Pool 21 Results (my initial ranking in parentheses)
1. Radio Bart (1)
2. Blood Feud (2)
3. The Old Man and the Key (3)
4. Monty Can't Buy Me Love (4)
5. Gump Roast (5)
6. Frying Game (6)
Two episodes that probably should make the top flight, two somewhat below average, a clip show, and an atrocity. Everyone ranked the top two on top, with a 3-2 edge to Funky See, Funky Do (when we played as I Do Believe We're Naked years ago at TRASHionals, my alias was Demi Moore; 1:3 male-female ratio on the team too). Middle two were 2-2 with John not having seen it. I boldly claim that if Paul remembered "Old Man" better he'd put it above "Monty," not that either of them necessarily deserve a #3 ranking when they can't hold a candle to any of the top five eps in, say, Pool 23.
(See the category archive for other results.)
Pool 22, Pool 23, and Pool 24 are all still open. Pool 26 will go up some time Friday.
As usual, I let a pseudorandom number generator choose six episodes, then post my on-the-spot rankings and observation. You comment, ideally with your own rankings. A week later I post my revised rankings, reserving the right to be autocratic (though in practice I almost always go with the consensus).
Incidentally, pseudorandomness is still brought to you by MS Excel and =FLOOR(RAND()*335,1)+1 - as we're nearing the halfway point, this means a handful of dupes with each set (with the category archive up, the Firefox search bar is good at nailing those), which I'm lazy enough to tolerate. Maybe when there are 50 eps left I'll do something clever.
Numbers...
326: FABF09 (SI-1509 / S15E13) Smart and Smarter
After Apu and Majula send two of their octuplets to the prestigious Miss Wickerbottom's Pre-Nursery School, Homer is inspired to do the same for Maggie. Maggie is intially rejected because she doesn't talk, but Lisa eventually finds hidden talents in Maggie that lead to the discovery that Maggie's IQ is actually higher than Lisa. Dejected that she is no longer the "smart one", Lisa tries other ways of getting attention, including trying to sabotage Maggie's future. Guest stars American Idol judge Simon Cowell as the Admissions Officer.
277: DABF03 (SI-1303 / S13E08) Sweets and Sour Marge
When Springfield is named the "World's Fattest Town", thanks to a diabolical scheme by the Motherloving Sugar Corporation, Marge takes it upon herself to rid the entire town of the sweet stuff. Guest stars Ben Stiller as Garth Motherloving.
271: CABF22 (SI-1222 / S13E02) The Parent Rap
Bart appears in court to pay for an embarrassing joy ride in the police chief's patrol car. But just before he is set free, a second, vindictive judge named Constance Harm assumes the case and sentences him to the worst kind of detention imagineable: being tethered to Homer around the clock. Guest stars Jane Kaczmarek as Judge Harm.
170: 4F13 (SI-813 / S08E17) My Sister, My Sitter
Lisa's babysitting reputation is put to the test when she is assigned the task of babysitting Bart and Maggie, for which Bart is determine to make Lisa's life a 'living Hell'.
203: 5F18 (SI-918 / S09E25) Natural Born Kissers
After a near-fatal encounter with a peeved farmer and his pitch-fork, Homer and Marge uncover the secret to reigniting their crapped-out sex life: dangerous situations. Meanwhile, Bart and Lisa make their own discoveries, including the lost ending to Casablanca, using a metal detector.
33: 7F20 (SI-220 / S02E20) The War of the Simpsons
After being embarrassed by Homer during a house party, Marge signs up for Reverend Lovejoy's marriage retreat at Catfish Lake. However, Homer has fishing on his mind, and the only sitter they could get at the last minute is Grandpa Simpson.
My first impressions:
Worst... episode... even by Season 15 standards... gah.
Never saw the fat one, remember the promos.
Judge Judy knockoff below average but not awful.
Lisa's babysitting nightmare is very solid.
Kissers: not bad, way better than a similarly-themed episode shown here in syndication last night (that other one involved a gratuitous trip to Miami).
Ooh, intriguing play at the end, with the last three sort of rescuing what looked like a disastrous bracket.
Preliminary rankings:
1. My Sister, My Sitter
2. The War of the Simpsons
3. Natural Born Kissers
4-5. The Parent Rap
NR. Sweets and Sour Marge
666. Smart and Smarter
Three words: best team rack. :)
Posted by: Allyson at March 2, 2005 03:39 PMErk. This is not the best of brackets, but I guess it comes out like this:
1. War of the Simpsons -- "Queen of the harpies! Queen of the harpies!"
2. My Sister, My Sitter
3. Natural Born Kissers -- "I'm going to give you such an ass-forking!"
4. Sweets and Sour Marge -- "Maybe I should just change my name back to Hitler!"
5. Smart and Smarter -- ecch, but still better than
6. Parent Rap -- bleah. Although I like Jane Kaczmarek, I hate almost all of the Judge Harm episodes.
Aw man, I forgot the best line from Sweets and Sour: "That wasn't part of the deal!" [looks at contract] "Hey, he's right. Who wrote this thing?"
Posted by: Paul at March 3, 2005 12:34 PM1. My Sister, My Sitter - Not a terribly strong #1 but solid. That whole ending scene was top-notch... "I was hoping they'd give me one of those steel claws" to "You want some seeds?" to Hibbert and Ned's lack of concern that "might take drugs and injure [their] children."
2. The War of the Simpsons "Dad, I have as much respect for you as I ever did or ever will." - Another trouble marriage episode... but Homer throwing General Sherman back works for me.
3. Sweets and Sour Marge - Marge as an indignant and self-righteous crusader... it's alright. I didn't realize it was season 13 so I guess that means I like it more than I'd expect to like a 13er.
4. Smart and Smarter - This probably would've been 5 or 6 had I not just seen it. Yeah, it's got a lot of bad late season nonsense but overall it's quite funny ("and here the answer was California Condor")
5. Natural Born Kissers - "They only come out at night. Or in this case, uh, the daytime."
6. The Parent Rap - Not so good, eh.