Yokel Chords

The musical episodes of The Simpsons may not appeal to everyone, but among this genre of episodes, "Yokel Chords" is one of my favorites. While the musical numbers are limited to Lisa's story of trying to educate Cletus' yokel offspring, even Bart's story about Dark Stanley has an incredible fantasy/horror sequence with beautiful animation and a terrific Astor Piazola inspired musical track.

Of course, for musical theater geeks, this episode features the ultimate guest appearance by Stephen Sondheim who gets abused by Krusty and then composes a peppy Buzz Cola jingle. It's a nice guest spot that breezes by quickly but is more than a throw-away (unlike Andy Dick's mercifully short walk-on).

Overall, the episode is very sharp, has a good pace, and features some edgy lines such as a not-quite Jewish insult and a 9/11 line that perfectly encapsulates the justification for the Iraq War and is all the more biting because it comes from Cletus.