodes last year and it holds up, really shocked me how good it was and how it got only 1 season?
Gotta' just say how much I appreciate the work you put in with subtitles and song links - thank you!
YES!
"Simpsons powerscaling" is crazy lol
I feel like the further we go into the Al Jean era, the harder it would be to list any differences between seasons, and any distinguishing traits would become more and more of a stretch
I dunno, i feel like there's insight to be had. Even shows made by the same people change over time. I'm hopeful therealjims will be able to provide some insight as we get into those years
I feel like the retrospectives are doing well with still having new distinctions and themes. Even if it's not as distinct as when showrunners were changing, each season still feels like they approach stories with certain decisions in mind. It's the top 10s where it feels kind of like "This season had 3, 4, or 5 S or A tier episodes. Now to try to fill the rest of the list with one of the many B or C tier episodes."
I used to think that too, but being in the middle of a complete rewatch of the series in order, I beg to differ.
The differences between seasons are I find particularly marked when you look at certain points, one of the most crucial for me is the way the Homer/Marge couple is portrayed.
With the Scully era, we got used to not being too interested in them, and mostly making jokes with Homer acting a bit jerkass with her, without it having any consequences.
With the end of this era and the arrival of Al Jean, we were treated to a season 13 that calmed Homer down a little on this aspect. Then in season 14/15, we were treated to two very strange years in which Homer again acted in a manner similar to that of the Scully era, but this time with consequences on Marge's side.
Many episodes of season 14 showed Marge unhappy about many aspects of their marriage and highlighted Homer's vices in an almost darker way (I don't know if you've seen “Three Gays of the Condo” but it's one of the few times in the series where Homer's blood-alcohol problem is very seriously addressed, with an outright evocation of the fact that Bart/Lisa would have cried seeing Homer drunk once again).
Then season 15 played with that more serious side of how Marge was taking Homer's problems and unhappiness in their marriage, trying to give Homer some kind of redemption. Many episodes this season in my opinion try to show Homer making lasting efforts (“lasting” for a status quo sitcom like The Simpsons) for their marriage. The end of “Diatribe of a Mad Housewife”, the second act of “‘Tis the Fifteenth Season” and even the controversial end of the controversial “Co-Dependents’ Day” show Homer changing in more or less significant but lasting ways about his lack of attention to Marge, his selfishness and his drinking problems, respectively.
Anyway, I could go on about the other seasons just talking about the Homer/Marge relationship, but what I really wanted to say was that I think the seasons are still clearly distinguishable from one another, even at this stage of the series.
Nelsons' HAW HAW moment is friggin' great during the box fort episode.
I love how they often fit the Grumple into the background when possible. Even in the second to newest TOH in Simpsonland. You can tell the writers love The Grumple too.
It's says a lot about Rome-old and Juli-eh that I don't remember the A plot with grandpa and Selma at all, like I have no memory of ever seeing it, not even after listening Jims talking about it, but I know the box fort b-plot by heart
The Box Fort is probably like top 10 B plot
The blob segment of Threehouse 17 has unnerved me for years...
Even more than stuff like Nightmare Cafeteria
Counterpoint: Ice Cream of Margie should be on the list just beause the Ice Cream Truck that Otto pimped up looks fly as heck and it should be on a Hit & Run remake
The Marge gaming episode is fun for a lot of reasons, but I mostly liked how it was a logical evolution from the Marge gambling addiction storyline.
It’s my fave in the season
Never thought of that but it's really interesting!
you're never gonna let the " Bart beats up Nelson in 24 minutes" thing go huh
This video is me getting over it and accepting I was being too nitpicky
He was right to pick that nit
Didn’t Bart punch Nelson so hard he was bleeding in his first appearance?
🎶 Men with hoses, Moe exposes, thrashing crashing overload
Spend one hour with Jack Bauer the 400th episode 🎶
That jingle has been in my head for 18 years
You Kent Always Say What You Want is also a reminder of an earlier time on RUclips, with stars instead of thumbs. And now we can’t even see downvotes.
"Return RUclips Dislike" extension. I think it only counts new _(as in "since the day YT turned off dislikes")_ dislikes by people who have the extension but it's more than nothing.
We have reached the point where I no longer recognize any of the episodes being talked about.
I stil know a couple, but it feels like nowadays they only rerun the same episodes, so I have seen Marge gamer several times, but some of these maybe only once.
5 more seasons before I reach that point. Post-season 23 I recognise the odd episode title, but I prbly couldn't tell you which season it was from.
I'm so glad you're reviewing this range of seasons. These were the ones *I* grew up watching when I would watch it with my parents as a kid. I haven't seen a lot of the Seasons 1-10 so I don't often have an opinion on one or another episode, but these ones I remember virtually all of them and I'm glad I can sort of cognitively participate instead of just taking in your thoughts.
Say what you will about Season 18, it holds a bizarre place in my heart. Nostalgia? Very likely. Springfield Up is such a good episode. That backstory of the Crazy Cat Lady REALLY caught us off-guard.
I'm excited for future retrospectives, because this is pretty much where i fall off when i rewatch. I've never seen most of season 20+, minus a few big recommendations like Pixelated & Afraid and Sky Police
"Rankings I will confidently stand by, I guess"
Strong words. Strong, confusing words.
17:01 Rewatched “Bart Gets Hit by a Car” after hearing this, it’s so true. Homer randomly falling out-of-love for Marge for not lying in court seemed like a desperate attempt to fill run time.
Although, I never realized how good they were at selling drama in season 2; I fall for it every time with the perfect music cues and storyboarding.
1:57
It feels like ages since you've used this music for the background. It was hearing it in your older videos, that I found the source and have been listening to it for years.
Anyways, thanks for all of these retrospectives and congrats getting half way so far. It's a long but enjoyable ride.
Sometimes I wish The Simpsons would go for the throat with Disney like they did with Fox instead of butt kissing them in the most uninspiring ways.
Fox seems like a way more chill organization compared to The Walt Disney Company in that retrospect.
I don't think Fox liked it either. But when the original contracts for the show where negotiated, it was still a young and struggling network. So they guarenteed the writers a lot more freedom and leeway than they would later.
Evidently, when Fox was negotiating with Groening over Futurama roughly ten years later, he wanted it to enjoy the same conditions as the Simpsons did. Fox was hesitant and told him, they didn't do business like that anymore.
In the end, Groening got his way, but it's doubtful any new, unproven creative would've gotten the same at this point.
Exactly, I'm so sick of those bland Star Wars/Marvel Specials they've been doing for Disney Plus.
Homer as the blob used to give me nightmares as a little child. It was one of the first Simpsons episodes I ever seen.
I really do love these episodes rankings, they always remind me of episodes and parts I love but forgot about.
Dropped everything I was currently doing and immediately clicked on this video.
Sorry students, I’ll mark your maths assessments another time 😂
Next time you're teaching a class, tell your students that there's going to be a quiz next week, then on the day of the quiz, tell them that you changed your mind then watch The Simpsons all period.
Me forgetting that this season happened more than years ago, why does that WOW parody episode still hold up?
The Godfather parody ep will always be top tier for the truck, truck-truck, and truck-truck-truck joke alone, on top of being a good ep.
man the gil episode hit too hard cause I know Marge's pain of having trouble saying no to people
This list, along everyone with every preceding list from the past 10 seasons, really does prove what I think is the over-riding truth of the show post golden age. It's not that the show simply stopped being good all together at a certain point, it's that the hit to miss ratio for episodes has a very clear downward slope starting with the peek in 6/7. There are still good (and even sometimes great) episode every season, it's just there are fewer of them every year.
As always love your videos, but the Sadgasm episode just convivences me that The Simpsons should've grown up.
Grumpily grumpily grew, your blood will make my stew
Give back that Holiday Cheer, you Bastard!
Why do parodies of 24 always come out so well? The Boondocks did one too, and it's awesome.
Always loved the South Park one, where Hillary Clinton is told someone snuck a snuke up her snizz.
I knew for a fact that "The Haw-Haed Couple" was gonna be high on the list, it's so memorable.
Next time in season 19 we have the one episode I consider a great potential series finale for the show, even if I'm glad it wasn't.
Which episode?
What I like about the bit where Homer changes the ending is that it reminds me of how fans write fix it fics for canon they don't like, and how that can be a sort of restorative process. Whether or not the story went "as it should have", it is fun to come up with your own version and share it with others that may have shared in your own disappointment. (It's specifically the bit when Lisa says that she prefers Homer's version that I find so adorable and wholesome.)
Indeed there is something wholesome about Lisa and Homer bonding over a book.
I still remember the first time I watched Marge gamer. I was in middle school and I had grown up with my dads probably 12-13 seasons of the Simpsons on DVD but I didn’t have access to them at home (haw haw child of divorce). And so during one summer I tried to find watchable episodes on RUclips, and literally the only one I could find for like a month straight was Marge Gamer. And it was the first new Simpsons episode I had seen after years of obsessively watching my dad’s dvds with him and watching every rerun I could find, and I was absolutely enthralled to find “new” content for this show I loved. I watched it so many times that summer I swear. It’ll always have a special place in my heart.
Season 18 was the last season I watched as it aired. It's been fun watching all your reviews and being reminded of all these old episodes again, it's going to be interesting watching you review the later seasons that I've really never seen.
Never liked a vid so fast as after the Grumple praise. Elite taste again, Jims
I really admire you finding a top 10 in this miasma. PS. That’s certainly one way to pronounce Declan 😂
Drake ain't safe on a Simpsons RUclips video
Once you get to season 20, I’d love to see a ranking of your top 10 list from worst to best (hope that makes sense- each top 10 you’ve done from 1-20 is ranked against each other as collective sets of episodes). It’d be cool to see where things rank especially when they’re supposed to be the best/better Simpsons episodes.
Great video as always- excited for new content to come!!
So „top 10 place X“-episodes? That would be really cool to see him doing!
I'd say.... I'm already halfway there.... halfway there.... halfway there....
But it’s felt like nothing at all! Nothing at all!
@@DigiRangerScottTime really flies when you’re away at summer camp… camp… camp…
TheRealJims is a part of us all, a part of us all, a part of us all!
@@bullmonty764 Dead pet society!
The time he gets to season 20 and beyond im going to get Stone Cold.
STONE COLD! STONE COLD! STONE COLD!
Been here for years brother, love your channel. keep fighting the good fight
I think the biggest knock for "Marge Gamer" lies in other animated shows doing MMO episodes around the same time. "Marge Gamer" gets compared to the likes of American Dad's "Dungeons and Wagons" with its art style shift and South Park's machinima-powered "Make Love, Not Warcraft". If anything, it makes Marge's plot feel more quaint in comparison to those.
I do think Marge Gamer is a lot better than those two, and would be my pick for the best of the season. The South Park one for all the hype and memes has like one good line in the entire episide ("how do we kill that which has no life?") and I have no memory of the American Dad effort now whatsoever
The Box Fort is one of my all time favorite moments from this show period!
speaking of liking an episode for it's B plot. you should make a best and worst B plots video! or point me to them if they already exist and i've just forgot about them, i guess.
I liked how Lisa liked Homer’s ending more so sweet
Love how i regularly had nightmares from the dark stanley bit i still cant watch it today, whilst feeling like ive never seen the yokel chords episode
This is a very mixed bag season of the series overall, not as bad as some later seasons but you can really see the writers straining during the preparation for the Simpsons Movie during this point. Struggling for ideas and throwing whatever character dynamics and story ideas they can at the wall, It doesn’t always work and you can see the messiness but glad to see there are still some gems scattered in it.
15 to 19 I have a lot of fondness for. Id be as bold as to say I overall enjoy the teen Simpsons years over the tween years. Episodes like your top two here, Eternal Moonshine, Girls Just Wanna Have Sums, SCCATAGAP, Heartbroke Kid, Dont Fear The Roofer... seal that for me.
Totally agree on the box fort subplot - any time we see the kids actually being kids gets a lot of bonus points from me. Also, don’t @ me but Kill Gill should be higher.
love the music selection in this video
Season 18 is a very complicated season, and there are some fallback moments in it. Again, I have stood up for “Little Big Girl” and continue to do so! There is something very compelling to me about the Bart and Darcy romance. I like how she embraces a lot of his rebellious nature, and I even think that though a lot of people say that dream scene is confusing and disturbing, for me, I find it sweet to see Bart imagining himself as a good father figure. This is why I defend this episode! As for most of your top picks, I agree that a lot of the B-plots are fantastic, especially the box fort story and the ones with Lisa and Homer! Overall a very nice list, but the ice cream episode is definitely a favorite of mine and would be much higher in my personal ranks. Also thank you for speaking up for 24 minutes! Actually going back through my memories of the series, I think it would be totally fantastic if you did a video analysis on the top ten or less or even a ranking video for the full list of Springfield Elementary drama episodes! This seems like a fantastic potential video for your channel! Please consider this request! Good luck with all your work and I look forward to hearing what you think about season 19!
0:08 Bro thinks he’s on the team😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
The chrono trigger music - *chefs kiss*
I don't know why, but that clip from the _24_ episode of Bart driving with his butt absolutely slays me every time I see it.
24 Minutes had to be my favourite cause my mum and I are 24 super fans ever since I was a child
So this episode, we absolutely loved it any episode with Kiefer Sutherland in it
24 seconds is definitely number 1 without a doubt.
My heart skipped a beat when I heard another OCRemix of a Wild ARMs track being used in one of these. I suppose "False Wedding on the Sea" was a good choice considering the episode!
Yokel Chords is also noteworthy for one of the great throwaway social commentary gags in Simpsons history:
"Brandine? I thought you was in Iraq, preventing 9-11!"
2:15 Confirmed: TheRealJims is none other than former SNL writer and occasional featured player Jim Downey.
This is a season I like but it also has the first Simpsons episode I remember not liking, "The Boys of Bummer" due to how the town treated Bart for not catching the ball which is over the top. These are my top 10 from this season. I could have put a few of the episodes I put at 10 to 6, Little Big Girl, Marge Gamer and 24 minutes on my top 5 but I liked my top 5 just a little more. While The Haw-Hawed Couple didn't make my list, I liked the Angelica Button B-Plot with Homer and Lisa. "Moustache power activate!" My top 10:
10. Little Big Girl
9. Springfield Up
8. You Kent Always Say What You Want
7. Marge Gamer
6. 24 Minutes
5. Jazzy and the Pussycats
4. The Wife Aquatic - I am not sure why I like this episode so much but I have watched it a lot since it first came out.
3. G.I. (Annoyed Grunt)
2. Moe'N'a Lisa
1. Kill Gill Volume 1 & 2 - I have this on my top favourite episodes I like to rewatch now and then.
Am i the only one who likes revenge best serve three. Its def not my fav of 3 segment episodes and not in my top 5 but i rewatch it a ton. I can see the flaws but all stories have a fun moment or two.
Let's be honest, most of us are here (following this channel) because of the Nelson character study video.
So I don't think there was any doubt what the number one episode would be.
The Gil and MMO episodes were legit early teen favorites. Definitely quite nostalgic.
The Warcraft Marge MMO episode is DREADFUL bro. Your bias for her kicking in overdrive lmao
I can't believe they named a Treehouse of Horror segment after a Futurama episode.
Man, it's commendable that Jim is trying to squeeze blood from the stone that is The Simpsons past season 11, but I'm worried he might not have hands left by the time he's done with how hard he's had to convince us any of these picks of being a good choice
Jim is in reality a pistol shrimp, so there are no worries.
As an Australian I can confirm that we do celebrate Jerry Van Dyke’s birthday as shown in Kill Gill Vol 1&2.
just clicked on the video. cant wait to see boys of bummer at number 1!
edit: what the fuck
They played this era of Simpsons on reruns for a long time, these episodes are very nostalgic for me.
The top 2 are definitely the ones I remember the most from this season.
8:30 Damn Lydia's catching strays there
i'm really excited for this series to get into the seasons I'm less familiar with
Homerazzi doesn't make it to the finals but the Santa's Little Helper episode does? That's paddlin'.
What realjims needs to do, is once he has done a top list for every season of the Simpsons, he should take all the #1 eps, and rank them from worst to best
14:03 I think Bart (or any other kid for that matter) could in theory beat Nelson, but two conditions need to be met:
A) Nelson needs to be on low-guard
B) The aggressor needs to be super pissed-off
I mean, have we forgot the season 1 episode where Bart amasses an army to beat up bullies?
I just want to say I'm so happy the Marge gaming episode turned out to be in the top 3
That one became one of my favourites of all the time and I'm glad i'm not the only one thinks is a pretty good episode despite the ronaldo appearance (funny enough he also voiced himself in spanish and is just as bad, worst star cameo ever)
Like you said it's a miracle that it turned out well enough we can still remember it fondly even after all those years
Oh and the sequence with marge running to the house with Maggie in that kent episode has to be one of the funniest gags for me in the entire season idk why
You know what Therealjims’s pro Nelson stance means? FRONT LINE INFANTRY
We all already know what number 1 in the Season 19 top 10 will be so really. It'll be about that number 2 spot
To this day, "You Kent Always Say What You Want" stands as my favorite episode of the season. There's something I just love about media commentary episodes, and seeing Kent Brockman get outed not by his swearing on-air but by a ring of Splenda in his coffee stands as a testament to how reactive corporate executives are.
Great review Jims. Good luck reviewing season 19, which was the 1st one I ever saw. I was born in 1996. It was insufferable.
Season 18 traumatized me when I first watched it. I still have the image of Moe being turned into a crepe engraved in my brain. Also the cannibalistic Homer treehouse segment disturbed me so much I couldn’t sleep for a week.
Also the Gil episode is a classic in my household just because of the Grumple joke.
Happy Birthday Liam Neeson, Bill Hader, Tom Jones, and (would-be) Prince
The first half of the show is now ranked! This ranking is good. Below is my ranking (with only certain placements being explained) I only liked my top 4-5 episodes for season 18:
1. "Please Homer, Don't Hammer 'Em" - Overall an enjoyable episode well executed. Homer got what he deserved and it was funny. Also my bias for my enjoyment of the marital episodes play a role in the ranking in some way.
2. "Ice Cream of Margie (with the Light Blue Hair)" - Other than how it ended and how Homer treated that lactose intolerant kid, I really like this one. The ice cream stick montage with "Feels So Good" playing is awesome, and I love Homer and Marge's partnership in the first half. Also funny you mentioned "Bart Gets Hit by a Car" since that's a top 25 episode for me.
3. "Crook and Ladder" - Really funny episode that's unique and fun.
4. "Marge Gamer" - Another good episode. I think the Homer and Lisa plot started late honestly and Ronaldo's guest appearance was bad and unnecessary. Otherwise I really enjoy the Bart and Marge story and Homer and Lisa's is pretty good.
5. "24 Minutes" - Another unique episode, although I haven't watched 24 and it was lacking in the joke department imo.
6. "The Wife Aquatic"
7. "Stop! Or My Dog Will Shoot"
8. "The Haw-Hawed Couple" - I enjoyed "Sleeping with the Enemy" but personally I disagree with your opinion on this episode. Nelson is too weird for my taste and it didn't really entertain me that much. A shame since Nelson is one of my favorite characters.
9. "The Boys of Bummer" - I know this should be ranked lower and I don't like this episode either but I honestly think this is mostly tame compared to episodes ranked lower on my list. It's mostly the town being awful to Bart and it has a horrible b plot.
10. "You Kent Always Say What You Want" - One of Ned's worst appearances ever.
11. "Revenge Is a Dish Best Served Three Times"
12. "Jazzy and the Pussycats"
13. "Homerazzi"
14. "Moe'N'a Lisa" - Too many guest stars. It really ruined the episode and it already wasn't good to begin with.
15. "G.I. (Annoyed Grunt)"
16. "Treehouse of Horror XVII" - A bad ToH. The Golem segment was easily the worst of the three with it's bad premise and uninteresting violence. The Blob segment was just Homer eating over and over and it got repetitive fast. The last segment is very forgettable and I only remember Kang and Kodos' cameo and the townspeople getting in mud.
17. "The Mook, the Chef, the Wife and Her Homer"
18. "Yokel Chords" - Cletus is not an interesting side character at all and it's a forgettable episode.
19. "Rome-Old and Juli-Eh" - One of the worst premises ever with no humor and I honestly thought that b plot was in a different episode (although I'm not a big plot fan).
20. "Kill Gil, Volumes I & II" - Annoying episode with a bad character (Gil) being the main character. It drags on forever and I'm really not a fan of the fact that Marge went to Arizona to confront Gil even after he left the house.
21. "Springfield Up" - I hate documentary episodes and Declan Desmond. The former is why I hate "Behind the Laughter" which I know a lot of people enjoy.
22. "Little Big Girl" - Really close to a bottom 10 episode in the show for me for its awful story and uncreative story. On top of that "Bart getting a girlfriend" episodes with the exception of "Bart's Girlfriend" are not really good at all.
14:05 LEGENDARY REPLY
13:58 That Prank Call "I Made a Doody" will never not be hilarious and is the highlight of the episode
17:04 "I'm laughing in the last one because the cat fell down the stairs" that joke made me cry laughing when I first saw it
I like the ice cream episode, but just for the dire straits reference
My top two are 24 Minutes and Revenge, though I’m unsure which I like more.
Episodes like the haw-hawed couple always made read bart nelson and milhouse as at least bi which i feel like the show would never actually do but will forever be my head canon
I honestly disagree with you on the Gil episode. I don't get the vibes at all that Marge usually has trouble saying no; if anything she's usually the wet blanket who tries to stop the family's wilder antics when no one else is willing to. And the episode is just plain depressing to me on top of that.
Good list regardless though.
So, according to IMDb, Michael Price (I'm not sure what he does on the show or if he still works on it, so my apologies) was the man who wrote the lyrics for all of the song parodies in Yokel Chords-- but according to the IMDb trivia page for Yokel Chords, Stephen Sondheim was credited for all the songs except "The Ballad of Buzz Cola" (although it's worded kinda oddly on the trivia page because it feels like the implication is that someone forgot to credit Sondheim for "The Ballad of Buzz Cola"). Anyway, apparently it was Michael's idea to ask Sondheim to cameo because Michael was a big fan on his, and what originally was meant to be just a one day trip out to New York where Sondheim lived turned into a two-day trip as apparently either the piano Sondheim was going to use for his cameo wasn't ready, or there was an issue in the audio recording, but either way Michael and whoever else ended up spending two days recording Sondheim's audio. According to the story shared by Michael on IMDb, when they wrapped up the recording for Sondheim's cameo, Sondheim asked Michael if there was anything more Michael needed, to which Michael replied, "If you could play the entire score of Sweeney Todd, that would be amazing!" Apparently Sondheim chuckled and was like, "Oh no no", but then he turned back to the piano and began playing the prelude The Ballad of Sweeney Todd" which surprised and excited Michael.
If it's true that Sondheim did in fact write all the parody lyrics, or had a hand in helping to write them, he definitely was the best person for the job! Sondheim was actually very close with Oscar Hammerstein II (one half of the writing duo behind The Sound of Music, as well as many other classic musicals such as Oaklahoma!, Carousel, Cinderella, The King and I, etc) as Sondheim was best friends with Hammerstein's son who was the same age as Sondheim, and Sondheim was always over at the Hammerstein's home-- so much so that Sondheim credited Oscar as being the father figure in his life, as his biological father walked out on Sondheim and his mother when he was four (possibly even younger).
I agree with most of the takes here and watching season 19 currently for that One Piece and Simpsons podcast I do and it has me excited to hear your thoughts! As always it has been a blast, and the preview says 18:18 to me.