TV’s The Simpsons are headed to Jerusalem for a special episode slated to air in the US next Sunday, which is both Palm Sunday and Passover eve. According to a Ha’aretz report last year, such a cartoon visit was in the works for 2010.
Multiple media sources have quoted the show’s executive producer, Al Jean, as saying that America’s number one animated family would indeed head to the Holy Land.
“I think we’re going to do one next year where they go to the Holy Land as we haven’t been there yet. The premise will be that the Christians, the Jews and Muslims are united in that they all get mad at Homer. It’s the only thing they can agree on,” Jean told Haaretz.
This is, of course, hardly the first time Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie have encountered trouble outside of the United States, with previous episodes depicting their misadventures in Ireland, Japan, China, Italy, African banana republics, South America and Australia. Those episodes have often offended the real-life inhabitants of the localities in question, with stereotypes exploited by the show’s writers to generate laughs. Regardless, the Israeli government is hoping for the best. Amnon Liebermann, a spokesman for Israeli Tourism Minister Stas Meseznikov, told the Jerusalem Post this week that the Simpsons surely “will encourage people to come and visit and enjoy Israel.”
Perhaps he should wait until the episode airs before making such statements. The family’s visit to the Holy Land is rumored to include Homer contracting our city’s beloved Jerusalem Syndrome, believing that he is some sort of messiah.
Moreover, this past winter, word began circulating that British super-comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, who was sighted at Madonna’s Tel Aviv concert in September, would portray a local tour guide charged with showing the family around town in the episode. This isn’t the first time that Baron Cohen has been involved with an on-screen tour of Jerusalem. Let’s not forget the key peacemaking-themed segment of his 2009 movie, Bruno, which was apparently filmed not far from Jerusalem’s Old City.
This also isn’t the first time in 2009 that a major entertainer took part in a production themed around a visit to Jerusalem. Sesame Street‘s Grover was recently caught on camera touring the main sites around town for the upcoming second season of Shalom Sesame, which is set to include guest spots from the likes of Christina Applegate, Jake Gyllenhaal, Greg Kinnear, Debra Messing and maybe even Ben Stiller.
