Worst Episode Ever

The Simpsons episode
"Worst Episode Ever"
Episode no.	259
Prod. code	CABF08
Orig. airdate	February 4, 2001
Show runner(s)	Mike Scully
Written by	Larry Doyle
Directed by	Matthew Nastuk
Couch gag	The couch is replaced by a valet parking spot. The Squeaky-Voiced Teen pushes a couch in place for the Simpsons to sit down. He then holds his hand out for a tip and leaves angrily when he does not receive one.
Guest star(s)	Tom Savini as himself
DVD; commentary	; Mike Scully; Al Jean; Tom Gammill & Max Pross; Matt Selman; Hank Azaria; Larry Doyle; Chris Kirkpatrick
Season 12
	November 1, 2000 – May 20, 2001
	"Treehouse of Horror XI"; "A Tale of Two Springfields"; "Insane Clown Poppy"; "Lisa the Tree Hugger"; "Homer vs. Dignity"; "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes"; "The Great Money Caper"; "Skinner's Sense of Snow"; "HOMR"; "Pokey Mom"; "Worst Episode Ever"; "Tennis the Menace"; "Day of the Jackanapes"; "New Kids on the Blecch"; "Hungry, Hungry Homer"; "Bye Bye Nerdie"; "Simpson Safari"; "Trilogy of Error"; "I'm Goin' to Praiseland"; "Children of a Lesser Clod"; "Simpsons Tall Tales";
	List of all The Simpsons episodes
Seasons
	1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10 · 11 · 12; 13 · 14 · 15 · 16 · 17 · 18 · 19 · 20 · 21

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"Worst Episode Ever" is the eleventh episode of The Simpsons' twelfth season, airing on February 4, 2001.

[edit] Plot

Bart and Milhouse (joining the elite ranks of Sideshow Bob, Nelson Muntz, and Matt Groening) are banned for life from Comic Book Guy's store, The Android's Dungeon, when they talk Martin Prince's mom out of selling Martin's rare Star Wars items to Comic Book Guy, including the original hand-written script with an alternate ending, for a mere five dollars. When Comic Book Guy suffers from a heart attack when witnessing Tom Savini's work, CBG gives Bart and Milhouse the duty of running his store since he does not really have any friends who can help him. The store becomes wildly successful under the management of the two boys, only to lose much of its newfound prosperity after Milhouse goes overboard in ordering a shipment of comics depicting "Biclops", a superhero with thick glasses (who resembles Milhouse), which flops spectacularly.

After a brief argument and scuffle between the two boys, they unintentionally discover that Comic Book Guy owns a secret stash of pirated video clips, and Bart and Milhouse charge admission for viewing such clips as a secret government plan to use Springfield as a testing zone for allied countries' nuclear missiles and Ned Flanders's complaint to the police that Homer released a radioactive ape into his house (apparently not Homer's fault since the ape "tricked him").

The scheme works well until Chief Wiggum conducts a police raid on the store. Despite this, they manage to come away with the profits of their time managing the store.

Meanwhile Homer helps a recovering Comic Book Guy look for a friend, but attempts fail until he meets Agnes Skinner. CBG and Agnes become romantically involved. However, when Chief Wiggum comes to charge Comic Book Guy for his pirated videotapes, Agnes says she is too old to wait until he gets out of jail.

Bart and Milhouse, freed from the responsibilities of running the Android's Dungeon, decide that they had a fun time together and that they have missed a lot of school. Milhouse comments that 'everything is back to normal': however, it seems that Ned still remains firmly under the clawed thumb of the radioactive ape.

[edit] Cultural references

The episode title is a line occasionally used by Comic Book Guy (and has been adopted by Internet Simpsons fans as a catchphrase), but the "episode" in question refers to the Comic Book Guy's heart attack.
Milhouse is wearing My Little Pony underwear when he and Bart are washing their clothes.
The publisher for Biclops (a parody of Cyclops of the X-Men) is from Plan 9 Comics, a reference to Plan 9 Publishing, which itself is a reference to the movie Plan 9 From Outer Space.
Bart says that LensCrafters created the Biclops character. LensCrafters is a national chain that makes eyeglasses and contact lenses.
At the end of act two, Bart and Milhouse are portrayed in a comic book art style.
When Comic Book Guy tells Agnes Skinner that he know knows what happened to Baby Jane is a reference to Bette Davis' character Jane Hudson in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
Milhouse is banned for life in a The Simpsons comic book as well. Milhouse's offense in the comic book is that he accuses Comic Book Guy of price gouging.^{[citation needed]}
When Comic Book Guy is showing Bart and Milhouse a copy of Radioactive Man #1000, he pours his drink on it to demonstrate how it bounces off onto "lesser comics." The comic the drink bounces off onto is titled Bongo and shows a rabbit on the cover, which is a reference to Matt Groening's comic strip Life in Hell.
While eating the baking soda, the lines in Homer's flashback are:
- "If it doesn't fit, you must acquit," a line used by Johnnie Cochran in the O.J. Simpson murder case
- "Therefore, I shall resign the presidency," said by Richard Nixon in his television resignation
- "It's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind," Neil Armstrong's description of the moon landing.

When Milhouse is approached by Lisa in the store, his dream is similar to a crime fiction film noir scene. Then, his "Hachee-machee!" imitates Jay Sherman from The Critic.
The door to the secret room filled with video tapes is hidden behind a poster of She-Hulk, which may be a reference to the film, The Shawshank Redemption where a prisoner has a secret escape tunnel behind a pin-up poster.
Simpsons and Futurama creator Matt Groening can be seen on the Comic Book Guy's "Banned for life" wall.