The Simpsons: 10 Real Unaired Pitches (And What They Could Have Been About)

2. Lisa The Scientopteran

Lisa The Scientopteran was pitched by legendary Simpsons writer and producer George Meyer. This episode was originally meant for season eight but ran into issues. Bill Oakley discussed in a 2005 Q & A about "a hilarious and fully worked out story by George Meyer. I can't reveal the subject matter here but we never went forward with it because of 1) legal ramifications and 2) the fact that at least a couple of people on the staff/cast would've felt personally attacked by the episode and we just didn't want to deal with the fallout." It is a sensible deduction that this was the episode he was talking about. Lisa, the most enlightened of the Simpson family, could become fed up of what Reverend Lovejoy and the church are preaching and she decides to find a new religion. She meets a young girl and her family, who are part of the Scientopteran movement, and decides to try this one. When the family notice she has become brainwashed and is spending the family's money on literature to move up to the next level, they try to intervene and stop the obsession. Lisa eventually breaks the hold the group have on her and realises that the religion is a profit making business and that alien intervention in Earthly matters doesn't make sense. She returns to The First Church Of Springfield for now but is still searching for something more. This pitch is clearly targeted at Scientology. Mark I. Pinsky, author of "The Gospel According to The Simpsons", mentions that the producers had "vetoed an episode-length swat at Scientology in fear of the group's reputation for suing and harassing opponents." Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart, is a big Scientologist and would have felt the episode was attacking her and her beliefs. Unlike Isaac Hayes in the controversial South Park episode mocking the religion, Cartwright is integral to the show and the producers wouldn't want to risk losing her. This episode had huge potential and it is possible that some elements of Meyer's story may have been watered down and used in Season nine's "The Joy of Sect," which focuses on a fictional cult, The Movementarians.