10 Best "B" Plots In The Simpsons
7. James Woods – Homer and Apu
The Simpsons has had more guest stars in its time than you could shake a contract at, but none of them have ever been quite like James Woods' appearance in Season 5's Homer and Apu.
Woods, an Academy Award-nominated actor, turns up in Springfield to run the Kwik-E-Mart when Apu gets fired. He takes the job because he'll be playing a tightly-wound convenience store clerk in his newest movie, although this eventually gets changed to "an Eskimo firefighter". Of course.
Whilst Woods being in Springfield is technically connected to the main story of this episode, his storyline is so outlandish that it has to be considered a B-Plot.
The writers clearly loved working with Woods on this episode, because they give him so much to do. He's in scenes with Jimbo, some random Kwik-E-Mart executives, hell, he's even in one scene totally by himself! For a brief moment, James Woods was a main character on The Simpsons and it did not seem out of place at all.
The two storylines eventually converge when Apu saves Woods from a robbery, leading him to pull some strings and get Apu his old job back. Woods then leaves Springfield to fight aliens on a distant place for his latest movie. Yes, movie...