"The Joy of Sect" is the thirteenth episode of the ninth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 8, 1998. In the episode, a cult takes over Springfield, and the Simpson family become members.
Various residents of Springfield being forced by the Movementarians cult into growing and harvesting lima beans.
David Mirkin, executive producer of "The Joy of Sect", pitched the episode's plot.
Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart, is a practitioner of Scientology, which served as an influence on Movementarianism as depicted in the episode.
The ninth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons originally aired on the Fox network between September 1997 and May 1998, beginning on Sunday, September 21, 1997, with "The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson". Mike Scully served as showrunner for the ninth production season. The ninth broadcast season contained three episodes with 4F-series production codes, indicating that they were hold-over episodes from production season eight, and two episodes with 3G-series production codes, which are not explicitly confirmed to be part of any production season but are speculated to be relabeled 3F-series episodes. This makes it the first broadcast season to include holdover episodes from two previous production seasons.
DVD cover featuring The Simpson family attending a showing of the 200th episode.
Martin Sheen guest-starred as the real Seymour Skinner in the infamous episode "The Principal and the Pauper"
Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek made a guest appearance as himself in the Christmas episode "Miracle on Evergreen Terrace"
James Earl Jones narrated the episode "Das Bus"
