Pool 38 Results (my initial ranking in parentheses)
1. The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson (1)
2. Homie the Clown (2)
3. The Last Temptation of Krust (3)
4. Bart vs. Lisa vs. 3rd Grade (4)
5. Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part One) (5)
6. Simpsons Bible Stories (6)
First time in several pools that the initial rankings survived completely intact. But there's a reason for this: Also the first time in several pools that I subverted democracy and went against two episodes' relative ranking (in this case, "3rd Grade" and "Part 1" in that I agree with Dinan on both counts).
If I've done "Part 1" a grievous disservice, you'll get your chance to rectify that.
(See the category archive for other results.)
Pool 39, Pool 40, and Pool 41 are all still open.
Pool 43 ETA Sunday, Pool 44 ETA Tuesday.
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).
NOTE TO SELF: =INDIRECT("A"&(FLOOR(RAND()*(335-COUNT(C2:C336)),1)+COUNT(C2:C336)+1))
Numbers...
89: 1F06 (SI-506 / S05E08) Boy-Scoutz N the Hood
When Bart finds a $20, he spends it on a squishy, made of pure syrup. After a wild night, he wakes up to find that he joined a boy scout troop, with den father Ned Flanders.
276: DABF01 (SI-1301 / S13E07) Brawl in the Family
When a Monopoly game goes sour, the Simpsons are forced to undergo the supervision of a social services officer to reinforce the ideals of a functional family. Guest stars Jane Kaczmarek as Judge Harm and Delroy Lindo as Gabriel the Angel.
70: 9F09 (SI-409 / S04E11) Homer's Triple Bypass
All those years of eating those fatty foods has caused Homer to have a heart attack. Now, Homer has a choice - spend $40,000 for Dr. Hibbert's bypass operation, or $129.95 for Dr. Nick Riviera's operation--any operation.
44: 8F07 (SI-307 / S03E09) Saturdays of Thunder
In order to build a father/son relationship, Homer helps Bart build a soapbox racer. However, when Martin crashes his racer during the time trials, Bart must make an important decision: Turn his back on his father and be Martin's replacement driver, or race in his soapbox and let Nelson win.
238: BABF08 (SI-1108 / S11E12) The Mansion Family
After receiving an award for oldest citizen of Springfield, Mr. Burns checks into the Mayo Clinic, leaving The Simpsons in charge of his luxurious mansion. Guest starring Britney Spears as herself.
202: 5F17 (SI-917 / S09E24) Lost Our Lisa
After hastily boarding the wrong bus to a limited engagement museum exhibit, Lisa finds herself lost in unfamiliar parts of Springfield. Meanwhile, Bart adheres novelty items to his face, only to later discover that the glue he was given--by Homer--is permanent.
My first impressions:
"Boy-Scoutz" is a fantastic, albeit deeply flawed, episode. If the entire thing were as good as the first segment, it'd be a reasonable choice for best ever.
"Brawl in the Family" is surprisingly good. You have to accept that it'll have a late-season type of humor but still. Willie "Singin' in the Rain" is stupid yet hilarious, as is poor Grandpa the morning after.
Sad, funny, bittersweet... all three of these so far are well above average, yet each is flawed in its own way.
Tough bracket. "Saturdays of Thunder" is clearly (in my opinion) the least good of the first four, yet it's not bad. To be sure it's one of about a billion Homer-Bart bonding episodes.
Is the International Waters bit enough to save "Mansion Family"? Actually, for Season 11 that one really isn't so bad.
Aww, I love "Lost Our Lisa." Am I crazy or is this another "all six are average or better" pool?
At the very least, none of these six deserves anything lower than a 4, though obviously that's where two of them are headed. "Saturdays of Thunder" is the least objectionable choice for the bottom slot, if only because Homer's such a jerk.
Preliminary rankings:
1. Boy-Scoutz N the Hood ("Money can be exchanged for goods and services.")
2. Lost Our Lisa
3. Homer's Triple Bypass Brawl in the Family ("You're going to Stanford!")
4. Brawl in the Family Homer's Triple Bypass
5. The Mansion Family
6. Saturdays of Thunder
Hey, only *I* may use the Homer-is-a-jerk criterion. Especially since he's clearly much more of a jerk in Boy Scoutz than Saturdays.
Anyway, this bracket lacks a solid #1. You could probably permute the first three in any particular order without any big protest from me.
1. Saturdays of Thunder -- An episode of "I Can't Believe They Invented It", a quality McBain segment, and Ronnie Beck -- what more could you ask for?
2. Homer's Triple Bypass -- "Call 1-800-DOCTORB! The B is for Bargain!"
3. Lost Our Lisa -- This episode isn't outstanding, but it does have its good moments. And the cherry-picker gag is classic.
4. Boy Scoutz -- OK, the first third is great, but the rest of the episode is pretty much dullsville.
5. The Mansion Family -- While the exchanges with the Coast Guard are hilarious (and oft-quoted), this episode is otherwise solidly putrid. I'll be very surprised if it doesn't end up at the bottom.
NR. Brawl in the Family -- Not only have I not seen this, I don't think I've even seen part of it.
As much as I love "Money can be exchanged for good as services", the key line in that episode is "Marge, it's important for the boy to learn how to weasel out of things. It's what seperates us from the other animals...except the weasel."
I also think the Mansion Family is great for the Mr. Burns at the Mayo Clinic C-Plot.
Preliminary rankings:
1. Boy-Scoutz N the Hood
2. The Mansion Family
3. Lost Our Lisa
4. Brawl in the Family
5. Homer's Triple Bypass
6. Saturdays of Thunder
1. Homer's Triple Bypass
2. Saturdays of Thunder
3. Lost Our Lisa
4. Boy Scoutz
5. The Mansion Family
NR. Brawl in the Family
Paul, I attempt to disbelieve your "Brawl in the Family" claim given that I was AT YOUR PLACE the first time I saw it. Perhaps Develin was entertaining and you were out or in your room?
If it helps jog your memory, think "return of the Vegas wives" or "team-building exercise with the panthers at the bottom."
Posted by: me at April 2, 2005 12:07 AM1. Hood
2. Lisa
3. Bypass
4. Mansion
5. Thunder
6. Brawl
Though if you ask me in a half hour I'd likely move at least 4 of these.
Posted by: Mark at April 2, 2005 12:42 PMSee, the description made me think I had seen it, and then I started reading the capsule summary, and I recognized absolutely none of it. I don't know what happened.
Posted by: Paul at April 3, 2005 07:12 PM1. Boy-Scoutz N the Hood - "The 10 Do's and 500 Don'ts of Knife Safety" I'd say the final act is better than the 1st. The 2nd is a little slow but it works.
2. Homer's Triple Bypass - The MTV generation dialogue ("We feel neither highs or lows." "Really? What's it like?" "Ehh.") is stunning and the rest of the episode is solid.
3. Brawl in the Family - What Matt said... as long as your expectations are real low. It's good but not great. "Food keeps my family happy, so I make a few practice dinners before showtime." "...and the falafel is making them angrier!" "Mr. Simpson, under Nevada law, bigamy, or 'Mormon hold 'em,' is perfectly legal."
4. The Mansion Family
5. Lost Our Lisa - The Isis song and the Old Spice song are great... otherwise... ehh.
6. Saturdays of Thunder - Homer's talk with Flanders is great. Martin's pretty funny too.
Extra quotes for Brawl because I had thought I hadn't seen it either.
Boy Scoutz isn't much of a #1 and Saturdays wouldn't be much of a 5 in most pools. The last two or three are probably below average, though.
Posted by: John at April 5, 2005 12:45 AM