On October 1, The Simpsons will return for its thirty-fifth season. And the common refrain–that the show peaked, that it’s 25 years past its prime–is itself getting a bit old.
The show will never be as consistently hilarious as it once was. But there are multiple episodes, scattered throughout the later seasons, that stand up to “classic” Simpsons quality. And there are enough of these hidden gems that an old-school Simpsons fan could spend a few weekends binging and catching up.
If you need a place to start, we’ve got you covered. Here are the 15 best Simpsons episodes from the past 15 seasons (Seasons 20-34), in chronological order. This gallery is for every lapsed Simpsons fan who watched the show during its golden age, stopped watching, and now wants to know what they missed. Which episodes would you take off the list, and which ones would you add? Let us know in the comments.
