The Simpsons: Every Sideshow Bob Episode Ranked Worst To Best
9. Krusty Gets Busted
Bob had been seen as a background player briefly before, but Krusty Gets Busted is his first spotlight episode, and one of Springfield’s finest characters emerges fully formed. Bob is bitter and prone to evil scheming, but also genuinely talented and held down by those around him.
His high culture tendencies seem to come with the casting - you’re note exactly going to cast Kelsey Grammer to play a yokel - but surprisingly, the part was originally written with James Earl Jones in mind. While Jones is in possession of one of the world’s most authoritative voices, it’s unlikely he could have cultivated the menace that Grammer brings to the part from the off.
His crime here - the framing of Krusty for armed robbery - is, comparatively speaking, one of his more minor ploys, but it is, as he’ll reference later, his one successful crime. While The Simpsons hadn’t quite found its feet in its first season, Krusty Gets Busted is certainly one of its highlights, and an example of the sort of wide, madcap world they were looking to build.