The Simpsons: 11 Best Episodes From Season 11
If you aren't quoting these episodes to your mates at the pub, then brother, you're doing it wrong!
There’s much dispute about when The Simpsons started to go “bad,” but generally, Season 11 is considered part of a down period in the show’s run. Mike Scully’s tenure as showrunner from Seasons 9 through 12 is controversial, to say the least. Though many episodes from this period are praised, the general attitude toward these seasons is that Scully turned the show from a primarily character-centric sitcom with a healthy dose of sentimentality to a whacky, zany, absurd cartoon that halted character development and began the dreaded process of “Flanderization.”
However, regardless of your overall feelings on The Simpsons after season 8 or 9 or whenever it was you decided the show was bad, to say there were no good episodes in the “bad” period is disingenuous. Even in what’s arguably the most absurd set of episodes, Season 11, there’s plenty of gems to be found, and even episodes that could be considered some of the series’ all time best.
So with that in mind, this list looks at the 11 best episodes from Season 11 of The Simpsons.
Why 11? ...mate, put 2 and 2 together.
11. Treehouse Of Horror X
Let’s get an agreeable one out of the way first. It’s hard to argue against the consistent quality of the Treehouse of Horror episodes, and while every now and then there are individual segments that are duds, even the most jaded Simpsons fan still looks forward to a new batch every October.
“Treehouse of Horror X” is no exception, delivering three very funny segments. “I Know What You Diddily-Iddily-Did,” a parody of the I Know What You Did Last Summer series, is a delightfully absurd sendup which features corpse puppetry right out of Weekend at Bernie’s. “Desperately Xeeking Xena” is a fun superhero parody that features one of the season’s best guest stars in the warrior princess herself Lucy Lawless (“Xena needs xex”). Topping it off is “Life’s a Glitch, Then You Die,” a hilarious what-if that sees the Simpsons trying to survive the Y2K catastrophe (kids, ask your parents). The climax involves Bart and Homer managing to find an escape rocket with several famous celebrities... only their travel partners are less than desirable.