Homer's Night Out

"Homer's Night Out" is the tenth episode of The Simpsons' first season, and originally aired on March 25, 1990.^[2] It was written by Jon Vitti and directed by Rich Moore.^[1] In the episode, Bart orders a mail-order spy camera, which he uses to secretly take a photograph of Homer dancing with an exotic belly dancer. Marge makes Homer apologize to the exotic dancer to teach Bart that women are not objects. Sam McMurray guest stars in the episode as Gulliver Dark,^[1] the man that introduces Homer to the crowd at the burlesque show.

The episode was well received by critics and it was the second highest rated show on the Fox network the week it aired. This episode, along with three other episodes of the show, is featured on the The Simpsons Gone Wild DVD released in 2004.^[4]

Plot

Bart purchases a miniature spy camera from a mail-order catalog and uses it to take candid photos around the house. Later, Homer tells Marge he is going to a bachelor party for a co-worker, Eugene Fisk. While Homer is gone, Marge decides to take the children to the Rusty Barnacle, a seafood restaurant where (unknown to her) the bachelor party is well under way.

A sexy belly dancer named Princess Kashmir arrives at the party and invites Homer on stage to dance with her. On the way to the restaurant bathroom, Bart wanders into the bachelor party room and eagerly snaps a picture of Homer and Kashmir. Bart brings the picture to school and gives a copy of it to Milhouse, who promptly gets requests from other students for a copy of the picture. It is not long before everyone in Springfield has one. Marge sees a copy of the picture at her aerobics class and furiously rips it from the bulletin board. When Homer gets home that day, Marge immediately shoves the picture in his face and demands an explanation. At that point, Bart inadvertently reveals that it was his picture, and Homer gets angry at him for taking the picture. After sending Bart to his room, Marge shoves a hastily half-packed suitcase in front of Homer and kicks him out of the house. Homer spends the night at Barney's apartment.

The next day Homer goes home to apologize to Marge. To his surprise, he learns that what upset her was not what he did, but that Bart saw it and will one day misconstrue it as a sign that it is okay to treat women like sex objects. She insists that he take Bart to meet Princess Kashmir so that Bart can see for himself that she is more than just a stripper. Left with no alternative, Homer and Bart scour the strip clubs of Springfield to find Princess Kashmir. Eventually, they track her down at the Sapphire Lounge.

Homer introduces himself and Bart to Kashmir, who is preoccupied with getting on stage for her performance, though she understands what Homer is trying to get through for his son. Without knowing it, Homer accidentally finds himself on stage at the burlesque show. Homer is about to be thrown offstage when the audience recognize him as the guy from the picture. The audience applauds and Homer gets caught up in the fanfare and starts dancing with the showgirls, until he sees Bart and realizes what he was supposed to do. Homer stops the show and successfully manages to make a plea to the audience to treat women with respect. Marge, who is in the audience, accepts Homer's apology and the two make up.

Production

The episode was written by Jon Vitti and directed by Rich Moore.^[1] Barney's apartment, which Homer spends the night in when he is kicked out by Marge, is partly based on an apartment Jim Reardon, Moore, and a few other animators of The Simpsons shared in college.^[5] One of the strip clubs Homer and Bart visit when they are trying to find Princess Kashmir is based on the Seventh Veil Strip Club in Los Angeles, California.^[5] The staff went around Hollywood taking pictures of strip clubs so that they could get inspiration for the interior design of the strip club buildings in Springfield.^[5] The character designer designed over fifty different international showgirl costumes for the showgirls in the burlesque show sequence.^[5] Carl Carlson made his first appearance on The Simpsons in this episode.^[1]

Reception

In its original American broadcast, "Homer's Night Out" finished fourteenth place in the weekly ratings for the week of March 19–25, 1990, with a Nielsen rating of 16.9. It was the second highest rated show on the Fox network that week.^[6] "Homer's Night Out" received generally positive reviews from critics. In a DVD review of the first season, David B. Grelck gave the episode a rating of 4/5 and named it one of his two favorite episodes of the season. He added that it "allows us to see that Homer really does love Marge a lot without having to blatantly stamp sentimentality all over it. The episode is strange, goofy and fun."^[7] Colin Jacobson at DVD Movie Guide said that "the concept of Marge’s anger at Homer got old, but this episode managed to offer a reasonably entertaining affair. It was fun to see Homer treated like a party god, and this offered a few nice moments. The overall level of quality remained good throughout the show, but it didn’t rise to any great heights."^[8] David Packard at DVD Verdict said in a review of the The Simpsons Gone Wild DVD that "this episode sports some of the awkward animation and voice work that is prevalent in episodes from the first season. That aspect isn't an issue to me; in fact, I quite enjoy season one as it shows the early efforts of the series getting its legs in making the transition from its origin on The Tracey Ullman Show. The problem I have with this episode is that it's not particularly funny. I chuckled a few times, but the episode doesn't have the rollicking gags and sly humor of the two episodes to follow."^[9]

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Homer's Night Out

• "Homer's Night Out" at The Simpsons.com
• "Homer's Night Out" episode capsule at The Simpsons Archive
• "Homer's Night Out" at the Internet Movie Database
• "Homer's Night Out" at TV.com