Go to the NEW FORUM
Welcome to The Simpsons poll nomination thread.
YOUR FAVOURITE EPISODES NEED YOU!
This is NOT the actual poll voting thread, but a thread to nominate which episodes will compete in the final poll.
Initially, I'm saying that the actual poll will be the top 50 nominated episodes. But if more than 50 are nominated, a load of which end up with just one nomination, I'll expand the actual poll to include all nominated episodes (obviously, if fewer than 50 are nominated, then the actual poll will involve fewer than 50 episodes).
The only rule as far as nominations are concerned is that each person can NOMINATE A MAXIMUM OF 40 EPISODES.
I've posted a link to the Wikipedia List of Episodes page below, and I'll post the season-by-season links shortly. I would prefer it if you nominated episodes by name, but if you really want to include an episode yet can't find its name, just briefly describe it and I'll include it in the nominations if I can tell which one you're talking about.
I won't post links to online episodes streaming sites. If you really want to stream episodes of The Simpsons online, I suggest you do so at www.wtso.net, but do so at your own peril (pop-ups are rumoured to carry trojans).
If you'd rather just have the actual poll without the nomination round, just say so and with enough consensus I'll forget this thread and post a new one for the actual poll in a couple of days.
Otherwise happy nominating, and nominating will close on Monday 6th September at 12.00pm GMT.
List of The Simpsons Episodes
Cool. I'll probably post back on the deadline day so that I can watch as many episodes as I can - just watched the one with the Babysitter Bandit Ms Botz, the one where Lisa gets jealous of a girl who's prettier than her, smarter, and better at the saxophone (though it has this ridiculous side story involving Homer finding a truck full of sugar) and one from season 20, where Bart finds a cellphone and takes the family to Nepal.
Yeah the babysitter one's a classic, I'll definitely nominate that one. Also Season 20 was probably the best one for a few years.
Season 20 is the best one since season 8, probably.
I might as well do this now. All my nominations are from seasons 2-8 except for one.
No order. I will order them if you ask me to. Asterisk on my very favorite ever, if that distinction counts in the poll.
Season 2:
Simpson and Delilah
Two Cars In Every Garage and Three Eyes On Every Fish
Bart Gets Hit By A Car
Oh Brother, Where Art Thou
One Fish, Two Fish, Blue Fish, Blowfish
Season 3:
Mr Lisa Goes To Washington*
Bart The Murderer
Flaming Moes
Season 4:
Kamp Krusty
A Streetcar Named Marge
Homer the Heretic
Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie
Season 5:
Rosebud
The Boy Who Knew Too Much
Bart Gets Famous
Season 6:
Homer the Great
Homer Badman*
Season 7:
Home Sweet Home-Diddly-Dum-Doodly*
Radioactive Man
Season 8:
You Only Move Twice*
Homer Vs The Eighteenth Amendment
Homer's Enemy
Season ?:
The episode where the school is divided into boys and girls and Lisa pretends to be a boy because girls are so coddled in math class she's not learning anything.
Great list, BillAdama! A couple from your Season 2 nominations might be in my top ten for the actual poll. Th actual poll will involve ordering episodes, so if you vote in it and the ones you asterisked get through, you can put them as your top four. No need to order nominations though. Apparently the later episode you've described is "Girls Just Want to Have Sums".
03/21 “Black Widower“
05/03 “Homer Goes To College“
05/16 “Homer Loves Flanders“
06/09 “Homer Badman“
06/11 “Fear Of Flying“
07/02 “Radioactive Man“
08/02 “You Only Move Twice“
08/09 “El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Homer“
09/05 “The Cartridge Family“
09/18 “This Little Wiggy“
10/13 “Viva Ned Flanders“
12/07 “The Great Money Caper“
12/09 “HOMR“
14/14 “Mr. Spritz Goes To Washington“
15/17 “My Big Fat Geek Wedding“
16/15 “Future-Drama“
16/21 “The Father, The Son, And The Holy Guest Star“
21/11 “Million Dollar Maybe“
It's amazing how many of these were written by John Swartzwelder; the man's a genius:
Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire [1/01]
The Call of the Simpsons [1/07]
The Crepes of Wrath [1/11]
Krusty Gets Busted [1/12]
Some Enchanted Evening [1/13]
Treehouse of Horror [2/03]
Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish [2/04]
Bart the Daredevil [2/08]
The Way We Was [2/12]
Homer vs Lisa and the 8th Commandment [2/13]
Lisa's Substitute [2/19]
Radio Bart [3/13]
Homer Alone [3/15]
Homer at the Bat [3/17]
Separate Vocations [3/18]
Mr. Plow [4/09]
Marge vs. The Monorail [4/12]
I Love Lisa [4/15]
Last Exit to Springfield [4/17]
Homer's Barbershop Quartet [5/01]
Boy-Scoutz 'n the Hood [5/08]
Deep Space Homer [5/15]
Itchy & Scratchy Land [6/04]
Treehouse of Horror V [6/04]
Bart's Comet [6/14]
Who Shot Mr. Burns (Part 1) [6/25]
Scenes from the Class Struggle in Springfield [7/14]
A Fish Called Selma [7/19]
Bart on the Road [7/20]
22 Short Films about Springfield [7/21]
Summer of 4 Ft. 2 [7/25]
Treehouse of Horror VII [8/01]
Mountain of Madness [8/12]
Homer's Enemy [8/23]
The cartridge Family [9/05]
Miracle on Evergreen Terrace [9/10]
The Joy of Sect [9/13]
Behind the Laughter [11/22]
Skinner's Sense of Snow [12/08]
Trilogy of Error [12/18]
I'm not gonna vote for very many (not enough time to watch them), but i'm just gonna mop up those which i think deserve a vote:
Season 3: Lisa's pony
colonel Homer
Brother ,can you spare two dimes?
Season 4:
Lisa's first word
Season 5: Cape Feare
$pringfield (or how i learned to stop worrying and love legalized gambling)
Season 6: Lisa's Rival
Homer The Great
Lisa's Wedding
Sideshow Bob Roberts
Who Killed Mr. Burns?
Season 7: Home sweet homediddly-dum-doodily (or something like that)
Team Homer
Homerpalooza
Season 8:
Bart After Dark
Treehouse of Horror VII
Homer's Phobia
Brother From Another Series
Lisa's Date With Density
Seson 9:
Lisa The Simpson
Good choices, Zorg. That's kind of what I did, plus a couple of my absolute favourites. It looks like it's going to be more like 100 from 50 to choose from in the final poll.
Here are the results of the nominations. All nominated episodes will be going through to compete in the poll itself. If I've counted right there are 91 nominees:
Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish [2/04] - 2 Nominations
Homer Badman [6/09] - 2 Nominations
Homer the Great [6/12] - 2 Nominations
Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part 1) [6/25] - 2 Nominations
Radioactive Man [7/02] - 2 Nominations
Home Sweet Homediddly-Dum-Doodly [7/03] - 2 Nominations
Treehouse of Horror VII [8/01] - 2 Nominations
You Only Move Twice [8/02] - 2 Nominations
Homer's Enemy [8/23] - 2 Nominations
The Cartridge Family [9/05] - 2 Nominations
Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire [1/01]
The Call of the Simpsons [1/07]
The Crêpes of Wrath [1/11]
Krusty Gets Busted [1/12]
Some Enchanted Evening [1/13]
Simpson and Delilah [2/02]
Treehouse of Horror [2/03]
Bart the Daredevil [2/08]
Bart Gets Hit by a Car [2/10]
One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish [2/11]
The Way We Was [2/12]
Homer vs. Lisa and the 8th Commandment [2/13]
Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? [2/15]
Lisa's Substitute [2/19]
Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington [3/02]
Bart the Murderer [3/04]
Lisa's Pony [3/08]
Flaming Moe's [3/10]
Radio Bart [3/13]
Homer Alone [3/15]
Homer at the Bat [3/17]
Separate Vocations [3/18]
Colonel Homer [3/20]
Black Widower [3/21]
Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes? [3/24]
Kamp Krusty [4/01]
A Streetcar Named Marge [4/02]
Homer the Heretic [4/03]
Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie [4/06]
Mr. Plow [4/09]
Lisa's First Word [4/10]
Marge vs. The Monorail [4/12]
I Love Lisa [4/15]
Last Exit to Springfield [4/17]
Homer's Barbershop Quartet [5/01]
Cape Feare [5/02]
Homer Goes to College [5/03]
Rosebud [5/04]
Boy-Scoutz 'n the Hood [5/08]
$pringfield (Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Legalized Gambling) [5/10]
Bart Gets Famous [5/12]
Deep Space Homer [5/15]
Homer Loves Flanders [5/16]
The Boy Who Knew Too Much [5/20]
Lisa's Rival [6/02]
Itchy & Scratchy Land [6/04]
Sideshow Bob Roberts [6/05]
Treehouse of Horror V [6/06]
Fear of Flying [6/11]
Bart's Comet [6/14]
Lisa's Wedding [6/19]
Team Homer [7/12]
Scenes from the Class Struggle in Springfield [7/14]
A Fish Called Selma [7/19]
Bart on the Road [7/20]
22 Short Films about Springfield [7/21]
Homerpalooza [7/24]
Summer of 4 Ft. 2 [7/25]
Bart After Dark [8/05]
Lisa's Date with Density [8/07]
El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Homer (The Mysterious Voyage of Homer) [8/09]
Mountain of Madness [8/12]
Homer's Phobia [8/15]
Brother from Another Series [8/16]
Homer vs the Eighteenth Amendment [8/18]
Miracle on Evergreen Terrace [9/10]
The Joy of Sect [9/13]
Lisa the Simpson [9/17]
This Little Wiggy [9/18]
Viva Ned Flanders [10/13]
Behind the Laughter [11/22]
The Great Money Caper [12/07]
Skinner's Sense of Snow [12/08]
HOMR [12/09]
Trilogy of Error [12/18]
Mr. Spritz Goes to Washington [14/14]
My Big Fat Geek Wedding [15/17]
Future-Drama [16/15]
The Father, the Son, and the Holy Guest Star [16/21]
Girls Just Want to Have Sums [17/19]
Million Dollar Maybe [21/11]
About the poll itself, these are the rules I have provisionally drawn up, but I'm definitely open to suggestions:
1) Vote for a minimum of five episodes of the 91
2) A points system, whereby you can spread 100 points between 5 to 91 episodes, with a single episode garnering a maximum of 20 points
3) This one I'm not sure about: Some kind of bonus points (maybe 50 points) for the episodes which received two nominations at this stage
I'm planning to start the poll on the next couple of days (possibly tomorrow), with it finishing around 22nd September. I know this isn't very long for drawing up a list, but freshers week starts for me soon after that. If people really want more time, or think an extension might allow for more interest in the poll, I'll consider extending it to some time in October/November.
Are we sure nobody's else's going to vote? Having that big a field kind of defeats the purpose of having a nomination round. If we only had 10-20 episodes to pick from we might get people to go through and watch the ones they haven't seen. With 91, people might not even go to the trouble to associate all the episode names with episodes.
Maybe we can either campaign for other people to vote, or have those of us who voted cast second ballots until we've got a reasonable field of episodes that've been nominated twice?
Good ideas BillAdama. If it's not against any unwritten code of AMF, I'll post a link to this thread in the music section of the forum so that maybe more people will be aware of it, or inclined to vote.
I also think we could re-format the nomination rules, so that real favourites get more credit. I notice that, if we used the 2 nomination rule now, one of your top episodes and two of mine would not make it. So perhaps 5 nominees per person could be given double points and this round could be done on points as well or something.
I'll add it to the Ongoing polls list as well.
Thanks Stephan
I would love to participate in this poll! Sorry I didn't respond earlier...I only ever visit the music section of the Acclaimed Music forum...didn't expect to find big a topic about favourite Simpsons episodes out here :P
What are the new rules?
How many episodes can I submit? Do I rank them? Can I choose from all episodes, or is it limited to the 91 episodes listed above?
Let me know, and I'll send you my picks as soon as possible! :)
Well, if you're still taking nominations, here are my 40:
Season 2
The Way We Was
Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?
Season 3
Stark Raving Dad
Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes?
Season 4
Kamp Krusty
Saturdays of Thunder
Homer the Heretic
Lisa's First Word
I Love Lisa
Last Exit to Springfield
Season 5
Homer's Barbershop Quartet
Homer and Apu
Bart Gets an Elephant
Season 6
Treehouse of Horror V
Lisa's Wedding
Two Dozen and One Greyhounds
Lemon of Troy
Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part 1)
Season 7
Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part 2)
Home Sweet Homediddly-Dum-Doodily
Treehouse of Horror VI
King Size Homer
The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular
Two Bad Neighbors
Season 8
You Only Move Twice
Hurricane Neddy
The Springfield Files
Mountain of Madness
Simpsoncalifragilisticexpialadocious
Homer's Phobia
Homer vs. the Eighteenth Amendment
Homer's Enemy
The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase
Season 9
The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson
This Little Wiggy
Season 10
The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace
Bart the Mother
30 Minutes Over Tokyo
Season 11
Behind the Laughter
Season 12
Trilogy of Error
Great to have you involved Daniel! Of course you're nomination will count, and I think sticking to the old rule(s) as you have done is probably the best way to go about it for now.
With your votes it looks like we now have 27 double-nominated episodes, which is probably enough to compete in the final poll:
Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part 1) [6/25] - 3 Nominations
Home Sweet Homediddly-Dum-Doodly [7/03] - 3 Nominations
You Only Move Twice [8/02] - 3 Nominations
Homer's Enemy [8/23] - 3 Nominations
Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish [2/04]
The Way We Was [2/12]
Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? [2/15]
Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes? [3/24]
Kamp Krusty [4/01]
Homer the Heretic [4/03]
Lisa's First Word [4/10]
I Love Lisa [4/15]
Last Exit to Springfield [4/17]
Homer's Barbershop Quartet [5/01]
Treehouse of Horror V [6/06]
Homer Badman [6/09]
Homer the Great [6/12]
Lisa's Wedding [6/19]
Radioactive Man [7/02]
Treehouse of Horror VII [8/01]
Mountain of Madness [8/12]
Homer's Phobia [8/15]
Homer vs the Eighteenth Amendment [8/18]
The Cartridge Family [9/05]
This Little Wiggy [9/18]
Behind the Laughter [11/22]
Trilogy of Error [12/18]
I'll leave it another day to see if anyone else joins in before closing nominations.
I notice that none of Lisa's Substitute, one of my all time favourites, Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington, which BillAdama put as one of his all time favourites, and Cape Feare, which I'm guessing is one of Zorg's all time favourites, have made it to the final poll. It kind of seems silly that, even though there are only five of us voting, our favourites don't make it.
On this basis each person who has already nominated is allowed to put ONE MORE EPISODE, which they have ALREADY NOMINATED but is not currently going through, into the mix for the final poll.
Yeah, go with Mr Lisa Goes To Washington.
There are a few episodes from later seasons that I've thought of I might want to add, but I'm not sure if they have one nomination yet. I'm not sure what season they're from and what the name is. Those episodes are:
-The Columbo parody (Where Nelson is Columbo)
-The Prisoner parody
-The one where Bart kisses a girl and the school gets sued
-The one with lots of short stories about ansillary characters
By the short stories one, I think you mean "22 Short Films About Springfield". I already nominated this one, so if you're happy to nominate it now, it'll go through.
The others you mentioned are:
The Computer Wore Menace Shoes [12/06]
Dial 'N' for Nerder [19/14]
Stealing First Base [21/15]
I'll include them as nominees, since you could have nominated 17 more since your last list. If anyone else nominates, these will be in with a chance of making it through.
I'll definitely vote for lisa's substitute, I hadn't voted for it before because you already had. No sideshow bob episodes? I guess because they don't tend to have as many cultural references as normal episodes, since they're more action-packed.
I probably won't be able to rewatch all the episodes I haven't seen, as i've already started school, and it's my a level year, so I don't have too much free time. I'll definitely rank those that i've seen, but can I not rank those I haven't seen? Will they get the middle position?
Zorg, there's a new rule. You can re-nominate ONE episode which you have already voted for but is not currently going through. So out of any of the Sideshow Bob episodes you've already nominated, pick one and it will go through.
I'll also include your Lisa's Substitute nomination so that'll go through too.
This is getting a bit confusing, I know. Basically people could have nominated 40 episodes initially, but nominated fewer so they can still nominate new episodes now (since the closing date is really up in the air). Also, I added a rule yesterday which meant that those who had already nominated could re-nominate an episode which they had already voted for but which wasn't yet going through. BillAdama has re-nominated Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington, and because Lisa's Substitute is going through anyway, I'll re-nominate Homer vs Lisa and the 8th Commandment.
You, nj and Daniel can still re-nominate one episode, which is where your Sideshow Bob episodes come in.
I'll post the updated finalists list in a couple of hours.
Here are the 32 nominees already through:
Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part 1) [6/25] - 3 Nominations
Home Sweet Homediddly-Dum-Doodly [7/03] - 3 Nominations
You Only Move Twice [8/02] - 3 Nominations
Homer's Enemy [8/23] - 3 Nominations
Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish [2/04]
The Way We Was [2/12]
Homer vs. Lisa and the 8th Commandment [2/13]
Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? [2/15]
Lisa's Substitute [2/19]
Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington [3/02]
Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes? [3/24]
Kamp Krusty [4/01]
Homer the Heretic [4/03]
Lisa's First Word [4/10]
I Love Lisa [4/15]
Last Exit to Springfield [4/17]
Homer's Barbershop Quartet [5/01]
Cape Feare [5/02]
Treehouse of Horror V [6/06]
Homer Badman [6/09]
Homer the Great [6/12]
Lisa's Wedding [6/19]
Radioactive Man [7/02]
22 Short Films about Springfield [7/21]
Treehouse of Horror VII [8/01]
Mountain of Madness [8/12]
Homer's Phobia [8/15]
Homer vs the Eighteenth Amendment [8/18]
The Cartridge Family [9/05]
This Little Wiggy [9/18]
Behind the Laughter [11/22]
Trilogy of Error [12/18]
Aha. I'll go for Cape Feare then.
Here are the others, within one nomination of making the poll (Sideshow Bob episodes are asterisked ):
Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire [1/01]
The Call of the Simpsons [1/07]
The Crêpes of Wrath [1/11]
Krusty Gets Busted [1/12]*
Some Enchanted Evening [1/13]
Simpson and Delilah [2/02]
Treehouse of Horror [2/03]
Bart the Daredevil [2/08]
Bart Gets Hit by a Car [2/10]
One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish [2/11]
Stark Raving Dad [3/01]
Bart the Murderer [3/04]
Lisa's Pony [3/08]
Saturdays of Thunder [3/09]
Flaming Moe's [3/10]
Radio Bart [3/13]
Homer Alone [3/15]
Homer at the Bat [3/17]
Separate Vocations [3/18]
Colonel Homer [3/20]
Black Widower [3/21]*
A Streetcar Named Marge [4/02]
Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie [4/06]
Mr. Plow [4/09]
Marge vs. The Monorail [4/12]
Homer Goes to College [5/03]
Rosebud [5/04]
Boy-Scoutz 'n the Hood [5/08]
$pringfield (Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Legalized Gambling) [5/10]
Bart Gets Famous [5/12]
Homer and Apu [5/13]
Deep Space Homer [5/15]
Homer Loves Flanders [5/16]
Bart Gets an Elephant [5/17]
The Boy Who Knew Too Much [5/20]
Lisa's Rival [6/02]
Itchy & Scratchy Land [6/04]
Sideshow Bob Roberts [6/05]*
Fear of Flying [6/11]
Bart's Comet [6/14]
Two Dozen and One Greyhounds [6/20]
Lemon of Tory [6/24]
Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part 2) [7/01]
Treehouse of Horror VI [7/06]
King-Size Homer [7/07]
The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular [7/10]
Team Homer [7/12]
Two Bad Neighbors [7/13]
Scenes from the Class Struggle in Springfield [7/14]
A Fish Called Selma [7/19]
Bart on the Road [7/20]
Homerpalooza [7/24]
Summer of 4 Ft. 2 [7/25]
Bart After Dark [8/05]
Lisa's Date with Density [8/07]
Hurricane Neddy [8/08]
El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer (The Mysterious Voyage of Homer) [8/09]
The Springfield Files [8/10]
Simpsoncalifragilisticexpialad'ohcious [8/13]
Brother from Another Series [8/16]*
The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase [8/24]
The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson [9/01]
Miracle on Evergreen Terrace [9/10]
The Joy of Sect [9/13]
Lisa the Simpson [9/17]
The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace [10/02]
Bart the Mother [10/03]
Viva Ned Flanders [10/13]
Thirty Minutes over Tokyo [10/23]
The Computer Wore Menace Shoes [12/06]
The Great Money Caper [12/07]
Skinner's Sense of Snow [12/08]
HOMR [12/09]
Mr. Spritz Goes to Washington [14/14]
My Big Fat Geek Wedding [15/17]
Future-Drama [16/15]
The Father, the Son, and the Holy Guest Star [16/21]
Girls Just Want to Have Sums [17/19]
Dial 'N' for Nerder [19/14]
Million Dollar Maybe [21/11]
Stealing First Base [21/15]
As it stands:
I have used all nominations
BillAdama has 13 original nominations available
nj has 22 original nominations, and a re-nomination left
Zorg has 19 original nominations left
Daniel has a re-nomination left
As far as new nominations go, I would echo what BillAdama said earlier, in that it's more likely to be an exciting and competitive poll the fewer episodes we add now, since 32 are already through. Around 40 episodes shouldn't be too many to put new voters off either.
Can you give a short description of the episodes that qualify?
Like, I assume 'The Cartridge Family' is the one where Bart steals a video game, but I don't know for sure without looking.
It's interesting both the Herb episodes qualified. He's probably the most underrated and underused character in the show.
Did he ever come back a third time?
In the proper poll thread, I'll give my own description and make each episode title a link to its own Wikipedia page (for the record, The Cartridge Family is the one where Homer buys a gun because the goldfish was stolen from his burglar alarm).
The first Herb one's really clever and funny in my opinion. They were only planning one episode (which kind of makes it funnier, because it only took one visit for Homer to drag his high-flying brother into loserville). Apparently the show runners liked Danny DeVito's performance as Herb so much that they wrote another one just to bring him back. Since then, Herb's made the odd unvoiced appearance in crowd scenes, but the only direct reference is a self-aware comic one by Homer in one of the later seasons: "...or my seldom seen half-brother Herb".
My re-nomination vote goes to "Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part Two)" :)
Okay, all that appears to be left now is nj's renomination. I should really have set a new deadline a few days ago to make it fairer, but this is pretty much the limit of how late I can go before starting the poll itself.
nj, if you want re-nominate an episode you have until around 1.00pm tomorrow forum time. After this I'll post the nomination results "officially", and start the poll voting thread a couple of hours after that (honestly though, I'm not really that fussed if you post a re-nomination later; since it's only one episode I can always add it to the voting thread later).
I have drawn up the rules. Feel free to tell me what you think of them. Unless anyone sees a problem with them these are the ones I'll post on the voting thread tomorrow.
The Simpsons Poll Rules
The poll will be contested among 33 nominated episodes (34 if nj has re-nominated by tomorrow, I'll post the full list with descriptions, links, etc. on the voting thread). Any episodes voted for which are not among these 33 will not be given any points.
Rank as few as one, as many as all, of the 33 episodes. Unranked ballots containing any number of episodes will be void.
There is an OPTIONAL points system you can use while voting. This allows you to decide by how much you like one episode more than another, and ultimately to give your most favoured episodes a better chance of scoring highly overall:
1) Points should be given according to where an episode is ranked i.e. You give your #1 episode the most points, your #2 episode the second most points, etc. Following this system, you can award each episode up to 50 points
2) If you have not seen some of the episodes which you have not ranked, you can, if you want to, list these unseen episodes (indicating that you haven't seen them); I will then award each of them the median number of points of the episodes which you have ranked
3) If you do not use the points system yourself (remember it is optional), and just rank the episodes, I will simply award 33 points to your #1 ranked episode, 32 points to your second ranked episode, etc.
Example ballot [square brackets is what I'll do when counting the ballots]:
1. Last Exit to Springfield - 50 pts
...11. Lisa's First Word - 18 pts
...21. Homer's Enemy - 2 pts
...I haven't seen: This Little Wiggy, Trilogy of Error. [Median number of points for episodes ranked is 18pts --> This Little Wiggy and Trilogy of Error each gets 18 pts from this ballot]
............................................
Also, do people want to email me or just post their ballots on the thread? I don't mind either way, just depends whether you think voting on the thread will ruin the suspense which goes with the results.
If you're going to use a points system, shouldn't everybody get the same number of total points?
Everyone does get the same number of points: 50 points maximum per episode, with number of points being awarded according to rank. I suppose, if you want to say that there is a maximum number of total points, it is 1122. You'll use this total number if you give your #1 50 points, your #2 49 points...and your #33 18 points.
These rules allow you to choose how to vote. You can simply ignore the points system and rank normally, in which case I will just give 33 to #1, 32 to #2 and so on. But the beauty of the points system is that if you have one episode (or several episodes) which you genuinely think is the best ever by miles, you can make it your number 1 AND give it 50 points, and second place only 32 or 20 or whatever you want. This way you can express the fact that it's your absolute favourite when you vote, and by doing so give it a better chance of winning. The implication of this system is that someone who gives 50 (or 42 or whatever) points to their #1 thinks that it is better than someone who has simply ranked the episodes thinks their #1 is. I understand that this is not necessarily true, but if you really love one or a group of episodes then it is suggested that you use the points system to show your appreciation fully.
It's not like the points system is the only variable. As a I said above, you can only rank 1 episode if you like; you can rank all 33 of them; or rank any number in between. This creates the problem of unranked episodes. If you think that your ballot has had to exclude some episodes unfairly, purely on the basis that you haven't seen them, just list the unseen unranked episodes and I will award them your median points score. This should solve the problem.
So to answer your question, everyone does have the same number of total points available to them, it's just that they don't have to USE all of them, or in the manner I mentioned. The only thing to remember with the points system in terms of rules, is that you cannot give more than 50 points to an episode, and that if you give 50 or any highest number of points to an episode, it's obviously going to have to be your #1 ranked episode.
If you really think it would be better without giving voters the chance to use points, I'll scrap that idea and revert to voters simply ranking episodes and I'll give the points out as would to those choosing not to use the points system (though the unseen episodes thing would still apply).
NOMINATION RESULTS
Here are the 33 episodes (as I said before, it will be 34 if nj re-nominates any time soon) which have received 2 or more nominations, and are thereby going to compete in the poll itself:
Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part 1) [6/25] - 3 Nominations
Home Sweet Homediddly-Dum-Doodly [7/03] - 3 Nominations
You Only Move Twice [8/02] - 3 Nominations
Homer's Enemy [8/23] - 3 Nominations
Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish [2/04]
The Way We Was [2/12]
Homer vs. Lisa and the 8th Commandment [2/13]
Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? [2/15]
Lisa's Substitute [2/19]
Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington [3/02]
Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes? [3/24]
Kamp Krusty [4/01]
Homer the Heretic [4/03]
Lisa's First Word [4/10]
I Love Lisa [4/15]
Last Exit to Springfield [4/17]
Homer's Barbershop Quartet [5/01]
Cape Feare [5/02]
Treehouse of Horror V [6/06]
Homer Badman [6/09]
Homer the Great [6/12]
Lisa's Wedding [6/19]
Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part 2 [7/01]
Radioactive Man [7/02]
22 Short Films about Springfield [7/21]
Treehouse of Horror VII [8/01]
Mountain of Madness [8/12]
Homer's Phobia [8/15]
Homer vs the Eighteenth Amendment [8/18]
The Cartridge Family [9/05]
This Little Wiggy [9/18]
Behind the Laughter [11/22]
Trilogy of Error [12/18]
Five Notable Casualties
Krusty Gets Busted [1/12] - The first episode to have Sideshow Bob and Chief Wiggum in starring roles, it is highly regarded within The Simpsons team
Bart the Daredevil [2/08] - The one with THAT scene of Homer jumping Springfield gorge, Matt Groening's favourite ever episode
Stark Raving Dad [3/01] - One of the most lauded guest appearances in the show ever from MJ
The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase [8/24] - A bold parody in dozens of critics lists
HOMR [12/09] - An Emmy-winning episode which shows Mike Scully's Homer to be not all stupid and violent