which one is the one where homer is at an all you can eat buffet? of course they dont have enough food there i love that one ^^

In the golden age, guest stars were important but weren't the focal point and didn't just play themselves. (Dustin Hoffman, Michael Jackson, Albert Brooks)

it's not groening being more hands off - if you listen to the commentaries, you can tell that groening did not have a supremely active hand in the show. it's not the writing staff necessarily, though that did change over the years. to me, it's just that there was only so much that could be done with the characters. they had to expand the scope of the show bit by bit over the years until it became blown out - the simpsons were now traveling all over the world, meeting celebrities constantly, etc. while i think it's ridiculous to point to a moment in the show when it began its downhill run, 'itchy and scratchy and poochie', while an excellent episode and quite funny, is a recognition by the writers that the show couldn't maintain its level of humor, satire, and sincerity.

today, everything on the show is to support the jokes, whereas before, the characters were the main focus. as the years went by, and liberties got taken more and more with the 'reality' of springfield - obviously an absurd concept to begin with - the jokes became the primary focus. and yeah, gladhanding celebrities didn't help matters.

I think the decline was related directly to attrition on the creative side. iirc, by seasons 3-5 they already losing people, and by seasons 7-10 anyone who had ever worked on the Simpsons was being given their own show. I think they turned over pretty much the entire, probably a couple times. And some of the people coming in had no history with the show whatsoever. You had new staff come in like writer/producer Ian Maxtone-Graham, who infamously seemed to take pride in never having seen the show before working on it. I think they sort of lost their way for a while.

Plus eventually you run out of good ideas. It is the longest running show ever, or something. What Triumph is saying is true, but I think a lot of that has to do with the changes in the creative side, they lost touch with what really made the show great.

Lemon of Troy
Threehouse of Horror IV and 5 and really everyone from season 3-8
Boy Scouts in the Hood...is my all time fav
Saturdays of thunder
Duffless
Homer: Badman
Homer the great (stonecutters episode)
Bart After Dark
Team Homer (pin pals)


Those are my favs.

Any episode with Lionel Hutz deserves a nod as well.

big fan of das bus (lord of the flies one)

skinner: poland, tell us about your nation's achievements
milhouse (delivery key): well, i heard they sent a rocket to the sun once....at night. and there was that submarine with the screen doors

skinner: Order! Order! Do you kids wanna be like the real U.N., or do you just wanna squabble and waste time?

8-10 are all pretty good imo, each worse than the previous but to me season 11 is the first that really shows the decline

first thing tomorrow morning I'm going to punch Lenny in the back of the head

Homer goes to College (written by Conan O'Brien) is up there with the best

As is another one he wrote, "Marge vs. the Monorail", love that one. Also did "The New Kid on the Block" (when Ruth Powers and her daughter Laura move in next door).

Wife: Now, I don't know much about haggling or bargaining, so why don't we just agree to pay whatever the Winfields want.
Agent: That could work.

---

Ruth Powers: Well, I know what you're thinking, and the answer is yes. I want to be fixed up with one of your friends as soon as you can arrange it. After all, Homer, I do have the normal ... appetites.
Homer: Heh, heh, heh. I know what you mean. Just let me make sure we're not talking about food.
Ruth Powers: I'm not.
Homer: Right! Me neither. We're talking about sex, right?
Ruth Powers: Right.
Homer: I hear you loud and clear!

---

Homer: All you can eat. Ha!
Hutz: Mr. Simpson, this is the most blatant case of fraudulent advertising since my suit against the film, ``The Never-Ending Story''.
Homer: So, do you think I have a case?
Hutz: I don't use the word hero very often, but you are the greatest hero in American history.
Homer: Woo-hoo!

---

Homer: Son, a woman is a lot like a...a refrigerator! They're about six feet tall, 300 pounds. They make ice, and... um...Oh, wait a minute. Actually, a woman is more like a beer. They smell good, they look good, you'd step over your own mother just to get one! But you can't stop at one. You wanna drink another woman!

Conan also wrote on "Treehouse of Horror IV", which is the one with Homer selling his soul to the Devil (Ned) for a donut, Bart and the gremlin on the bus, and Mr. Burns as Drucula. I wish he'd go back to writing for that show, if only one per year or something. He certainly has the time to do it now...

Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na LEAD-ER!

From Deep Space Homer

Homer: You're right, Marge. Just like the time I could have met Mr. T at the mall. The entire day, I kept saying, 'I'll go a little later, I'll go a little later...' And when I got there, they told me he just left. And when I asked the mall guy if he'll ever come back again, he said he didn't know. Well, I'm never going to let something like that happen again!

http://www.snpp.com/guides/mr-t.html - a guide to everything 'Mr. T' related in The Simpsons.

(From Marge in Chains season 4)
Lionel Hutz: Now don't you worry, Mrs. Simpson, I... uh-oh. We've drawn Judge Snyder.
Marge: Is that bad?
Lionel Hutz: Well, he's had it in for me ever since I kinda ran over his dog.
Marge: You did?
Lionel Hutz: Well, replace the word "kinda" with the word "repeatedly," and the word "dog" with "son."


from a later episode
[Skinner holds up Bart's ''Down with Homework'' shirt.]
Seymour Skinner: So, we meet again, Mad Magazine.
Bart: How do you know it's from Mad?
Seymour Skinner: The year was 1968. We were on recon in a steaming Mekong Delta. An overheated private removed his flak jacket, revealing a t-shirt with an iron-on sporting the Mad slogan 'Up with miniskirts!' Well, we all had a good laugh, even though I didn't quite understand it. But our momentary lapse of concentration allowed Charley to get the drop on us. I spent the next 3 years in a POW camp, forced to subsist on a thin stew made of fish, vegetables, prawns, coconut milk and four kinds of rice. I came close to madness trying to find it here in the States, but they just can't get the spices right.

i also like to think of the hiring of ian maxtone-graham as a low point; i didn't even know that anecdote, but i never thought any episodes he wrote were funny.

anyway how about this exchange from boy scoutz in the hood:

Ah, the last peanut -- overflowing with the oil and salt of its departed
brothers.
-- Homer with an almost empty jar of peanuts, "Boy Scoutz 'N the Hood"

He tips his head back, closes his eyes, opens his mouth, and tosses the
peanut towards his head, missing his mouth. The peanut clatters behind
the couch, and after a couple of seconds, Homer observes, "Something's
wrong." He gets down on his hands and knees in front of the couch and
reaches underneath.

[Homer searches under the couch for a peanut]
Homer: Hmm...ow, pointy!
Eww, slimy.
Oh, moving!
Ah-ha! [looks, then says remorsefully] Oh, twenty dollars...I wanted a peanut!

Homer's brain: Twenty dollars can buy many peanuts!

Homer: Explain how.

Homer's brain: Money can be exchanged for goods and services.

Another favorite, Homer to the Max, the episode where changes his name to Max Power.

Comic Book Guy: Your catchphrase is hysterical. Please say iy clearly for my answering machine tape. [hits"record"]
Homer: [unenthusiastic] Uh, oh, Spaghetti-O's.
Comic Book Guy: Worst reading ever.


Homer: Uh ... so, I just wanna know how come you made your
Homer Simpson character so ...
Producer #1: Stupid? [laughs] Well, I can assure you, it happened
organically.
Homer: It better have!
Producer #1: The thirteen of us began with a singular vision --
"Titanic" meets "Frasier".
Producer #2: But then we found out that ABC had a similar project in
development with Annie Potts and Jeremy Piven.
Homer: Who's Jeremy Piven?
Producer #3: We don't know.
Producer #4: But it scared the hell out of us, so we slapped together
a cop show instead.
Homer: Police Cops.
Producer #5: Uh, no, actually, it was called "Badge Patrol".
Producer #1: But the network idiots didn't want a show about high-
tech badges that shoot laser beams!
Producer #2: So we asked ourselves, "Who's behind the badge?"
Producer #3: Police ...
Producer #4: Cops ...
Producer #5: "Police Cops."
Homer: Yeah, but why does the Homer Simpson character have to
be so stupid?
Producer #1: Oh, he's not stupid. He's a street-smart fish-out-of-
water in a world he never made!
Homer: I'm begging you! I'm a human being! Let me have my
dignity back!
[the Producers nod at Homer; he gets up and walks off,
face-first into a cactus]
D'oh!


Homer: Your honor? I'd like to sue the producers of "Police Cops"
for twenty million dollars for improper use of my name.
Judge: Court finds in favor of "Police Cops". Next case.
Homer: [shuffles papers] Then I'd like to legally change my name!
Judge: What name would you prefer?
Homer: Any of these will be fine.
Judge: Hmm. "Hercules Rockefeller". "Rembrandt Q. Einstein".
"Handsome B. Wonderful". Huh, I'm going to give you the only
name you spelled correctly. From this day forward, your name
shall be ...
[cut to a shot of Lisa, reading from a sheet of paper on the
Simpsons' couch]
Lisa: "Max Power"?
Homer: Dynamic, isn't it?
Bart: I love it, Max.
Marge: You changed your name without consulting me?
Homer: That's the way Max Power is, Marge. Decisive.
Uncompromising! And rude!
Abe: Oh, wait a minute. The family name is my legacy to you. I
got it from my father, and he got it from his father, and he
traded a mule for it! And that mule went on to save Spring
Break!


Homer: Nobody snuggles with Max Power. You strap yourself in and
feel the "G"s!
Marge: Oh, Lord.
Homer: And it doesn't stop in the bedroom. Oh, no. I'm taking
charge! Kids, there's three ways to do things. The right
way, the wrong way, and the Max Power way!
Bart: Isn't that the wrong way?
Homer: Yeah, but faster!

Max Power, he's the man who's name you'd love to touch! But you mustn't touch! His name sounds good in your ear, but when you say it, you mustn't fear! 'Cause his name can be said by anyone!


Homer: So I want the monogram to read "M-A-X P-O-W ... "
Employee: Sir, traditionally, a monogram is just initials.
Homer: Max Power doesn't abbreviate. Each letter is as
important as the one that preceded it. Maybe more
important! No, as important.
Employee: [sighing] Very well.
Homer: And if you've got enough room, add some exclamation
points and a pirate flag.
Trent: [walking up] The man knows what he likes.
Homer: Just taking care of business.
Trent: If you don't, who will, huh? Trent Steele.
Homer: Homer Si ... uh, Max Power.
Trent: Oh, hey! Great name!
Homer: Yeah, isn't it? I got it off a hair dryer.
Trent: [laughs] I like a man who can poke fun at himself.
[looks at his watch] Ooh, hey, my one o'clock cancelled.
Eh, you had any lunch?
Homer: Yeah, but I usually have three or four.
Trent: So where to eat? You like Thai?
Homer: Tie good. You like shirt?


Marge: Aren't you coming, Ed?
Begley: I prefer a vehicle that doesn't hurt Mother Earth. It's a go-
cart, powered by my own sense of self-satisfaction.

Criminal #1: Let's get this bank back to our hideout and we'll break
into it later.
[suddenly, a red sports car pulls up.]
Criminal #1: It's the cops!
Criminal #2: Worse. The Police Cops.

what season was the ep where you find out Skinner was an imposter? isnt that considered the start of the slide into mediocrity?

I haven't seen a Simpson's episode in at least 8 or 9 years but while reading this thread i was really surprised that i remembered almost every scene mentioned. I forgot how much i watched the show growing up...and how good it was.

I keep trying to make a favorite episode list but there are just so many good ones. I'll try again after i rewatch seasons 1-9.

How can people hate Homer's Enemy though. seriously.

Frank Grimes: I'm better than OK! I'm HOMER SIMPSON!
Homer: Yeah, you wish.

The Principal and the Pauper-9.2

I don't know the name of the episodes but my favourites are the one where Mr. Burns opens a casino and the one where Homer and Mr. Burns get snowed in inside a cabin. I laugh at these every time I see them (and that is alot). So many classic moments in these.

-$pringfield (Or,How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling)

"Rules for Draw and Stud Poker? You're supposed to take these out of the deck"

-Mountain of Madness

Homer: Hmm. Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

Smokey: Only who can prevent forest fires?
[Bart chooses the "You" button over the "Me"]
You pressed "you," referring to me. That is incorrect. The
correct answer is "you".
Bart: [kicks the robot] Mom, can Lisa and I play outside -- away from
the bear?


Bart the Fink [7.15]

Cayman Islands Offshore Holding Corporation Manager: (chuckles) Oh, I'm sorry. But I can't divulge any information about that customer's secret, illegal account. (hangs up phone)

...Oh, crap. I shouldn't have said he was a customer
... oh, crap. I shouldn't have said it was a secret
... oh, crap! I certainly shouldn't have said it was illegal...!
(sits back, fanning himself) Ah, it's too hot today.

The proposals burns gets for the casino are gold.

edit:
Smithers: Sir, the designers are here with some prototypes for your
casino.
Brit: Gentlemen, I give you Brittania! Gambling with all the
glitz and glamour of the British Isles. Best of all, the
waitresses and showgirls are all real Brits -- fresh from
the streets of Sussex, they are.
Woman: Freshen your drink, Guv'ner?
Burns: Get out.
Hippy: OK, all right, wait, now -- now dig this, man --
Burns: Get out.
Hippy: Ho ho, wow, oh, let me just get my head together.
Burns: Now!
McAllister: I'll need three ships and fifty stout men. We'll sail
'round the Horn and return with spices and silk, the likes
of which ye have never seen.
Burns: We're building a casino!
McAllister: Arr...can you give me five minutes?

Thanks Jack for the titles.

One of my favourite parts is when they've just built the snowmen:

Burns: Look at them. Smug and secure in their finery. Mocking us.
Homer: Uh, they're just snowmen, Mr. Burns.
Burns: Ah, snowmen have peepers. Peepers to watch. To watch for a
moment of weakness and then BAFF comes the knock in the head and
we're down!
Homer: What do we do??
Burns: Oh...wouldn't you like to know.

Just watched Homer's Enemy to see why the split. I have no idea, great ep, laughed out loud 5 times and smiled all the way through it.

So very hard to pick individual episodes. I love the one where Marge opens a pretzel stand and Homer enlists the mafia and there is a montage during which they knock over a hotdog stand and say "This is a pretzel town".

One of my all time favorite Simpson lines is "Everything's coming up Millhouse"