7.2/101,893 votes#1 - Sex, Pies and Idiot Scrapes
Season 20 Episode 1 - Aired 9/28/2008
Bounty hunter Ned is forced to scrap his partnership with Homer when the hapless layabout skips bail, and Marge mistakenly takes a job at an erotic bakery.
Director: Lance Kramer
Writer: Kevin Curran
6.8/101,701 votes#2 - Lost Verizon
Season 20 Episode 2 - Aired 10/5/2008
Bart lands himself in trouble when he steals a mobile phone from Denis Leary and subsequently uses it to land the actor a comical film role. The troublemaker then leads his family to the ancient ruins of Machu Picchu after Marge confiscates the device and decides to use its GPS technology to track her son.
Director: Raymond S. Persi
Writer: John Frink
6.8/101,652 votes#3 - Double, Double, Boy in Trouble
Season 20 Episode 3 - Aired 10/19/2008
An irreverent take on the Prince and the Pauper. Bart enthusiastically trades lives with a wealthy lookalike after landing himself in trouble for triggering a rampage of vacuum cleaners, but finds the lavish lifestyle too much when he becomes the target of all his new friends' pranks.
Director: Michael Polcino
Writer: Bill Odenkirk
7.1/101,978 votes#4 - Treehouse of Horror XIX
Season 20 Episode 4 - Aired 11/2/2008
Springfield is the setting for parodies of Charlie Brown, It's the Great Pumpkin and Michael Bay's Transformers as Homer's vote on election day is misread by a renegade machine.
Director: Bob Anderson
Writer: Matt Warburton
6.5/101,574 votes#5 - Dangerous Curves
Season 20 Episode 5 - Aired 11/9/2008
Homer and Marge remember the ups and downs of their marriage through a series of flashbacks, including the time they each began flirting with guests at a glamorous party - a situation that led to a food fight and an unexpected swim in the pool.
Director: Matthew Faughnan
Writer: Billy Kimball, Ian Maxtone-Graham
7.1/101,595 votes#6 - Homer and Lisa Exchange Cross Words
Season 20 Episode 6 - Aired 11/16/2008
Lisa learns she is good at crossword puzzles and enters a city-wide contest. Homer discovers he has a flair for letting loved ones down so he opens Sweet Conclusions Break-Up Service, but lands himself in trouble with his daughter when he places a bet against her in the competition.
Director: Nancy Kruse
Writer: Tim Long
7.1/101,741 votes#7 - Mypods and Boomsticks
Season 20 Episode 7 - Aired 11/30/2008
Lisa struggles to become the proud owner of a Mypod, and Homer believes Bart's new Middle-Eastern friend Bashir is involved in a terrorist plot to destroy the Springfield Mall.
Director: Steven Dean Moore
Writer: Marc Wilmore
6.5/101,568 votes#8 - The Burns and the Bees
Season 20 Episode 8 - Aired 12/7/2008
Mr Burns wins a professional basketball team in a poker game at the annual billionaire's retreat. He decides to build a state-of-the-art facility in an attempt to lure fans, but the stadium site is on the last remaining bee colony in Springfield - prompting Lisa to lead a protest.
Director: Mark Kirkland
Writer: Stephanie Gillis
6.0/101,711 votes#9 - Lisa the Drama Queen
Season 20 Episode 9 - Aired 1/25/2009
Lisa lets her imagination run wild when she makes a new friend and they create a magical kingdom together called Equalia, complete with characters and plotlines. But they find themselves facing a nightmare when the boundaries between reality and fantasy are blurred. With the voice of Emily Blunt.
Director: Matthew Nastuk
Writer: Brian Kelley
6.9/101,504 votes#10 - Take My Life, Please
Season 20 Episode 10 - Aired 2/15/2009
Homer is jealous when old classmate Vance Connor is inducted into the Springfield Walk of Fame. Lenny and Carl confess they fixed the result in favor of Principal Dondelinger - leading the hapless father to speculate on how his life would have changed had he won the ballot.
Director: Steven Dean Moore
Writer: Don Payne
7.0/101,535 votes#11 - How the Test Was Won
Season 20 Episode 11 - Aired 3/1/2009
Bart gets a perfect score on a practice test for a national achievement test, which not only rattles Lisa, but it means Bart gets to attend a special party instead of having to take the actual test. Meanwhile, Homer must avoid injuring himself for an entire afternoon after failing to pay his insurance.
Director: Lance Kramer
Writer: Michael Price
6.8/101,495 votes#12 - No Loan Again, Naturally
Season 20 Episode 12 - Aired 3/8/2009
When the adjustable rate on the Simpson couple's mortgage resets at more than the pair can afford, they must sell their house. Good Samaritan Ned Flanders buys the house and rents it out to them at an affordable rate. But Homer pushes his luck too far when he takes advantage of Ned's generous landlord duties.
Director: Mark Kirkland, Lance Kramer
Writer: Jeff Westbrook, Michael Price
7.2/101,686 votes#13 - Gone Maggie Gone
Season 20 Episode 13 - Aired 3/15/2009
Lisa infiltrates a convent in order to steal back Maggie who was accidentally taken in by nuns. While in the convent, Lisa uncovers a series of cryptic clues leading to a hidden jewel in Springfield. With help from resident history buffs Principal Skinner and Comic Book Guy, Lisa sets off to find the coveted prize. But Springfield's Freemasons are also hot on the trail of the jewel, and Lisa must race against them to find the jewel and rescue Maggie.
Director: Chris Clements
Writer: Billy Kimball, Ian Maxtone-Graham
6.4/101,523 votes#14 - In the Name of the Grandfather
Season 20 Episode 14 - Aired 3/22/2009
The Simpsons travel to Ireland so that Grampa can have a final drink at O'Flanagan's Pub - an old watering hole of his. But when the small town of Dunkilderry isn't quite what Grampa remembers it as, and O'Flanagans has become a rundown and empty pub, he and Homer decide to buy it and fix it up.
Director: Ralph Sosa
Writer: Matt Marshall
6.5/101,467 votes#15 - Wedding for Disaster
Season 20 Episode 15 - Aired 3/29/2009
After Marge and Homer's marriage turns out to be invalid, they decide to re-do their vows. But when Homer goes missing, Bart and Lisa smell something funny and investigate his disappearance.
Director: Chuck Sheetz
Writer: Joel H. Cohen
7.2/101,582 votes#16 - Eeny Teeny Maya Moe
Season 20 Episode 16 - Aired 4/5/2009
Moe once again searches for love and falls for a woman named Maya over the Internet. However, when Moe meets Maya face-to-face, he discovers it's more like face-to-knee, as Maya is only three feet tall.
Director: Nancy Kruse
Writer: John Frink
7.2/101,605 votes#17 - The Good, the Sad and the Drugly
Season 20 Episode 17 - Aired 4/19/2009
Bart falls in love with a charitable girl named Jenny, prompting Bart to behave in order to date her. Meanwhile, Lisa becomes depressed when she writes a report on Springfield's future.
Director: Rob Oliver
Writer: Marc Wilmore
6.9/101,482 votes#18 - Father Knows Worst
Season 20 Episode 18 - Aired 4/26/2009
Bart and Lisa start struggling in their academic and social lives at school and Homer starts monitoring them and forcing them to do better. Meanwhile, Marge discovers a sauna in the basement.
Director: Matthew Nastuk
Writer: Rob LaZebnik
7.1/101,610 votes#19 - Waverly Hills 9-0-2-1-D'oh
Season 20 Episode 19 - Aired 5/3/2009
When Marge learns Springfield Elementary is the worst school in the state, she and Homer rent an apartment in the upscale Waverly Hills school district so Bart and Lisa can attend a better school. Meanwhile, Homer moves into the rented Waverly Hills apartment and gets used to the bachelor lifestyle.
Director: Michael Polcino
Writer: J. Stewart Burns
6.5/101,475 votes#20 - Four Great Women and a Manicure
Season 20 Episode 20 - Aired 5/10/2009
Marge and Lisa visit the nail salon where they engage in a spirited debate as to whether a woman can be smart, powerful and beautiful all at the same time and spin four tales of famous women featuring famous Springfield faces: Selma as Queen Elizabeth I, Lisa as Snow White, Marge as Lady Macbeth and Maggie as Howard Roark, the idealistic architect protagonist from Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead.
Director: Raymond S. Persi
Writer: Valentina Garza
7.2/101,632 votes#21 - Coming to Homerica
Season 20 Episode 21 - Aired 5/17/2009
When nearby Ogdenville’s economy crumbles due to tainted barley discovered in Krusty’s veggie burgers, the unemployed workers of Ogdenville flock to Springfield. After Mayor Quimby closes Springfield’s borders and enlists private citizens to help patrol them, Homer organizes a border patrol group.
Director: Steven Dean Moore
Writer: Brendan Hay
The Best Episodes of The Simpsons Season 20
Every episode of The Simpsons Season 20 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of The Simpsons Season 20!
Set in Springfield, the average American town, the show focuses on the antics and everyday adventures of the Simpson family; Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and...
Genres:FamilyAnimationComedy
Network:FOX
Season 20 Ratings Summary
"Sex, Pies and Idiot Scrapes" is the best rated episode of "The Simpsons" season 20. It scored 7.2/10 based on 1893 votes. Directed by Lance Kramer and written by Kevin Curran, it aired on 9/28/2008. This episode is rated 0.4 points higher than the second-best, "Lost Verizon".