You wanna talk bad, well how about "Principal Tamzaria."
What a terrible premise and execution of an episode. Completely retcon an otherwise classic character (Principal Skinner) by making him a fake while showing a complete nobody (the Real Skinner) and make him believe he's the one we should root for. Only to throw him away at the last minute.
I simply do no get how this got through and what the producers were thinking, I'm glad I never see this on reruns and it's still regarded as one of the worst.
Love that episode.
"And I further decree that everything will be just as it was... before all this happened! And nobody will ever mention it again, under punishment of TORTURE!" *Yeahhh!*
EDIT: Extra jokes as I'm watching the episode right now!
"Superintendant Chalmers, would you like a cup of coffee-flavored Beverine?" "Uh, yes, I'll take it grey, with creamium."
"Miss Hoover, which one is 'one'?"
"My theory is... Skinner likes dog food." "Ooh! A fresh batch of America balls!!"
"Principal Skinner is an old man who lives at the school!"
"Keep looking shocked... and move slowly towards the cake..."
"You can have some lima beans as soon as you've cleaned your room! GO! (Upstairs... third door on the left...)"
"I'm calling this assembly to announce my retirement... effective as of the end of this sentence... this sentence I'm speaking... right now. Period." "OH!!!" *shocked whispers*
"Armin Tamzarian's reign of terror is over! Now let's welcome our new Principal Skinner... Principal Seymour Skinner! Uh, him."
"It's your life; I've just kept it warm for you."
"Up yours, children!"
"And now to recap our top story in its entirety!"
"I must say, in many ways, Springfield beats the old slave labor camp."
"His name doesn't matter: a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." "Not if you called them stench-blossoms." "Or crap-weeds." "I'm not sure I'd like to get a bunch of crap-weeds for Valentine's Day. I'd much rather candy." "Not if you called them scum-drops."
"Hey America, you're so fine. You're so fine, you blow my mind. America." *fart noise* *laughs*
"Okay, once more, where are we going?" "To Capital City." "And why are you and the lady in the car?" "We're going to talk Armin Tamzarian into coming back." "Well why is Marge here?" "I came up with the idea." "And why am I here?" "Because the streets of Capital City are no place for three unescorted ladies." "And why are the kids here?" "Because we couldn't find Grampa to sit for him." "Well why is Grampa here?" "Because Jasper didn't want to come by himself!" "Huh. Fair enough."
"Hello, beautiful!" "In your dreams!" "We'll see about that!" *snores immediately* "... hello beautiful..."
"Well from now on, you're going to see a new Seymour Skinner...!" "Oh no, we won't!" "Yes, mother."
I feel like some people just hate when Simpsons goes meta. I mean, meta can be done crappy (many subsequent Simpsons episodes), but
Principal and the Pauper and
Homer's Enemy are generally hilarious episodes from start to finish. Honestly, I feel like the internet propagated the hive mentality that Principal and the Pauper "jumped the shark," when at the heart it's just classic Simpsons with classic humour and a meta premise.
Jumping the shark definitely began with
Saddlesore Galactica halfway through Season 11. Ian Maxtone-Graham's name flashing on the screen, the stupid anthropomorphic horse, the murderous jockey trolls, Lisa writing a letter to President Clinton about a band competition? The fuck... The jokes are the meta-references (very Family Guy) rather than the premise just so happening to be meta.
As per wikipedia:
The episode is heavily self-referential and contains a number of meta-references.[9][10][11] When the Simpsons take Duncan home from the fair, Comic Book Guy points out to the Simpsons that they have already taken in a horse as a pet (as seen in "Lisa's Pony"), and that "the expense forced Homer to work at the Kwik-E-Mart, with hilarious consequences."[9][12] In another scene later in the episode, when Lisa points out to Marge that Marge is showing signs of gambling problems, Comic Book Guy shows up again wearing a T-shirt that says "Worst Episode Ever" and tells Lisa: "Hey, I'm watching you!" This refers to the fact that Marge's gambling problems have already been explored in the episode "$pringfield".[3][9][10]
Jonathan Gray analyzed the self-referentiality in The Simpsons in his 2006 book Watching with The Simpsons: Television, Parody, and Intertextuality, writing that "Sitcoms constantly 'reset' themselves, living in [...] an 'existential circle' in which nothing really changes, and every episode starts more or less where the last one started; and The Simpsons frequently plays with this sitcom clock, and with the amnesia of sitcom memory. The family members often forget important events in their 'history' [...]".[9] Gray noted that in "Saddlesore Galactica", "the action continues as normal, as sitcom memory (or lack thereof) is pointed out but comically not acted upon. Thus, where David Grote [author of The End of Comedy: The Sit-Com and the Comedic Tradition] (1983: 67) notes that sitcom episodes 'live in a kind of time-warp without any reference to the other episodes,' producing a situation whereby everything 'remains inviolate and undisturbed, no matter what transitory events may occur' (1983: 59), The Simpsons comically reflects upon this."[9]
