Homer vs. Dignity
The Simpsons go out to dinner to celebrate Bart getting his first test "A" grade; however, Homer's credit card is rejected and, after a failed escape attempt, the family are made to sing for customers to work off their bill.
Naegle explains to them that, due to poor money management by Homer, the family have multiple mortgages and will need to declare bankruptcy several times.
Burns pays Homer to perform embarrassing and cruel tasks, such as pretending to be a baby who "made a boom boom" at the sports stadium restroom, eating a mint condition The Amazing Spider-Man #1 in front of Comic Book Guy, and later masquerading as the Springfield Zoo's new female panda, Sim-Sim.
After he quits the "prank monkey" job, she suggests using the leftover money to help needy children, so he buys and then donates the entire selection of kid's toys at Mr. Costington's department store.
Costington, impressed by Homer's generosity, invites him to play Santa Claus in the store's Thanksgiving Day parade, which Burns sees as an opportunity for one more prank.
[2] LaZebnik brought some friends and his wife to the table read and during the third act was repeatedly ended and went badly making Larry Doyle laugh hysterically.
Cindy White of IGN said that while the episode is universally panned, mostly due to the scene where Homer is implicitly raped by a panda at the zoo, and the intentional recycling of other Simpsons episode premises (such as the Simpsons having financial trouble, Mr. Burns hiring Homer to be his assistant while Smithers is on vacation, someone dressing up as a baby, Homer dressing up as Santa Claus, and Lisa worrying over someone selling their soul), it has funny throwaway jokes and sight gags to make up for it.
[7] In September 2009, Colin Jacobson of DVD Movie Guide gave the episode a negative review, saying "Bad sign number one: when a series plagiarizes itself.
[9] Mike Scully believes that the episode's negative reception was due to critics and audiences being unfamiliar with The Magic Christian.
