As we look back on the 2000’s, I can’t pass up the chance to pick out the best episodes of the Simpsons for the decade.  I’ve decided to choose one from each year.

Behind the Laughter (May 21, 2000)
The Simpsons are featured in a parody of VH1’s Behind the Music.  They even used the same narrator as the real show.  The best part was when the revealed the Simpsons are from Kentucky!  Throughout the show they’ve never really said what state our favorite yellow family lives.  However, in re-runs of the episode they always change the state.

Worst Episode Ever (Feb. 4, 2001)
You know it has to be great with a name like that.  Comic book guy has a big role in this episode and the one scene that still makes me laugh is when Comic Book Guy hooks up with Seymour Skinner’s mom (who looks like she’s about 80 years old).   The music Comic Book Guy puts on so he can get it on with Agnes is Bread’s Baby I’m A Want You.

How I Spent My Strummer Vacation (Nov. 10, 2002)
I’m not always a big fan of famous guest appearances on the show, but this one is classic.  Homer goes to fantasy band camp and gets to mingle with rock n’ roll royality including Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Tom Petty, Elvis Costello, Joe Strummer, Lenny Kravitz and Brian Setzer.  Perhaps the funniest scene is Tom Petty’s giant car that’s in the shape of a devil’s head.

Today I Am a Clown (Dec. 7, 2003)
This one stars Krusty who finally decides he should have a Bar Mitzvah.  Jackie Mason is back as Krusty’s disappointed rabbi father who had a hard time understanding why his son got into showbiz.  Krusty decides to put the ceremony on television and spruce it up a bit.  It includes a cameo by Mr. T.  Krusty is happy that the show is a rating success.   Probably the best line is when Krusty refers to how well the show did.  He says:  It’s “Everybody Loves Raymond re-run good”.

The Way We Weren’t (May 9, 2004)
This is another episode where Marge and Homer talk about their past.  They discover that they had a brief fling when they were both 10-years-old and at overnight camp.  Marge didn’t know it was Homer because he pretended to be someone else.  The name he makes up?  Elvis Jagger Abdul-Jabbar.

Milhouse of Sand and Fog (September 25, 2005)
Bart is trying to help Milhouse get his parents back together, but in the process almost breaks up his own folks.  The best part of the episode is a reference to the television show The O.C.   The cast of the show is going to Knott’s Berry Farm with a giant snoopy.  For some reason Snoopy holds them up at gun point and makes all the characters take money out of an ATM.  Priceless.

Girls Just Want to Have Sums (April 30,2006)
Springfield Elementary decides to divide the school by gender.  Of course, Lisa wants to learn math with the boys.   The opening scene is what really made me laugh.  The Simpsons go to see the musicial “Stab a Lot: The Itchy and Scratchy Musicial”.  It’s a great paraody of the Lion King and includes Marge trying to avoid being noticed by the actors who are walking through the crowd.  She says something along the lines of “Looking through my purse so I don’t get noticed”.  Of course, she’s picked to participate.

24 Minutes (May 20, 2007)
This one is a fantastic paraody of the Fox show 24.  One of the best lines comes from Apu who can’t stand the smell of some really bad old yogurt Homer tries to return to the Kwik-E-Mart.  Apu says, “”If a homeless man and a dead fish had a baby, and the baby puked, and a dog ate the puke,” the yogurt would smell like “the rear end of that dog.”

Treehouse of Horror XIX (Nov. 2, 2008)
Treehouse episodes always have three short stories and I really liked the first and last of the three stories.  The first one is a great paraody on Transformers.  The second one takes a shot at the AMC show Mad Men and the third is a great paraody of “It’s The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown”.  Milhouse plays the Charlie Brown roll and things get rather twisted.

The Devil Wears Nada (Nov. 15, 2009)
I rented  The Devil Wears Prada a few days before watching this episode which may have made it even more funny to me.  Homer becomes an assistant to Carl who has become a manager for the power plant.  The best scene is Marge and Ned eating strawberries together and almost kissing.