Worst Episode Ever
In the episode, Bart and Milhouse are banned from The Android's Dungeon after stopping Comic Book Guy from buying a box of priceless Star Wars memorabilia for $5.
However, when Comic Book Guy suffers a massive heart attack, he hires Bart and Milhouse as his replacements while he leaves his job to pursue a relationship with Agnes Skinner.
Bart wins a $50 bet against Homer after the latter fails to eat an entire box of spoiled baking soda that Lisa finds in the back of the refrigerator.
Savini plays a series of tricks to embarrass Comic Book Guy, causing him to become so angry from the audience's mockery that he attempts to ban them all for life.
At the hospital, Dr. Hibbert urges Comic Book Guy to leave the store in someone else's care while he recovers; with no one else to turn to, he reluctantly puts Bart and Milhouse in charge.
The store prospers at first under the boys' management, but business falters when Milhouse places an order for 2,000 copies of an extremely unpopular comic without telling Bart.
As the boys argue, they stumble across Comic Book Guy's secret collection of illegal videos, such as a drunk Fred Rogers, police interview footage of Ned Flanders reporting Homer for letting a radioactive ape loose in his house, and a top secret film detailing a plan by the U.S. military to let Springfield be destroyed in the event of nuclear war.
With the store now closed by the police, Bart and Milhouse reconcile and return to their normal lives as Ned tries to cope with the ape Homer let loose.
[2] Because Comic Book Guy is usually sarcastic and unfriendly, the series' staff—particularly, Hank Azaria, who voices the character—found it hard to make the character seem likable.
"[3] Executive producer and former showrunner Mike Scully said, "It's tough when you take a character like Comic Book Guy or Krusty or Moe, to make them suddenly sympathetic and vulnerable.
[2] Martin's mother tries to sell Comic Book Guy several items relating to the Star Wars film series, including Carrie Fisher's "anti-jiggle breast tape", George Lucas' handwritten original script of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope and a film of a supposed alternate ending for the series where it is revealed that "Luke's father is Chewbacca.
Executive producer and current showrunner Al Jean later met Rogers' wife at a hall of fame, and said that he was "really embarrassed" when he found out that she had seen the episode.
[6] In its original American broadcast on February 4, 2001, "Worst Episode Ever" received a 9.8 rating, according to Nielsen Media Research, translating to about 10 million viewers.
[7] Later that year, Azaria won the 53rd Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for his role as Comic Book Guy in the episode.
Mike Scully, Al Jean, Tom Gammill, Max Pross, Matt Selman, Hank Azaria, Larry Doyle and Chris Kirkpatrick participated in the audio commentary for the episode.
Casey Burchby of DVD Talk enjoyed the episode and wrote that it has some "great stuff" in it, including the comic book "Biclops" that Milhouse over-orders.
