Release
The episode originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on January 16, 2000. On October 7, 2008, it was released on DVD as part of the box set The Simpsons – The Complete Eleventh Season. Staff members Mike Scully, George Meyer, Matt Selman, and Nancy Kruse participated in the DVD audio commentary for the episode. Deleted scenes from the episode were also included on the box set. A song Bart sings in the episode, called "Testify", was released on the soundtrack album The Simpsons: Testify in 2007.
Reception from critics has been mixed. While reviewing the eleventh season of The Simpsons, DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson commented on "Faith Off", noting: "If nothing else, I like this one for the sight of Homer with the bucket stuck on his head; something about seeing him with those little eyeholes entertains me. Otherwise there’s not much powerful at work here. The healing plot is a decent one, and Don Cheadle gives us a good guest performance. The program is fine but not much more than that." Nancy Basile of About.com, on the other hand, listed the episode as one of the episodes she felt "shined in season eleven". Alison Kerr of The Herald called the episode "brilliant". In his review of the eleventh season, Den of Geek critic Mark Oakley wrote that "there are some fine episodes to be found", such as "Faith Off", which he described as a "highlight". He added that the "song Testify harks back to the brilliance of the show’s great musical numbers like The Stonecutters Song." In 2003, the Orlando Sentinel's Gregory Hardy named "Faith Off" the fifth best episode of the show with a sports theme. Jerry Greene, another Orlando Sentinel columnist, listed the episode at number seven on his 2004 list of the show's "Top 10 Sporting Episodes". He particularly liked the inscription on Springfield University's gateway that says: "If you can read this, you're accepted."
Read more about this topic: Faith Off
Famous quotes containing the word release:
“If I were to be taken hostage, I would not plead for release nor would I want my government to be blackmailed. I think certain government officials, industrialists and celebrated persons should make it clear they are prepared to be sacrificed if taken hostage. If that were done, what gain would there be for terrorists in taking hostages?”
—Margaret Mead (1901–1978)
“Come, thou long-expected Jesus,
born to set thy people free;
from our fears and sins release us,
let us find our rest in thee.”
—Charles Wesley (1707–1788)
“We read poetry because the poets, like ourselves, have been haunted by the inescapable tyranny of time and death; have suffered the pain of loss, and the more wearing, continuous pain of frustration and failure; and have had moods of unlooked-for release and peace. They have known and watched in themselves and others.”
—Elizabeth Drew (1887–1965)