How The Simpsons Created The "Perfect" Season 

Whilst my heart belongs to season 7, season 4 is what made The Simpsons an era defining show

I worked as an animator on Season 20 and my director was like: Make it like Season 4.

Seasons 6 and 7 is what made me appreciate The Simpsons not just as a simple cartoon but a real sitcom with jokes that work in animated form and in real life too.

I have a certain fondness for Homer's Triple Bypass. There isn't much going on, it's just about how Homer needs a surgery they can't afford, and they spend the episode trying to find a means to get it for him, but I loved how the ending was just the family's relief to see their father and husband alive after his heart surgery, and he just kind of weakly smiles and waves at them. It was probably the episode that made me realize just how much heart and soul The Simpsons had in it's heyday.

Season four had more peaks then any other season, Marge vs the Monorail, Last Exit to Springfield, and Mr Plow being some of the best the show has to offer, but season 5 just had more consistency where no episode is the goat, but they were all strong episodes

"Last exit to Springfield" is one of the deepest and most meaningful episodes of all. When everybody is singing in a circle gets me every time.

Season 6 and 7 TOGETHER is the peak of the Simpsons imo, Who Shot Mr. Burns was literally a national mystery, and Marge Be Not Proud is my favorite episode ever

Seasons 4, 5 and 6 are inseparable in quality, for me. Pure brilliance.

seasons 1 to 8 is so true the golden age. the greatest tv comedy of all-time.

Seasons 3 to 6 were the gold of the Simpsons Golden age (which was from its inception to about season 8-9), and I concur that Season 4 is the absolute best.

Any episode that has Conan O'Brien's name in the credits is pure gold.

Seasons 3-8 are the best imo

Season 6 and 7 were my personal favourites, but all of the first 8 seasons are great.

As a father any time i need to make a self-sacrifice for my kids "Lisa needs braces" and "Do it for her" always pop into my head and help me make the right decision

I was 6-13 yrs old when the simpsons were must see tv on Sunday nights. I miss those days!

Holy sh*t. This is an amazing video. Seasons 3-7 formed my type of humor growing up. But to really delve into this…wow. Just thank you is what I’m trying to say.

It's sad to remember when The Simpsons had seasons where the family discussed real family issues, and expressed love to each other. Over time they all just became crazy and sociopathic.

Thank you. I love the Simpsons so much, my childhood. I still watch the first 8 seasons when I'm depressed.

I am watching all the episodes on the 30th anniversary of their original air date. Today, for example, I'm going to watch Marge vs. the Monorail. Season 4 truly was something special.

Its a shame there were only 9 seasons of this amazing show

The shot of Marge in the rocker holding newborn Lisa is one of the purest things ever. Makes me cry every time I see it.

Love learning this behind the scenes stuff 💛

Later seasons be like: Bart: "Hey Lisa, if you advance frame by frame you can pinpoint the exact moment his heart breaks."

In my opinion season five will always be my favorite season. I do put season four right behind five. Loved the video!

Impressive that arguably this seasons most famous episode, Marge vs The Monorail, wasn’t brought up at all. That’s how good this season is!

Personally my favouurite is season 6. I think every episode in that season was amazing. Lemon of Troy, Homie the Clown, Who shot Mr. Burns Part 1, etc.

For me, it’s either season 4 or 6 - though I have to give it to six just for me personally. It has my favourite episode in it (pta disbands “hello, mother dear”). I just wish I haven’t already seen these episodes a hundred plus times each over the course of my life, sometimes it’s like there’s no point putting them on. I can quote the entire episode of Apu moving in with the Simpsons like I can with the empire strikes back (dialogue, sound effects and music cues) completely solo (I know)

These Simpsons retrospectives just make me sad. I genuinely love this show. I’m 34, so I grew up watching it. It’s depressing to see something like this die a slow death.

First 14 seasons are the best.

as a kid i had seasons 1-11 on dvd, season 4 was the one i binged the most

One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish will forever be the best episode for me. It's got it all.

Great video! Can't deny that Season 4 is fantastic and easily earns all of its praise. However, my personal favorite is still Season 6... "Lisa's Rival", "Homie the Clown", and "Treehouse of Horror V", are three of my all-time favorite episodes... plus, "And Maggie Makes Three", just might be the most heartfelt episode in the entire history of the show.

You should do a video on Marge. I just think she’s neat.

I love that season 4 is pretty much universally considered the best. Its my personal favourite because by sheer coincidence it was the first season I got on DVD as a kid, which started a crazy obsession of collecting the rest lol. Something about the way the first 10 boxsets are presented is so satisfying, and season 4's shiny blue box is so special to me for that reason.

I feel Season 5 is also a perfect season. Homer and Apu (favourite episode of all time) Homer's Barbershop Quartet Marge on the Lam Cape Feare Homer loves Flanders Homer goes to College Rosebud Bart's Inner Child Treehouse of Horror 4 Boy Scoutz N the Hood Last Temptation of Homer Springfield Homer the Vigilante Bart Gets Famous Lisa vs Malibu Stacy(top 10 favourite too) Deep Space Homer Bart gets an Elephant Burns' Heir Sweet Seymour's Badassss Song The Boy Who Knew Too Much Lady Bouvier's Lover Secrets of a Successful Marriage

Got "Dental plan; Lisa Needs Braces" stuck in my head again now!

Season 2 and 3 were my favs 😊

Season 4 was definitely an amazing season for The Simpsons. There were a few other stand out episodes after that. But season 8 was when the show started going downhill. However, there is one episode in season 33 that felt like it was a resurgence back to the old style of The Simpsons. Episode 12 Pixelated and Afraid was one of the best returns to form that I've ever seen come out of this show that has long since lost its identity. The episode focused on margin Homer's love of sitting and watching television shows together and just genuinely enjoying each other's company, Well also sharing marital bliss in just the mundane and the regular. Lisa takes this as a sign that their marriage is dying because there is nothing flashy or over the top about their relationship. In fact she even compares their marriage to that of what she sees in cheesy black and white romance films. Which as we know are completely unrealistic to what a real romance is. Lisa and Bart then decide to stage an intervention to encourage their parents to go off to a marriage retreat. Begrudgingly Homer and Marge leave for the retreat but halfway to getting there realize that they really don't want to go and they would rather just sit and enjoy their programs together so they turn around to go home. But in the process The car jack knives falls into a ditch and then into a river, stranding Homer and Marge in the middle of nowhere. This is when the episode really shines. The whole rest of the episode is just showing Marge and Homer literally using the wisdom that they've gathered from the various educational television shows that they've watched together. Allowing them to both survive and even somewhat thrive in the middle of nowhere. This episode to me, Was a brilliant and wonderful depiction of why Homer and Marge are still together, despite all of Homer's previous screw-ups and Marge's shortfalls, they work as a couple.

One of the few season I own on DVD mainly because of the amount of episodes I love and have engrained into my DNA.

Great video.

i still remember that ralph wiggum episode. thank you for bringing that up. it got more powerful after I turned 30

The magic of the simpsons is long gone and i fear it will never return.

Last exit to Springfield gotta be one of my favorite Simpsons episodes

fantastic video sir

Whether or not it’s my favourite season, s8 contains my favourite episodes.

I'd argue that season 6 is where the show peaked.

I was a teenager when the Simpsons came out, it was easily the best thing on television, and it just got better and better! Truly blessed! We would go into school the next day and try and work out all the cultural references. Excellent time.

*correction: The first 9 seasons are widely recognized as the golden age of the series. ...Well, at least it should be. Just because the Principal and the Pauper exists in that season, doesn't take away from how good a lot of the rest of the season is.

Simpsons was my childhood

i bought season 4 at walmart on dvd and shortly after ended up moving to a place that had no cable/internet just a dvd player i'm not kidding when i say i watched season 4 almost every single day and I would always catch something new rewatching it def the best season imo! my fav eps from season 4 are marge vs the monorail and marge gets a job/new job and mr plow honestly all so good

The episode "Holidays of Future Passed" was supposed to be the series finale, but I'm glad it didn't end on that episode

Season 3-8 of the Simpsons is honestly the peak of TV, like 95% of those episodes minimum are absolutely first rate

I thought you were going to say in the beginning that the Simpsons is one rare case of defining more than one generation.

Something else about The Simpsons was the heartfelt moments. I can think of a lot of episodes that made me tear up, and there was a perfect amount of those episodes in each season.

The character of Ralph really connected with me. I use Ralph as my illustration as to why I hate Valentine's Day. It's a day that goes out of its way to make certain people feel bad. Ralph knows he's not popular, he didn't need an entire day devoted to pointing that out to him. When I was in school, I was Ralph. To this day I will always hate Valentine's Day.

6:45 Season 6's Showrunner was David Mirkin. Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein were Showrunners for Season 7 + 8 (Which you correctly state earlier in the video but not here). Fun video!

Season 6 is peak Simpsons, seasons 4 and 5 were a little more consistent but Treehouse of Horror V, Lemon of Troy and Who Shot Mr. Burns Part 1 are too good

I remember my reactions to it when it first aird - seeing the couch gags and how i felt ! 😊

Possibly the best season of any show ever. It opens with Kamp Krusy, an episode so good they considered making it into The Simpsons Movie. It then produces several more of the best episodes, like Homer the Heretic, Mr. Plow, I love Lisa, and the best flashback episode of television: Lisa’s First Word. Even the weakest episodes of this season are pretty good!

Ohh yes. Season 4 was always the dvd box set I always had on rotation the most. In fact, the most episodes I have downloaded on my iPad are from S4.

Yeah I like season 4 because that's the season where you see Bart Simpson take over Camp Crusty, Lord of The Fly Style

I never gave it any thought, but seasons 4, 6 and 7 are my go tos when I wanna watch the simpsons.

Fox has already announced that "The Simpsons," "Family Guy," and "Bob's Burgers" have all been renewed through 2025, so "The Simpsons" will have at least 37 seasons with 800 episodes. Of course Fox also announced that the series could last even longer, as they renew the series two seasons at a time. "The Simpsons" still has strong ratings in the key demographics, and is the top-rated acquired series on Disney+.

Fun fact: the creator of The Office, Greg Daniels, used to be a writer for The Simpsons :)

Season 4 had some wonderful gems but usually folks swear Season 6 is the goat. Me, I thank season 4 for carrying the momentum of the desired Simpsons formula lovingly crafted from Season 3!

Corrections: the ratings peaked in season 2 (although the show quality got better, its weird) and Oakley (AND Josh Weinstein) ran seasons 7 and 8. 5 and 6 were David Mirkin

Great choice. I think Season 4 is my second favorite season next to Season 8. You could say that Season 4 is where the show REALLY gets good.

Seasons 3-4 are still the peak for me. I hadn't realized that they had the same show runners, but it makes sense.

Simpsons jumped the shark on it's 180th episode on it's 9th season episode 2 "principal and the pauper" this is where the show officially went from being an animated sitcom to a cartoon.

It's a victim of its own success it was so good that even now if they make a good episode it completely lacks what it had But mainly for me they've stop telling stories that make you care ie there's been nothing like do it for her or homer sitting looking at the stars now knowing that not only was his mum alive but that she really loves him two beautiful moments that the show wouldn't know how to do now

Seasons 3 - 9 comedy gold mine. Literally every episode and every joke in those episodes worked.

Season 6 is my absolute favorite. But 4 is pretty damn good too. Homer's Triple Bypass, Last Exit to Springfield, Homer the Heretic, that year's Treehouse etc. Classic stuff.

I really loved the first eight or so seasons, before it descended into a sprawling, meandering parody of itself.

Choosing the best season for me personally is difficult. I was an OG fan of the show growing up, so its very tempting to just say it's any of the seasons before the point where I stopped being a regular watcher, which is anything prior to season nine if you're interested 🤔

I don't know if "I Love Lisa" is a good measurement for using the supporting cast - Ralph has such character breaking depth of feeling and to some degree, thought in that episode, that, though it works for the individual story, it doesn't work as a measurement of his development in the series as a whole. It's not like Apu meeting Manjula, or Krusty reuniting with his cold, distant father. I think season 19 is up there with seasons 4, 5, and 6 as the best. Seasons 4-6 are packed with brilliant, sharp lines and strong humour. In season 7, you could get an episode like "Lisa the Iconoclast", "Scenes From A Class Struggle Springfield", or "Marge Be Not Proud" - Episodes which simply aren't all-that funny. Quite possibly every episode from seasons 4-6 shines in being packed with fast, brilliant humour. Season 4 dropped the admittedly tiring, a bit cheesy, heartwarming endings the show had every, or every other episode, making the show's emotion be perfectly balanced, made the pace of episodes be a bit faster, and sprinkled in some zaniness, that broke away a bit from the grounded tone previously established, to firmly establish the show's formula forever. Season 3 was the first season to have the rapid-fire humour, but 4 defined the show's identity when it came to formula. I wish the show would end now, the episodes I've seen of late have just a few amusing lines, and I'm talking after season 25, as I think the show has been frequently, if not consistently great up until then. Season 32 perhaps would've been a good season to end on, if the show wanted to have 12 seasons i.e. a HD era lasting as long as a regular sitcom's length. I feel like the greatness of the series is being diluted, from what I can see anyway. I also think it's good for a show to feel watchable in its entirety for fans, and that Ms. Krabbapel being absent isn't good. Hopefully, season 34 ends the show, or perhaps 35. The seasons indeed feel excessive to me now, and I don't think the quality is there anymore. Many classic episodes exist after "The Golden Age" to me - "See Homer Run", "Milhouse of Sand and Fog", "Diatribe of a Mad Housewife", "The Great Louse Detective" and "What Animated Women Want" etc.

Season 4 had some of the best episodes of the entire series!

Loving the 4x3 aspect ratio.

I’m currently binge watching the show and I’m on season 4!

When I saw the thumbnail saying “The Perfect Season”, I knew they had to be talking about 4. That one was by far the funniest and season 5 was also pretty close. I’m sure a lot of it was because Conan was one of the writers then

Favorite season of any show ever.

Al Jean himself said that season 3 was their best although for me season 2 was. The episode where Mr. Burns hits Bart with his luxury car of death.

I will never understand how a show can do something so perfect and capture lightening in a bottle only to misread what that it was the lightening that made the show great and not bottle.

The Simpsons has gone on so long now past its best, that I sometimes forget how great the early seasons were. I think it might be time to go back and rewatch Last Exit to Springfield

Wow I had no idea all those iconic episodes were in the same season... What a season...

Season 4 was spectacular. My top 3 episodes are all in the same season! ...but all of the seasons through 3 to 8 are great.

Throughout this video I kept saying Yeah that was a good episode

Great video! I've been saying season 4 is the perfect season (and, in my opinion, the greatest season of any TV show ever) for 20+ years at this point, a huge number of people have disagreed with me. But none of the other seasons could have been what they are without 4.

Season 4 Episodes Ranked: 22: Selma’s Choice 21: The Front 20: Marge In Chains 19: Lisa the Beauty Queen 18: Duffless 17: Homer’s Triple Bypass 16: Simpson’s Clip Show 15: Brother From the Same Planet 14: Marge Gets A Job 13: I Love Lisa 12: New Kid On the Block 11: Krusty Gets Kancelled 10: Itchy & Scratchy: the Movie 9: A Streetcar Named Marge 8: Mr. Plow 7: Homer the Heretic 6: Treehouse of Horror III 5: Kamp Krusty 4: Whacking Day 3: Last Exit to Springfield 2: Marge vs. the Monorail 1: Lisa’s First Words

Personally, I love season 8. May be unpopular but they had some pretty good episodes. You Only Move Twice, Homers Enemy, The Springfield Files, The Itchy and Scratchy and Poochie Show, The Mary Poppin Parody Episode, El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer, Hurricane Neddy, Bart After Dark, Treehouse of Horror Seven. It's just a great season to me. (I do think Season 4 is equal because of Kamp Krusty, my favorite episode)

Very hard to argue with that pick of season

i like the episode where homers mom comesback,the last scene is funny but sad man.Goated show

Season 4 was the first season I ever purchased the boxset of. It was at that young age I learned what a "season" was. Great season, though season 7 maybe my favorite.

Season 5 was my personal favorite Season of The Simpsons

The only reason I like season 5 slightly better is because of its consistency. WSMB part 1, Homers Quartet, Cape Fear, which I believe is the best episode of the show.

4:11 is that a Conan O'Brien cameo? Fun fact: Conan O'Brien wrote for the first few seasons for the Simpsons, most notably; the lead writer for the monorail episode. Also before writing for the Simpsons I believe he wrote for SNL

Season 6 for life.

My kid is watching the Simpsons now so I’m watching them too. My god it was good back in the day

This was my favourite season

theee siimpsooonss .. 🎵

I agree with this entirely, although season 6 is a VERY close 2nd in my opinion if I might add lol