Nedward Flanders Jr

Appearances

• season 21 episode 20: To Surveil, with Love

  Springfield installs surveillance cameras (like London) after a bomb scare, and Flanders ends up in charge of it. In a rare moment of corruption, Flanders becomes Big Brother. A defiant Homer finds a spot in his backyard where the cameras can’t see and breaks all of Flanders’ rules. This episode became even more prescient after the Edward Snowden leaks.

• season 24 episode 15: Black-Eyed Please

  We knew that Flanders could succumb to violent instincts as a few other episodes on this list show. There’s only so much Homer Simpson you can take, and in this episode, he actually takes a swing at Homer and gives him a black eye. To make it even worse, Homer won’t hit back. He figures out that he can be the better man and hold it over Flanders’ head. This episode also gives us a glimpse at Ned and Edna Krabappel in bed together (see below), a song “Hey Diddly, Hell Diddly” and the line “I’m insisting on a fisting!”

• season 26 episode 21: Bull-E

  A timely episode due to the rash of school bullying incidents in real life, Springfield passes an anti-bullying law and Homer gets sent to a sensitivity course. When Homer actually reforms, Ned refuses to forgive him. It takes Homer actually practicing true repentance, kneeling biblical style on the Flanders lawn, for Ned to accept his apology. It’s nice to see Flanders rub off on Homer, at least briefly.

• season 3 episode 3: When Flanders Failed

  This is the classic episode in which Flanders opened The Leftorium in the mall, a store devoted to left-handed accessories for left handed people. At first, Homer enjoys the schadenfreude of watching The Leftorium go bankrupt, but when he hears a bunch of lefties lamenting how hard it is to use right handed stuff, he can’t help but send the customers Ned’s way. The Leftorium would remain the Flanders family business ever since.

• season 16 episode 8: Homer and Ned's Hail Mary Pass

  The hook of this episode was Homer’s celebration dance videos and cameos from famous athletes (it aired after a Super Bowl). Homer’s viral video success inspires Flanders to make his own biblical movies, seemingly inspired by the intensity of The Passion of the Christ. It’s a great spoof of The Passion, and The Simpsons called it. Faith-based movies have become big business

• season 4 episode 2: A Streetcar named Marge

  This is where we learn that Flanders is ripped underneath that green sweater. Marge is cast as Blanch Dubois in a musical version of A Streetcar Named Desire, with Flanders as Stanley Kowalski. This is one of many Simpsons musical renditions of a movie with catchy tunes. They actually got in trouble with the City of New Orleans for their opening number.

• season 12 episode 19: I’m Goin’ to Praiseland

  One year after the death of his wife Maude Flanders, Ned tries dating again. Poor Christian Rock singer Rachel Jordan ends up getting the Maude haircut, this after sleeping around Maude’s year-old indent in the bed. Faced with really getting rid of Maude’s stuff, Ned finds her sketches for a faith-based amusement park and tries to build it in her honor. Praiseland doesn’t last, nor does his relationship with Rachel.

• season 10 episode 10: Viva Ned Flanders

  In this one, we learn that Ned is actually 60 years old! Clean living keeps him looking younger than Homer. Trying to get show Ned a wild good time, Homer takes him to Las Vegas but gets in over their heads when they drunkenly marry two showgirls. There’s a great Viva Las Vegas chase through the casino and the “floozies” have shown up again in later episodes.