Best Episodes
The Simpsons is an iconic American show that has been airing since 1989 on FOX. Set in the average American town of Springfield, the show follows the antics and everyday adventures of the Simpson family. Over the 36 seasons of the show, there have been many memorable episodes that have made The Simpsons a household name. Here we will rank the best episodes of The Simpsons, from the highest to the lowest rated.
The Simpsons is filled with comedy, satire and commentary directed at politics, media and American life. It has attracted hundreds of celebrities to guest star in the show, making it even more popular. With so many great episodes, it can be hard to pick out the best. Here we will rank the top episodes based on their ratings, reviews and overall popularity.
So sit back and enjoy this list of the best episodes of The Simpsons, ranked from highest to lowest. There is sure to be something here to satisfy everyone, so let’s get started!
Written by Sophie and last updated on dec 20, 2024.
PS: The following content contains spoilers!
PPS: I will admit that parts of this page was written with the help of AI - it makes my work so much easier to not start from a blank page!
Marge gets her kitchen remodeled and the dishes she makes inside it get rave reviews. The suggestion of Ned Flanders leads her to enter a cooking contest. However, Marge realizes the competition is harder than it seems. Meanwhile, Bart finds Homer's vintage Playdude magazines and decides to adopt the lifestyle he sees within the articles.
The episode was rated 7.29 from 523 votes.
Lisa agrees to enter a Krusty-sponsored "Li'l Starmaker" competition and panics when another contestant (guest voice Fantasia Barrino) outperforms her.
The episode was rated 7.32 from 347 votes.
When Bart writes slogans on T-shirts, he catches the attention of Goose Gladwell, a gag-gift entrepreneur, and soon becomes a T-shirt mogul; Homer feels he no longer has a place in the family when Bart becomes the breadwinner.
The episode was rated 7.33 from 452 votes.
When Bart endangers his health by bingeing on vending-machine food, the Simpsons turn their home into a hostel in order to afford sending him to a forced starvation facility.
The episode was rated 7.34 from 397 votes.
Ned Flanders' head injury gives him the power to predict others' deaths, Bart and Lisa play detective when a string of Victorian-era prostitutes are murdered by Jack the Ripper, and the Simpsons go on a fantastic voyage inside Mr. Burns' body to save Maggie.
The episode was rated 7.36 from 630 votes.
When Marge discovers Homer has remortgaged the house to help Moe's bar, she takes over as landlady. Little does Homer know, Moe and Marge are a match made in pub heaven.
The episode was rated 7.38 from 454 votes.
Marge finds Nelson and acts as a mother figure towards him due to her children's loss of interest in her. Meanwhile, Lisa gets teased about her big butt, and becomes obsessed with her weight.
The episode was rated 7.39 from 494 votes.
Springfield legalizes same-sex marriage to increase tourism. After becoming a minister, Homer starts to wed people to make money. Meanwhile, Marge's sister Patty comes out as a lesbian and reveals that she is going to marry a woman named Veronica.
The episode was rated 7.44 from 399 votes.
Bart gets expelled from school and transfers to a Catholic school, where a hip priest named Father Sean tries to convert Bart and Homer to Catholicism, which worries Marge when she believes that Catholics do not go to the same heaven as Protestants and discovers that Catholic women do not use birth control.
The episode was rated 7.45 from 373 votes.
Lisa does what every little sister has dreamed of - she gets a restraining order put on her big brother. Bart is forced to live in the back garden, but soon realises the joy of communing with nature.
The episode was rated 7.46 from 407 votes.
Homer, Grampa, Apu and Flanders travel to Canada to buy sorely needed prescription drugs with fake Canadian health-care cards.
The episode was rated 7.49 from 479 votes.
Through Professor Frink's future machine, Bart and Lisa see their lives in the year 2013, where Bart steals Lisa's chances at going to an Ivy League school in order to impress a skater girl named Jenda while Homer (now separated from Marge and living in an underwater apartment) fights Krusty the Clown after Marge begins dating him.
The episode was rated 7.51 from 404 votes.
The Simpsons' roof springs a leak when the perfect storm hits Springfield. And when Marge asks what type of father can't keep a roof over his family's head, Homer tries to fix things up, but falls through the roof. Sick of being unwanted, Homer befriends a man who works as a roofer. However, no one else can see him and Homer's insistence that the roofer does exist prompts everyone to think he has gone crazy.
The episode was rated 7.52 from 380 votes.
Flanders rents a room to two college girls who, without his knowledge, use the spare room to broadcast live softcore pornographic web videos of themselves. Upset that no one in town told him this (and that Homer was the one who told everyone), Ned moves to the seemingly perfect town of Humbleton, Pennsylvania, while a brash coach moves into Flanders' house and begins harassing Homer the same way Homer harassed Ned.
The episode was rated 7.52 from 398 votes.
Homer sees a movie about the end of the world and fears the same thing will happen in real life after seeing a chain of random occurrences (celebrities ["stars"] falling from the sky, raining blood, a man in a realistic devil costume) and doing a complicated math equation that predicts the end will come on May 18th, but when the end does not come, Homer discovers a flaw in the equation and ends up in Heaven where he meets God and learns that God is planning The Rapture.
The episode was rated 7.61 from 410 votes.
