CLASSIC Simpsons: Season Eight Review
(at least) hangs with the best of the best
Season Eight is an excellent season of The Simpsons.
Until now, I’d never watched Season 8 front to back. I’d seen all the episodes many times, but never in the same “endlessly repeating binge” fashion in which I’d watched others like 4, 7, and 9 on DVD. Those insane re-watching patterns in my youth taught me that S7 was much better than S9 (an old opinion that will soon be put to the test), and I guess I just assumed that S8 functioned as a linear sort of step down between them. At the same time, when discussing the show, or this project, with friends over the last year or so, a lot of beloved but yet-to-be-ranked episodes would come up in conversation, and when I looked them up I found they were almost always from Season 8. Gradually, my expectations for the season, like my curiosity about it, rose.
That said, I didn’t expect this season to register as the strongest so far by several metrics. Season 8’s average episode score is the closest yet to a clear-cut “A” ranking. “It’s also the first season to deliver five ‘Incredible’ (A+) episode, including four that have claimed spots in the Top 10.
On that note— for the first time in this entire process, I’m wondering if the Top 10 will stay locked in place from now on… a somewhat daunting prospect, considering that there are still 26+ seasons to watch, and counting. But before staring down the barrel of that paralyzing thought, let’s take a second to appreciate Season 8.
There are 25 episodes in Season Eight of The Simpsons. In this post, you’ll first find the CLASSIC Scale episode score for each, listed from best to worst. Then, the season’s cumulative results will be followed by some appreciation for Season Eight excellence in the Artistry, Story, and Irreverence categories. Finally, I take a second to consider whether a case can be made for S8 as the best of the best.
ICYMI: I explain my method here. This is the master document, containing my up-to-date all-time rankings list.
Incredible (A+)
Homer vs. The Eighteenth Amendment
You Only Move Twice
The Mysterious Voyage of Homer
Homer’s Enemy
The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show
Excellent (A)
A Milhouse Divided
The Springfield Files
Treehouse of Horror VII
The Old Man and the Lisa
Homer’s Phobia
Bart After Dark
Mountain of Madness
Brother From Another Series
Great (A-)
The Simpsons Spinoff Showcase
Lisa’s Date With Density
In Marge We Trust
The Twisted World of Marge Simpson
Grade School Confidential
Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious
My Sitter, My Sister
Hurricane Ned
Very Good (B+)
The Secret War of Lisa Simpson
Burns Baby Burns
The Homer They Fall
Good (B)
The Canine Mutiny
Season Eight Rankings
Average Category Score + (Change from S7 → S8):
Characters: 8.46 (+0.13)
Laughs: 8.49 (+0.14)
Artistry: 8.59 (+0.10)
Story: 8.40 (+0.10)
Setting: 8.38 (+0.04)
Irreverence: 8.35 (+0.19)
Classic-ness: 8.53 (+ 0.12)
Total: 8.46 (+0.13)
Average Episode Score: A- / A*
Median score: A / 8.50 (beats S5, which had a median of 8.46).
Improved Categories from S7:
All
Improved Categories from S5 (the other #1 contending season):
Story, Artistry, Irreverence
If we consider a Top-Tier(s) Episode to be an A or an A+, this is how frequently they come through over the “prime” seasons:
S3: 3/24 = 8%
S4: 8/22 = 36%
S5: 11/22 = 50%
S6: 13/25= 52%
S7: 7/25 = 28%
S8: 13/25 = 52%
Dang. Season Eight is a return to the show’s absolute peak form— at least by this metric.
In terms of S7, the starkest comparison to S8 is that the former had 16 episodes land in A- territory, while the latter’s A- count only hits 8. So, what happened to the other half? S8 has 4 less-than-Great episodes, compared to only 2 in S7; on the other hand, 5 episodes shoot all the way up to Incredible (A+), with the other 3 landing comfortably in Excellent (A) territory.
So, surprisingly, Season 8 has more A+ episodes than any other season. And how could Homer vs. The Eighteenth Amendment, You Only Move Twice, The Mysterious Voyage of Homer, The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show, and Homer’s Enemy be ranked as anything other than Incredible? We’re talking the Beer Baron episode, the Hank Scorpio episode, the Frank Grimes episode— aka three of the most legendary single-episode characters of all time (make it four if- as we should be- we’re counting Poochie). Meanwhile, The Mysterious Voyage of Homer is one of the most artistically interesting, heart-string-pulling, and far-out episodes of all time. All 5 are extremely funny, too, with The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show registering one of the highest “Laughs” scores of all time in my books.
S8 outperforms S5 in Artistry and Story, with a slight edge in Irreverence. Without getting too carried away, allow me to give you a glimpse into how the season earned these scores:
Artistry
→ The Mysterious Voyage of Homer features a creatively incredible hallucination sequence that runs several minutes, starting with psychedelic Flanders diddly-ing and complete with incredible gags (Homer’s dance with the rising & setting sun, which eventually shatters), poetic imagery (the revolving Marge whose face never shows), and an unforgettable cameo full of profound philosophical insight (Johnny Cash as the Space Coyote / Spirit guide).
→ Classic musical numbers like “We Put the Spring in Springfield” from Bart After Dark, Kirk van Houten’s iconic “Can I Borrow A Feeling,” the various parts from The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase (not limited to Smithers’ “[Licorice] Whip-It”) and Jasper’s “Lollipop,” and the entire Mary Poppins parody.
→ The season’s orchestral scores consistently hit the mark, creating all sorts of poignant moments and emphasizing the emotional core of many episodes, like Marge drinking alone in You Only Move Twice, or Reverend Lovejoy sadly playing with his trains in In Marge We Trust. Also, underscoring to Burns and Homer losing their minds in Mountain of Madness goes hard.
→ The animators pack throwaway gags with an amazing level of detail, like: the Mr. Sparkle VHS clip, the Love-Matic-Grandpa intro credits sequence, the cinematic Frank Grimes news story, Lisa’s nightmarish babysitting fantasy, Burns and Homer’s descent into cabin fever while buried by the avalanche, and much more.
→ High-tier voice acting from the core cast, like Hank Azaria as Frank Grimes (he also does the incredible whale sound in The Springfield Files, apparently). Also, Guest stars deliver excellent voice work throughout the season, like David Hyde Pierce as Sideshow Bob’s Brother, Albert Brooks as Hank Scorpio, Johnny Cash as the Space Coyote, and other notable appearances from John Waters, Jack Lemmon, and the X-Files crew + Nimoy. Side note: I love how, in the golden age, the celebs actually play characters most of the time, and only play themselves when it’s a funny meta bit (Nimoy).
Story
→ We see some really interesting storytelling choices, including but not limited to:
- Homer’s Enemy starting immediately with the news story on Frank Grimes, giving us all of the information we need to appreciate the dark humour underpinning his conflict with Homer, leading to his eventual demise. The story’s ending, the whole funeral gathering laughing at Homer’s sleep-talking as “Grimey, as he liked to be called”’s grave being lowered into the earth, is about as dark as the show’s humor.
- The addition of a crime drama narrator in Homer vs. The Eighteenth Amendment instantly transforms the genre of the episode.
- Even comparatively weaker episodes, like My Sister, My Sitter have strong enough story hooks to keep you engaged, because good characters (ie. Lisa) are genuinely overcoming obstacles (ie. Bart) to achieve something they care about. The same goes for Bart, Skinner, and Krabappel (who Homer’s “been calling Crandall!” lol), in Grade School Confidential.
- Oakley & Weinstein, who started running the show in S7, are known for bringing sentimentality and focus on the inner lives and drives of the characters into the forefront of the show’s storytelling. This refines itself into finer form than the previous season, with episodes like The Mysterious Voyage of Homer, A Milhouse Divided and Lisa’s Date With Density achieving a perfect balance of making you care for nor just the Homers but the Nelsons or Kirk & Milhouse van Houtens of Springfield in new ways, while still laughing at them.
Irreverence
This one surprised me, since Oakley & Weinstein’s pivot to story is often framed as a move away from the show’s earlier emphasis on social satire.
First of all, I’m not entirely show that holds true. But maybe, sitting here in 2024, the shock of those earlier parodies have mostly worn off. Meanwhile, the irreverence feels so deeply woven into the show’s DNA at this point that its understated-ness carries a particular strength.
That was a bit of a word salad, so here’s an example: in Hurricane Ned, not exactly famous for its political potency, the first 3.5 minutes jabs at sexist storm names, crisis capitalism price-gouging, and Springfield residents enthusiastic support for the death penalty; later, you learn that Flanders’ peculiar neurosis originate from being raised by “freaky beatniks” who have “tried nothing and are all out of ideas,” then leading to being spanked for 8 straight months.
Also, something that’s aged well… so, so, so much making fun of the cops, including one of my favourite bits of all time: Wiggum’s Invisible Typewriter.
Conclusion
So, here’s the real question… is Season 8 the best of the best? If I wanted to make the case, I’d use these points to do it:
- Best average episode score by median
- Most episodes in the top 10
- Most Incredible (A+) episodes
- Highest scores yet in Artistry, Story, and Irreverence
- Tied for most Top-Tier(s) Episodes (A / A+ rankings) with S6
- Tied for best average episode score by mean
- Tied for second least “less than Great” episodes (with S5… S6 has fewer but also has a brutally ranked clip show)
If I wanted to make the case against it, that’d be simple:
- Lower in Laughs than S5 and S6. Yeah, so the show adds interesting textures in terms of experimental approaches to storytelling and artistry. Great. Aren’t the laughs what we really love about The Simpsons? If so, worth noting that S8 is (so far) the third funniest season on average.
Right now, I don’t really want to make either case. I’m just pleasantly surprised that S8 at least mostly recovers in every category from what was a pretty harsh dip between S6 and S7. It absolutely hangs with the greats, and there’s little chance it doesn’t make my Top 3.
But here’s the question: was it a last gasp, or will S9 keep some momentum?
Let’s see.