Now 31 seasons and counting into its run on Fox, The Simpsons is a television institution. And within that institution are many other smaller institutions, such as the “chalkboard gag” at the start of almost every episode, with perennial troublemaker Bart Simpson atoning for his week of poor behavior by writing some sort of joke over and over on his classroom blackboard.

Not every Simpsons includes a chalkboard gag (and a few episodes have even recycled previously-used jokes). But through the show’s three-decade history, which is now archived over at Disney+, there are over 350 different chalkboard gags. A couple are quite bad. Many return to the same subjects over and over: Bart’s teacher, the misbehavior of presidents, quirky holiday traditions. A few are transcendent, tiny testaments to how brilliant and subversive The Simpsons can be.

And so here now is every chalkboard gag from 31 seasons of The Simpsons, ranked from worst to best. Prepare for a looooooooooot of scrolling...

More From Sasquatch 92.1 FM