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[Sanjuro]

Hillary Clinton embarrasses herself, nation.

 

[UberTag]

There's been a lack of new recurring characters in the later seasons.
I think the most recent is CBG's Japanese wife.

Yeah, she's probably the most recent addition to the recurring character family.
The Parson and Shauna Chalmers were the latest additions prior to her.

Technically, Mary Spuckler also qualifies. As will Sophie (Krusty's daughter) after her re-appearance in a little over a week... although their initial appearances pre-date those new ones somewhat and there's little reason to expect them to show up again.

More in line with the first group is Chazz Busby, the dance instructor from Season 19's Smoke on the Daughter. He's returned several times in a number of capacities.

 

[UberTag]

In what is widely considered the best of the post-Classic seasons (in many ways, I rank it higher than even Season 10), a mere four episode recommendations for Season 15 simply isn't enough.

Recommended Episodes from Season 15

1:30am The President Wore Pearls - Dana Gould

In this loose parody of the musical/movie Evita, Lisa is elected Student Body president, but is unaware that the school staff is using her for their own devices and as a scapegoat if something goes wrong.

4:30am I D'oh-Bot - Dan Greaney & Allen Glazier

Homer builds a battle robot to win Bart's respect, and places it in a tournament against other robots. What Bart does not know, though, is that the robot is actually Homer in costume. Meanwhile, Snowball II dies and Lisa tries to find a replacement cat.

6:00am Milhouse Doesn't Live Here Anymore - Julie Chambers & David Chambers

Milhouse moves away from Springfield and Bart realizes just how much he meant to him. After a bout of sadness Bart finds friendship with an unlikely source: Lisa.

9:30am Simple Simpson - Jon Vitti

Homer confronts Springfield's evildoers in the form of his crime-fighting alter ego, the Pie Man.

11:00am Fraudcast News - Don Payne

When Mr. Burns buys up all the media outlets in Springfield in an attempt to polish his image, Lisa starts her own newspaper.

I could have rhymed off another 5 episodes. It's a very watchable season. It's unfortunate it got dealt an overnight slot where it will easily be overlooked.
Other standouts include 'Tis the Fifteenth Season, Marge vs. Singles, Seniors, Childless Couples and Teens and Gays, My Big Fat Geek Wedding and The Way We Weren't.

It would be far easier to rhyme off the stinkers from this season... namely Bart-Mangled Banner, Today I Am a Clown, Smart & Smarter and Co-Dependents' Day.

That said, while the overall bar of quality in Season 15 is high, the best of these episodes don't match up favorably to many of the other post-Classic era gems. This is the post-Classic season to watch for consistency's sake if you're insistent on mowing through a bunch in sequence.

 

[vypek]

Recording President Wore Pearls.

I think the promo for Milhouse doesn't live here was that a Simpsons character is leaving forever. Obviously Luanne came back though lok

 

[NameGenerated]

 

[UberTag]

Recommended Episodes from Season 16

12:30pm Sleeping With the Enemy - Jon Vitti

Feeling unappreciated by her own children, Marge takes in Nelson as her surrogate child. Meanwhile, Lisa becomes self-conscious of her weight after the girls in school make fun of her butt and purposely starves herself in order to be skinny.

1:30pm Fat Man and Little Boy - Joel H. Cohen

Bart becomes depressed about growing older after losing his last baby tooth, and, following advice from Lisa, deals with his problems by writing ironic slogans on T-shirts. Meanwhile, Homer tries to help Lisa make a science project after Bart cuts Homer out of helping him sell T-shirts.

8:30pm Thank God It's Doomsday - Don Payne

Homer begins to study the Rapture and believes he knows when the end times will come, so he begins warning others in an attempt to secure his place in heaven.

9:30pm The Father, the Son, and the Holy Guest Star - Matt Warburton

Bart gets expelled from school and transfers to a Catholic school, where a hip priest named Father Sean tries to convert Bart and Homer to Catholicism, which worries Marge when she believes that Catholics do not go to the same heaven as Protestants.

 

[ScribbleD]

This episode with Edna and Seymour's non-wedding has been solid with some bits that had me laughing pretty hard, but it's gradually getting weaker and I can see the third act being terrible. Hope it picks up again. That first act was strong.

Edit: hey, I was wrong! Pretty good third act, except I kind of hate Marge in this episode and the contrived marriage crisis drama. The marriage crisis episodes seem like a dime a dozen in recent seasons, but this one is predicated on some pretty flimsy reasoning.

 

[UberTag]

This episode with Edna and Seymour's non-wedding has been solid with some bits that had me laughing pretty hard, but it's gradually getting weaker and I can see the third act being terrible. Hope it picks up again. That first act was strong.

Edit: hey, I was wrong! Pretty good third act, except I kind of hate Marge in this episode and the contrived marriage crisis drama. The marriage crisis episodes seem like a dime a dozen in recent seasons, but this one is predicated on some pretty flimsy reasoning.

Yeah, Marge's behavior derailed what would have otherwise been a fine episode. The writers have a tendency to be hamfisted with interjecting marriage crisis storylines into otherwise solid plots for no reason. The rationale is often flimsy and transparent and only serves to undermine the strongest relationship in the series for no good reason.

 

[ThePrequelsSuck]

I have nostalgia for the episodes all the way up till the movie was released, so I'll probably check out around then.

 

[UberTag]

I have nostalgia for the episodes all the way up till the movie was released, so I'll probably check out around then.

There are plenty of good episodes post-movie that will air following Season 18 that you can discover and enjoy for the first time.

They won't have the same pull of nostalgia and I'm certainly not advocating that you subject yourself to sitting through the marathon in long stretches but you should at least explore scoping out the recommended episodes that you haven't seen before. Especially if you stuck it out through the early Jean years in the past.

 

[Sanjuro]

I have nostalgia for the episodes all the way up till the movie was released, so I'll probably check out around then.

I'm not on the same page with people that hate the movie. It was a really fun time at the cinema with fans doing trivia and did you know information. The film itself wasn't groundbreaking, but a solid film which touched upon familiar notes and didn't overstay its welcome.

Was a good time to be a Simpsons fan.

 

[NameGenerated]

I love Fat Man and Little Boy.

"Well, we're supposed to do this without parental help."

"Sweetie, that's orphan talk."

 

[Lightningboalt]

That Donkey Kong reference that just happened was incredibly random. I actually blinked and suddenly Mario was running around with arcade DK noises. I've seen every season from 1-17 in their entirety but I completely forgot almost everything from seasons 12-14 and 16-17. That felt uncomfortably like Family Guy, purposeless/directionless reference that has no relevance to anything and is only memorable for how confusing it is that it even exists.

 

[UberTag]

That Donkey Kong reference that just happened was incredibly random. I actually blinked and suddenly Mario was running around with arcade DK noises. I've seen every season from 1-17 in their entirety but I completely forgot almost everything from seasons 12-14 and 16-17. That felt uncomfortably like Family Guy, purposeless/directionless reference that has no relevance to anything and is only memorable for how confusing it is that it even exists.

Homer and Ned's Hail Mary Pass is vintage Tim Long. In other words, it's a complete mess and would be a sign of things to come from him.

 

[NameGenerated]

The Warren Harding Memorial Through-hole always makes me chuckle.

 

[UberTag]

I'll just take a second to reaffirm that The Seemingly Never-Ending Story is EXCELLENT and is well-worth DVRing overnight if you haven't had the chance to watch it. A number of subpar episodes have been recognized with Emmys but this one earned its prize.

Recommended Episodes from Season 17

12:00am Marge's Son Poisoning - Daniel Chun

Realizing that Marge is lonely, Bart decides to spend extra time with her, causing his classmates to call him a mama's boy.

3:30am My Fair Laddy - Michael Price

Lisa attempts to transform Groundskeeper Willie into a proper gentleman after Groundskeeper Willie's shack collapses and, like many other secondary and one-time characters over the years, is forced to live with The Simpsons. Meanwhile, Homer becomes a human billboard to save the company that makes his pants.

4:00am The Seemingly Never-Ending Story - Ian Maxtone-Graham

While cave exploring with his family, Homer causes the cave to crumble and finds himself stuck upside down in the ceiling. Marge and Bart search for help while Lisa passes the time by telling Homer a story, which turns into a chain of narrated tales that, bit by bit, explain why The Simpsons are spending the day at Carl's Dad Caverns.

8:00am The Monkey Suit - J. Stewart Burns

Reverend Lovejoy is appointed to spread the word of creationism in Springfield after Flanders complains about a new museum display about evolution, leading creationism to be taught in schools -- and Lisa to fight back with secret classes about Charles Darwin and his theories of evolution.

 

[UberTag]

Recommended Episodes from Season 18

12:30pm The Haw-Hawed Couple - Matt Selman

Marge forces Bart to attend Nelson's birthday party after he persuades his friends not to go, and they become best friends.

4:30pm Homerazzi - J. Stewart Burns

Homer becomes a tabloid photographer and takes photos of a lot of famous people, but they start to get annoyed so they send a photographer who will take photos of Homer's most humiliating moments.

5:00pm Marge Gamer - J. Stewart Burns

Marge discovers the wonders of the Internet and becomes hooked on an online role-playing game, where Bart is the game master. Meanwhile, Homer becomes a soccer referee, which strains his and Lisa's relationship when he has to call penalties on her.

7:00pm 24 Minutes - Billy Kimball & Ian Maxtone-Graham

In a parody of 24, Bart and Lisa join forces to prevent the school bullies from setting off a stink bomb at the school bake sale.

 

[vypek]

Oh I really liked 24 Minutes. Gonna be sure to catch that one

And have they stopped doing official releases of DVD or Blu Ray? I only saw seasons 1-17 and season 20 when I checked weeks ago.

 

[BatDan]

Oh I really liked 24 Minutes. Gonna be sure to catch that one

And have they stopped doing official releases of DVD or Blu Ray? I only saw seasons 1-17 and season 20 when I checked weeks ago.

Yeah, no more home releases.
Al Jean claims it's due to streaming taking over, but we know the real reason is downward sales due to declining quality.

Maybe when the show ends, we'll see a huge complete series set.

 

[UberTag]

Oh I really liked 24 Minutes. Gonna be sure to catch that one

And have they stopped doing official releases of DVD or Blu Ray? I only saw seasons 1-17 and season 20 when I checked weeks ago.

Yep, Seasons 21+ are only available via digital platforms. Only 4 episodes from Seasons 18 and 19 (The Haw-Hawed Couple, Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind and Treehouse of Horrors XVII & XVIII) can be found the same way. The rest can only be accessed via Simpsonsworld.com if you miss out on catching them during today's marathon coverage on FXX. That includes 24 Minutes. You have no legal way to purchase that episode either physically or to own a digital license for it.

There are a couple exceptions, however.

Holidays of Future Passed - the best finale episode this show is likely to get - has been released physically despite being aired during Season 23.
It can be found exclusively as a bonus extra episode in the Season 16 Blu-ray collection.

Season 25's The Man Who Grew Too Much can be found exclusively as a bonus extra episode in the Season 17 Blu-ray collection.

 

[Jarrod38]

Are they going to show the movie?

 

[UberTag]

Are they going to show the movie?

While FXX did screen the movie during the first marathon two years ago, this one is specifically hyped around hitting the 600-episode landmark so they're not showing it this time around. They'll be transitioning directly from pre-movie Season 18 to post-movie Season 19 at 8 o'clock tonight.

 

[Akim]

I forgot about this

 

[ScribbleD]

The episode that just finished with Bart and Nelson becoming best friends was a real pleasant surprise through and through.

 

[UberTag]

The episode that just finished with Bart and Nelson becoming best friends was a real pleasant surprise through and through.

The Haw-Hawed Couple has never not been enjoyable and I've watched it all the way through easily a half-dozen or so times. Nelson's characterization as a whole is one that has actually been stepped up post-Classic era as opposed to regressing like just about everyone else.

The Angelica Button subplot with Homer and Lisa is pretty sweet as well.

 

[Sanjuro]

Up to episode four hundred.

 

[Sanjuro]

I always enjoyed that couch gag.

 

[Dishwalla]

Wikipedia says this episode was 400, but the counter says 401. Did I miss something?

 

[Sanjuro]

Wikipedia says this episode was 400, but the counter says 401. Did I miss something?

Likely produced and aired out of order.

 

[Aaron Strife]

I really like The Haw-Hawed Couple.

Bart: "Where's Nelson?"
Skinner: "I'm sorry. Nelson never woke up."
Bart: "What!?"
Skinner: "Never woke up because he never passed out. He's right over there."

Also enjoyed the movie. Doesn't quite rise up to the level of classic Simpsons but it's close enough.

 

[TreIII]

The Haw-Hawed Couple has never not been enjoyable and I've watched it all the way through easily a half-dozen or so times. Nelson's characterization as a whole is one that has actually been stepped up post-Classic era as opposed to regressing like just about everyone else.

The Angelica Button subplot with Homer and Lisa is pretty sweet as well.

Agreed.

I always thought it was a nice bit of continuity that by "The Debarted", Bart and Nelson's relationship had improved to such a degree that Bart considered him his "other best friend".

Quite a long way from "Bart the General"!

 

[UberTag]

Recommended Episodes from Season 19

11:30pm Funeral for a Fiend - Michael Price

A night out at a rib restaurant turns into yet another plot for Sideshow Bob to kill The Simpson family, but the whole scheme turns into a family affair when Bart kills his mortal enemy by throwing away his nitroglycerine (which Sideshow Bob needs for his heart) and the rest of the Terwilligers go after Bart for killing Bob.

12:00am Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind - J. Stewart Burns

Homer wakes up in the snow with no memory of what he did the night before -- and finds his wife and kids missing.

2:00am The Debarted - Joel H. Cohen

Bart begins to suspect a rat when all of his pranks backfire -- and might have something to do with his new friend, Donny. Meanwhile, Homer grows attached to his rental car, which he gets to drive for a week while his old car gets repaired.

2:30am Dial 'N' for Nerder - Carolyn Omine & William Wright

Bart and Lisa's prank on Martin Prince goes too far and they worry that they may be implicated in his death by the police (and Nelson, who becomes an amateur sleuth). Meanwhile, Marge calls upon the producer of a reality show that specializes in tracking down cheating couples when she begins to suspect that Homer may be cheating... on his diet.

 

[Lightningboalt]

Homer and Ned's Hail Mary Pass is vintage Tim Long. In other words, it's a complete mess and would be a sign of things to come from him.

Damn, you weren't kidding. You Kent Always Say What You Want was apparently a Kent Brockman episode, yet he felt like a side gag rather than THE central character/plot of the episode. I was barely paying attention because the episode was mediocre, and I completely missed the ending of his plot. Only thing that I even remember finding okay from that episode was the Fox censorship gag, the rest felt like a jumbled, rushed mess... then lo and behold, I see it's a Tim Long episode.

I turned on the marathon to kill some time while upgrading my PS4's hard drive, first one I caught was Stop or My Dog Will Shoot. That one wasn't terrible, nothing special but it was decent enough for what it was, I wasn't bored. The 24 episode was really entertaining. Speaking as someone who has never never even seen 24, it had a fun style to it and you could just tell it was trying to be a faithful parody. It was done pretty well both from a parody standpoint and a general Simpsons standpoint.


Edit: Oh shit it's Stephen Colbert. He's been on screen for about 30 seconds but his voice just works so well for voice acting.

 

[Raziel]

Just saw The Boys of Bummer

smh

 

[BatDan]

What happened to Sideshow Bob's wife and their son? They disappeared after this episode.

Just saw The Boys of Bummer

smh

That episode is like they accidentally mixed a Family Guy script in. It was so mean-spirited.

 

[UberTag]

Eternal Moonshine is often mentioned as one of those essential post-Classic era episodes to watch.
And it starts right now... unless you're on the West coast. In which case you've gotta wait 3 hours. But you know the drill by now.

 

[Dishwalla]

Man this episode with Ralph Wiggum in the primaries and that episode with Krusty running for Congress really shine a whole new light on this year's election and Trump.

 

[Sanjuro]

There is no way Ralph would beat Hillary.

 

[Sanjuro]

I forgot about Abe Simpson's Laser Tag.

 

[Dishwalla]

There will never be a worse president. Never!

 

[HomerSimpson-Man]

I'm watching nothing but this marathon and will finish it and mostly love but this 90's theme retcons episode is so....ugh, pushes even my generous love of this show. What the hell were the writers thinking? It's funny now though it is completely ignored and only the classic 70s high school history is referenced from the actual 90's run.

 

[UberTag]

I'm watching nothing but this marathon and will finish it and mostly love but this 90's theme retcons episode is so....ugh, pushes even my generous love of this show. What the hell were the writers thinking? It's funny now though it is completely ignored and only the classic 70s high school history is referenced from the actual 90's run.

That '90s Show is one of those episodes that is conceptually designed to fail no matter how well it's executed. And it had undeniable execution challenges... mainly with Marge's characterization... so these flaws are only exacerbated.

Look, I get what the writers were going after. Homer is 40. Homer and Marge were high school sweethearts (making her roughly the same age) and Bart will forever be 10. Those remain hard facts regardless of whether we're talking about Season 3 or Season 28.

So the writers recognized there was this huge unwritten space of time to account for in their relationship between the events of Season 2's The Way We Was and Season 3's I Married Marge and wanted to fill that space in with something. I get that.

Now the dilemma is that they wanted to fill this space in during Season 19 after they've effectively time-shifted the family into present-day 2008. That's what they do each season because Springfield is effectively caught in a temporal bubble where the characters remain the same age and the rest of the world ages around them. Lisa is still 8 despite us closing in on the end of 2016 and having celebrated many birthdays in the series. Hence - as of right now - she was born in 2008 and not during the 1984 Summer Games as depicted in Lisa's First Word. Two years from now in Season 30, Lisa will have been born in 2010. Why? Because she'll still be 8.

It's this conflict with temporal course correction that set That '90s Show up to fail. They decided to tell this story in a course-corrected past where Homer and Marge were dating through the 1990s and used the opportunity to throw in a bunch of 90s references. And they went overkill with it. (Incidentally, the movie Boyhood also goes overkill with timely references and people love that film. So go figure.) And they felt this story had to be told in the 90s because the present went they told this story was 2008. It HAD to be the 1990s.

I actually don't mind this episode as much as others because I liked a number of the jokes and because effort was clearly put into it. My biggest pet peeve with the Simpsons is complacency and laziness and very little of it was present here. But I also won't be going to bat for this as a good episode because it's not and I can't recommend it because of its clear contradictions with the beloved Classic era source material. I just understand why they went the direction that they did.

They've actually gotten cute with flashback episodes in the HD era to avoid such a polarizing reaction by leaving the era somewhat nebulous. That doesn't change the fact that 4-year-old Milhouse had a flat-screen TV in his living room in The Kids Are All Fight or drones being in wide use pre-Maggie in Fland Canyon but they've clearly made an effort to repress dating these episodes.

But the rationale is entirely to due with the temporal course correction of the show's "present" and its impact on flashback episodes and I've gotten over getting hung up on the time displacement issue and simply judging these episodes on their own merits.

 

[UberTag]

We're now in the home stretch. 180 episodes to go and we're about to embark on the season that kicks off the HD era.

Recommended Episodes from Season 20

11:30am No Loan Again, Naturally - Jeff Westbrook

When the adjustable rate on Homer and Marge's mortgage resets at more than they can afford, they must sell their house. Good Samaritan Ned Flanders buys the house and rents it out to them at an affordable rate. But Homer pushes his luck too far when he takes advantage of Ned's generous land lording duties.

12:00pm Gone Maggie Gone - Billy Kimball & Ian Maxtone-Graham

Homer leaves Maggie on the doorstep of a convent, setting off a Da Vinci Code-style chain of events involving The Freemasons and the hunt for a rare jewel.

1:30pm Eeny Teeny Maya Moe - John Frink

Moe once again searches for love and falls for a woman named Maya over the Internet. However, when Moe meets Maya face-to-face, he discovers it is more like face-to-knee, as Maya is only three feet tall. Meanwhile, Maggie is put in a playground full of hostile babies.

3:00pm Waverly Hills, 9-0-2-1-D'oh - J. Stewart Burns

Marge and Homer rent an apartment in an upscale neighborhood so Lisa and Bart can go to a better school.

 

[Lord Frieza]

Yep, Seasons 21+ are only available via digital platforms. Only 4 episodes from Seasons 18 and 19 (The Haw-Hawed Couple, Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind and Treehouse of Horrors XVII & XVIII) can be found the same way. The rest can only be accessed via Simpsonsworld.com if you miss out on catching them during today's marathon coverage on FXX. That includes 24 Minutes. You have no legal way to purchase that episode either physically or to own a digital license for it.
.

Not even through Amazon or iTunes? Like, what the hell?

 

[BatDan]

Next episode is where the HD era begins.

 

[UberTag]

Recommended Episodes from Season 21

6:00pm Treehouse of Horror XX - Daniel Chun

Dial "M" for Murder or Press "#" to Return to Main Menu - Lisa is forced into a Hitchcockian murder scheme by Bart.

Don't Have a Cow, Mankind - Springfield is once again overrun by zombies, thanks to Krusty Burger's latest sandwich.

There's No Business Like Moe Business - In a Sweeney Todd spoof, Moe bleeds Homer dry to create the perfect microbrewed great beer.

8:00pm O Brother, Where Bart Thou? - Matt Selman

When Lisa tells Bart she has a special sibling bond with Maggie that he will never understand, he asks Homer for a baby brother.

9:00pm Once Upon a Time in Springfield - Stephanie Gillis

The Krusty the Clown Show is once again retooled. This time, in a bid to get girls to watch the show, a princess character named Penelope is hired as Krusty's latest sidekick, whom Krusty hates at first -- until Princess Penelope reveals that she is Krusty's biggest fan. Meanwhile, a corporate recruiter persuades Homer, Lenny, and Carl to work for a nuclear plant in Capital City, after Mr. Burns announces a moratorium on free doughnuts due to budget cuts.

1:30am The Squirt and the Whale - Matt Warburton

Fed up with high electric bills, Homer puts up a windmill generator in the backyard. When he sees that the excess energy goes back to the power company, he takes the house off the power grid, making it entirely dependent on the windmill. Then a violent windstorm hits Springfield, and among the victims are the windmill and a whale which ends up beached, prompting Lisa, Homer, and many other townspeople to attempt to save it.

 

[UberTag]

Recommended Episodes from Season 22

6:00am Lisa Simpson, This Isn't Your Life - Joel H. Cohen

Fearing that she will end up like Marge, Lisa pledges to focus solely on her academics and not get distracted by other things; Bart puts Nelson in his place and unintentionally earns the title of school bully.

12:30pm The Great Simpsina - Matt Warburton

When the Great Raymondo takes Lisa on as his magician's assistant, she is conned into revealing the secret of his greatest trick to his nemesis.

1:30pm Homer Scissorhands - Peter Gaffney & Steve Viksten

Homer becomes a hairdresser after fixing Patty's hair, but finds that dealing with gossipy, female clients all day is tedious and depressing. Meanwhile, after Lisa breaks Milhouse's heart yet again, he hooks up with a fifth-grader named Taffy, only to force Lisa to face up to how she really feels about him.

2:00pm 500 Keys - John Frink

While trying to get Maggie out of Homer's locked car, the family discovers that they have been hoarding keys for years, setting up three interconnected adventures: Homer finds a key that operates The Duff Blimp, Marge finds a key that operates an antique toy, and Lisa finds a key that leads her to a secret classroom in Springfield Elementary.

 

[Guzim]

I'm watching the Squirt and the Whale, and I'm liking it a lot.

 

[UberTag]

I'm watching the Squirt and the Whale, and I'm liking it a lot.

Almost all of Matt Warburton's HD era Simpsons episodes are first-rate.
Shame he left the show after A Totally Fun Thing That Bart Will Never Do Again (another episode that will make my recommendations short-list) in Season 23.
He's now working as both writer and excutive producer for The Mindy Project.

 

[BatDan]

Here's the episode where Bart and Lisa finally notice that they have no hairlines.