Homer Loves Flanders
Encyclopedia
"Homer Loves Flanders" is the sixteenth episode of The Simpsons
' fifth season
. It originally aired on the Fox network
in the United States on March 17, 1994. In the episode, Ned Flanders
helps Homer Simpson
get tickets to a football
game. The two initially become good friends, but Homer eventually takes the friendship too far with his stupid antics, oblivious to the fact that Flanders is beginning to hate him.
The episode was written by David Richardson
and directed by Wesley Archer. It was the last episode to be pitched by writer Conan O'Brien
before he left The Simpsons. The episode features cultural references to films such as Terminator 2: Judgment Day
and The Ten Commandments
, and songs such as "Two Tickets to Paradise
", "Macho Man
", and "Helter Skelter". Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. It acquired a Nielsen rating of 10.9, and was the third highest-rated show on the Fox network the week it aired.
game on a radio contest. Flanders wins the tickets instead, and invites Homer as his guest at the game. Desperate to attend the game, Homer accepts. Flanders pays for all the food and even gets the winning quarterback
, Stan "The Boy" Taylor, to give the game ball to Homer. Overwhelmed by Flanders's generosity and no longer ashamed to be associated with him, Homer becomes friends with Flanders and his family. Homer begins acting overly grateful and annoys Flanders and his family to no end by interrupting their family time together. The Flanders family and the Simpson family
go on a camping trip, but the families do not get along. When the Simpsons initiate a food fight, Flanders tells his wife that he has grown to hate Homer.
Upon returning home, Homer remains oblivious to Flanders's animosity. He arrives at the Flanders's house expecting to play golf, but Flanders and his family get in their car and race off without him. Pulled over by Chief Wiggum for speeding, Flanders takes a sobriety test as disapproving townspeople watch. At church, when the entire congregation bow their heads in prayer, Homer inhales very loudly through his nose, causing Flanders to yell at Homer. This alarms the congregation, but nevertheless, Homer sticks up for Flanders and convinces the townspeople to give him another chance. The next week, everything returns to normal, as Homer once again is annoyed by Flanders.
"Homer Loves Flanders" was the last episode to be pitched by Conan O'Brien
before he left The Simpsons. David Richardson
was assigned to write it, and Wesley Archer to direct it. Richardson wrote the episode at a Motel 6
in Hemet, California
while he was dating an actress who was shooting a film there. In this season, the staff wanted to take a deeper look at the relationships of the characters. One of the things they wanted to explore in particular was what Homer and Flanders have in common and how they could turn into friends. Former show runner
David Mirkin
enjoyed making Homer and Flanders get along because they do not normally act that way.
The episode begins with the Simpson family watching a news broadcast in which the news anchor Kent Brockman
calls the United States Army
a "kill-bot factory". Mirkin said this was a joke the staff "particularly loved to do" because it pointed out how negative and mean-spirited news broadcasts can be, and how they are seemingly "always trying to scare everybody" by creating panic and depression. In one scene in the episode, Marge begins hallucinating after drinking from Springfield's water supply, which has been spiked with LSD by Springfield
's rival town, Shelbyville. The Fox network's censors wanted the scene to be cut from the episode because they did not like the idea of Marge "getting high" on LSD. Mirkin, however, defended the scene and argued Marge was not "doing it on purpose", so the censors ultimately allowed the scene to remain in the episode. In another scene, Homer becomes frustrated at God for not getting the tickets to the game, so yells at a waffle stuck to the ceiling that he believes is God. Marge points out to him, however, that it is just a waffle that Bart threw up there. This scene, inspired by some melted caramel stuck to the ceiling of the Simpsons writers' room, is one of Mirkin's and Richardson's "all time favorite" jokes.
When Homer hears the 1978 song "Two Tickets to Paradise
" by Eddie Money
on the radio, he sings along and plays air guitar
. As Homer is eating nachos at the football game, he makes up a song called "Nacho Man", a reference to Village People
's 1978 song "Macho Man
". When Flanders is mistakenly arrested for taking drugs, Chief Wiggum asks him "Where's your Messiah
now, Flanders?", a line originally spoken by Edward G. Robinson
's character Dathan
in the 1956 film The Ten Commandments
. The scene where Homer chases Flanders's car is a parallel of the sequence in Terminator 2: Judgment Day
, in which Robert Patrick
's character T-1000
chases the heroes in the police car after escaping from the hospital. When Rod and Todd are watching television in the Flanders's living room, a picture of Leonardo da Vinci
's painting The Last Supper
can be seen behind them. The homeless shelter that Homer and Flanders visit is called Helter Shelter, a reference to the 1968 song "Helter Skelter" by The Beatles
.
and Melrose Place.
Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. In 2007, Patrick Enright of MSNBC
called the episode his eighth favorite of the show. He praised the references to Terminator 2 in the episode, as well as Lisa's self-referential quote about how, "by next week, we'll be back to where we started from, ready for another wacky adventure." The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, thought the episode had "some great existential musings" from Lisa. They added that it also "contains some nice moments highlighting the differences between the Simpsons and the Flanders." DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson said: "I always remembered ["Homer Loves Flanders"] to be a great episode – and I recalled correctly. Sure, the show goes with a less than creative presence; it’s an easy story to make characters behave in atypical ways. However, the development of the theme is terrific, as we learn the friendship of Homer Simpson is worse than the antagonism of Homer Simpson." DVD Talk
gave the episode a 4 out of 5 score. Patrick Bromley of DVD Verdict
gave the episode a B− grade, claiming the "rather large dose of sentimentality" and "fewer moments of absurdity" in the episode gave it "the feeling that it belongs in one of the series' earlier seasons". The Orlando Sentinel
s Gregory Hardy named it the second best episode of the show with a sports theme.
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
The Simpsons (season 5)
The Simpsons fifth season originally aired on the Fox network between September 30, 1993 and May 19, 1994. The show runner for the fifth production season was David Mirkin who executive produced 20 episodes. Al Jean and Mike Reiss executive produced the remaining two, which were both hold overs...
. It originally aired on the Fox network
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
in the United States on March 17, 1994. In the episode, Ned Flanders
Ned Flanders
Nedward "Ned" Flanders, Jr. is a recurring fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Harry Shearer, and first appeared in the series premiere episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire". He is the next door neighbor to the Simpson family and is generally...
helps Homer Simpson
Homer Simpson
Homer Jay Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons and the patriarch of the eponymous family. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared on television, along with the rest of his family, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
get tickets to a football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
game. The two initially become good friends, but Homer eventually takes the friendship too far with his stupid antics, oblivious to the fact that Flanders is beginning to hate him.
The episode was written by David Richardson
David Richardson (writer)
David Richardson is a television writer and television producer who has written for The Simpsons , Malcolm in the Middle, and Empty Nest.-Filmography:Writer:*Zoobilee Zoo...
and directed by Wesley Archer. It was the last episode to be pitched by writer Conan O'Brien
Conan O'Brien
Conan Christopher O'Brien is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer and performer. Since November 2010 he has hosted Conan, a late-night talk show that airs on the American cable television station TBS....
before he left The Simpsons. The episode features cultural references to films such as Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Terminator 2: Judgment Day is a 1991 science fiction action film directed by James Cameron and written by Cameron and William Wisher Jr.. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Robert Patrick, and Edward Furlong...
and The Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments (1956 film)
The Ten Commandments is a 1956 American epic film that dramatized the biblical story of the Exodus, in which the Hebrew-born Moses, an adopted Egyptian prince, becomes the deliverer of the Hebrew slaves. The film, released by Paramount Pictures in VistaVision on October 5, 1956, was directed by...
, and songs such as "Two Tickets to Paradise
Two Tickets to Paradise
"Two Tickets to Paradise" is a song by American rock singer, Eddie Money, from his 1977 album Eddie Money. It was released as a single in June 1978 and reached number 22 on the Billboard Hot 100.-Background and content:...
", "Macho Man
Macho Man (song)
"Macho Man" is the seond single recorded by the American disco group Village People. The song "bubbled under" the charts during summer 1978 before picking up substantial airplay that August...
", and "Helter Skelter". Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. It acquired a Nielsen rating of 10.9, and was the third highest-rated show on the Fox network the week it aired.
Plot
Homer unsuccessfully attempts to win tickets for a footballAmerican football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
game on a radio contest. Flanders wins the tickets instead, and invites Homer as his guest at the game. Desperate to attend the game, Homer accepts. Flanders pays for all the food and even gets the winning quarterback
Quarterback
Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...
, Stan "The Boy" Taylor, to give the game ball to Homer. Overwhelmed by Flanders's generosity and no longer ashamed to be associated with him, Homer becomes friends with Flanders and his family. Homer begins acting overly grateful and annoys Flanders and his family to no end by interrupting their family time together. The Flanders family and the Simpson family
Simpson family
The Simpson family is a family of fictional characters featured in the animated television series The Simpsons. The Simpsons are a nuclear family consisting of the married couple Homer and Marge and their three children Bart, Lisa and Maggie. They live at 742 Evergreen Terrace in the fictional town...
go on a camping trip, but the families do not get along. When the Simpsons initiate a food fight, Flanders tells his wife that he has grown to hate Homer.
Upon returning home, Homer remains oblivious to Flanders's animosity. He arrives at the Flanders's house expecting to play golf, but Flanders and his family get in their car and race off without him. Pulled over by Chief Wiggum for speeding, Flanders takes a sobriety test as disapproving townspeople watch. At church, when the entire congregation bow their heads in prayer, Homer inhales very loudly through his nose, causing Flanders to yell at Homer. This alarms the congregation, but nevertheless, Homer sticks up for Flanders and convinces the townspeople to give him another chance. The next week, everything returns to normal, as Homer once again is annoyed by Flanders.
Production
Conan O'Brien
Conan Christopher O'Brien is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer and performer. Since November 2010 he has hosted Conan, a late-night talk show that airs on the American cable television station TBS....
before he left The Simpsons. David Richardson
David Richardson (writer)
David Richardson is a television writer and television producer who has written for The Simpsons , Malcolm in the Middle, and Empty Nest.-Filmography:Writer:*Zoobilee Zoo...
was assigned to write it, and Wesley Archer to direct it. Richardson wrote the episode at a Motel 6
Motel 6
Motel 6 is a major chain of budget motels with more than 1,000 locations in the United States and Canada, and is the largest owned and operated hotel chain in North America. It is owned and operated by Accor Hotels.-History:...
in Hemet, California
Hemet, California
Hemet is a city in the San Jacinto Valley in Riverside County, California, United States. It covers a total area of , about half of the valley, which it shares with the neighboring city of San Jacinto. The population was 78,657 at the 2010 census....
while he was dating an actress who was shooting a film there. In this season, the staff wanted to take a deeper look at the relationships of the characters. One of the things they wanted to explore in particular was what Homer and Flanders have in common and how they could turn into friends. Former show runner
Show runner
Showrunner is a term of art originating in the United States and Canadian television industry referring to the person who is responsible for the day-to-day operation of a television seriesalthough such persons generally are credited as an executive producer...
David Mirkin
David Mirkin
David Mirkin is an American feature film and television director, writer and producer. Mirkin grew up in Philadelphia and intended to become an electrical engineer, but abandoned this career path in favor of studying film at Loyola Marymount University. After graduating, he became a stand-up...
enjoyed making Homer and Flanders get along because they do not normally act that way.
The episode begins with the Simpson family watching a news broadcast in which the news anchor Kent Brockman
Kent Brockman
Kent Brockman is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Harry Shearer and first appeared in the episode "Krusty Gets Busted"...
calls the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
a "kill-bot factory". Mirkin said this was a joke the staff "particularly loved to do" because it pointed out how negative and mean-spirited news broadcasts can be, and how they are seemingly "always trying to scare everybody" by creating panic and depression. In one scene in the episode, Marge begins hallucinating after drinking from Springfield's water supply, which has been spiked with LSD by Springfield
Springfield (The Simpsons)
Springfield is the fictional town in which the American animated sitcom The Simpsons is set. A mid-sized town in an undetermined state of the United States, Springfield acts as a complete universe in which characters can explore the issues faced by modern society. The geography of the town and its...
's rival town, Shelbyville. The Fox network's censors wanted the scene to be cut from the episode because they did not like the idea of Marge "getting high" on LSD. Mirkin, however, defended the scene and argued Marge was not "doing it on purpose", so the censors ultimately allowed the scene to remain in the episode. In another scene, Homer becomes frustrated at God for not getting the tickets to the game, so yells at a waffle stuck to the ceiling that he believes is God. Marge points out to him, however, that it is just a waffle that Bart threw up there. This scene, inspired by some melted caramel stuck to the ceiling of the Simpsons writers' room, is one of Mirkin's and Richardson's "all time favorite" jokes.
Cultural references
Two Tickets to Paradise
"Two Tickets to Paradise" is a song by American rock singer, Eddie Money, from his 1977 album Eddie Money. It was released as a single in June 1978 and reached number 22 on the Billboard Hot 100.-Background and content:...
" by Eddie Money
Eddie Money
Eddie Money is an American rock guitarist, saxophonist and singer-songwriter who found success in the 1970s and 1980s with a string of Top 40 hits and platinum albums...
on the radio, he sings along and plays air guitar
Air guitar
Playing air guitar is a form of dance and movement in which the performer pretends to play rock or heavy metal-style electric guitar, including riffs, solos, etc. Playing an air guitar usually consists of exaggerated strumming and picking motions and is often coupled with loud singing or lip-synching...
. As Homer is eating nachos at the football game, he makes up a song called "Nacho Man", a reference to Village People
Village People
Village People is a concept disco group that formed in the United States in 1977, well known for their on-stage costumes depicting American cultural stereotypes, as well as their catchy tunes and suggestive lyrics....
's 1978 song "Macho Man
Macho Man (song)
"Macho Man" is the seond single recorded by the American disco group Village People. The song "bubbled under" the charts during summer 1978 before picking up substantial airplay that August...
". When Flanders is mistakenly arrested for taking drugs, Chief Wiggum asks him "Where's your Messiah
Messiah
A messiah is a redeemer figure expected or foretold in one form or another by a religion. Slightly more widely, a messiah is any redeemer figure. Messianic beliefs or theories generally relate to eschatological improvement of the state of humanity or the world, in other words the World to...
now, Flanders?", a line originally spoken by Edward G. Robinson
Edward G. Robinson
Edward G. Robinson was a Romanian-born American actor. A popular star during Hollywood's Golden Age, he is best remembered for his roles as gangsters, such as Rico in his star-making film Little Caesar and as Rocco in Key Largo...
's character Dathan
Dathan
Dathan was an Israelite mentioned in the Old Testament as a participant of the Exodus.He was a son of Eliab, the son of Pallu, the son of Reuben. Together with his brother Abiram, the Levite Korah and others, he rebelled against Moses and Aaron...
in the 1956 film The Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments (1956 film)
The Ten Commandments is a 1956 American epic film that dramatized the biblical story of the Exodus, in which the Hebrew-born Moses, an adopted Egyptian prince, becomes the deliverer of the Hebrew slaves. The film, released by Paramount Pictures in VistaVision on October 5, 1956, was directed by...
. The scene where Homer chases Flanders's car is a parallel of the sequence in Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Terminator 2: Judgment Day is a 1991 science fiction action film directed by James Cameron and written by Cameron and William Wisher Jr.. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Robert Patrick, and Edward Furlong...
, in which Robert Patrick
Robert Patrick
Robert Hammond Patrick, Jr. is an American actor, known for his leading and supporting roles in a number of films and television shows....
's character T-1000
T-1000
The T-1000 is a fictional nanomorph mimetic poly-alloy assassin and the main antagonist in Terminator 2: Judgment Day controlled by the series main antagonist Skynet. The T-1000 is portrayed primarily by Robert Patrick; however, being a shape-shifter, the T-1000 is played by other actors in some...
chases the heroes in the police car after escaping from the hospital. When Rod and Todd are watching television in the Flanders's living room, a picture of Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
's painting The Last Supper
The Last Supper (Leonardo)
The Last Supper is a 15th century mural painting in Milan created by Leonardo da Vinci for his patron Duke Ludovico Sforza and his duchess Beatrice d'Este...
can be seen behind them. The homeless shelter that Homer and Flanders visit is called Helter Shelter, a reference to the 1968 song "Helter Skelter" by The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
.
Reception
In its original American broadcast, "Homer Loves Flanders" finished 43rd in the ratings for the week of March 14–20, 1994, with a Nielsen rating of 10.9. The episode was the third highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, following Beverly Hills, 90210Beverly Hills, 90210
Beverly Hills, 90210 is an American drama series that originally aired from October 4, 1990 to May 17, 2000 on Fox and was produced by Spelling Television in the United States, and subsequently on various networks around the world. It is the first series in the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise...
and Melrose Place.
Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. In 2007, Patrick Enright of MSNBC
MSNBC
MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
called the episode his eighth favorite of the show. He praised the references to Terminator 2 in the episode, as well as Lisa's self-referential quote about how, "by next week, we'll be back to where we started from, ready for another wacky adventure." The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, thought the episode had "some great existential musings" from Lisa. They added that it also "contains some nice moments highlighting the differences between the Simpsons and the Flanders." DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson said: "I always remembered ["Homer Loves Flanders"] to be a great episode – and I recalled correctly. Sure, the show goes with a less than creative presence; it’s an easy story to make characters behave in atypical ways. However, the development of the theme is terrific, as we learn the friendship of Homer Simpson is worse than the antagonism of Homer Simpson." DVD Talk
DVD Talk
DVD Talk is a website for DVD enthusiasts founded in January 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman when DVDs and DVD players were first beginning to hit the market.The site started as an online forum, an email newsletter, and a page of DVD news and reviews...
gave the episode a 4 out of 5 score. Patrick Bromley of DVD Verdict
DVD Verdict
DVD Verdict is a judicial themed website for DVD reviews. The site was founded in 1999. Current editor in chief is Michael Stailey, who also reviews for Rotten Tomatoes...
gave the episode a B− grade, claiming the "rather large dose of sentimentality" and "fewer moments of absurdity" in the episode gave it "the feeling that it belongs in one of the series' earlier seasons". The Orlando Sentinel
Orlando Sentinel
The Orlando Sentinel is the primary newspaper of the Orlando, Florida region. It was founded in 1876. The Sentinel is owned by Tribune Company and is overseen by the Chicago Tribune. As of 2005, the Sentinel’s president and publisher was Kathleen Waltz; she announced her resignation in February 2008...
s Gregory Hardy named it the second best episode of the show with a sports theme.
External links
- "Homer Loves Flanders" at The Simpsons.com