The Simpsons Project

Season 20:

21 - Coming to Homerica. A decent episode. My first new episode in many years and much better than I thought it would be. I loved the Ogdenvillians. 7.0/10

Best bit: Homer's Xylophobia "I am afraid of xlylophones. It's the music you hear when skeletons are dancing."

Writer: Brendan Hay
Director: Steven Dean Moore

20 - Four Great Women and a Manicure. Man, I hate Simpsons episodes where they play olden day folk. 5.0/10

Writer: Valentina L. Garza
Director: Raymond S. Persi

19 - Waverley Hills 9-0-2-1-D'oh. A solid episode. Not sure about the No Country For Old Men thing. 6.9/10

Best bit: Science Water.

Writer: J. Stewart Burns
Director: Michael Polcino

18 - Father Knows Worst. OK, I guess. I liked homer's helicopter parentings. 6.8/10

Best bit: Homer's not wanting to embarass Bart when he's working without clothes on in the school cafeteria.

Writer: Rob LaZebnik
Director: Matthew Nastuk

17 - The Good, The Sad and the Drugly. Am I crazy or was this episode really good? There were so many brilliant little bits. Homer getting mugged by his reflection in the lake, Millhouse in general, the effects of Ignorital, Ralph's vision of a future where vacuum cleaners are quiet. It felt like classic old school Simpsons, even with a fairly new writer. It was almost grounded in reality, apart from the pranks. 8.0/10.

Best bit: Lisa's search results for what the world will be like in 50 years. "Water Gone: People Drink Soap" and "Last Polar Bear Hangs Self in Prison"

Writer: Marc Wilmore
Director: Rob Oliver

16 - Eeny Teeny Maya Moe. Fairly enjoyable. Moe doesn't really work as a leading character, because he's all about the horrible one liners. Very few laugh out loud moments, but a nice story. 6.9/10

Best bit: The chef (Luigi?) thinking that Moe's tiny girlfriend was really far away.

Writer: John Frink
Director: Nancy Kruse

15 - Wedding For Disaster. Decent enough, but the Saw thing was too much. Again, short on jokes, but Homer is quite sweet in it. 6.9/10

Best bit: Homer's pizza guy speech to Reverend Lovejoy.

Writer: Joel H. Cohen
Director: Chuck Sheetz

14 - In The Name Of The Grandfather. A fun episode with a weak plot. Not many laugh out loud moments, but I enjoyed it. 7.0/10

Best bit: Abe being in the wheelbarrow position waiting for Homer to show up.

Writer: Matt Marshall
Director: Ralph Sosa

13 - Gone Maggie Gone. Excellent story. I'm not a big fan of Lisa, but Lisa stories do tend to be good. It had a good jokey epic feel. The pirate nun flashback thingy was excellent, as well as Homer's arm pretending to be Maggie. 7.2/10

Best bit: The sign that said "Do Not Enter. Or Enter. I'm a sign, not a cop."

Writers: Billy Kimball & Ian Maxtone-Graham
Director: Chris Clements

12 - No Loan Again, Naturally. Topical and current. A good episode, I think. Ned's meeting with the new tennants was great, as was the Mardis Gras party. 6.9/10

Best bit: The banner with Ned sucks crossed out.

Writer: Jeff Westbrook
Director: Mark Kirkland

11 - How The Test Was Won. Quite good. I don't usually liked Superintendent Chalmers, but he was excellent, especially his calming speeches during the test. Skinner was also very good. I loved the bad kids impression of him. A terrible ending though. 7.0/10

Best bit: Mr Burns' crying "Apaches!"

Writer: Michael Price
Director: Lance Kramer

10 - Take My Life, Please. A decent episode with a good amount of Lenny and Carl. For some reason I'm not really a big fan of flashbacks to teenage Homer episodes. The sauce thing was too much. 6.9/10

Best bit: Homer's speech and the resulting ten days detention for it being so bad.

Writer: Don Payne
Director: Steven Dean Moore

9 - Lisa The Drama Queen. I'm always suspicious of episodes where the entire plot is a parody, but I haven't seen Heavenly Creatures and I thought this was quite good. Maybe I just love Josh Groban. 7.0/10

Best bit: Martin's "To the extent you can trust the word of a Belgian."

Writer: Brian Kelley
Director: Matthew Nastuk

8 - The Burns And The Bees. Mr Burns is one of the few, or maybe the only supporting character, who works well as a lead for an episode, but this should have been better. The story was ridiculous. There were some good bits though, like the billionaires retreat and Homer's vision of a future without honey. 6.8/10

Best bit: Mr Burns being flown away by a bee.

Writer: Stephanie Gillis
Director: Mark Kirkland

7 - Mypods And Boomsticks. It's all well and good having a show with a message, but this was bit over the top. It's going a bit far having Homer willing to let Patty and Selma get killed, or poison a cake to kill some muslims. I support the attack on Mapple though. 6.7/10

Best bit: I don't know. Maybe Homer hurting his finger.

6 - Homer And Lisa Exchange Cross Words. Good episode, a lot going on, but Homer was excellent, especially his breakup with Lenny's girlfriend. 7.0/10

Best bit: Bookie: "I'll take your money.... but I won't look you in the eye." After Homer bets against Lisa.

Writer: Tim Long
Director: Nancy Kruse

5 - Dangerous Curves. I liked the three different timelines going on at once. It could have been shit, but it wasn't. Good to have the heart of years gone by. 7.1/10

Best bit: Homer thinking the fuel gauge being on empty was the compass pointing east, or maybe Maude's dead grandmother's pyjamas.

Writers: Billy Kimball & Ian Maxtone-Graham
Director: Matthew Faughnan

4 - Treehouse Of Horror XIX. Nothing special. The transformers one wasn't great. The mad men one was a good concept and the pumpkin one was well done. 6.9/10

Best bit: When the giant pumpkin is ripping out bits of Skinner's brain. "Is there any part of my brain in particular you're looking for?"

Writer: Matt Warburton
Director: Bob Anderson

3 - Double, Double, Boy In Trouble. The ending was rushed, but a decent episode. Lenny, Barney, Burns and Smithers were all good. 6.9/10

Best bit: Lenny's song.

Writer: Bill Odenkirk
Director: Michael Polcino