The 25 greatest Simpsons episodes, ranked

We all know everybody’s favorite extremely violent cat and mouse duo, Itchy and Scratchy, were created by Roger Meyers Sr. …or was he? In fact, it turns out that Chester J. Lampwick, who is now a homeless bum, created Itchy. He also invented cartoon violence. Bart and Lisa help him get justice…but they get more than what they bargained for.

Thankfully Mike Scully was a hockey fan, otherwise we may not have gotten “Lisa on Ice.” Lisa is known more for her brains than her brawn, but suddenly she finds herself a hockey star. That makes her a direct rival of Bart, who plays for a different local hockey team. The episode has some fun sports action and a sweet ending. Well, except for the riot that happens.

Marge finds herself so bored with her life that regular ham no longer thrills her. Eventually even deviled ham isn’t enough, so Marge becomes a cop. That’s fun enough as is, but naturally she ends up running afoul of Homer, who is not always on the right side of the law. Homer always gets weird, random jobs. It’s nice when Marge gets to do it too.

We live in a superhero-saturated world. “The Simpsons” has some superheroes too, namely Radioactive Man. The movie version of the comic book hero is being shot in Springfield, which leads to a lot of great jokes about showbiz — and also about Mickey Rooney.

The writers of “The Simpsons” love to riff on “Citizen Kane” with Mr. Burns, the local millionaire tyrant. This is perhaps the most overt of those riffs, as Charles Foster Kane’s sled, Rosebud, is replaced with Mr. Burns' teddy bear, Bobo. Also, the Ramones almost get the Rolling Stones killed, probably not for the first time.

You’ll never believe it, but some TV “news” shows don’t care about facts and instead just want to sensationalize things for ratings and attention. Many years before the modern landscape, “The Simpsons” satirized this kind of show when “Rock Bottom” heavily edits an interview with Homer to make him look like he sexually harassed his kids’ babysitter. That interview is one of the funniest bits the show has ever done.

There are many episodes of TV about people stepping outside their comfort zone and failing — like, say, Marge trying to sell pretzels under the tutelage of Frank Ormond, played by Jack Lemmon in a delightful cameo. When she fails (though her pretzels do maim Whitey Ford), Homer turns to the mob, which makes this the rare TV episode to end with a mob war on a family’s front lawn.

A lot of people love the Stonecutters episode, and so do we, which is why it’s in our top 25. However, some may be surprised to see it this low. Oh, it’s a delightful, hilarious episode, especially the iconic “We Do” song. This really just speaks to how great “The Simpsons” has been if “Homer the Great” finished only 18th on our list.

When gambling comes to Springfield, we never could have guessed where the story was going to go. Homer getting a job at the casino? Sure, that makes sense. How about Marge developing a gambling addiction? We didn’t see that coming, but it doesn’t feel cheap. This episode also gave us Lisa’s Florida costume and, therefore, Ralph’s Idaho costume.

Mr. Plow, that’s my name. That name again is Mr. Plow. That’s all we need to say, right? Now the Mr. Plow jingle is stuck in your head. Homer gets a job driving a plow. It’s that simple. It’s also hilarious.

“The Simpsons” has many emotional episodes and many sweet moments. “Mother Simpson” might end with the biggest dash of melancholy in the show’s history, though. Homer finally reconnects with his mom for the first time in decades, as she left without a trace or a word when he was a kid. It turns out she is on the run from the law, and when she goes on the lam again when the episode ends, Homer is all alone — again.

“The Simpsons” likes to satirize showbiz, and this is a particularly fun one. It’s quite meta, as Bart becomes a fad on Krusty’s show thanks to his accidental catchphrase, “I didn’t do it.” There is a lot of talk about catchphrases on a show that spawned quite a few of its own. Let’s not forget the trip to the box factory either.

This episode is chock-full of cameos from famous baseball players. Mr. Burns decides to fill the power plant’s softball team with ringers. If all we had gotten was Ozzie Smith falling into Springfield’s Mystery Spot, it would have been worth it. Fortunately, there is a lot of great stuff in this episode that got inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

“Homer’s Enemy” is a bit divisive. You may know it as the Frank Grimes episode. People seem to either love it or hate it. It’s either genius dark comedy or too mean and too critical of Homer. Obviously we’re on the side of this being a great episode. Poor Grimey. He was the one man reasonable enough to see how coddled Homer had been.

If there is one line most quoted from “The Simpsons,” it may be: “To alcohol! The cause of, and solution to, all of life’s problems.” That line comes from this episode. Springfield passes a prohibition law, which leads Homer to become the local “Beer Baron.” It’s riotous and full of great lines, including that all-time classic.

Bart is not known for always doing the right thing. He’s put in an awkward place in this episode. He knows Mayor Quimby’s awful nephew, Freddie, is not guilty of the crime he is accused of, but he only knows that because he skipped school. What will he do? Well, we know what Homer does. He watches the director’s cut of “Free Willy” (Willy crushes the kid) and wears glasses that makes it look like he’s awake when he’s actually asleep in the jury box.

Once upon a time, Entertainment Weekly called “Last Exit to Springfield” the best “Simpsons” episode ever. We don’t quite have it that high, but it is a great episode. Homer becomes the leader of the union and goes head-to-head with Mr. Burns to try and get the dental plan back, because Lisa needs braces. Dental plan. Lisa needs braces. Dental plan. Lisa needs braces. Dental plan…

Oh man, this episode is both amazing but also kind of stressful. It has the cringe comedy factor “The Office” made famous. Milhouse’s parents get divorced, which means we spend a lot of time with one of Springfield’s bleakest individuals, Kirk Van Houten. By the time he’s singing “Can I Borrow a Feeling?” you know you’re watching a true work of comedy genius.

This one is an underrated gem, as it doesn’t always show up on lists like this. It’s a fantastic episode, though. The town of Springfield gets hooked on Brad Goodman (voiced by the wonderful Albert Brooks), a self-help guru. Goodman takes a shine to Bart’s devil-may-care attitude, which leads him to tell everybody in town to do what they feel like. It doesn’t go great.

Yes, this episode is totally silly. A flim-flam man comes to Springfield to build a monorail. Homer gets the job as the conductor. The monorail breaks. Leonard Nimoy is involved. There is no heart, no emotion — none of that stuff that “The Simpsons” does well. However, another thing it does well is hit us with brilliant joke after brilliant joke. “Marge vs. the Monorail” has that in spades.

Albert Brooks is back at it, this time with arguably his greatest character. We’re talking about Hank Scorpio, of course. The premise is insane. Homer takes a job in a new city for Scorpio, who happens to be a James Bond-style supervillain. While Homer loves it, the rest of the family wants to move back to Springfield. Sadly, Homer has to leave his job, but not before Scorpio becomes the best one-episode character in the show’s history.

The story is basically right there in the title. Bart gets an elephant. Then hilarity ensues. There are so many great jokes in this episode. It’s hilarious from start to finish. Of course by the episode’s end, Stampy isn’t living with the Simpsons anymore. That’s just fine, because it was a wonderful, whirlwind ride. Remember, elephants don’t have keys.

Conan O’Brien, yes that Conan O’Brien, only wrote a few episodes of “The Simpsons.” One of them is “Marge vs. the Monorail.” Another of them is “Homer Goes to College.” Talk about a high batting average. The idea of Homer going to college is funny on the surface, but what makes it even better is that he assumes it will be like all those ‘80s campus comedies he loves so much. It’s a hilarious riff on pop culture that’s pitch perfect.

Homer Simpson is the greatest TV character of all time. Krusty the Clown is also a great character. Here, Homer gets a job as a Krusty stand in. This episode features a truly great but deeply dark joke. Homer is at the opening of a Krusty Burger, and he thinks the character the Krustyburglar is an actual burglar. Naturally, he begins to beat him mercilessly, which leads a crying child to proclaim, “Stop, stop! He’s already dead!”

The 24 episodes before this one are all great. However, one had to finish on top. That would be “The Itchy and Scratchy and Poochie Show.” It’s a very meta episode, as there is a lot about it that has to do with the making of “The Simpsons.” There are also a lot of “Simpsons” writers who are drawn into the script as “Itchy and Scratchy” writers. Beyond that, it’s just a hilarious episode. It rewards “Simpsons” fans with both clever references and great jokes. It’s almost flawless. Maybe it is flawless...unlike Poochie, the rocking dog. There were a lot of issues with that character.