We’re less than sixty minutes away from “The Greatest Story Ever D’ohed,” wherein the family Simpson goes to… another faraway place. Hilarity – or groaning, more likely – ensues. Simpsons Channel graciously provides the lowdown for us:
The Simpsons vacation in the Holy Land, where Homer is convinced that he is the Messiah — and gets in trouble with the Muslims, the Jews, and the Christians, who all band together, despite their religious differences, to teach Homer a lesson. Sacha Baron Cohen guest stars as Jacob, an eccentric tour guide who shows the the Wailing Wall.
Homer with a delusional god-complex is exactly what we’ve come to expect from a show that no longer celebrates subtlety. My guess is we’re in for twenty-some minutes of jerkass Homer, but it’ll be funny because he’s not in Springfield, derp. Fuck anything trenchant, just give us toilet humor, montages galore, and embarrassing pop culture references whose humor end at the reference itself. It’s what we crave.
Dead Homer Society 
10 responses to “Sunday Preview: “The Greatest Story Ever D’ohed””
Horrendous episode.
Have to see how it scored on the Zombie Simpson’s check list…
Ridiculous plot – check
Characters acting out of character – check
Empty time killing sequences – check
Not a joke to be seen – check
Disgracefully poor guest appearance – check
All it needs now is the typical Zombie fan boy praise and the set will be complete.
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The following line from the synopsis is just upsetting to read…
“and gets in trouble with the Muslims, the Jews, and the Christians, who all band together, despite their religious differences, to teach Homer a lesson”
It reads like it’s the plot of a “very special episode,” where we are taught to all work together despite our differences and we all live happily ever after.
The sort of thing that The Simpsons used to make fun of.
Funnily enough, the story didn’t make it far enough for this to even happen, not that it matters.
They tediously drag us through the storyline with a series of unfunny sequences and forced plot points. Then all of a sudden we see that the characters are back on the plane home, the plot is resolved thanks to some contrived reasoning and we are treated to a sappy ending where Homer and Ned make up. Nonsensical plot, forcing sap down our throat and breaking characters.
In the past when the Simpsons had a message they would present it much more subtly. I may as well mention Homer the Heretic. In that episode they avoided the sap, they gave us a solid plot which was justifiably resolved and the writers had the courtesy to fill the episode with jokes and great humour.
Nowadays, all they present is trash.
Other questionable points:
Ned’s anger, smashing the camera etc.
Jimbo forced into the Bible study group just so they could use the “joke” about the youth of today not paying attention unless you mention technology.
Sacha Baron Cohen’s guest appearance. I thought it was bad from the beginning but then they had 30 seconds of unintelligible yelling, was there a joke or reference in there that I missed?
The fight sequence.
There is so much more wrong with this episode but I figure that forgetting it all is worth much more than remembering it, even for the purpose of criticism.
Probably should have re-read my post before I replied. If the writing seems a little disjointed it is because I originally had more written but decided to cut stuff out.
Although I don’t think it matters. People who agree with me aren’t going to pull a low blow by criticising my writing and Zombie Simpsons fans aren’t able to recognise poor writing anyway.
I think I’m safe.
We only shit on zombie fans; those who further the cause are celebrated.
I’m as inarticulate as hell most of the time. I think people just ignore me politely.
You’re in the clear, Stephen. I quite often post early in the morning and then realise my errors later in the day (an edit function would be great!). I won’t pull a low blow, but nor am I going to subject myself to watching the episode either!
Just checked on WordPress support, and it looks like there isn’t a way for commenters to edit comments, sorry.
No worries, thanks for checking. Just don’t look too harshly on me for my future typos. I’ve just had my first beer after after 8 days of antibiotics so at least I can see the world through better eyes now :D
…a world in which every woman is saying “You’re charming the pants off of me”?
Even the Zombie Simpsons Loving No Homer’s Club said this was bad. The 1/5 vote is at nearly 60 percent.
The Muslims, Christians and Jews all band together to agree that the show isn’t good any more.