‘Prince Comes to Springfield,’ by Conan O’Brien and 9 Other Classic-Era Simpsons Episodes That Almost Were

[blackbirdpie url=�https://twitter.com/thatbilloakley/status/170632501071585281�]In honor of the impending 500th episode of The Simpsons, former writer/showrunner (and current Portlandia writer/producer) Bill Oakley just tweeted the “top 10 episodes that were pitched, discussed, written but not aired.� It’s the best possible thought experiment: imagining just what these episodes would have been like had they been produced around season 7 of the show. I mean, come on, “Bart Gets 144 Jeeps�? “Prince Comes to Springfield� by Conan O’Brien?! Good god. And hey, it’s not too late! Maybe one of these can become episode 513 or something.

And if you missed Oakley’s contributions to this here website, which include a peek at how the early era writer’s room functioned and an incredibly detailed breakdown of the writing process of “Sweet Seymour Skinner’s Baadassssss Song,� including early script drafts and a slew of cut jokes, you really should check them out. They’re two of my favorite pieces ever run on the site. Anyhow, here’s the full list of almost-were episodes:

[blackbirdpie url=�https://twitter.com/thatbilloakley/status/170633548825509889�][blackbirdpie url=�https://twitter.com/thatbilloakley/status/170634101777367041�][blackbirdpie url=�https://twitter.com/thatbilloakley/status/170634325413474304�][blackbirdpie url=�https://twitter.com/thatbilloakley/status/170634443629932544�][blackbirdpie url=�https://twitter.com/thatbilloakley/status/170634752456540161�][blackbirdpie url=�https://twitter.com/thatbilloakley/status/170634846434099202�][blackbirdpie url=�https://twitter.com/thatbilloakley/status/170635083605221376�][blackbirdpie url=�https://twitter.com/thatbilloakley/status/170635184813776896�][blackbirdpie url=�https://twitter.com/thatbilloakley/status/170635429274595328�][blackbirdpie url=�https://twitter.com/thatbilloakley/status/170635547923058689�][blackbirdpie url=�https://twitter.com/thatbilloakley/status/170635604873314304�]And in case that last one isn’t upsetting enough, I asked Oakley how far along that one got. His answer will keep you up at night:[blackbirdpie url=�https://twitter.com/thatbilloakley/status/170641423102775297�]PRIIIIIIIIIIIIINCE!