10 Pray Anything

The show has delved into religious themes many times in its history. In this episode, the theme of prayer is given centre stage.

The episode had a freelance pitch. O'Neal and Boushell wanted to ensure they came up with a unique idea that had never been done before, as they knew the episode was near the show's 300th anniversary. The original pitch was based off an NPR story about the “gospel of prosperity”. This episode opens with a WNBA game because many NBA players had turned them down for a guest spot a couple of years before in the episode Children of a Lesser Clod. The lenticular card of a "vengeful god" and "loving god" was animated by creating two images which cross dissolved with white lines interspersed. Al Jean explained that a valid point made in the episode was why God should care about the average man's first world problems when there are natural and man-made disasters that could use his help. Castellaneta did a longer falling noise at the table read than the one that appeared in the final cut of the episode; it was really funny. Al Jean explained that due to the loss of Phil Hartman - and therefore Lionel Hutz - it was tough to introduce new lawyers to the show. This episode includes one such attempt. The staff had a fight with the broadcast standards over Homer dancing around the church in his underwear, and using the cross etc. In regard to the sunset shot, up until this point in the show's history, there was not much graduated shading used because it had to be painstakingly drawn. In contrast, it is very quick and easy using the computer, which is why Polcino prefers digital over the hand painted - many more color and shading options are made available.