Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song

After dismissing the idea of taking Simpson family home videos and a geode, Bart brings Santa's Little Helper to school for show and tell. Even though his show-and-tell presentation is well received by the class, the dog escapes into the school air ducts to follow the food scent coming from the kitchen and is spotted by Ralph Wiggum. Groundskeeper Willie is sent after the dog and catches it, but he chooses the wrong vent to exit and the fire department is called in to rescue him. As the firemen are attempting to rescue Willie, an outraged Superintendent Chalmers appears and fires Principal Skinner, much to Bart's shock.

Chalmers hires Ned Flanders as the new principal of Springfield Elementary School, but when Flanders is hesitant to discipline the children, they run amok, and the school becomes a mad house. Meanwhile, Bart befriends the now jobless Skinner, as they laugh about anecdotes of Flanders's failure that Bart relates. Feeling lonely, Skinner eventually decides to re-enlist in the United States Army.

Instead of rejoicing in the discipline-less school, Bart feels guilty about causing Skinner's dismissal. In an effort to get Skinner his job back, Bart attempts to expose Flanders' poor leadership to Chalmers. Despite the state of chaos at the school, Chalmers is not concerned. However, upon hearing Flanders utter a brief mention of God over the intercom, Chalmers immediately fires Flanders for reciting a school prayer. Skinner is soon re-hired as principal. Bart and Skinner share an amicable chat about their typically antagonistic relationship, then affectionately pat each other on the back. However, as they turn from each other, it is revealed Bart has taped a "Kick Me" sign on Skinner's back, and Skinner has taped a "Teach Me" sign on Bart. The two chuckle to themselves as they walk away.

The Itchy and Scratchy and Poochie Show

The ratings of the Itchy & Scratchy Show segment of the Krusty the Clown Show suddenly fail. Krusty orders the cartoon's producer, Roger Meyers, to find a way to fix the sagging ratings, or else a Chinese cartoon will replace Itchy and Scratchy. Meyers decides to commission a focus group to discover why Itchy and Scratchy has lost its popularity.

Bart and Lisa participate in the study, by watching cartoons and answering the questions. However, things do not go very well, with the children in the focus group contradicting themselves when explaining what they want (they argue that Itchy and Scratchy should be both more realistic and more fantastical). Eventually, Lisa says that there was nothing wrong with Itchy and Scratchy in the first place; rather, the characters had simply lost their novelty, and with it, the impact they once had on their audience. Meyers thanks Lisa for "saving" Itchy and Scratchy, and decides that his cartoon's salvation lies in a new character. He tells Krusty and his team of writers that this new character should be a dog with "attitude", who will be called Poochie.

Bart and Lisa suggest Homer to have a go at voice acting when they read that there will be open auditions. Homer auditions to read for Poochie's voice, and gets the part. He and June Bellamy, his fellow voice actor, make several publicity stops to promote Poochie, where Homer confronts the show's hardcore fans. Homer invites all of his friends and relatives to the screening of the first Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show. However, the cartoon is full of clichés and asinine antics, and by emphasizing Poochie, contains none of the show's trademark violence. Everyone except Homer finds the episode unimpressive. Meyers is forced to admit that Poochie's debut was a dud, and he decides to get rid of the character.

Homer learns that Poochie will be killed off, and resolves to keep Poochie alive. At his next recording session, rather than reading from the script, he implores the audience, through lines that he wrote, to give Poochie a fair chance. The writing team is uninterested with Homer's statement, and he is led to believe that the comments will be in the next cartoon. So, Meyers dubs the line "I have to go now. My planet needs me." into the dialogue, and the animation cel containing Poochie is yanked out of view. A statement attesting to the dog's demise (he died on the way back to his home planet) is hurriedly edited into the cartoon; the in-studio audience cheers wildly as Krusty promises that Poochie is gone for good and signs a law preventing him from ever returning. Homer feels betrayed but, after realizing he never got paid for his efforts, attributes the affair to the nature of show business.

Throughout the episode, a man named Roy comes to live with the Simpsons. When Lisa remarks that new characters are just a desperate effort to boost shows with low ratings, Roy appears out of nowhere. He has a few minor lines and calls Homer "Mr. S."

OH MY GOD I HATE POOCHIE SO MUCH

This is a really tough one. I'm going with Badaaaaaasssss Song based in the Alien spoof, plus watching Ned come in as principal is great stuff. But I could be persuaded to change my mind.

Let's be honest here, team:

SSS is a funnier episode from start to finish but there's so much hostile gold in ISP

This is a sneaky tough mathcup. I'm gonna watch both of these tonight and then vote.

Poochie is a classic. Easy vote.

Apu flipping out over the Jurassic Park ripoff, this is going to be tough to beat. Classic golden era Simpsons, right here.

Billy and the Clonosauruses

Meh. Mid-tier episode. Quite forgettable, honestly.

So far Poochie isn't even close.

Yeah, I'm aware you guys have boring Simpsons taste.

Poochie is a solid episode. It really picks up in the second act.

you have a cute defense meccanism

ain't i a stinka

Poochie was in the first 10 seasons?

Christ, I'm old.