The Simpsons

Bart fails a test and is told that he has one more chance to pass it or else he will be held back a year. Bart tries to get the class genius Martin Prince to help him, but after that fails, Bart prays for help. That night, Springfield is hit with a massive blizzard and the school is closed, giving Bart one more day to study. Despite his desperate attempts, Bart fails the test again. While crying, he mentions an obscure historical event and Mrs. Krabappel, noting that he applied practical knowledge, passes him.

Homer discovers a new miracle hair growth formula called Dimoxinil and cheats on some insurance forms so that he can buy some. Homer grows hair overnight and is soon given a promotion at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. He gets a new secretary named Karl, who helps him become successful. However, Mr. Burns’ assistant Waylon Smithers becomes jealous of all the attention Burns is giving Homer and discovers that Homer had cheated on the insurance forms. Smithers tries to fire Homer, but Karl claims he cheated on the forms and is fired in Homer’s stead. Bart spills Homer’s remaining Dimoxinil and Homer loses all of his hair. As a result, Homer is demoted back to his old position.

A Halloween special which is divided into three short stories: Bad Dream House - In this parody of the book The Amityville Horror, the Simpsons move into a new house which turns out to be cursed. Hungry are the Damned - In this parody of the 89th episode of The Twilight Zone, "To Serve Man", the Simpsons are abducted by aliens, who plan to take them back to their home planet, but Lisa becomes suspicious of their intentions. The Raven - A retelling of Edgar Allan Poe’s poem "The Raven".

After Bart catches a three-eyed fish in a river downstream of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, the Plant is inspected and found to have 342 violations, which would cost $56 million to rectify. In order to prevent his Plant from being shut down, Mr. Burns decides to run for Governor. After a hard campaign which sees Burns rise from being universally despised to running neck and neck with incumbent Mary Bailey, it is decided that Burns will have dinner with a random employee the night before the election. Homer is chosen, much to Marge’s chagrin. Marge serves the three eyed fish to Burns for dinner, who can not eat it and as a result, loses the election.

Homer fires up the crowd at a Springfield Isotopes game and is chosen to be the team’s new mascot. He immediately becomes a popular attraction and the Isotopes start a winning streak. As a result, Homer is promoted to the team in Capital City. The Simpsons move to Capital City, but Homer fails to enthrall the crowd, and returns home.

Ned Flanders invites Homer to his house for a beer. Homer, seeing how nice Ned’s house is, becomes jealous, causing Flanders to angrily ask him to leave. Flanders immediately regrets his outburst and tries to make up with Homer, who remains defiant. One day while mini golfing, Bart and Flanders’ son Todd Flanders decide to enter a mini golf tournament. Homer becomes confident that Bart will win and makes a bet with Ned that the father of the boy who does not win will have to mow their neighbor’s lawn in their wife’s Sunday dress. On the day of the tournament, Bart and Todd make the finals but decide to call it a draw, forcing both Homer and Ned to fulfill the requirements of their bet.

When he is blamed for ruining Thanksgiving, Bart runs away and finds a soup kitchen and some homeless men. Eventually, Bart returns home, intending to apologize but has last minute thoughts and climbs to the roof of the The Simpsons house where he hears Lisa sobbing. He apologizes to her, and the family happily enjoys a meal of leftovers.

The Simpsons go to a monster truck rally that features famous daredevil Lance Murdock. Bart immediately becomes enamored and decides that he wants to become a daredevil as well. Bart’s first stunt ends in injury and despite the family and Dr. Hibbert’s best efforts, he continues to attempt stunts. Bart decides to jump the Springfield gorge, but Homer gets wind of his plan and makes Bart promise not to jump it. Bart immediately breaks his promise and goes to jump the gorge anyway, but Homer stops him just in time and finally gets Bart to swear he will stop being a daredevil. Homer accidentally ends up having to jump the gorge himself, failing in the attempt.

Maggie attacks Homer with a mallet, and Marge immediately blames The Itchy & Scratchy Show for turning her violent. Marge forms S.N.U.H. (Springfieldians for Nonviolence, Understanding, and Helping) and campaigns against the show. Eventually she successfully gets the writers to change their ways and make the show less violent. Meanwhile, Michelangelo’s David goes on a coast-to-coast tour of the U.S., and the members of S.N.U.H. mobilize to protest it. Marge, however, states that she likes the statue and realizes that it is wrong to censor one form of art but not another and decides to give up her anti-cartoon violence protest.

One day, Bart is skateboarding when he is suddenly hit by Mr. Burns’s car. An attorney named Lionel Hutz suggests that the Simpsons sue Burns, promising a big cash settlement. Homer agrees, and he and Hutz spend time fabricating Bart’s story, taking him to see Dr. Nick Riviera, who has dubious credentials. Marge opposes suing Burns and would be happy with him paying Bart’s medical bills and apologizing. Burns eventually finds out about the phony doctor and Marge is called to the witness stand during the trial. She refuses to lie, and her testimony leads to the trial being lost.

The Simpsons go to a new Sushi bar, where Homer takes a liking to the food and decides to try Fugu, which is poisonous if not cut properly. Homer’s fugu is not, and he is taken to the hospital where he is told he has 22 hours to live. Homer makes a list of things he wants to do, and spends his last day making amends with Grampa and talking to his children. Homer accepts his fate, but it turns out that he was not poisoned after all and vows to live life to its fullest.

In the first Simpsons flashback episode, Marge tells the story of how she and Homer met in high school in 1974. Marge and Homer meet for the first time during detention and he immediately tries to get Marge to be his date for the prom. She initially agrees, but ends up attending with Artie Ziff. In the end, Marge regrets going with Artie, and reveals that she has fallen in love with Homer.

Homer gets an illegal cable hook up. Despite their enjoyment of the new channels, Lisa becomes suspicious that they are stealing cable. Her suspicions are confirmed by Reverend Lovejoy and Lisa protests by no longer watching television. Meanwhile, Homer invites his friends over to watch a boxing match, but Lisa’s protest gets to him. He decides not to watch the fight and cuts the cable.

Selma begs Marge to help her find a husband and she enlists Homer’s help. Meanwhile, Bart gets in trouble at school and Homer is brought in to talk to Principal Skinner, who he decides would be perfect for Selma. Homer invites Skinner to dinner, but he falls in love with Patty instead of Selma. Patty and Skinner start dating, much to Selma’s unhappiness. Skinner proposes to Patty, but she rejects him because of her bond with Selma.

Grampa confesses that Homer has a half-brother, who immediately tries to track him down. Homer eventually discovers that his half brother is Herbert Powell, the head of a car manufacturer in Detroit. Herb immediately starts to bond with Bart and Lisa and he invites Homer to design his own car. Homer’s car design is a disaster, causing Herb to become bankrupt.

Homer becomes fed up with Santa’s Little Helper, who continually destroys things. He says he will get rid of him unless he goes to an obedience school. Bart, Lisa and Maggie have grown to love the dog and promise to train him. Santa’s Little Helper does poorly there, as Bart is unwilling to use a choke chain. The night before the final exam, Bart and Santa’s Little Helper play on Lisa’s suggestion, thinking it will be their last few hours together. This bonding breaks down the communication barrier, meaning Santa’s Little Helper can now understand Bart’s commands, thus passing obedience school much to the family (except Homer)’s happiness. Meanwhile, Lisa has the mumps.

Grampa falls in love with a woman named Beatrice Simmons. On Bea’s birthday, Grampa tries to celebrate it, but he is dragged away by Homer. Bea dies that night and Grampa blames Homer for causing him to miss her last moments. After the funeral, Grampa receives $106,000. Bea’s ghost appears and she tells him to forgive Homer and spend his money on a worthy cause.

After discovering some old paintings she did of Ringo Starr, Marge decides to take an art class at Springfield Community College. There, she becomes the top student and wins the college art show. Meanwhile, Mr. Burns needs a painting for the Burns Wing of the Springfield Art Museum, and asks Marge to paint him. At first, she has trouble painting such an evil man, but then decides to paint him naked and frail. Everyone, even Burns, praises Marge’s painting.

When Ms. Hoover falls ill with a suspected case of Lyme disease, she is replaced by substitute teacher Mr. Bergstrom. Because of his unorthodox teaching methods, Lisa quickly takes a liking to him. Just as Lisa is about to ask Mr. Bergstrom over to her parents house for dinner, Ms. Hoover returns. Meanwhile, Bart runs for class president against Martin Prince, but loses due to the fact that nobody in the class voted, with the exception of Martin and one of his supporters.

After Homer gets drunk at a party, Marge decides to sign them up for a marriage counseling retreat. Homer finds out that the retreat will be held at Catfish Lake and packs his fishing equipment, despite Marge telling him that all they will be doing is resolving their differences. At the lake the next morning, Homer tries to sneak away to go fishing, but Marge catches him and he takes a walk instead. On the dock, Homer finds an abandoned fishing pole. The pole, with the legendary Catfish named General Sherman on the line, yanks him off the pier into a small rowboat, and onto the lake. Homer catches his fish and when he sees Marge upset, immediately lets it go to prove his love for her.

Bart, Milhouse and Martin Prince pool their money together to buy the first Radioactive Man comic from Comic Book Guy. They discover that they are unable to share the comic and due to their mistrust of each other, end up destroying it.

After Mr. Burns falls ill and desperately needs a blood transfusion, Homer discovers Bart has Burns’s rare blood type. Homer urges his son to donate some, promising that they will be handsomely rewarded. However having received the blood, all Burns does is send the family a card. Enraged, Homer writes an insulting reply, but Marge convinces him at the last minute not to send it, but Bart unknowingly mails it anyway. Mr. Burns becomes furious and demands that Homer be beaten. Smithers calls off the beating, however, on the grounds that this action is no way to thank the man who saved Mr. Burns’s life. He convinces Burns to instead buy the family a present.