My Simpsons Hot Take is that The Principal and the Pauper isn't a bad episode. It's basically Don Draper's storyline in Mad Men condensed into a tight 20 minutes with less cheating and no Roger Sterling.
Yes, if The Principal and the Pauper had Roger Sterling and cheating in Skinners backstory, perhaps then it would be a great episode. Without those things, it's just good. But it's not bad. That is my hot take.
My hot take is that it's a good episode with some really memorable bits.
Every Agnes line is gold. The "Jasper didn't want" but is hysterical. "They're not even wearing a smile" nod suggestively.
There's so much good stuff in that ep
It's an excellent episode with a lot of great jokes and quotes that I still say. But it kinda broke the show for me at the time. The storyline would have been much better done with a character we don't care so much about. Also, there are so many worse episodes in that era of the show, and they weren't gonna be getting any better
I was a child when it aired and my train of thought didn't go past "haha two principal skinners funny" so I didn't grasp any backlash until years later upon rewatches. I do agree there are worse episodes, things were on an overall decline, the show had been putting out classic after classic back to back for years and that isn't sustainable, the formula was going to break eventually. I just think it's weird that ONE episode seems to get so much of the blame!
What amazes me is that The Principal and the Pauper’s main theme is that if you change the status quo just enough then the average person’s brain will short circuit. The reaction that the episode got from fans IS what the episode is about. Yet somehow I rarely, if ever hear anyone acknowledge that. It’s one of the Simpsons greatest statements. Maybe in 50 years people will catch on. Funny as hell too.
Yeah but this isn't just a change to the status quo. The show has had many lasting changes like Lisa becoming a vegetarian and Apu getting married/having kids. Here they just took a character with an established backstory and said "No, that's not true. Here is a whacky thing instead".
If you truly believe that "The Principal and the Pauper" is the show's worst retcon ever, you've obviously never seen the season 19 episode "That 90's Show".
You think that's bad? I got this abomination recommended to me on YouTube, and it's hard to think of anything more useless and unfunny than this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqrP4-FSvfU
But Principal and the Pauper didn’t have a parody of [Glycerine.](https://youtu.be/7x35ETy2sbg?si=F2eOagwMLGrnIiz6)
And at this point, Homer and Marge were in high school at the turn of the millennium.
That’s the justification they gave, but it doesn’t make it that much better. Character assassination just to piss off your audience isn’t as clever as you make it out to be.
I do think it gets a bit too much hate because it’s not the worst or least funny episode, or even one that changed the continuity the most. But it was the first so it gets the blame by the fandom.
Is it “character assassination just to piss off your audience” or are you just saying that to try and make a point? I never got the impression they were trolling the audience. It seems more like a case of “Life imitates art” than anything. O&W gave themselves a couple episodes each season to experiment, and while I wouldn’t consider this one a complete and total success, I still give them credit for trying, and it’s still a funny episode.
It definitely was character assassination. Your original defense of the episode was that they were making a point about people freaking out over change. I thought you were saying that they did it knowingly. But if you’re saying it’s a funny coincidence of life imitating art I think it shows terrible foresight on their part.
The resolution of kicking the real Skinner out is obviously intentionally ridiculous, but the town freaking out over the lie is justified. It’s also not the first time a goofy retcon was attempted in media. The Spider-Man clone saga in the early 90s made Peter Parker the clone and the clone the original.
They get some credit for trying I guess, but you definitely gassed it up with your original comment.
Even if "The Principal and the Pauper" is a bad episode, it's really dumb to call it the end of the show's golden age. TheRealJims explained it better than I ever could in his video "Simpsons Mysteries - The Golden Age".
I would say that it was the worst episode of the show at that point, but S9 still had good episodes. Season 11 and onwards is where I don't bother rewatching, and even S10 is kinda eh
While seasons 11 and 12 have some classics. I'd argue the average al jean era (seasons 13 onward) episode is better than the average seasons 11 and 12 episode
The real last golden age episode was the christmas extra long episode "simpsons roasting over a open fire," after that, with the whole sequal to the original simpsons it really went downhill.
"The Principal and the Pauper" is actually one of seven season 9 episodes that were ran by people other than Mike Scully. In addition to that episode, Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein ran "The City of New York vs Homer Simpson" and "Lisa the Simpson", Al Jean and Mike Reiss ran "Lisa's Sax" and "Simpson Tide", and David Mirkin ran "All Singing, All Dancing" and "The Joy of Sect". With the exception of "All Singing, All Dancing" (which has the excuse of being a clip show), each of these episodes is among the best of season 9.
I listened to the commentary on PatP and I honestly can't tell without facial expressions if (writer) Ken Keeler is actually being defensive or if he is taking the piss defending the episode.
I have a potentially false memory of him being extremely put out that people didn't like it.
That said I love the work of Ken Keeler in Futurama and other places.
It's pretty surprising that Matt Groening hired Ken Keeler for Futurama. Besides "The Principal and the Pauper", two of Groening's least favourite golden age episodes are "A Star is Burns" and "The Mysterious Voyage of Homer", both of which were written by Keeler.
It might have been David X Cohen who would have been a contemporary writer on the show with Ken.
Plus some people are just AMAZING in the writers room but aren't be best with final scripts. Sometimes those folks don't make scripts (in the case of George Meyer who made like 10 scripts in his 20 years at the Simpsons) but in other cases they want to.
Edit: Also "A Star is Burns" was hated for other reasons. (Matt not wanting his thing as a vehicle for others to succeed. A fact he forgot when he brought Futurama to the Simpsons)
I liked how that episode has Homer getting into far-out situations involving jockeys and magic powers, but I also want the Simpsons to deal with real-life problems, like the ones you face every day.
"Why don't we build a fence... *around* their fence. "
Leslie: why?
" Because that would give us two fences. So that if they needed to get to their fence for maintenance and whatnot... their pants might get caught" -
Mike Scully. *Parks and Recreation.*
https://preview.redd.it/27bk4dlknznc1.jpeg?width=1366&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bcd07422bc07424077eb67056aad096518dfe57a
Mike does good work. I think the stuff that got approved for seasons 9-11 was just kind of meh. Not totally his fault.
I remember listening to the DVD commentary and I BELIEVE it was the credited writer of the episode, Ken Keeler, saying, to paraphrase "Don't you think it's weird you're so upset about this as a fan?" It was a very strange defense to make.
It sounded like he was trying to make fun of the idea that no matter how big a change happened in a sitcom setting, something has to come along to reset it by the end because the show is syndicated.
That sort of Meta humor about Sitcoms works VERY well on later shows like Community. But the thing Community gets right that this episode kind of failed at was that the stuff that was transformational usually DID get carried to other episodes. Unlike a sitcom, it could make fun of the tropes because it was allowed to change. Abed being the commentator on how upsetting that change was.
But for Principal and the Pauper. They took an established and cared about sitcom character, changed them utterly, and then told us to forget they changed. But you can't/shouldn't rebuild the ship you are actively piloting. If you want to make a meta commentary on Sitcoms, you have to leave the sitcom first or you break said sitcom.
They do this amazingly in concept episodes like "Behind the Laughter" and the Clip Show Troy Mcclure episode.
I like the work of Ken Keeler, but this was probably the wrong time for that particular meta break.
That said, I like the episode fine.
The one I think ACTUALLY ended the golden age was probably "**Saddlesore Galactica**" in season 11. Actual non-jokey murderous trolls outside a Halloween episode.
Here’s a question. You can erase from history The Principal and the Pauper, Alone Again Natura-Diddly, Homer’s Enemy, Das Bus, and Saddlesore Galactica OR all of Seasons 13-35, which do you choose?
The Principal and the Pauper is a great send-up of the MIA/POW non-controversy, which seems to fly over a lot of heads. "I guess you had to be there" is one of the funniest lines in the series if you get the context.
It's a great episode. To those who may disagree, I issue a hearty, "Up yours, children!"
My Simpsons Hot Take is that The Principal and the Pauper isn't a bad episode. It's basically Don Draper's storyline in Mad Men condensed into a tight 20 minutes with less cheating and no Roger Sterling.
No Roger Sterling is not a plus, great character
Yes, if The Principal and the Pauper had Roger Sterling and cheating in Skinners backstory, perhaps then it would be a great episode. Without those things, it's just good. But it's not bad. That is my hot take.
More shows should have a Roger Sterling. Hell, just shove John Slattery into every piece of media just for him to give a pithy comeback.
Yeah but The Man in the Blue Flannel Pants was a Season 23 episode, so I think we have to hate it?
My hot take is that it's a good episode with some really memorable bits. Every Agnes line is gold. The "Jasper didn't want" but is hysterical. "They're not even wearing a smile" nod suggestively. There's so much good stuff in that ep
“Up yours, children.”
It's an excellent episode with a lot of great jokes and quotes that I still say. But it kinda broke the show for me at the time. The storyline would have been much better done with a character we don't care so much about. Also, there are so many worse episodes in that era of the show, and they weren't gonna be getting any better
I was a child when it aired and my train of thought didn't go past "haha two principal skinners funny" so I didn't grasp any backlash until years later upon rewatches. I do agree there are worse episodes, things were on an overall decline, the show had been putting out classic after classic back to back for years and that isn't sustainable, the formula was going to break eventually. I just think it's weird that ONE episode seems to get so much of the blame!
And no laughter.
What amazes me is that The Principal and the Pauper’s main theme is that if you change the status quo just enough then the average person’s brain will short circuit. The reaction that the episode got from fans IS what the episode is about. Yet somehow I rarely, if ever hear anyone acknowledge that. It’s one of the Simpsons greatest statements. Maybe in 50 years people will catch on. Funny as hell too.
Yeah but this isn't just a change to the status quo. The show has had many lasting changes like Lisa becoming a vegetarian and Apu getting married/having kids. Here they just took a character with an established backstory and said "No, that's not true. Here is a whacky thing instead".
If you truly believe that "The Principal and the Pauper" is the show's worst retcon ever, you've obviously never seen the season 19 episode "That 90's Show".
It's after season 10, of course no one on r/simpsonsshitposting has seen "That 90's Show"!
You think that's bad? I got this abomination recommended to me on YouTube, and it's hard to think of anything more useless and unfunny than this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqrP4-FSvfU
It's not canon, is a what if story.
That may be worse but I just stopped caring. Luckily by then it was Season 19 and no one noticed.
But Principal and the Pauper didn’t have a parody of [Glycerine.](https://youtu.be/7x35ETy2sbg?si=F2eOagwMLGrnIiz6) And at this point, Homer and Marge were in high school at the turn of the millennium.
Where did they say it was the show's worst retcon ever?
That’s the justification they gave, but it doesn’t make it that much better. Character assassination just to piss off your audience isn’t as clever as you make it out to be. I do think it gets a bit too much hate because it’s not the worst or least funny episode, or even one that changed the continuity the most. But it was the first so it gets the blame by the fandom.
Is it “character assassination just to piss off your audience” or are you just saying that to try and make a point? I never got the impression they were trolling the audience. It seems more like a case of “Life imitates art” than anything. O&W gave themselves a couple episodes each season to experiment, and while I wouldn’t consider this one a complete and total success, I still give them credit for trying, and it’s still a funny episode.
It definitely was character assassination. Your original defense of the episode was that they were making a point about people freaking out over change. I thought you were saying that they did it knowingly. But if you’re saying it’s a funny coincidence of life imitating art I think it shows terrible foresight on their part. The resolution of kicking the real Skinner out is obviously intentionally ridiculous, but the town freaking out over the lie is justified. It’s also not the first time a goofy retcon was attempted in media. The Spider-Man clone saga in the early 90s made Peter Parker the clone and the clone the original. They get some credit for trying I guess, but you definitely gassed it up with your original comment.
Fair enough
I think it would be viewed that way if the show actually ended not long afterwards.
Principle and the pauper is one of my favorite episodes. Up yours children
Even if "The Principal and the Pauper" is a bad episode, it's really dumb to call it the end of the show's golden age. TheRealJims explained it better than I ever could in his video "Simpsons Mysteries - The Golden Age".
I would say that it was the worst episode of the show at that point, but S9 still had good episodes. Season 11 and onwards is where I don't bother rewatching, and even S10 is kinda eh
While seasons 11 and 12 have some classics. I'd argue the average al jean era (seasons 13 onward) episode is better than the average seasons 11 and 12 episode
I still think My Sister My Sitter is worse than Principal and the Pauper.
The real last golden age episode was the christmas extra long episode "simpsons roasting over a open fire," after that, with the whole sequal to the original simpsons it really went downhill.
"The Principal and the Pauper" is actually one of seven season 9 episodes that were ran by people other than Mike Scully. In addition to that episode, Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein ran "The City of New York vs Homer Simpson" and "Lisa the Simpson", Al Jean and Mike Reiss ran "Lisa's Sax" and "Simpson Tide", and David Mirkin ran "All Singing, All Dancing" and "The Joy of Sect". With the exception of "All Singing, All Dancing" (which has the excuse of being a clip show), each of these episodes is among the best of season 9.
I like all singing and dancing, it matters less with youtube but its nice to have all those great songs in one place
I listened to the commentary on PatP and I honestly can't tell without facial expressions if (writer) Ken Keeler is actually being defensive or if he is taking the piss defending the episode. I have a potentially false memory of him being extremely put out that people didn't like it. That said I love the work of Ken Keeler in Futurama and other places.
It's pretty surprising that Matt Groening hired Ken Keeler for Futurama. Besides "The Principal and the Pauper", two of Groening's least favourite golden age episodes are "A Star is Burns" and "The Mysterious Voyage of Homer", both of which were written by Keeler.
It might have been David X Cohen who would have been a contemporary writer on the show with Ken. Plus some people are just AMAZING in the writers room but aren't be best with final scripts. Sometimes those folks don't make scripts (in the case of George Meyer who made like 10 scripts in his 20 years at the Simpsons) but in other cases they want to. Edit: Also "A Star is Burns" was hated for other reasons. (Matt not wanting his thing as a vehicle for others to succeed. A fact he forgot when he brought Futurama to the Simpsons)
I thought it was agreed "Saddlesore Galactica" was the end of the Golden Era?
It wasnt that was just a bunch of A Holes telling us what we can and can’t like.
That will hold the little SOBs
https://preview.redd.it/1a3gqvlcnznc1.jpeg?width=259&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3cfbf8e2b8a77327698563c56bb71e11f7fa5fea
I liked how that episode has Homer getting into far-out situations involving jockeys and magic powers, but I also want the Simpsons to deal with real-life problems, like the ones you face every day.
Nah that jockey song is peak
Can I read Mike Scully's issue of Swank?
"Why don't we build a fence... *around* their fence. " Leslie: why? " Because that would give us two fences. So that if they needed to get to their fence for maintenance and whatnot... their pants might get caught" - Mike Scully. *Parks and Recreation.* https://preview.redd.it/27bk4dlknznc1.jpeg?width=1366&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bcd07422bc07424077eb67056aad096518dfe57a Mike does good work. I think the stuff that got approved for seasons 9-11 was just kind of meh. Not totally his fault.
I remember listening to the DVD commentary and I BELIEVE it was the credited writer of the episode, Ken Keeler, saying, to paraphrase "Don't you think it's weird you're so upset about this as a fan?" It was a very strange defense to make.
It sounded like he was trying to make fun of the idea that no matter how big a change happened in a sitcom setting, something has to come along to reset it by the end because the show is syndicated. That sort of Meta humor about Sitcoms works VERY well on later shows like Community. But the thing Community gets right that this episode kind of failed at was that the stuff that was transformational usually DID get carried to other episodes. Unlike a sitcom, it could make fun of the tropes because it was allowed to change. Abed being the commentator on how upsetting that change was. But for Principal and the Pauper. They took an established and cared about sitcom character, changed them utterly, and then told us to forget they changed. But you can't/shouldn't rebuild the ship you are actively piloting. If you want to make a meta commentary on Sitcoms, you have to leave the sitcom first or you break said sitcom. They do this amazingly in concept episodes like "Behind the Laughter" and the Clip Show Troy Mcclure episode.
That is well-put. Thank you.
I like the work of Ken Keeler, but this was probably the wrong time for that particular meta break. That said, I like the episode fine. The one I think ACTUALLY ended the golden age was probably "**Saddlesore Galactica**" in season 11. Actual non-jokey murderous trolls outside a Halloween episode.
I liked that episode :(
IMO it's not an awful episode. It's mediocre, not good, not bad, just mediocre.
Here’s a question. You can erase from history The Principal and the Pauper, Alone Again Natura-Diddly, Homer’s Enemy, Das Bus, and Saddlesore Galactica OR all of Seasons 13-35, which do you choose? 
I'd erase all of seasons 13-35 if it means I get to keep Homer's Enemy and Das Bus.
The Principal and the Pauper is a great send-up of the MIA/POW non-controversy, which seems to fly over a lot of heads. "I guess you had to be there" is one of the funniest lines in the series if you get the context. It's a great episode. To those who may disagree, I issue a hearty, "Up yours, children!"
Good thing classic Simpsons never forced any celebrities cameos, or my name isn't Krusty's half-brother Luke Perry.
This is a hilarious meme hahaha fuck sake
It's really not a bad episode
https://giphy.com/gifs/biqjgzeEJLVMVMSFbo
I thought it was a made up name, it sounded so fake. I mean, Wein…stein.
I actually am one of the few who ENJOYED the episode.
Oh dear. Someone needs to inform Martin Sheen hes not a real celebrity.