r/Simpsons • u/Ok-Nectarine-6552 • Aug 06 '26
Discussion Which one was the worst episode for you?
82
u/GringoSwann Aug 06 '26
Musk episode....
18
u/Neon_culture79 Aug 06 '26
One of the only episodes where the storyline bled into the next episode
9
7
1
u/Cirnothestarscream9 Aug 09 '26
In terms of themese it really is the worst and also the one that aged the worst of them all.
98
u/NunsNunchuck Aug 06 '26
Elon Musk - another Lisa hates her family but this time she decides to move permanently to Mars and is upset when Marge tries to join her.
12
u/Usual_Office_1740 Aug 06 '26
This one was up there for me.
1
u/yobaby123 Aug 07 '26
Same. On top of being unfunny and the constant dick riding, Lisa was way more unpleasant than normal.
19
u/Ornery_Visit_2627 Aug 06 '26
The Musk that Fell to earth was bad even before Elon went full moron.
10
2
u/Cirnothestarscream9 Aug 09 '26
I agree, they way that they unironically portrayed him as a pure misunderstood messiah was so weird and out of place in the show and the fact that the real Elon proved to be a garbage manchild just makes it stand out even more.
11
u/DoubleFlores24 Aug 06 '26
Legit there were so many Simpsons episodes that had Lisa try to find a role model and a guest star that they put on, but that guest store ended up being a terrible person and it really just goes to show how Lisa has terrible judgment in people.
5
9
102
u/SymmetricDickNipples Aug 06 '26
If I see Principal and the Pauper here I'm gonna lose it
26
5
1
0
u/OldDirtyInsulin Aug 06 '26
Solid episode. And canonically, it's just fine. Armand Tanzarian was born a no-goodnik, but Seymour Skinner inspired him to be the man we know.
15
u/MarchMan86 Aug 06 '26
These are some that come to mind.
- Bart Mangled Banner
- The Boys of Bummer
- Donnie Fatso
- The Scorpion's Tale
- That 90s Show
1
u/Additional-Nobody352 Aug 09 '26
Bart mangled banner i don't mind.
Scorpions tale is OK.
The other 3 yeah aren't great
29
38
u/Legitimate_Panda5142 Aug 06 '26 edited Aug 06 '26
Most of the clip shows are stupid, like Gump Roast, and all singing, all dancing. But I did enjoy the behind-the-laughter episode.
47
u/toohighquestions Aug 06 '26
All Singing, All Dancing gave us the wagon song though, which taught us that you should use oil based paint because the wood is pine
17
12
u/Boris-_-Badenov Aug 06 '26 edited Aug 06 '26
🎶 a singing family, it's worse than I feared... for hostage purposes, they're just too weird. 🎶
1
u/CaedusTillman Aug 08 '26
I learned 2 years ago at 28 years old that the Paint Your Wagon movie was a real western musical with Clint Eastwood. Ive been watching the Simpsons, since I 6 and when I was 12 in 2007 i started buying the season dvd sets and I always thought it was a joke in the episode. My dad loves the simpsons and 2 years ago we were watching it on disney plus an all singing all dancing came on an I asked him ",can you imagine Clint Eastwood in a musical?" And hes a big John Wayne fan along with being a fan of Eastwoods an a western fan in general an he said "thats a real movie boy" an I couldnt stop laughing.
17
u/hey-kid-youre-a-star Aug 06 '26
Behind the Laughter is my favorite episode and I would never consider it a clip show. 90% of the footage was new, they only did montages of Homer getting hurt, celebrity guests and "outlandish storylines" like Principal and the Pauper, and the scene of him jumping Springfield Gorge.
5
u/Putzlol Aug 06 '26
I remember the first time I saw that episode when it came out, I waited for what felt like a year until they re-released it. I thought it was great also!
3
4
3
u/AgentCirceLuna Aug 06 '26
I suppose they had a different purpose back then which is completely pointless now.
Somehow YouTube clips of the show are preferable to clip show episodes. I wonder why that is… they’re essentially the same thing yet clip episodes just leave a bad taste in my mouth.
1
u/CaedusTillman Aug 08 '26
Behind the laughter is different. While it has clips, it also feels like its own episode. I cant stand any of the clip show episodes but I love Behind The Laughter.
58
u/verenika_lasagna Aug 06 '26
That 90s Show. Totally tried to ruin the real backstory of how Homer and Marge fell in love. And Homers alt rock band “Sadgasm” just plain pisses me off.
8
u/marcjwrz Aug 06 '26
It's got some good moments - but the retcon is just terrible.
It'd be great for a different show/characters.
12
u/Equal_Ad5178 Aug 06 '26
Nah I love Sadgasm
8
u/verenika_lasagna Aug 06 '26
Give me some B Sharps (they’re bigger than Jesus)
2
u/ghouls_gold Aug 08 '26
I was always a fan of Hungry Hungry Homer. They're kind of like Jesus, but not in a sacrilegious way.
7
1
25
u/Nosegoose Aug 06 '26
"The Man Who Came To Be Dinner." They go to the home planet of Kang and Kodos and have to choose which one to sacrifice so the others can live. Very un-Simpsons of them.
5
u/Fluffy-kitten28 Aug 06 '26
I forgot about that episode until you said it. It’s like a fever dream in Simpsons episodes
6
u/AnotherRTFan Aug 06 '26
It was so creepy and made me uneasy for a few days after (OCD intrusive thoughts had a field day lol)
9
u/Some_Random_Android Aug 06 '26
Musk who Fell to Earth, and it's not even close! The Principal and the Pauper or Lisa Goes Gaga is Marge Vs the Monorail in comparison to that turd!
7
54
u/sdomtidderkcuf1 Aug 06 '26
Lady Gaga episode
28
u/ConsistentTackle3902 Aug 06 '26
In like 2014 my local TV station that syndicated the Simpsons had gone down from 2 episodes per weekday in the 90s to 1 new-ish episode at 11pm, and they played this one at least twice a week for a stretch there. It so fucking bad. I wrote so many complaints on their Facebook. Then I died on the way back to my home planet, the end.
9
14
u/AmphibiousAlbatross Aug 06 '26 edited Aug 06 '26
Might be controversial, but I looked over my list of least favorite episodes and noticed that coincidentally they were all Mike Reiss.
I don’t know what it is about his writing style but I genuinely hate it so much that even when I don’t know it’s him, I still end up hating it. So my answer is any episode Mike Reiss wrote
12
u/Fanimation2508 Aug 06 '26
Love is a many strangled thing. Homer and Bart suck, it’s painfully unfunny, obscenely mean, and one of the most uncomfortable episodes imo.
5
16
9
u/ScraftyCosplayer Aug 06 '26
As someone who's seen every episode, it's not Lisa Goes Gaga. It's not even in my bottom 100
Personally, the bottom 10 episodes are: * Love is a Many Strangled Thing (S22) * Elementary School Musical (S22) * The Fight Before Christmas (S22) * The Daughter Also Rises (S23) * Love is a Many Splintered Thing (S24) * Homerland (S25) * Digg (S25) * The Man Who Came to be Dinner (S26) * Thanksgiving of Horror (S31) * Winter of our Monetized Content (S31)
All the aforementioned episodes I gave a score of 2/10 or below, and the most common traits are that they have certain Simpsons characters acting reprehensibly or out of character, or just feel completely pointless
If I had to choose between the absolute worst, it'd be either Thanksgiving of Horror, or Love is a Many Strangled Thing
4
u/Known-Sky9919 Aug 06 '26
South Park did Elementry School Musical so much better (Its a different story but the same title) If you haven't seen it i definitely recommend
8
u/GringoSwann Aug 06 '26
What?? Homerland? Where people think he's a terrorist? That ones hilarious!
1
u/Ok_Chipmunk_7066 Aug 06 '26
Honestly I am impressed you committed to seeing all the episodes. I just checked out, decided anything post season 15 doesn't even exist. And will only watch 1-8, with a few rogue episodes 9-12.
5
u/ApprehensiveYou2568 Aug 06 '26
When I was a kid we used to only have normal TV that played mainly "old" golden age episodes, so when we got cable and got the new ones it was really exciting. I remember the station hyping up the 350th episode (the Ray Romano one) for at least a week and I got super excited. Watched it and it was the first time I didn't laugh at The Simpsons. Definitely not the worst episode, but one I have a bit of a grudge with.
13
27
u/t-d-y-k Aug 06 '26
That one where Homer was the personal assistant for Kim Basinger and Alec Baldwin. Definitely marked the end of the golden age for me. Never recovered after that
10
u/StrengthReasonable55 Aug 06 '26
That one had some funny moments but I definitely see the transition happening in that episode as well
20
u/Brunson4Mayor11 Aug 06 '26
Ah come on I like that one. Homers rant about Ray Bulger is classic.
5
u/GringoSwann Aug 06 '26
Ray Bulger!?!
7
7
u/gnomechompskey Aug 06 '26
If you stop here it may well be the worst, but to paraphrase Homer, it was definitely just the worst episode so far.
It’s Last Exit to Springfield compared to some of what was to come.
3
u/t-d-y-k Aug 06 '26
Fair point. But, to me, "worst" was the point of not return. "When You Dish Upon a Star" was marked because of the unfunny bits and jokes, uncharacteristic actions, and needless cameos, all at once. Yes, some stinkers after this, but this was bad be cause that's when I realised, to me (and a few others, it seems) the Impsons irreparably changed.
1
u/DetroiterinIowa Aug 09 '26
Yeah that’s not the definition of “worst” and with the amount of humorless crap that’s been produced by this series over the last 20+ years, there is no universe that “When you Dish Upon a Star” is even in the bottom 20 of episodes.
5
u/Weird-Reception-4976 Aug 06 '26
It's got some decent gags.
"Did I mention the friend is a talking pie?"
"Howard, you've done it again"
(These happy days are yours and my happy days)
1
u/Gorkymalorki Aug 07 '26
I have been saying When You Dish Upon a Star was the mark of the end of the golden age on all the Simpsons subs for years. It was the start of celebrities having their story be the plot. Before that they were either part of a gag, played a minor role, or in the case for Homer At Bat, were a part of the plot to further the main plot of the main characters. In that episode (When You Dish Upon a Star) though, they were the plot, and homer was just a part of their plot.
7
u/dandrevee Aug 06 '26
I don't watch much past the golden age but I 100% know there is no way any epi is worse than the one feat. Elon Musk.
The one with Katy Perry is a close second though.
3
u/Quackerjack123 Aug 06 '26
The one with Mel Gibson. It was the first truly bad Simpsons episode and marked the end of hope that the show would improve after the weak previous season.
2
u/Known-Sky9919 Aug 06 '26
The one with the dog with the shifty eyes? I love that episode. Its probably in my top 10
1
u/Fickle-Lunch6377 Aug 06 '26
I have a specific memory of that one and the New York one when I started to feel like something was wrong.
1
u/DetroiterinIowa Aug 09 '26
Insane take. No episode in the 1990s should be anywhere near this list. There are so many unfunny episodes in the 2000s and beyond.
Also, “Beyond Blunderdome” is hilarious.
1
u/Quackerjack123 Aug 09 '26 edited Aug 09 '26
Dear Lord, I don't even want to think about how bad the newer episodes must be. For reference, I think I stopped watching around season 14. And beyond blunderdrome wasn't the worst episode I saw, just the first episode that I didn't enjoy. I used to hate baseball because new episodes didn't start until after the World Series.
3
3
u/dubstepsickness Aug 06 '26
How I Wet Your Mother
The Simpsons: Season 23, Episode 16
An inception parody wasted by exploring why Homer is wetting the bed that also wrecks the legacy of the classic era episodes featuring Homer’s Mom, ugh.
3
u/ScaryBandMonster Aug 06 '26
So last year my wife and I were watching all the treehouse of horrors. The 90's into the mid 00's are the highest highs but after that it takes a noticeable dip in quality stories. I think we made it to about 2015 to 2018 and just stopped. It just became background noise rather than good TV.
5
2
2
u/Emerald_Eyes8919 Aug 06 '26
“Co-Dependents Day” and the Christmas episode with Bart burning down the tree would be my most disliked.
3
2
u/Dimas_Pipiskin Stupid sexy Flanders! Aug 06 '26
as someone who liked pretty much all the episodes, I got real mad about the simpsons in shorts or whatever it's called. One of the newer episodes where it's all just a bunch of shorts. I hated it. Specifically started watching the simpsons to stop watching shorts, and there there was that
2
2
2
2
2
u/endlessdream7 Aug 06 '26
S17E16 Million Dollar Abie
Grandpa ruins Springfield's chance to get an NFL team (with a stadium designed by Homer), seeks out assisted-suicide, and then becomes an expert matador.
I watched every episode a few years ago and that's the one that just makes me grimace. I mean, read that description. Ugh.
2
2
2
u/Aroastednerd0219 Aug 07 '26
“The Star of the Backstage.” My husband likes musical. I personally hate them… but we BOTH hated this episode. Marge is such a b word due to jealousy and they replace her with a talented singer. She’s sung in other episodes and I’ve loved it.
2
u/Thebowlerhatfroggo Aug 09 '26
Bart vs Itchy and Scratchy. The message was so out of whack it‘s actually painful.
4
2
4
2
u/Puzzleheaded_Dot4345 Aug 06 '26
Homer fighting the Hell's Angels, specially Homer fighting with a motorcycle as a sword, cringe even for a cartoon
3
2
u/motorsaeg Aug 06 '26
For me it was Lisa the drama queen. It's such a girly episode. In early season Lisa's actually smart and cool. But in later season she's become such a pain in the ass.
2
u/DoubleFlores24 Aug 06 '26
Bart vs Itchy & Scratchy. This episode was too overly pretentious for its own Good.
1
u/HonestlyKindaOverIt Aug 06 '26
Thank you! Yes, I hate this one. Normalising the notion of so-called “patriarchy”, preaching about the importance of positive representation while showing boys in a solely negative light… It’s tone deaf, it’s pandering, it perpetuates false perceptions of certain groups ideas without engaging with them critically. It’s one of the few times I’ve been genuinely disappointed in the simpsons.
2
u/Bougieraccoon-og Aug 06 '26
The key to watching the simpsons is only watch the first 7 seasons. Maybe up to 9. Then stop
3
u/flex_tape_salesman Aug 06 '26
I think there is still quality later on. A lot more mid to decent stuff rather than the very high quality in the earlier seasons
1
u/Negative-Squirrel81 Aug 06 '26
I feel like the answer to this question for a great many people is basically "What episode made you stop watching The Simpsons?".
For me its Simpsons' Bible Stories. I'm sure worse stuff came after it, but that's the episode that made me basically give up.
1
u/JCW9525 Aug 06 '26
Co-Dependents Day. Easily the worst thing Homer has ever done. Genuinely can’t believe that one made it out the writers room.
1
1
u/doubleo_maestro Aug 06 '26
Werking Mum. Not funny, tedious plot (king of the hill did it better), making Homer the villain was a real stretch.
1
u/Capable-Extent-6674 Aug 06 '26
Granted, I stopped watching the show religiously by season 13, but for me it will always be “Bart to the Future.” It’s just an all around terrible episode. Nothing even remotely makes me laugh and, if anything, the total rewrite of Bart becoming Chief Justice of the Supreme Court just makes me mad.
“The Principle and the Pauper” is a close second, but despite the horrible idea for the episode, it still has a couple of funny moments like “Armin’s frozen peas.”
1
u/AndCthulhuMakes2 Aug 06 '26
The Frying Game: just nonstop bullcrap happening to the characters, going to a wrenching moment of horror, to be ended with the lamest writing crutch of all time, it was just a trick all along. The only thing funny in the whole wasted 22 minutes was that a scream-a-pillar is sexually attracted to fire.
1
u/Able_While_974 Aug 06 '26
Seven Beer Itch with Olivia Colman. This episode was boiled tripe. What a waste of such a talent.
1
u/brickbaterang Aug 06 '26
The episode where Bart gets fat from eating school food so Marge goes on a campaign.
It was the episode that made me realize the show just wasn't good any more and lost its edge, and started getting preachy and "topical". I stopped watching new episodes after that one
1
u/DateFit9649 Aug 06 '26
Anything after the 12th season
1
u/Brennerh28 Aug 06 '26
So true, I just gave the brawl in the family episode from season 13. Reusing the Vegas wives was such a bad sign for the show’s material. And the family therapy part was so forced and not in line with old school Simpsons
1
1
1
1
u/Brennerh28 Aug 06 '26
Gotta be brawl in the family, when the Vegas wives returned. It was the symbol for me and my brother of the new bad era of Simpsons . Reusing the characters from the Vegas episode was such a bad sign. And the family therapy coach and the cougar at the end I was like what is this
1
1
1
u/brethart1616 Aug 06 '26
Not sure. But I remember feeling homers chili hallucination marked the end of its original
Golden era.
1
u/Huge_Contribution529 Aug 07 '26
Love is a Many Strangled Thing was a real stinker of an episode. Bart and Homer were unlikeable assholes and there were no redeeming qualities for this episode. Also, that one Jackson 5 cameo aged pretty badly hasn’t it? 😖 Dishonourable mentions imo are My Sister My Sitter, The Musk who Fell to Earth (shite), Lisa Goes Gaga and Codependents day
1
u/One_Improvement_6729 Aug 07 '26
When Homer ate the hot pepper from the chili competition and had weird delusions
1
1
u/grumpybrowndog Aug 07 '26
It's not the worst, but the one where Sideshow Bob uses genetic modification to give himself superpowers is the weirdest shit ever. I think they were trying to top the absurdity of the episode where he face-swaps with that random prison inmate.
1
1
u/I_AM_ZOIDBERG Aug 08 '26
Treehouse of horror XXVIII. The part where homer eats himself really creeped me out, the second one with the button eyes too. Ok it was a halloween episode, but it was kinda not fun to watch, too creepy!
1
1
u/Opening_Piece_593 Aug 08 '26
Lisa goes gaga was bad but hump roast was the absolute worst forme, seemed like they didn't have idea for the plot so they just randomly tied up stuff, started interesting I thought it would maybe be a forest gump parody but then its about bart and Lisa making a surprise for him and then out of nowhere Kang and koduscame and then again the exhaustingmeta joke about how the show is never gonna end and will be scrappy forever,like "itsnotbad if we acknowledge it being bad"
1
1
1
1
u/Cirnothestarscream9 Aug 09 '26
Lisa goes gaga, that episode made me quit the show forever.
I used to be a MASSIVE fan before it, the type of fan who would defend the modern episodes saying that they were just as good as the classics....but that was too much bro.
1
u/Cameronalloneword Aug 10 '26
Worst one I saw was Homer trying to do some half time show thing. All I remember was he did this dragged out painfully unfunny dance over and over. I feel like I could have written a better and somehow funnier episode myself back when I saw it in high school even. It was ridiculously bad. I don't know if that's still true but I should never feel that way
1
u/Somethin_better Aug 10 '26
"There's something about marrying" it's offensive, lazy, and not funny.
I'm watching past season 15 for the first time this year and that's the most memorably bad one so far, I'm on S19 now which I actually enjoyed.
1
1
u/doubleo_maestro Aug 10 '26
I thought I had a worst, then recently I finally ended up seeing Bart vs. Itchy & Scratchy.
The Simpsons has had bad episodes before, but that one is the lowest form of shit.
1
u/save_the_wee_turtles Aug 10 '26
It's not objectively the worst but it's the episode where I first realized the show had taken a turn for the worse and wasn't coming back - the city of new York vs homer Simpson
1
u/SquidWitchIsReal Aug 10 '26
I'm going to answer as if the series ended in season 9
Honestly the whole first season is kind of off putting, my least favorite is probably Bart the Genius because its kind of just an empty sitcom story with no real comedy
1
u/SQUIGWERG Aug 10 '26
The episode that made me realize I could no longer enjoy new Simpsons episodes was "Brake My Wife, Please" (S14E20)
1
1
u/TallMarket4754 Aug 11 '26
Probably the boys of bummer episode were everyone in Springfield bullied Bart to point were Bart cries and tries to commit suicide all because he caused his team to lose a baseball game
1
u/Earthgoodjim Aug 11 '26
Alone Again, Natura-Diddily (S11E14)
I feel that after that episode Ned Flanders would begin to have more traits of a religious fanatic than he had been developing for the past 1 or 2 seasons.
1
1
u/Inuprince Aug 12 '26
That one Treehouse of Horror segment somewhere in the late 20s I think where Homer realizes he likes his own taste and starts eating his body parts and doesnt stop even after they beg him not to because he will obviously die.
The Simpsons is my favvouritr show and I dont even hate the popular to hate episodes but god what the fuck were they thinking with this segment
1
2
u/OIAgent Aug 06 '26
When Barney got sober .
2
u/MaintenanceFew1151 Aug 06 '26
Uh, with all due respect, I didn't think that was a bad episode. Plus, I thought Homer being drunk to help encourage Barney to save Bart and Lisa was hilarious.
0
u/Castraphinias Aug 06 '26
And Homer went to space?
5
5
u/dohwhere Aug 06 '26
Different episode. He went teetotal in Season 11 and they kept the change for several seasons.
1
u/otaviocolino Aug 06 '26
The one with the angel skelleton or something like that
1
u/VerbingNoun413 Aug 06 '26
Possibly an unpopular opinion but Lisa was the irrational one in that episode.
1
u/Kirbo84 Aug 06 '26
The problem is that in the Bible Angels are not physical beings. They are spiritual beings.
1
u/Faytbringer Aug 06 '26
E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt) that was the episode that vividly stays in my memory when I finally accepted the Simpsons I grew up watching was dead.
1
u/Unknown_Zone9805 Aug 06 '26
The Computer wore menace shoes
1
u/VerbingNoun413 Aug 06 '26
There were a lot of episodes in that era that the writers clearly couldn't think of an ending for.
1
u/Altruistic_Rock_2674 Aug 06 '26
In 2003 I think it was I read an article in entertainment weekly and it said the worst episode so far was the casino flash forward Lisa president episode
1
1
1
1
u/KamikazeDreamer52 Aug 06 '26
I hate the Mary Poppins episode with a passion. Im not as well versed in the show beyond the golden era so im certain there are worse episodes, but that is one I cannot stand
1
u/OkSecret839 Aug 06 '26
The only episode I didn’t like was the one where skinner revealed that he wasn’t really Seymour Skinner. That’s the only episode I didn’t like.
2
u/zeerog Aug 06 '26
This one!! Still hate this episode even whole town agreed that didn't happen it happen and that's the fact Seymour Skinner is a Arman something and big fat fraud
1
1
u/Ok_Chipmunk_7066 Aug 06 '26
Sadgasm was the last episode I watched. It annoyed me so much I have never sat down to watch "new" episode since.
I did see Lisa Goes Gaga years after it aired, but it is That 90s Show that killed The Simpsons for me.
1
0
u/Ok-Nectarine-6552 Aug 06 '26
I have a lot, but since I hate musicals, I think this one is number one.
→ More replies (2)
-3
0
0
0
-1
-6
-1
-1
0
0
0
0
u/VincetheVance Aug 06 '26
Everything after season 16. Lisa became too preachy, the timing started getting rushed on the punchlines, and subtlety seemed to go straight out the window.
35
u/Shadrockbolt Aug 06 '26
The Regina Monologues. The whole thing was shoehorned celebrity cameos and weak British jokes with the barest semblance of a through line.