The Worst Guest Star In Simpsons History According To Fans
"The Simpsons" is a TV institution. It's been around for well over three decades at this point, with hundreds of episodes to its name. Naturally, not all of them can be winners, and sometimes, not even a celebrity cameo is enough to salvage a poor plot.
Plenty of iconic moments feature celebrities, like when Johnny Cash portrayed a coyote guiding Homer on a spiritual journey in "El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer." Then there was the veritable cavalcade of celebrity guests in "Krusty Gets Kancelled," which included the likes of Johnny Carson, Bette Midler, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. A celebrity guest is best utilized when their presence enhances a plot that's already strong enough to survive on its own, which is why a lot of "Simpsons" fans believe the worst guest ever to grace Springfield is Lady Gaga, who appeared in Season 23's "Lisa Goes Gaga."
Fans have made their disdain for the episode abundantly clear, and the storyline has the lowest IMDb score out of any other "Simpsons" episode, currently standing at 3.9 stars. For context, the next lowest episode — "Bart vs. Itchy & Scratchy" — at least has 4.7 stars. So what is it about this episode that rubs "Simpsons" fans the wrong way?
Lisa Goes Gaga is a 'bad gimmick' to fans
It's clear many "Simpsons" fans aren't Gaga's little monsters, as many of them have taken to the internet to voice their displeasure at her episode. All you have to do is go over on Reddit, and you'll find a host of threads picking apart "Lisa Goes Gaga," like one kicked off by u/Sportfreunde, who wrote, "The show used to bring in celebrities for cameo appearances. Now they've done this stupid new thing where they try to forcibly build an episode around a celebrity and it just looks like a bad gimmick."
It doesn't exactly help "The Simpsons" has garnered a negative reputation as of late. Still, even for people who enjoy new "Simpsons," "Lisa Goes Gaga" leaves a bad taste in the mouth; as u/tedistkrieg opined, "I enjoy new episodes still but that one was a 30 min Lady Gaga commercial."
Separate threads challenge fans to come up with an all-time worst episode, and to make the challenge even harder, they request people not to vote for "Lisa Goes Gaga." Redditor u/Water_Bartender posited this question: "What's the worst Simpsons episode? Challenge: no Lisa Goes Gaga." Apparently, u/WeakPublic had a similar thought experiment: "What's the worst simpsons episode besides Lisa goes Gaga?" There's no love lost between die-hard "Simpsons" fans and Lady Gaga's appearance, and it seems Lady Gaga's first guest spot in Springfield will probably also be her last.