Two Episodes Are Better Than One

Well, since "My Mother the Carjacker" is in my top 25 and "Mother Simpson" is my all-time favorite episode, the choice is clear.

"Moaning Lisa" / "Round Springfield" A-, B
"Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" / "Brother, Can you Spare Two Dimes?" B+, B+
"The Way Was" / "Half-Decent Proposal" / "The Ziff Who Came To Dinner" A+, A-, C+
"Like Father, Like Clown" / "Today, I am A Clown" A+, B
"Mother Simpson" / "My Mother the Carjacker" A, B+
"Viva Ned Flanders" / "Brawl in the Family" C, C
"Alone Again, Natura-Diddly" / "I'm Goin' to Praiseland" C-, D

Tie between Rabbi Krustofsky and Mother Simpson, both with one really strong original episode and one great follow-up. But Rabbi Krustofsky I think is the funnier character, so he wins. The Bleeding Gums Murphy lineup is good enough, but "Round Springfield" wasn't especially fulfilling dramatically nor all that funny and even "Moaning Lisa" was a little slippery at points, most notably when selling Marge's "It doesn't matter how you feel inside, it's what shows up on the surface that counts" mistake 'message'. Uncy Herb's episodes are both nice, funny, mostly lighthearted affairs hurt by some obvious character/plotting contrivances that even the staff jokes about. Artie Ziff suffers simply by the uneventful, bordering on nonsensical "The Ziff Who Came To Dinner". The others I don't think need much of an explanation.

Out of these I'll go for The Way We Was/ Half Decent Proposal, I loved both of those episodes.


I didn't think My Mother the Carjacker or Today I am a clown were all that good.
I hated Alone again and Praiseland.
And Brawl in the Family is OK, Viva la ned flanders is pretty bad though and brings it down.
And you left Out Homer's Enemy/ The Great Louse Detective which rules, IMO.

The "Homer's Mom" eps, with the Krusty duo second.

"Moaning Lisa" / "Round Springfield" B+, A-
"Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" / "Brother, Can you Spare Two Dimes?" A-, B+
"The Way Was" / "Half-Decent Proposal" / "The Ziff Who Came To Dinner" A+, A, C
"Like Father, Like Clown" / "Today, I am A Clown" A+, A-
"Mother Simpson" / "My Mother the Carjacker" A+, A-
"Viva Ned Flanders" / "Brawl in the Family" C+, C
"Alone Again, Natura-Diddly" / "I'm Goin' to Praiseland" D-, D+

I'll quickly explain the grades.

BGM episodes: great on emotion, a little low on humor. I enjoy both episodes though, but don't regard them as any of my favorites.

Herb episodes: DeVito was great in both episodes, both were pretty funny. Nothing really landmark in either episode, but always good for enjoyment. Doesn't win this poll, but was close.

Ziff episodes: Would have won this poll if not for the horribly mediocre "Ziff Who Came to Dinner". I'm actually generous in giving it a C, but there were some humorous moments sprinkled into the sloppy plot. "The Way We Was" was the best of all the flashback episodes, it set the mood and setting of the episode perfectly, and "Half-Decent Proposal" was a worthy sequel, another episode I enjoyed very much.

Rabbi episodes: "Like Father, Like Clown" was a classic episode and was the first episode to delve into Krusty's off the air persona in detail. "Today, I am Klown" was a good sequel and was one of the most enjoyable episode of the latest season.

Mother Simpson episodes: Wins this poll. "Mother Simpson" was a classic episode, featuring some of the best emotion the show has ever seen. "My Mother, the Carjacker" lived up to its expectations and didn't take anything away from the original.

Vegas wives episodes: "Viva Ned Flanders" didn't strike me as bad, but it didn't strike me as good. It was just there. "Brawl in the Family" was more of the same.

Maude episodes: both were atrocious. "Alone Again, Natura-Diddly" was one of the worst pieces of shit I have ever seen on the show. Instead of Maude's death being handled in a light-hearted, caring manner, it was handled badly and downright obnoxiously. "I'm Goin' to Praiseland" was just not funny and the whole thing with people getting high off the gas was just stupid, for lack of a better word.

So, as you might be able to gather from my long post, the Mother Simpson episodes were the best.

"Moaning Lisa" / "Round Springfield" A-, A+
"Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" / "Brother, Can you Spare Two Dimes?" A+, A+ (Winner)
"The Way Was" / "Half-Decent Proposal" / "The Ziff Who Came To Dinner" A+, B-, C+
"Like Father, Like Clown" / "Today, I am A Clown" A-, B-
"Mother Simpson" / "My Mother the Carjacker" A+, A- (Second)
"Viva Ned Flanders" / "Brawl in the Family" B+, C-
"Alone Again, Natura-Diddly" / "I'm Goin' to Praiseland" C-, D+

"Moaning Lisa" / "Round Springfield" C+, A
"Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" / "Brother, Can you Spare Two Dimes?" A B+
"The Way Was" / "Half-Decent Proposal" / "The Ziff Who Came To Dinner" A, A, B-
"Like Father, Like Clown" / "Today, I am A Clown" A, A-
"Mother Simpson" / "My Mother the Carjacker" A, A-
"Viva Ned Flanders" / "Brawl in the Family" D C+
"Alone Again, Natura-Diddly" / "I'm Goin' to Praiseland" D-, D+

All for the same reasons Patman gave.

Moaning Lisa and Round Springfield - B+, A+
Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? and Brother, Can you Spare Two Dimes? A, A+
The Way Was, Half-Decent Proposal and The Ziff Who Came To Dinner A, B, C-
Like Father, Like Clown and Today, I am A Clown A, C+
Mother Simpson and My Mother the Carjacker A+, B+
Viva Ned Flanders and Brawl in the Family B, C
Alone Again, Natura-Diddly and I'm Goin' to Praiseland C, D

The Herb duo takes it out for me.

"Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" / "Brother, Can you Spare Two Dimes?" is the best duo for comedy's sake, while Mother Simpson/My Mother The Carjacker also come unbelievable close, this time for characterization.

Moaning Lisa and Round Springfield A,A-
Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? and Brother, Can you Spare Two Dimes?A+,B+
The Way Was, Half-Decent Proposal and The Ziff Who Came To Dinner A+,AC+
Like Father, Like Clown and Today, I am A Clown A+,B+
Mother Simpson and My Mother the Carjacker A+,A(Winner)
Viva Ned Flanders and Brawl in the Family C,C+
Alone Again, Natura-Diddly and I'm Goin' to Praiseland D+,C+

The Mother Simpson episodes win.

Viva Ned Flanders/Brawl in the Family

Moaning Lisa/'Round Springfield: Like Patman said, these are full of emotion, but lacking in humor. This really isn't a problem for me, seeing as how my favorite episode is "Lisa's Substitute", and that is the most poignant episode ever, in my opinion. Anyway, you have to acknowledge that "Moaning Lisa" was the show's first attempt at an emotional episode, and they did fine. Not nearly as well as other episodes, but fine, nonetheless. "'Round Springfield" is a terrific episode, and also one of the more emotional episodes of the series (which most Lisa episodes tend to be). Still, it isn't all that funny (although I'm sure that that's why the Bart subplot was added; for humor), but I think that it does well as what it is: a human-interest sort of story. I mean, you can relate to what is going on, and that's what I think this episode was trying to do. The ending is also great. I love the song, and the uplifting feel. Grades: Moaning Lisa:A, 'Round Springfield:A+

Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?/Brother Can You Spare Two Dimes?: These were great episodes in the humor department. They weren't landmark episodes or anything, but they have a great story beneath the surface: Homer and Herb's relationship. The first episode was funny, and I love it for that. The sequel was a bit unnecessary, but funny, nonetheless. It was all over the place, really, but it is still enjoyable. Grades: Oh Brother, Where Art Though?:ABrother, Can You Spare Two Dimes?:A

The Way We Was/Half-Decent Proposal/The Ziff Who Came To Dinner: The first episode is one of the best ever, of course, it's more of a Homer/Marge story than it is an Artie Ziff story. But still, I liked his introduction in the episode. "Half-Decent Proposal" was one of the best of the thirteenth season, and the better of the two episodes that really featured Artie Ziff. "The Ziff Who Came to Dinner" was really annoying, only because it was really defamizing to Artie and it made it hard to like him as a character anymore (which really isn't who he's supposed to be, but I like to think of it that way). Not that bad, but not a favorite either. Grades: The Way We Was:A+, Half-Decent Proposal:A, The Ziff Who Came to Dinner:B-

Like Father, Like Clown/Today, I am a Clown: The first is the original Krusty episode. It's so great to be able to relate to a sort of unrelatable character like Krusty, but in this one, you really felt for him. The introduction of Rabbi Krustofsky was also great, as he is actually a pretty funny character. The latter of the two was a great season 15 episode. I liked it as a Krusty episode, although the Homer subplot was a bit weak. Of course, we should grade on the main plot, and in that light, this is a great episode. Grades: Like Father, Like Clown:A+, Today, I am a Clown:A-

Mother Simpson/My Mother the Carjacker: Both are great emotional episodes, as well as some of the best episodes for good-hearted humor. The original is my second-favorite episode. The whole episode is a great mix of emotion and humor, and the ending is one of the best ever. The latter was the best of season 15 and on my top 50 as well. The best thing about this episode is that you feel so bad for Homer, and he is in his best form, something that we haven't seen in years. Grades: Mother Simpson:A+, My Mother the Carjacker:A+

Viva Ned Flanders/Brawl in the Family: Both are awful episodes. The first is just annoying continuity-wise (Flanders is a senior citizen? Yeah right.), and the second is sort of all over the place. The Vegas wives have really no place in the episode and aren't at all funny. Grades: Viva Ned Flanders:D+, Brawl in the Family:C+

Alone Again, Natura-Diddly/ I'm Goin' To Praiseland: Again, two awful episodes. The first was annoying simply because of the death of Maude (I know it was for a good reason, but still), and the second was just totally unbelievable. The only thing that saves it is the ending, showing that Ned is moving on after Maude's death. Still, two sub-par eps. Grades: Alone Again, Natura-Diddly:C-, I'm Goin' To Praiseland:B-

Mother Simpson/My Mother the Carjacker win.

Mother Simpson duo wins with an A and a B+

The Herb epsiodes narrowly defeat the Mom episodes for me.

"The Way Was" / "Half-Decent Proposal" / "The Ziff Who Came To Dinner"

^That one got fives for the first two and a four and a half for the third part....slightly edging out the Bleeding Gums and Herb Powell storylines.

"Moaning Lisa" / "Round Springfield" A-, B+
"Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" / "Brother, Can you Spare Two Dimes?" A-, B+
"The Way Was" / "Half-Decent Proposal" / "The Ziff Who Came To Dinner" A+, A, C-
"Like Father, Like Clown" / "Today, I am A Clown" A+, B+
"Mother Simpson" / "My Mother the Carjacker" A+, A-
"Viva Ned Flanders" / "Brawl in the Family" C, C
"Alone Again, Natura-Diddly" / "I'm Goin' to Praiseland" C-, D+/C-

Mother Simpson/ My Mother the Carjacker is the clear winner here. Both excellent episodes. The Artie Ziff saga would be a strong contender if not for the most recent one. The Rabbi Krustofsky episodes clock in at second.

Moaning Lisa/Round Springfield

Moaning Lisa has always been a particular favorite of mine, and in my top twenty episodes. This is partially due to its greatness and partially, admittingly, due to some of my own experiences and tendancy to relate to Lisa's plight in this episode (as well as many other episodes). In fact its a shame that I had to wait until the dvd release to see it (lousy syndicate...) as seeing this episode would have made me feel a lot better during a severe depression. Anyways, paired with it is of course 'Round Springfield. I can understand some of the criticisms of it but nonetheless love it as well. Its both consistantly hilarious and for the most part genuinely sweet. Its not as deep as some other episodes here (including Moaning Lisa) but nonetheless I love it. Perhaps its, as (our member) Mike Scully once put it, a "cult episode for Lisa fans".
Moaning Lisa: A+ Round Springfield: A

Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?/Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes

The first episode with Unky Herb is a bonafide season two classic. While not even neccasarily one of the strongest of that season, its nonetheless very good. It has a clever story, empathetic Homer characterization, and is very funny and fun throughout. Really one of the only criticisms I have with it is that the ending comes off as just a tad too dark. I still love the ending, but I think it was sort of important that they follow it up with a sequel so Homer didn't really ruin his brother's life forever. But the sequel was actually, relatively speaking, a slight letdown. Considering it comes from the "classic era" so to speak, the story is really all over the place and just not particularly well written. Where its predeccessor was at heart about Homer's need for a sibling and his own insecurities, "Two Dimes" seems content filling its story with mostly unrelated and silly events. With that said though, the events are still funny and the episode still enjoyable, if not a classic.
Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?:A- Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes?: B

The Way We Was/Half Decent Proposal/The Ziff Who Came to Dinner
The Way We Was is another season two classic and one of the best episodes ever, period. The characters are all empathetic, the humor top notch, and really everything about it is just great. Its even one of the few episodes that nearly brought a tear to my eye. Simply a classic. However, while the episode itself is not really about Artie Ziff at all (he's merely a plot device that shows up for a few minutes, albeit a very amusing and memorable one), he returns in Half Decent Proposal, which of course borrowed its plot from a brief gag in "The Front". This concept ended up being one of Jean's biggest successes in his solo era. It puts a creative spin on the Homer and Marge relationship, and even develops this originally somewhat flat character into his own. He's both hilarious and, suprisingly, somewhat lovable in his constant failings. The Ziff Who Came to Dinner unfortunately simply couldn't follow up. Similar to "Two Dimes" in fact, it wastes a lot of time with unrelated tangents (such as the movie theater scenes in act one) and never finds a focus or theme. And Ziff's character has been reduced again to a fairly flat character with not much to do besides repeat old gags about his obsession with himself or his lust for Marge. Still, like Two Dimes its amusing enough to be enjoyable as a farce, even if it comes off as an unneccasary sequel that could've been planned better.
The Way We Was: A+ Half Decent Proposal: A- Ziff Who Came: B/B-


Like Father, Like Clown/Today, I Am a Clown

As a general rule, I rarely find episodes centering around side character to work as well empathetically as episodes centered around the main family members. While I have nothing against these characters, often they are simply too thin for it to work particularly well. But there are a few exceptions to the rule, like "Much Apu About Nothing", and Like Father, Like Clown is a good exception as well. Krusty before this episode was mostly a bit character, with his only big role being "Krusty Gets Busted" where he was mostly a pretty thin character. But here he becomes more fully developed and empathetic, and I at least am drawn into the story. Jackie Mason has particularly memorable guest role (he is after all the only guest ever to win an emmy for their appearance on the show), and of course the humor is top notch as well, including a particularly great Itchy and Scratchy cartoon, "Field of Screams". Today, I Am a Clown on the other hand seems frankly less interested in making Krusty's story interesting. Much of the episode focuses on unrelated events, including an actually pretty great sideplot with Homer's "Politically Incorrect"-esque talk show, and the Rabbi seems to have been relegated only to a bit role here. Like Krusty's tv bar mitzvah, it comes off as a farce. But its a consistantly funny farce at that and thus still gets good marks, even if the story could have been stronger.
Like Father, Like Clown: A Today, I Am a Clown: B/B+

Mother Simpson/ My Mother the Carjacker
Mother Simpson, as I've already said with a few other episodes here, is a big, top twenty, beloved classic. The writing is so hilarious and the characters so empathetic that its impossible not to love it and become swept up in the story of Homer and his suprisingly alive mother. The ending was also very sweet and sad, and has become a favorite ending among fans for good reason. Thus it was not without some apprehension that fans anticipated and somewhat fretted over the return of Mona Simpson in season 15. The worries were not without good reason, but nonetheless turned out to be unneeded as My Mother the Carjacker turned out to be a very classy and worthy follow up. The great empathetic writing was back in full swing for the most part, and the humor similarly sharp with many of the best moments of recent years. And the ending, while debated about a little, generally did the original story justice. While not quite as good as its predecessor (which is to be expected), it was nonetheless a great follow up and addition to the vast library of Simpsons episodes.
Mother Simpson: A+ My Mother the Carjacker: A

Viva Ned Flanders/Brawl in the Family

I'll get it out of the way early: Viva Ned Flanders is a complete dud. It was nominated for the emmys that year, but it must have been so only because of some unnofficial rule that there can't be an "animated program" emmy roster without The Simpsons. Even as bad as season ten was, there were certainly better episodes then this. It messed in a "Principal and the Pauper" way with Ned's character, both throwing the ridiculous curveball of his "60" age and then trying to make us believe that he would go to Vegas, get drunk, and have a quickie marriage. Niether Homer or Flanders was well characterized, and in short very little about the episode was funny. What a suprise then that the return of the Vegas wives in "Brawl in the Family" wasn't so bad at all. The episode is very disjointed, not even bringing them into play until fairly late in the story, and feels in a way like two seperate episodes put together in one half hour. And some of the "emotion" feels pretty plastic. But its nonetheless at least amusing as a farce with lots of funny scenes.
Viva Ned Flanders: D Brawl in the Family: B/B-

Alone Again, Natura Diddly/I'm Goin to Praiseland

The first episode here is actually somewhat tough to judge. It was oddly enough my first episode, and thus theoretically started my interest in the series (though I'd say syndication is ultimately what got me to become the fan I am today). Plus, frankly I haven't seen it in years. So I'll just settle on a midway point for now, and say that it was fairly amusing through much of it, but with a pretty bad story that wants to draw us in, but is too unfocused to do so, and basically kills a running character for no real reason. As for the sequel, its pretty much along the same lines but more mediocre. The story is pretty uninteresting and the laughs are pretty sparse. Its not offensively bad, but its not good either. As for the returning character, Rachel Jordan, that ties these two episodes together: there's a reason the producers ultimately dropped her, and that reason is that she's not interesting, to the point that I don't even remember much about her.
Alone Again: C Praiseland: C-


The winner, partially due to personal biases, is Moaning Lisa and Round Springfield. But the Mother Simpson duo is pretty close.

Question, DTB- Despite your praise of "Like Father, Like Clown", you gave it a B, a step down from the B+ you gave "Today, I am a Clown", which you appear to have liked less. I assume this was a mistake on your part (unless I'm missing something, of course)? Just wanted to point it out, in case it was indeed a mistake.

Maybe you're looking at a different one on accident. I gave it an "A" there.

Ah, I see. I missed the 'A' and assumed the B/B+ was meant as the marks for the two episodes respectively.

I swear, one of these days I'll be right about something.

A tough choice. I went with the minority and voted for the Rabbi but Ziff and Mona are also both good.

Originally posted by OldCootAbe
The Herb epsiodes narrowly defeat the Mom episodes for me.

Other way around for me, I'm going to go with the mom episodes.

Yeah, Glenn Close was pretty funny.

"Moaning Lisa" / "Round Springfield" B+, A-
"Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" / "Brother, Can you Spare Two Dimes?" A-, B
"The Way Was" / "Half-Decent Proposal" / "The Ziff Who Came To Dinner" A+, B+, B
"Like Father, Like Clown" / "Today, I am A Clown" A+, D+
"Mother Simpson" / "My Mother the Carjacker" A+, A-
"Viva Ned Flanders" / "Brawl in the Family" D+, C-
"Alone Again, Natura-Diddly" / "I'm Goin' to Praiseland" D-, D

A real mix, but the two "Mothers" are my favourite by far, with the two Bleeding Gums episodes a close second.

Moaning Lisa / Round Springfield A, A-
Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? / Brother, Can you Spare Two Dimes? A, A+
The Way Was / Half-Decent Proposal / The Ziff Who Came To Dinner A+, A+, B-
Like Father, Like Clown / Today, I am A Clown A+, D
Mother Simpson / My Mother the Carjacker A+, A
Viva Ned Flanders / Brawl in the Family D-, B-
Alone Again, Natura-Diddly / I'm Goin' to Praiseland D-, B-

Mother Simpson episodes win.

The Brother Saga for me