As someone who grew up on the early seasons of the Simpsons, I am always saddened to see how far the quality of this show has fallen over the years. You see, back in the day, after the first 15 or so seasons, there was pretty much zero doubt that The Simpsons were the best TV show of all time. The very best Simpsons episodes were able to effortlessly combine heart and brains, while being extremely funny on top of it. Why and how this show's demise came to be is a different topic for a different thread, but the cold, hard truth is, most of their modern stuff is oscillating between awful and unwatchable.

So I said to myself, "Hoggy", I said, "just because most of the modern episodes are terrible, doesn't mean there aren't a few diamonds in the rough in there. I'm sure at least some of the episodes are still quality, it's just a matter of finding them." So I scoured the internet for "Best Simpsons episodes of the past 20 years". I've compiled a comprehensive list of almost 50 episodes from all kinds of sources, from reddit, TV review sites and magazines. This list, according to the internet, are the definitive Simpsons episodes of the past 20 years, with the earliest episode being season 16, episode 2 "All's fair in oven war".

I've watched all of them. I would advise against doing so. The majority of these episodes range from awful to mildly entertaining. Certainly nothing you would put on an all-time list, or talk with your friends about. However, out of these almost 50 episodes, some were indeed not bad. In fact, a select few of them were even great. So I thought I'd share my findings. As I mentioned above, a great Simpsons episode needs to combine three things: heart, brain, and wit, and that's exactly what I rated them on.

But first, the honorable mentions. These episodes, while not top tier Simpsons, all have something that makes them worth watching. They could contain a touching 5 minute installation, or have a rather profound message, or they're just very funny if a bit dumb. In chronological order

  • s17xe13 - "The Seemingly Never Ending Story"
  • s19xe18 - "Any Given Sundance"
  • s25xe11 - "Specs And The City"
  • s27xe09 - "Barthood"
  • s32xe11 - "The Dad-Feelings Limited"
  • s33xe06 and
  • s33xe07 - "A Serious Flanders"

And now, without further ado, the six best Simpsons episodes of the past 20 years, according to the internet, filtered by me.

- s18xe09 - "Kill Gil, Volume I & II"

It's a christmas episode, and won a Writers Guild of America Award for best animated program.

When Gil Gunderson gets fired from his job as a mall Santa, the Simpsons invite him into their house.

- s23xe06 - "The Book Job"

Lisa is shocked to discover that all popular young-adult novels are not each written by a single author with any inspiration, but are conceived by book publishing executives through use of market research and ghostwriters to make money. When Homer hears this, he assembles a group of Springfielders to write their very own fantasy novel.

Neil Gaiman is in this episode.

- s25xe09 - "Steal This Episode"

Homer and Bart team up to illegally download movies and exhibit them in a makeshift theater in the backyard, but Homer ends up arrested by the FBI when Marge sends Hollywood a check and an apology note.

Lots of Hollywood guest stars in this one.

- s26xe06 - "Simpsorama"

I'm probably cheating a bit, here. This is the Futurama crossover episode, and it really feels a lot more like a Futurama than a simpsons episode.

- s28xe18 - "A Father's Watch"

It's a meditation on education, meritocracy, and participation trophy culture. I guess.

- s30xe22 - "Woo-Hoo Dunnit"

It's a parody of true crime documentaries about Lisa's missing college fund of $670.42.

And there you have it, folks. Do with this list whatever you want. I wish I could say it was fun doing this, but the few episodes mentioned above are genuinely good, in my opinion, so it wasn't a complete desaster.