page_title: The Great Wife Hope
section_title: Reception
hierarchical_section_title: The Great Wife Hope / Reception
caption_attribution_description: English: Picture of Dana White taken by a Marine during the course of their official duties, so it is in the public domain.
context_page_description: "The Great Wife Hope" is the third episode of The Simpsons' twenty-first season. Originally broadcast on the Fox network in the United States on October 11, 2009, it sees the men of Springfield taking immense interest in a new combat sport called mixed martial arts. Marge is appalled by the violent sport and demands that the creator put a stop to it, but he agrees only if she will fight him in a match and win.
  "The Great Wife Hope" was written by Carolyn Omine and directed by Matthew Faughnan. Former Ultimate Fighting Championship champion Chuck Liddell guest starred in it as himself. The episode featured multiple cultural references to fighting moves and positions, along with a single reference to professional wrestling promotion owner Vince McMahon.
  Since airing, the episode has received generally positive reviews from television critics, particularly towards the final scene. It received a 4.3/7 Nielsen rating with adults ages 18–49, behind all other programs aimed at that demographic in its timeslot.
context_section_description: "The Great Wife Hope" originally aired in the United States on October 11, 2009 on the Fox network.  In this initial broadcast, it received a Nielsen rating of 4.3/7, totaling 7.5 million viewers in the 18-19 demographic.
  The episode received generally positive reviews from television critics. IGN reporter Robert Canning gave the episode a 7.7/10 rating ("Good"), commenting that "what really made me enjoy 'The Great Wife Hope' were the peripheral bits, characters and jokes outside the main storyline. There were many, and they were funny.
  Emily VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club, giving the episode a "B", wrote that it had "some amusing detours along the way". She compared "The Great Wife Hope" positively to season two's "Itchy & Scratchy & Marge", writing that Marge's attempts to bring down the MMA sport is the parallel to her trying to bring The Itchy & Scratchy Show off the air due to its severe cartoon violence in the latter episode. The staff of the website MMAjunkie said the episode was a sign that MMA had "truly made it" and fans of the sport could appreciate the writer's knowledge on the topic.
  Among more negative reviews include Jason Hughes of TV Squad, who commented that several jokes in the episode did not work, such as the reveal that Krusty the Clown has been sleeping with Sideshow Mel's wife for several years, though he did enjoy most of the other jokes and applauded the development of Nelson's character.
  Dana White, president of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), told reporters that he did not like the episode. He added, "People like the [mixed martial arts] media always try to tell me that we're mainstream. [...] Did you see that Simpsons episode? Chuck Liddell signs an autograph for somebody, and he says, 'That will be $45, please'. The sport isn't like that at all. Then the promoter of the show fights Marge Simpson in the octagon, sucker-punches her in the face, and then says, 'You're the only woman I've ever hit that I didn't love'. That's the way mainstream looks at us and thinks of us, and I know that."
  The final scene in the episode, featuring Bart and Lisa fighting in the arena, has received overwhelmingly positive remarks from reviewers. Canning wrote that it was "a classic moment for the series [...] This almost felt like a moment that could have closed out the series." Hughes commented that it was "the best moment of the night" as it "would have been a typical ending" if it had not added the twist preceding the credits. Melissa and Randall Baker of TV Guide magazine said that the scene was a moment of "girl power", as Lisa knocks out Bart easily with one punch.
caption: Dana White openly criticized the episode for its portrayal of MMA.
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