I have to say, we've all read those reviews that claim seasons 3-8 are the best of the series and then there is a huge drop in quality. Now I have to say that after watching Season 9, dont believe the reviews and watch them for yourselves. I now have seasons 3-9 and I think 9 is one of the strongest seasons yet. There are two outlandish episodes that are different than the past seasons, but I found every episode still has a couple laugh out loud moments, and some very classic episodes, but there still are many endearing and strong stories as well. It's a very good mix that has episodes for all types of fans.

From what I remember, I stopped watching the simpsons regularly after Season 12, because I started working on Sunday nights, but I remember them being just as strong as the other shows. This was an emmy award winning season too.

Some of the best: Not to mention the last season of Lional Hutz and Troy McClure as PHil Hartman was murdered that year.

The Little Wiggy- Bart Befriends Ralph
Lisa the Simpson- Lisa gets dumber due to the Simpson Gene
The Cartridge Family- Homer gets a gun
Dumbell Indemnity- Moe gets a girlfriend
Treehouse of Horror- Very funny ones, the Fly spoof and the apocolypse world
Trash of the Titans- The emmy award winning show, very funny stuff.

Im not going on and on, but this is a very strong season of the Simpsons and there is maybe one weak episode, and its not because it isnt funny, its because its just very outlandish, and Matt Groening actually notes how much he hated the episode. Bring on Season 10 for me.

What is that episode Groening hated?

Was it Principal and the Pauper? (Principal Skinner = Armin Tamzarian).

Yes, it was.

This Little Wiggy is a genuinely hilarious episode. One of the funniest episodes ever, not just in Season 9. Lisa the Simpson was also really funny. I am working my way through the DVDs right now and have not yet watched Trash of the Titans.

Was it Season 10 or 11 when they killed off Maude Flanders?

11.

Yes, that episode really sucks.

I just pretend it never happened and go from there.

There are much much worse episodes than that one.

I liked it.

The episode from the first ten seasons that I didn't care for was the episode with Krusty and his father. I never ever liked that episode, and it's the only episode I remember from the first ten seasons that I genuinely hated.