New Shit. Screwballs: What are they? The Simpsons?

Right, I'm going to start something new today. We all like TV. That is an absolute given, but sometimes there's an episode of a certain show that just beats out all of the rest, and goes up there in your memory as something special. Well, what I propose to do is, every once in a while, present such an episode to you, my beloved reader, in the hopes that it will help you remember the episode, or better yet, introduce it to you. These episodes will become what will be henceforth known as Screwballs. They are the best of the best. They are the ultimate. They looked in the face of the media and shouted, "Screw You!" What better place to start than with America's most beloved family (until they began to suck), The Simpsons.

You know who the Simpsons are. Let's not get into that. What we will get into is one particular episode. This one is an absolute classic, and it is called "Homer's Phobia". It is the fifteenth episode of the eighth season, and it is simply fabulous. It came out way back in 1997 when The Simpsons could do absolutely no wrong. Like most episodes of The Simpsons it begins in such a way that you could have basically no idea where the entire episode is going to go. To pay off their gas bill, the family go to an odd collectibles shop to sell Marge's Grandmother's rare and valuable figurine (which turns out to be a worthless liqueur bottle). This is where they meet John, who is voiced by creepy filmmaker John Waters, and the episode has truly begun.

"Zzzzzap!"

You see, it turns out that John is actually a homosexual man, and this bothers Homer. He feels betrayed that John did not reveal himself to be gay instantly. This episode explores many interesting themes about homosexuality, but it's never preachy, and is always funny. The jokes come thick and fast, and there isn't a dud among them. The instant Homer begins to suspect that Bart is gay just ramps it up another notch entirely.  The sequence at the steel mill will forever go down as one of the funniest moments in Simpsons history. Not only was it hilarious, but it introduced us to this song:



Now, this is an episode that focuses on Homer and Bart, and for this reason it is very strong. Their relationship is probably the most interesting within their family. It's definitely the funniest. John Waters is excellent as John, and his character is also quite strong too. The introduction to Moe and Barney works perfectly, and their hunting sequence is funny as hell. This was also the episode where they practically told us that Smithers was gay, implying that he had some sort of relationship with John.

Best quote:

'I like my beer cold, my TV loud, and my homosexuals fa-laaaming.' - Homer

Runner up:

 'Homer, I won your respect, and all I had to do was save your life. Now, if every gay man could just do the same, you'd be set.' - John

With its strong character work, and absolutely hilarious jokes, "Homer's Phobia" goes down as an absolute classic of a Simpsons episode, and is most definitely a Screwball.