Original Air Date: January 4, 2015 The Simpsons has been on a downward slope for a while now, but no episode to date has come to define the sheer ambivalence felt by the show's writing staff than The Man Who Came To Be Dinner - an episode that essentially works as a certified slap to the faces of all those fans who care about things like, oh, "continuity" and "canon." The Man Who Came To Be Dinner is the worst episode of The Simpsons ever not necessarily because it isn't funny, but because it marks the true moment at which Matt Groening's once great sitcom died a horrific death; it's the ultimate "jump the shark." What's so bad about it, you ask? Well, the plot sees The Simpsons going up to space after being abducted by Kang and Kodos. For real. This isn't a Halloween episode. It doesn't turn out that "it was all a dream," like that LEGO episode did. This actually happened in the same timeline as all the other, great Simpsons episodes. It's a real kick in the balls to know that - all these years later - nobody on The Simpsons writing staff is saying things like: "Wait, are we really doing this? Seriously?" Like this list? Agree or disagree with our choices for these episodes? Got any other episodes that you think should have made the final cut? Let us know in the comments section below.
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.
