The Best Episodes Written By Matt Selman

Every TV Episode Written by Matt Selman Ranked from Best to Worst by Thousands of Voters

Matt Selman Ratings Summary

The best episode written by Matt Selman is "The Wait Out", rated 7.9/10 from 17 user votes. It was "directed by Andy Ackerman". "The Wait Out" aired on 5/9/1996 and is rated 0.1 point(s) higher than their second highest rated, "Trilogy of Error".

  • The Wait Out
    7.9/10 17 votes

    #1 - The Wait Out

    Season 7 Episode 23 - Aired 5/9/1996

    Jerry and Elaine see opportunities for themselves when George causes a couple to separate; Kramer can't remove his new jeans.

    Director: Andy Ackerman

    Writer: Matt Selman

  • Trilogy of Error
    7.8/10 22 votes

    #2 - Trilogy of Error

    Season 12 Episode 18 - Aired 4/29/2001

    Homer's rush to the hospital to reattach his thumb, Lisa's rush to school to win the science fair, and Bart's run-in with an illegal fireworks scheme are interconnected in a parody of Go and Run Lola Run.

    Director: Mike B. Anderson

    Writer: Matt Selman

  • Treehouse of Horror XXXIII
    7.7/10 7 votes

    #3 - Treehouse of Horror XXXIII

    Season 34 Episode 6 - Aired 10/30/2022

    In a book-themed trilogy, Marge's resentment takes monstrous form, Lisa tries to save the planet through murder and Homer learns he's not the man he thought he was.

    Director: Rob Oliver

    Writer: Matt Selman

  • The Great Phatsby (2)
    7.5/10 2 votes

    #4 - The Great Phatsby (2)

    Season 28 Episode 13 - Aired 1/15/2017

    Mr. Burns tries to relive his glory days and crosses paths with a mysterious music mogul. After being conned by him and reduced to bankruptcy, Mr. Burns seeks revenge on the Music Producer with the help of Homer, Bart, rapper Jazzy James and the mogul's ex-wife, Praline. Also, Lisa is courted by the richest kid in town, Smithers begins a perilous journey and Marge opens an obscure boutique store.

    Director: Timothy Bailey

    Writer: Matt Selman

  • Natural Born Kissers
    7.2/10 24 votes

    #5 - Natural Born Kissers

    Season 9 Episode 25 - Aired 5/17/1998

    Homer and Marge try to spice up their love life and are caught baring it all in public. Bart and Lisa discover an alternate ending to Casablanca.

    Director: Klay Hall

    Writer: Matt Selman

  • Behind the Laughter
    7.2/10 19 votes

    #6 - Behind the Laughter

    Season 11 Episode 22 - Aired 5/21/2000

    A "Behind the Music"-style look at the Simpsons, narrated by VH1's Jim Forbes, shows their rise to stardom--and the "private hell" that followed.

    Director: Mark Kirkland

    Writer: Matt Selman

  • Jaws Wired Shut
    6.9/10 20 votes

    #7 - Jaws Wired Shut

    Season 13 Episode 9 - Aired 1/27/2002

    A jaw injury from colliding with a new town statue turns Homer into a better listener while recuperating with his jaws wired shut, but once the wires come off, Homer does not go back to being loud and obnoxious and Marge becomes starved for thrills.

    Director: Nancy Kruse

    Writer: Matt Selman

  • Simpsons Bible Stories
    6.7/10 21 votes

    #8 - Simpsons Bible Stories

    Season 10 Episode 18 - Aired 4/4/1999

    When Reverend Lovejoy subjects the congregation to an extended Bible reading, the Simpsons fall asleep and have dreams based on Bible stories.

    Director: Nancy Kruse

    Writer: Matt Selman

  • They Saved Lisa's Brain
    6.6/10 21 votes

    #9 - They Saved Lisa's Brain

    Season 10 Episode 22 - Aired 5/9/1999

    Mayor Quimby flees Springfield, leaving the town chapter of Mensa in charge. As the group's new power goes to their heads, they take their utopian plans too far and the townspeople revolt.

    Director: Pete Michels

    Writer: Matt Selman

  • Covercraft
    6.6/10 22 votes

    #10 - Covercraft

    Season 26 Episode 8 - Aired 11/23/2014

    Homer has a mid-life crisis, takes up bass guitar and forms a cover band with some of the other dads in town. But the band's modest early success is soon overwhelmed by the breakout potential of their most unlikely star, Apu.

    Director: Steven Dean Moore

    Writer: Matt Selman

  • That 90's Show
    6.5/10 17 votes

    #11 - That 90's Show

    Season 19 Episode 11 - Aired 1/27/2008

    Flashbacks follow Marge and Homer back to their dating days, when she was a college student and he was working for his father to support her. Then Marge becomes smitten with a professor, so a sorrowful Homer turns to music--and invents grunge.

    Director: Mark Kirkland

    Writer: Matt Selman

  • The Haw-Hawed Couple
    6.4/10 16 votes

    #12 - The Haw-Hawed Couple

    Season 18 Episode 8 - Aired 12/10/2006

    When Bart ends up the only guest at Nelson's birthday party, the bully decides he's his best friend and goes about protecting Bart in a parody of "Goodfellas." Meanwhile, Homer reads Lisa to sleep and debates on whether to reveal the book's sad ending to her.

    Director: Chris Clements

    Writer: Matt Selman

  • Future-Drama
    6.3/10 15 votes

    #13 - Future-Drama

    Season 16 Episode 15 - Aired 4/17/2005

    Through Professor Frink's future machine, Bart and Lisa see their lives in the year 2013, where Bart steals Lisa's chances at going to an Ivy League school in order to impress a skater girl named Jenda while Homer (now separated from Marge and living in an underwater apartment) fights Krusty the Clown after Marge begins dating him.

    Director: Mike B. Anderson

    Writer: Matt Selman

  • Lisa the Tree Hugger
    6.2/10 17 votes

    #14 - Lisa the Tree Hugger

    Season 12 Episode 4 - Aired 11/19/2000

    Lisa falls for the teenaged leader of a militant environmentalist group and tries to impress him by living in Springfield's oldest tree in order to keep it from being cut down.

    Director: Steven Dean Moore

    Writer: Matt Selman

  • The Dad Who Knew Too Little
    6.2/10 19 votes

    #15 - The Dad Who Knew Too Little

    Season 14 Episode 8 - Aired 1/12/2003

    Homer hires a private detective to learn more about Lisa. But when Homer refuses to pay the detective's expenses, he frames Lisa for a crime she didn't commit, forcing her and Homer to go on the run.

    Director: Mark Kirkland

    Writer: Matt Selman

  • Girls Just Want to Have Sums
    6.2/10 15 votes

    #16 - Girls Just Want to Have Sums

    Season 17 Episode 19 - Aired 4/30/2006

    The family attends "Stab-A-Lot: The Itchy and Scratchy Musical." The musical's director is a graduate of Springfield Elementary and Principal Skinner puts his foot in mouth when he makes sexist comments about her education and that of women in general. He tries to make the situation better, but only buries himself deeper and deeper until he is fired and replaced by Women's Educational Expert Melanie Upfoot. The first thing she does is split the school into girls and the boys. Lisa dislikes the way girls are being taught math and she ventures over to the boy's side of the school in search of a challenge. Disguising herself as Jake Boyman she starts attending the boy's school but while she finds the math problems more interesting, it is being a boy that is a greater challenge.

    Director: Nancy Kruse

    Writer: Matt Selman

  • Oh Brother, Where Bart Thou?
    6.2/10 12 votes

    #17 - Oh Brother, Where Bart Thou?

    Season 21 Episode 8 - Aired 12/13/2009

    One snowy day in Springfield, Lisa informs Bart that she and Maggie share a bond that Bart will never understand because he doesn't have a brother, so Bart asks Homer for a baby brother. When Homer denies Bart's request, Bart makes his way to the Springfield Orphanage to find what he thinks he's missing.

    Director: Steven Dean Moore

    Writer: Matt Selman

  • Once Upon a Time in Springfield
    6.2/10 18 votes

    #18 - Once Upon a Time in Springfield

    Season 21 Episode 10 - Aired 1/10/2010

    Krusty grudgingly adds a pretty, singing cohost named Princess Penelope to his show in order to attract more female viewers. Girls love her, and ratings improve, but Bart and Milhouse want to get the show back to the way it was. The situation gets more complicated when Krusty and Penelope fall in love and decide to get married. Meanwhile, Homer, Lenny, and Carl consider working at a competing nuclear plant when Mr. Burns cuts off their daily doughnut service.

    Director: Steven Dean Moore

    Writer: Matt Selman

  • The Clown Stays in the Picture
    6.2/10 12 votes

    #19 - The Clown Stays in the Picture

    Season 30 Episode 14 - Aired 2/17/2019

    Krusty reveals the untold story of his past in his movie "The Sands of Space". While working as personal assistants on the movie, Bart and Lisa learn about the early years of their parents' relationship.

    Director: Timothy Bailey

    Writer: Matt Selman

  • Pranksta Rap
    6.1/10 15 votes

    #20 - Pranksta Rap

    Season 16 Episode 9 - Aired 2/13/2005

    Bart fakes his own kidnapping to get out of being punished for going to a rap concert, but the ruse goes too far when Milhouse's father is implicated as the kidnapper and Chief Wiggum sees this as an opportunity to make a name for himself as a competent police officer.

    Director: Mike B. Anderson

    Writer: Matt Selman

  • There Will Be Buds
    6.1/10 16 votes

    #21 - There Will Be Buds

    Season 28 Episode 6 - Aired 11/6/2016

    Homer gets roped into coaching the kids' lacrosse team with Milhouse's dad, Kirk, who is in desperate need of a friend. When Kirk gets too clingy, Homer vents about how much of a loser he is. Kirk overhears his rant and disappears, right when the team needs him most: the championship game.

    Director: Matthew Faughnan

    Writer: Matt Selman

  • Bart Gets a 'Z'
    6.0/10 20 votes

    #22 - Bart Gets a 'Z'

    Season 21 Episode 2 - Aired 10/4/2009

    The fourth grade students of Springfield Elementary School decide to spike Ms. Krabappel's coffee in order to teach her a lesson after she takes away their cell phones. She is fired by Principal Skinner, who hires a new teacher named Zachary Vaughn. Although Vaughn is a hip young teacher who impresses the students, Bart is plagued by guilt and tries to get Ms. Krabappel hired back.

    Director: Mark Kirkland

    Writer: Matt Selman

  • Sky Police
    6.0/10 13 votes

    #23 - Sky Police

    Season 26 Episode 16 - Aired 3/8/2015

    Chief Wiggum is mistakenly delivered a military jet pack, which he gleefully accepts and uses in order to fight crime. But when the jet pack crashes into the church, the congregation, led by Marge, must resort to gambling and counting cards in order to collect money to repair the church.

    Director: Rob Oliver

    Writer: Matt Selman

  • The Food Wife
    5.9/10 12 votes

    #24 - The Food Wife

    Season 23 Episode 5 - Aired 11/13/2011

    Marge, Bart and Lisa start their own food blog and land a reservation at a popular restaurant; when Marge sends Homer to a cooking lab, he finds himself in a situation with law enforcement.

    Director: Mike B. Anderson

    Writer: Matt Selman

  • All's Fair in Oven War
    5.8/10 16 votes

    #25 - All's Fair in Oven War

    Season 16 Episode 2 - Aired 11/14/2004

    Marge gets her kitchen remodeled and the dishes she makes inside it get rave reviews. The suggestion of Ned Flanders leads her to enter a cooking contest. However, Marge realizes the competition is harder than it seems. Meanwhile, Bart finds Homer's vintage Playdude magazines and decides to adopt the lifestyle he sees within the articles.

    Director: Mark Kirkland

    Writer: Matt Selman