Lisa Goes Gaga

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"Lisa Goes Gaga"
Couch gag
The family plays a Nintendo Wii game in which they sit on the couch, but Homer keeps failing. Homer angrily throws his Wii Remote down and tries to sit on the real couch, but fails just like in the game.
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"Lisa Goes Gaga" is the twenty-second and final episode of the twenty-third season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 20, 2012. In the episode, American singer-songwriter Lady Gaga makes a visit to Springfield, where all of its residents are in a state of depression. Lisa Simpson is arguably the most depressed person in the city, prompting Gaga to go out of her way to teach Lisa the meaning of happiness.

The episode was written by

Los Angeles, California
over four days in August 2011.

Critical responses to the episode were mixed to negative; critics looked down upon the episode's concept and general execution. According to the

Nielsen ratings
, the installment attained 4.79 million American viewers upon its original airing, making it notable as the lowest rated episode of The Simpsons up to that point.

Plot

Lady Gaga passes through Springfield via train while on her way to a concert. Seeing how low the city's self-esteem is, she takes it upon herself to cheer up the whole city. However, no one in town is more depressed than Lisa, who was voted as the most unpopular student by her peers. Lisa tries to reverse her status as one of the least popular girls in school by ghostwriting positive things about herself on the school blog under the heading "Truth Teller".

When Bart finds out her secret and reveals it to the school, her social ranking plummets to a new low until a psychic force tells Lady Gaga that Lisa needs her help immediately. After much soul searching and yelling at Lady Gaga for trying to help, Lisa realizes that her outburst helped her because she is finally expressing her anger instead of bottling it up inside her, in effect making Lady Gaga's mission successful. Lisa catches Lady Gaga just before she leaves town to apologize, and after being forgiven she and Lady Gaga perform a duet together. With Lady Gaga's assistance, Lisa and the entire town of Springfield realize that being oneself is better than being like anyone else. Just as Lady Gaga's train begins to leave again, Moe runs up to her and asks if she can help him as well, but Lady Gaga declines, stating that she's not that good. As Moe turns and walks across the train track, a second train hits him.

Production

Gaga's Pyrotechnic Underwear was one of her outfits that was parodied in the episode.

In August 2011, it first was revealed that Lady Gaga would make a guest appearance on the show as herself.[1][2][3][4] Producer James L. Brooks viewed Gaga's interview with Anderson Cooper on 60 Minutes, which prompted Al Jean to write a script and send her a letter of approval to appear on the show.[5] "She was really excited about the whole thing," Jean recalled. "After she signed on to do it, she came in to record dialogue twice, and we showed her a rough cut the second time."[5] Recording sessions for the episode took place in Los Angeles during a period of four days from August 22–26.[1] Gaga was initially apprehensive while recording on set, which led her to review the satirical nature of the show to get a better understanding on how to perform. "Their characters are so awesomely convincing and sincere and wild and funny, I had to remind myself constantly of the sincerity of the humor," she explained. "That's what I was trying to focus on—not putting on a character too much, and really being as sincere as I could with the lines."[1] Despite such emotions, Gaga professed that working with the staff of the show was "one of the coolest things that [she] has ever done".[1]

Several employees of The Simpsons were impressed with Gaga's performance, who cited that her vocal range and ad-libbing skills were exceptional. Series creator

E! Online, Groening further commented on Gaga's appearance; "The great thing about having Lady Gaga is that she came in a number of times and always with a different getup. Like she'd leave the room and come back in after a break in a completely new getup. It was unbelievable. The only time that she ever took off her hat was when it was banging into the microphone."[6] Cast member Yeardley Smith said that she was shocked that Gaga had the time to make an appearance on the series.[7]

The design team for the series conceived eighteen outfits to complement Gaga's

her meat dress and her Kermit the Frog dress. "We did a lot of research, looking back at her old outfits, and she's really been in a million different things, had a million different looks."[5]

Cultural references

Many aspects of Gaga's career are referenced in the episode. "You're All My Little Monsters", a musical number specifically created for the episode,

Poker Face". At the end of the episode, a title card promotes the Maggie-starring short film The Longest Daycare (2012), which was shown before Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012).[11]

Reception

"Lisa Goes Gaga" was originally broadcast on May 20, 2012 in the United States, as part of the "Animation Domination" television line-up on Fox. Upon airing, it acquired 4.79 million viewers and a 2.1 rating in the 18–49 demographic, indicating that 2.1 percent of individuals between ages 18 and 49 who watched television viewed the episode. "Lisa Goes Gaga" faced fierce competition, airing simultaneously with 60 Minutes on CBS, America's Got Talent on NBC, and the 2012 Billboard Music Awards on ABC.[12] Total viewership and ratings for the program evoked significant increases from the previous episode, "Ned 'n' Edna's Blend Agenda", which attained 4.07 million viewers and a 1.9 rating in the 18–49 demographic, and also is the lowest-rated episode to date in Nielsen Rating homes.[13]

The episode produced varying responses from television commentators, and mostly mixed to negative reviews from viewers. "Lisa Goes Gaga" provoked

Idolator's Becky Bain, Tracy Gilchrist of SheWired, and Caroline Westbrook of Metro issued favorable assessments of her acting:[16][17] the latter affirmed that Gaga had many memorable moments throughout the episode.[18]

And yet, as annoying as this episode was in concept and generally in execution, it wasn’t that painful to actually watch. Cartoon Lady Gaga’s costumes and theatricality were still entertaining. And even some of the Gaga-specific portions made me laugh, like Homer cooking Gaga’s meat dress and eating it, or Bart dressing Maggie up as “Baby Goo-goo.” Against my better judgment, I was moderately entertained.

— Rowan Kaiser, The A.V. Club[14]

"The series did make good use of their guest star instead of reducing her role to a small cameo," opined TV Fanatic's Teresa L., who concluded: "The episode ended up turning into one long-running gag about Gaga's eccentricities and a rehashing of all her most 'shocking' moments."[19] Jocelyn W. of TV Equals said, "Lady Gaga helped The Simpsons end its 23rd season on a memorable note."[20]

On IMDB, user ratings were polarized, with about 21% rating the episode a perfect 10/10, while 39% of viewers giving the episode 1/10 (the lowest score possible). The user average of 4.0 as of mid-2023 from more than 3,200 IMDB users makes it the lowest-rated episode in the entire series for the website.[21][22]

References

  1. ^
    Time, Inc.
    Retrieved August 23, 2011.
  2. Independent News & Media
    . August 25, 2011. Retrieved August 26, 2011.
  3. ^ Anne Hughes, Sarah (August 23, 2011). "Lady Gaga gets animated for 'The Simpsons'". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 26, 2011.
  4. The Huffington Post. Arianna Huffington
    . August 23, 2011. Retrieved August 26, 2011.
  5. ^
    Viacom
    ). Retrieved May 20, 2012.
  6. ^ Bricker, Tierney (February 17, 2012). "The Simpsons Celebrates 500 Episodes: How Kooky Was Lady Gaga? And Which Big Stars Are Next?". E!. Archived from the original on December 8, 2012. Retrieved February 18, 2012.
  7. Viacom
    ). Retrieved August 23, 2011.
  8. ^
    Viacom
    ). Retrieved May 20, 2012.
  9. ^ a b Greenwald, David (May 22, 2012). "Lady Gaga's 'Simpsons' Song: Watch". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved May 23, 2012.
  10. ^ Maloney, Devon (May 19, 2012). "Hear Lady Gaga's Cartoony, 90-Second 'Simpsons' Tune". Spin. Retrieved May 23, 2012.
  11. ^ Snierson, Dan (May 22, 2012). "'The Simpsons': Exclusive details on the next big-screen adventure (it's short, silent, and in 3-D)!". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved May 23, 2012.
  12. ^ Kondolojy, Amanda (May 21, 2012). "TV Ratings Sunday: 'Billboard Music Awards' Leads ABC to Nightly Win, 'Celebrity Apprentice' Sees Finale Low". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on May 24, 2012. Retrieved May 22, 2012.
  13. ^ Kondolojy, Amanda (May 8, 2012). "Sunday Final Ratings: 'Simpsons', 'Amazing Race' Finale, 'Harry's Law' Adjusted Up; 'Desperate Housewives', 'NYC 22' Adjusted Down". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on May 11, 2012. Retrieved May 22, 2012.
  14. ^ a b c Kaiser, Rowan (May 20, 2012). "'Lisa Goes Gaga'". The A.V. Club. Retrieved May 20, 2012.
  15. HLN
    . May 21, 2012. Retrieved May 22, 2012.
  16. Idolator
    . Retrieved May 22, 2012.
  17. ^ Gilchrist, Tracy (May 21, 2012). "Gaga and Marge Simpson Make Out - Watch". SheWired. Here Media. Retrieved May 22, 2012.
  18. Associated Newspapers Ltd
    . Retrieved May 22, 2012.
  19. ^ L., Teresa (May 20, 2012). "The Simpsons Review: Lady Blah-Blah". TV Fanatic. Retrieved May 22, 2012.
  20. ^ W., Jocelyn (May 21, 2012). "The Simpsons "Lisa Goes Gaga" Review". TV Equals. Retrieved May 22, 2012.
  21. ^ "The Simpsons" Lisa Goes Gaga (TV Episode 2012) - Ratings - IMDb, retrieved June 28, 2023
  22. ^ "With The Simpsons (1989) (Sorted by IMDb Rating Ascending)". IMDb. Retrieved June 28, 2023.

External links

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