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Simpsons Ratings (#5 of 56)

POOL #2 RANKING:
1. Treehouse V
2. The Front
3. Trilogy of Error
4. E-I-E-I...
5. Team Homer
6. Bart Star

(explanation/commentary in the extended entry)

As usual, pseudorandom numbers pick the episodes; I rank 'em on the spot, you critique my rankings (and/or give yours) and a week later I post the revised list. No voting per se in this benevolent dictatorship but I do use your opinions for awesome.

Coming this spring: All six tiers listed, plus your chance to nominate episodes from each list for promotion or relegation. After that... if we're still interested, then ranking within the tiers will be 100 times as tricky as the prelims were.

Stay tuned for #6 by Friday morning (along with the #3 results), and be sure to weigh in on #3 and #4 if you haven't already, or even if you have. You can also browse the category archive though you'll need to click on each individual post's timestamp to see comments.

Numbers, please...
75: 9F14 (SI-414 / S04E16) Duffless
After Homer gets caught drunk driving, he promises Marge to stay off the Duff for one month. Meanwhile, when Bart ruins Lisa's science project, Lisa vows to take revenge by determining which is smarter: a hamster or Bart.
297: EABF01 (SI-1401 / S14E06) The Great Louse Detective
Somebody from Homer's past tries to murder him, and it's up to Sideshow Bob to help Homer find out who that person is. Kelsey Grammer returns as Sideshow Bob.
235: BABF07 (SI-1107 / S11E09) Grift of the Magi
A sinister toy company unveils Funzo, the next "Tickle Me Elmo"-style fad to Springfield's Christmas shoppers. The toy is a huge success, in part because it is programmed to destroy other toys. Guest stars Gary Coleman as himself, Tim Robbins as Jim Hope, Joe Mantegna as Fat Tony, and Clarence Clemons as the narrator.
330: FABF12 (SI-1512 / S15E17) My Big Fat Geek Wedding
Principal Skinner and Edna Krabappel plan their wedding, but Seymour finds himself getting cold feet during a bachelor party thrown for him at Moe's. Edna herself decides she can't go through with it, and runs away from the altar. Homer and Marge go after Seymour and Edna and try to bring the pair back together. When Edna then falls for the Comic Book Guy, Homer devises an ill-advised plan to sabotage their affair and bring her back to Seymour, but when Edna decides neither man is right for her, Homer then finds himself answering to Marge. Matt Groening appears in this episode, playing the creator of Futurama.
153: 3F22 (SI-722 / S07E25) Summer of 4 Ft. 2
In the hopes of making friends on the latest family vacation trip, Lisa packs an empty suitcase, determined to leave her 'nerdy' self behind. Christina Ricci guest stars.
176: 4F19 (SI-819 / S08E23) Homer's Enemy
Frank Grimes, the new employee at the power plant, isn't impress with Homer's bad habits and lack of professional work ethic, becomes disgruntled when he learns Homer is more of a success than he is. Frank Welker guest stars.

My first impressions:
Wow, here's a first: Not one, but two, episodes on this that I've never seen and couldn't tell you a thing about aside from what's in the blurb above. On "Geek Wedding" and "Louse Detective," I'm totally at your mercy.

UPDATE: Hey, I saw "Louse Detective" after all. Just realized this after publishing the entry (drafted over lunch actually). It's ironic that this got included with one of the other episodes in the bracket; it's demonstrably strictly inferior to that other episode, though.

I wrote the Pool #2 explanation before discovering the Pool #5 picks. If the two episodes I don't know about are any good then this bracket might rival that one, hard to tell.

My sentimental favorite of the other four would be "Summer of 4 ft. 2" (honorable mention for top 10 in my highly-unscientific ranking from a few years ago), and yet the sibling rivalry subplot of "Duffless" holds its own against the entirety of "Summer" to the point that the Homer-stops-drinking main plot makes that twosome a mismatch.

I'm really not a Frank Grimes guy. I suspect my opinion of that episode is lower than most people's; I don't hate it, but I know people who rate it way higher than I do. Maybe that includes you all; if so, speak up.

Finally, can we all agree that Grift of the Magi is the Worst Simpsons' Christmas Show Ever?

Preliminary Rankings:
1-2. Duffless
2-3. 4 ft. 2
3-4. Homer's Enemy (Frank Grimes)
4-5. Louse Detective
5-6. Grift
N/A. Geek Wedding (probably not 6th)

Pool #2 Explanation:
It may be awhile before we see another bracket as tough as this one. Commenters were unanimous in putting Treehouse V on top, though I also think that two other episodes in the top 3 would be #1 in many brackets.

The Front over Trilogy of Error for #2, trusting Paul that Trilogy doesn't survive repeated viewings well, and also in fond memory of the many derogatory Harvard references (not least of which, "I did my senior thesis on life experience!").

For the bottom three I actually averaged how y'all ranked those three relative to each other. Then added my own "on second thought" ranking, which actually moved Bart up a notch based on the closing credits Greg mentioned. Strictly by the numbers that deadlocked E-I-E-I... with Team Homer, but Mark ranked E-I-E-I... as high as third and nobody ranked Homer so high. Hope this makes up for my ignoring Mark's low ranking for The Front.

Posted by Matt Bruce at January 11, 2005 05:17 PM