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#20. Homer vs. the 18th Amendment (season 8)





This episode narrowly beat out "Homer to the Max" and "Lisa the Simpson" to make the list. "Homer vs. the 18th Amendment" makes it due to a great "one episode" character and a great theme in prohibition hits Springfield, complete with a prohibition-era style narrator. Bart getting drunk in the beginning of the episode was great, along with Banner's birthday "Banana Kaboom", Banner thinking Flanders is drunk, Moe's "Pet Shop", etc. Also, I thought they did a good job using Chief Wiggum this episode, where his incompetency as a police chief finally caught up with him. The only problem I have with this ep is that Homer and Bart using the blowing alley lanes to supply the bar and then brewing their own booze in the basement was a little too wacky, but it still led to some funny stuff and it's a minor complaint. This episode also featured one of the best (possibly the absolute best) line in Simpsons' history at the end by Homer. RIP Rex Banner.

quotes from the episode:

Homer: "It's been St. Patrick's Day for hours and I'm still not drunk yet"

Kent Brockman: "Today, everyone is a little bit Irish, except of course for the gays and the Italians"

Rex Banner: "Tuck in that shirt, get those shoes shined, take that badge out of your mouth, you're police officers!"

Marge: "Why do you have so many bowling balls?"
Homer: "I'm not gonna lie to you Marge...so long!"

Banner: "What kind of pet shop is filled with rambunceous yahoos and hot jazz music at 1am?"
Moe: "Uhh...the best damn pet shop in town!"

Banner: "Don't crack wise with me Tubby!"
Comic Book Guy: "Tubby? (looks down)...ah yes, tubby."

and for the best quote of the episode:

Homer: "To alcohol, the cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems"

#19. Itchy and Scratchy and Marge (season 2)





It's an early episode, and before the Simpsons really hit their stride in season 3, but I think this episode is hilarious and was a good attempt at tackling the issues of TV violence and censorship in general. The writers I felt were very even-handed while they dealt with these issues in that they contrasted Marge's vendetta against Itchy and Scratchy with her defending of the statue of David. Censorship is a complicated issue and the writers handled it like that. My favorite aspect of the episode is what makes it funny though, and for me it was the overkill of Itchy and Scratchy episodes that it featured. Some of them were simpler than the ones featured in later seasons, but they were still great. Itchy replacing Scratchy's eyeballs with small bombs, the ever-increasing gun exchange, and especially the episode with Marge the squirrel were all great. But the greatest part of the episode was when Roger Meyer was pressured into taking the violence out of the show, and "Porch Pals" was the result. It never fails to make me laugh and it's my favorite episode of Itchy and Scratchy of all-time because of how over the top ridiculous it is. It's so nice and sweet to the extreme that I can't help but love it.

Quotes:

Homer: "You heard me, I won't be in for the rest of the week...I told you, my baby beat me up"

Homer: "Hahaha, take that you dumb squirrel!"

Roger Meyer: "That woman, that screwball Marge Simpson, we've got to stop her, but how?"
Writer #1: "Drop an anvil on her head?"
Writer #2: "Hit her on the head with a piano."
Writer #3: "Stuff her full of TNT then throw a match down her throat and run?"

Homer: "Hey, some of these stories are pretty good, I never knew mice lived such interesting lives"