Homer and Ned's Hail Mary Pass

Infobox Simpsons episode
episode_name = Homer and Ned's Hail Mary Pass
episode_no = 343
prod_code = GABF02
airdate = February 6, 2005
writer = Tim Long
director = Steven Dean Moore
blackboard = None
couch_gag = The family builds a totem pole by standing on each other's shoulders (with Maggie on top).
guest_star = Tom Brady, LeBron James, Michelle Kwan, Yao Ming, and Warren Sapp as themselves.


image_caption = The promotional image for the episode featuring a couch gag with the episode's guest cast.
season = 16
"Homer and Ned's Hail Mary Pass" is a Super Bowl themed episode of "The Simpsons" that was broadcast after Super Bowl XXXIX.

Plot

The Simpsons go to Springfield Park and find it run down. They also find a charity carnival which is raising money to help the park. Bart wins the grand prize in a carnival game, and then Homer beats him, going into his victory dance. Ned Flanders captures the dance on video and Comic Book Guy (whose name is revealed for the first time as "Jeff Albertson") places it on his website. Soon, the entire world has seen Homer's embarrassing dance, much to Homer's anger. However, major sports stars ask Homer to teach them his dance for use in victory.

Meanwhile, Ned uses his camera to make a rather violent movie about Cain (Rod) and Abel (Todd). Everyone loves the film, except Marge, who finds it bloody and disgusting. Mr. Burns decides to finance Ned's next film, "Tales of the Old Testament" (which has a running time of 800 minutes - more than 13 hours). The bloodiness of the film angers Marge (whose character is portrayed as being somewhat intolerant and has censored other shows and movies with which she disagrees) and she announces at the screening that she will protest anything that Burns owns. Burns retorts, noting that he owns the town's nuclear power plant and there is no alternate power source to it. When the crowd blurt out alternate forms of power they can use Burns admits defeat and says the film will never be seen again, much to Ned's dismay.

Homer's victory dances find criticism with fans but the football national committee loves them as Homer's dancing has raised ratings. They ask him to choreograph the Super Bowl Halftime show. Unable to develop any idea for the show Homer finds Ned at church. Together they decide to stage one of Ned's violent Bible stories at the half-time show. At the Super Bowl Ned and Homer stage the story of Noah's Ark. At the end the of the show Ned appears and reads scripture from the Bible relating to performance. To this the audience jeers and boos. The media later accuses the Super Bowl of forcing Christianity onto the country, but the family does not care, and they enjoy an omelette dinner made from the eggs thrown at their house.

Cultural references

* Video game character Mario makes a cameo in this episode, where a disgruntled Homer fights with him due to his annoyance. The fight is a direct parody of "Donkey Kong" with Homer tossing garbage cans like Donkey Kong tossing barrels at Mario.
* Flanders' violent bible-themed films are a parody of "The Passion of the Christ".
* The outrage over Homer and Ned's halftime show parodies the controversy over the halftime show of Super Bowl XXXVIII.
* When Marge confronts Flanders about his movie, he questions whether she would rather watch another movie that he describes as "a film about a liberal European wizard school". This is a reference to the "Harry Potter" movies.
* Michelle Kwan's phrase "Beware the wrath of Kwan" is a reference to .
* When Ned Flanders pulls the video camera from the shelf in his home, a script from Citizen Kane can be seen on the shelf.
* JockCenter is a parody of SportsCenter.
* At the beginning of Flanders' second movie, there is a parody of the Columbia Pictures logo with Mr. Burns in place of the Torch Lady. The Burns on the screen then says, "I'm richer than you!"
* The episode title is a reference to the football play sometimes used out of desperation in close-scoring games.
* At the part when Homer tries to find an inspiration for his Halftime Show by watching the previous ones, one of the Halftime Shows is the wedding of Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man, which has the actors in the suits of Pac-Man and his wife and the ghosts. Shortly after they start dancing all together.
*Olivia Newton-John's song "Physical" was played during Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man's wedding.
*When Jonah is swallowed by the Whale, it is a biblical representation taken from the Old Testament.

Reception

23.1 million people watched the original broadcast of the episode, and it finished sixth in the weekly ratings for the week of January 31 - February 6, 2005. [cite news|title=Nielsen Ratings|date=2005-02-11|accessdate=2008-02-09|page=E8|publisher=St. Louis Post-Dispatch|author=Dusty Saunders]

References