The Simpsons at 500: your favourites

Ay caramba! Because Four aired the 500th episode of The Simpsons last night - titled At Long Last Leave, with cameos from Julian Assange and Alison Krauss - as part of the show's Season 23*, I thought we could celebrate the momentous occasion with a Simpsons-centric questionnaire.

With so many episodes to choose from, there should be a huge variety of answers. So post your answers in the comments section to the following questions:

1. Year You Started Watching
2. Favourite Simpson Character
3. Favourite Non-Simpson Character
4. Favourite Occasional Character
5. Favourite Episode
6. Favourite Season
7. Favourite Scene
8. Favourite Quote

Easy! I'd love you to take a few moments and submit your answers. We might even be able to figure out a few overall favourites, the most popular characters and episodes among the readers of this blog. Oh, in case you're wondering, here are my answers:

1. Year You Started Watching: 1992

2. Favourite Simpson Family Character: How could anyone look past Homer - just look at the list of commendations he's received! Plus, he's the featured Simpson family member in my favourite episode, he coined my favourite quote, and I'd guess he was involved in 90 per cent of my favourite scenes from the show. I love Homer as if he were a member of my own family. I wish he were my dad. (Real Dad: If you're reading this, I'm just kidding.) (Readers: [whispering] Noooo, I'm noottt.)

3. Favourite Non-Simpson Character: Is there a character on television that is more sympathetic than Moe Szyslak? The poor guy is always down on his luck, especially in the arena of love (though part of that is his own creepy fault), but I'll always remember him as Kid Gorgeous ... then Kid Presentable, Kid Gruesome and Kid Moe.

4. Favourite Occasional Character: Wa-hey, its Professor Frink, the only scientist I know who has his own theme song: "Professor Frink, Professor Frink / He'll make you laugh, he'll make you think / He likes to run, and then the thing with the ... person ..."

5. Favourite Episode: Deep Space Homer - as I explained at length in a January 2011 post.

6. Favourite Season: Season 8 (1996-1997) - you can't beat episodes like You Only Move Twice, Bart After Dark, El Viaje Misterioso de Nuesto Jomer, The Springfield Files, Homer vs The Eighteenth Amendment, and many more.

7. Favourite Scene: Homer buys a roast pig for a barbecue he's hosting (the infamous "you don't win friends with salad" barbecue) in Season 7's Lisa the Vegetarian. Lisa steals the pig roaster, driving it away behind a ride-on lawnmower and sending it rolling down a hill, with the pig eventually getting stuck in a dam and being shot through the air after a build-up in pressure. The sequence leads to two hilarious exchanges: 1) Homer: "It's just a little airborne. It's still good! It's still good!" Bart: "It's gone." Homer: "[dejectedly] I know." and 2) Mr Burns: "Smithers, I think I'll donate a million dollars to the local orphanage ... when pigs fly!" Smithers: "[watching the roasted pig fly past the window] Will you be donating that million dollars now, sir?" Mr Burns: "Hmm. No, I'd still prefer not."

8. Favourite Quote: "Weaselling out of things is important to learn. It's what separates us from the animals ... except the weasel." Homer Simpson utters this gem in Season 5's Boy Scoutz 'n The Hood, and not only is it a brilliantly stupid piece of advice, but it's also the perfect example of a Homer-ism.

Okay, over to you. Share your answers to the above categories in the comments below!

(*) I think Season 23 is a return to form for The Simpsons, the best season of the show in a decade, with plenty of standout episodes like The Man in the Blue Flannel Pants (Homer becomes an account executive in a send-up of Mad Men) and Politically Inept with Homer Simpson (Homer becomes a talking head on a Fox News-like news channel). And even though "best season in a decade" isn't a massive compliment, it's still nice that The Simpsons can remain one of the most entertaining shows on TV after 500 episodes in 23 years.

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