Anthology episodes

Over the long run of the Simpsons there have been several episodes which feature 3 mini-stories that are held togeather by a base plot. The Halloween episodes are the most well known but there have been many others, after season five the backbone story was removed from the halloween episodes but the 3 mini-stories still remained. What follows is a list of these episodes. The seventh season episode 22 Short Films About Springfield does not follow the same pattern as the others but it can be considered an anthology, the episode inspired Simpsons creator Matt Groening to come up with a concept of a possible spin-off series called Tales from Springfield, about the recurring characters of Springfield. The twelfth season episode Trilogy of Error is another that almost does not fit the pattern, it uses a story telling techneque which has been used by several shows including Malcolm in the Middle and Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles. in this format the same story line is told from several differnt prespectives, in Trilogy of Error the story is told from Homer's POV then Lisa's, then finally Bart's.

Season 1

Season 2