My idea for last episode ends with the arrival at the Christmas pageant from the beginning of first episode. Whole series a continuous loop... Yes, even long-time Simpsons producer Al Jean's ideal finale for the long-running, long-suffering show basically implies that the unageing, unchanging, unhappy residents of Springfield are living in purgatory. There are few who will argue against The Simpsons long being past its best. Almost all of its best writers have left to do better things, Matt Groening has been gone since relatively early on, and now Harry Shearer voice of key characters such as Mr Burns, Smithers, Principle Skinner, Ned Flanders has quit, which seemed like a good excuse to end it. And yet, Fox continue to keep Barney Gumble from smothering the show with a pillow, let alone to smash a window with a water fountain and escape. The Simpsons will keep running and running until Jean enacts his weird time is a flat circle ending which ensures that, technically, the show will continue into infinity. So it should have ended a long time ago, but when? What was the point where things started going down hill, where you sacrifice a few gems for the sake of losing a lot of crud? And what episode would serve best as a climax, a cap-stone that celebrates everything good about the show? Here are ten Simpsons episodes that would have been perfect finales.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
