The Simpsons: All 22 Short Films About Springfield, Ranked

While most episodes of The Simpsons tell a traditional half-hour story, the writers have also come up with a handful of anthology-style episodes. Most of these anthology episodes, like “Trilogy of Error” or the “Treehouse of Horror” specials, tell three stories. But season 7’s “22 Short Films About Springfield” tells a whopping, well, 22 stories.

The episode’s title is a nod to the movie Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould. There are technically only 21 shorts unless the couch gag counts, so it’s listed here as well.

22 A Bee Flies Around Town

After Lisa’s hair attracts some bees, the audience follows the perspective of one bee as it encounters various townspeople before leading into Smithers’ hilarious segment. The following Smithers-centric short is one of the best, but the bee isn’t a particularly interesting character.

21 Bumblebee Man’s Wife Leaves Him

In Bumblebee Man’s short, he has a bad day at work, his house collapses, and his wife leaves him. While it was interesting to get a glimpse into his personal life, Bumblebee Man is a one-note character even by The Simpsons’ standards.

20 Couch Gag

In the episode’s couch gag, the Simpsons appear as Sea-Monkeys, sit on a clam-shell couch, and watch a treasure-chest TV. It’s a memorable twist on the familiar image, but doesn’t really provide a laugh. Still better than the bee, though.

19 Milhouse Goes To Android’s Dungeon

Desperate for the bathroom, Milhouse comes into Comic Book Guy’s store, gets pressured into a purchase, and then leaves before he can actually use the bathroom. Comic Book Guy’s uncaring attitude is fun, but Milhouse’s next segment is even funnier.

18 Lisa Gets Gum Stuck In Her Hair

After Bart unwittingly throws gum into Lisa’s hair, Marge struggles to get it out with unconventional remedies like peanut butter and mayonnaise. This is a fun setup, but the gum-in-hair treatments get even more outlandish in a later segment.

17 Prologue

In the episode’s prologue, Bart and Milhouse spit on cars from a highway overpass and wonder if the people in the cars are doing anything interesting. This scene masterfully sets up the thesis of the episode: everybody has a story to tell.

16 Cletus Gives Brandine A Pair Of Shoes He Found

After finding a pair of shoes hanging from a telephone line, Cletus gets them down and offers them to Brandine as a gift. This was one of the early episodes that solidified Cletus as a fan-favorite ancillary character.

15 McDonald’s Vs. Krusty Burger

Chief Wiggum, Eddie, and Lou are the focus of the first of several nods to Pulp Fiction when they eat in Krusty Burger.

Instead of comparing European McDonald’s and American McDonald’s like John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson’s characters, they compare McDonald’s itself to Krusty Burger, a meta-reference to the fact that there are no McDonald’s restaurants in Springfield.

14 Lisa Gets A New Hairstyle

Lisa rotates through a montage of different hairstyles – including Princess Leia-style buns – as the barber tries to cut the gum out of her hair. There are some funny alternatives, but the hairstyle she ends up with is really nice. Unfortunately, the air is immediately taken out of Lisa’s tires by a classic “Hah-hah!” from Nelson.

13 Epilogue

In the epilogue, Bart and Milhouse continue to spit and squirt condiments onto passing cars and conclude that there are some interesting people in Springfield after all. This scene beautifully wraps up the thesis of the episode: everybody has a story to tell, and audiences only ever get to hear a handful of them.

12 Dr. Nick Saves His Career

Dr. Nick Riviera almost loses his medical license – as he probably should – when the hospital board questions his unorthodox methods. However, he redeems himself and salvages his career when he uses an electrical socket to save Grampa’s life.

11 The Townspeople Try To Get The Gum Out Of Lisa’s Hair

After Marge’s peanut butter and mayo fail to get the gum out of Lisa’s hair, a bunch of townspeople weigh in. Unfortunately, their ideas just make the situation worse.

10 Reverend Lovejoy Encourages His Dog To Poop On Flanders’ Lawn

While Reverend Lovejoy is walking his Old English Sheepdog down Evergreen Terrace, he encourages his pet to poop on Ned Flanders’ lawn. The show has gotten plenty of comedic mileage out of Lovejoy secretly hating Springfield’s most devout Christian.

9 Snake & Chief Wiggum Get Trapped In A Pawn Shop

In another nod to Pulp Fiction, Snake runs over Chief Wiggum and a chase leads them to Herman’s pawn shop, where they’re captured at gunpoint. The shot of Wiggum rolling onto Snake’s windshield is a spot-on recreation of the shot from Tarantino’s movie.

8 Professor Frink Gets Cut For Time

The final post-epilogue segment brilliantly pays off Bart’s final line: “There’s just not enough time to hear them all.” Professor Frink rushes in and frantically tries to tell his story, but realizes he’s too late. He’s prepared his own title card and theme music, but the episode just fades to black.

7 Apu Takes Five Minutes Off

In one of the earliest segments, Apu takes a five-minute break from his work at the Kwik-E-Mart to attend a party at Sanjay’s house. There, he tries to squeeze a whole day’s worth of fun into a couple of minutes (and succeeds pretty admirably).

6 Milhouse Gets Medieval On Herman

In another Pulp Fiction reference, Milhouse goes into the pawnshop where Snake and Wiggum are tied up to use the bathroom. Kirk awkwardly ignores Snake and Wiggum’s obvious cries for help to avoid a confrontation until Milhouse unwittingly saves the day with a medieval weapon. This could be a reference to Marsellus Wallace’s “I’m gonna get medieval on your ass” line from the movie.

5 Steamed Hams

Easily the most iconic segment in this episode is Principal Skinner hosting Superintendent Chalmers for lunch, purely for the “steamed hams” gag. While the “steamed hams” line has obviously generated a very popular meme, the overall scene uses ridiculous lies like that (and the localized aurora borealis) to demonstrate the absurd lengths that Skinner will go to in order to impress his boss.

4 Maggie Gets Stuck In A Newspaper Box

While juggling Maggie, Santa’s Little Helper, and his groceries, Homer accidentally traps Maggie in a newspaper box. He solves the problem in the most Homer way possible: uprooting the entire box and putting it in Maggie’s crib.

3 Snake Robs Moe’s Tavern

After Barney pays off $2,000 of his $14 billion tab at Moe’s Tavern, Snake comes in to rob the place. Moe instantly encases himself behind a few inches of bulletproof glass, unwittingly giving Snake easy access to the cash register.

There’s a bitter irony in Moe getting robbed on the one day he has some substantial cash in the register. The segment’s punchline is Moe’s hilariously futile attempts to stop the robbery by flicking the lights on and off.

2 Smithers Suffers A Lethal Bee Sting

While Mr. Burns and Smithers are riding a tandem bike through the park (with Smithers doing all the work while Burns puts his feet up), Smithers sustains a deadly allergic reaction from a bee sting. He begs Mr. Burns to ride him to the hospital, but Burns insists on Smithers fighting through the reaction and doing it himself. When he finally reaches the hospital against all odds, the orderlies take in Burns and leave Smithers to die.

1 Nelson Is Humbled By A Tall Man

When Nelson laughs at a very tall man driving a very small car, he finally gets some comeuppance. The man pulls down Nelson’s pants and forces him to march through the streets while everybody laughs at him. The only thing funnier than Nelson getting a taste of his own medicine is the monotonous voice that Hank Azaria brings to the tall man: “Do you find something comical about my appearance when I am driving my automobile?”

About The Author

Ben Sherlock
(3465 Articles Published)

Ben Sherlock is a writer, comedian, independent filmmaker, and Burt Reynolds enthusiast. He writes lists for Screen Rant and features and reviews for Game Rant. He’s currently in pre-production on his first feature (and has been for a while, because filmmaking is expensive). You can catch him performing standup at odd pubs around the UK that will give him stage time. Previously, he wrote for Taste of Cinema, Comic Book Resources, and BabbleTop.

More From Ben Sherlock