Brian Welk for The Wrap:

Twenty-five years ago, "Simpsons' writers Jay Kogen and Wallace Wolodarsky begged their bosses not to cut the core joke in "Last Exit to Springfield," the best episode in the history of the show.

It’s a long, weird bit that goes thirty awkward seconds without a payoff. The words “dental plan” and “Lisa needs braces” bounce around Homer’s brain as he waits in a beer line, until he blurts out a realization that reveals to viewers, for the first time, how dumb he truly is.

“It went on for a page and a half! We gotta cut this. This doesn’t make any sense at all,” Mike Reiss, who was co-showrunner of “The Simpsons” at the time, remembers thinking. “And Jay and Wally said, you gotta do it. Trust us on this.”

The idea of the episode is simple — Homer Simpson becomes a union leader to fight for his dental plan — but it spawns endless jokes, movie and TV parodies, and even a folk song. Outlets from USA Today to The Ringer have named “Last Exit to Springfield" the best “Simpsons" episode ever, which it is.

 But the writers told TheWrap that "Exit" — which premiered 25 years ago this Sunday, on March 11, 1993 — was just another episode to the frazzled, exhausted “Simpsons" team. The writers were so burned out that the next week’s episode was a clip show.

Here is the complete oral history of "Last Exit to Springfield."

A great read for a Friday afternoon.