How This Became The Worst Episode Of The Simpsons
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- Опубліковано 26 сер 2024
- Throughout their 33 year run, The Simpsons have given audiences some of the best episodes of television in sitcom history. Every fan that has seen The Simpsons has a different view on which episode is the best, or their favorite. Though, as the longest running animated sitcom in history, there have been some bumps along the road. This episode in particular will go down as one of the worst episodes of The Simpsons in their storied history.
#thesimpsons #bartsimpson #nerdstalgic
Written by Adam Smith
Edited by Paul Ritchey
Yeah everybody claims that they had nothing to do with this episode. Nobody wanted their fingerprints on this train wreck. Success has a thousand fathers, failure is but an orphan.
Hardcore final line
Reggie Fills-Aime
You do an half talk some shit.
I guess that makes me head of the orphanage 😂
@@Rampala awnnn
The episode would've made more sense if during the ceremony Skinner comes to realization he's wasted his life and goes back to being the street punk he was to regain the same level of excitement he once had before he was forced into the war.
Edit: The real skinner just felt like an unnecessary character to add to the episode
yeah, and maybe sort of restructure it to show something like... bart hanging out with skinner, while lisa (and potentially also marge) are more worried about the school
Yeah, I think they could have launched the conflict by actually locating the real Skinner's remains and having him wrestle with whether everyone wants to accept the lie and the loss, or keep what they have. It could have been a beautiful and touching episode if they illustrated acceptance of him - that he wasn't Skinner, but he is THEIR Skinner.
@@Savariable I love the idea of the kids going to him saying they need him back, maybe after he leaves in shame when his scam is revealed by the return of the real Skinner's remains - Lisa giving a passionate speech about how much the school has gone to hell without him (with funny examples throughout the episode - maybe a food fight escalates to all out conflict with the cafeteria staff, and Willie goes all naked painted blue Braveheart?). Then Bart could make a point that who he actually is is way cooler than who he pretended to be - because he isn't a saint, he is a screwup who learned to be better.
Plus if his mom could have a moment where she tells him she already lost one son, that she doesn't want to lose another, that would be really moving.
I agree I think the core of the episode is a decent idea. Revealing that Skinner used to be like Bart. I think Bart should have done something that made Skinner feel like he was making a difference. And the he slips back into his old delinquent ways. You could have Bart really liking this version and considering him a mentor in misbehavior. Only for Bart to realize how unhappy Skinner is, and for Bart to help him regain his faith in himself.
How about this. Skinner runs away from his parents at a young age because he was a horrible child and becomes a street punk in capital city. Everything plays out the same but in this version Armin Tamzaria is the name of the mentor and he's from Springfield. Everything plays out the same but in this version he dose actually give the bad news to his mentors family and in this moment Skinner sees his mother but can't bring himself to go up to her. Skinner returns to the war and decides to do better. He rises through the ranks and we see everything we saw in the previous episodes. By the end of his service he's high ranking officer, a decorated soldier and overall a better man. After he's honourably discharged he returns to his mother, he apologises for everything, shows that he became a solider just like his dad and is now a better person. Agnus forgives him, is proud of who he has become and what he has done but is then saddened by the fact that her husband never got to see this moment because Sheldon died in a parade float accident in 1979 but she knows he would also have been proud of the fact that his son followed in his footsteps. She is also still bitter at the fact that he abandoned them at a young age. After this Skinner decides to become a school teacher and then a principle as a way of honouring his mentor and to prevent kids from doing what he did at a young age. All this is told by Skinner to Bart after being sent to his office. Then the rest of the episode is about the mentor returning somehow and how he is so proud of his apprentice. Maybe the Simpsons could find him I don't know. What do you think?
As truly bad this is, I don't think being the beginning of this trend in the Simpsons earns it the title of the worst episode, specially considering the other contestants
Like everything after season 12
He specifically says that there are inarguably worse episodes in the intro, this episode just has more impact as being "the worst" because of how consistent the quality had normally been before it.
@@lanciferian and I'm saying I consider that not enough to call it the worst like it did like 5 times across the video and on the thumbnail
@@agustinberto6138 Fair enough, it's a click-baity title that's really just an excuse to write a video essay about an important episode. This channel does that a lot
@@lanciferian yeah I mean I get it, that's how the platform works (unfortunately). But I just wanted to express my opinion on how I valued this episode (not positive at all, but not deserving of the title of "the worst episode". "The worst episode of the classic Simpsons"? Sure
Even if this episode was absurd the classic humor is still there and even today i find it enjoyable unlike the actual worst episode Lisa goes Gaga that is a torture to watch.
If cringe was a Simpsons episode. God that one was bad.
Edit: I'm talking about the lady gaga one
"Up yours, children!" gets a hearty guffaw out of me every time. This episode still had charm, even if it was a sign of things to come.
@@jackrotz2139 That's how I'd describe the show as a whole now. Tried watching the newest season a while back after not watching any of the new stuff for years and just wow, it was awful.
The show has completely lost its identity. It's no longer the witty, subversive piece of comedy that made it legendary, it's not even a hollow shell of that. It's just a soulless husk, the characters have stopped being characters and are now just mouthpieces for whatever stupid trend the writers are chasing that week. They were just chasing trends even 10 years ago but it still felt like the Simpsons back then. Now it's a limp corpse being carelessly paraded around because it still makes money. It's not clever, not funny and feels completely like a slap in the face to what the show once was.
Even at its worst Family Guy still feels like Family Guy, the stupid, goofy, irreverent nature is still there. The Simpsons feels like it doesn't even know what it is anymore. Or doesn't care as long as it makes money.
Lastly Julie Kavner clearly cannot do Marge's voice anymore. I'm not criticizing her, that had to be rough for all these years but it's clear she can't do it anymore. Marge sounds awful, like she's actively ruining her vocal cords with every line. To me, when one of the irrereplacable core cast simply cannot do their role properly anymore without it actually sounding painful, that's the sign it's time to let it die with what little dignity it still has.
Basically almost anything Lisa related is terrible. She is an ungrateful spoiled brat who doesn't realize she's the child Homer and Marge invest the most time and money into. And then they add woke vegan narcissist on top of that. Lisa doesn't have any friends because the rest of the kids see through her holier than thou facade, so much that Lisa made a fake profile praising her in the Gaga episode, which several of the posts about her qualities were bald faced lies.
@@zeroattentiongaming820 "Even at its worst Family Guy still feels like Family Guy, the stupid, goofy, irreverent nature is still there. The Simpsons feels like it doesn't even know what it is anymore. Or doesn't care as long as it makes money."
This is why I don't take seriously anyone who defends modern Simpsons by saying "At LeAsT iZ bEtTeR tHaN fAmIlY GUy..."
I love the DVD commentary on this episode. It's basically them just trying to defend themselves.
Seriously - I get what they're saying too. I guess I'm an apologist for Bill & Josh tho, I think they were probably the best showrunners (even if some of the Merkin stuff is more widely acclaimed)
Id love to hear it!
as they should
@Dabby Dom
They defended themselves wonderfully. The episode is about the people who hate it. It is very strange that people feel so strongly about Principal Skinner.
That is the least of what they have to apologize for.
It’s really not the worst episode, it’s just the end of the golden era
Yup and it came in like a wreckingball..... literally.
@@KRAFTWERK2K6 0
@@KRAFTWERK2K6 0000000000000000000
😀👌🇬🇧
Yeah, there are worse episodes then this one, like that one with the Elfs.
When you talked about how the Simpsons ruined Homer, I was like “huh. Normally people talk about The Principal and the Pauper as the show’s turning point for the worse.”
And now you have come full circle lmao
Definitely a turning point but still not what ruined the show.
The worst episode was the lady gaga one
Yeah he's a bit unoriginal these days
i mean the entire family commits murder in a canon episode saddlesore galactica...which also canonizes elves in the simpsons universe
@@magicamadeye ugh that stupid jockey episode
With the classic line of "Up yours children" I couldn't disagree more.
"My theory is.... Skinner likes dog food"
"Oooo a fresh batch of America balls!"
@@Dan55888 ...and why is Grampa here?
@@MegaZzZeux because Jasper didn't want to come by himself!
This episode is the whipping boy whenever people want to talk about the decline of The Simpsons but it’s quotability proves the blame heaped upon it is undeserved. The Simpsons truly declined when it stopped being quotable and I’m not sure when that was. Season 9 was still pretty quotable - a barely noticeable decline from season 8. Season 10 was noticeably less quotable but still pretty good in retrospect.
I used to have that play as the boot up noise on my old windows 98 computer lol
They actually do refer to it again in episode S15 Episode 9 - I (Annoyed Grunt) Bot.
When Lisa adopts Snowball 5 she decides to name it Snowball 2 and pretend like Snowball 2-4 never died. Principal Skinner walks by and overheard this. He replies, “That’s really a cheat isn’t it?” And Lisa says back to Skinner, “ I guess you’re right Principal Tanzarian” 😮😂
There's also Fat Tony who died, then his cousin Fit Tony showed up who looks exactly like him, except fit. He takes his place as mob boss, started gaining weight and become fat, so everyone just calls him Fat Tony now and pretend like the original Fat Tony never died.
Here's an idea:
What if you keep the episode almost entirely the same (it still has some great humor), but instead, "the real Seymour Skinner" is Armin Tamzarian. Young Seymour ran away from home as a teenager, spent a few years in Capitol City being a nogoodnik to get away from his overbearing parents, gets thrown into the Army for the same reason, but Sergeant Tamzarian takes him under his wing, temper his impulses, and begins molding him into the rigid disciplinarian we know. Then Armin is lost in battle, Seymour returns to Springfield, and decides to fulfill his commander's dreams of being a school principal for him. In this scenario, he leaves town when it turns out Armin wasn't KIA, and is ashamed he didn't go looking for his father figure.
There may be more tweaks needed, but that's about it.
Lazy writing. Had the writers thought of it the way you did, this could've been a fantastic episode. Also, your version eliminates the "Seymour Skinner" character (real) who was so unlikeable in the episode, solving many problems in one stroke.
@@jasonbourneistreadstone
The episode was great. The message is that the people who we’re told to trust are actually liars and hypocrites or imposters.
@@giantsr1eva The message wasn’t the problem with the episode.
It was the fact they took a well-established character from the show and made him out to be a complete imposter only to retcon it in the end.
@@TheDragonman104
The episode is non-canon now, so I get why people were upset in the 90s. Shouldn’t the outrage have gone away since we found out that Mrs. Skinner really is Skinners mother?
@@giantsr1eva The thing is though the writing in The Simpsons has been very inconsistent throughout the show’s long run that the writers always say something that contradicts what happened in a previous episode.
I was kind of shocked when I found out how many people hated this episode. I always considered it one of my top five memorable episodes. I loved it as a kid.
Real talk
Sure it's stupid, but it's funny and interesting.
Same here, I do understand that it never being referenced was lazy and confusing
Here's what Harry Shearer said about it: "That's so wrong. You're taking something that an audience has built eight years or nine years of investment in and just tossed it in the trash can for no good reason, for a story we've done before with other characters. It's so arbitrary and gratuitous, and it's disrespectful to the audience."
That pretty much sums it up.
@@HarryBuddhaPalm pretty bad take. The episode itself was funny and enjoyable, and there isn't really a plot throughout the seasons that it messed with
The overall story is flawed but the charm and wit is all still there at least.
Unlike most anything in the teen seasons and beyond where both are flawed and bad.
For once I’d like to see someone analyze the decline of The Simpsons in terms of the jokes instead of plot and character. There’s a million video essays on this episode and they all pretty much say the same thing and they all ring hollow because this episode despite its ridiculousness and its contempt for the characters is still funny. The question is not “When did The Simpsons go off the deep end?” It’s “When did the Simpsons stop being funny?” “When did the jokes start inducing more groans than laughs?”
@@synthstatic9889 i just remembered what killed it for me was the Screamapillar. That and when every random new character was voiced by a celebrity and the character looked like the celebrity and looked a lot different than other simpsons characters. Like when Phoebe from friends voiced a girl in Lisas grade and looked nothing like other simpsons characters
@@Dan55888 Yes, I remember that episode being extremely unfunny. Someone should do an analysis on that and explain what made the jokes in that episode suck compared to earlier seasons, but that would be a painful video to make.
Idk if there were other bad episodes before it, but to me the Grunge episode is really where it felt like… This is not the simpsons.
@@justtkrl what happened in the grunge episode again? I dunno if I saw that one
I don't hate this episode, but you can even see how the controversy it warranted contributed to the eventual flanderization of Skinner's character. Because the backstory proposed felt so out of line for most people, the original one of him being a mama's boy became his biggest characteristic whereas it was only one part of his whole character, and it became the reason why his relationship with Edna fell apart. Pretty sad since Skinner during the Oakley-Weinstein years is one of my favourite characters in the show.
YES! Yes! Finally someone else says this! I'm not alone!
Yet it was Bill and Josh who allowed this to happen and left Mike Scully to clean up the mess.
While Agnes Skinner faces no accountability for her abusive behavior whatsoever.
Don't they even retcon the Armin thing as well in later seasons by showing Skinner as a fetus in his mothers womb? They want him to be seen as a mommas boy so bad they took us all the way to his pre-natal state in the process. 😅
Yeah, that was one big reason why so many hated this episode - it ruined a good character. Skinner was such a great character, and now everyone who liked him was told that character doesn't exist.
Well I couldn't really tell you why, but this episode in latinamerica is a certified hood classic. It has a few of the most quoted lines and it's just one of the most liked episodes. Maybe the Latin dub changes it substancially, or maybe just strucks a chord with us for whatever reason, but this is by far not the worst Simpsons episode for us, we love Armando Barreda
I don't know why this episode is hated so much. It still has classic Simpsons humor including the classic Billy and the Cloneasurus bit.
Send me the link to the LATAM dub of the episode i want to see it
@@rootfish2671 No, that bit is in the previous episode where Skinner gets fired.
Si no te reiste con "porque gaspar no queria venir solo" no tenes sentido del humor
If you didn't laughed with the "gaspar joke" you have no sense of humor
Maybe because it is based on a Borges story?
The only funny joke in this episode was Homer asking why there's so many people in the car, and the camera pans out to include them all.
"My theory is... Skinner likes dog food"
"Oooo! A fresh batch of America balls!"
Yeah that was funny!
Just keep acting shocked, and walk slowly towards the cake.
All episode is funyy. This is great deep episode.
Did you not see the Ralph and Miss Hoover stuff at the beginning. I could not stop laughing after Lisa put her hand up.
Miss Hoover: Do I have any volunteers?
Lisa and Ralph put their hands up.
Miss Hoover: Thank you Lisa.
Ralph: No Miss Hoover I'm Ralph
I thought the worst Simpsons episode was the one where Bart gets demonized by everyone over loosing in a game of baseball.
that one was the worst imo. even worse than this episode. it was so uncomfortable to watch and just so, SO fucked up. a whole town drives a little 10 year old boy to attempt suicide. OVER BASEBALL. what the fuck.
The Lady Gaga episode was the worst in my opinion
@@skwisgarskwigelf7191 Yeah I heard that one was crap as well.
Not the episode they spend worshipping Elon Musk?
@@filmnobelpreis “Sign of taste”?
I'm inclined to believe the entire episode was written around the "up yours', children!" line.
The voice actors are in the studio BSing after a long recording session, then Harry Shearer busts out with said line in Skinner's voice. Everyone cracks up and someone declares, "We gotta put that in the show!"
The episode is actually so integral in undermining the Simpsons, the fan wiki doesn't even consider it canon
Which is something because a bunch of later episodes with just as much impact on the future (none) are still considered canon - like HOMЯ, the episode where Homer's stupidity is caused by a crayon being lodged in his brain
Obviously it's not the worst worst episode, but it's the worst in the fact that it lead to the entire show being The Principal And The Pauper over and over again
And if they wanted to introduce Skinner's backstory - why not just keep the fact that he was a dirtbag in his youth, but leave out the fake identity? Then we get an extra layer as to why he's so hard on Bart (beyond him screwing around all the time), because he sees himself in the boy, without an unnecessary layer of "... oh yea and also he's someone else but it doesn't matter because we shipped the real guy away to somewhere else anyway lets never mention this ever again ha ha ha"
Exactly. It would re-frame their relationship to where Skinner tries to do to Bart what his commanding officer did to him during the Vietnam War. You can also bring in aspects previously explored such as Bart having a potential future as a police officer. In that episode he became the hall monitor of the school and had a working relationship with Skinner (although it went a bit too far at some point). He has also proven to be quite the detective by foiling many of Sideshow Bob's schemes. Although in one case it went too far (Brother from Another series). Where Barts obsession proved to be wrong. I wish they kept Bart and Robert mending their relationship.
This episode is nothing in undermining the show. It's the culmination of literally hundreds of episodes that aren't a tenth as good as this one. In comparison to those this looks like Citizen Kane.
Gotta check my brain for crayons! I failed to realize at the time it was a parody of "Charly"!
Greoning doesn't consider it canon either, and though it has been referenced before it's been practically retconned out of canon.
By that logic, nothing after 1996 is Canon.
I still say the the Skinner and Edna break-up episode. Since they gave the ship such charm and depth. Making it a relationship that is funny to watch as it is to root for.
Like Milhouse's parents getting back together it just seemed like a pointless 'back to status quo' move when the change actually opened things up more.
The hardest part for me to deal with was why Skinner's grandfather from the Fightin' Hellfish looked like Armin Tamzarian.
The writers definitely were just thinking on the spot on the episode.
The worst part about this whole thing is that, while the episode concept destroys so much in a normal sense, it would have fit perfectly as a Treehouse of Horror idea, where we would have instead followed the mental breakdown of a character as they become paranoid over who else could be an imposter, maybe Comic Book Guy of they wanted to keep the satirical jab at 'finished and never mentioned' sitcom problems.
Exactly what I thought
Funny enough Ken Keeler who wrote this episode also wrote the treehouse of horror segment about Hugo, Bart's "evil" twin brother Homer and Marge had hidden in the attic. Pretty similar idea
Oh shut the fuck up. We have episodes like "Homer the Great" and "Homer's barbershop quartet" but those episodes get a pass? You're a fucking idiot
Similar if they had done it in a non-canon 'what if' episode like the 'Spin off Showcase'
Simpsons really did miss a great opportunity of having skinner be a mentor figure to Bart in order to get him to turn his life around
So basically Skinner was Don Draper from Mad Men?
Exactly what I thought
Condensed Mad Men
It's exactly like Mad Men. Dick Whitman grew up poor and abused, goes to Korea, the real Don Draper dies, Dick tells the Army Dick died and he pretends to be Don. He's called out by Anna and he takes care of her for the rest of her life. How is this different?
Honestly this episode had a lot of early Simpsons deep moments…my takeaway was Skinner being a fixture in Springfield. His backstory of being a person who was abandoned,was disenfranchised by society being deployed to war,how it shaped him,how he needed Agnes as much as she needed him despite not being related showed humanity that even the first 4 seasons didn’t display. How as much as he thought he was unloved and ridiculed by the town,drifting back to his jaded thug roots he found just how much of a difference his presence made and how much even his nemesis Bart wanted him around. That’s a beautiful story if there ever was one.
And if we’re going for “jump the shark” episodes,you’re telling me the softball one where Smithers was able to convince retired baseball players to work crappy jobs at that unsafe Plant to play in one softball game wasn’t a ridiculous concept of an episode? and subsequently have 8 different misfortunes? Including vanishing into the fabrics of the universe and gigantism?
Or Homer going to space?
Or Millhouse becoming a movie star?
Or Maggie shooting a man??
The Simpsons have been doing things without a care for realistic expectations or continuity since it was a short skit on Tracy Ullman.
We miss pre season 10 Simpsons because that’s what we watched when we were young,when things were good so we draw a nostalgic connection to them. We don’t relate to newer episodes or appreciate them as much simply because they aren’t the ones we grew up with.
What I find the worst about this episode is that there was so much potential to add a lot of depth to the world that they passed up on. This could have been an episode where Bart gains respect for Skinner. They could have had it where the real Skinner really IS dead and maybe the adults and elderly of the town all are in on the secret to keep Skinner's mother happy, and the flashbacks could be more focused on how Skinner slowly integrated into the town. The episode could be centered on the kids of the town, namely the Simpson kids, adjusting to this truth and at first being really upset about it and wondering why their parents don't care, to slowly understanding and coming to terms with it. Like, this could have been a really sweet episode and it feels like such a wasted opportunity. If done right this could have been one of the best episodes they'd ever made... I'm not sure why they thought this was the direction to go in instead...
You're hired.
My theory is that this is a good episode of a show that should have ended shortly after it aired. Like Homer's Enemy, it's an absurd sendoff to the series..but the show kept going, and because the episode is so weird and meta, it unfortunately punctuates the decline of The Simpsons.
It is still preferable to the flavorless, conformist gloop that wears the legacy of the show like a skin suit on Buffalo Bill in *The Silence of the Lambs.*
i think what i find kindve heart breaking is that bill oakley and josh weinstein (show runners for this episode) were such big fans of skinner. he was there fav character. when writing this episode they meant it to be non cannon, and now it's viewed as the episode that killed skinner. they never meant for that to be, yet it happend.
Thank God that Steamed Hams brought him into a more positive light.
Well as of Boy Meets Curl, this is not canon since they made Skinner the real one again and all the flashback episodes showing young Skinner since such as one from a few years ago has indicated this.
@@devontehuntley6274 Flashbacks could just be adhering to a legal order I suppose. Judge did give Seymour's past, present, future, and mother to Armin under penalty of torture. Probably not the intent, but still being canon and people actively making sure their flashbacks match and the like is much funnier to me
@@neoman4426 Nah, it really doesn't work like that. They definitely forgot the Armin thing or just made it so that it was no longer the case because of the backlash, but I guess you can look at it like that if you want to get around those later flashbacks years down the line after Season 2O where Skinner is in utero in Agnes or a teen and living with Agnes which contradicts the whole switcheroo thing since he was an adult when that occurred. It seems like they went back to the Armin canon in the Lisa the Boy Scout episode this season where we see Skinner hanging out with the mom replacement who is actually Agnes and Agnes comments on wishing Skinner was her REAL son. They were both wearing disguises, but it seemed to imply she knew who he really was, but he DIDN'T know who she really was.
It’s gaslighting. This is why the whole “decanonize bad/unpopular story decisions“ doesn’t actually work. You can’t decanonize bad life decisions in reality. They made their bed, now they can fly in it!
It’s not the worst episode. In fact there’s actually quite a few good jokes and it was nice to see more depth added to Agnes
The problem it what it represents. This was probably the first time we see the writers disrespect tge auidence in a way that's never happened before. Which is a serious no no
The worst to me will always be that episode where Homer DUI has a car accident and put Marge in the driver seat as responsible for the accident. Disgusting behaviour and somehow gets away with it and forgave by Marge. That crossed the line of the drunken fool.
The tyranny of the status quo is even more tyrannical when it comes to that marriage. How many times has Marge thrown Homer out? The same number of times she took him back. Thus, Homer has no incentive to change.
I don’t have as much of a problem with this episode as you seem to have. The show started to crater after the tenth season. This is season 9, which itself was a bit of a drop off from season eight. I generally like this episode but you have good points.
For the wrong reasons I will always remember the first time watching this episode. That moment when the real Skinner gets taken away left such a hollow feeling. But I feel like it may have been possible to salvage the ending if they committed to the fact that the Skinner we thought and knew was a phony. Could have created an interesting dynamic like Bart and Sideshow Bob. Imagine the real Skinner periodically appearing to be a foil for Armin. Like the real Skinner becomes principal of Shelbyville and they fight for idk government funding or something like that by impressing Superintendent Chalmers. And even though Armin keeps stuffing up, Chalmers continues to yell "SEYMOUR!" And the real Skinner is like "What did I do?" And Chalmers is like "That's right. Sorry, but I'll never feel the same satisfaction if I yelled 'Seymour' directly at your face."
Brilliance
The truly tragic thing about this episode is the wasted potential. I've read about 10 genuinely good ideas for a story, much better than they managed.
In the Simpson nothing can really change so drastically beyond some characters dying or getting married/having kids, everything has to stay the same there can't be drastic changes so they got rid of the real Skinner just so we could continue to think of the false skinner as the real one and nothing had to change for the show or had to be acknowledged as canon about this episode
Bart having blackmail material on his principal could have opened up a whole New World of stories for the show.
The fact The Simpsons has gone on for 30 years is beyond me.
It's nuts because it's still on the air, so SOMEone is watching it. Theoretically tons of people. They wouldn't keep it if it weren't making them money. But I've never heard anyone talk about it. Where are you people?!
@@fauxbravo right? They basically don't exist. Or at least I thought so until only just recently I met someone who still watches it! It's mind blowing
@@fauxbravo That’s the reason the budget has been cut so much. They can’t lose anything from it.
@@fauxbravo it’s like Nickelback. Everyone claims to hate Nickelback. But someone is buying these records.
Its Fox's Saturday Night Live.
Nowhere near the worst episode of the show. But definetly one of it's most important historically. The concept alone is... actually kind of fun and interesting. The problem is entirely on the execution, despite working on a few ocassions. This could have potentially worked well as a two-parter. A story like this needs subtle intrigue and higher stakes, especially when about one of the show's most intricate characters.
There are plenty of episodes that justified being two-parters, but they refused.
Oh please stfu. Homer the Great is an even more stupid subplot and somehow no one cares about that
What if Skinner, seeing the good that Armin was doing and how he really had no place in this life, ended the episode claiming HE was the conman all along? Maybe he could even quietly tell our beloved principal that he was proud of who he'd become.
"Bart's lawyer is here" still cracks me up
And this only touched on the fact that Mrs. Skinner's SON basically CAME BACK FROM THE DEAD, and she just let them haul him away because he wasn't a yes man momma's boy like the other.
This one was bad, but the one with Homer and the crayon in his brain might be even worse. Both are major examples of explaining things that didn't need an explanation to begin with.
“HOMR” was an Emmy winning episode and one of the best of newer seasons. Emotional, funny and clever, nothing compared to this ep
@@Gabe-z8o you spelled "overrated" wrong
@@Gabe-z8oIt sucks.
I loved this episode as a kid. Don't care what anyone else says about it.. But it's definitely not the worst
Nice try, Keeler.
Same I also enjoyed it
Yeah, same. It's similar to how Kenny always dies in South Park; a parody of how no matter what happens in certain shows, everything always goes back to normal in the next episode.
i dont understand how is this the worst eithet i enjoyed it also
Says the guy with the racist username.
I honestly still don't understand the hate for this episode. Compared to the 20+ seasons that come after it, it's actually pretty good
Because it was one of the earliest big stumbling blocks and that initial dissatisfaction sticks with people, but yeah from the outside looking in it just seems like a mediocre episode especially in comparison (as in there are many, many worst episodes)
@@edfreak9001 I would argue an episode like the Springfield Files or Burn Baby Burns are actually worse episodes and changed the whole tone of the show. To really make that argument about The Princial and the Pauper, I think you have to ignore season 8 completely
@@edfreak9001 I don't even get that opinion, where people consider this episode a "stumbling block." This is episode is consistently hilarious.
@@travistotle apparently people were legitimately angry at the "oh it's NOT WHO YOU THINK HE IS" twist at the time
It's a fine episode, people on the internet are just a hivemind.
I think this episode has my favorite Bart laugh when he hears "Arman Tanzarian" for the first time.
I remember watching this when it came out back in '97 and laughing so hard. It was a funny episode and while it did feel "off", I still enjoyed it. I think if it hadn't been a harbinger of things to come it might be looked at differently. However, the decline after this point was pretty noticeable. I still really enjoyed seasons 9 and 10, but this episode did kind of signal the end of the golden era. I feel like it's over hated though, I don't remember many objections to it back in its time, it was only retroactively that people seem to look back on it with disgust.
20/20 hindsight comes into effect. I'm old enough to remember watching this at the time. It probably felt like a miss but there's also the fact that personal preferences could sway that for a lot of objectively good episodes. Lots of people didn't enjoy Lisa episodes for instance. We know now its the first sign of the greater overall issue that there are only so many ideas that work, and the right number of seasons before running out of those ideas is a lot closer to 9 than 34.
It’s because so many Lisa-centric episodes are so poorly written. She makes cringey takes on political issues, and rarely, if ever gets called out on them, and she is rarely held accountable for the truly despicable stuff she does a lot of the time. She actually put Bart’s life in danger with that Kidz Newz episode when she sent him out to the cardboard box where groundskeeper Willie was living and was out for revenge after having been fired.
For that matter, Yeardley Smith is the least versatile of all the Simpsons cast members. She does no other voices, yet she still gets paid the same as the other principal cast members who do multiple voices because she’s on every week. Her other Fox sitcom, *Herman’s Head* has basically been forgotten at this point. That was a Disney production through Touchstone, coincidentally.
I actually enjoyed this episode and remember it more than others made around that time
Yeah, it's actually a funny episode. I get why it's hated, because it signals that The Simpsons is turning from a brilliant animated sitcom into just another silly cartoon, but it's not nearly the worst episode, it has a lot of positive points.
I agree. Ive always felt it was really self-aware of the lack of permanence in that world
An episode can have flaws but still be super funny. I thought it was great
Me too. Actually it's one of my favorite episodes.
@@mankytoes As a stand-alone episode it is a great episode. But include the years of character development Skinner has had and it comes off as stupid. Which is a shame because it could've worked if you got rid of the fake identity aspect to it. Skinner having a shady past is something that adds to his relationship with Bart. Particularly since we have had episodes where they can have a healthy relationship.
Huh, I always liked this episode. I guess I just never took it super seriously.
I think it's the episode that split the audience into actual Simpsons fans and Sitcom fans.
People who wanted a sitcom about characters who grow and learn lessons and have continuity hated it.
people who liked the Simpsons, a show that had told you many times by now they 'reset' every week, liked it.
I heartily agree with you. I have to admit, though, that it took me until the another season 9 episode, "Lost Our Lisa" to realize that the show was pretty much beyond redemption; it stopped being creative and funny and just became another television show by that point. I rarely watch episodes beyond season 8 now.
When Fox started advertising it as “the show that put the fun in dysfunctional,” I knew the golden years were over. Real dysfunctional families aren’t funny, they’re toxic. The older I get, the more I realize that shows like this don’t hold a mirror up to society, but a projector.
More like the turning point from Gold to Tier 2 Simpsons (9 to 14 season). This is a bad episode, but way better than any episode since (more or less) 2008.
They got even worse from here on out but the classic seasons (3-8) will live forever
What makes 1-2 not classic?
@@corgi42069 they weren't very funny but some people like the heart of the showback then.
@@corgi42069 they are good, and certainly have awesome episodes but it doesn't have the same charm or style of S3 to 8 which is the highest point of the simpsons
@@agustinberto6138 I mean they have to be included, right? Because they're the real classics. 3-8 wouldn't exist without them. Towers don't stand without a foundation, and all that.
@@corgi42069 yeah but it's almost watching a different show. Saying the classic seasons is more like saying the golden age of what we know and love as the Simpsons
Bart laughing at Skinner's reveal that his real name is "Armen Tamzarian" will never not be funny 🤣🤣🤣🤣
And to me retrospectively it’s an analogue for the audience hearing this preposterous development and laughing “hahaha, wtf is this now”
"The Principle and the Pauper" was the start of the downward trend for The Simpsons. For me, the episode that truly killed The Simpsons was "Alone Again, Natura-Diddily." In that episode Homer killed Maude Flanders and faced no repercussion for it. The episode followed Ned's grief over the death of his wife. However, at minimum Homer committed 2nd degree manslaughter. The show ignored Homer's guilt. Not only were the writers saying "We'll do whatever we want," they also firmly declare "There are no consequences." Without consequences, the Simpson characters had no grounding. Nothing mattered because anything could be ignored. Even murder.
"At minimum second degree murder"?! Homer reached down to pick up a bobby pin, he didn't even remotely kill Maud. That episode was awful for signifying what was to come, but Homer didn't do anything wrong in that scene.
Homer didn't kill Maude lol
I personally always thought this episode was a "lesson", a response to some fans that started to complain about the lack of continuity and consistency through the entire simpsons' lore. With this episode, especially with the judge's final words, the writers clearly stated "the show doesn't have a classic lore, every episode has its individual lore and we can do whatever we want to". Before that, it was not so clear. I remember watching it the first time and then thinking "ok they did it, they explained to the audience".
I can't wait to see the episode where Homer's name is Bart, Maggie doesn't exist, and the name of the town is Sprongfield. After all, there's no such thing as continuity.
@@angrynapolean3820 ok
@@qiqqo Are you so developmentally disabled that you don't understand my point and how what you said is the big R word?
@@angrynapolean3820 yes
Interesting this was penned by Ken Keeler, a writer praised in your video about Futurama's finales as he wrote all 4 of those. Makes one wonder, "What happened here?"
Still more laughs in this episode then than any of an entire season from the last decade.
When I started watching The Simpsons about 2 decades ago, I didn't watch the episodes in chronological order. So I wasn't bothered when I first saw this reveal, I just assumed that was part of Skinner's backstory. I'm sure kids today would think the same thing and not be aware of the controversy till they get much older.
In an age where The Simpson's timeline keeps floating and Herman's backstory has been changed; can this episode still be regarded as the show's worst?
I had this episode back in my head subconsciously for some reason i just realized my take is the older episodes of Simpsons saga were much clever and made with strong passion one of many the best episodes ever made.
The only good thing to come out of this episode is the joke of when Lisa tries to forget an episode where she killed like 4 kittens and "Skinner" shows up to tells her that that is lame, she claps back telling him that he had his own episode of just that
I'm still shocked they had Lisa call him by his "real" name there. You'd think they'd have just tried to sweep the whole thing under the rug and never bring it up again, like this episode had intended to, considering how much backlash it got, wouldn't you?
@@zeroattentiongaming820 that’s the entire point of Lisa bringing it up, it’s a meta joke about bad endings that end with “let’s forget all this ever happened”.
@@zeroattentiongaming820 And that is the last time we will ever see that reference as by Boy Meets Curl, they showed Skinner in the womb of Agnes and episodes afterwards reinforced the fact they were real mother and son. Quite a shame too because now this episode looks so off.
This episode was released on 28 September 1997, I’m watching this video on 29 September 2022
I actually like this episode and I think people have been way too negative and critical of it over the years.
It’s still a funny episode overall. “Keep looking shocked and back slowly towards the cake” is for sure the highlight
Your ideas are interesting to consider in relation to the DVD audio commentaries for several early seasons, which mention one of the show’s philosophies being that people don’t really change, grow, or learn much.
And that’s why Joseph Campbell was a huckster, a con artist, and a grifter and why “the hero’s journey“ is bullshit. Even in the case of Star Wars, Disney turned it into the coward’s journey.
My god, how many times will youtubers make videos about The Principal and the Pauper before they realize it's not original anymore?
Sure, the premise of this episode is absurd, but claiming it is the worst episode ever is such an overstatement it makes not even want to watch the whole thing
This episode is filled with clever moments, despite its rather outlandish plot. By now, the fact that this is considered the moment the Simpsons got ruined is merely but a meme. There are tons of worse episodes, especially after this one came out
I watched season 3, episode "Lisa the Greek". It's about the personal connection between Homer and Lisa, where they have "daddy/ daughter day" and Homer uses Lisa for selfish football gambling purposes. He realizes by the end how awful that behavior was and how it destroyed his bond with her... and he says, "Money comes and money goes but what I have with my daughter can go on for eight more years." The episode ends with Lisa elated, hiking to a pinnacle with dad, and them resting as the music hits your heartstrings and the credits appear.
As a dad with two girls, I nearly cried.
THAT is what The Simpsons used to be. I hold those episodes dear to my heart.
So funny as a kid when the dvds came out when I was a kid I would buy them all and this season was the first or second box set i purchased and I hated it. I’m a person would believes everything is always canon and not a one off episode and it just didn’t sit right with me but it’s crazy how everyone hates this episode this much as well
Even when I was younger and first saw it, I didn’t like this episode and was left confused because a gag like this was dumb, low brow and cheap
Even watching this episode as a kid, it felt like more of a meta-commentary on the decline and transformation of the show as a whole.
It's entirely possible it was created as a subtle form of protest to draw the audiences' attention.
I thought about that myself until I listened to the DVD commentary, and the creators said they were doing it in earnest. By threatening torture if anybody brings this up, it sends the message that the only way to uphold the preset status quo is through totalitarianism.
Did anyone else see the title and knew exactly what episode was going to be talked about?
Yeah, though there are objectively worse written episodes, this one has always felt the most cringey. Especially when the judge declares that none of it matters, it was insulting to the audience. Like, you really wasted the last 22 minutes of my life just to shrug it off as "non-canonical" at the end? Might as well have made the entire episode a dream. 🙄
I see what you mean but every Simpsons episode resets at the end. Very little was canon then, and even less now
@@odeleon24 Yeah, the only thing I remember as consistently canon is Burns getting shot by Maggie.
If you’re watching the Simpsons for the canon then the joke was on you. It wasn’t insulting to the audience; it was quite the opposite. They know that we know about the “status quo” of sitcoms. Well maybe you don’t.
Then, why can’t they do that with the death of Maude Flanders? There was no reason to kill her off, and it just established a pattern of all of Ned’s wives dying in universe, and, in the case of Marcia Wallace, in real life. There is your story: Ned being afraid to fall in love again because he’s afraid that the woman he falls in love with will die yet again.
They should do an episode about the day before Maude died. Why did they choose to go to that car show? Did they know the Simpsons were also going to be there beforehand?
If anything, the biggest problem with the show over the last two decades or more is that the main characters have become the least interesting characters out of so many to choose from.
Other sitcoms changed the status quo all the time by that point. More likely, the writers stopped watching TV in the 1970s and assumed nothing changed since then.
Its not the worst episode. At worst, its an experiment gone wrong to try and change the status quo in a sitcom where the status quo didn't really change. It was a means for the writers to try and shake things up. We already had 'A Milhouse Divided' which was the first real status quo change in The Simpsons (Milhouse's parents divorce, and that lasted for a good few years). After 'The Principal and the Pauper', we had 'The Two Nahasapeemapetilons' which saw Apu marry Manjula, in another status quo change, one which sticked. This was the biggest status quo change until Maude Flander's death in 'Alone Again, Natura-diddly'.
The thing that's wrong with it; the only thing that is the real problem, is because the writer's reverse to the status quo. That is why the experiment failed.
I'm surprised you didn't mention that it is mentioned again by Lisa in a later episode where she calls Skinner "Principal Tamzarian"
"The Principal and the Pauper" was the first time I considered a "post-Simpsons" world.
In my first year of university (1996-97) I bonded with some folks over our shared love of The Simpsons, and over time we fell into the ritual of finding an empty TV room and watching syndicated episodes together every day at 5 pm on CBC and the new episodes on Sunday nights (this would have been season 8). In second year we were all living off campus, but four of them got a house together and I'd go to their place every Sunday night to see the new episodes.
I still remember our genuine "WTF" reaction when that episode first aired. As the credits rolled one of our group, a soft spoken French Canadian guy, said "I...didn't like that episode" with the most bewildered look on his face, as if he couldn't believe it was possible to dislike an episode of The Simpsons. It really summed up our reaction to the episode, and it got us talking about how the show had been running for so long it was inevitable that the show was going to eventually start relying on wackier plot lines and premises, which would eventually lead to the show running out of steam and getting cancelled (we had no idea...).
We kept up the ritual for the remainder of that season, and there were still plenty of good episodes that year, but sadly a key member of the group moved away the following year and the ritual gradually fizzled out during season ten.
This is why there will always be nostalgia for pre-Simpsons America.
I always liked this episode, but I'm definitely in the minority.
It was a terrible episode for the time but there's been far worse episodes in the more recent seasons.
Man oh man, 0/2 for the last 2 thoughts my friend.
While this wasn't a GREAT Simpsons episode. The worst? No. Not even on the top 20. I had long just chalked up the plot to being a spoof on similar sitcom tropes. Where "everything you know is wrong!". Here, they acknowledge it. Change. And change back because that's how the trope is supposed to go. And it was chock full of laughs AND heart (with Agnes making one of her RARE moments of not being a shrill harpy).
Simpsons, for me, jumped the shark with "That 90's Show" - the episode where it became clear the Simpsons was folding over itself in time and losing out because it refuses to advance.
If I recall correctly, even Matt Groening didn't want to go through with this plot. It's still his most disliked episode out of all of them.
It is flawed, yes, and a harbinger of things to come. But I cannot call it the worst because it is at times very funny, which subsequent episodes failed to be. “Up yours, children” is among my all time favorite Simpson quotes.
Strange how this is the exact setup for possibly the best tv show of all time, mad men...
I bailed out on that show when they fired Sal. After that, every other character should have ended up in a gulag.
This episode is fucking great. You cant hate this episode and then praise Homer the great.
In homer the great its just revealed that the entirety of springfield is part of a cult and then its never mentioned again, but somehow that one gets a pass and this episode doesnt?
simpsons going back in flashbacks to the earlier 20th century was so amazing and comforting like an earli 1990s night watching pbs nightline rosanne and star trek TNG with the whole country
That sense of a common culture no longer exists.
i dont like when they have many of the characters just standing there smiling in the background
I loved this episode! It did an over-the-top twist without any lasting consequences. I actually thought it made his relationship with his mother very sweet.
This isn’t the worst, The Boys Of Summer is.
I remember that episode. That episode was a total change. I don’t hate the episode, but it was frustrating.
I raged quit after this episode. I was beside myself in anger.
I love the old style episodes but idk why this episode made me so sad I love it so much. The fact he couldn’t bring himself to tell his mother her son was dead broke my heart😭 So yh get where your coming from but this will be one of my fav eps
It's comforting in this day and age, when comedies routinely hollow out their casts to make them into joke vessels, that people still believe that characters matter and react negatively when they're tossed aside.
This episode is where the Simpsons starts to go downhill fast. It hasn't been a good show for over 20 years. Those early episodes are full of clever writing and wit that can't be matched.
"The guy who watched The Simpsons back in 1994
Who won't admit the damn thing isn't funny anymore!" -Stewie Griffin
Absolutely right. This was the moment when the show really jumped the shark.
This was actually good episode, compared to later seasons
yeah it was but it set very clear rule from this episode to further reasons: none of this matter. you watched episode that had no content. its like filler episode on anime. you never know which episode is going to have actual progression on plot or not. the episode that you watched that felt like its going to have long term effects into future simpsons episodes? it was just a dream. like the apocalyptic episode in family guy where stewie turns into octopus thingy and clevand&quacmire are combined.
I believe this significantly pales in comparison to the episode where Homer directly murders his coworker, Grimes, by driving him into insanity and committing suicide, then having the nerve to turn his funeral into a farce by sleeping and crack a joke. It is outright unforgivable.
That is not only THE highest rated episode of all time but one of the fan favourites and considered a master piece or the best in the series by a lot of people
It was highly divisive when it was new.
There was a time when I couldn’t wait for a new Simpsons episode and devoured every bit of news about what was going to happen next season. Those days are long gone.
i think it was one of the voice actors that said this episode was like a slap to the face to the fans who have followed every detail of the show.
im not sure i feel the same exact way but when i first watched it it just felt weird. you create this consistent, albeit highly exaggerated, world and then knock it down like toy blocks. it could have been a one off but seasons that followed it complete retconned pivotal moments in the series like how marge and homer first meet or developments between specific characters.
the episode isnt the worst (save that for anything beyond season 10) but it closed the door on what held it together for so long.
IMO It would have worked as a segment on Treehouse of Horror.
Tbh I don’t even think this episode was horrible. Wasn’t great but still felt like the classic episodes. Season 9 was still a strong season. Even thought it wasn’t a great episode, there was still funny moments. Like Homer asking why everyone is going to Capitol City and why is Grandpa there “cause Jasper didn’t want to come by himself”
How creepy it is that this completely unrelated man lives with Agnes, calls her his mother and acts like he is her son, to the point he readily accepts abuse from her. (And Agnes is all too happy to abuse the guy who is not her son... by treating him as her son.)
It's very uncomfortable and fricked up dynamic that makes the show very disturbing, if you acknowledge the fact that Skinner is Tamzarian.
The fact that the *real* Skinner didn't do that for her himself is the whole reason Agnes got rid of him. She wants a completely submissive simpering weakling for a son.
It’s hilarious to me that my first thought was that this “Principal and the Pauper” episode was just parodying Don Draper’s background in “Mad Men”, only to notice this is Season 9 Simpsons and pre-dated “Mad Men” by about 10 years.
It wasn't "the worst", though it was the end of the Golden Age of the Simpsons, paving the way for the era of Family Guy, South Park and King of the Hill.
You misspelled “Futurama.“
This episode is really good and full of great jokes. I laugh myself out when I saw it the first time.
People just use it as a scapegoat for determining the turning point in the Simpsons quality but the reality is much more complex. People said that the plot doesnt make sense in the lore, but did the beesharps episode did or the stonecutters? Simpsons greatest episodes are full of plot holes and inconsistencies, thats the point!
Well said! This is a good episode and people jump on the bandwagon, like hating the word "moist," which is a perfectly cromulent word
The part when they are in the car with Jasper is one of my favorite Simpsons jokes
I say the show went into decline in Season 5. The season finale of it should've been the final episode, honestly, it was so poorly written.
It's the character assassination imo. The beesharps or stonecutters didn't retcon huge aspects of a character then retcon the retcon like this did.
I feel like what you said was their justification when they did it - we always do crazy improbable stuff that resolves itself by the end of rhe ep! - but the reason that stuff works and this doesn't is at least there's consistency to the characters.
The character we know as Skinner makes significantly less sense if he didn't grow up with Agnes.
Obviously this is one of those things reasonable people can disagree about. But I don't think it's equivalent to the beesharps etc.
@@ThatWouldBeCareless like I said, B-Sharps--and Bart getting an elephant --were simply proof that the show's writing was starting to decline, which would culminate *in* the Principal and the Pauper, and moving forward.
Hate this episode so much I can write you an analysis essay on why this was literally the worst idea they could have come up with
people don't understamd this was a holdover from season 8, which at the time the showrunners believed it would get cancelled soon and so went all out in outlandish plots, such as the spinoff showcase and mary poppins parody
if anyone doesnt know what happened, at the start of season 9 Matt Groening and some of the better writers/producers left to start working on Futurama, a much better show. They stopped caring about the core values of The Simpsons series and thats why season 9 went downhill and never recovered. There were a few good episodes this season, but overall the show degraded, and never fully recovered. I got all seasons on DVD up to 10, and by listening to the commentary you can tell the staff was just getting more and more tired working on it for 10 years.
Its now on Season 34 and its been a horrible zombie for way too long. But it makes money and Fox will never kill it off. They'll wait until it dies on its own.
Yeah. Season 9 should have been the last season of the show.
Greg Daniels also left to help co-create *King of the Hill.*
@@Attmay That, too.
This episode was writen by the writers of season 8 tho
@@debater452 yeah, they were there a lot longer than that. they got burned out. they got tired. and this episode isnt even terrible. its well written but has an awful premise. and it was a sign things were about to go downhill.
This one was a stinker, but a tolerable stinker. I've seen the new ones and you can tell they ran out of ideas so now they have to make the characters different. I still think taking Apu out was a bad decision. He was a good boy trying his best at the Quik E Mart for his family.
Principal & the Pauper showed the writers could construct & deconstruct characterization & continuity in order to justify an episode's plot, which happened a lot more after The Simpsons got older.
They deconstructed the whole concept of the status quo itself, and showed how it is a tool to enforce totalitarianism.
I love how this episode pisses so many people off