Team Homer

"Team Homer" is the thirteenth episode of Season 7. It first aired on January 21, 1996. The episode was written by Mike Scully and directed by Mark Kirkland.

Director: Mark Kirkland

Writer: Mike Scully

Airdate: January 21, 1996

Guest Stars: Marcia Wallace, Beverly D'Angelo, Michelle Pfeiffer and A. Brooks

Chalkboard Gag: I am not certified to remove Asbestos

Couch Gag: Mouse Family

Production Code: 3F10

Plot
Homer is at Moe's and hardly anyone is there, so he and Moe go to the bowling alley and decides he wants to do something that he won't fail at, so gets Moe, Apu and Otto to form a bowling team for the league, but they need $500. Homer goes to Mr. Burns' office just when he got an overdose of ether; and Burns hallucinates Homer as Pop N' Fresh and gives him all the money he needs. In the bowling league, the "Pin Pals" are crushing the competition, giving Homer and the others a huge step toward the trophy, but when Mr. Burns realizes he's given money away, he takes his anger out on the team by joining it.

Meanwhile, Bart wears a shirt with a "Down With Homework" design on it that he got from a MAD Magazine to school, which horrifies the teachers and especially Skinner. He then makes uniforms mandatory. The grim attire makes students lose individuality and everything becomes dull. Just when Superintendent Chalmers arrives, rain starts pouring down and the non-colorfast uniforms turn vibrant tie dye colors. The kids then freak out and start having fun again. Skinner runs off after remembering that he got the uniforms from the same place he gets his mother's dress, and his mother is outside at the park right now. Chalmers follows soon after not wanting to miss it.

Homer, Moe and Apu are upset that Burns costs them every game they play and make Homer tell Burns he is off the team, but they have a change of heart when he gets them new uniforms. The team then play the Holy Rollers, a team of members of the church, in the championship game. In a bizarre turn of events, Burns wins the game for the team, but he takes the trophy for himself. Homer doesn't stand for this, and breaks into the mansion to steal it as his teammates watch. Homer gets attacked by the guard dogs and his team runs off.

Outtakes
If you want to see the outtakes on the DVD, see here: "Team Homer (Outtakes)".

Production
This episode was dedicated to the memory of Doris Grau.

The episode was written by Mike Scully. He was bowling "a lot" at the time and one day on when he was bowling he came up with the idea for "Team Homer". The idea for the school plot came later in production when the school that Scully's children went to was thinking of "switching over" to school uniforms. Both Scully and his children were against it so he decided to put it in the episode.

Former show runner of The Simpsons David Mirkin thought the episode was "really fun" because there were "lots of characters" in it and it featured "lots of terrific animation". Mirkin liked that viewers could see the different characters "team up" and how they pair off. "It's kind of cool to see them hang around like this. Particularly Homer's group which has some nice emotion and they really comes together as a group," Mirkin commented.

The episode was directed by Mark Kirkland. When he first read the script, he thought the challenge of this episode was that the bowling theme had already been covered in the season one episode "Life on the Fast Lane". Since it had been done before, Kirkland felt pressure to make the bowling alley look "really good". Kirkland and his team of The Simpsons animators at Film Roman all went over to a local bowling alley and had lunch. They checked out the whole alley for inspiration and drew sketches. "Life on the Fast Lane" deals with Marge becoming infatuated with Jacques, a French bowling instructor. Mirkin points out that Jacques makes a brief appearance in this episode, but without a speaking role. Also appearing with non-speaking roles are Mindy Simmons, Lurleen Lumpkin and Princess Kashmir, the three women who almost broke up Marge and Homer's marriage.

Mirkin remembered the episode "very fondly" because when it was finished, the staff got customized Simpsons bowling balls, bowling bags, and Pin Pal shirts as gifts. Scully said the bowling balls were "really cool" because they were yellow and had the Simpsons logo on them.

The song "Really Useful Bowler" is a song parody "Really Useful Engine" from "Thomas and the Magic Railroad".

Doris Grau, script supervisor for the show and voice of Lunchlady Doris, died on December 30, 1995, from respiratory failure at a hospital in Los Angeles, California. "Team Homer" was one of the last episodes to feature her voice, and included a dedication to her.

In one scene, Homer tells Marge: "We were so close to winning the championship. Now, thanks to Burns, it's never going to happen. And I spent so much time building that trophy case." The scene then cuts to the trophy case with an Academy Award in it that Homer has stolen. In the original Fox broadcast, the name in the inscription on the Academy Award was Haing S. Ngor. In American syndication and the season seven DVD, the name was changed to Don Ameche (who had won for Cocoon). Ngor, who won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the 1984 film The Killing Fields, was murdered on February 25, 1996, between the original and the syndicated broadcast. Producers were concerned the syndicated episode would imply Homer had murdered Ngor to steal the statue.

Cultural References
Bart and Milhouse buy an issue of Mad magazine. Bart also puts a Mad iron-on reading "Down with Homework" on one of his T-shirts, which causes controversy at school. Milhouse is shocked to see the new school uniforms, and his jaw drops, a "Woody Allen-esque" type of joke. The final bowling scene is similar to the final golfing scene in the 1980 film Caddyshack. Homer references the song "Mr. Roboto" by Styx. Moe's unsuccessful attempt to sideline Mr. Burns by hitting his leg with a crowbar is done in a similar manner to Shane Stant's attempt in 1994 to sideline figure skater Nancy Kerrigan by physical assault. When Martin and Lisa are modeling the new grey uniforms, the song playing in the background is "Spanish Flea", by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass., which had previously appeared in the third season episode "The Otto Show".

Reception
Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from fans and television critics. It was named the fifth best episode of the show by MSNBC. They praised how the episode utilized Burns's physical weaknesses for laughs, and Homer's line; "I guess some people never change. Or, they quickly change and then quickly change back." DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson said that to his surprise, "the dress code plot works the best". He liked the mockery of Mad magazine and the "overemphasis on the way it disrupts the educational process". Jacobson thought the bowling plot had plenty of "nice moments" too, "and these add up to a solid show." Jennifer Malkowski of DVD Verdict considered the best part of the episode to be when Homer ends a phone conversation with the "highly quotable" line, "I gotta go. My damn wiener kids are listening." The website concluded its review by giving the episode a grade of A−. Mirkin described the episode as "excellent", and praised Scully's "great" script.

The episode received criticism from the authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, who said that "Team Homer" is one of their least favorite episodes. They thought the school uniform plot was "a lot more satisfying than the bowling story" They added that the scene where Martin and Lisa model the new uniforms is the highlight of the episode.

Video Release

 * The Homerlympics