Homer vs. Dignity

"Homer vs. Dignity" is the fifth episode of "The Simpsons"’ twelfth season. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 26, 2000. In the episode, Mr. Burns hires a cash-strapped Homer as his "prank monkey", paying him to play pranks on others and humiliate himself in public.
The episode was written by Rob LaZebnik in his last writing credit for over eight years, until season 20's "Father Knows Worst". The episode features cultural references to "The Magic Christian" and "The Birds". The episode has been met with negative reviews.
Plot.
The family take Bart out to dinner for getting his first "A" on an astronomy quiz. Homer's credit card is rejected, and the Simpsons are made to sing and entertain the other customers to work off their bill. On the drive home, Bart and Lisa notice that the back seats and floor of the car are missing. Homer explains that he had to sell them for gas money.
The Simpsons learn from financial planner Lindsay Naegle that they have money woes. Homer decides to ask his boss, Mr. Burns, for a raise. Burns is looking for things to amuse himself while his assistant, Smithers, is in New Mexico performing in a Malibu Stacy musical that he wrote. Homer shows him how to use the salad bar at the cafeteria, then asks for a raise. Burns is unimpressed and, wanting a "larf", orders Homer to throw pudding at Lenny with the promise of four dollars. Homer does so, amusing Burns. He decides to make Homer his "prank monkey".
Burns pays Homer to perform embarrassing or cruel tasks, such as eating a copy of "The Amazing Spider-Man" #1 in front of Comic Book Guy and pretending to be a baby in a public toilet. At the Springfield Zoo, he has Homer put on a panda suit and masquerade as a new female panda named "Sim-Sim". Homer is zapped by animal handlers and implicitly raped by the zoo's male panda, Ping-Ping. When Homer tries to escape, he ends up in the skunk exhibit and gets sprayed.
Lisa discovers him and convinces Homer to stop being a "prank monkey" as his dignity is more important than money. Lisa suggests donating all the money he has earned to needy children, so he spends it on toys at Costington's Department Store. Mr. Costington, impressed by this show of generosity, suggests that Homer dress up as Santa Claus for the Thanksgiving Day parade, distributing the toys to the kids. During the parade, Burns tries to convince Homer to pull a prank on the whole town. Homer refuses, even when Burns offers one million dollars. Burns instead commandeers his Santa costume and throws bucketfuls of fish guts into the crowd himself, which results in an attack by seagulls. Homer thanks Lisa for giving him dignity.
Production.
The episode was written by Rob LaZebnik and directed by Neil Affleck, the last episode that he directed. It is LaZebnik's first full written script with the first script being "G-G-Ghost D-D-Dad" from "Treehouse of Horror XI" and draws its plot from the British film "The Magic Christian", itself an adaptation of Terry Southern's novel of the same name. There was originally a sub-plot with Smithers' musical. LaZebnik brought some friends and his wife to the table read and during the third act was repeatedly ended and went badly making Larry Doyle laugh hysterically. There was another prank where Mr. Burns put a lottery ticket into a grave and everybody went digging for the lottery ticket. The episode includes a character named Rusty the Clown, a reference to Rusty Nails, the inspiration for Krusty the Clown.
There was originally going to be a running gag where Lenny keeps getting hit with random objects. There were many endings to the original script. One ending was Homer throwing pig's blood into the crowd and 50 years later showing Homer telling a group of children that this was the reason why Thanksgiving was renamed Bloodsfest. They were also going to be hit by blood and laugh. There was also another ending with gravy, but then changed to fish guts. The full version of the song "Sold Separately" was later released on "The Simpsons" soundtrack album, "". "Homer vs. Dignity" was included on The Simpsons Christmas 2 DVD along with "Dude, Where's My Ranch?", "Skinner's Sense of Snow", and "'Tis the 15th Season".
Reception.
The episode has received negative reviews from critics. Cindy White of IGN said that while the episode is universally panned, mostly due to the scene where Homer is implicitly raped by a panda at the zoo, and the intentional recycling of other "Simpsons" episode premises (such as the Simpsons having financial trouble, Mr. Burns hiring Homer to be his assistant while Smithers is on vacation, someone dressing up as a baby, Homer dressing up as Santa Claus, and Lisa worrying over someone selling their soul), it has funny throwaway jokes and sight gags to make up for it.
In September 2009, Colin Jacobson of DVD Movie Guide gave the episode a negative review, saying "Bad sign number one: when a series plagiarizes itself. That occurs here when Mr. Burns states 'There’s a "new" Mexico?', a line that was a lot funnier...back in season five. Bad sign number two: a scene in which Homer gets raped by a panda. A couple of the pranks provide minor amusement, but overall, this is a weak episode." Judge Mac McEntire of the DVD Verdict said the episode's best moment was with Homer and the panda. Mike Scully believes that the episode's negative reception was due to critics and audiences being unfamiliar with "The Magic Christian".
In January 2012, Johnny Dee of "The Guardian" wrote that many fans regard the panda rape scene as "a low in the show's history" and suggested the phrase "raped by a panda" should replace "jumped the shark" to imply that a popular series has declined in quality and is beyond recovery.