She of Little Faith

"She of Little Faith"
The Simpsons episode
Episode no.	275
Directed by	Steven Dean Moore
Written by	Bill Freiberger
Showrunner(s)	Al Jean
Production code	DABF02
Original air date	December 16, 2001
Chalkboard gag	"I do not have a cereal named after me"
Couch gag	The couch is a slot machine that shows Homer, Marge, Bart, and Lisa in the windows. Maggie, however, is replaced by lucky number “7” as a jackpot siren wails and a pile of gold coins spill out.
Commentary	Al Jean Matt Selman John Frink Tom Gammill Max Pross Bill Freiberger Pamela Hayden Steven Dean Moore
Guest appearance(s)
Richard Gere as himself
Season 13 episodes November 6, 2001 – May 22, 2002 "Treehouse of Horror XII" "The Parent Rap" "Homer the Moe" "A Hunka Hunka Burns in Love" "The Blunder Years" "She of Little Faith" "Brawl in the Family" "Sweets and Sour Marge" "Jaws Wired Shut" "Half-Decent Proposal" "The Bart Wants What It Wants" "The Lastest Gun in the West" "The Old Man and the Key" "Tales from the Public Domain" "Blame It on Lisa" "Weekend at Burnsie's" "Gump Roast" "I Am Furious (Yellow)" "The Sweetest Apu" "Little Girl in the Big Ten" "The Frying Game" "Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge"
Seasons
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

Richard Gere as himself

"She of Little Faith" is the sixth episode of The Simpsons' thirteenth season. It first aired in the United States on the Fox network on December 16, 2001. In the episode, Bart Simpson and his father Homer accidentally launch a model rocket into the Springfield church, causing the church council to accept funding plans from Mr. Burns for reparation. Discontent with how commercialized the rebuilt church has become, Lisa abandons Christianity and seeks out to follow a new religion.

The episode was directed by Steven Dean Moore and written by Bill Freiberger, whom executive producer and show runner Al Jean had met while working on the television series Teen Angel. The plot idea for the episode was pitched by Jean, who wanted to expand on Lisa's personality, even though some of the Simpsons writers were concerned over the episode's originality. Lisa has remained a Buddhist since this episode. The episode features actor Richard Gere, who agreed to star as long as Buddhism was portrayed accurately, and as long as Lisa would say "Free Tibet".

The episode was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming less than One Hour) in 2002, which it ultimately lost to the Futurama episode, "Roswell That Ends Well". Following the thirteenth season's release on DVD and Blu-ray, the episode received mostly positive reviews from critics.

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