 Despite this , much of Scully 's work on the show also received critical praise . Scully won five Primetime Emmy Awards for his work on The Simpsons , while Entertainment Weekly cited " How I Spent My Strummer Vacation " as the show 's 22nd best episode . Robert Canning of IGN also gave the episode a positive review , something he also did for " Behind the Laughter " and " Trilogy of Error " , which aired during season 12 . He called the latter : " one extremely enjoyable misadventure . The Simpsons may have peaked in the ' 90s , but that doesn 't mean the eight years since haven 't delivered their share of quality episodes . This was one of them . " Martin said that he does not understand the criticism against Scully , and that he thinks the criticism " bothered [ him ] , and still bothers him , but he managed to not get worked up over it . " Ortved noted in his book that blaming a single show runner for what some perceive as the lowering quality of the show " is unfair . " When asked in 2007 how the series ' longevity is sustained , Scully joked , " Lower your quality standards . Once you 've done that you can go on forever . " 
