Season 9: Overlooked Middle Child?
 

I've been watching a couple of these episodes recently and realised that this season is like an overlooked middle child at this board. People consider th classic seasons they always mention Seasons 1-8 and what people consider the crap years they always mention 10-12. So do you people reckon Season 9 fits into the recent Al years? I disagree with that statement as i think they are better than the recent Al years. What's everybody else's opinion?
As i look at that list and see some classic's such as 'Lisa's Sax', 'The Cartridge Family', 'Miracle On Evergreen terrace', 'The Joy Of Sect' and 'Girly Edition'. However, i also see some stinkers such as 'The Principal And The Pauper' and 'The Trouble With Trillions'.
So what would everybody else consider this season? I think it's nearly up there with the classics, and much better than Season 10, 11 and 12.


4F22 The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson
4F23 The Principal and The Pauper
3G02 Lisa's Sax
5F02 Treehouse of Horror VIII
5F01 The Cartridge Family
5F03 Bart Star
5F04 The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons
5F05 Lisa the Skeptic
5F06 Realty Bites
5F07 Miracle on Evergreen Terrace
5F24 All Singing, All Dancing
5F08 Bart Carny
5F23 The Joy of Sect
5F11 Das Bus
5F10 The Last Temptation of Krust
5F12 Dumbbell Indemnity
4F24 Lisa, the Simpson
5F13 This Little Wiggy
3G04 Simpson Tide
5F14 The Trouble With Trillions
5F15 Girly Edition
5F09 Trash of the Titans
5F16 King of the Hill
5F17 Lost Our Lisa
5F18 Natural Born Kissers

I'll recycle something I wrote about this before:

Season 8
Treehouse of Horror VII - C+
You Only Move Twice - A-
The Homer They Fall - B
Burns, Baby Burns - B
Bart After Dark - B+
A Milhouse Divided - C+
Lisa's Date with Density - B+
Hurricane Neddy - B-
El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer (The Mysterious Voyage of Homer) - B-
The Springfield Files - B+
The Twisted World of Marge Simpson - B-
Mountain of Madness - B-
Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious - B-
The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show - A-
Homer's Phobia - B
Brother From Another Series - B
My Sister, My Sitter - B
Homer vs. the Eighteenth Amendment - A-
Grade School Confidential - B+
The Canine Mutiny - B-
The Old Man and the Lisa - B-
In Marge We Trust - B-
Homer's Enemy - B+
The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase - C
The Secret War of Lisa Simpson - B
7.88 - B

Season 9
The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson - B
The Principal and the Pauper - D
Lisa's Sax - B-
Treehouse of Horror VIII - C
The Cartridge Family - B-
Bart Star - C+
The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons - C
Lisa the Skeptic - C
Realty Bites - C
Miracle on Evergreen Terrace - B
All Singing, All Dancing - C-
Bart Carny - C+
The Joy of Sect - C
Das Bus - C+
The Last Temptation of Krust - C+
Dumbbell Indemnity - C
Lisa the Simpson - C+
This Little Wiggy - C+
Simpson Tide - C
The Trouble With Trillions - D+
Girly Edition - C+
Trash of the Titans - D+
King of the Hill - C+
Lost Our Lisa - C
Natural Born Kissers - C+
5.44 - C

There is a clear loss of quality between the two seasons.
I don't think Season 9 is overlooked. It is a very average season, and doesn't deserve any (more) credit. Having said that, it is much better than Seasons 10, 11 and 12.

HELLO WHERE AM I

THE NO HOMERS CLUB SUX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HELLO

DO YOU PEOPLE ACTUALLY SEND A MESSAGE BACK

Season 9 is definitely a classic season. Also, I think the reason why season 9 feels so different than seasons 10, 11, and 12 is because alot of the good staff was still there for season 9 but left afterwards. For season 9, there was Oakley/Weinstein, they were no longer showrunners but they were still on staff. David Mirkin was still there full time. Brad Bird was even still there. Appel and Cohen were still there. Also, Matt Groening was still there as Futrama hadn't started yet. All of these people left after season 9 and Mike Scully was left by himself with only George Meyer and Al Jean and a team of newbie writers. So considering Scully/Jean/Meyer ran the entire ship by themselves for those three seasons, I think they did pretty good.

Season 9
The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson - A+
The Principal and the Pauper - ?
Lisa's Sax - ?
Treehouse of Horror VIII - B+
The Cartridge Family - B
Bart Star - C+
The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons - ?
Lisa the Skeptic - B+
Realty Bites - B
Miracle on Evergreen Terrace - B+
All Singing, All Dancing - B+
Bart Carny - B+
The Joy of Sect - A+
Das Bus - B+
The Last Temptation of Krust - B+
Dumbbell Indemnity - ?
Lisa the Simpson - ?
This Little Wiggy - B
Simpson Tide -C
The Trouble With Trillions - ?
Girly Edition - B+
Trash of the Titans - B
King of the Hill - ?
Lost Our Lisa - C
Natural Born Kissers - B+

I thought it was a very rare and under-rated season and I really liked it!

Best Episodes from the Season: "The City of New York Vs. Homer Simpson", "The Joy of Sect" & "Treehouse of Horror VIII"

Worst Episodes: "Lisa the Simpson" & "Simpson Tide".

What episodes can justify the season being classic though? The episodes just aren't of good enough quality.

Homer vs New York
Principal and the Pauper(I dont care what anyone says, I loved this episode)
Lisa's Sax
The Cartridge Family
The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons
Reality Bites
Das Bus
The Joy Of Sect
Dumbbell Indemnity
This Little Wiggy
Simpson Tide
Girly Edition
Lost Our Lisa
King Of The Hill
Natural Born Kissers

All of those are A+

I wouldn't say overlooked. A lot of these episodes are very good and have got credit for it, but at the time, the season as a whole was considerably down on past seasons.

Not overlooked by me. I've always loved season 9.

A lot of them Stylistically are like weaker episodes from season 5, Bart Gets an Elephant, Homer Loves Flanders, Boy Scoutz n the hood, there quite similar to say
The Cartridge Family, Trash of the Titans and King of the hill. In that its not so much the plot is an excuse for a series of jokes about something, but that the only thing the plot can do to develop is make a series of jokes about Something get more extrem and desperate.
So Homer Loves Flanders, to develop Flanders finaly bursting with rage, the plot require a lot of Jokes of Homer unintenionaly pissing of Flanders.
and The Cartridge Family requires a lot of jokes of Homer being incredibly reckless with the Handgun to develop Marge's anger.
So I think instead of the plots being an excuse for random wackiness ala s-10-12 its just that the plots are Simple enough that a whole act can be dedicated to a series of jokes to develop something.

I haven't fully thought this through so feel free to poke holes in this idea I just had.

Season 9
The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson - A
The Principal and the Pauper - A-
Lisa's Sax - A+
Treehouse of Horror VIII - A-
The Cartridge Family - A
Bart Star - A-
The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons - A/A-
Lisa the Skeptic - A-/B+
Realty Bites - A- (N/A in a very long time)
Miracle on Evergreen Terrace - A/A-
All Singing, All Dancing - N/A
Bart Carny - N/A
The Joy of Sect - B+
Das Bus - A-
The Last Temptation of Krust - N/A
Dumbbell Indemnity - A
Lisa the Simpson - A+
This Little Wiggy - A/A+
Simpson Tide - B+/A- (N/A for ages)
The Trouble With Trillions - B
Girly Edition - A-
Trash of the Titans - A
King of the Hill - A-
Lost Our Lisa - B+/A-
Natural Born Kissers - A

Just about a glory year.

underlooked yes. Episodes like Lisa the Simpson, Das Bus, Dumbbell Indemnity, to name a few are very underrated.

i won't rate the episodes, since there are sevral i haven't seen in a long time. but i agree this season needs to be considered classic

my favourites are City of New York, Lisa's Sax, and Simpson Tide

It definitely has some classics in it, and it does contain my favourite episode (4F22.) But there is a lot of filler here-

The Principal and the Pauper (some good stuff, but the continuity errors kill it)
Lisa the Skeptic (featuring jerkass Lisa)
All Singing, All Dancing (just terrible)
Dumbbell Indemnity (meh)
Simpson Tide (Homer in the Navy? Nah)
The Trouble With Trillions (I personally love it, but it is terrible.)
Girly Edition (Boring)
King of the Hill (Meh)

Season 9 should be considered classic despite these errors.

My personal opinion on Season 9 is that it's worse than Season 8 and better than Season 10. Seeing as to where the season lies, this just makes sense.

It should be noted that I would rank all 5 3G and 4F episodes in this season as 3/5 or higher, while there are a fair number of 2/5s in the 20 5F episode rankings for me - a rating you would see me use a fair bit through the rest of the Scully era as well.

Simpson Tide, City of New York vs. Homer Simpson, Lisa's Sax, Cartridge Family, Das Bus, Lisa the Simpson, Miracle on Evergreen Terrace, Lost Our Lisa, Last Temptation of Krust... all good episodes. Besides two or three episodes, it's a quite enjoyable season, though definitely not on par with its predecessors.

I think it's good. The only episode I feel is really below average is The Principal and the Pauper. To me that's the only bad episode. The others are average to great.

I agree, but I think The Trouble With Trillions is good, at least funnier than recent episodes.

Lost Our Lisa and Lisa, The Simpson are also mediocre episodes in my opinion. The first one is just not interesting enough and the second one includes another continuity error and Lisa is too serious and dramatic.

I think season 9 is over all really good, but you can tell that the episodes are slightly declining in quality, but still no season yet has been as good as nine.

So are any of Al's seasons better than 9?

I wouldn't say so, though season 14 is very close.

The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson - B+
The Principal and the Pauper - D+
Lisa's Sax - A+
Treehouse of Horror VIII - B-
The Cartridge Family - C
Bart Star - C-
The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons - C-
Lisa the Skeptic - F
Realty Bites - C-
Miracle on Evergreen Terrace - F
All Singing, All Dancing - F
Bart Carny - A
The Joy of Sect - D+
Das Bus - A-
The Last Temptation of Krust - B
Dumbbell Indemnity - B+
Lisa the Simpson - A-
This Little Wiggy - A
Simpson Tide - F
The Trouble With Trillions - F
Girly Edition - C
Trash of the Titans - F
King of the Hill - B+
Lost Our Lisa - C+
Natural Born Kissers - A-

For me it was a very love/hate season, many episodes were either great or terrible. I've never overlooked it since it's unlike almost any other season of the show, never have I had such conflicting emotions in a single year.

And techinically, that's not even a season 9 episode.

Nothing wrong with good ol' season 9 there was alot of good laughs that year...

No, not for me anyway.

How can you rate a season that has "Lisa's Sax" and "Principal and the Pauper" a week apart? Season 9, IMO, jumped around too much. Good episodes were met with a pretty much equal amount of bad ones, making it hard to give it a rating. Some episodes are much better than the Jean years, others are Season 10-12 quality.

I agree that it's a transitional season. If we consider Scully to be the source of everything that's wrong about the show in later years (which is, I should say, not the truth but a convenient way of looking at it; much like Copernicus said about his theory), it certainly didn't start to set in from the first moment.
Adding to what has been said (especially the comment about ideas left from previous years and all that), it's hard to get a feel of season 9. The season never really found itself, it never really gave us a view, good or bad, of what The Simpsons is and can be. That is the season where I realized how hard it must be to write the show.
Also, it's worth to note that season 9 had episodes produced by every show runner from the show's history except Simon. Oakley/Weinstein in the three 4F holdovers, Jean/Reiss in the two 3G, Mirkin in 5F23/5F24 and Scully for the main 5F line. This, and the fact that 4F24 aired a lot later than intended, contribute to the uneven quality of the season.

Season 9 also had the celebrated 200th episode, about which our friend Mike Scully said something like "it's everything we do best" and, if one looks at the production code, was held over for months just to be the 200th episode. To me, that episode sums up pretty much everything the show shouldn't do, and everything they would try to do for most of the rest of the Scully era.

There are several in season 9 I haven't seen but I don't think it is treated unfairly: in my opinion there are probably more bad episodes in season 9 than in the 5 or 6 seasons before that put together.

Some good and very good episodes in Season 9, but I wouldn't call it a classic, it's evened out by the bad.

Season 14 is and season 15 is possibly tied with season 9.

Season 9's good episodes were great, it's that Season 9's worst episodes were some of the worst to date.