The Homer They Fall

This is a good article. Click here for more information.
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

"The Homer They Fall"
The Simpsons episode
Episode no.Season 8
Episode 3
Directed byMark Kirkland
Written byJonathan Collier
Production code4F03
Original air dateNovember 10, 1996 (1996-11-10)
Guest appearances
Episode features
Couch gag
The living room is in a desert and the family is dressed as cowboys and cowgirls. When the family sits down, the couch neighs and gallops away.[2]
CommentaryMatt Groening
Josh Weinstein
Dan Castellaneta
Yeardley Smith
David X. Cohen
George Meyer
Mark Kirkland
Episode chronology
← Previous
"You Only Move Twice" 		Next →
"Burns, Baby Burns"
The Simpsons season 8
List of episodes

"The Homer They Fall" is the third episode of the

Lucius Sweet.[1]

Plot

During the Simpsons' visit to a high-tech gadget store,

Moe's Tavern
; they beat him up but find that they cannot knock him down, even after breaking a pool cue over his head.

After seeing Homer's ability to absorb physical punishment, Moe suggests that he take up boxing and allow Moe (himself a former boxer) to manage and train him. Marge insists that Homer have a full medical checkup first. Dr. Hibbert discovers that the layer of fluid around Homer's brain is thicker than normal, allowing him to withstand powerful blows to the head. Discovering that Homer is too weak and out of shape to inflict any damage by punching, Moe suggests that he rope-a-dope, then push them down to the boxing ring for an easy win.

Homer prevails in his first fights against several homeless men, eventually rising to the top of the Springfield semi-

Drederick Tatum
is about to be released from prison and wants a comeback fight, preferably against Homer. Moe knows that Tatum is far too strong and fit for Homer to tire out, but the lure of fame and fortune makes him agree to the fight. He promises Lucius that Homer will last at least three rounds. Moe quickly wins Homer over by feigning confidence in his fighting skills.

Homer ignores Marge's pleas to withdraw from the fight, which is wildly hyped by the media. On the night of the event, Moe falsely promises Marge that he will

Fan Man
and airlifts Homer out of the ring while the audience boos loudly.

Outside the arena, Marge thanks Moe for saving Homer while Tatum expresses his respect for Moe valuing his friend's life above all else. Lucius berates Moe for failing to deliver even one round of boxing but pays him $100,000 anyway. Moe flies off with the paramotor to help people around the world, ignoring the Fan Man's shouted demands to return the equipment.[3][4]

Production

Don King
.

The episode was written by

Don King, and is voiced by Paul Winfield, who had previously played King in HBO's 1995 biopic Tyson. In the script, Sweet was described as "A Don King type who looks and sounds exactly like Don King".[8] The similarity is even pointed out by Homer with the line, "He is exactly as rich and as famous as Don King – and he looks just like him, too!" King was asked to guest star but turned the part down.[5] Drederick Tatum is a parody of Mike Tyson. The name came from George Meyer, who went to high school with a boy named Drederick Timmins, which Meyer thought was a cool name.[6] Tatum having done time in prison is a reference to the fact that, at the time of the episode's production, Tyson had just recently been released from prison after serving three years for rape.[5] Homer is at one point referred to as "The Southern Dandy" as a reference to the old-time boxers and wrestlers who had similar nicknames.[5]

In preparation for this episode, Mark Kirkland watched several boxing films and is satisfied with how it turned out.[9] Whenever designing rooms, Kirkland tries to show a bare lightbulb because he feels that it makes things more depressing.[9] In the scene in Moe's office, there is a brief shot of a poster advertising "Szydlik Vs. Oakley" and "Kirkland Vs. Silverman", referring to then-executive producer Bill Oakley[5] and The Simpsons directors Mark Kirkland and David Silverman.[9] The scene where Tatum is walking to the ring surrounded by shady characters is based on a real life photo of Tyson.[9]

The fathers of

Kearney make their first and only appearances in the history of the show.[5]

Cultural references

The episode opens with a parody of

People", sung by Sally Stevens.[2]

Reception

In its original broadcast, "The Homer They Fall" finished 29th in ratings for the week of November 4–10, 1996, with a

Nielsen rating of 10.0, equivalent to approximately 9.7 million viewing households. It was the second highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, following The X-Files.[10]

In response to the season fourteen episode "Barting Over", which is about skateboarding, Raju Mudhar of the Toronto Star listed what he thought were "excellent" episodes of The Simpsons and scenes also related to sports. He included "The Homer They Fall", writing that Drederick Tatum is "a thinly veiled Mike Tyson parody who's made cameos over the years".[11]

Similarly, in 2004 ESPN.com released a list of the Top 100 Simpsons sport moments, ranking the entire episode at #2, saying, "Greatest sports introduction ever: In the Tatum fight, Homer is introduced as the Brick Hithouse (and is also known as the Southern Dandy), and his walk-to-the-ring music is 'Why Can't We Be Friends?'" Drederick Tatum was placed at the eighteenth spot on the list.[12] Conversely, the authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, called it "the dullest, one-joke episode of the entire series".[2]

References

  1. ^
    OL 433519M
    ..
  2. ^ a b c Martyn, Warren; Wood, Adrian (2000). "The Homer They Fall". BBC. Retrieved March 27, 2007.
  3. ISBN 0-06-095252-0
    .
  4. ^ Episode Capsule Archived 2007-03-09 at the Wayback Machine at The Simpsons Archive.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Weinstein, Josh (2006). The Simpsons season 8 DVD commentary for the episode "The Homer They Fall" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
  6. ^ a b c Meyer, George (2006). The Simpsons season 8 DVD commentary for the episode "The Homer They Fall" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
  7. ^ Groening, Matt (2006). The Simpsons season 8 DVD commentary for the episode "The Homer They Fall" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
  8. ^ a b Cohen, David X. (2006). The Simpsons season 8 DVD commentary for the episode "The Homer They Fall" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
  9. ^ a b c d e f Kirkland, Mark (2006). The Simpsons season 8 DVD commentary for the episode "The Homer They Fall" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
  10. ^ "NBC back on top in ratings race". Sun-Sentinel. Associated Press. November 14, 1996. p. 4E.
  11. ^ Raju Mudhar, "Simpsons' sports spoofs simply 'excellent'; Stars like Tyson often lampooned Show celebrating 300th episode", Toronto Star, February 16, 2003, p. E.03.
  12. ^ Collins, Greg (January 23, 2004). "The Simpsons Got Game". ESPN.com. Archived from the original on August 24, 2007. Retrieved March 29, 2007.

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to "The Homer They Fall".
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Homer_They_Fall&oldid=1216740508"