Thank God, It's Doomsday

"Thank God, It's Doomsday"
The Simpsons episode
Jesus on the swing in Heaven.
Episode no.	354
Prod. code	GABF14
Orig. airdate	May 8, 2005
Showrunner(s)	Al Jean
Written by	Don Payne
Directed by	Michael Marcantel
Couch gag	Everyone in the family looks like Moe Szyslak--including the female members.
Guest star(s)	Baha Men sing "Who Wants a Haircut?" Los Lobos play their version of the end credits
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 The Simpsons episodes
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"Thank God, It's Doomsday" is the nineteenth episode of The Simpsons' sixteenth season. The episode aired for the first time on May 8, 2005, in the US.

Plot

After Homer sees the film Left Below, he fears that the Rapture will soon be coming. Despite console by Marge and Lisa, Homer encounters signs signs suggestive of the Rapture. He uses numerology to calculate the date and time of the Rapture and concludes that it is only a week away.

Homer predicts that stars will fall from the sky, and when there is a blimp accident at the Krusty Celebrity Salute to Specials special and some celebrities fall to their deaths. His prophecy causes many of Springfield's residents to believe that the world will end and they go with him to the Springfield Mesa to wait for the Rapture. However, the predicted hour passes without incident, and the people of Springfield go home. All of them are annoyed at Homer, particularly Moe, who had sold his tavern to be converted to a Japanese sushi bar. Homer goes home and realizes that he has made an error in his calculation, so he returns to the Mesa with no support. Suddenly he becomes naked and floats through space.

Homer arrives in Heaven, where he is greeted by the tour guide who shows him around. He is then shown to his room where he requests to see his family on the big TV screen in his room. Marge and the children are shown being tormented by the devil. He has a talk with God about saving his family. When God refuses to help, due to Jesus' suffering on Earth, Homer becomes angry. He runs around vandalising Heaven, trying to change God's mind, and gets stopped by security. God finally agrees to undo the Rapture by turning back time. Homer later wakes up on the mesa and is reunited with Marge, Bart and Lisa. He suspects that it was all a dream, but the fact that his final wish was granted (Moe's Tavern having been restored) indicates to him that the events were real.

Cultural references

• The title is a reference to the popular saying, Thank God It's Friday.
• The plot in some ways parodies the real-life story of William Miller.
• The song playing when Homer is throwing away his books on the Rapture is Three Dog Night's version of "Easy To Be Hard" from the musical Hair.
• The sushi bar Moe sold his tavern to is called Tokyo Roe's Sushi Bar, an obvious reference to Tokyo Rose.
• God's seat is an Aeron chair manufactured by Herman Miller of Zeeland, Michigan.
• Among the deceased seen in heaven are Leonardo Da Vinci and Dean Martin.
• Charlie Brown is shown for the fourth time. The first time he was seen in his ghost costume in "Treehouse of Horror II"; the second, a candle version of him was seen in "Grade School Confidential"; the third time, in "Treehouse of Horror XIV".
• The song played as Homer enters heaven is "The Flower Duet" from the opera Lakmé by Léo Delibes.
• The clock labelled Heaven is on UTC or UTC+12 relative to the other clocks labelled London, New York, and Tokyo.
• When God turns backs time, he exclaims "deus ex machina." This literary device is used ironically because it means "God from the machine" and refers to an inexplicable resolution to an unsolvable problem-—which is what happens in the episode when the Apocalypse is undone.
• The scene at the end of the episode, in which Homer and his pals sit drinking at the bar, evokes the Last Supper painting by Leonardo Da Vinci, with Homer in the position of Jesus.
• At the hair salon they play a parody of the Baha Men's song "Who Let The Dogs Out?"

• One of the books Homer purchases on the subject of the Rapture is entitled 1989: The Year of Armageddon, a satiric allusion to Hal Lindsey's discredited book The 1980s: Countdown to Armageddon.
• "Hallelujah", the chorus from Handel's Messiah