The Simpsons: Season 11 (1999)

Some may quibble about The Simpsons' excellence from season to season but it is excellence just the same. Perhaps only Family Guy packs more humor and irreverence into a half-hour than the Simpsons can. Season 11 includes Episode 1: Beyond Blunderdome (Homer consults with Mel Gibson for the production of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington but it doesn't work out), 2: Brother's Little Helper (Bart is put on an experimental drug to control his destructive behavior but he grows paranoid and even more destructive--though for good reason: The MLB is spying on us), 3: Guess Who's Coming to Criticize Dinner (Homer's love of food gets him hired as a food critic, however, after being told negative reviews are more believable, his newfound power puts his life in danger), 4: Treehouse of Horror X (Aliens Kang and Kodos introduce I Know What You Did-Iddly-Did [The Simpsons accidentally murder Ned Flanders], Desperately Xeeking Xena [Bart and Lisa become Stretch Dude and Clobber Girl and save Lucy Lawless as Xena from Comic Book Guy as The Collector], and Life's A Glitch, Then You Die [Homer's incompetence causes a global Y2K disaster and humanity must evacuate Earth], 5: E-I-E-I-(ANNOYED GRUNT) (Homer flees a duel with a southern colonel to farm-cultivate an addictive tomato-tobacco hybrid), 6: Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder (A washed-up husband and father, Homer earns a fling at fame by bowling a perfect game), 7: Eight Misbehavin' (Apu and Manjula have octuplets; overwhelmed, they sign a zoo contract that proves exploitive; Homer performs in their place with Butch Patrick and several cobras), 8: Take My Wife, Sleaze (Homer wins a motorcycle and forms a biker gang, which angers a real gang by the same name, which kidnaps Marge, who reforms the toughs before Homer rescues her), 9: Grift of the Magi (A toy company takes over management of the grade school and uses the students as test subjects for a pernicious new Christmas toy that must be destroyed), 10: Little Big Mom (Marge is hospitalized after a family ski trip and Bart and Homer prove too much for Lisa, who convinces them they have leprosy so they will clean up their act), 11: Faith Off (Bart comes to believe he has healing powers after a tent revival meeting and it's all downhill from there), 12: The Mansion Family (Mr. Burns goes for treatment at the Mayo Clinic while the Simpsons house-sit his mansion and sail his yacht into a nest of pirates), 13: Saddlesore Galactica (The family adopts an abused horse, give it a bad-boy image, and win races; the other jockeys kidnap and threaten Homer but the family prevails), 14: Alone Again, Natura-Diddly (Maude Flanders dies in a freak speedway accident involving the t-shirt bazooka crew; Ned grieves, goes on a few dates, and nearly gives up on God but is inspired by a Christian singer [voice of Shawn Colvin]), 15: Missionary: Impossible (Homer makes a fake $10,000 pledge so PBS will revive the British comedy Do Shut Up; promptly pursued for payment (or bodily harm), Homer is sent by Rev. Lovejoy to a tropical island as a missionary -- and it's all downhill from there), 16: Pygmoelian (After winning Bartender of the Year, Moe faces up to his ugly mug and undergoes plastic surgery, becomes a soap-opera star, but his plans go awry so he returns to bartending), 17: Bart to the Future (A Native American gives Bart a glimpse of his future in 30 years, when he is a slacker while Lisa is President of the United States), 18: Days of Wine and D'oh'ses (Barney the town drunk attends AA and sobers up, then flies a helicopter with Homer to rescue Bart and Lisa in the midst of a forest fire), 19: Kill the Alligator and Run (The family goes on a Florida vacation but flees the law after running over a famous giant alligator), 20: Last Tap Dance in Springfield (Lisa tries to learn tap-dancing -- with disastrous results -- while Bart and Milhouse go camping in the mall -- with disastrous results), 21: It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Marge (Otto the bus driver calls off his wedding with Becky [voice of Parker Posey], who moves in with the Simpsons and nearly replaces the insanely -- and justifiably -- jealous Marge), 22: Behind the Laughter (In a VH1-style behind-the-scenes biography of the Simpsons' careers, Willie Nelson reunites the family after they have gone their separate ways). 5 stars.