The Simpsons: Every Golden Age Season Ranked

Best offerings: "Marge Vs. The Monorail", "Mr. Plow", "Last Exit to Springfield".

The first time the series delved into absurdist, outlandish territory was also the pinnacle of the series' quality. If not, the first time The Simpsons were absolutely realised as the characters we've come to know and love.

Ironically, when the shift to zany, almost unrealistic storylines came to fruition in Marge Vs. The Monorail - which the producers ironically apologised for - it opened a new door to weirder and wilder stories. The utterly ludicrous nature of the jokes being reeled off during, and after this episode, meant that almost anything could be applied to the show in the future.

This doesn't mean they lost sight of the grounded, more realistic side of the show's identity, if anything they accentuated it. In this season alone there were still brilliant, ubiquitous masterpieces from commencement to conclusion.

Last Exit To Springfield, I Love Lisa and Lisa's First Word are all exceptional entries which could seamlessly slot into any season, imbuing that patented style of writing unique only to Golden Age Simpsons.

Overall, no other season has anywhere near such a perfectly balanced variety of emotions for the viewer to divulge. It doesn't get any better than this, which is rather alarming considering we're currently in the 33rd season!