Least Favorite Episode From Any Series

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Minty_01

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This applies to any animated series,past or present.

I know it might be considered blasphemy to diss a classic Simpsons episode,but "Homer The Heretic" was an episode,where the main theme didn't sit well with me. It might be because of my agnostic leanings towards religion,but the episode's idea of being a Christian means you have to go to church every Sunday,no ifs,ands,or buts about it,and worshiping God in your way,like finding joy in nature,is seen as Unchristian. I'm sorry,but I just didn't like this episode and what they were trying to get across.

Please,let's not turn this into a discussion about religion,let's just talk about the least-favorite episodes anybody might have,and let any discussion about "Homer the Heretic" be about it as an individual episode of The Simpsons and keep most of the religious talk about it to what is necessary,okay?
 
"The Simpsons": It's hard to say. I want to say "Simpson Safari", but everyone picks that one (albeit for good reason - it really does suck noodles in every department imaginable). "Kill the Alligator and Run" is also pretty high up there, though it's not as actively awful as the former episode - it just kind of sits there and rots. But I must put in a word for "Make Room for Lisa", as it was the first time that I didn't just dislike what Homer did, but I was legitimately angry at him.

"Futurama": Episodes of "Futurama" are a lot like pizza and sex (separately) - when they're good, they're really good, and when they're bad, they're still pretty good. That being said, I think I'll nominate "A Pharaoh to Remember" as my least favorite, if only because a lot of the humor was a titch weaker than usual and the plot did get kind of tedious.

"Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends": "The Sweet Stench of Success", hands down. I expect a level of irreverent wit and satirical bent from this show, so when they trotted out the old "character gets famous and discovers that being a celebrity isn't all it's cracked up to be" plot, I was sincerely disappointed to find that they did absolutely nothing new with it. This episode was written by Adam Pava, a newcomer to the "Foster's" writing staff in Season 2, and I can only assume that he wasn't familiar with the house style yet. There's no other legitimate reason I can think of for Bloo to actually get sentimental for his friends when he's got the world worshipping him - like it or not, that's not the kind of guy he is. Dishonorable mentions go to "Foster's Goes to Europe" (don't let the title mislead you, there's absolutely no "going" in this episode at all) and "Everyone Knows It's Bendy" ("Where There's a Wilt, There's a Way" deserved a full half-hour - this was hardly enough for three minutes, and boy, does that ending grate my cheese).

"Rocko's Modern Life": With every episode being divided into two separate stories, it's hard to find one full 22-minute episode that's just bad all the way through. However, "An Elk for Heffer"/"Scrubbin' Down Under" really left me cold on both fronts. The former story is extremely predictable and not all that captivating, but it's the latter that really frosts my Kelvinator. This episode aired in Season 3, and by this time, Nickelodeon had pretty much put the squeeze on Joe Murray's love of underhanded adult jokes and clever, unhinged wit. The drop in quality between Seasons 2 and 3 wasn't immediately evident (I think "Wacky Delly" was the last big fling before things went to pot), but this episode seals the deal - hardly any real jokes even exist in this story, as about half of it is taken up by a fake educational short film about the importance of good hygiene. Not even the sight of a fat kid getting hit by a train can save this one. This is not what I expect from the show that gave me "Leap Frogs", "Jet Scream", "To Heck and Back", "A Sucker for the Suck-O-Matic", "Pipe Dreams", and "Kiss Me, I'm Foreign".
 
OK, here's some of mine:

The Real Ghostbusters: "Stay Tooned". Just way too silly and poorly animated to boot. Generally a lot of episodes post-1989 weren't that good.

Dexter's Laboratory: "Dexter Dodgeball" - the ending was just too much for me to take. "Chicken Scratch" was pretty horrible too.

The Powerpuff Girls: "The City of Frownsville" - annoying villain, inane plot, nonsensical ending, awful all around. Runner-up: "Neighbor Hood" - a bore from start to finish.

Hey Arnold: "Arnold Betrays Iggy", "Sid And Germs"

Danny Phantom: "Lucky in Love" - oh, how I hate Paulina. "King Tuck" was also pretty dull.

Freakazoid: "And Fanboy Is His Name" - for being a Fanboy ep....

Transformers G1: I guess this is more of a "second worst episode behind "Carnage in C-Minor",;) but I'll go for "Child's Play" - getting past the hackneyed premise, I was hoping we would see the 'Bots and 'Cons reluctantly working together to try and get back to Earth. It would have been a lot more interesting than what we got.
 
What's even more embarassing is the fact that Paul Dini wrote that one. Anyway, i rank 'Hawk & Dove' much lower that 'This Little Piggy'. As bad as it was to see Batman singing 'Am I Blue', at least it gave me a small chuckle.
 
Spongebob:
Not that it's a BAD episode, in fact, I like it a lot and it's funny, but my least favorite ep of Spongebob has got to be "Something Smells". I've just seen it so many times that I just switch the channel or turn off the TV when it comes on.
 
Family Guy: "Mother Tucker"- The premise (Peter's mother starts dating Tom Tucker and Peter bonds with him) was completely implausible and the way it was handled was utterly ridiculous. It almost seemed like the FG writers were deliberately trying to parody a Simpsons episode.
 
Kim Possible: "Royal Pain". The writers set out to make an irritating guest character for this episode, hence the name Prince Wally. And they truly, truly outdid themselves. It's also one of the episodes where Ron is acting very unfair to Kim for no apparent reason.

Batman Animated: "P.O.V." - some fans seem to rate this episode, but personally I think it's the most pointless thing ever. It doesn't work as an "alternate perspective" story at all, which seems to be the intent.

Futurama: "A Leela of her Own" - just not funny.

Daria: I might have gone for "Through a Lens Darkly" or "Partner's Complaint" here, as they basically have Daria sell out, especially in the former. But they have a few redeeming features, so I'll go for "Depth Takes a Holiday" as the worst Daria episode. WHAT is this thing? Was this written by some drunken fanfic writer, then mistaken for a script by one of the staff?

Fillmore: "Foes Don't Forgive" - the guest characters in this episode came off as extremely annoying, and it was one of the least interesting cases as well.

I'll try to think of more for a later post.
 
Somehow, hearing you talk about this sends my mind straight to Meet the Robinsons:

All Danny had to do was look Dan in the eye and say, "I'm never going to turn into you." Dan goes, "What?!" and POOF! Gone.

My picks:

The Simpsons: Gonna ignore, for now, the episode depicted in Golgo13's avatar and toss in another vote for "Principal and the Pauper". What a mistake that was.
The Fairly Oddparents: "What's the Difference?" is a pretty good encapsulation of what makes the later episodes so vile. And for a joke that has no place in a kid's cartoon (involving a swooning Mrs. Turner), "Love at First Height" is unpleasant.
Foster's Home: One viewing of "Impostor's Home for, um, Make-em-Up Pals" and I can't imagine anyone giving Bendy the stink-eye. Frankie is put-upon throughout and is there anything done to Goofball? No.
Danny Phantom: "Splitting Images". Not terribly original, I know, but what a mismanagement of ideas.
Kim Possible: http://noteimperfect.blogspot.com/2006/06/worst-o-kim-possible.html
Rocko's Modern Life: After the 'room of phones' gag, "With Friends Like These" is painful to sit through.
South Park: "Woodland Critter Christmas" (like a bad fanfiction) and "Mr. Garrison's Fancy New V..." (they took an amusing character and threw him away by making him a woman, not to mention the pointless gross-out gags)
Tiny Toons: I'm with the lot of you. Even Phil Hartman couldn't save "Whale's Tales", though that opening gag was good.
Futurama: "Spanish Fry". This episode makes me hate Bender and the humor was rather lame.
Teen Titans: "Trust" (Neo Ultra Mike summed it up pretty well) and "Every Dog Has His Day" (just annoying).
Family Guy: "And the Wiener is..."; it is a truly soulless individual that considers the Meg abuse funny, and it is very much at its worst here. Pity, because that "Rocket Man" gag is one of the show's finest moments.
Rugrats: Blackstar beat me to it, but "Pickles vs. Pickles" is as unwatchable as, if not more than, the movie-era episodes.
 
I aboslutely hate the Danny Phantom episode Splitting Images, for a good couple of reasons. First of all, Pointdexter is one of the worst 'evil' characters ever, he's just a ghostly dork with a warped sense of perception that was used to shove an unncessary lesson down the throats of both Danny and the audience (2nd reason). Also, the where Pointdexter's in Danny's body wins my award for the worst collective cluelessness in the series, especially when it cames to Sam and Tucker. That was simply ridiculous beyond the normal levels shown in the series for comedic puroses.
 
Powerpuff Girls: The City of Frownsville
Felt like an episode of Yogi's Gang!

Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends: Foster's Goes to Europe
I wanted to see them go to Europe. They give you an interesting story idea and then shoot it down.

Sealab 2021: ASHDTV
What was the point of this episode? Especially those "I thought you said penis" jokes?!

Aqua Teen Hunger Force: Unremarkable Journey
I didn't know of Carl's...condition...and I think I was happier not knowing.

Family Guy: not really an episode per se, I just hate any moment where Meg gets abused

Futurama: Less Than Hero
One of the weaker episodes in my opinion.

I need to rack my brain for some more. Back soon.
 
I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one who's not a fan of the current string of Meg-bashing that's so prevalent on Family Guy right now. I don't know who thought that Meg getting treated like crap by all the other characters (especially her own father Peter) was a good idea, cause it sure as heck isn't, nor is it in any funny. You wonder why you don't hate Peter for doing what he does to her. Oh, wait, I do hate Peter now, I forgot.

What kills me is that some people on TV.com claim that Meg deserves to be bashed. WTH? What horrible thing has Meg done to deserve the shoddy treatment she gets, other than not having a really interesting personality? Her only crimes are not being pretty or especially funny compared to the other characters. But that fault goes to the writers. If Meg isn't interesting, it's because the show's writers and producers don't make her very interesting. You can hardly blame that on someone else.
 
Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends - that's a toughie. The truth is, there are a few eps of this series I really like, and most of the rest are...meh. Mostly because of Bloo. But if there's one ep I truly cannot stand, it's the one where Goo was introduced. It's not the first time a cartoon studio has introduced a blabbermouth character, but Goo has to be the most irritating and unfunny of the type. I was happy when Mac finally told her off, and stumped when he felt bad for it and later called her "nice, creative" etc. What on earth did that poor kid have to be sorry for? Goo got him locked out of Foster's and separated him from his imaginary friend. All because Goo is totally focused on herself and pays no attention to anyone else. Goo is one of the characters that keeps me from enjoying Foster's to the fullest. The other two being the aforementioned Bloo and the insufferable Cheese. I still say that when it comes to Foster's bad boys, Bendy owns them all.

Spongebob - the recent episode when Patrick asked Spongebob (who's in magician mode) to turn him into mayonnaise so he could "eat himself". Gahh!!! I can't believe that weird, jarring, unfortunate ending was actually written, much less voiced and animated.

Jimmy Neutron - "Sorry, Wrong Era". Boring! Overall, I prefer Neutron when the whole gang is in on a caper - not just Jimmy, Carl and Sheen but Libby and Cindy also. Yes, I know Cindy can be a pain, but she has her moments of redemption now and then. Also, I despise any episode that focuses too much on Jimmy's dumb dad. He actually makes me nauseous.

Fairly Oddparents - so many bad episodes, so little bandwidth, but since I must narrow it down, it's a tossup between "The Big Bash" and "Big Wanda". Big piles of excrement both. It's junk like them that gives TV cartoons such a bad reputation among people of all ages with actual senses of humor.

Danny Phantom - "The Ultimate Enemy". Now I admit I've never been impressed with DP - but I hated this one especially because Evil Danny didn't succeed in killing everybody. Way to bum me out, Hartman! ;)
 
Looking back on Futurama, I can't actually think of any "bad" episodes that I don't enjoy watching. But my least favorite is probably the first X-mas episode, I don't really know why, but it just doesn't stand out to me.

The circus episode of ATHF doesn't really do much for me, either. Although I do like the Carl jokes.

The Venture Bros. pilot is pretty disappointing. After seeing that, I had no idea I'd like the show as much as I do now.

South Park - "Passion Of The Jew" and "A Million Little Fibers"

Passion of the Jew is such a mess of an episode. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of funny jokes in the episode, but by the end of it all there's just no real point. Matt & Trey even point it out in the commentary for it. Still one of my least favorite episodes. Same thing with Million Little Fibers, except this is the worst episode since season 2. There are no real punchlines and it's pretty clear the guys had no idea what to do on this one.

The Simpsons - "Simpson Safari" and "Kill The Alligator And Run"

Just like my SP choices, I feel these two episodes are the bottom of the barrel of anything The Simpsons has done or will ever do. The characters are off, the jokes are extremely forced, the plots are the most ridiculous they've ever been, and the endings are pretty dumb too. Yet for some reason, I see these in reruns all the time. I can't imagine anyone liking those episodes.

Also, Homer The Heretic is a great episode. Homer isn't technically wrong in what he's doing, but it's the way he's spending his time outside church that is supposed to be upsetting. Besides, Homer was back in church sleeping by the end, which just proved it was pointless to force him to go.
 
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