Worst classic era episodes?

John Smith 1882

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I know people will say Principal and the Pauper, but what besides that do you find to be the worst of the classic era?
 

Financial Panther

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Lisa the Iconoclast, Lisa on Ice, Homerpalooza, Dead Putting Society, Krusty Gets Kancelled, El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer, Lisa’s Date With Density.

But why did you make this thread after bumping the exact same thread? If it’s because it was in a different section, you could’ve just asked it to be moved.
 

Homer Samson

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Saturdays of Thunder, too mean spirited, basically it starts off by making Homer seem like a bad father and then after that is makes Bart seem like a bad son. It just wasn't good, and despite it being a Season 3 episode, I still consider it the worst Nelson-based episode of the entire series, considering how a lot of his modern episodes have been at least decent
 

kwijibo

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GlitterCat

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Dog of Death. The family is just too bitter towards SLH who just happened to get sick. There's no strong jokes and just the overall tone is resentful.
 

pax

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Like the thread from last year is valid, sure, but even still why would you go "seriously, again?" and then link dead threads from all the way back in 2005, 2013, and 2015 lol.
 

Szyslak100

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Like the thread from last year is valid, sure, but even still why would you go "seriously, again?" and then link dead threads from all the way back in 2005, 2013, and 2015 lol.

Because it is a thread that was made uncountable times. It's not an ocassional thread that maybe was done, maybe not. There's more than 100.000 posts here, and I don't pretend that none be repeat, but I just shared the words 'worst' and 'classic' and I get those results in the first page.

And it's not neccesary, especially when he posted this thread after he commented the one with the topic in Episode Discussion. I mean, he knew that this already exist.
 

Beggs

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The clip shows by default, though it feels like a cheat to use them. Putting them aside and just counting regular episodes, "The Canine Mutiny" still stands out as the weakest to me. I don't hate it and I feel like it has some funny moments and memorable lines, but it's far from brilliant and just kind of ends.
 
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I'd say A Star is Burns, because the jokes with the critic feel kinda cheap and basic, burping contest, the hotdog song thing, Patty and Selma hanging him on the roof... Although Barney's short film is absolutely memorable and wonderful, but still, not a big fan
 

John Smith 1882

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I'd say A Star is Burns, because the jokes with the critic feel kinda cheap and basic, burping contest, the hotdog song thing, Patty and Selma hanging him on the roof... Although Barney's short film is absolutely memorable and wonderful, but still, not a big fan

Not to mention the Critic and Homer's stomachs growling at each other like dogs. That scene definitely seemed too silly for the classic era.
 

Homer Samson

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The only episodes from Seasons 2-8 I outright dislike are Saturdays of Thunder and The Old Man and the Lisa. I consider Season 9 part of my personal golden age though, and even then, there is only 1 non-clipshow episode that season I dislike, Miracle on Evergreen Terrace, and it is only bad, not awful.

A lot of these threads about "worst classic era episodes" really piss me off. I know of unpopular opinions, but a lot of people mention A Fish Called Selma, $pringfield, The Springfield Files, and Boy Scoutz 'n' the Hood. Some even mention Homie the Clown and Bart the Murderer. As far as I know, these are commonly regarded as fantastic episodes and I don't see what the hate is for.

The fact that so many people claim that The Springfield Files and $pringfield are "weak" honestly makes my head spin. Of course you can have your opinions, but they seem way too common on these threads.
 

Financial Panther

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I don’t recall anyone saying Homie the Clown is a bad classic episode.

But The Old Man and the Lisa > $pringfield.
 

CousinMerl

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For me it's '$pringfield' > 'The Old Man and the Lisa' for sure. 'The Old Man and the Lisa' is a good one and probably has the stronger story but the humor of '$pringfield' easily wins it over for me.
 

Financial Panther

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$pringfield is fine, but I love The Old Man and the Lisa. To me, it’s one of the best characterizations of Burns in the show, although I know many vehemently disagree with that.
 

Dr. Nihilistic

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To me, the worst classic era episode is like the worst water. I don't know if the statement really means much. I just see it as the episodes that are at least decent in their seasons, but they wouldn't be on the top five list or anything like that. There's a difference between that and classic episodes that are just downright bad. I can't think of too many episodes in the earlier seasons that are among the worst of the series. "The Canine Mutiny" is a bad episode by the standards of the classic era, but if it came out now, it would be considered a really good one.
 

Beggs

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Definitely. I can't name a single episode from the classic era that I just couldn't watch (short of having seen some so many times that I need to take a break from them to really appreciate them again), and the weakest would easily rank among the best today. It's probably too easy at times to fall into the trap of thinking every single episode was a flawless masterpiece; that would be an exaggeration, but the quality remained high for an impressively long time, with the weaker episodes generally still being entertaining.
 

goodfella

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difficult to say, while i would hold anything from s2 to s8 as classic, each season has a different standard. for example bart vs australia stands out among season 6 as a weak episode, but it is still classic simpsons and funnier than a lot of season 2 or season 3 episodes.

i've never been a big fan of krusty based episodes, so bart the fink is one that stands out as weak amongst season 7. lady bouvier's lover has always struck me as a bit of a weird entry for season 5, a bit dry, not wild and zany like the rest.
 

Homer Samson

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difficult to say, while i would hold anything from s2 to s8 as classic, each season has a different standard. for example bart vs australia stands out among season 6 as a weak episode, but it is still classic simpsons and funnier than a lot of season 2 or season 3 episodes.

i've never been a big fan of krusty based episodes, so bart the fink is one that stands out as weak amongst season 7. lady bouvier's lover has always struck me as a bit of a weird entry for season 5, a bit dry, not wild and zany like the rest.

Do you like Homie the Clown? That is imo a top 20 episode and it is Krusty focused
 

simpsonsbart

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For me, the worst episode comes from the classic era (I prefer saying this rather than "golden era"): The Shary Bobbins one. Outside of the non-dubbed (I'm watching the series in French since I'm from France) overpresent songs, I also hate the plot. I've read the story that tells that Mike Reiss already proposed the script, but back in that day no one wanted it because of "magic in The Simpson universe". From what I remember (I hate this episode so much I didn't want to watch it ever again, and when the episode started a re-airing, I didn't know it was this episode, so I had to check on the program which episode it was, and when I knew it, I left the room where the TV that was showing the episode happened to be), technically, Shary doesn't use any magical power on the family (Bart's room is suddenly clean because the dirtyness is simply put under his bed). It's her presence that causes magic, that even causes every Springfieldian to act weird or even out-of-character, with for example Skinner wanting to sell Jimbo. I know this scene, like many other ones in this episode, is a reference to Mary Poppins... But in The Simpsons universe, all those references are to me what TV Tropes would call "Big-lipped alligator moments". For me, the show was so busy on parodying the movie that it forgot to be itself. I tend to like more other unpopular episodes because, at least, unlike in this episode, even when it's parodying something or someone, the show is itself, so are the characters.
 
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Homer Samson

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I've never been overly fond of The Front, The Canine Mutiny or The Twisted World of Marge Simpson.

The Front was hilarious.
-Grampa saying "I don't know" after being asked about taking off his underwear but not his Pants
-That's right, I did the Iggy
-Burning the donut
-The Dazed and Contused I&S cartoon
-Grampa writing an angry letter
- Homer imagining himself taking Grampa to a Crazy House
-"I figured it was because the Democrats were in power again"

It is legitimately one of the funniest episodes of its season.
 

John Smith 1882

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Does anybody consider Trouble with the Trillions part of the classic era? Because that had one of the most wacky, disjointed plots that have ever been done up to that point, and a nonsensical ending. It felt like several unrelated stories awkwardly spliced together. It's easily a contender.
 
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