Why is this still sometimes considered the worst Simpsons episode?

It's probably one of the worst jerkass Homer episodes ever. Like he's not even funny and it's noticable how miserable he's making everyone around him
Also kid rock sucks

Simpson's was never good
Sneed

I remember when Simpson Safari was considered just about as low as the series could get. Oh boy, what little we knew.

Is Simpson Safari even that bad considering?

Despite they did not kill the alligator, the state still bans them from the State, and do not apologize.

For me, the worst episode ever is Itchy and Scratchy movie.

Second one is the one with the crying worm.

Moe Goes From Rags to Riches

It's one of those episodes that was apparently a deliberate fuck you to Internet Simpsons fans.

Swartzwelder was a weird guy with a fetish for anything from the late 19th-early 20th century and he's refused to do any DVD commentaries. Also he was a lot older than most of the writers--he's closer to Harry Shearer's age. I do agree his episode scripts went downhill after Season 8 or so possibly because the Q/C standards for the writing weren't as good anymore or maybe he just didn't have anything left to say.

fuck you, this episode is a classic in Latin america

Josh Weinstein said that Swartzwelder's scripts were like "an expensive German car. You have to fine-tune and maintain it properly or it will have a disastrous breakdown in the middle of the highway."

Watch some DVD commentaries. Particularly in Season 9 onward, Swartzwelder did not come up with most of the ideas for his scripts. Someone else would do that and tell him "Write a script where the Simpsons go to Africa." Also since Season 7, he didn't come into the studio anymore and instead worked from home, apparently because everyone was offended by his chain-smoking. Once he submitted a script, that was it. He had no further involvement in anything. So for episodes like KTAAR, we have zero idea how much of the script was even his work.

They still went back to Florida several times.

Other than Hungry Hungry Homer, which is a good episode but not as great as some people make it out to be, I will argue Swartzwelder's Scully-era episodes were mostly abominable and worse on average than a random sampling of episodes from that era.

Maybe this will shed some light.

"Swartzwelder rarely visits the Fox lot and sends in tight, clean drafts that require relatively little rewriting. (Only half gets thrown out.)"

Also he's got a fairly surreal sense of humor to begin with. Which isn't bad thing at all, but combining it with a wacky showrunner who tends to adhere to the "jokes first, plot second" school of writing is bound to result in some fucked up shit.

Although it is hard to blame the credited writer for the crappiness of an episode, Monty Can't Buy Me Love is the first episode that has Swartzwelder's name on it that I would consider poor.

Though I'm not sure why John's scripts were turned out to be the most wackiest of the seasons in Scully era. Perhaps it was the other writers' decision not to keep the story coherent.

I got the impression (mostly from DVD commentaries) that a lot of his classic era scripts were also pretty unstructured plot-wise at first, but that they were revised in the writing room to be more coherent. Since keeping a coherent plot wasn't exactly Mike Scully's forte, there probably wasn't any effort to tighten up the plot. Not to mention that John wasn't part of the writing room at this point, so he didn't participate in any of the rewrites.

In short:

Swartzwelder wrote some brilliant episodes, but I think other staff members were responsible for harnessing and channeling his comedic strengths. When the standards started to slip during the Scully years, I think his various excesses were no longer being filtered out and his previously impeccable track record nosedived.

I think his worst episode is easily Kill the Alligator and Run, with Simpson Safari and Maximum Homerdrive not too far behind.

Yeah I agree. His Scully era episodes have a unique degree of horrible to them that isn't matched by other writers. They have a weird, empty dumbness as if there should be some vital element allowing the jokes to work, but it's missing. I would agree with Josh Weinstein's point about how Swartzwelder's scripts are like an expensive German car that falls apart and explodes if you don't maintain it right. I mean, it does boggle the mind slightly that the same guy who wrote Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish could have also written Tennis The Menace.

JS's Season 9-12 output isn't all terrible but some of them are truly repulsive episodes that are hard to sit through.

JS pros:

1. The guy was a master of social commentary. He tackled everything from the media to gun ownership to the arts to politics.
2. Ability to utilize Homer. At least during the classic era, his best episodes were centered around Homer and gave him some of his best lines of the series.
3. Good use of guest stars. Jacques, RHCP, baseball players, Hank Scorpio, Rex Banner, Frank Grimes, etc.
4. Sheer work ability. He wrote four flawless episodes in a row in Seasons 6 and 8. No other writers have matched that record.
5. Use of all types of humor. Subtle jokes, hilarious gags, posters in the background, absurd situations. All the styles, all the ways to make us laugh, are present.
6. Cultural references. The talent of John to include parodies to movies, series or songs in his episodes was fascinating.
7. Scripts based on Itchy & Scratchy. Itchy & Scratchy are a part of the show not so exploited, but Swartzwelder was in charge of giving identity and prominence.
8. Knowledge of the show. The essence of the show was (almost) always present in his contributions.

JS cons:

1. His scripts tended to be mainly gag-oriented and he didn't demonstrate much grasp of character-driven plots or emotional dialog.
2. His post-classic episodes went way down the drain.

Swartzwelder allegedly once said "Think of Homer as a talking dog. He has a short attention span. He's not very bright. He loves food. He loves mating. He loves his family and will defend them to the death."

>Someone else would do that and tell him "Write a script where the Simpsons go to Africa." Also since Season 7, he didn't come into the studio anymore and instead worked from home
The guy is famously reclusive and at one time Usenet Simpsons fans debated whether he was even a real person and not a pseudonym one or more writers used.

Also he's apparently pretty conservative politically, or at least libertarian and stood apart from some of the writers and their Harvard liberalism--Dave Mirkin recounted that he once made a comment to the effect of "Tree huggers are all a bunch of pussies. We have too much rainforest these days." Although John's politics don't really come out in his scripts, so whatever his beliefs are, he doesn't push them on the audience.

Overall he was the funniest writer in the Simpsons history, but not technically the best, since a few other writers could pull off better emotionally-driven episodes.

He's a mixed bag, plain and simple. Even his classics have noticeable potential problems that can get out of control and ruin an episode, which they have on many occasions. Mainly these problems are: a focus on the gimmick, wacky humor and plot hints, and dark humor. The dark humor can be good in small doses with satire, but with all the others, it contributes to ruin. Progressively since Season 5 these characteristics got out of control.

The guy wrote 59 episodes, more than any other individual writer. Maybe he just overdid it and his style of comedy got diluted/stale.

It's the worst one people actually watched

people were just sad because the thought the alligator died

Ok but since all the scripts were collaborative efforts, it's anyone's guess how much of all that was his hand anyway.

heh heh... car

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