10 Exact Moments The Simpsons Stopped Trying
1. Lisa Goes Gaga
The Simpsons has always utilised guest stars appearing on the show, from one off characters in Springfield to big name celebrities playing themselves. Among the best the show has to offer are Dustin Hoffman's appearance in Lisa's Substitute, and of course, Kelsey Grammar as Sideshow Bob.
It used to be that these one off additions to cast genuinely added to the episode, or at least made sense story-wise. However, in recent years, the show has seemingly leaned on these big names for a quick, easy ratings boost, without actually worrying about the quality of the episode itself.
The epitome of this may well be Lady Gaga's appearance in the season 22 episode, Lisa Goes Gaga. With Lisa depressed at being voted Springfield Elementary's least popular student, Gaga is made aware of her situation by a psychic vision (genuinely, a psychic vision), and decides to help her out. That is just about the entire story.
Not only was this one of the laziest, most poorly written episodes, with no substance whatsoever, based instead entirely around the special guest and her wardrobe choices, Lisa Goes Gaga is currently ranked on IMDb as the worst Simpsons episode of all time, with a pathetic score of 3.9.