Do you count clip shows when talking about the worst episode of their respective season?

John Smith 1882

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For example, some people will say the worst episode of season 6 was Fear Of Flying, the worst episode of season 9 was Principal And The Pauper, and the worst episode of season 13 was The Lastest Gun In The West. But really, who in the right mind would rather watch the clip shows from the respective seasons than those episodes? Do people think clip shows don't count, or are they so forgettable people don't even remember them?
 
Clip shows are still episodes, considering if they didn’t exist there would be a normal episode in their place. They do have an effect on the quality of a season.

But it’s useful to have a disclaimer for the “worst non-clip episode” of a season so it could actually be a discussion. Almost everyone agrees the clips are the worst of any season they’re in, except for the 138th Episode Spectacular.
 
I usually don't. Mostly since they're not full episodes so it seems unfair to the others to count them.

I think my only particular exception is the first one, mostly because for awhile it's actually its own thing and fun at that, then becomes a clip show. That said, it's also somehow probably still the best of the clip shows for its inbetween material. Just wish it'd stayed its own episode...
 
That and the 138th Episode Spectacular proved clip shows don't have to suck. There's no excuse for the laziness of Another Simpsons Clip Show, All Singing, All Dancing, or Gump Roast.
 
Not really, I'd say. When mentioning the worst episodes of seasons I often tend to leave them out as they just feel way too easy/obvious as choices (most of the time at least) but I understand those who do count them as they are after all legitimate episodes, despite not being all original stories (as they use clips from earlier episodes).
 
I always forget the clip shows in lists, though I don't like any of the beyond the 1st. It seems unfair to call all singing the worst episode of an era, I didn't like it because it's a dumb (to me) wraparound and hearing all the songs out of context gets tedious.
 
I don't like any of the beyond the 1st.

You don't even like '138th Episode Spectacular' (season 7)? Just wondering since it is usually considered the most well liked clip show (and only one that verges on being beloved) and I think it is a great one as well (only really good one aside from 'So It's Come To This').
 
In a way, the 138th Spectacular feels more like a format bender than a clip show (sort of akin to Spinoff Showcase or Behind The Laughter). Some people don't even consider a clip show, since it shows a lot of new or rarely seen footage, though it technically is a clip show. Personally, I actually find it to be one of the best episodes of season 7, in sharp contrast to almost all other clip shows.
 
And the worst episode of Season 9 would really be Miracle on Evergreen Terrace for me if All Singing, All Dancing wasn't included. Absolutely despise how mean spirited it is and the ending especially made me mad. As far as Season 6 goes, I too would go with Fear of Flying, but Season 13 would probably be The Old Man & The Key (despite the meme, you know which one).
 
Good call on Miracle In Evergreen Terrace, it's easily my least favorite non-clipshow of season 9. I always found it unnecessary mean spirited and dark for a Christmas episode, and the first episode i recall disliking as a kid who grew up watching The Simpsons in its prime.

As for Fear Of Flying, it's funny like everything else in season 6. But it feels so uneventful, and doesn't seem to build up to anything. Not to mention they retconned the fact that Marge was already shown flying in Mr. Lisa Goes To Washington, and her father looked and sounded completely different in The Way We Was.

Old Man and The Key is yet another bland, forgettable episode from season 13, so I won't argue with you on that one. Still not as dull to me as Lastest Gun, but not far off.
 
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I don't think it's fair to compare a clip show to another non-clip show episode to pick the worst episode of a season. It's too easy to pick a clip show. I don't hate the clip shows, I think they did some really interesting things setting up the clips. I tried to challenge myself to pick what I thought was the worst episode of Season 9. There's a few episodes that I dislike in parts, like Trash of Titans slowly loses me and by the end I'm uninterested.. but the premise of letting Homer loose at the helm of the sanitary department, it really was the peak of homer's stupidity.

I think the worst for me outside of the clip show is either Dumbbell Indemnity or The Last Temptation of Krust.
 
When I rank a clip show episode I mostly look at the premise of how they handle the clips moving forward and the quality of the clips themselves despite being from older episodes. This would mean that I wouldn't rate the episode Gump Roast that high because while I do like the way they show the clips with a Forrest Gump reference and going into a roast, I mostly don't care for a lot of scenes from the Scully era (especially season 11 and 12) which make up the majority of this episode. Another Simpsons Clip Show is basically the opposite where I find that the way they are going to show the clips to be lazy, but I do like most of the clips because they were some of the best parts of these episodes, while Gump Roast was mostly just quick Scully gags. Considering how well all other season 6 episodes are the clip show would easily rank as the worst episode, but if I were to leave it out it would be A Star is Burns.
 
I always do because only the episode "Another Simpsons Clip Show" to me is the worst episode of its respective season.

"So it comes to this: A Simpsons Clip Show" and "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular" are both episodes I enjoyed.

However, "All Singing, All Dancing" and "Gump Roast" aren't my worst episodes of those specific seasons because one episode during each of those seasons is even more dreadful.

I call "Miracle on Evergreen Terrace" the worst from season 9 since I found it to be too mean spirited for a Christmas episode plus the cameo by Alex Trebek and the Jeopardy scene looks like it was put in as an afterthought.

I call "The Parent Rap" the worst episode of season 13 because they were taking a cartoon cliche of two people stuck together and taking it in a different direction in which I felt it didn't work. Not only that Judge Harm is an awful character (that didn't even need to be brought back for cameos in seven additional episodes) and I think they cast Jane Kaczmarek for it just to take advantage of the success of "Malcolm in the Middle" since she reminds me of her character on that sitcom. In my opinion Judge Harm is the character that is the official mascot of "the Simpsons are going downhill" claim.
 
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