The 5 Best Simpsons Episodes Ever (Indisputable)

First you make the list, then you get the women, then you get the power...

5. Bart After Dark

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" Awww. This isn't gonna be about Jesus, is it?"

What makes this episode so good is Homer is left to parent Bart and naturally forces him to work in a burlesque house. It also features one of the best songs with lyrics "you can close down Moe's or the Quickie Mart, and nobody would care…", which is awesome as those are the two most central location outside the Simpson house.

The 5th episode of the 8th season even won an Emmy for "Outstanding Music and Lyrics" for the song "We Put the Spring in Springfield".

A lot of the episode's plot is based on the film "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas". The oil spill is a reference to the Exxon Valdez oil spill. The Sea Captain was shown to be drunk at the helm, which is a reference to Joseph Hazelwood, who was the captain of the Exxon Valdez and was accused of being drunk

4. Radioactive Man

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"Real acid?"

Watch out, Radioactive Man! Springfield is shooting the comic book hero's movie and the town is buzzing. Auditions are held for Fall Out Boy, Radioactive Man's sidekick, which eventually goes to Mickey Rooney.

The second episode of the 7th season was the first episode of The Simpsons to be digitally colored.

Graham Beckwith of The Lantern singled out Rainier Wolfcastle's line "My eyes! The goggles do nothing!" from the episode as one of The Simpsons "greatest one liners".

3. Homer's Enemy

"Your son owns a factory?!"

Grimmy! Who doesn't love him? This episode features a new hire at the plant who despite Homers' attempts, does not fall for his antics like most other characters do. Burns hires Frank Grimes after hearing his sob story on TV and then hires a heroic dog in the same fashion.

The 23rd episode of the 8th season explores the comic possibilities of a realistic character with a strong work ethic hired for a job where he has to work alongside a man like Homer.

"Homer's Enemy" is considered to be one of the darkest episodes of The Simpsons and is a favorite of several members of the production staff.

Although Grimes makes his only appearance in this episode, he was later named one of the "Top 25 Simpsons Peripheral characters" by IGN. Frank Grimes has since been referenced several times in the show, often showing his tombstone, and occasionally mentioning him by name.

In the season fourteen episode "The Great Louse Detective", it is revealed that he fathered a son named Frank Grimes, Jr., who unsuccessfully tries to kill Homer.

2. A Fish Called Selma

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"Oh my God! I was wrong! It was Earth all along!"

Troy McClure (one of Phil Hartman's best characters aside from Lionel Hutz) tries to resurrect his acting career by marrying Selma. This episode features one of The Simpson's best musical acts, "Planet of the Apes the Musical". Anything with more Phil Hartman and Troy McClure makes my list!

Show runners Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein were fans of actor Phil Hartman and decided to produce an episode entirely about his character Troy McClure to give Hartman as much to do as possible.

The 19th episode of the 7th season features the song "Dr. Zaius" from the Planet of the Apes musical, which the staff consider to be one of the greatest musical numbers ever written for The Simpsons.

At the episode's table reading, a female staff member demanded the line, "From now on she's smoking for two", be removed from the script; however, her request was denied.

On the walls of the Pimento Grove restaurant, the animators placed caricatures of every single guest star who had appeared on the show up to that point, as well as pictures of the fictional celebrities of the show

1. Twenty-Two Short Films About Springfield

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"Donuts! I got donuts! Hey I know you!"

So many quotable moments, probably because there are so many story lines.

Lisa gets gum in her hair, Skinner host dinner for Chalmers, the Pulp Fiction burger scene, followed by kidnapping, Nelson "hahas" the wrong guy.

This was the 21st episode of the 7th season (really the height of the Simpsons)

The episode's principal idea came from the season four episode "The Front", which featured a short scene entitled "The Adventures of Ned Flanders" at its conclusion.

Show runners Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein decided to make an entire episode of linked short scenes involving many of the show's characters, in a similar style to Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction.

The episode sparked the idea amongst the staff for a spin-off series entitled Springfield Stories. The proposed show would focus on the town in general, rather than the Simpson family. The idea never came to anything, as Groening realized that the staff did not have the manpower to produce another show as well as The Simpsons.