Fancy Store-Bought Dirt

Simpsons: Pool 26 (with Pool 22 results)

Pool 22 Results (my initial ranking in parentheses)
1. Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming (2)
2. Insane Clown Poppy (1)
3. The Worst Episode Ever (4)
4. Treehouse X (3)
5. All Singing, All Dancing (5)
6. Barting Over (6)

Big cluster for 2-4, with Poppy all over the place but everyone ranking Treehouse and Worst consecutively. Those two deadlocked and I'm breaking the tie against myself because to me it really could go either way.

Paul is of course dead right about the dominance of Gleaming, though I'm still not wrong about Insane Clown Poppy. Great lines and scenes from the latter:
"Fine, I'll just discuss heavenly matters. So, how's Maude Flanders doing up there? She playing the field? Ooh, yeah, really? All those guys?"

"I guess musical talent skips a generation ... like diabetes!"

Fat Tony playing the violin... for real.

Homer literally playing a pinball game called "Devil's Advocate." (Sorry, it's the Family Guy fan in me. That and the Maya Angelou B-2 quote tickled the same part of my brain.)

"I thought I *was* on! When was I off? That bit about the tide pool?"

"Just a second, honey. Daddy's on his high horse."

"He discovered electricity -- and used it to torture small animals and green mountain men."

Amy Tan, embarrassed at how badly Lisa Simpson misunderstood "The Joy Luck Club." (It's funny because it's true.)

[The less said about the fireworks in the first act, the better.]

(See the category archive for other results.)

Pool 23, Pool 24, and Pool 25 are all still open. Pool 27 will go up over the weekend.

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).

Numbers...
244: BABF14 (SI-1114 / S11E18) Days of Wine and D'oh'ses
After seeing a videotape of himself intoxicated, Barney turns over a new leaf and goes the sober route. Meanwhile, Bart and Lisa learn the ups and downs of photography in a contest held by the local telephone company.
76: 9F15 (SI-415 / S04E17) Last Exit to Springfield
Homer becomes a Union boss and negotiates a new contract with the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, mindful that Lisa needs braces. Dr. Joyce Brothers guest stars.
3: 7G03 (SI-103 / S01E03) Homer's Odyssey
Homer gets fired for causing another accident at the nuclear plant, and almost commits suicide. He see the light, and becomes a safety activist, and soon goes after the plant he was fired from.
125: 2F32 (SI-632 / S06E22) 'Round Springfield
While visiting Bart in the hospital, Lisa learns a real-life lesson when a fellow patient is Bleeding Gums Murphy and he tells his life story for the last time. Guest starring Steve Allen and Ron Taylor (as Bleeding Gums Murphy).
257: BABF22 (SI-1122 / S12E09) HOMR
When doctors find and remove a crayon lodged in Homer's brain, his true IQ emerges, leading to a strong relationship with Lisa. But his relationship with others falls out once his new-found competence in safety inspecting leads to the closure of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant.
335: FABF18 (SI-1518 / S15E22) Fraudcast News
Homer ruins a town celebration by defacing a public landmark, and in the process deprives Lisa of a chance to read her poetry in front of a crowd. Discouraged, Lisa decides to publish her writing in her own newsletter, which becomes under threat of corporate takeover after Mr. Burns buys all the media outlets in town. Instead of selling out to Mr. Burns, Lisa goes underground, but when Mr. Burns pays Homer to spill dirt on Lisa and undermine her enterprise, Lisa becomes disillusioned and gives up on her writing. But Homer sees the error of his ways and publishes his own work, encouraging the people to read what they want to read.

My first impressions:
I remember Barney going sober (doesn't he fly a helicopter?). The photography bit was cute. Much better episode than you'd think from the season it's in.

Last Exit is weak by season 4 standards but Homer's inadvertent negotiating ploys are priceless.

Continuity buffs will remember the black Smithers. "Odyssey" is one of the worst season 1 episodes, just not even remotely fun to watch.

Bleeding Gums's death is bittersweet but mostly sweet. So far this pool is respectable but not even remotely top-heavy.

Is HOMR a plausible #1? How weak a bracket do you need for that to happen? It's uniquely appropriate that this shares a bracket with "Odyssey." It and "'Round Springfield" are of comparable heartstring-tugging.

Hmm, HOMR on top it is. And we've knocked out both our edge cases. (Incidentally, do you have any interest in seeing Season 16 eps worked into this process? 12 and counting have aired. It's a lot easier to exclude them though.)

What's up with the novella-length blurbs on the Season 15's?

All in all, very challenging to rank: Five episodes probably around the dead center of quality (though HOMR is really unlike any other), and then a clunker that clunks in ways that few other Simpsons episodes clunk.

Preliminary rankings:
1. HOMR
2. Round Springfield
3. Wine and D'oh'ses
4. Last Exit
5. Fraudcast News
6. Homer's Odyssey

Posted by Matt Bruce at March 3, 2005 06:45 PM