"Hungry, Hungry Homer" is the fifteenth episode of the twelfth season of The Simpsons and it aired on March 4, 2001. In the episode, Homer Simpson becomes a Good Samaritan after discovering the simple joys of helping people in need—which is put to the test when he goes on a hunger strike after the owner of the Springfield Isotopes attempts to discredit him when Homer stumbles on his plot to discreetly move the team to Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The episode was written by John Swartzwelder and directed by Nancy Kruse and guest starred Stacy Keach as Howard K. Duff VIII.
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The Simpson family visits Blockoland, a theme park similar to Legoland which is completely made of blocks. Lisa is ripped off when her Eiffel Tower kit has a missing Blocko piece. In response, Homer "sticks up for the little guy", and he gets Lisa the piece she needs. He also stands up for the little guy by helping Bart get a girlfriend for an upcoming school dance and helps Marge get two free hair streaks (along with helping the beauty salon increase its profit margin to accommodate Marge's streaks). When he tries to help Lenny by getting him a refund on his tickets for the Springfield Isotopes, Homer encounters the Isotopes' owner Howard K. Duff VIII. The owner refuses to give Homer a refund, but in his haste to leave Homer accidentally enters a room and discovers evidence that the Isotopes are moving to Albuquerque. Duff insists that they are not moving and he has Duffman drug Homer to cover up the truth.
Homer is shocked and attempts to alert the media to the plan, but when Homer comes back with the press Duff had removed all traces of the evidence Homer found in the room. The journalists dismiss Homer's story and call him a liar. In response, Homer stages a hunger strike in which he chains himself to a pole near Duff Stadium in order to force the owners of the team to admit they are moving to Albuquerque. He attracts a great deal of attention, so during the night the team decides to move him into the ballpark and exploit his popularity using the name "Hungry, Hungry Homer."
Eventually Homer becomes so thin and sickly that the team decides to get rid of him, replacing him with a super-fan who chugs cans of paint. In a public ceremony, the team's owner unchains Homer and offers him a free hot dog. Homer realizes the hot dog is topped with Southwestern ingredients, proving the team is really moving to Albuquerque. The crowd then takes notice that the hot dogs are even wrapped with "Albuquerque Isotopes" paper and are enraged. Howard tries to continue his denials but even Duffman turns against him. Homer's hunger strike is over as he celebrates under a shower of food thrown by the cheering fans, praising him as a hero.
As a result of Homer exposing the scheme, the mayor of Albuquerque decides to abandon his plan to steal the Isotopes and instead plans to purchase the Dallas Cowboys and force them to play baseball because, as he menacingly proclaims at the end of the episode, "For I am the Mayor of Albuquerque!"
The episode was written by John Swartzwelder and directed by Nancy Kruse.[1] The episode was originally pitched by Al Jean from his daughter, although it is not certain.[2] The original of the episode is that Mike Scully in season 8 pitched that Homer got a motorcycle and loved it and the town passed a helmet law that you have to wear the helmet and Homer was furious and went on hunger strike and ended up passing out. The writers shelved the idea of Homer having a motorcycle (though it would be used for the season 11 episode "Take My Wife, Sleaze"), but held on to Homer having a hunger strike until Al Jean pitched this episode.[1] Another inspiration was that a team was moving to another city.[3] Dan Castellaneta adlibbed the lyrics to Homer's "Dancing Away My Hunger Pangs" song.[2] The ending scene with the mayor announcing his plans to take over the Dallas Cowboys has been edited from all U.S. syndicated reruns, but has been seen on overseas syndicated reruns and on the season 12 DVD set.[2]
Duffman turning against Howard K. Duff and throwing him over a fence is a reference to Darth Vader's destruction of Emperor Palpatine in the film Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983).[4]
In its original American broadcast, "Hungry, Hungry Homer" was viewed by an estimated 10.0156 million households and received a 9.8 rating/15 share Nielsen Rating making it into the top twenty.[5]
Colin Jacobson of DVD Movie guide gave the episode a mixed review writing "Though it has something of a rehashed feel – an impression that we’ve seen this episode before – “Hungry” still manages to be fairly effective. Chock full of laughs? No, but the show has its moments. Or maybe I just like it because it’s the origin of the word “hungy”, which I used for many years. I forgot I stole it from this episode!"[6] Judge Mac McEntire of DVD Verdict said of the episode that the best moment was pretty much any scene with Duffman.[6]
This episode inspired the name of the real-life Albuquerque Isotopes minor-league baseball team.[7] This episode has also been credited for introducing a new word to the English Language according to the Collins English Dictionary: meh (used here as an interjection expressing boredom or indifference, but can also be an adjective describing something boring or mediocre). The word 'meh' can in fact be heard uttered by Simpsons characters, such as Krusty the Clown, in as early as Season 6.[8]