Lisa Goes Gaga is considered to be the peak of The Simpsons selling out because it just wants to joke about Lady Gaga wearing funny outfits and ruins Lisa's character because Lisa can't say what's good about her until she yells at Lady Gaga for showing off. However, there are many reasons that I found this episode to actually be worse than that. There were a few moments in Lisa Goes Gaga that made me laugh, and it still came to a good conclusion.
Now, unlike Postcards From the Wedge and Love is a Many Strangled Thing, Bart isn't so awful because he actually feels guilty about accidentally burning down the Christmas tree, but that doesn't make this episode good. It's bad because of how bad everyone else is. Not just Homer, but all of the Simpsons choke Bart for ruining their Christmas. While it was wrong of The Simpsons to scam Springfield and blow it on a car, the rest of Springfield could have handled it better by not going from helping the Simpsons to being horrible to them, and be understanding of the fact that while they were not robbed, The Simpsons still needed their help to fix Christmas. (This gets to a horrible extreme in The Boys of Bummer, but that managed to fix things by the ending.) Bart caused the problem with the Christmas tree and Homer and Marge lied to Kent Brockman about the burglar, but Lisa gets punished like the rest of them even though she did nothing. The ending tries and fails to be heartwarming because the Simpsons being glad that they still have each other on Christmas doesn't excuse the rest of Springfield for robbing them. It's just not funny that Bart in Miracle on Evergreen Terrace, Timmy in It's a Wishful Life, and Twilight in A Canterlot Wedding have to be punished for feeling guilty about screwing up when they meant well. It's just really sad and cruel.
Now, unlike Postcards From the Wedge and Love is a Many Strangled Thing, Bart isn't so awful because he actually feels guilty about accidentally burning down the Christmas tree, but that doesn't make this episode good. It's bad because of how bad everyone else is. Not just Homer, but all of the Simpsons choke Bart for ruining their Christmas. While it was wrong of The Simpsons to scam Springfield and blow it on a car, the rest of Springfield could have handled it better by not going from helping the Simpsons to being horrible to them, and be understanding of the fact that while they were not robbed, The Simpsons still needed their help to fix Christmas. (This gets to a horrible extreme in The Boys of Bummer, but that managed to fix things by the ending.) Bart caused the problem with the Christmas tree and Homer and Marge lied to Kent Brockman about the burglar, but Lisa gets punished like the rest of them even though she did nothing. The ending tries and fails to be heartwarming because the Simpsons being glad that they still have each other on Christmas doesn't excuse the rest of Springfield for robbing them. It's just not funny that Bart in Miracle on Evergreen Terrace, Timmy in It's a Wishful Life, and Twilight in A Canterlot Wedding have to be punished for feeling guilty about screwing up when they meant well. It's just really sad and cruel.