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The Simpsons episode
"Homer and Ned's Hail Mary Pass"
Episode no.	343
Prod. code	GABF02
Orig. Airdate	February 6, 2005
Written by	Tim Long
Directed by	Steven Dean Moore
Chalkboard	None
Couch gag	The family builds a totem pole by standing on one another
Guest star	Tom Brady, LeBron James, Michelle Kwan, Yao Ming, and Warren Sapp
SNPP capsule
Season 16 November 7, 2004 – May 15, 2005
Treehouse of Horror XV All's Fair in Oven War Sleeping with the Enemy She Used to Be My Girl Fat Man and Little Boy Midnight Rx Mommie Beerest Homer and Ned's Hail Mary Pass Pranksta Rap There's Something About Marrying On a Clear Day I Can't See My Sister Goo Goo Gai Pan Mobile Homer The Seven-Beer Snitch Future-Drama Don't Fear the Roofer The Heartbroke Kid A Star Is Torn Thank God It's Doomsday Home Away from Homer The Father, the Son, and the Holy Guest Star
List of all Simpsons episodes...

"Homer and Ned's Hail Mary Pass" is a Super Bowl themed episode of The Simpsons that aired after Super Bowl XXXIX. 23.1 million people watched the original broadcast of the episode.

The Simpsons go to Springfield Park and find it run down. They also find a charity carnival which is raising money to help the park. Bart wins first prize and then Homer beats him, going into his victory dance. Ned captures the dance and Comic Book Guy (revealing that his real name is Jeff Albertson) places it on his eBaum's World-esque website. Soon, the entire world has seen Homer's embarrassing dance, much to Homer's anger. (see Numa Numa)

However, major sports players ask Homer to teach them his dance. Meanwhile, Ned uses his camera to make a movie about Cain (Rod) and Abel (Todd). Everyone loves the film, except Marge, who finds it bloody. Mr. Burns decides to finance Ned's next film, "Tales of the Old Testament" (which has a running time of 800 minutes). The bloodiness of the film angers Marge and she decides to protest Burns. Burns retorts, asking (in what is meant to be a rhetorical fashion) what they would use instead of his nuclear power. When everyone else mentions alternate forms of power they can use, Burns admits defeat and says the film will never be seen again, much to Ned's dismay.

Homer's advice has found criticism, but the football national committee loves them, as Homer's advice has raised ratings. They ask him to choreograph the Super Bowl Halftime show. He cannot get any ideas and runs into Ned at church. Homer than gets an idea for the halftime show, which ends up being about Noah. This is hated and the crowd thinks they are trying to de-secularize the country.

• Quarterback Tom Brady, who made a cameo in this episode, led the New England Patriots to victory in Super Bowl XXXIX, which aired immediately before this episode.
• We learn Comic Book Guy's real name is Jeff Albertson, when he introduces himself to Ned while asking for his recording of Homer's victory dance. He is wearing a shirt that says, "Nerds do it rarely."
• With 23.1 million viewers, this episode is one of the highest rated episodes in Simpson history.
• Although the episode is filled with NFL references, the word "NFL" was never mentioned or said by any of the characters. The two "goons" who went to the Simpsons house said that they work for the "comissioner of football", rather than the commissioner of the NFL. The commissioner of the NFL at the time the episode originally aired was Paul Tagliabue.

• Video game character Mario makes a cameo in this episode, where a disgruntled Homer fights with him due to his annoyance. The fight is a direct parody of Donkey Kong with Homer tossing garbage cans like Donkey Kong tossing barrels at Mario.
• Flanders' violent films are an obvious parody of The Passion of the Christ.
• Michelle Kwan's line, "Beware the wrath of Kwan!" is a reference to the movie Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
• The outrage over Homer and Ned's halftime show parodies the controversy over the halftime show of Super Bowl XXXVIII.
• On the Comic Book Guy's website, the link to Homer's showboating video is a reference to Mikhail Baryshnikov, the famous Russian dancer.
• The video of Homer at the carnival is similar to the Numa Numa craze.
• The video is played in what looks identical to QuickTime Player.
• When Flanders reaches for the video camera on his bookshelf, we can see what appears to be the script for the film "Citizen Kane" on Ned's bookshelf. The other books on the shelf are not labelled, a previous episode^{[citation needed]} showed all the books on Ned's bookshelf being different editions and translations of the Bible.
• The title board at the stadium says Simon Vs Garfunkel.
• The show "Jock Center" is an obvious reference to ESPN's Sportscenter.
• When Yao Ming says while rowing Noah's Ark that "I left the People's Republic for this?", he is referring to China, as China's official name is "People's Republic of China".

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